Tag Archives: animals

National Pet Month

Each year, from 1st April to 7th May, National Pet Month advocates responsible pet ownership, raising awareness through educational campaigns and fundraising events.

As pet-lovers, we are encouraged to run our own events or getting involved in organised events across the country. They have so many ideas for raising awareness: a Supporters’ Toolkit to download, competitions and even teachers’ lesson plans! Why didn’t they have cool lessons like this when I was at school?

[block_grid type=”three-up”] [block_grid_item] An exercise in negative shapes - I considered drawing on black, but I'm so glad I stuck with the Storm Grey

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[/block_grid_item] [block_grid_item]Wishing you all a Happy and sunny Easter.

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The Bare Essentials

If you’ve been following my posts you’ll know that we’ve spent the last few months – in fact a year and a half – debating a home extension versus moving house and many other options, to find the space we need. A fair chunk of this fantasy was to include a studio.

I won’t traumatise you with the ins and outs of why we eventually opted to move.  But we’d made the decision and so our journey began.  Our home was particularly ‘busy’ (to put it nicely) and probably not too attractive to buyers. We had to completely rethink how we used the space and whittle our possessions down to the bare essentials.

So, with all my pastel drawing equipment safely hidden away in storage, our cramped cluttered home was transformed into a space that somebody could picture full of their own possessions and would actually want to buy. And eventually they did!

So here we are.

I absolutely love my sparkly new studio! It has everything I need. Walls, floor, light and SPACE! The only thing left to do is erect some shelving – next job after writing this blog!

And drawings? Well, I have been experimenting with all sorts. I conducted a secret ballot with members of my family to see which pictures were preferred – I didn’t want them influencing each other. I was particularly surprised to see how popular the rabbit is. I like it, but I wouldn’t have rated it compared to the others. However, this is a pleasing revelation as I had been thinking of drawing more wild animals, especially British wildlife. In fact my head is buzzing with all of sorts birds and mammals, I can barely make my mind up. If you have any ideas for animals you’d like me to draw, please let me know.

So, surrounded by boxes of paper and stacks of equipment, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have my cup of Yorkshire tea with soya milk and my gluten free Hob Nob. My studio is feeling a lot like home.

Some of the People and Animals That Have Kept Me Busy Lately