Family portraits

I am so very pleased that I have finally got round to finishing these family portraits that have been on my to-do list for YEARS! They are of my lovely in-laws :)

Ninja Mum vs Spider

Feeling like a superhero after dealing with a spider situation. I had to be the brave one as me and the mini-mes don't do spiders.

And now for something completely different...

...a poster I made for my other job. 

After working on children's books for over 15 years, it was fun to work on something a bit darker. 

Pop-up Zara

I made a pop-up birthday card for a friend :)

She is a super-duper woman who juggles a multitude of things and still manages to smile through it all whilst making sure everyone is ok. I was umm-ing and err-ing about what she could be juggling in the card, when a whatsapp conversation before our night out led to this: purple gin and a kebab!!

I had a lot of fun putting it together!

Pencil poster

I made a poster for my other job, to fill in and update as and when needed. I did it really quickly, staying up later than I should but I really really enjoyed it :)

Teeny tiny drawing challenge

I've been taking part in the #johnvernonlord #drawingaday challenge @illustrationhq over on Instagram where I make a 1x1inch picture every day during the month of September. Time is an issue as per usual but I felt it might be do-able because it's so tiny! It's been really fun and challenging; I'm having to be quite disciplined, peeling myself away from the telly and sofa every night, but I think it's triggered a creative surge. I'm feeling inspired and want to do more and more - but bigger!

Hair-do-doodle

Whilst waiting at the very busy barbers, we doodle what hair cut he might like to get: the mohican, the donut, the lego, the mushroom, the volcano, the muffin, the bird nest...we settled for the traditional short back n sides.

Little Peeper

Our 7 year old has been working on a lovely 3D forest scene with a river, which I thought would make a great setting for an animation. I added a little character and played around with it but it was tricky taking photos without a tripod, everything wobbling about and moving around, and I kept getting my hand in the shot too. 

So I decided to give it a try in 2D and added some forest-y sounds for effect. It's pretty basic (understatement) but was lots of fun and now I want to play around some more!

Incidentally, when I was doing my BA Graphic Design course many years ago, I was thinking about specialising in animation but at the last minute opted for illustration instead. 

I love making pictures but will always remember that magic moment when you see your images move and come to life! (It was just the thought of working on hundreds of pictures for a few seconds of footage that put me off at the time!!)

#3000chairs

Here is my piece for #3000chairs to highlight the plight of refugee children. The chair is a "symbol of the welcome and kindness we would like to see extended to the refugee children who have suffered so much". There will be a fundraising event at Foyles Bookshop on 13th September, hosted by Walker Books and Help Refugees, with author Nicola Davies and illustrator Rebecca Cobb.

You can read Nicola Davies' heartbreaking and powerful poem, and how it came about here.

Beach boys

A lovely commission piece I worked on recently for our friends The Coopers, of their super-dooper lovely boys on Hunstanton beach :)

Train I ride ♪

All aboard! 
It's taken me over 3 years but I have finally got round to updating our family train illustration by adding the little one, toot toooooot!

You can see the original one from over 5 years ago here.

Fire balls and Sprouts

My lovely friend gave me an enormous bag of dried peas recently, for making bean bags. There's so much of it I'll be sewing bean bags for every occasion for the next 10 years!! 

Coming up soon is our boy and his friend Tom's joint birthday party, so I have been sewing some Super Mario themed bean bags. Lots of fun :)

Summer

Summer days, blue skies, dreaming of trips to the beach...

FEED ME!

I've been having fun making these things for a lovely community event which is happening this weekend. The mouse and the shark will be attached to a wooden stand, and there will be a bucket of fish and plate of cheese (sewn by me, stuffed by me and the little one) to throw into their hungry mouths!

I hope the kids (big and small) enjoy feeding the hungry beasts!

The Mighty Cucumber Suit

The Cucumber Suit - the littlest's invention for a certain computer game. "It rolls down to squish people and bomp them out of the way" apparently :)

(You can see a little GIF I made over on my Facebook or Instagram page.)

Bed

"He'll be so tired once he starts school" they said.

Nearly 3 years later and we still have sleep issues.

At least he can read or draw in bed now, but some nights he's still up 2 hours later unable to go to sleep.

And then some nights he's up in the night and scared so I often just crawl into bed with him. Problem is, his bed is FULL. Not only am I sharing a bed with a wrigglesome child, there are reading books, an A4 sketchbook, sheets of paper and a clipboard, pencils and rubbers, torches, a lamp, a tissue box and a whole selection of cuddly toys - like some kind of nest.

Fortunately, I am too tired to care and sleep takes over, thankfully for him too.

(Similar sleep post here from over 4 years ago...)

Ninja mum in action

Mum Bag

I've seen all kinds of things being whipped out of a Mum Bag, to buy mum a bit of time so that she can have a conversation with a friend, sit through an assembly or sip that coffee in relative peace. Chances are slim but you gotta keep trying!

A Mum Bag is usually filled with:

- An array of snacks varying from good to bad, the bad snacks holding more bribery power. Don't show these too soon though, as you will end up with relentless pestering.
- A treasury of books.
- Enough stationery to hold a kids' crafty workshop.
- A “small” selection of their most essential and favourite toys.

When packing a bag, mum will try and prepare for every eventuality but sometimes even the enormous selection is simply not good enough for the little tyrant toddler. 

Awkward Questions in Public Places

In the small shower cubicle at the swimming pool with my 2 curious boys.

Ninja Mum revisited

I turned Ninja Mum into linocuts. I was too lazy to reverse the image so it's a mirror image to the original. but Ninja Mum is super stealthy whichever way she goes.

Pop Up Paul

I really enjoyed making this pop-up card for a friend's 50th birthday :)

Cheers! 

A Fond Farewell

I made this picture of our boys and their friends, as a leaving gift for our Headteacher who is retiring after today. 
We will miss being greeted by her in the mornings as we frantically rush in (she knows all the children by name!), her knocking down conkers in the autumn with the kids, her warmth and so much more. We love our school. I've watched our eldest thrive and grow in confidence over the years, and now with our little one joining the preschool, I look forward to seeing how he grows and develops in a nurturing and stimulating environment under the new Headteacher.

I LOVED illustrating the kids in this picture :) Although not very "accurate", I think I was able to capture their character and everybody managed to guess who was who, hooray!

Look Mummy Look!

Our boys like to show me what they've drawn or made throughout the day, no matter what I may be doing at the time. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you super mums!

Happy International Women's Day!

animal mix ups

Our 6 year old recently came up with some funny animal combos when we had a couple of days off school due to snow. I don't remember how it all started but for a few days it became an obsession - finding animals whose names merged into each other, which he then drew. It was a lot of fun and it reminded me of the Japanese word game "Shiritori" (literal translation = taking the bottom) where you say a word beginning with the last letter of the previous word.

I have reworked some of my favourites.

You can see the original creations below. They really make me smile!

The-Singular-Strong-Arm-Workout

With baby in one arm, engage in single pan cooking, shaking the pan vigorously to try and unstick burnt vegetables. 5 x 10 seconds of vigorous shaking, resulting in singular strong arm and delicious "caramelised" vegetables.

With baby in one arm, search for that elusive piece of lego in the big box. The more elusive the better - for your arm, but maybe not for the impatient lego enthusiast or the ears of a small baby.

With screaming wrigglesome baby in one arm, push buggy homeward for as long as you can bear the noise, discomfort or the looks, to achieve that singular strong arm look.