thank goodness for drawing...

... and my shop is open!

Two of my favourite new prints in my shop, which is NOW OPEN!

Drawing as solace, joy and community

Nothing like big world news to remind me just how much solace and joy, purpose and connection I get from drawing and how important these things all are in making a world we all want. I think drawing does this for me because of two things.

The first - I can’t help but notice magic when I draw. All the small things become interesting and beautiful. Like the way people hold their feet, or the angle of their hat or the crookedness of windows. The way a footpath curves or a step is worn fills my heart with some kind of connection to the past - curiousity for the lives of the people that have come before. The way people sit with each other. Walk past together or alone. Drawing makes me notice the details. The tiny things that are easily missed become something special. The world is sometimes heartbreaking. But it also usually beautiful and definitely always interesting. Drawing demands I keep noticing this.

And secondly - drawing for me is connection. Drawing connects me to a wonderful community of other people who also draw. People who also get obsessed with particular shades of pink, or the texture of a pencil and creaminess of a pastel. People who also fill their lives with the magic that is the world and notice the joy of a crooked window. And in addition, drawing also brings me a connection to the wider world through sharing the images I make. There is truly nothing like making something based on something I’ve noticed, or something I dream of, or something in my head, sharing it, and having people like it, reply to it or tell me it made them feel something. I feel like the luckiest person alive when this happens. It feels utterly unreal.

I started this week by heading out to draw with the wonderful illustrator Phoebe Roze in the heart of Edinburgh’s old town. We go out drawing a lot together and sometimes we talk more than we draw, but it always makes life better.

And then on Wednesday, I was so grateful to be distracted from the news by having planned a drawing session in an old graveyard with three wonderful women. The graveyard - a favourite with tourists and fans of Harry Potter - was surprisingly peaceful. We chatted. And after we’d talked politics, we all marvelled at the wonderful disorder of the rooftops and what it would be like to live in an apartment overlooking the graves (we all thought this would be a good idea). Then we sat mostly in silence while we all scribbled with paint and pencils and made something different from what we could see in front of us. I made two images, neither of which are great, but that’s not really the point. Looking at them again now, I still feel the peace and solace of the making.

And to the shop… it’s finally open!

For all those who’ve message me and asked for prints, I’m sorry it’s been so long! And I am also sooooo grateful for your lovely encouragement, asking me to open it again. So, hurrah, finally, my shop is open again for a short time only - closing again midnight (GMT) Sunday 17th November.

It is filled with pieces that I have painted or drawn for my own delight, often bringing to life a world I wish existed, or pulling out the magic from the one that is. And I am so proud and pleased with them all. There are old favourites in here but also some new things.

I have spent the first part of this year finishing two books (out next year). And the second half exploring my own story development. I have now illustrated seven books written by others (which I love to do) but it also felt like maybe it was time to try writing my own. Part of this was a lot of play time and I have here some highlights of that to share. I really enjoyed developing a story about a girl and her dog and their remote mountain home. My two new favourite pieces are from this exploration and I’m holding them in the top photograph. They are two playful mountain scenes. I imagine one to be up high where the snow has already started falling, and the other down lower in the valley where it is still very much autumn. I experimented a lot with colour and shape and line in these. They were inspired in part by a trip to Norway and some people have said they also remind them of Japan. I like this, as I love Japan.

Another highlight from this body of work for me were pieces I made of my girl and dog out in their gigantic landscape. I have made prints of my two favourite of these.

This one above was supposed to be that moment when the rain starts to pass and the sun comes out and everything turns to gold. I bought a gold oil pastel during the year and I have loved the rich creamy warmth it can bring to images.

And then, this one below, called The Storm, was made quickly with much bigger brushes than I usually use and although it’s not got the detail I usually lean into, it feels to me like it captured something of the bold, wild, fast energy that is part of a big storm. Storms, rain and wild windy weather make me feel alive and I love to make images that capture this.

There are also a few new prints celebrating landscapes that I love.

There is a new one of a Cornish bay in summertime that I pained last summer. I loved immersing myself in the pinks and greens and beautiful whiteness of the houses. There is nothing like the colours of Cornwall broken up by its incredibly picturesque white washed cottages.

I’ve also popped in two of my favourite images I’ve made inspired by autumn in the Scottish Highlands. Autumn is magic up in the mountains. The colours get so rich and often the weather dramatic. I loved painting these two.

I’ve made a print of my most recent drawing that I talked about in my last substack post based on a recent visit to the Stockholm Archipelago. It was autumn and everything was golden. I fell in love with the colourful timber houses nestled in granite rocks in the sea all complete with gardens that seemed to contain apple trees dripping with the fruit. I painted this imagining I lived there and had a fabulous kitchen where I could use those apples and turn them into pie.

There’s also an older travel piece based on beautiful Alkmaar in the Netherlands and a couple of different ones of Edinburgh, my new and current home. I love trying to create the atmosphere of a beloved place in an image. Sometimes, for me, this means starting with reality and enhancing it. Adding things I wish were there - like trees or snow - or combining multiple memories into one image.

Another favourite image is called Whale Song. I painted this as part of an online painting challenge about winter, but this one just stood out for me. I find such a peace when I look at it. Peace and magic entwined which I think is one of my favourite things to feel when I look at artwork.

There are many others also!

Thank you!

To have the time to make this work, the great privilege that is getting to spend a large amount of my life making pictures, is all because of all of you! It really is true. The support you give me - the comments, the likes, the sharing, the beautiful messages of appreciation - fuel me. Literally, by helping me get found by clients and through print purchases, but also through making me feel that creating all these things is worthwhile. Experiencing our magical world, feeling all the delight and joy and wonder and getting to make things from this, share them AND have this appreciated is everything. is I am so overwhelmingly grateful.