Binky McKee Illustration
  • The Weekly
  • Cats and Kitties
  • Oaks and Objects
  • Folktales and Fairytales
  • About

The Weekly

28 JANUARY

1/28/2019

 
Picture

I have a very special scrap of fabric which I keep in my work room, hanging on the wall in a frame. It dates from about 1973 or 1974, and it is special because it represents a magical Christmas. My parents didn't have a lot of spare money back in the 70s, so for my 14th or 15th Christmas Dad had built, in secret, the most beautiful rocking chair which he painted white. My Mum made a cushion for its seat, and covered it in that fabric. They also gave me a book of Arthur Rackham illustrations, and the album Now We Are Six ​by Steeleye Span. I was absolutely blown away!

I love the fabric so much that over the years I have made countless drawings of it. It gives me a very special feeling, which a friend once told me is called 'congruence'. About 2 weeks ago I started a new drawing of it in earnest, using Procreate so I could use the layers as colour separations. I am totally fascinated with the way colour can completely change the feeling of a textile, and could literally play around with different colourways for ever!

The top left square here is the closest to the original colours. I had a wonderful time experimenting, I find it therapeutic at times when the dreaded block happens and helps to get me back on track with my work. The most difficult thing to do here was to limit my experiments to just 9 for this post!

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

21 JANUARY

1/21/2019

 
Picture

It’s the full moon, and this morning’s is a ‘super blood wolf moon’! A total lunar eclipse gives a reddish tint to the full moon, and during this time the moon will be slightly closer to the Earth than usual. Plus, the January full moon is known as the wolf moon or great spirit moon - giving us this wonderfully Harry Potter-sounding ‘super blood wolf moon’.
We have begun to have small flurries of snow and frosty nights here in Scotland, so I drew this scene with ice crystals and snowflakes tinged pink by the blood moon falling around two silently-staring wolves.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

14 JANUARY

1/14/2019

 
Picture

Back to work on the children's book illustrations (which naturally i can't share until the book is out), but here is a drawing I made during a limbering-up session - a crow breathing flowers to herald in the spring. I know it's a bit soon to start thinking about spring flowers, although the snowdrops are already out in my garden; last year we had The Beast From the East blow in about 10 inches of snow overnight on the last night of February. The snow slid off our roof above the kitchen door and made a pile that nearly covered the door to the top, making it impossible to get out that way! It's not uncommon for us to have snow in March here in Scotland, so I suppose we still have all that drama to get through before the flowers really come out!

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

7 JANUARY

1/7/2019

 
Picture

HAPPY 2019 EVERYBODY!

I spent the last few days putting away the Christmas decorations and getting them up into the loft. After that I couldn't muster the energy to get into anything too serious - so I took a day out and used the time to explore areas of Procreate which I had never used. It never does any harm to get to know your tools better, and I found the Drawing Guide plus radial symmetry. I had so much fun trying out different brushes and marks with it, I was quite fascinated, learnt a lot, and produced what could be some beautiful headscarf designs!

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!
    Picture
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Picture
    Welcome to my illustration blog, where I share what I have been up to during the week.
    I illustrate under the pen-name of Binky McKee, McKee being my mother's maiden name. Binky was the name of every single cat my great-grandmother kept - about 40 of them during her 94 years of life. Given that, I have no idea how Doggie with his dead-pan expression became my avatar instead of a cat - something to do with popularity on Instagram and lots of jokes with him!
    Currently I am working on illustrating a children's book, pattern making, and of course I can't resist a good Instagram challenge such as Folktale Week or Inktober.

    I hope you enjoy your visit!
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Picture
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    I keep lots of scrapbooks and sketchbooks where I develop ideas and design little creatures. Here's a peek inside one ...
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Picture
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Picture
    As you may know, I am also known as Heather Eliza Walker.
    Click the image if you would like to find out more and visit my other website.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    ​Instagrams
    HeatherElizaWalker
    Binky_McKee

    ​Redbubble Shop
    BinkyMcKee​
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Picture

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Picture

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    All
    Book Illustration
    Business
    Cats
    Characters
    Christmas
    Crows
    Dogs
    Drawing
    Floral
    Folktale Week
    Goals
    Hallowe'en
    House & Home
    Inktober
    Inspiration & Advice
    Just Life
    Lettering
    Lockdown
    Merchandise
    Moon
    Painting
    Pareidolia
    Patternmaking
    Play
    Sketchbook
    Stars
    Still Life
    Technique
    Trees
    Watercolour

    RSS Feed

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Picture
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    This time, take a peek into my ceramic design sketchbook. I actually made some of the mugs, but I kind of prefer the drawings! The plate designs are painted on paper plates, a most liberating process.
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Picture
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    These watercolours are from my pattern sketchbook. I used coloured wax crayons to resist the washes of watercolour, also home-made rubber stamps dipped in bleach then printed on crêpe paper - the bleach takes out the paper dyes.
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Picture
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    A sketchbook I used for mark-making with unusual objects - corks, seed-heads, feathers, home-made rubber stamps, my fingers and lots of flicky things ...
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • The Weekly
  • Cats and Kitties
  • Oaks and Objects
  • Folktales and Fairytales
  • About