Foxglove, Scissors, & Collage

Here’s a scribbly sketch of some Foxglove and a pair of scissors. I really love Procreate’s pencil brushes, particularly the HB and 6B ones, their ability to create such realistic graphite textures are unmatched! I quite like the visual pairing of a botanical with a pair of scissors, though due to Foxglove’s poisonous nature I’ll just say please don’t touch them unless you know how to protect yourself.

I’ve also been enjoying looking at other artist’s collages so this inspired me to create this little abstract composition. They can be a nice way to record colour or texture combinations I like for future reference.

Alstroemeria + Crescent Moon

I often take photos of flowers to use as illustration references, especially if I really like the shape the flowers create together. My camera roll is just full of photos taken of floral sprigs that I’ve singled out of bouquets, and even more photos of botanicals that I’ve taken while visiting garden centres! The alstroemeria in this illustration was referenced from a sprig that my mum got in a bouquet; I visited when we were not in lockdown of course; so the opportunity to collect reference photos can arise at anytime!

I partnered the alstroemeria with a scribbly crescent moon and I just really like how the moon cups the flowers! It reminds me to include more occult/tarot references in my work since I enjoy the symbolism so much. I often like to think about my illustrations and which tarot card the energy resembles, I’m most familiar with the Rider Waite Smith system but I recently picked up my first Thoth deck which is brimming with symbolism. I’m enjoying learning about the various tarot systems and how each can widen my tarot vocabulary.

If this illustration had to represent a card I think it could potentially represent The Moon, but I think it could better fit the archetype of The High Priestess!

What card do you think it could fit best?

Brighter Times

Happy New Year everyone! I know things haven’t been great lately, but I’m really hoping that some brighter times will be coming to all of us soon.

I’m feeling cautiously optimistic for this year and quite inspired to dig deep into my creative practice to see what comes out of it. I don’t quite have the mental capacity to sink loads of time into a single illustration right now so I’ve been focusing on creating sketches made with wobbly and expressive lines, and I’ve been enjoying it immensely! I have a lot of respect for photorealism and I have enjoyed creating work that’s as accurate as I can manage, but right now I am besotted with this naive and wonky aesthetic.

I’m particularly pleased with this collection of Cosmos and Emperor Moth sketches. I just think they’re really charming!

I’ve also enjoyed taking my sketches and putting them into this digital sketchbook. I have a history of using physical and digital art journals but I haven’t done this in quite a while, it feels nice to play around with a kind of art journal again. I’ve also noticed that I’m beginning to take an interest in collage again which means I will most likely be experimenting and combining that with art journaling again soon.

It’s interesting to me that my enthusiasm for art journaling and collage seems to be cyclical, I normally fancy experimenting with these mediums during the winter and spring months, though I’m not sure why that is! Do any of you have cyclical art interests? Perhaps art journaling just makes me feel cosy, which is a feeling I constantly want to be in during the colder part of the year haha!