Meet my followers: Nicole

Today let's meet Nicole Sharp from Cole+Josephine who is a follower of my blog. Nicole is a self taught artist and illustrator.

 She works in watercolor, ink, graphite, gauche and colored pencil to create her paintings.  She is a lover of spontaneity and thus appreciates the unpredictability of watercolors.

Here's a self portait of Nicole:

I love the idea of artists creating their own self portrait. I think all artists should do this in their own media. Hmmm, maybe I need to work on one......

The core of her work comes from her love color, and she adds to that a sense of optimism and humor.

 
I do find her work optimistic and fun.  Hope you do too. She has a blog called Cole+Josephine but I'm not sure who Josephine is!

Hope you've enjoyed this little peak into her work.  If you read this Nicole - let us in on who Josephine is!

Meet my followers: Suzanne

Today, in my "meet my followers" post, I want to introduce you to Suzanne Carpenter.  She is a follower of my blog but we've never been in touch so the information I'll share with you here is what I've learned from her websites.  I'm so glad I've found her - her work is so happy and cheery :-D

Suzanne is an illustrator who lives in Wales.  Apparently she loves to talk but does occasionally sit quietly drawing and doodling. She began doing collage.....moved through a sequin and bead phase, then back to collage and then one day found the computer and started creating digital pictures!

She still does some collage work and hasn't given up her glue stick but most of her work is now digital.

I think this is Suzanne below!:

I love how she uses her illustrations to guide you around her website - like birds to tell you what to do:

She creates picture books, portraits, patterns, all with these wonderful vibrant colours.

She also offers workshops for libraries and schools.

Here are some of the childrens' books she has illustrated that are available on Amazon:

Her work just makes me smile! Delightful illustrations to please both children and adults.  I'm so pleased I have started my "meet my followers" regular blog posts as it makes me find time to look at the fun creativity of others.  So glad to have found your happy world Suzanne.

The other Quentin in my life - Quentin Blake

Illustration by Quentin Blake

I've been thinking for a while now about how I wish I could draw. It would really be useful with what I do.....but I never did art at school or out of school and just don't seem to be able to do it....

And the sort of drawing I want to do isn't "serious" drawing either....as you know, that isn't my style :=D...

Illustration by Quentin Blake

So I've been looking around at classes etc ....and when I was in England over the New Year, I looked at some "how to draw" books....and who should I find but Quentin! This time - Quentin Blake, not Quentin Quail. He has written a Klutz book entitled "Drawing for the artistically undiscovered". So I bought it and I love it! It even comes with a little pouch with 2 art pencils and a pen.


I've enjoyed Quentin Blake's style of drawing for years - but I don't think you see much of him here in the US. He is one of Britains's best-loved and most successful illustrators and children's authors. He has illustrated more than 300 books and is probably most well known for this illustrations of Roald Dahl books. He also illustrates a lot of greeting cards so you see his drawings everywhere. He has recieved many awards, included a CBE.

His how-to-draw book is just delightful and with the whimsy style and humor, it is quite liberating. You are not trying to do something perfect - just putting pencil or pen to paper. His lessons often involve you finishing some of his drawings, like the prize winners of the World's Hairiest Man competition:


You spend time drawing candles with attitude, brooms, rakes, mops with all kinds on characteristics...and then progress to adding perspective to your drawings ..... light and shadow....

Then there is a section on different animals - including the zoo in your imagination with such things as s 14-legged Gaumposaurus....but also birds, pigs, horses, fish, crocodiles and dogs:

and then people:


I'm only about a third of the way through and I'm already dreading getting to the end as its just such fun. You can pick up the book for just a couple of minutes, or get in the swing of it and spend ages doing lots of silly drawings.

Parrot by Quentin Blake

So if you've been wanting to try drawing - give Quentin a try. You will have a wild time! And check out his website http://www.quentinblake.com