Friday, 26 July 2013

So I'm gonna be a lazy bum...

... and just do a sketch dump, because I'm so busy right now, you guys.  It's just nuts.  So here you go...

Favourite's first - I've had this sitting on my desktop waiting to be coloured for ages.  I finally got it done!  Hopefully this will start a trend.
Next, a card for a friend's wedding.  Two friends actually.  Two amazing hippy-ish ceilidh-dancing friends who I love to bits got married to each other just last weekend.  I wish them all possible happiness.  And a houseboat.  This is the little wedding card I made for them. 



And lastly this random sketch from Greenbelt last year of a guy in a dinosaur onesie.  I don't know what it is, but if I were ever to get a onesie (which would be a dangerous thing to do as I'd never get out of it again) it would be a dino or dragon or some kind of giant lizard.




Saturday, 13 July 2013

Oh, by the way...

I turned 25... several months ago.  Yeah, kinda missed that obvious blog post, but in my defence I was very busy.  Busy making party invites!!



Negative space. Oh yeah, I went there.  I'm actually very please that I managed to make the heroes all fit round the numbers so well.

Wednesday, 10 July 2013

Holiday diary: Day 2 in Aviemore



My full day in Aviemore today, and I've made the most of it.  The hostel is barely 10mins walk from the tran station and bus stops, so I caught the 31 up to the Cairn Gorm base station.  I met a guy from Switzerland who'd been heading to Inverness and got off the train here on a whim.  He had no map, no plan, and a will to birdwatch!  He decided to come too, and I left him at the base station.  I was taking the funicular railway to Ptarmigan station, just 120m below the summit of Cairn Gorm.  It's the sixth highest mountain in the UK, with neighbour Ben MacDui coming in second.  We could have seen Ben Nevis on a clear day, but there was some mild cloud haze that stopped us seeing the furthest visible peaks, 97 miles away!  It was a breezy 5 degrees Celsius when our guide John led us out onto the mountain.  

Looking down on Ptarmigan station, and Loch Morlich behind

Holiday diary: Day 1 in Aviemore

The trip to Aviemore took about two hours by train, crossing the Forth Bridge and then making our way north past Perth, out of the Lowlands and into the Highlands.  Suddenly the landscape got a lot more dramatic!  Blue and ruddy brown mountains loomed up, some of them with their heads in clouds, some of them with the clouds descending to smother both them and us!  However by the time we reached Aviemore the sun had come out and... it is beautiful here.

Tuesday, 9 July 2013

Holiday diary: Day 2 in Edinburgh

A full day today.  I spent the morning climbing and descending Arthur's Seat.  It's about an hour each way, especially if you stop to dawdle and photograph things as often as I do.

Salisbury Craig

Holiday diary: Day 1 in Edinburgh

So I'm off on my solo holiday to Scotland.  Two days in Edinburgh and one-and-a-bit days in Aviemore.  I've decided to do the whole trip by footpower and public transport. Between Newcastle and Edinburgh, travelling up the east coast by train, there are some fantastic sea views, and shortly after we cross into Scotland, Arthurs Seat hauls into view.  And with that in mind... it looks ridiculously big.  This isn't  the first time I've seen it, but last time I wasn't planning to walk up it.  It just pops up out of nowhere!  (I forget, it's a volcano)  Thing is, it's not the biggest rock out there.  I'm heading to the highlands in a few days...