Binky McKee Illustration
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The Weekly

4 AUGUST

8/4/2020

 
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At last, I am starting to edge my way back into work. It looks as though our Perthshire house sale is on again. At the weekend we had a great visit from friends we haven’t seen since before lockdown. The household suddenly settled into a more regular regime, and all of a sudden I found myself with some time to work in the afternoon yesterday and today.

Sometimes it’s hard to drop back into the swing of work. Re-opening projects which have been lying for 5 or 6 weeks can be daunting - what was the train of thought? How did I do that? - it can be overwhelming. So, I always find the antidote in a good dose of pareidolia to loosen up!
The other day it rained hard overnight, but in the morning the sun was up and so hot I knew it would be drying the pavements in the park leaving picturesque watermarks. On our daily walk with the dog I took snaps with my phone which are proving to be a mine of inspiration ...
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... Here we have, top: weird sun-god creating constellations from the sea, and above, a hiker. Below are the original snaps I took in the park.
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I nearly forgot to mention, I got a new stylus this week: I bought an Adonit Dash3. I use an old iPad (2014, 2ndGen) as well as a Samsung Galaxy mini phone, and an iPhone. This stylus works brilliantly on all. Previously I had two Heiyo styli; the first one was about 18 months old when the on/off switch cover fell off, following the plug charger cap which fell off  almost immediately after purchase. I replaced the stylus with a new one, and that suddenly stopped working after just two months; I literally put it down to go to fetch a cup of tea and when I came back it had just stopped working. Nothing had changed on iPad. I switched back to the old one, which for all its faults worked fine for a couple of months until it, too, suddenly stopped working in mid-project. Tech support was infuriating so after some research I got the Adonit Dash3 and it is excellent! Smooth, instantly works etc etc. Nice nib for drawing and writing. Should have done that when the first Heiyo failed. Note and NB!!: it doesn't work on iPadPro.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

12 DECEMBER

12/12/2019

 
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At last, Christmas card-making underway!

I'm running a bit behind time this year and cutting it fine for International post, but catching up. I should really begin collecting ideas and materials in September to begin the process of Christmas card-making in October, because November and early December get busy with Heather Eliza work for winter exhibitions; I just didn't get around to Christmas things before Hallowe'en, after which time runs away.

Complicated by a head-cold virus which wiped my brain's creative files, I had a couple of false starts, but luckily one feverish night I remembered a carved Indian box I have been itching to make prints from for ages. It bears a central motif which could be interpreted as the Christmas star, so in no time I was back to my excited self, up and running with the printing ink and roller and delighted with the results of a day's work.
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A shmoosh of glitter later, plus mounting on excellent cream card blanks (purchased from Anita's on Amazon), and ... this year's cards are a Thing!

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

20 OCTOBER

10/20/2019

 
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A poster I made last year in the run-up to Folktale Week

I didn’t manage to get any new illustration work done this week, my focus being on making more confused flags for Artobotic vending machines, especially the Brexit Art machine. Because it is time sensitive with only 11 days left to go (apparently Britain will still leave the EU on the 31st of this month), I had to set the 100 days of cats project temporarily aside in order to prioritise Brexit themed art. When I get back to it, I will be incorporating 100 days of cats with Folktale Week, telling my stories for the prompts with cats!

Folktale Week starts two weeks tomorrow, so I thought it would be interesting to look back on what I was doing this time last year. I want to make another “Folktale Week is Nigh” poster next week, so I pulled last year’s from my archives. It reminds me that a year ago I was working exclusively in Procreate on iPad because our house move was in full swing, and my new work space wasn’t yet functional. I could work anywhere at any time on iPad, even when travelling or in the dark.

I enjoy mixing things up, who doesn’t love the play and experiment of collage? The main difference between now and then is that since March I have been drawing and painting by hand again. When I was working on patterns in the spring, I found Procreate to be great for cleaning up and ‘cutting out’ hand made elements. It feels natural to use a stylus for drawing around edges with the eraser tool, freeing hand painted images from their paper background to set them into transparent layers. Last week I combined hand painted cats and trees with scanned collage elements and digitally created images. I made the alphabet I use for text in Procreate, too, basing it on Goudy Old Style (my favourite font when I worked as a graphic designer). 

It’s such a glorious mixup, exciting and playful with endless possibilities - I predict I’ll be making more illustration work with these techniques in future!

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

P.S: Confused Flags development can be seen in The Weekly at my HEW website

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!

24 APRIL

4/24/2019

 
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It’s a Wednesday mid-weekly today, because I got out of the studio over the Easter weekend.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday presented the most beautiful, hot sunny weather. I caught up with laundry and gardening in the mornings, but I also set myself an art challenge for the afternoons to work in a completely different way from usual. I was not to make habitual line drawings coloured in with watercolour, but instead to paint with gouache directly onto the paper.

The garden is sprouting, blossoming and budding all over and I wanted to get outside in the sun and paint what fascinates me. I pictured having a lovely collection of about 30 observational sketches by the end of the weekend; in reality I ended up with just these 10. It was slower than I anticipated because I spent a lot more time gardening and hanging washing on the line than I expected, but when I did start work in the afternoon there was a bit of a breeze, strong at times, which would suddenly blow my sun hat off and I had to chase it around the garden. The wind also kept turning the pages in my sketchbook while I was trying to work. I haven’t worked en plein air for many years, and I noticed a big change: nowadays I have to wear spectacles for close work, meaning my object was of focus when I looked up, which became a nuisance.

The main delay, however, lay in the materials and work method I had set myself. I hated it at first. Working without drawing went so against the grain I felt way out of my comfort zone and unhappy. I was using a sketchbook I made from Fabriano Rosaspina (a thick print-making paper) and Arches watercolour paper, instead of the tissues and smooth papers I am used to, and it felt rough and messy. The work I was producing was hideous and I wanted to give up, but I felt the exercise was a good idea and it does one good to get uncomfortable at times, so I forced myself to persevere.

The reason I challenged myself was to shake things up with my work. I felt I had been relying too heavily on linear work, marks, automatic actions and default shapes; I also have a habit of getting fiddly and over-detailed, which I wanted to break. Besides, the way I sit to make detailed drawing is bad for my back, and I get wobbly legs when I stand up which in turn makes my hands shake, and then I can’t draw because my line goes shivery. I don’t want to stop making detailed line drawings (my work as Heather Eliza Walker relies on it) but I thought it would be a good idea to take a break and try something completely different for a few days, and see what possibilities might come of it.

So, I did persevere. I got through the initial hate stage by allowing myself a compromise: I could use line and marks on top of the paint. That was satisfying, and I began to enjoy the colours and freedom of working this way. Then I found I could introduce painted elements such as stripes, introducing a satisfying linear quality which firmed the work up. The result was not the observational work I had anticipated, but being outdoors amongst the plants and flowers certainly informed it. I had no idea until this weekend what actually went on inside a quince blossom, or how things sprouted out of other things in different colours and shapes. I definitely responded to the interaction of what grows from the ground with sky and earth, and got out of myself.

Yesterday I scanned the work and found I really liked it, to my surprise. I feel I achieved something, and enjoyed being out in the fresh air. In spite of not producing the 30 beautifully observed Diary of a Country Lady works I had hoped for, I am happy with my 10 a bit weird and wonderful creations, which were observational in their own way and taught me a lot. My back and legs are better, and I feel healthier for it, too; so in future, I shall get half moon specs, tie my hat on with a scarf and get outside more.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

24 MARCH

3/24/2019

 
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I had a brainstorming session this week. What I do when I brainstorm is to work very fast, allowing myself 4-10 minutes per drawing, and do as many as I can until my brain runs dry. I don’t worry about good drawing, expertise, or mistakes. In fact, the time limit prevents overthinking, so mistakes are good; I believe problem-solving is one of the key processes which help an artist to find their own voice, and working fast forces you to think on your feet and get resourceful in a way only you know.

Once I have finished the drawing session I take the more interesting ones into photoshop - not necessarily the best, but often the craziest which appeal to me - and I treat them in the same way as I would treat a considered project. It is amazing what reveals and connections occur. The collage above is a mix of revisiting works I have made as early as 15 years old, bonkers stuff that came out of photoshop, one which is rough as anything but I worked on some more (the yellow cat), more bonkers photoshop, prints I made 10 years ago (bottom left) which have good pattern-making potential to take forward, and lastly the line drawing in sepia and brown, where this week’s happy process led me today.
I recommend this exercise to anyone who suffers from creative block. I only get creative block in times of great sadness or similar emotional times, but I do get incredibly frustrated with myself. I have too many ideas and try and go deep into them all. This is a great way to separate the wheat from the chaff, to get back to your core, to see what is time-wasting and get back into your quiet self. I always feel cleansed, relaxed and stimulated after one of these sessions, ready to take on new work.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

25 FEBRUARY

2/25/2019

 
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A week of intensive pattern making again! I studied how William Morris made his pattern repeats and used one of his methods to create the floral pattern above in two colourways. Then I moved on to learning how best to draw in Procreate (I usually employ a cut and collage technique, but I get tired of the hours of cleaning up wobbly edges, the downside of using that technique digitally). Suddenly, and I really can’t remember how it came about, this mosaic or cloisonné effect drawing began to happen and I loved it. I even made a cat from it for hashtag caturday on Instagram! I will continue working on developing this idea this week, as well as adding to my Redbubble shop.

I am making the patterns really nice and big, so they fit just about all the products on Redbubble. My shop is growing, but there still isn’t enough to make the grand announcement yet. I reckon the second week of March will see it ready to ‘open’. I will, of course, be posting a link around then, so watch this space! It’s very exciting and I am enjoying the process enormously.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

17 SEPTEMBER

9/17/2018

 
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This week has been all about crosshatching and colours. There were many other experiments, but I just love the way these look together as a group. Subtle repetitions and changes are evident within the forms which themselves are simple. That's a thing that interests me.​

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!
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    Welcome to my illustration blog, where I share what I have been up to during the week.
    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 - about 40 of them during her 94 years of life.
    Currently I am working on illustrating a children's book, pattern making, and of course I can't resist a good Instagram challenge such as Folktale Week or Inktober.

    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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    ​Instagrams
    HeatherElizaWalker
    Binky_McKee

    ​Redbubble Shop
    BinkyMcKee​
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    All
    Book Illustration
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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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