Illustrator
lllustration depicting bird saviour Emily Williamson who co-founded the Society for the Protection of Birds in the late 19th century. As a result of her campaigning, the use of exotic bird feathers in hats decreased over time.
Joel and I have spent the last 3 weeks touring the Netherlands sketching, painting and sightseeing. There is a lot to see. The Dutch and Flemish Old Masters are probably some of my favourites in art history. We were fortunate to see famous paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer and van Gogh, as well as lesser known painters (but equally amazing, in my opinion) Frans Hals, Peter Paul Rubens, Jan Brueghel, Hans Holbein and originals by illustrators Rien Poortvliet (more on this in another post), Jan Voerman Jr. and Anton Pieck. Joel and I are saturated with art history and I can honestly report: it is a good thing.
The weather was fantastic for plein air sketching and so Joel and I did a fair bit of it on this trip. We even painted a straight-up landscape, which is something we normally don’t do. I was very distracted by ducks and geese while sketching on this trip. There are tons of them because of the canals everywhere and they would often come really close and quack at you!
Most of these sketches are available as prints in my shop.
In preparation for mine and Joel’s trip to Wales this spring, I have be re-reading the Mabinogion (collection of Welsh folktales). I’ve always been inspired by Celtic mythology to create my illustrations, so I’m hoping that a trip to the actual place will add another layer of inspiration to my work.
This is Rhiannon on her white horse when she is first glimpsed by Pwyll.
Here is a little study of a door in Provence, France. The goal here was to create texture without becoming too painterly, therefore using black and sepia inks in addition to watercolour to try and achieve that.
