Goodbye 2013

Wow what a year it's been for me as far as my art goes. This time last year after joining Instagram I vowed to do a drawing a day. Ok so that didn't last long but it was the start. I have treated it like a job and whilst my children are at school I draw/paint. I feel like I've learnt loads & come on massively. I have artwork in galleries & I have stores online. This is just the beginning & can't wait to see what the future holds. I might focus more on painting for my next piece. Will post when it's finished (if its any good- haha!)

Looking Rosie

So I'm starting to feel that I have a definite style now. This is my most detailed work so far. I like the almost classical feel combined with contemporary fashion & tattoo sleeve. Just finished setting up my online store selling giclee prints of some of my work. Busy bee! Also buzzing because 4 of the pieces (originals) are going into a gallery in Cheshire. My husband Quincy - amazing bespoke cabinet maker of D'Arcy Furniture ltd is kindly making me the frames in oak. We decided to go for a wooden mount as well. Extra classy! Will post a pic when done. All very exciting.

Nice tats!

I'm really enjoying doing big hair. It's all going on with this one - tattoos, feathers, flowers and my (new) signature orange neon strip oh & a bit of ivy thrown in for good measure. Like it & feeling happy!

Fly birdie fly

Love this one! Well, I like the face (my best effort thus far!) the bird is good but not sure that the roses look as good as they could. Since taking this picture I have added fluoro dots to them, which has made them pop!

Bunch of roses

Not really feeling this one. I like the pose & her outfit & the roses. I'm just not too keen on her eyes. They make her look rather harsh!

Bring me sunshine

I'm an old hippy at heart. Would love nothing better than feeling the sun on my face & making daisy chains! Nearly binned this drawing. Chin was all wrong but I stuck with it and brought it back with some careful shading.

Bright lights

I find many of my poses from fashion shots. Thought this with the fluro strip worked well. No flowers in this one. Need to give my elbow & fingers a rest from stippling. Occupational hazard I guess!

Petal

Love my fluorescent orange acrylic paint & fear I might be using this alot. The technique I use for creating tone & shade with lots of tiny dots is called stippling. It's time consuming but I like the effect.

Cut off's

The high waisted cut off short creates a lovely silhouette. I did try putting patterned tights on her - had to rub them out! Haven't the patience for drawing lace! Created a little template for the background ikat style pattern. Top of hand looking a bit claw like but overall I like this.

Green hair day

I was over the moon with this until I did the flowers! They don't work because there are not enough petals. They look spidery! Love her & shades are hard too draw but they turned out ok!

Less is more

Really trying to hold back on over doing the face. I'm happy with this one.

Moody Margaret

She does look rather unhappy. It's hard too draw a smiling face. I don't mind this & think the hair looks ok'ish!

Floral notes

Recently had a commission to illustrate a beach wear collection for s/s 14 - this is a sneaky peek at a tiny section

Don't look down

Another one I'm happy with. Working more on the silhouette now & not so much face detail is getting better results. Like the triangles & crab apples too!

Don't look back

Really pleased with this. It all works well for me. The form & detail & use of watercolour make this one of my best!

Denim

I'm quite happy with this face. Her right arm is supposed to be in her pocket but actually it just looks too short!

My little peony

This drawing actually looks a lot better in the flesh! No honestly! Hand looks too skinny tho!

He or she?

I was really into this & spent ages trying to achieve the look of leather on her jacket but then messed up on the hands - look like crab claws!!

A bit of neon

Love the face on this one. Sometimes it just works! Teeth, hair & hands are all tricky. Getting there?!

Berry, poppy & fern

Like the trees in the background on this one. Need to back off with putting too much colour down on faces. Less is more!

Poppy & Fern

My new favourite things to draw are poppies & mushrooms. This drawing took a day & I'm really happy with the result. Girls faces are definitely improving!

Weddings are wonderful!

I was delighted to be asked to design the invite for my brother Oliver's wedding. I gave this a vintage & woodland feel complete with forest floor & fawn.

Side plait

Messing around with shapes & hair for this one- it's ok!

Why so sad?

This was one of those drawings that was a quick sketch which I didn't like. I rubbed it out then went over it again & again. I adopted quite a messy scratchy style & quite liked the result.

Sketchbook camping

Did this sketch whilst relaxing on one of our many camping trips.

Gypsy horse

I've loved horses since I could walk & have always wanted to own one! Haven't drawn one for years & thought I'd take a break from drawing pretty girls! I used my new Prismacolor pencils for this. I think I managed to achieve the soft velvety skin of the muzzle with these.

B-girl

Loving the east London street label Hardware London. Celeb fans inc Rita Ora & Cara Delevigne. Tough apparel with lots of attitude. Did this drawing after seeing the s/s 13 ad campaign with girl wearing a leopard skin snap-back.

Girl Orange 4

No.43

Girl Orange 3

No.42

Girl Orange 2

No.41

Girl Orange 1

No.40 A while back I pinned (on Pinterest) a gorgeous picture of a girl by illustrator Peggy Wolf. I take inspiration from this for this series of portraits. The shading on the face, the beaded feather headband. Mostly in watercolour & black pen but the orange is a florescent acrylic paint which I got very excited about

My best!

No.39 I'm really happy with this drawing. The pose is lovely, the lips are great. The hair, the jumper - it all works. One way that proves to myself to be one of my best is that I like to keep looking at it. The one criticism is maybe the eyes are a little too big!

Poppy clouds

No.38 For this piece I used some flouro pink spray paint & black pen. It's ok, not sure i like the fact that the colours give it a sunset feel.

Poppy triangles

No.37 I had some small boards left over so I did this little pen poppy drawing with some neon triangles. Think it's quite sweet.

The bigger the doodle the better

No.36 this piece of artwork (now hanging in our bathroom) was a work in progress. Originally found by Quincy in a skip in London. The board had been used for a preliminary sketch. It had a young boy & girl on it in a faint blue wash. There wasn't much detail & I attempted to 'bring out' their features - failed. So, I left it for a while. Then I painted on some blocks of colour & gradually started building it up. I'm happy with it.

Pretty girl

No.35 quick pencil drawing here. She's relaxing, hair is messily tied back. I like this one!

Curly Sue

No.34 This was supposed to be a quick sketch as I wanted to practice curly hair. It ended up taking a few hours. I think it came out quite well. Apart from her eyes which are too wide. I'm loving triangles at the mo and could have gone on & on!

Silly Rabbit

No.33 I started drawing this fat rabbit with a view to incorporating hip hop lyrics from Public Enemy but didn't really like the girls face. Lips not right!

Pussy Willow

No.32 Yay, springtime. I love this time of year when you know you have months of nice weather ahead of you. Although, it's freezing & many plants that would usually blossom now, have'nt a clue what's going on! Still developing my faces. It's hard work & I believe the most skilful of all art

Cuckoo

No.31 I saw a photo of a cuckoo and thought how beautiful it's feathers were. This girls face is from a Boden model. She has quite a gormless expression but with attitude! It looks like she's rescued the bird. Thought I would put the name of the bird on her tee. I like how her hair has turned out. I used colour pencils which is easier to create texture. Thought about doing the background but could not decide what to do.

Nikola

No.30 I was commissioned to do this portrait by my friend Terri. This was a gift to her neighbour & friend Nikola. It was an easy one to do because she has a cool 50s style. The rose is one that she has a tattoo of.

Tribal 2

No.29 This was a tea time doodle. Started with the girls faces and kind of lost myself in the rest. To me it looks quite tribal and the pair look almost wild.

Afternoon Cuppa

No.28 I'm really happy with this piece. I spent all day on this. It was really enjoyable creating the living room for this hipster. She is daydreaming whilst sipping her tea.

Looking Back

No.27 This girl has a great bust. She obviously hasn't had any children! I've been feeling that I wanted my lines to be more expressive. This shows with her hair.

Drip

No.26 this abstract artwork took me all day. I like the form and fullness of these shapes. The thick black lines work well against the blue & orange.

Reclining.

No.25 I like the laziness of this pose. When I'd finished it I looked in the mirror & put my arm in the same pose. Anatomically impossible....oops. That's artistic licence for you!

Big Hair

No.24 Another sketch, another girl. I find hair quit tricky & it's something I need to work on. I tried drawing her hair with a curl to it but it seemed to get bigger & bigger! Less is definitely more.

Doodle

No.23 I could doodle all day. The best ones are often when on the phone!

Cup & Saucer

No.22 Just a quick pen & watercolour.

Tulips

No.21 This pen & watercolour is for my sister in law Shelley. She is lovely, has great taste & a gorgeous house. Hope this will look nice framed & on her wall.