Goodbye 2014

So since I last posted on this blog I have got a new job, took a trip to London, had a graduation ceremony, took a trip to Stirling, had my first Christmas and new year in the flat, etc etc etc and its now 2015! Like everyone does in January, I have set myself goals for this year! I have big plans in store. One of the plans is to blog more of what I do because I think it's nice to look back at what you did and what you achieved. Re-live the memories in a way. The highlights of 2014 for me were moving in to a flat with my boyfriend, my class end of year illustration show at college, finding a new full-time job and my graduation ceremony. Those were the best days of the year by far.

At the end of November I spent a night in the Stirling Hotel courtesy of my work and it was lovely!

I wont deny I was feeling rather tender the morning after. A walk in the fresh air definitely helped.

Stirling Castle. 

The view from Stirling Castle of the Wallace Monument. Lovely place.

At the end of September I went to London for the Dolphins and Raiders game. We went to Harry Potter world as well, which was amazing. Well worth a visit.

On a boat

Graduation day.

 

Outside Privet Drive.

Many shots of the castle were of this huge model. I stood and looked at it for ages. 

Amazing.

Whales

I have joined the Tumblr craze and drawn some whale illustrations. I used watercolours and ink.

I might do something with these, I'm not sure. I might look for a children's story featuring whales or something.

Wood Girl

The latest from Strawberry Skulls Illustration.

I have been enjoying drawing hares lately, there's two foxes where I live and I have been feeding them at night time. I'm working on doing an illustration based on them. I just like all things woodland themed lately.

Hare in the Moonlight

My boyfriends dad asked me if I wanted to put some paintings in his office, so last night I started doing some painting. I thought about doing something mixed media on some small canvases I had. This painting actually stared out because I just shoved the spare blue paint I had on it. I think it's turned out better than the one I actually planned.

 acrylic on canvas

Tree houses 

I have been thinking of starting an etsy shop to hopefully sell paintings and prints of my artwork. Still need to create more artwork to sell though...

Whitby

After spending a bit of time in York we drove over to Whitby. It was a lovely sunny day but not too warm. We wandered round the shops and went up to see the ruins of the Abbey. Adam took this hilarious picture of me up there.

We got some stunning views from the Abbey at the top of the hill, it's amazing that it's been there for over 500 years.

Me after climbing to the top.

Whitby is a really nice town with lot's of shops and things to do. It was very busy and full of tourists and families. Nice place for a weekend visit.

Impromptu Trip to Yorkshire

This week I decided to take a trip to Yorkshire. We booked a night in York and on the way decided to drive through the Yorkshire Dales area. We stopped by a small village and had a wander round, there was a craft fair and lot's of little quaint shops.

The British Summer

Wet is an understatement

A huge train

Owl outside the Yorkshire Museum

Driving through the countryside in torrential rain, in my 1l Yaris was not much fun.
The scenery was beautiful though, so much green. We set the sat-nav to take us to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Centre and took a stroll around the area. We went up to the river which a scene from Robin Hood was filmed (the one with Kevin Kostner). We took a walk to some waterfalls and got soaked because the rain was bucketing down.

Peace

Have you ever spent an entire day lost in a book? I know I have. I love it when I find a good book and I can't put it down. I just finished this illustration for this weeks Illustration Friday topic which is peace. I used pencil, fine liner pens and watercolour paints.

Sea Maiden

A sneak peek of a drawing I am working  just now. Lately I have been enjoying drawing with fine liner pens. When they start to run out I find you can get a nice effect with them. I plan to scan these drawings and colour them digitally or perhaps using watercolour since the pens are water soluble. I haven't decided yet.

These are the pens I used and I did it on watercolour paper.

Nicola

Beard

I did this illustration this evening for this weeks Illustration Friday topic, which is 'beard'.

I did a pencil drawing of what I think is a typical bearded guy you see nowadays with the quiff-ed hair and bushy beard, plus I added a few tattoos.

I used graphite and Photoshop.

Purple Roses

A pretty, basic illustration. A sketch done in pencil, coloured in Photoshop.

This reminds me of the headbands most girls will be wearing this year at all of the festivals.