My illustrations for The Picture Show - full reveal!

I expect a lot of you might have already seen these on my facebook, but I thought it worth sharing the finished pictures on here for the sake of continuity and thoroughness ;D

Nightjar, pencil and watercolour illustration

Cuckoo, pencil and watercolour illustration

Swallow, pencil and watercolour illustration

The last several weeks have been extremely hectic: what with preparations for The Picture Show, invigilating the show itself (always good to have an exhibitor present to big-up the work!), juggling more deadlines for Making Magazine and a move to a different city thrown in for good measure.  The last couple of months have been a physical, mental and emotional challenge, so I'm very relieved that it's all over for now.  The move is not yet fully complete - at the moment we're staying at my folks' home in leafy Leicestershire, with a view to finding a pad of our own close to Leicester city centre later, so that my Other Half can be within walking distance to the university when he starts his course there this October.  We'll get onto flat hunting soon, but for now it's enough just to know that the most difficult part has been overcome and that things will be easier from now on.  This is a time for restoration, relaxation and renewal - until we regain the energy required to start the next adventure!  Please wish us luck, and I wish happy times for all of you reading in return.

Best wishes,

Emma xxx

P.S. As a side note, I thought I'd mention that the Nightjar seemed to be the piece that was best received at the exhibition, a fact that surprised me in the most pleasant way.  I wondered if people would find the colours too drab or gloomy, but they really seemed to like the woodland setting and especially the fungi, moss and lichens.  I guess it has a slightly magical feeling to it (it did to me at least, but then you can never second-guess the sensibilities of your audience) and it made me excited to think about pieces that might have a similar feel or theme.  I'm considering doing a series of insects or invertebrates in the future - and I think this kind of setting would lend itself well to that subject.

Colour teasers for The Picture Show!

Hello, hello everyone!  Well the show inches ever closer - it's now less than two weeks away!  There's still a few things to straighten out, but on the whole we're well on track for a fabulous exhibition.  Hope you can join us for all the celebrations, we're going to need to let off steam after all that hard work.

You've seen the two finished pieces in pencil thus far, but how about in colour?  Well here's a little snippet of each of them...

You can see there's a bird theme going on here, but which ones?  I'd love to hear your guesses, though I couldn't possibly confirm any speculation until the show is open ;D

Anyway, I should get back down to work.  Please wish me luck!

Until next time,

Emma xxx

The Picture Show teasers II

Hi there, how are you?

The opening of The Picture Show is now less than a month away, and us exhibitioners are all working hard to make the show the success we know that it can be.  So to get your arty taste buds tantalised, here are some more teasers of another piece that I'm working on for the show.

There's a similar theme in my illustrations for the show but they each have a different feel to them.  I'm really proud of this piece so far and am eager to get some colour on it!

Hope all is well where you are.  Best wishes,

Emma

Summer time in County Durham - horses, sheep, cows and a very fluffy dog

Hi everyone, hope you're all well!

Last week I was enjoying the sunshine in rural Country Durham, surrounded by horses, sheep, cows, rabbits... and a very fluffy pet dog (not my own, sadly).  I was visiting my fiance's family and attending the wedding of his youngest brother - I am pleased to say that the ceremony was lovely, and much drinking, dancing and eating was enjoyed by all afterwards.

For now, enjoy some pictures of the lovely countryside surrounding the family home!

The Picture Show teasers

Hello everyone, how are you all?  My hectic life continues here in (still not sunny) London and I'm busy working on some new pieces for The Picture Show, which will open at the Coningsby Gallery from the 16th - 21st July.  It promises to be a very exciting show, hope to see you there!

For obvious reasons the whole pieces won't be revealed until after the show opens, but for now, here's a couple of teasers...

Hmm I wonder what it could be, any guesses?  These will all be coloured in due course, the pencil work is taking me ages though because I wanted to have a lot of detail and texture in this piece.  Hope life is good where you are, see you next post!

Best wishes,

Emma