 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!  Once again trick-or-treating was only virtual this year with rising Covid cases, but I was delighted to see our local young families dressed to the nines having an outdoor Hallowe'en met-up in our communal grove. Even the youngest baby was fierce in a lion costume in his witch-mummy's arms with proud swashbuckling pirate dad at her side, and there were all sorts of dinosaurs and monsters! So here are my own little trick-or-treaters wishing everyone a Happy Hallowe'en, quite a motley crew to turn up on your digital doorstep. I had great fun making them into a rogue's gallery, too.  Thanks for visiting, see you again soon!
 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!  Still working on illustrations as Binky McKee, since last Monday I have been on Hallowe’en themes! October fun. Here we have Tattie Bogle, some candy skulls, a haunting in pink, and a Tattie Bogle's boyfriend. 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. Currently I am working on illustrating a children's book, pattern making, and setting up a Spoonflower shop. 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 2022
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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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