Greetings of the Midwinter Solstice!

Celebrating the return of longer days, while the beautiful moon shines through the trees!

First visit to the Yorkshire Arboretum!

Yesterday was my first visit to the Yorkshire Arboretum near Castle Howard in North Yorkshire.

 After an early morning start, driving over the North York Moors in a combination of torrential rain and mist, which I found very atmospheric and inspiring ...

 ... we stopped at Rievaulx Abbey, another beautiful place in North Yorkshire's history, before continuing through Helmsley down to the Arboretum.

 What a change in the weather! Suddenly the skies cleared and turned vivid blue as the sun shone on us!

 Such gloriousness of autumn colours!

A grand finale of tea in the Arboretum cafe, as the evening sun illuminated the golden colours of the trees. The first of many visits to come!

Magical Mystical Mist after a Happy Hallowe'en of Caricatures!

After a very busy Hallowe'en week doing 'Spooky Cartoon' caricatures at lots of events, it was a nice surprise to have a continuation of the spooky theme in the misty weather on the 1st November!

I took these photos in Ripon and Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire. Although you couldn't see very far, lack of visibility was more than made up for by the wonderful atmosphere!

I almost wished I had been wearing my Hallowe'en costume from the events I had worked at earlier in the week! :)

Euphoric Summer of Beautiful Plants

 This summer I am in a state of constant euphoria, surrounded by glorious plants at all the venues I'm visiting. Such beauty!

Does anyone know what any of these plants are? These were all at Newby Hall near Ripon - a fabulous place.

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 These are the same plants as the ones in the top photo, but creating a different mood juxtaposed with the metallic-looking sea holly.

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These were so delicate and velvety!

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 This looked like some kind of sage - what wonderfully sculptural form!

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These plants were quite subtle - yet what a marvellous array of different  colours.

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Lastly, a tiny-leaved green ground-cover plant that cascaded down the rocks and made a marvellous border round the paving stones.

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Mega-busy Summer!

 This summer has been so tremendously busy for me with a great variety of work at events, I've not had the time to post on social media (or sleep!) Here are a few photos from the lovely wedding on Saturday of Bri & Maxine, at which I had the pleasure of being caricaturist.

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Earth Day

Let's work together to honour & celebrate our planet and its beautiful landscapes instead of destroying it.

Happy Vernal Equinox, Solar Eclipse and Supermoon day everyone!

My First Garden!

 

I recently re-discovered these photos (pre-digital, hence the print 'join-ups'!) of my first ever garden, which was in Guisborough.

Knowing nothing then about plants or garden design, after moving in I eagerly read all about creating the illusion of a larger space by breaking up the design etc ... and learning about wonderful glorious plants.

I'll never forget the excitement of cutting the circular shape in the lawn to create a mysterious little secret garden area. And the fun of creating my 'Yorkshire Pudding Shrub' by pruning the previously straggly Lonicera 'Baggesen's Gold' into a lovely big squashy form!

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Giraffes Rock!

One of my favourite places for writing stories about the Neckmann family of giraffes is my Giraffe Rocking Chair. It is based on Raph G. Neckmann's rocking chair and really inspires me to dream about their neccentric adventures!

I have designed lots of rubber-stamps, one of which shows Raph G. Neckmann on his favourite chair with toddler son Littl' Nicky. I used this stamp to decorate my own chair - and how I held my breath as I pressed the stamp against the clean wood! One smudge and it would have been spoiled - and to make things more difficult the surface of the wood was slightly curved so I had to gently move the stamp! Then I had to iron it to 'fix' the ink - first time I'd ironed a piece of furniture!!

The cushion is decorated with some of my other giraffe rubber-stamp designs - long-necked icecream cones and giraffes eating leaves.

When the chair rocks, it is as if it is transported through time and space, through a secret portal into Giraffe World! Look - you can see the steep little hills of Knollshire leading to Necky Knoll House in the distance, and below are Raph G. Neckmann and Littl' Nicky looking up in welcome ...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you all a fabulous, fun & fulfilling 2015.

I had a mega-busy New Year's Eve face & body painting at a great event in Newcastle upon Tyne. Painted hundreds of little pics of Frozen on people - the latest craze! Plus all the usual requests and lots of unique and wonderful designs :) Too busy to take photos though.

Looking forward to lots of really interesting work this year!

Thank you all for another great year of bloggy-friendship and here's to lots more happy blogging!