Binky McKee Illustration
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The Weekly

29 May: Watercolour plans

5/29/2022

 
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An accidental inspiration happened this week when I began switching off some visible layers on a little still life of a pot of flowers I made a couple of weeks ago. The result is pictured above left; much as I loved the zigzags which decorate the original, I was interested in the open drawing and the distribution of tones, colours and shapes accompanying the line-work. I began to experiment with opening up spaces on some Voynich based sketches.
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This led me onto drawing flowers with lots of movement, as though blowing around in the wind. I don't know where the stylised pond at the base of the above image came from, it was just a sort of vision, but it does seem to contain the Voynich spirit ...
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... and then I wondered how a Voynich inspired drawing would look with my favourite drawing of a cactus, both also bending in the wind. Why not?

I am loving my new texture I made for these and the way I am playing with transparency. I definitely see these works in Procreate as possible sketches for watercolour paintings.
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Thanks for visiting, see you next week

26 December: Dreaming Robin

12/26/2021

 
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Mixing that shaky, nervous line with other textures I made a sleeping Robin dreaming of spring, still on my favourite grainy background.

19 December: Traditional drawing

12/19/2021

 
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I have become very interested in using a traditional drawing style to make sketches of my patterns this week, and looking for birds and other floral and blossoming motifs. A nervous line with a variety of weight over a favourite texture (ink bleed in Procreate on what I think must have been a photo of a grainy porch window at Wester Lix) is doing it for me right now. I'm already thinking Valentine's Day and spring.
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10 October: Lost amongst the flowers

10/10/2021

 
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The weather has been so dark and rainy this week the light was too poor to get much drawing done, so I spent more time than usual working on my iPad. The flat and even qualities of my recent pattern-making work is inspiring and I played some more with putting flat elements over grungy textures, and this is what happened.
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For a long time I have wanted to develop some little characters from a pencil drawing of a group of toys and cats in one of my sketchbooks. I thought I had lost it, but I was delighted when I found it safe and well back in April, and thought to use these little bears to inhabit the flowers and talk. The way I lettered the word 'lost' at first looked a bit like 'toast' which I thought was funny, so in no time I had this pair - from wistful to a fistful!
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What I enjoyed working with the bears was finding the best way to keep the feel of the original pencil drawing. After a few false starts this turned out to be to separate each creature in Procreate and draw directly onto it. Some of the original drawing on paper still shows through, which provides a lovely ground of texture and varying tone. This way I was able to firm up and clarify ideas in the original drawing while keeping the innocence of pencil marks. I am looking forward to see how it looks when I eventually remake the original drawing in colour.

I also finished the outline work for the 'collaboration' with my younger self this week, tidying up and adding new elements. There are no spaces left there now, and the pattern fits nicely - more on that later when I start adding colour.

Thanks for visiting, see you soon!

3 October: Every day is a school day

10/3/2021

 
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Continuing the clean theme, I began a 'collaboration' with my younger self. A few years ago I was delighted to find an old design I had made in school. It must have been 1972-3 because at the bottom of the sheet there is a small pencil note: "Heather Walker 2 G 2"; I would have been 12 or 13 if that means form 2 at school, although I seem to recall being a little older when the design was made into a batik cushion cover.
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Here is a detail of the original drawing from all those years ago. I have wanted to work with it for some time, and started copying it in the Yay Flowers cut-out collage style earlier this year, but it didn't work. It didn't want to be drawn like that and looked dated in the wrong kind of way, somehow lacking a fondness for the nostalgia of the 70s which surprised me, because I thought Yay Flowers looked quite 70s. I like the glow and all the textures of Yay Flowers, but perhaps I was already moving away from that grungy texture I was using last year and that's why it didn't work. I had a feeling it could just look dirty in print even back then. As soon as I began tracing in Procreate with a smooth, clear outline all the fun came back.
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I had fun separating a few of the main motifs and experimenting with flat colour; now it looks 70s in the right way, with a clean and contemporary feel. I do like the juxtaposition of the flat line and colour work against grungy textures, but I know it wouldn't print well on Spoonflower so the final pattern will have a flat background. The thing to bear in mind is that fabric has its own texture and there's little need to add more, and when I am designing for a pattern I have to stop thinking like a painter and not make 'drawings of textiles', something I have done lots of times because of my interest in them - see September 2020, a month when that's almost all I did.

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

18 September: Sea-Urchins in crayon

9/19/2021

 
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I selected 6 of the sea-urchins I made last week to work in exactly the same way as I draw the pareidolia images, tracing over the image onto layers above using Procreate's HB6 sketch brush. It was one of those overnight "what if ..." thoughts and I wasn't at all sure how it would look. The idea was to make them more consistent with the pareidolia series drawings. From the first experiment I could see I liked it a lot, the texture and scumbly marks and saturated colours looked good. I like the semi-transparent quality, whichever background I use changes their appearance; but at the moment my favourite is anything dark enough to enhance the chalk-board effect. I am currently working on a pattern which combines little creatures with these roundels.
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Today's Instagram post ^

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

17 March: Midweek special

3/17/2021

 
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A mid-week bonus post - I finished a much softer rose brocade I have been working on at the same time as the watercolour texture patterns. The daffodils are out and spring is definitely on its way, so I used lots of daffodilly yellow against silvery grey to celebrate, and made these two shy little drawings. I particularly enjoyed the Roses marmalade jar drawing.
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24 January: Hope

1/24/2021

 
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The other day the world gave a deep sigh of relief, picked itself up, dusted itself down and moved ahead full of new energies and optimism. I don’t know if I’m imagining things, it’s below freezing here and there is snow and ice - but also blue skies and later sunsets, and in the adjusted angle of the sun there already seem to be whispers of spring and the colours of birds’ eggs, rivers, icing on a cake, such gleeful secrets full of hope.

Trump's last day and Biden's inauguration.

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

11 October

10/11/2020

 
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It hasn’t been the easiest week. Indecision and insecurity about my work took hold when work with the monotype vases I was cutting out last week didn’t go quite as planned, and I panicked when my Instagram went quiet. I worried in case I was taking a wrong turn and getting distracted by the monotype process. I worried that the new work just wasn’t interesting enough. I worried I was being inconsistent.
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4 October

10/4/2020

 
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I have been working purely digitally for a while, which I love - but I always end up with a hankering for the human presence of the hand, and the alchemy of materials. Above is a watercolour from one of my sketchbooks, with wax resist and simple, free pen lines, which I made a while ago. I am very interested in designing patterns which could contain this freedom, I haven't figured it out yet, but it's something which has been going on in the background of my mind for over a year. Also, I haven't a clue which pen I used to worked on wax! It has bonded perfectly with the resist - experiments required (and possibly a lot of spoilt pens).
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Above is a set of six little monotypes from the same sketchbook. I have always loved making monotype drawings. Using a glass plate rolled with printing ink or oil paint, paper is placed over the plate and I draw on the paper. It means when the paper is peeled away from the plate it reveals a mirror image of the drawing plus accidental smudges and textures. These surprises are exciting, and I use the technique both for illustration and in my Heather Eliza drawings.

This week I began to isolate sketches from my book (I did write about getting my jugs out and working with them, but NO, that's SO wrong!! Raised a few laughs on Instagram, though) . Here is a rudimentary something I put together as an experiment. The original monotype drawing was made on hand-made bark paper which supplies the lovely colour and texture for the fuzzy ink lines, cut out and placed over a digitally created linen-weave background. It may take a while, but I'll see where I go with this.

PS: I decided not to do Inktober on Instagram this year, I just have too many pots on the boil at the moment. I was tempted, but focus is required.
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​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

6 SEPTEMBER

9/6/2020

 
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These two patterns were spin-offs from the second (blue) drawing in my last entry. Working in Procreate allows for a lot of freedom and experimentation with sets of shapes and colours, and it’s very satisfying to be able to produce new works relatively quickly. I say relatively quickly, but a lot of time this week went into designing the little birds - but I’m sure I will use them again in different works!
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23 AUGUST

8/23/2020

 
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Two more offerings from my gypsy purse collection from this week. They have been put away since the house move, nearly two years now, and it has been great to get them all out and really look at them. I have even decided where I am going to hang them all now (but first there is a lot of redecorating to do!)

Although I have spent hours staring at these beautiful little works over the years, turning them over and using a few of them - they make lovely colourful phone bags - I have been amazed at the difference between just looking, and actually going beyond looking to make a drawing. So many secrets have been revealed in their tiny stitches, so much joy in their colours, seeing how they were made meticulously by hand, and discovering minute decorative motifs I hadn’t really noticed before. 
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It is so true that you never really know something until you draw it. It doesn’t even matter if you think you can’t draw and you aren’t happy with your work, the process itself does something to your brain, and you get to know your subject in a completely different way (sometimes literally inside-out).

Thanks for visiting, see you next week! 

12 JANUARY

1/12/2020

 
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A collage of drawings based on patterns on Japanese Washi tapes. This was so much fun to do, finding ways to apply patterns to household objects and develop related themes to go with them, and it makes me think of mood boards.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

6 November

11/6/2019

 
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Folktale Week began on Instagram this week, I love seeing all the different interpretations of the prompts! This is my post for Day 1, Home: the wanderer returns to a warm welcome. This year I am working with a hybrid technique, this is a watercolour with drawn plant shapes and frosty roundels in white Rotring, with gouache colour accents. I scanned it and and worked it further in Procreate, adding the cat and a few other elements to suit.

Look for #folktaleweek2019 and follow the hashtag to see hundreds of super-talented illustrators all working in different ways!

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week

18 AUGUST

8/18/2019

 
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A selection of 6 cats, in no particular order, from my 100 days project which is going well. I will complete the first booklet’s posts on Instagram next week - I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone! I am getting so much joy and inspiration from it, it is amazing how doing 100 of something benefits work all round, and I am only a fifth through. I hope it continues as creatively.
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The patterned mosaics and mats I have been drawing with the cats became a source of great interest to me. After a drive through the old fishing villages along the Fife coast one day, I began drawing them combined with buildings inspired by East Neuk architecture on a large sheet of paper. 
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Experiments with scanning and placing elements from the drawing together proved so exciting I am now giving my online shop a complete overhaul full of new ideas. There isn’t much to see yet, but I will post a link when there is enough to toot my horn about!

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

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    Welcome to my illustration blog! I usually post here on Wednesday, sometimes adding extras to keep a work journal.

    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 have just finished illustrating a children's book, and am currently working on my own book before the second in the series of the children's book comes in.


    I hope you enjoy your visit!
    Links​
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    BinkyMcKee

    Twitter
     BinkyMcKee
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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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    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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