Travel themed Artist's Trading Card

Ah, the start of another week already! Although I have been busy with one thing and another I still don't quite know where the time has gone.

The week started with a trip to the Horniman museum with my friend Jo Cheung to draw and take photos. If you're ever in the Forest Hill area or want to do some observational drawing the museum holds a vast array of interesting exhibits, and the staff are always wonderfully friendly and accommodating. For example, while we were there ostensibly for the collection of stuffed animals, we also ended up visiting the garden, the aquarium in the basement and learning that it has one of the largest musical instrument collections in Europe. Is there anything this place doesn't have? It's like Toys R Us, but with dead things and antiques rather than plastic toys.

Anyway, about this here picture. Crafter, designer and illustrator Sarah Hurley mentioned on twitter that she was arranging a swap of Artist's Trading Cards. And what are they? Little cards of 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches, hand made by the artist, that you send off in return for a different artist's card. It seemed a lovely idea, so I decided to get involved. The theme was travel, so mine focusses on sea travel. The swallow is a link to sailors, who would be tattooed with one as a symbol that no matter how far they travelled, they would always return home. Fitting a composition into such a small space was quite a challenge but I think it turned out okay, especially for a first attempt. Anyway, I hope whoever receives my card enjoys it.

I'll be putting up the Horniman museum drawings/photos later in the week. My apologies for the slight delay on this post, my sore ear was giving me sleepless nights and as a result this weekend was very unproductive. However, I am now refreshed and ready to rejoin the real world! Thanks for reading, hope to see you next time!