Book Cover Competition - "The Princess and the Stinky Cheese" , "Goldilockup" and Mongoose's Holi Party

Final re-work...

Bonjour, good day and hi,  

The lovely Susanna Leonard Hill is running a competition for illustrators this month and as you can imagine I jumped straight in.  Last month Susanna ran a short story competition and there were 10 winners, you can read their stories here. The illustrators competition is to illustrate an 8x10 book cover for one of those stories... or more...

I choose, actually the story choose me... "The Princess And The Stinky Cheese" by Lauri Meyers.   I love love love Princesses ( I am one ) and the gooyier the runnier and stinkier the cheese I'm your gal.  Laurie's story jumped up and down and waved it's arms about and shouted to me to illustrate it...it wouldn't take no for an answer.  So there you have it, my illustration of Princess Peabody and the stinky cheese. Then there was Mike Allegra who in the comments section, jumped up and down and waved his arm about shouting "pick "Goldilockup", MY, story to illustrate".  What could I do... I couldn't ignore a writers' desperate plea,  so I whipped out my box of paints and charged to the challenge.  

Goldilockup

Loved Darshana Khiani's Mongoose Holi Party...so couldn't resist doing the cover for this one too... :) 

Mongoose's Holi Party

I'd like to say that it is was all plain sailing but who would have guessed that illustrating a darn smelly cheese would be so difficult.  Have popped some of my re-works below.  Love painting brick walls,  very therapeutic. Fingers crossed that the judges like my artwork... :)

Original watercolour :) 

Re-work stinky cheese take 3... still not working!!!

The cheese just wasn't working...

I'm happy to say that Lauri and Mike both love what I've done...

That's my Fun and Nonsense for now....let me know what you think.. :)

Cotton reels, teddy bear and sparkle. . .

I'm glad to report that my little Mojo is back. She went off on a round the world cruise just before Christmas, without so much as a by your leave.  She didn't even send me a postcard or a text to say she was ok and when she would be back.  She finally made it back to my Art Bunker early this week and everyone at Shelf Corner, especially me, is very happy to see her.

I knew Mojo was on her way back when earlier this week I was commissioned to do a logo.  One of my girlies and a cotton reel was the brief... I have a big mushy soft spot for cotton reels, especially the old fashioned wooden ones.  So I whipped out my old wooden reels and started sketching...

...as I sketched, my little Mojo came hurtling back suitcases full to bursting point with ideas. She plonked herself down and started to tell me about all the wonderful places she has visited over the last couple of months. (Umpf, alright for some).

A friend of mine became a Granny last week and I wanted to paint something for the new baby. Baby's Mum is a dressmaker...so cotton reels and teddy bears seemed just the thing... very happy to say that the sparkle is back.  Lets hope it stays for awhile... :)

That's my Fun and Nonsense... off to paint more cotton reels and baby teddy bears... :)
and to see what's going on at Sunday Sketches... :)

Messing with Lowry. . .

Hello...sorry I've been a bit quiet this week.  A nasty little Tummy Bug captured me and held me hostage for a day and it has taken me all week to get over the unpleasant experience.

I wasn't really in the mood to use my brain (seeing as it was feeling fragile after the whole Bug thing) I decided to copy a masterpiece. Copy is putting it a little strongly as you can see.

Shall we say I was Lowry inspired. I really enjoyed walking into that painting.  The girl with the red bow was all dolled up and off to meet her boyfriend. The little boy was on his way home from school but first he was going to go into Mr Wibbley's grocery shop to buy some sweeties. (Blackjacks and Fruit salad - hehe who remembers those?).  One girl was off to her art class and the others had lost their little dog and were looking everywhere for him.  I do hope they find that dog...

That's my Fun and Nonsense....there's a storm raging here so I'm off to see everyone at Sunday Sketches... :)

Hubba hubba. . .

Hello, grab a cuppa, a slice of cake and take a pew dears...

Here in my art bunker, there is the town of Desktop with it's colourful neighborhood of Sketchbook (all sorts of Fun and Nonsense goes on in there). Up on the hill you'll find the village of Shelf Corner and in the valley the teeny tiny hamlet of Underdesk. Not to mention the traveling circus that has spilled out of Sketchbook (all to do with the White Deer appearance) they are still causing quite a whoha. It's chaos here most of the time with comings and goings.  Anyway, this very afternoon there was a lull in the toing and frowings, a delicious quiet moment.

So I decided to get a bit of sketching done (all part of my PiBoldMo pledge). I asked Bur Wood to pose for me. Bur is Desktop's resident top male model. Between modeling contracts he doubles up as a lumber jack, which entails sharpening my pencils. The office girls, Cigar smokin Maud, Beryl and Thing wanted to model too. More the merrier I said and everyone took to their positions.

I was sketching my lovely models when in the distance we heard the 4 o'clock Tea Train pull into Art Bunker Station.  Oh lovely I said, we'll stop for a short break. Well, not only was there the delivery of tea and cake but also a new arrival to Desktop...

"Miss Hubba Hubba" -  Bur said with his wooden jaw dropping with a clunk. The office girls (except cigar smokin Maud) were agog. They had never seen anyone so pretty. Miss Hubba Hubba's real name is Kooki Kimono. She's a writer and wanted to apply for the job I had advertised in The Paper for, A Writer.

And that is my Fun and Nonsense for today...I'll be sharing with Lottie over at Paper Saturday, Sketch's Scribble's and Stuff and Sunday Sketches

PS.  I love to get back to everyone that leaves a comment on my blog but there are a lot of you that are (no-reply blogger) which makes it difficult and in some cases impossible.  To fix the problem you need to change the email setting in your Google+, just tick the box.. :)

Angel . . .

Here's a little Angel that I've been working on.  

She's off at the weekend to live with my friend, it's her Birthday.

I've never painted an angel like this before, am really pleased with way she turned out. You can't tell from the photo but she has sparkly wings....of course.

That's my heavenly Fun and Nonsense today.... :)

Draw the line. . .

Last week I had the kids at school drawing portraits using only one line...they loved it and after the holidays they will be tackling objects. I came across Nora MacPhail via Sunday Sketches and well her one line drawings are fabulous...take a look (actually all her artwork is wonderful).  I was so inspired I doodled away... my girlies started life as top models in a fashion magazine and then I turned them into the girls next door that you could have a cup of tea with or better still a glass of wine and a good natter... Just a little fun and nonsense on a Tuesday afternoon xx