Shetland holiday 4

I forked out for a boat trip to draw some birds at one point but the best animal spot was a minke whale which popped up when I was drawing some cormorants on Mousa.

Shetland holiday 5

This is Orkney, where I went next. It's the first time I've been back since my first backpacking trip at age 17 with my sister. It seemed pretty remote then- I was surprised at how gentle and well-farmed it seemed after Shetland.

These two drawings are the Stones of Stenness.
Stromness in the rain. I hung around for a while getting wet and eventually had to seek shelter in a tapestry artist's studio. She was pretty inspirational- she emigrated from Yorkshire two years ago, set up a tiny house cum studio cum gallery and makes a living teaching art and selling sculpture and tapestries.
This is Tomb of the Eagles. This made a big impression on me at age 17 because it was the only museum I'd ever been in which allowed you to handle 3000 year old artefacts. These were made by Neolithic people, but they were pretty much exactly the same as people today. They weren't daft. The average woman back then was taller than me. I'm a midget*.

The hill from Finstown. The mound in front is another tomb. They're pretty common on Orkney.

*You were likely to be crippled by arthritis and die aged 35 but that's wonderful modern medicine for you

in bruges

I went to Bruges for my cousin's wedding this weekend. Here is a quick sketch. It looks very peaceful. Imagine tourists three deep on the bridge behind me.

extreme morris dancing

A morris dancing festival. Hey, I live in Norfolk now.

The guys in the feathered hats are the Kettering Witchmen. They wear leather motorcycle gloves, use sticks like two-by-fours and tie their bells to their Dr Martens. They're pretty cool and remind me of the southeast bonfire societies.

Caption auction artwork

I've submitted artwork for the Caption auction in Oxford for the last three years (this will be the third) Unfortunately I can't go as two of my friends are inconsiderately getting married, but the theme for this year is Mad Science. I've got a load of magazines like the one below (tag line of the cover story "A Mutant- he knew the innermost secrets of all creatures-except himself!") and interpreted "Mad Science" as 1940's pulp science fiction magazine imagery.

sketch dump

at the park

Once a Month

Chapter art for Episode 163 of The Drabblecast , Once a month, on a sunday by Ian McHugh.

Unfortunately I drew this illustration way too big and had to crop it quite radically. You can see the final version on their website, which you should check out anyway because it's amazing.