lunchtime doodle

happy halloween!

and more...

I've been researching trows and orkney folklore - it's amazing the similarities between the old norse ('norn') traditions, and our own - i'll find some articles and post them soon. It's so interesting!

Trows were invisible to most mortals except special individuals and cats. They love to dance, play music and sneak into unsuspecting farmers kitchens. If you saw one you had to keep eye contact, or lie down and plarce a dagger at your head for magical protection. They live in the dead howe's/cairns, and are thought to have been originally undead spirits. Woe betide anyone who touched their dead howe. They turned to stone if sunlight touched them.

I think i'll pair my lonely trow with a cat friend and see what happens....

I feel a story coming on!

orkney trows

some more trows! i like them. Drawn with a splinted and possibly fractured right wrist, so please forgive the quality :S

here be trolls

some sketches of trolls....(there are a lot of them back home in orkney)

coffee shop lady

a very quick lunchtime sketch of a lady i saw in the coffee shop last weekend. She had a very distinctive style.

I'm aiming to life draw from behind a latte every weekend, so watch this space.....

last night's sketch....

...finished on my lunch break.

Inspired by Carole Lombard - she's a haunting actress, with an almost eerie, otherworldly beauty. I wanted to show this through my colour palette.

mad bird

this is what happens when i'm left alone with a blank illustrator document....

a wee doodle...

pregnant women are beautiful.

(my cousin's been having a few complications...but she seems to be healthily expecting now.)