Illustration Friday - Stripes

©Caroline Soer

A piece from the archives for this week's Illustration Friday. Sleeping stripey cat on patchwork quilt collage.

Illustration Friday - Scary

  ©Caroline Soer 2011

 Scary (odd eyed!) ginger cat stalks poor little gecko!  A watercolour from the archives for this week's Illustration Friday.

By the way... there's still time to take part in my Giveaway!  I'm giving away a print of one of my two paintings of  Birds with Berries.  You can choose which you prefer. The deadline to enter the draw is tomorrow - 1st November!

For more details see the Giveaway  post below, but in a nutshell  I'm hoping to get a little more exposure for my Facebook art page, so if you'd like to be included in the draw to win a print of a Bird with Berries painting, just hop over there  and LIKE the page if you do!  Please also leave a comment in the Giveaway post below.  Thanks very much everyone who has taken part so far!!  And a big thank you too, to Kim Fleming   for publicizing the event on her new blog new blog for illustrators: Illustration Station  - do take a look - it's a super rescource for illustrators!

I'll be making the draw late tomorrow and will announce the winner here on Wednesday!  GOOD LUCK!

Illustration Friday - Influence

'Under the influence' ©Caroline Soer 2011

Some cats can't get enough of catnip! Here's one under the influence for Illustration Friday. Watercolour pencil with ink illustration.

Illustration Friday

'Odd-eyed cat' Lino print©Caroline Soer 2011

It's been months since I took part in Illustration Friday! This week's theme is 'imperfect'. I got out my lino cutters yesterday and quickly rolled off a rather imperfect lino print of an odd-eyed cat.

What a cheek!

This morning I was disturbed in my studio.

This monkey came in via the window and sat on Mum's desk!!!!! (You may recognise the photo from the day he came into the kitchen and stole frozen rice - story here). Mum was upstairs but came running and shouted like some crazy woman at him, but he got very cross and threatened her, lunging forward and baring huge yellow teeth and we were scared, so backed off quickly and slammed the door shut. MOL!!!

Mum was worried that he would create havoc in there so ran to fetch her camera to chase him away ( Monkeys don't like cameras!). Fortunately, that just gave him time to get back through the open window without losing face and when we carefully peeked around the door again he was making his exit and was off like a shot when he saw Mum with the camera.

It wouldn't have been a problem of course, one left hook from me and he'd have beaten a hasty retreat I'm sure!

Fortunately, no real damage done! He obviously didn't think much of Mum's sketchbooks - personally, I think he came in to play with the bubblewrap!

Flora and Fauna

I visited my neighbour Diana yesterday and took some pics in her garden. Though not the clearest of photos - bit of camera shake going on there - I think you can proabably see what this beautiful plant is is well enough.

Did you identify it? It's a pineapple flower!

And this is Diana's cat, Mr Tumnus, getting his exercise on the trampoline !

Apoligies again to my blogging friends for not visiting much - I've had my daughter Julie staying for a while and haven't had much time for blogging! Hopefully, I'll get around to you all soon again. Also, I am beginning to get back into the studio, so I hope I will have more arty stuff to share soon!

This n that 2

This is my daughter, Jules. The pic was taken last November in Dubai! More recently she and I have been setting up her new blog 'Nutrifit with Jules' - which, as of today is now officially up and running!

Click to visit blog

Jules is a final year student of Nutrition in Sydney and a practicing Personal Trainer. In her blog she will share great information about diet and exercise. She'd love you visit! You'll find interesting and useful articles and recipes to help you on your way to leading a healthy life!

I've still not had much inclination to put paint to paper in the studio, so here are a few more pics from my files. The first are of super walk we made recently at Taman Tar, quite close to our house . It's a really steep climb but what greets you when you get to the top makes it really worthwhile!

The steep steps through the rainforest.

Time to catch breath!

Nearly there!

At the top - you'd never expect this lovely tranquil scene !

Or that you are still so close to KL - those are the twin Petronas Towers in the distance.

Back at home it's been raining heavily most afternoons - here the pool is almost full!

The Bauhinia flowers are blooming in the garden - Dusky Leaf Monkeys find them delicious!

Uh oh - who's that over there?

Something on the prowl down there....

Hope you all have a good week!

Sketchbook Project

I signed up for the Sketchbook Project months ago and realised this week that I need to get going with it as the deadline for handing it in is January! So, without further ado here are my first few pages.

The front cover - my theme is 'In Flight'

Front and back covers



First double spread. I glued a map over the thin pages and drew this bird on top.

The pages are so thin that paint and glue will cockle the paper . Almost everthing but light pencil shows through on the other side, so this is going to be a challenge! On the left, I've collaged items to sturdier paper and glued to the other side of the map page. I then drew with coloured pencils. On the right I tried a carved rubber stamp - it shows through on the other side a little, but not too badly.

Feathers in pencil.




And here's who was watching me whilst I was drawing - a grumpy ol' black and white cat sitting on a black and white mat!

Greetings!

Hello - I've taken it upon myself to write this post as Mum is racing around like a headless chicken - has been for the last week really !



So, she's neglected her blog and I thought I should tell you that she's leaving me here in charge of the studio as she's heading for Dubai for something called 'THE WEDDING'. Whatever that is has meant the printer has been working overtime producing menus and place cards this week and she's had no time for sitting with me in the studio. The cases are packed with the posh frock and fancy shoes and she'll be back to tell you all about it in a couple of weeks! Purrs, Tia.

I believe I can fly!

Sweet dreams are made of this..


I believe I can fly!

You'd better believe it! Click the pic to listen to my one of Mum's favourites!

Simon's Cat - Caroline's Cat

New Simon's Cat video!




We move house a lot which means some great toys for the cats - these were terrific and specially for them there was a tiger on the front too! But in the absence of decent cardboard box to play in ...

a basket or plastic bag will do nicely, thanks!

Luckily I'm never without a feline to warm a sketch!

Any old sketch will do...

but a portfolio is superior!

Gifts in the post

I want to show you what I've received in the post recently! The cutest tuxedo cat card from Laurel with kind words for me and sage advice for Tia the cat after that little minx returned from her recent extended walkabout! The card even came with a matching detatchable bookmark ! I really love that envelope too - so prettily decorated. See that magpie postage stamp? It's from one of Laurel's original paintings! Thanks so much Laurel, you always find perfect things to send!

all artwork copyright Nicky Linzey

I am so lucky! Just when I needed cheering up having undergone some dental surgery last week, a package arrived from afar! As soon as I saw the postmark on the front of the envelope I knew it would be from Nicky! I'd been expecting this one for quite a while and it was definitely worth the wait - just look at what was inside....

artwork©Nicky Linzey

This is the illustration Nicky created created for Ripple . I was so happy to purchase it and will be having it framed to hang in my studio! The colours are so beautiful, don't you agree?

Poppies card©Nicky Linzey

She sent me this stunning poppy card too - love poppies!

handmade book ©Nicky Linzey

And as if that isn't enough... a wonderful little handmade book containing prints of Nicky's illustrations inspired by her visits to the beautiful Devon coast.

all artwork ©Nicky Linzey

Can you hear the waves and smell that sea air? This little book transports you to the coast, doesn't it? Thanks so much Nicky, I'll treasure it all.

If you've not yet met my talented blogfriends Nicky or Laurel where have you been? Do pop in to say hi - I guarantee you'll enjoy your visit!