Guinea Pig Around the World

Guinea Pig in London

I have started a series of artworks called Guinea Pig around the World in which an unbearably cute guinea pig finds himself travelling the globe and ending up having some fun adventures like tea with the Queen, and wandering the moonlit streets of Paris to buy a freshly baked baguette.

Guinea Pig in Paris

Guinea Pig in Venice

He has also been to Venice, steering a gondola down the canals

I think he will definitely be wearing a kilt in Scotland, and I fancy he will take a ride in a kangaroos pouch in Australia. And I know he is going to be riding the Orient Express at some point and a camel in Egypt is definitely on the cards.

Do let me know where you think guinea pig should go next ..... Also please vote for my little guinea pig HERE on Bored Panda.

Woo hoo! Excited to be part of the Animalism exhibition at the Escape Gallery here in Baltimore. If you are in Baltimore do go check it out. The exhibition runs until 10 April. Profits to the Maryland SPCA.

Art by Emma Kaufmann at the Animalism Exhibtion

Giraffe Baby by Emma Kaufmann

Prints of these Guinea Pig images can be bought here as Greeting Cards, Tshirts, prints etc.

Linking up with Paint Party Friday and Brilliant Blog Posts :

Strike a pose with Ludwik

Move over Kate Moss, Heidi Klum and Kendall Jenner

................there's a new supermodel in town.....and in a world where women rule.....Ludwik is a male supermodel extroardinaire

Not tall dark and handsome

But small pink and wrinkly....................yet HIS ability to strike a pose is legendary. No one knows his way around a banana like Ludwik.

Ludwik the Skinny Guineapig has an instagram account with 37K followers. He know's how to work it, baby

Anyway I fell in love with this adorable creature and because it was the first day of spring I imagined him busily working in the garden. Tell me what you think!

Ludwik in the Garden (watercolor)

Prints of Ludwik in the garden available TO BUY HERE

Linking up with Paint Party Friday and Brilliant Blog Posts :





 guinea pig art art for sale

Zing into Spring

We have gone from freezing cold to full on boiling hot spring-a-ding-a-ling. Get the cocktails on ice, throw a shrimp on the barbie.....ooh it does feel rather electrifying to be walking around in shorts and once more having to care about whether or not one's legs resemble a forest before baring all.

The longer I live in America the brighter my colors become. I wonder if I would ever have been able to paint anything as cheery and bright as 'Chipmunk and Friend' in rainy old England? Do you find your style of painting changes if you are living in a damp/depressing or hot/tropical climate?
 

Chipmunk and Friends

The only downside to spring is the sun highlights the huge tribes of dust bunnies that have accumulated under the bed and shines a rather unwelcome light onto the smeary, dirty surfaces that I quite happily ignore in winter. But there is something about spring that makes even a borderline slob like me reach for the bleach bucket and roll up their sleeves..... and having a good old scrub before lying down satisfied with a big mug of tea and a stack of chocolate digestives.

Are you feeling the zing of spring yet?

That reminds me...when I come back in my next life I want to be a sloth. What wonderful creatures. I painted one the other day. I will chant this to myself every Monday:

Prints, cushions, mugs of this design are available at Society6 and Etsy. Linking up with Brilliant Blog Posts and Paint Party Friday
 

Siamese Cat and Butterfly

Happy Friday!

I've had a busy week finishing up this pet portrait commission of a border collie. It was one of those cute dogs with one blue and one brown eye. It turned out rather dramatic.

I also pained a Siamese Cat and butterfly. I was trying to do something a little different, a little askew with the composition. Prints are available here.

Siamese cat and butterfly (acrylic inks)

Hope you've had a fabulous week. We had lovely balmy spring weather but today it started snowing again. Oh well, it does look rather beautiful......

I also decided to post my creative workspace on instagram as part of the #meetthemaker tag - warts and all. I do TRY and keep it tidy but it always explodes into life! I do work better in chaos....I don't know why but I feel so much more creative in chaos.

Well that's my excuse anyway and I'm sticking to it.

Yes of course I can't find anything. And yes of course I frequently put my brush into my cup of tea.

Maybe I should buy these mugs as a reminder of what goes where:

Anyway it doesn't really matter. I can't kill myself as I don't use oil paints......


I share my studio with my guinea pig Marshmallow. I work to a background of squeaks and scrabbles.

What is your workspace like? Do you keep it tidy or not? Do you need chaos to function?


Linking up with Brilliant Blog Posts and Paint Party Friday
 

It's a Raccoon's Life

For those of you who don't know it Pumpkin is an instagram sensation that just won't quit. Yes Pumpkin is a one year old rescue raccoon who after tumbling out of a tree as a baby and after being abandoned by her mother, was adopted by Rosie Kemp.

This adorable raccoon lives with the family dogs Toffee and Oreo and seems to think she's a dog, uses a toilet and loves watermelon. She also has 615,000 instagram followers. You must follow her ....I guarantee you will fall head over heels with this charming girl.

The interesting thing is Pumpkin lives in the Bahamas. At first I thought WHAT? How can a raccoon even live in the Bahamas...wouldn't they be too hot? It seems that raccoons were introduced to the Bahamas at some point a few centuies ago and that this species is now called the Bahaman Raccoon, and is smaller than the more common raccoon. It adapted that way due to a process called insular dwarfism, and has a more delicate skull and a longer snout.

Anyway Pumpkin was such an inspiration to me that I decided to do a portrait of her called 'Raccoon Breakfast' in acrylic inks.

Pumpkin lives an amazing life in the Bahamas, lounging on the sofa with her doggy pals. It's a dog's life...or should that be a Raccoon's Life.

Buy Raccoon Breakfast as cushions, prints and mugs here.

Linking up with Paint Party Friday, My Favorite Pet and Brilliant Blog Posts.


nursery art prints for sale

Superbowl Madness!!

We had an exciting Sunday. The whole country went completely wild for the Superbowl!! Even though I know jack about football I decided to root for the Carolina Panthers because they have a theatrical quarterback called Cam Newton. I don't really understand the rules of American football.

These are the basics: Using the down system, the offense has four downs (essentially four plays) to go 10 yards. If the offensive team advances the ball at least 10 yards in four tries or fewer, the team receives another set of four downs.

If the offense has failed to advance 10 yards after three tries, the team usually punts the ball on the fourth down (a punt is a kick to the opponent without the use of a tee). The other team then begins with its own set of four downs, traveling in the opposite direction.

But I don't really know what any of that means. If you listen to the commentary they talk a lot about tight ends. Are they referring to the posteriors of the players? It's all double dutch to me.

The game stops and starts every few minutes so that it seems like it was invented to show as many adverts as possible and that's OK because adverts are specially made for the Superbowl and they are really good so no complaints there.

Since I could not easily follow the game I stuck to doing what I am best at: stuffing my face at a superbowl party with chips, hotdogs, guacamole, pizza and other artery thickening delights.

Have you ever watched American football and do you like it? And what is a tight end?

In the end the Carolina Panthers didn't get anywhere (the Bronco's whipped their asses) but I felt like painting a big cat so I did this Jaguar (available at Redbubble)

It's great to find admirers of your work on the web. I was thrilled to read a great review of my shop over at Life with Peanut. So do go check it out!!

Linking up to Brilliant Blog Posts.

Fox in the Snow

We have been flooded with snow for the last week. Heaps and heaps. Piles and piles. And then the aftermath was even worse. Either the ploughs didn't come or if they did come they would spray snow all over your sidewalk.

So while I was indoors, claustrophobic and climbling the walls I painted this little fella who is looking at the slow drift of snow flakes. It is available at Redbubble. He was painted in watercolor.

During the snowstorm we also lost one of our two guinea pigs. Yes little brown Peanut has gone to guinea pig heaven. She was such a sweet and gentle little thing. RIP Peanut.

Peanut in the doll's house

Linking up to Brilliant Blog Posts and Paint Party Friday