Bunny Christmas

Bunny Christmas is now in my Etsy shop!

Sorting through 'stuff'

I've been sorting through some of my stuff, and found some really great things! Here is a lovely old black and white photograph of my school art room. It was called 'Bargates', in the little market town of Leominster, Herefordshire. We had to walk about a mile through the town to get to it, by which time, most of the lesson had gone! Happy days, I spent many, many happy hours at good old Bargates, drawing and painting. Life seemed so much simpler then, no such thing as a pc or a mac! But I suppose everything is relative - I remember getting my first rotring pen, and a mechanical pencil, high tech indeed!

Illustration Friday

This week the topic is 'Repair'. I have been working on this little person for some time now, so here he is with his hammer and ruler, all ready to repair something!

Venezia

I thought I'd post a few pics of Venice - we were there for a few days this summer. It's the most incredible place; yes, there are loads of tourists, but this does not stop Venice working its magic! The whole place is an assault of the senses, it's somehow so alive and vibrant......Hope you enjoy the pics!

A little something about myself.......

I think I should say a little more about myself, so that if anyone out there does come upon this, you will get to know me a bit better. I went to Herefordshire College of Art and Design, way back in 1980 to do a one year Foundation Course. Following this, I attended Maidstone College of Art, where I graduated with BA (hons) in Graphic Design. Have you noticed that almost every college / higher education estabilshment has a trendy new name now? It's so confusing......Anyway, my time at Maidstone was rather grim, as I didn't particularly enjoy the course. I studied 'Communication Design', and spent a lot of time in a grant enlarger (remember them?) and making PMT's (that's photo mechanical transfer, not pre-menstrual tension!) All I could think about was that students on the prestigious Illustration course were doing much more exciting things, and I was frustrated and sad most of the time. Oh, if only I could turn the clock back, I would not have wasted all that time, but seized the opportunity and listened to all the great lecturers we had. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, however, so I left Maidstone and became a Community Worker, mainly in the field of mental health - where I still am to this day. In 1995 I attended the Cardiff Institute of Higher Education (yes, it has a new name now too!) and did a one year PGCE in Art and Design. This equipped me to become an Art teacher in a secondary school - Yikes! How scary is that!

Actually, it was OK being an art teacher, as you were able to be more laid-back and a 'cool' teacher, but it was still pretty full-on at times, and all this kind of makes you just want to be by yourself, somewhere warm and secure, with nice country views and the furry types of friends who eat mice and sleep a lot....... Solitude, peace and silence; these are the things I crave now. Just to be left relatively alone to draw and paint, and think my own thoughts.......bliss!

Scotland Unltd Cards

These are the cards I have been working on with people with additional support needs.

In the summer I recieved a Level 1 Award from Scotland Unltd, which has enabled me to work with people with additional support needs on a small publishing project. We aimed to produce a range of 8 greetings cards, which would be suitable for any occassion. I need to work out how to set up an Etsy shop thingy, so if anyone wants to buy them, they can!

This is a drawing of the Jumble Sale Rabbit. I use Karisma coloured pencils on CS10 paper.

Here are a couple of photo's to show you how I got the idea to name my blog 'Jumble Sale Rabbits'. I have always been an avid collector of affordable old things, junk really I suppose, as I'm hardly an antiques expert!
I feel really sad when I find poor, abandoned old toys in charity shops and jumble sales, especially if they have an eye or an ear missing......so, I buy them, and they come to live here with me at Chateau Buskitten, where they get well looked after and loved! I had an exhibition at The Silk Top Hat Gallery in Ludlow many years ago, called 'Jumble Sale Rabbits and Half Stuffed Bears'. I thought it would a good name for my blog - so here it is!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to my blog. This is the first time I've ever done anything like this, it's very exciting!
I am an artist and illustrator, living and working in beautiful South West Scotland. I hope to be able to share something of my life with you, and show you my work.
I can't believe anyone will actually read this - but here goes!