a wolf, a sheep and a wild thing

 The wolf and the sheep are part of a larger illustration for Juno, which I'll post when the new issue comes out... however... some nonsense chat with J as I was drawing it may have sparked the beginnings of a story... You may see these two again!

The wild thing is my gourd-based tribute to Maurice Sendak (or a psychotic bear, entirely depending on your viewing angle) and an incredibly rushed addition to our Halloween festivities this evening.

an ambiguous wolf

'a wolf waving from behind a tree'

Is it a friendly wave or something more sinister? I'm not sure...

howling snarling prowling snapping

Ha, can you tell what kind of mood I am in today?!

This friendly little chap has been prowling in my head for weeks and tonight he finally got let loose...

These are the rough sketches, the final work will be... well, probably a little more disturbing. I have an idea to use a quote I am in love with, it starts "just around the corner...". But I will see how it develops.

those damn puppets

Ah, a long time since I last posted due to the ongoing puppet design job. I finished, finally, this morning (although I still am on tenterhooks for the phone call from the printer with a problem!). The title of the post is a homage to all my lovely friends who have been saying this to me whenever I have been unable to join them to do anything for the last two weeks!

Now I'm free to carry on with the Growing Boy and to let out the wolf image that has been gnawing around in my head...

the dog run

Over the winter I have been giving Kenzie the husky the run of the garden, with the result that it now resembles just that - a huge dog run! Hence the only photographs I am showing are in extreme close-up!

I am amazed by the amount of destruction one dog can wreak without really even trying, it's actually quite impressive... However, as this is the year I plan to start my herb garden and also want to plant a mini orchard, it's time to rein in Kenzie's destructive gardening tendencies so I've splashed out on a kennel with a dog run. It will arrive next week and I can begin to reclaim the garden. It also means Jack's small friends can come over to play without fear of being bowled over by an overenthusiastic 'wolf'! It's a pity wolves get such a bad press in kids stories - it means most children are terrified of her before she's even had a chance to do anything! (and in reality, she's just a big softie anyway).

If I feel brave enough I may post before and after garden pics... talking of gardening pics, I finally got round to updating the growing boy blog