This trio of ladies singing and humming evolved from character studies for a leading lady in the children's book I am working on, and I am sure it came from the current lack of hairdressing facilities! I got into the details of the different hairstyles in a big way, as my own hair grows more out of shape and shaggy in not a good way every day. It was a bit of fun which provided something to post on Instagram.
Thanks for visiting, see you next week! It has been a howling, windy week, and the three old sash windows in my work room have been shuddering and rattling like wild skeletons as the side of the house was buffeted by storm Ciara. The turmoil outside perhaps led me to select muted, calm colours for work. It has been a while since I made a close-toned still life. I have always loved still life painting; I always used oils at art school, where I learnt painting in the traditional Scottish manner with a slightly modernist twist using tilted perspective and beautiful colour harmonies. At the moment I am working digitally on illustrations for that children's book I keep mentioning, so the images shown here were created using textures created earlier in the week for some of the characters and their environment. This pattern emerged from a texture made (without giving too much away) for an animal in the story. It forms the animal's skin, but I could see the pattern emerging quite clearly alongside the animal's character as I worked on him. I played with colour-ways for the pattern and was pleased with these two - earth and mineral, my favourites! When I have time I would like to refine them, I already have ideas that would look great on textiles for curtains. Or tote bags. Or cushion covers. Or blankets - I think you know where I'm going.
Thanks for visiting, see you next week! A sea-themed week. I have worked on seaweeds, crabs, fishes, sand dunes, and shells. I discovered a few things to do with seashores, including Sea Bindweed which will definitely be making an appearance in my drawings soon - and I couldn't resist making a little pattern with delightful yellow Beach Morning Glory.
Thanks for visiting, see you next week! I got back to work in earnest illustrating a children's book on Monday, tidying up and finishing drawings as well as beginning new ones. Because the book doesn't have a massive word count it doesn't take too much time to lay out all the text in BookWright (from Blurb). The author won't necessarily use it to publish; it's just a super tool for the way I work, and I do use Blurb myself. Working from paper mockups put together with the author I can see the illustrations in context, interacting with the text and each other. The page layouts themselves suggest tweaks and additions which enrich the final product, and I get that buzz from seeing it begin to really happen. It also prevents many a blooper!
So, I have had a productive, satisfying week. The book is top secret for now of course, but here ia a sneak preview of just a few bits and pieces from the week's work. Thanks for visiting, see you next week! <<<<<<<<<< HAPPY 2020 >>>>>>>>>> A very happy and hearty new year to all!
I don’t usually make new year resolutions, but I made one this year and broke it already: to post more regularly on Instagram. It doesn't even have to be every single day, just two or three times a week; and here we are on the 5th day of the year, and I still haven’t done it. So I’ll make it a goal instead ... 5 Goals for 2020: 1. Finish the children’s book I have been illustrating for an author friend; I am currently working on brightening my palettes. 2. Get back to the 100 Days Project. This may or may not happen, as to be honest I had got to where I wanted to be by Day 50. I got as far as cat no.53 before breaking off to do seasonal work at the end of October. My 100 Days Project may turn into my 50 Days Project. 3. Make a zine - I have always wanted to make a zine! 4. Create a more organised work environment and find a way to keep distractions at bay. Some days all I have to do is open the door to take in a delivery, and the rest of the world jumps in at the same time! 5. Find a way to post more regularly and consistently on Instagram: better lighting to photograph notebook work, for example. Thanks for visiting, see you next week! The three little kittens, they lost their mittens, And they began to cry, "Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear, That we have lost our mittens." "What! - lost your mittens, you naughty kittens! Then you shall have no pie." "Meow, meow, meow." "Then you shall have no pie." The three little kittens, they found their mittens, And they began to cry, "Oh, mother dear, see here, see here, For we have found our mittens." "Put on your mittens, you silly kittens, And you shall have some pie." "Purr, purr, purr, Oh, let us have some pie." The three little kittens put on their mittens, And soon ate up the pie, "Oh, mother dear, we greatly fear, That we have soiled our mittens." "What, soiled your mittens, you naughty kittens!" Then they began to sigh, "Meow, meow, meow," Then they began to sigh. The three little kittens, they washed their mittens, And hung them out to dry, "Oh, mother dear, do you not hear, That we have washed our mittens?" "What, washed your mittens, then you're good kittens, But I smell a rat close by." "Meow, meow, meow, We smell a rat close by." The Three Little Kittens from the Mother Goose Collection (poem usually attributed to early 19th century American poet Eliza Lee Cabot Follen).
I so much enjoyed working on these as part of my 100 days of cats project. I wouldn't have thought of it, but it was suggested by a fellow Instagrammer, Karen Edward. Please visit her website here, and if you are ever in the beautiful East Neuk of Scotland you must visit Funky Scottish, her café and gallery! Thanks for visiting, see you next week! Funky Scottish 41 High Street, Anstruther, Fife Cakes, coffee, tasty lunches and beautifully made arts and crafts Last week I wrote about flooding the kitchen. This week it was fire. A pork loin steak I was grilling at high temperature exploded and shot a large chunk of fat onto the grill element where it burst into flames, shooting fire upwards into the air where it got fiercer and bigger. The flames then ignited the whole grill tray, and it seemed it was never going to stop, but it burnt itself out once I removed the flaming tray and no harm was done except soot up the front of the oven and a scorched towel. The pork was delicious, by the way. So, water last week, fire this week - what next? Earth and wind - a hurricane of mud, perhaps.
Aside from kitchen incompetence, I did get some work done. I embellished the Happy Days lettering to make it more fun and give it a touch of boho. I am currently working on illustrations which I can’t share yet, but here is a scene depicting an expanse of sky with little puffy rain clouds, a mysterious apparition, and daisies. The main characters and clues as to location etc have been omitted, but I thought there was something special about the way the image stands just like this. I am also developing new hand lettering for the same project, something I love doing; and I began working on a pattern of wands, stars and moons. Until next week, be safe in your kitchens, folks! - and as always, Thanks for visiting, see you next week! I am still ploughing full steam ahead illustrating a children's book, which presents a dilemma when it comes to publishing work on social media: naturally, it is totally against the rules to share work for a book before it is published, but in the mean time you want to keep your social media accounts live. I can, however, share spin-offs from my illustrations without revealing characters, settings, titles or themes, while at the same time building on work for the book. This is what I have been doing on Instagram, and this week I chose a cat themed week in the wake of folktale week (which I thoroughly enjoyed!) So here are my cats from the week, I hope you enjoy them. I am also still clearing up my work room following our house move. I am taking a few days' holiday from Instagram whilst focusing on the book and sorting my work space. Thanks for visiting, see you next week! More Hallowe'en themes (of course!) The haunting of a log, Tattie Bogle's love life, Ghost Hill - and a wobbly compass to go on an old map illustration which I was rather pleased with, forming part of a book illustration project I am currently working on. 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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May 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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