the Middle Lands.

Firstly, a thank you to those of you who left such generous comments on my previous post. What a treat it was!

Now, I've been away a little while, spending the last two weeks in't North, like.

It was a fortnight of firsts, up there in middle England.

The first frost of the season.

The first firework display (followed by many millions more).

The first flu of about a decade (and hopefully the last for the next decade...)

The first inclination felt in a while to learn a foreign language. Oui. Le sigh.

So, on the scent of work, I moseyed on up to the place where my Auntie Mary calls home. My Auntie is one of those clever people who knows lots of long words and amusing anecdotes and lives at a leisurely pace. 

She resides in the heart of the 'black country'- named for the coal mining (etc) of yore. Apparently it's imported from Poland these days. Oh well, I'm sure it does favours for the air quality...

The houses are visions from rural fairytales- cobbled bricks and smoking chimneys, squeezed between fields full of horses. In my head I can hear Forrest saying 'Orses', in his 'English' accent inadvisably based on Black Adder and Monty Python. 'Ooorses!'. Yes dear.

By the end of my stay, it was hard to bid farewell to all the good wine, open fires, paint pots and Bella the pigmy goat. Still, with my lonely desk a-calling, and Ellie the dog was wondering where her mid-morning cups of tea had gone....it was time to come on home. Hello again! 

When work feels more like play (it's a good day!).

In a bit of a departure from my usual marker-pen adventures, most of my week has been spent painting the adorable 'Smudge'. Talk about therapy. How relaxing it has been to do away with my usually fidgety self, and surrender to the organic nature of creating a painting that comes to life only after stage upon stage and multiple layers of paint. Who knew I had so much patience?

I've spent so many hours in it's company that I've reached the point of zero objectivity, with equal levels of love and dissatisfaction. Give me a year and I might have developed a useful opinion on it. Until then as with all commissions, I just have to cross my fingers and hope it is well received!

Eye of newt, and toe of frog. (Happy Halloween!)

The pumpkin is a splendid one this year. After being elbow-deep in acrylic paints all week, I couldn't resist being reunited with the marker pens for a quick drawing before the carving began. Toasted pumpkin seeds are a welcome bonus. Yes please.

Time is dissolving at an unimaginable rate. It's November in just a day? mmm I've always liked November. I suppose everybody harbours a fondness for their birthday month, until the passing of another year seems more horrifying than a thing to celebrate. Oh well, 25 isn't something to feel too worried about I spose. I just regard it with a similar level of distaste as I would, say.. the spongy part of a jaffa cake, that is; viewed with mild concern...

I'm currently preoccupied with pumpkins and chestnuts and the treasures of Autumn. Beach walks with Ellie, papery leaves fluttering through the forest and rediscovering a long lost fondness for honest-to-God painting. Brushes and everything...

More on the painting shortly though. First things first, Ellie is giving me a meaningful look suggesting I'd better find some boots that are made for walking (Wales = wellies). Alrighty then.

Brain Pain.

My head is somewhere beyond overload with putting together promo booklets. I've printed a million little pages, and layed them out in 5000 permutations and combinations. I've rearranged them 500 more times. I've stuck them on my wall, I've arranged them on the floor, Ellie the dog has walked on them (twice) and I've even dreamt about them. The unfortunate thing is- I'm more confused than I was when I started. I'm going for a 12-page mini-booklet- which seemed like such an easy task when I first thunk it. Not so.

As if I didn't have more than enough pictures already I keep thinking of better, cleverer, irresistible (and totally unnecessary) ideas. Illustrations that would help so much (not in the least). Perfectionism is such a saboteur...

Plus, I need a more objective critic than the biased and uncooperative duo that is my left and right brain. Always arguing, y'know? 

I've also drawn a Chinese dragon for a little side project I'm working on. At this point it can go right ahead and swallow me up....

Rainy days and Fun days.

When I was out running this morning, a firework whizzed over my head. It was 6.30am and very dark and I wondered to myself about the unlikeliness of seeing a firework right then. I guess it's coming around to that time of year again. How lovely :)

Before that, it has been a grey sort of week, making it more essential to get outside, even whilst it feels conversely less enticing to do so. Daylight appears rationed so I'm doing my best to get a share. I have an unfortunate knack for getting caught in rainstorms, streaking through town with my hair a slick wet helmet around my ears... Still, nothing beats returning home from such an outing for a steaming cup of tea and a cuddle with the dog. Oh, she's a cuddler :)

Mostly I adore the chilly days, but I become the Human Temperature Project when Autumn really sets in. I'm a changeable mixture of hot cheeks, cold nose, chattering teeth, hot ears, cold ears, wrapped up and toasty with knee-length socks and woolly boots, or shivering in a poorly planned nightshirt.

My fingers are a law unto themselves; white and uncooperative- freezing even if the rest of me is warm. Does anybody else have this problem in the cold weather? It plagues me annually, with my fingertips becoming swollen and tender- a particular nuisance for drawing. Happily, I have the best, most thoughtful Mum of them all. She returned home yesterday beaming- laden with this fleecy monk-like cape (er, a 'snug rug'?) and vowing that I will never be cold again. Looking at the thing, I will never be fashionable again, either. But if it's a trade for warmth, then I'll give up the style points!

In conclusion to gloomy-weather rant, and I'll finish with some cheerier thoughts- and a celebration of the hour or so that the sun took centre stage a few days ago. Our little family jumped for joy and dashed out for some dog-walking. Sensing our enthusiasm, Ellie took off for some mischief, like she really really meant it. Guess she knows when she can get away with it. At least there was no Badger Poop Rolling (her sport of choice), but she was under a fence and halfway across the field before we could blink. Squirrel?

Sometimes, nothing provides more happiness than the dog. Heres a toast to my future dachshund who- if he takes after me will have to be clothed in tights and capes of his very own next Winter.

Perhaps though, he will take after Cousin Arnold- a whirlwind of activity who hops through the snow drifts of Tahoe like he thinks he's a husky-dog. That's my boy. Here's hoping :)

YES, I can see my breath! (I love you, cold mornings)

Along with the elaborate task of compiling promo pieces, I have completed a new commission. Briefs don't get any better than 'Please draw a Highland Cow'. And I shall, with pleasure! Isn't it fitting for the season? It is the bovine embodiment of Autumn for me :)

Oh, and it's a noteworthy day on my Countdown Calendar, with exactly two months until I am reunited with Monsieur Pickle (he isn't French) for Christmas. Since those two weeks are sure to fly by once they finally arrive, I don't want to build up to it too much. Oh well, today I'll allow myself just a small helping of excitement. I realise I am only person on the planet already looking forward to Christmas. But I've got to go against public opinion this year. December being is eagerly awaited in this little corner of England!

That Friday feeling...

Had I known Blogger would be such an easy transition from my cumbersome Doodle Diary of yore, I certainly would have arrived here a long time ago. Better late than never, so the old saying has it. True enough, I suppose.

It's something like a relief to have so much to do at the moment. I stave off boredom with the stab of a pencil, and I'm fully immersed in that time consuming task of getting together some promo material to send off to various corners of the   publishing industry. I'm really only at the beginning, and will be tucked neatly behind my desk for a good while longer. The business of creating cards and booklets always leaves my mind in a bit of a spin,when I find myself unable to make a decision and stick with it. I've printed out mock-up postcards, argued with fonts and type, perused 5000 varieties of glossy cardstock and drawn a multitude of tea cups. There is a plan of sorts, but a day spent drawing teacups and cupcakes,feels difficult to justify, somehow. Is this really 'work'?It seems too much like fun...and I can't even complain about the calories. Life feels good today.