1. My beautiful goddaughter, Molly, turned 30 today - it doesn't seem 5 minutes ago that we were in the land of Tamagotchis, fluffy pens and Furbies, and only about 5 years ago when (she'll hate me for saying this!) I gave her her first pumpkin soup on Hallowe'en at the age of 9 months. She absolutely loved it, and couldn't get enough. A little while later B was totally the hero of nappy-changing.
2. I've had my head down all week and finished all the illustrations for the children's book I've been working on. I took ages designing the background pictured above for a double-spread, only to realise that the binding cut out the centre so it didn't match up (you'd never think I worked for years as a layout artist). A quick redesign sorted out the problem. 3. I learnt a new word from BBC's Winter Watch this week: coprophagous, or dung-eating. What a lovely word from the Greek kopros = dung + phagein = to eat. I think I feel a beetle drawing coming on ... 4. Storm Malik arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning. I was looking after Minnie the cat across the road, went out at 5am to let her in, and nearly got blown over by the wind. I found Minnie sheltering beneath a bush in her garden, and she didn't hold back in telling me what she thought of it. I thought her meow-meow-meow-ing would wake the neighbours. 5. It was Burn's night on Tuesday. To celebrate our handsome and virile Bard's life, B and I raised a few glasses of Scotch at dinner and we ate the most delicious Perthshire haggis, neeps and tatties. Mr Robert Burns was really a terrible rascal, but the Scots kind of admire that, especially as he cared deeply for his wife (dubbed the 'most patient wife in Scotland') and his many girlfriends. He bequeathed us all a legacy of beautiful love poems inspired by the women in his life which wind elegantly around his immersion in, and passion for, the nature which surrounded him. Thanks for visiting, see you next week! Happy Burn's Night!
I came across this weird and wonderful old engraving of a set of pipes a while ago, but could never think how to use it until now - it has everything required for Burn's Night! (Except the whisky, of course). Synchronised flying! I became very interested in this collage when the birds suddenly became a pattern in the landscape, it's a novel combination. I'm sure it's got something to do with living beneath the flight-path of geese crossing the sky to and from a local nature reserve. They form huge skeins and the air is full of their chatter and gabble as they pass over, a beautiful thing indeed. The geese here are one of my pareidolia finds in damp patches on paths on the park.
Thanks for visiting, see you next week! Revisiting pareidolia drawings and the south east coast of Fife, this work is typical of a trip to the fishing villages at this time of year - little cars parked on the front, probably sheltering people inside with flasks of soup and sandwiches, or perhaps eating delicious fish and chips bought from the local shops, looking out over a rainy River Forth.
Thanks for visiting, see you next week! It has been quite a busy week, in spite of the two bank holidays on Monday and Tuesday. I took down the Christmas decorations on Wednesday, which took all day; Thursday and Friday saw two social engagements, the first we have had for such a long time it was overwhelming! Having to take lateral flow tests and observe social bubbles adds quite a lot to a day with an event. I have been a couch potato ever since; this afternoon I am lounging on the sofa, laptop on knees, dressed stylishly in a fleece Minnie Mouse onesie and a dressing gown decorated with koala bears with ears on its hood, with a hot water bottle and a snuggly blanket to add luxury. I haven't made any new work since before the Christmas period, so today I'm posting the collage above which I made on the 19th December.
Thanks for visiting, see you next week! |
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Welcome to my illustration and patterns blog.
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 - allegedly about 40 of them during her 94 years of life. I changed the website address a few months ago, so some older links on previous posts are broken. If you click one of those and it takes you to a strange page, simply replace the .co.uk after the binkymckee. with weebly.com and it will work again. I hope you enjoy your visit! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I keep lots of scrapbooks and sketchbooks where I develop ideas and design little creatures. Here's a peek inside one ...
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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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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April 2024
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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.
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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.
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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 ...
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