Illustration Friday

'Man in the Moon' - pearlescent acrylic ink- ©Caroline Soer

Satellite is the word this week at Illustration Friday. The Moon is a natural satellite - here's my 'Man in the Moon' - a design I made back in 1995 for a child's bedroom mural. It's too big for my scanner, so this is a photo - the quality isn't great, and unfortuntely you can't see the iridesence of the ink either, but you get the idea, I hope!

Sun - acrylic ©Caroline Soer

This is the design for the sun.

Stars - acrylic paintings ©Caroline Soer

And some cheerful little stars!

Illustration Friday - Paisley

Paisley Allium

This week's Illustration Friday word is 'Paisley'. After struggling with a couple of ideas for this topic, I suddenly remembered the two lovely vintage paisley shawls which act as throws over chairs in my sitting room! I relieved one of its duty and scanned the fabric. With its beautiful patterns and muted colouring, I thought it would work well as a digital pattern to fill a flower silhouette from a fun font I found a couple of years ago over here.

vintage paisley shawl

Paisley Nerines

vintage paisley shawl


Paisley Roses

Illustration Friday - Ripple

'Ripple- Hermit Crab 1' - mixed media 3.5 x 2.5 inches - © Caroline Soer

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Ripple is the word for Illustration Friday this week. IF has teamed up with Kelly Light who started Ripple Blog to raise money to help the animal victims of the Deep Water Horizon Gulf Oil Spill. Now artists from all over the world are contributing illustrations for the cause. A card costs just $10 and every penny is donated. The two Non-profit organisations that are benefitting are The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies and The International Bird Rescue Research Center. Please visit Ripple Sketches to see some wonderful art and have the opportunity to purchase a card by donating directly to one of the non-profits. You then just need to email the confirmation and your address to ripplesketches@verizon.net. The artist will then mail you the signed card.

Below are two more cards I have made to donate to the cause. The set has been created with watercolours and ink, with some collage, on gessoed mountboard.

'Ripple- Hermit Crab 2' - mixed media 2.5 x 3.5 inches - © Caroline Soer

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'Ripple- Hermit Crab 3' - mixed media 3.5 x 2.5 inches - © Caroline Soer

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Return of the wanderer

Tia decided to pack her bags and leave home for a 'holiday' two weeks ago. She's had us all really worried - especially since Charlie Cat did a runner never to return. So, we've had the whole neighbourhood on Tia alert ! We posted notices on lampposts and delivered over 150 flyers to mailboxes! There followed sightings of 'Tia' all over the place, and we now know there are several similar black and white cats in the area! She had been seen near the field, along this road and down that lane, then two guys from the school showed up clutching a tiny frightened kitten on their motorbike and staff at the nearby restaurant were convinced they had her too - in fact, they had two cats for us to choose from! Then finally, on Wednesday, a neighbour thought she saw her near the jungle several minutes walk from here and we were all on the case - monkeys included!

We called and called morning and late afternoon in the pouring rain - to no avail,

but then.... after dinner that evening, during a heavy downpour, a bedraggled Tia finally made it home! Soaked to the skin and looking very thin, there she really was at the door! Dried off and with a full tummy she settled down to a long, long sleep!

Poor mite - she slept for nearly two days!

I'm happy to say that she is settling back in well to her role as studio cat again, thoroughly enjoying being pampered and making the most of her home comforts after her big adventure!
All's well that ends well!

Gifts in the post

Bird Lady ©Cathy Connolley

I've had some lovely things dropping in my mailbox lately !

Cathy of One Pink Goose recently had a giveaway and I was a very lucky winner of her print of 'Bird Lady'! Thanks so much Cathy - she's lovely! I've been reading Cathy's blog for a while now and look forward to her posts where she shares her own and other artists' work each week. If you haven't already visited her, do pop over to her blog and visit her website which is a treat too - I love Cathy's stylised black and white drawings .

cards by Laurel Gaylord

I've been pampered by the wonderfully caring Laurel of Studio Lolo! She sent me lots of goodies - Poppy napkins -because she knows how much I love those flowers - and a set of her beautiful cards - my favourite is the Magpie! Multi-talented Laurel has these available in her shop here!

Many of you will have met Yoon See of Greener Pastures in Malaysia - she's such a thoughtful person! She very kindly sent me a package of goodies of prints of her colourful art work and two cute little kitties she made herself, to cheer me up after my recent operation. Thank you very much Yoon See - the kitties and you are very sweet!

♥Thank you very much Ladies ♥

Back again!

I've been travelling!

I've just spent two weeks in Dubai, where I had a wonderful time staying with my daughter Louisa!

Louisa is getting married to her partner Matt in November this year and the purpose of my visit was to get down to the very serious business of wedding shopping with her and to discuss the myriad of details that go into organising this special event. We visited bridal boutiques and viewed the venues. We discussed colour schemes and table decorations, flowers, bridesmaids' dresses, hair and makeup, invitations, menus and cakes and much more!

photos http://www.upscaleandposh.com/wedding/

You may have gathered that the wedding will have a beach theme! Dubai will be perfect with its white sandy beaches and lovely weather at that time of the year. The wedding ceremony will take in the Marina Garden at this fabulous location

Burj Al Arab Hotel - (designed to resemble a billowing sail)

and will be followed by a reception at the nearby Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

Jumeirah Beach Hotel - (designed as a breaking wave)

Villa Beach Restaurant

all photos Jumeirah Hotels

So, the venues are sorted, the colour scheme chosen and 'the' dress has been ordered! Lots of details have been decided but there's still lot to do - thankfully, there's still 5 months to go! I did manage to buy my dress too - just the small matter of losing a few pounds so that it fits less snugly!!

Whilst over in Dubai I also managed to spend a few days catching up with my talented artist friend Judy Roberts. Judy paints in oils and acrylics, she etches and creates digital images, is a whizz with coloured pencils and a camera and as if that's not enough, she's a crafter extraodinaire! This wonderful image of a falcon of hers is one of my favourites.

Falcon ©Judy Roberts


And isn't this Saluki gorgeous?

Saluki ©Judy Roberts

You can view more of Judy's work here and over at 2RGalleries, the site she shares with her equally talented husband, Colin, who as well as expertly carving sandstone also makes super woodens items. These include coasters, walking sticks, bottle stoppers and handy little handbag/purse hangers (to keep your bag safe at the table when in a restaurant or bar!) featuring special coins and United States military emblems (see below).

Handmade Bottle Stopper featuring old coin ©Colin Roberts

Handbag holders featuring US military emblems ©Colin Roberts

Together Judy and Colin run an original gifts company with many of the items handmade by the pair - be sure to pay them a visit at 2RGalleries!

P.S. I lost my camera in Dubai :( so unfortunately have none of my own photos to share this time.