Eight hours non-stop...

That's how long I've been working on the Thames map today for Le Boat, and while I may have a headache, sleepy eyes and stiff neck, it's been a very satisfying day!

The whole painting process has taken a lot longer than I anticipated because of all the tiny details. Just painting the trees took about four and a half hours in total. I've painted them two different colours of green for a bit of variety.

I don't want to give away too much now because I'm so near finishing. I want to wait until I can show it all - there's nothing like a bit of suspense! Here are just a few little snippets to keep you guessing!

This little piggy and his friends at Odd's Farm Park are one of my favourite parts of the illustration.

I'm sorry about the blurry photos, I only realised when I got them onto the computer that they hadn't come out sharply.

I've spent the last couple of hours colouring in shadows with pencil. It's a tedious process but I really like the 3D effect it gives the painting.

These two attractions are Mercedes Benz World and the Brooklands Museum. In reality they don't have a car and concorde on top, but a little creative license never hurt anyone!

The Eden Walk shopping centre is probably one of the more 'boring' buildings on the map, but strangely it's one of my favourites! Something to do with the little windows and straight lines.

Finally, this is a section of the Thames just after Windsor. The little yellow boat is one of the Runnymede Hotel's 'HotTugs' which sounds like a lot of fun!

As well as painting the map, which is taking up every spare hour that I'm not at my 'real' job, I've had a really great week! A couple of girls from work and I went to volunteer at the Blue Cross in Tiverton where we painted the dogs' lounge and went out for a walk with a some of the dogs. These two are Penelope (top) and Brooke.

Our painting left much to be desired and needs another coat, but fortunately there's another group of volunteers going in this week to finish up!

Some of the animals there have had a really hard time of it, so it's lovely to know that they are now being well looked after and have chance to be rehomed and receive all the love they deserve. The staff and volunteers at the Blue Cross centre do an excellent job of assessing their behaviour, addressing any problems and generally making them healthy, happy animals. If you're looking for a dog or cat, then I'd really recommend you try them. 

As if that weren't enough excitement for one week, we had our work Christmas party on Friday which kicked off the festive celebrations in style!

Have a great week peeps! With a bit of luck I may have a finished map to show you next Sunday!

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Paint Party Friday and Blue Chair Diary Illustrations!

Fragment, consider revising

I apologise in advance because this is going to be a short and potentially very boring post, as all I've been working on this week is the Thames map commission.

It's slow, but steady progress, and the most difficult project I've undertaken by a considerable amount!

You may be wondering about the title of this post. It's the pesky little phrase which shows when you've typed a sentence in Microsoft Word and it underlines it with a green squiggle but doesn't actually know what's wrong and leaves the ball in your court. Do you change the sentence or plough on? Generally I ignore it.

Anyway, what has that got to do with my week?

Well, I had been intending to complete this map all in one go and end up with a long, thin, beautiful representation of the Thames which could be framed for the wall once finished. Could I find a piece of watercolour paper big enough? No, of course not. I could either buy a 10 metre roll or revise my plan, and fragment the map. Which is what I've done - revised and fragmented.

It will now be painted in two sections which will be imperceptibly joined (I'm assured) using some digital wizardry.

This is what it looks like so far, and I warn you, these photos are less than exciting.

The piece in the foreground is the detailed draft I've been provided, which is very useful indeed.

That little red square with holes cut in it is a house stencil I made to make my life easier. Let me tell you, there are a lot of houses in Oxford!

This is a close up of the Oxford section. I'm looking forward to outlining it in pen as it's not very well defined at the moment, especially in photos.

The other thing which I've made a little more progress on this week is this doodle for the art swap which I'm doing with Debbie, a very talented portrait artist. You can see her Facebook page here.The doodle is for Debbie's daughter and contains some of her favourite toys. It still needs a bit of colour adding.

That's it for today, I said it would be short! I'm off to relax and try not to dream of the Thames tonight.

Oh, at the end of a very boring post may not be the best time to ask you all to vote for me in the UK Blog Awards! I've entered in the Art and Culture category and I think all you need to do is go to my profile and register your vote (from Monday 10 November). Thank you very much!

I'm sharing today's post over at Handmade Harbour.

Mapping the Thames

This weekend has been an extremely busy one, not least because I've had confirmation of a really exciting commission!

I don't want to say too much about what it's for until I've made a bit more progress, but I've been asked to produce an illustrated map of the River Thames.

Now, I have ALWAYS wanted to draw maps. When I was at school I wanted to be a cartographer. The fact that maps can be both attractive and functional interests me and the detail really appeals to my love of intricacy.

So, when I got asked to submit a small sample for consideration, I jumped at the chance.

This is just an example of a tiny section of the map and it's going to be changed slightly, but you get the idea.

I decided to use watercolours because I love the way they highlight the texture of the paper (and they're so fun to paint with)!

I had a go at painting Windsor Castle, using some of the same techniques as I use in my doodles.

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed doing these paintings and I'm so excited about getting stuck into this project.

It's the first time in a while that my drawing board has actually looked like there's some drawing going on! Today I've been sketching out the curves of the river, which is definitely easier said than done.

I've invested in some new Winsor & Newton watercolours as I used my old school set for these paintings and thought it was about time I get a 'grown up' set! I felt like a child in a sweet shop buying these!

Back to the drawing board now!

If you'd like to follow this project as it progresses, please follow my blog using one of the buttons on the right and pop over to my Facebook page where I'll be posting regular updates.

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour and Paint Party Friday.