Above, nine details of two illustrations I am currently working on, and below, one of the illustrations converted for a post for social media. On Sundays I review what I have done during the week and select a couple pieces to work into something new. I find the exercise useful for opening my mind and exploring new directions. I particularly liked the simple honesty of Brilliant Day, it reminds me of vintage samplers or Quaker art.
This week has been mostly about a blossom tree and paving to illustrate my ditties Pink Bess and I Met a Man, which I intend to be laid out as a double spread. I have been experimenting with new ways of creating drawings, and enjoying giving each individual blossom an expression so they all appear to be having a conversation. Just one of those silly things I enjoy.
I've just had so much fun putting this collage of different work together. Yesterday I reactivated my Twitter account, which I haven't used in ages, and made a new header for my profile to jazz it up a bit. This is it rearranged in portrait form, and I actually love the mix of different images.
Incidentally, Twitter is so much better than it was when I was last using the platform. I will definitely be spending more time there in future. My Twitter handle is, guess what: BinkyMcKee - you got it! Just the same as Instagram . Thanks for visiting, see you soon! Amid the scorching heatwave we have here this week, it may seem a good idea for Kitty to take a cooling shower. It doesn't look like she is enjoying it very much. Below is how Kitty views the bathroom! ... a grim, scary place of horror, it looks like something out of a Slipknot video. And the tap isn't red for nice warm water, it's red for danger to poor Kitty.
These are spin-offs from my book of ditties I am currently illustrating, which are not in the slightest scary or heavy metal. Thanks for visiting, see you next week! These are double spread illustrations, both spin-offs adapted for my Instagram from my latest book of dreadful ditties and dodgy doggerel verses. Posted as two consecutive images which work individually, but fit together as one image when the grid falls that way. As one makes a whole image the other is broken into two; quite a nice dynamic to add extra interest.
The children's book is finished, images have been sent off, and the author is so delighted with them that she is polishing up the second story in the series for me to illustrate. In the mean time I am working on my own book, a collection of short ditties and doggerel verses I wrote several years ago, Because it's my own project I will be able to share more of it without a spoiler alert; I put together this little birdie in a tree from the first illustration. It's not as it will appear in the book, but it gives a general impression. I use a lot of hand lettering in my illustrations. Reflecting on the book I have just finished, I realise I have a 'lettering style', so I had fun practising it with this alphabet.
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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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