green lady

Finally! I've been working on the beer label design for the Green Lady Brewery Company. As the brewery-cum-wineshop is housed in a pretty impressive art deco building, I wanted the label to reference that a little, while still being modern.

So, for inspirado, I turned to the books of Vogue covers and 1920s fashion illustration I bought when I was, gosh, 15! I looked at these so often as a teenager, even decades later I still know nearly all the illustrations by heart.

Just to mix it up, and because I thought the green lady - a ghost who supposedly haunts the brewery of Dunnottar Castle - should be slightly more ethereal than a 1920s flapper, I channeled another of my teenage obsessions in the form of some Alfons Mucha style art nouveau.

(As an aside, it would seem nearly all Scottish castles are haunted by a green lady, so make of that what you will!).

Here's first look at the initial visuals. To keep it current and add shelf impact, I've added a slightly irreverent bottle of beer (a nod to the ubiquitous flapper cigarettes which were obviously Vogue illustrator shorthand for an emancipated lady!) and rendered the illustration in a flat, solid colour graphic style (flat design is everywhere at the moment).

Still some fairly major tweaking of layout and typography to do, and that's assuming the Green Lady Brewing Co. are even happy with the direction the artwork is taking, but I'm pleased with how the visuals have turned out so far...

and super creeps

A sneaky snippet from my latest Juno illustration, winging its way to the editor as I type. As usual I can't say or show too much before the summer issue hits the news stands, suffice to say it looks even creepier here with the retro snapsneed photo effect applied! But I promise to try and remember to post it in full - hopefully on the new blog - when it is finally published.

In other news, I have been approached to take an after work art class for adults - despite being a little bit (healthily!) nervous about it, I'm actually really excited now. More details when I have them!

Edit: Yes! I have kinda sneakily referenced the mighty Bowie in my last two posts - thought it only polite since he kindly invited the whole of Scotland to "stay with him"!

scary monsters

On my drawing board* today... Don't have nightmares!

finished...

*it's actually on the kitchen table (I do have a drawing board in the little studio, but I still prefer working in the kitchen. Possibly due to the proximity of the kettle!).

pigeon pickle

I realised today why two wood pigeons have been hanging about my teeny back garden lately. Obviously the lack of cats these days, coupled with the fact we've not been in it much over the winter, had led them to believe it was a people-free oasis of calm (and not the playground of small boys and Maine Coon it actually is) and they were busily building a nest in one of the larger bushes. Rather than let them get on with it (and discover later that it really wasn't the kind of neighbourhood to bring up small pigeons!), I thought it best to let them find out now, before their bird architecture progressed beyond the foundation stages. Sweeping up and banging shed doors open and shut wasn't doing much to dissuade them, just stressing them out (they're quite big, flappy and scary up close!), so I turned to Facebook with the pic above in the hope some of my more nature savvy friends might know how to gently persuade them to move on...

Turns out sticking an iPad in their face to take a pic for Facebook does the trick - half built nest now hurriedly vacated!

secret caves and castles

A whole glorious week with my boy in front of me - we started today with a walk up the cliffs to Dunnottar Castle, stopping for a picnic on the little pebble beach below the castle entrance. That's my friend's boy in the centre, J is actually the small white speck in the distance to the right of the picture, off to explore the cave beyond (the verdict? It smelled of pee, apparently! I gave it a miss!).

in the frame

Something I've been meaning to post for a while: my Blessings illustration print which went to Brisbane, Australia in 2013, framed and ready to give to its intended recipient (a doula teacher). It was so kind of Emma to send me the pic, and I absolutely love her choice of mount!

I've also teamed up with The Nappy Laundry Company, who are now selling Blessings prints and cards in their online shop. If you have a wee one, check out their amazingly cute cloth nappy range!

lovely things countdown

It's all been happening here, what with the Morse book, my greetings cards sales and my new website currently under construction, not to mention two upcoming Juno illustrations and the Green Lady beer label... so much, in fact, I forgot to mention my visit to the Glasshouse the other week! Lots of lovely things by lots of local artists and designers - the picture is of some of the cards I picked up at the event (I have a long wish list of things I wanted to take home!). But seeing them all together like this gave me an idea - as I'm counting down to website launch day now, and will also be making the transition from blogger to a new home, I'm putting together a collection of fabulous treats for a site warming/launch day giveaway... More soon!

on hold

Nope, not a belated April fool, it is in fact true that my much talked about, new and improved website is actually beginning to materialise! Having lost the will to update the previous ones years ago due to them looking so, well, utterly shit, I can't even begin to describe how excited I am about this! There's a holding page only at the moment (featuring the Juno illustration above), while I embark on the steep learning curve that will be me and web design... but it's a start and most definitely progress.