Sainsbury's stuff

A nursery rhyme book I did a while ago has been re-jigged for Sainsbury's. I also illustrated a nativiy story which has been made into a cute little sticker pack. It comes with a mini book, two background scenes and four pages of re-usable stickers, loads of christmas fun to be had! This is most exciting because (a) I have wanted my work to be made into stickers for AGES and (b) Sainsbury's is a hop, skip and a jump along the road from us and I go there most weeks. Will be keeping a beady eye out for this pair :)

illustration friday

a bouncy birthday giraffe!!!

come and shop here!

Here is my new shop page on the superbly revamped James Ellis website. Have a look around and check out the huge range of cards, stationery, notebooks and more!

illustration friday - jump

jumping for joy! I wanted to post something up this week but had no time to get anything new done, so here is a stripey lady I painted a very l o o o o n g time ago.. will try harder next week ;)

illustration friday - heights

this wee lad is enjoying life from the dizzying heights of an elephant's back! nice to participate in IF for the first time in a while..:)

thank you cards

I've been working on these little thank you cards since my return to the studio...a perfect project to get me back into the swing of things x

back to work!

It would appear that an entire year has passed by in the blink of an eye. The sleepy little bundle that was Elsie seems to have morphed overnight into a determined, noisy and mobile one year old, which means it is time to dust off my paint set and get back to the drawing board! I've been dipping my toe in over the past few weeks and it has been really quite lovely to be in the studio again. My paints and pencils are just as I left them and despite feeling a tad rusty, I am thoroughly enjoying the chance to do some illustrating after a super special year. How better to kick start my blog than with a pic of my wee lady :)

jingle bell reindeer

this is my new christmas book, it's a follow on from last years 'jingle bell christmas'.

new mini cards

these cute little christmas cards are new at james ellis this year. they have rounded corners and plenty of sparkly glitter - perfect for sending your festive messages!

new book!

I've just been sent copies of Nursery Rhyme Treasury, my latest book. It combines 16 previous nursery rhyme and lullaby illustrations in a new 'treasury' format. I've been road testing it a lot lately, as the owner of a non-sleeping baby.. I am really pleased with how it looks - it would be great to hear what you think.
If you like it you can buy it here

introducing.....

I should have done this ages ago but let's just say life is a tad more hectic these days..... I'm delighted to introduce our wee girl, Elsie May Philip, born 28th February and a true delight! We are knackered, covered in baby sick and leaving the house is like a military operation these days, but heck, we are happy : )

a big year ahead..

Happy new year everyone!

I'm a little late off the mark as usual but got there in the end.
So, it's 2011 now and the fletcher/philip bambino is due in just 5 weeks time which all seems a bit unbelievable, frankly!
I've been finishing off a few projects before baby mania hits, one of them was this advent calendar for next year, so thought I'd post it up here so you can have a wee peek.

crimboCRimBO

Would you look at that....it's almost christmas again!!

Once more I find myself neglecting the old blogger (pregnancy, moving house and big workloads are such distractions!) and since my advent calendar informed me this morning that it's only 10 sleeps till christmas day, I decided it was high time I got something a bit more festive up here. So have some carol singers. And a splendid christmas!

xx

oWL

It's been a while since I posted something up on my blog, so here is a little owl for no reason other than to cheer up a dark and rainy Monday.

new books

We got back from our hols in france at the weekend and can you imagine my excitement to discover my two latest books had arrived while I was away? This is the first time I've seen Peekaboo since I posted off the artwork months and months ago, so it was a big treat to open up the pages for the first time.. This is my favourite part of being an illustrator for sure : )

Made in the shade

Penny and I will be setting up shop at the Made in the Shade Summertime Hop on Saturday the 24th July. If it's anything like last time, the Roxy will be brimming with hand made delights, delicious cakes and good live music - pop along if you can!

Illustration Friday - Giant

Just hanging out among some giant flowers.

IF - Paisley

It was a mad dash to get something done for this weeks challenge but anyway, here we go, in the nick of time. I give you Mr and Mrs Paisley Pattern.

illustration friday - ripple

This weeks topic is a special one. Illustrator Kelly Light has asked IF participants to create small sketchcards, somehow relating to the gulf oil spill, in an effort to help all the creatures affected by it. The sketchcards can be bought for the bargain price of $10 and every single penny will go to one of two animal rescue charities. These wee birds are my contribution. If we all do a small act to help then we can hopefully cause a ripple...
Find out more and view all the great art here

Great news! my bird sketchcard has been sold and will be winging it's way to the USA in a matter of hours!

art market

Hello art fans! I'll have a table this saturday at the drill hall art market, there's sure to be plenty of handmade delights around- why not pop along for a wee peek..

illustration friday - early

Up nice and early to walk the dog!

I love unicorns

This is my latest screen print, a girl and her unicorn pal. I wonder if I should have used a colour which wasn't blue, blue or blue..never mind, it's kind of icy.

illustration friday - equipment

Well equipped for another rainy day. Does that count..?

illustration friday - fearless

I did this recently for a birthday card but thought it might fit in quite well with this weeks illustration friday topic, fearless. Brave little Jack, climbing up the beanstalk towards the giant....

illustration friday - cocoon

Here's my attempt at this weeks illustration friday topic - cocoon. It's in honour of my brand new wee nephew Ben, born just a week and a half ago. It reminds me of how peaceful he looks when he's snoozing away in his moses basket!

Illustration Friday - Detective

Today I decided it was high time I had my first go at a little pic for illustration friday. The topic this week is 'Detective' and I'm not entirely sure why, but an anteater popped into my head. So here is Mr Anteater, detecting around for some tasty ants for tea. Hmmm.

Peekaboo

Thought I'd post up a sneaky peek of the book I finished recently. It's called Peekaboo and will be published in autumn. This is spread two of five.

pocket mirrors

These are my new pocket mirrors which have just arrived in the post. Mr Fox is featuring again as well as a deer, a new foxy and a lady with an umbrella... fingers crossed at least a few fly off the shelf at summer craft fairs!

woof

dpi magazine

I've been featured in the february issue of Taiwan based illustration magazine dpi. It's a lovely little mag, full of nice illustration and design, so I was delighted when they asked if they could interview me! They very kindly gave me 6 pages to showcase my work. I've still to work out how you get hold of a copy but here are some shots of my pages...

polar bears

christmas fellows..

Illustrations for next years christmas cards. All this delicious snow is helping to keep me in the festive mood..

Happy December

It's finally time to start opening those advent calendar doors..
Here are a few of my advent calendar designs, available to buy here.

The Ark Project

I recently took part in a lovely book project curated by Argentinian design company DGPH. Artists and Illustrators from around the world were asked to help create an animal 'bible' by illustrating an animal native to their country. I chose the Highland cow. The result is Ark, a beautiful collection of animal illustrations done in a huge variety of styles.

printmaking

I did a screenprinting course a few weeks ago which was great fun - lot's to learn. The finished prints look so different from the usual stuff I do with paints and pencils. Change is good!