Miniature gardens

I recently read “Jane in Winter” by Elizabeth Wix who many of you may already know from “About New York” Elizabeth grew up in England in the fifties but now resides in New York. Although the book was originally written for the 8-12 age group I found it fascinating, a sort of escape into a slightly disconcerting fantasy world with fifties nostalgia. It is both cosy and scary in equal measure and I know that I would have devoured such a story when I was young. It reminded me very much of Edith Nesbit.

There are many things to love about this book but for me it was being reminded of childhood pastimes, some of which I still have not entirely grown out of; that of making gardens in miniature. When I was a girl this was “all the rage”, in fact most of my childhood pastimes involved lots of imagination and no expenditure! We used mirror pieces for lakes, stones and rocks to create paths and mountains, mosses and small plants became gardens, fir cones became forests. I dare say many of you will have done much the same thing?


Today my miniature gardens are in shallow bowls rather than trays, I still make use of pebbles, shells, and pieces of ceramic, whatever takes my fancy. One of my favourite plants for such environments is a clover -Trifolium Repens “Purpurascens Quadriphyllum” which was given to me by a gardening neighbour. It has reddish/purple leaves edged with peppermint green and white flowers. It can be invasive so living in a dish suits it fine! Interestingly Judith Glover has a similar plant featured in her garden notebook, see post below.

An artist's garden

click for a close up.

I would very much like to pretend that the beautiful, well kept garden above belongs to me but I am sure you know better, having already confessed to a multitude of gardening tasks to attend to. It actually belongs to the artist and gardener Judith Glover.

Judith opens her garden for charity and this year raised an amazing £1,100 as part of the NGS Open Garden scheme. Her garden is the source of inspiration for the many delicate, detailed watercolours she produces, many of which are reproduced onto greeting cards and stationery. You can see more of her work and read about her inspirational garden on her website.

And now, if you will allow me to indulge in a bit of maternal pride… our son James has written the music for her latest e-card called “Toy Box” and I have to say that it is my all time favourite. The music and images are a perfect match, please have a listen and see if you agree by following this link. I have watched it umpteen times and it makes me smile on each occasion. He has written music for some of her other cards on the site including Little Angel and Little Snowman but I think I like this one the most.

Working from home.

Never having ever had a “proper job” I have always been fortunate to work from my home studio – ok, my dining room/studio! This has been something of a mixed blessing, ideal when my children were little as I was always at home with them and was able to work around school times, bed times etc. However there have been times when I have thought how nice it would be to go out of the house and shut the door on the domestic chaos that so often prevails.

This week has been no exception, I have so many jobs that need my attention and life seems like one long juggling act, which I am sure a great deal of you will identify with. The weekend was spent visiting my elderly parents, supermarket shopping, catching up with my family and bargain hunting in the big city so all the jobs which were earmarked for the weekend are still undone. I sit at my desk and look out at the garden, the hedge needs trimming, the flowerbeds need weeding, the roses dead heading. I venture into the garden and decide that, as the weather is good maybe I should get the laundry done and have the luxury of hanging the sheets out in the fresh air. I go upstairs to sort the laundry, ignoring the fact that the stairs could do with a good hoovering and remember that I need to dash to the shops to catch them before they close and whilst I am in the village I might as well post the Etsy shop order at the same time, so maybe I should finish packing that first? All the time feeling that I really should be getting on with some illustration work, not to mention updating my blog and reading yours and now if you will excuse me I have to dash, there is someone at the door…. and the phone is ringing….and the dog is barking….. and where the heck did I leave my glasses?

House to Let

Dog walking is one of my favourite forms of exercise; it forces me out of the house no matter what the weather and gives me time to appreciate the wildlife on my doorstep. There has been so much to see recently, wild orchids, a grass snake, a heron chasing a buzzard, some rather unusual wild flowers which turned out to be orange hawkweed (sometimes called fox and cubs), and yesterday we watched a very industrious solitary bee.

A flash of green passed at eye level, at first I thought it was a dragonfly but on closer inspection saw that it was a bee carrying a piece of leaf. It took the leaf into a hole in the canal bridge wall. We watched in total fascination as the bee emerged from a gap between the bricks and returned with yet more pieces. Despite the fact that we had focused the camera on the hole, we did not manage to get a good shot but you can just about make out a piece of the newly cut leaf being dragged into the tiny space in the motar. We think that the bee must have been a leaf cutter bee, which makes nests similar to a cigar, rolling the leaves into a cylinder. Please click on the photograph to see more clearly.



Earlier this year I placed a bee house in the garden, so far we have had no takers. It has been thought for sometime that pesticides may be killing our bees and it is clear that more research is needed. The Co-Operative Plan Bee is campaigning for more research into the effects of pesticides on bees. You can visit their website and sign a petition and learn more about our bees. If you enjoy flowering plants, juicy pears, almond and cherries then please spare a thought for our bees without which we would have none of these things. If people had to take over the job of bees in the UK it would take a workforce of tens of millions, to find out just how many visit this link. In some parts of China humans now have to pollinate fruit, it could happen here, please help.

Illustrating for the iPod.

Illustrating for the iPod/iPad is proving to be interesting if not challenging. It has always been the case in years gone by that the method of printing was the major factor in deciding the style of illustration. For example, printing from a wood block usually produces an illustration in black and white and the limitations of the process can be a starting point and sometimes an inspiration for the final artwork. When full colour photogravure printing came along illustrators responded to the challenge by producing more colourful and detailed artwork. Illustrating for the iPod is not limited to the conventions of the printing process, in theory anything is possible, the rules are “there are no rules”. In reality the restraints are of a different nature, mainly governed by the actual size of the iPod screen. The artwork has to “read” when shown on the tiny screen and in the case of the application which we are using with MCB Mobile Children's Books for “The Bird with the Rainbow Tail” (to which I referred earlier) the left hand third of the illustration is covered by text, so that part of the illustration can only be seen when the text is switched off. This means that all the action has to happen in the other two thirds of the screen on the right hand side.
As if that wasn’t enough, the same illustration cropped has to also work on the iPad, which is much larger and has a higher resolution.

In the past, all of my picture book illustrations have been in full colour. Each illustration took weeks to complete with nine to twelve months allowed for the entire book. This current project has to be completed in a much shorter time frame added to which there is another constraint, that of the story which begins in a world devoid of colour. It seemed logical therefore to do the illustrations in black line drawing and then to add patterns, colours and textures digitally. As you can gather, the whole project is experimental and a little bit daunting. The patterns and collage effect have been taken form my fabric designs, and photographic textures from wood, stone etc.

The illustration here is page one and has been inspired a little by Samuel Palmer whose work I adore.

Japanese Kozo Paper

I have been patiently waiting for the arrival of suitable paper in order to print my wood engraving. I took advice from Chris Daunt who has been more than helpful with advice and supplies. If you are thinking of trying this craft I would suggest you visit his website first.

Chris advised Japanese White Kozo paper for hand burnishing. This method is an alternative to printing in a press. I was very surprised when my order came, the paper is very fine, like tissue paper and at first I thought I had ordered incorrectly. I have since learnt that Kozo is extremely strong and is nothing like our western pulp made paper. This Japanese paper is made with the fiber from the inside of the bark of the Mulberry tree. Its long, fine fibers give the paper strength, flexibility and smoothness, which are perfect for printing; it is also used in conservation and book repair. Its translucent quality also helps when burnishing as you can see the print through the paper so you have a better idea where to apply the pressure.

I found that the paper performed well and was a pleasure you use. I may try different papers in due course, the ladies at the paper suppliers were very helpful and have even promised me some free sample sheets to experiment on! For the time being I have decide to put some of the prints into my Etsy shop in the hope that I may be able to fund more materials and maybe a workshop or two!

Tea with Angela Cater.

It seems ages since I did my last "Cuppa" interview, so here without further ado, let me introduce to you the author/illustrator Angela Cater. Angela illustrates her own children's books and publishes them at Tabby Cat Press, She draws cats beautifully and is a cat lover herself which I think shows in her work.
Won't you join us for a cuppa, there's plenty of tea left in the pot!

How do you take your tea and in what kind of cup do you like it served?
Answer - Just as it comes please with a drop of milk, and in a pretty bone-china mug.

If you could choose anyone, past , present or future, who would be joining us for tea?
Answer- I'd like to invite Norman Rockwell. The stories he told about the characters that modelled for his paintings are often hilarious. Also Lesley-Anne Ivory as I'm sure we could chat about cats until the cows come home. More than her cats themselves, I really admire her detailed backgrounds; the background is always the thing I enjoy illustrating the least.

Tell me a little about your background in art and design?
Answer- I've been painting and drawing animals ever since I was old enough to hold a paint brush and consider myself to be self-taught. I read a lot of art books but don't use them to influence my own work or the decisions I make. As a mature student, I took the Foundation Art course at Chesterfield College of Art and Technology. I quite enjoyed dabbling with all the different facilities there, but resent the tutors' attempts to draw me away from a more illustrative style into the abstract oil paintings they so favour. After that, I studied Advertising at Doncaster College (at HND level), but graduated in the early 90's recession and by the time things picked up, my skills were well and truly out of date.

Where are you based and does it influence your work?
Answer- I'm based in Manchester. When I first moved here, I lived on a really rough estate (the sort of place where everyone turns out at the weekend to watch cars burn), and my art became a form of escapism. It was then that I first developed my “Character Cats” and I would build stories around them. Most people either love or hate them, but Sailor Sam later became the star character of my first children's picture book, and “Cat Dracula” is a best-selling greeting card at the Whitby Bookshop.

What have you been doing/working on today?
Answer- Today, I have baked my coloured pencils to strengthen the lead as I am working on a portrait of a siamese cat for submission to the Society of Feline Artist's annual exhibition. I am currently off-work with sciatica and it has given me an unexpected fortnight in which to work on various exhibition pieces. I also exhibit annually with the UK Coloured Pencil Society.

I hope that you have brought along something wonderful to show us, what is it?
Answer- “Beautiful Dreamer” (see above)
This is a coloured pencil portrait of my late tabby, Samson who was one of my all time favourite models. It was the first time that I have attempted working in 'reverse' on black paper, and I was so scared of making a wrong mark that this picture took me almost 4 months to complete, but I am very pleased of the result.



Illustration for “Brogan's Good Turns” - I have recently started work on another children's book that is about a stray cat who is so grateful to his young mistress for saving his life that he tries to repay her with many misunderstood favours. My new cat, Pablo is the model here – someone dumped him on my doorstep just before Christmas and he's the best present I've ever had! I am also in the process of writing and illustrating “A Lifetime of Cats” which will be kind of a memoir of every cat I have ever had and the art that they have inspired. Yes, all this and a full-time job! Thanks for the cup of tea, I really needed that.

Well Angela, I can see that we have lots in common and share an admiration for the work of Lesley Anne Ivory. I once worked with an editor who knew her well, in fact Lesley had given her one of her cats and no doubt painted it too! I have also learnt something new about baking coloured pencils and have discovered that you have a blog so no doubt I shall be visiting you again soon. It was a pleasure to share a cuppa with you and hope that you come back soon.