Wandering with colour

One of my absolute favourite places so far in my travels of South East Asia, is Vang Vieng in Laos. While looking out my hotel window to the most dreamy misty mountain vista each morning, I had this idea to document my travels by creating a new design for each region that I visit. 

I could spend all day at this place, lost in a tranquil jungle of green shade and beautiful leaves. My "Garden Cafe" artwork is about favourite places that you day dream about returning to. It is about the nurturing cocoon of a thick canopy and the beauty of being immersed in large leaves. 

How happy are Sunflowers! During late summer and early autumn I make them a feature in my life. I visit flower farms, plant rows in the garden, wear sunflower patterned clothes and earrings and of course draw them.

Pastel pink beach scenes aren’t purely the domain of summer. This is winter in all its drizzly glory.

Some of my favourite beach days involve cloudy skies and warm puffer jackets. The colours of the rocks and sea really pop against a grey sky and the diffused light is beautiful. Hours can pass rock hopping along the granite boulders that lie jumbled between acacia forest and the swirling sea.

This artwork is the portrayal of rhythm, gracefulness, and fluidity of movement. It is a dance between rose lace swirling ocean waves and a young girl splashing in the shallow water. 

It is a celebration of poise, roses and the sea, with an orange and beige palette bringing warmth and energy to the scene.

I have always attached romance to lighthouses. Prior to the automation of lighthouses it was common for the keepers family to stay on site in a small cottage. Keepers wives had to make a home in such unforgiving, lonely and remote places. I love the idea of roses and daffodils, petite embroidered handkerchiefs, vases of wildflowers and grasses, homely kitchens and woven baskets bringing a soft feminine touch to an otherwise harsh landscape.

The receding water leaves behind beautiful carved ripple patterns in the sand. When low tide coincides with sunset these grooved patterns cast dark shadows. The remaining pools of shallow water, scintillate in the late setting sun.

This digital illustration is based on a sketch of mine. It is inspired by both real and imaginary adventures and treasure maps. It is about the simple joy of being lost in a book where a whole storybook world comes to life.

This was a quick sketch I did one night while lying in bed. It is about those moments when negativity starts to descend like a thick cloud, hindering sleep. Instead of letting those thoughts grow, choose to dwell on lovely things.

Summer is fleeting in the far south of the equator. There is tell tale signs that the much anticipated warmer days are about to start. Usually the wait feels too long. All I need is blue skies, the scent of summer wildflowers in the dunes and slightly longer days. The wait is over and I am ready to take the plunge.

I am fascinated with how social media and mobile phone behaviour is changing our society. In these portraits, the face is obscured by the phone, giving a thin veil of facial anonymity. I like this pose, as to me it also symbolises the take over of phones in our life and the erosion of face to face connection. It is of course also an effective way to photograph yourself wearing clothes, when you are both the model and photographer.

Digging back through my sketchbook, I found a couple of early pencil drawings of mine. In a playful mood this week and harbouring a desire to tie up loose ends in my quest to be organised, I turned these two drawing into digital artworks.