Illustration Friday - Climbing

Here's my rendition of 'climbing'. I had been doing some leaf printing with acrylic paint on rice paper last week and thought I'd combine one with a little snail in coloured pencil. The two have been digitally combined to create this image.

Mandarins

A page from my sketchbook for Chinese New Year - sweet, juicy Mandarin oranges (click to enlarge) .

Illustration Friday - Pale

It looked like Jason's holiday had got off to an embarrasing start. By falling asleep in the sunshine with his socks and sunglasses on, he had unwittingly highlighted his naturally pale skin!

Chinese New Year

It's almost Chinese New Year! Say goodbye to the Year of the Rat - this one will be the Year of the Ox.

I thought I'd share a few photos of the decorations, goodies to buy and amazing craftsmanship I've spotted around KL recently.

Boxes of yummy things!

Thought the boxes were really pretty, so just had to take a couple of close-ups too!

Festive Chinese lanterns.

Amazing pictures painted on the inside of glass!

Bamboo plants fashioned into pineapples! If you look closely you'll see a smaller one inside the large plant!


This lady makes beautiful cloisonne zodiac pictures.

I bought a little book containing 12 traditional papercuts representing the Chinese zodiac signs - pictured here are the Rat, Ox, Rooster and Snake. So intricate - wish I had such patience!



My zodiac sign is Goat! Want to find out what yours is? Click here


If you are interested you can find out more about Chinese New Year, its origins and traditions here and here.

'Kung Hei Fat Choy'/'Gong Xi Fa Cai'! Happy New Year!

A doodle a day

Well, I have been trying hard to keep up with the challenge of a 'doodle a day'- though I've been unable to post them individually. Here, then is a 'batch' posting instead. Click on the thumbnails for a larger image.

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Butterfly card

I folded this little butterfly from beautiful Japanese Chiyogami paper.




And made this card yesterday for my daughter who's just had an operation. Get well soon, Julie!

Illustration Friday - 'Contained'

I've painted another little mouse this week to illustrate 'contained'

Decisions, decisions!! Now which of the two pieces contained more calories?

Naughty Monkeys

Oh my! Look what greeted us when we got home from a shopping trip yesterday (click for a closer view)! A Frangipane tree destroyed and a mother with baby consuming the spoils on our bedroom balcony. I only managed to get one pic of them before she spotted me and bounded off into the safety of the neighbours' garden. Very sad about the tree - out of 5 or 6 in the garden only a couple haven't been completely stripped of their leaves.

Cherries

I love cherries! Following on from my last post with my illustration of Max the Mouse with his Cake, I thought I'd post another watercolour I've just completed. And for those of you who like eating them here's a recipe for Max's Cherry Cheesecake which is truly scrumptious!

Ingredients

75g butter
175g lite digestive biscuits, crushed
110g caster sugar
4 eggs, separated
50g chopped almonds
450g light cream cheese
3-4tbs Kirsch
half a jar of cherry jam, sieved
2tsps arrowroot
cherries for the top of cake, halved and stoned

Method

Grease base and sides of 8" cake tin with removable base. Melt butter and stir in biscuit crumbs. Press into tin and bake at 180 c/350 F for 10 minutes. Cool. Soften cheese with sugar and gradually add egg yolks, beating until smooth. Stir in almonds. Beat egg whites until stiff and carefully fold into cheese mix. Pour into tin and bake at 180c/350F for about 1 and a half hours. Cool and remove from tin. When cake is cold pierce top with a skewer and pour over a couple of tbs Kirsch. Bring the sieved jam to the boil with the remaining Kirsch then add arrowroot mixed with a little cold water. Cook until cleared and thickened. Arrange cherries on top of cake and brush jam glaze over top and sides to give an even coating. Chill thoroughly. Enjoy!!

Illustration Friday

I've decided to participate in Illustration Friday - a weekly illustration challenge. A topic is posted every Friday on the website and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation. Topics are picked each week from a list of suggestions that have been emailed by participants.


This week's topic is 'RESOLVE'





Undoubtedly Max's resolve had deserted him, as only days after having vowed not to indulge in sweet treats in 2009 he's been spotted feasting on Cherry Cheescake.

My ETSY Shop

I've finally re-opened my ETSY shop and will be stocking the shelves over the next week or so. Please drop by! The store is sporting a new banner for the New Year and to celebrate re-opening I'm offering Free International Shipping on all items!! I have spent the last few months whilst the shop was closed dreaming up new projects and hope to start working on these soon. In the meantime here are a couple of pics of a lovely necklace and album I've just listed.

Tibetan Silver and Carnelian Choker

Seashells Accordion folded Album

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to everyone!

To start the year I've made a new blog header in anticipation of all the creativity I am planning! I aim to be very busy this year creating something new every week - be it with paints, paper, fabric and threads, or photography, I'm really looking forward to this challenge and sharing it with you.