Teddy in the Snow

Well last night we on the East Coast got hammered by snow. So I have been snug as a bug in a rug crocheting up a storm. I crocheted this little teddy who looked so cold I decided he needed a sweater. You can make your own sweater toting bear by getting the pattern here.

Was it snowing in your neck of the woods? We only got about a foot of snow in Baltimore. How much did you get?

Do any of you sell prints of your work online? I live in the USA so I use Imagekind and they really produce gorgeous prints and prints on canvas. The problem is if people in Europe order them because then the postage is high. So I decided to open a UK based print on demand shop and am now over at Redbubble so that peeps in Europe can get cheap postage when buying my prints. Check out my shop! Let me know if you have used Redbubble and whether you think its a great company.

I'm also joining in with the Hookin on Hump Day Blog Hop:

Pugs Go Wild in a Cake Shop

I did this humorous cartoon today of some pugs going crazy in a cake shop in the 1950s (just click on the image to see it in more detail). It was so much fun to do. I am going through an anthropomorphic in my art and loving it. Let me know if it tickles your funny bone.

I grew up in England and voraciously read all the Giles cartoons. His recreation of the battle axe that was grandma was nothing short of genius. And I preferred his cartoons done in the Daily Express when they were black and white. This is an example:

I  was also influenced by the Rupert the Bear comics in which Rupert Bear has many adventures with his pals badger and pug. Now I look at it I am amazed at how little this pug resembles a real life pug although he is still cute. However Rupert's adventures were mesmerizing.

Prints of the pug cartoon can be bought at this link at Imagekind

Paint Party Friday for Tracey

Hi, today at Paint Party Friday we are celebrating and showing our support for Tracey who is undergoing chemotherapy for Breast Cancer. As well as being a wonderful artist she is also brave and has a great sense of humor. Everyone joined in with a tea party art tribute in Tracey's honor. She loves painting tea paraphernalia including mugs, cups, teapots and teabags so I did this illustration of two retro cool cats having a cuppa. A collage of all the paintings in honor of Tracey can be seen over HERE.Y

You can buy this cat print, tshirt, mugs, cushions etc. if you click on this link at Redbubble. 

It's a Crafty Business

this link

How exciting! Saturday was my first time selling my stuff at a crafts fair! I took all my little amigurumis with me. The fair took place at a school and the kids were enraptured by all my little creatures and they sold like hot cakes. The owls were especially popular with the budgies a close second.

In the end all the animals sold out so I will start crocheting a bunch for next year. I got several custom orders and would love to do more in the future. My crochet hook is for hire so if you need a particular animal made, a Christmas stocking, or anything else just email me emmakcontact[at]yahoo.com

One of my owls twit-ta-wooing on my Christmas treee

I wonder whether owls will be in next year or some other animal!? No matter, I will just crochet a whole range of the critters. Owls are super-easy to crochet and you can use this free pattern as a starting point and then let your imagination run wild with a range of colors - great for using up scraps of wool.

I was also showing off my portfolio for the pet portraits and everyone was really impressed. It was a bit exhausting but it was really fun to talk to people and get feedback on my art. I suppose I am not really that reclusive but when you are working on your art you are in your own little creative world. So it was smashing to get some positive feedback.

And if you need any last minute prints of my art check out my store at Redbubble. Just click on this link to see prints from $24.

If you sell your art or crafts at crafts fairs tell me about your experiences. Is it worth it? 

Linking up with #AllAboutYou Pin Party
 

Feline Groovy

What can I say? I am totally crazy about cats. There are cat people and there are dog people. I do like dogs but even though I constantly pestered my mum to get me a Jack Russell dog as a child she never did so my companions were always cats. Maybe that's why I became more of a cat person .....who knows?

I know that many cats are not loyal. And that sometimes you notice that your cat is going to all the neighbors, giving a plaintive wail and receiving many treats. But I don't care how duplicitous they are. They are so chic!

David Bowie cat

 I am even allergic to cats but that does not stop my passion. I had a pure white cat as a child and she was such a diva. She was a rescue cat and at the beginning she was so traumatized she would only stay in my wardrobe. She vanted to be alone like Greta Garbo. But after a while she warmed up to me and would cuddle on my lap but she would sometimes turn around and bite me. Still, she was the Mae West of cats. She wore a fake diamond collar.

Here's my latest cat portrait.....Cat Daydreaming....of which I have prints for sale over at Imagekind [click link].

Sing along with The Stray Cats "I got cat class and I got cat style"




If there is any justice in his world may I please come back as a cat. Eating and sleeping all day and wearing a fabulous (and humane) fur coat and prancing about on the pads of my feet all day. Divine.

What animal would you like to be reincarnated as?

Girls Splashing at the Pool

Girls Splashing at the Pool, mixed media

As they say in Britain where I come from it's brass monkies out there! The expression is both rather charming and rather crude when you find out what it means but it is still a cute phrase meaning it's getting rather nippy out there!

Living in Baltimore has been something of a shock to the system for a woman born on a sodden island. Here the summers are so incredibly hot and humid that you have to spend your days up to your neck in water like a hippo if you want to feel semi-human! But now that it is Fall and the leaves are all turning orange suddenly I start missing summer, the humidity, drinking iced tea by the pool and even the screeches of kids while I try to 'chillax' with a copy of People Magazine.

So I'm linking this image I did called 'Girls Splashing at the Pool' to Paint Party Friday because I love how the girl in the front is screaming. It is so wonderful to just let all your pent up energy out sometimes! But it gets more socially unacceptable as you grow into adulthood. It is watercolor overlaid with chalky pastel.

Here's looking forward to winter and looking back at one swelteringly hot summer .....

When Pug Met Chameleon

Reading about how Marvin Gaye's estate is suing Robin Thicke for imitating Gaye's song in Blurred Lines got me thinking about art and whether any image is really original. I guess we are all subconsciously influenced by many pictures we have seen over the years when we create art.

After I did my picture of When Pug Met Chameleon and posted it on Facebook my German friend who I do a German literature class with commented that she remembered that when we read Bernhard Schlink's Das Maedchen mit der Eidechse/Girl with Salamander we also looked at a picture which might have influenced me subconciously:

Das Maedchen mit der Eidechse by Ernst Stueckelberg

My German teacher had a point, indeed, the similarities are quite strong. But the pug's expression in my painting is more terrified. Isn't it amazing the way images get stuck in one's head?