Keep it Up!

Keep EVERYTHING up!

Do people tell you to “keep it up”? It’s something people say in relation to work, art, whatever. I don’t dislike it, I know what they mean. But I don’t really need encouragement to keep making art. It’s sort of a compulsion, I’ll never stop!

But I perhaps need someone to tell me to “keep it up” when it comes to household tasks. Especially gardening, dusting, all kinds of cleaning really. I want to personally shout out every person reading this who has completed any kind of house or garden work in the last week. You are an impressive grown-up and should be commended.

Last December, in my pen-filled advent calendar, I found one of these “Sharpie Creative Markers” - a red one. It really won me over, and when I saw a full set I had to get it. Abolve is an example of a drawing done with them ↑

The ink is very similar to a Posca pen but with a brush tip. So if you like the look of paint markers but you don’t like that annoying tip they have, where little bits come off it all the time, and you have to press it in to make a messy puddle of ink come out, you could give these a go for more agreeable results. Here’s another example ↓

The black outline is a pilot sign pen btw.

Here are some lino prints ↓

These are old designs, and I’ve been printing cards this weekend so I’ll have some stuff for my table at Inkblot Comic Festival on 30th May.

I use soft lino, which might be the baby’s choice of lino, it’s very easy to use. You can just cut it up with scissors if you want. Cut out a shape and add some details. I’m going to see if the children would like to make some designs of their own too, I think they’re old enough to handle it. I’ll let you know how that goes.

And what else have I been working on? Well, now that my picture book is out, I’m thinking about tidying up some ideas for another one. I have a few projects in progress that are at stages which I would describe as ‘out of my hands’ right now. I really hate the wait-and-see stage. When you’re waiting to receive judgement on your work, it’s really hard to muster up the confidence to throw yourself into something new!

Last week I opened an online shop to sell a group of crochet characters that have been waiting on the shelf for a while. This ↓ is what it looks like when a crochet character gets wrapped up for their journey.

I’m also taking crochet and little animation commissions on there - and have a few of those to be getting on with now. It’s actually really nice to have the option to directly sell my efforts to people who like them.

Every piece of furniture should have storage space inside it for gathering clutter. In a way, we are all storage spaces, and the clutter is our thoughts and ideas. Never tidy it up, just rifle through when you need to find something - it’ll turn up.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a strong week. Keep it up, or keep it down if you prefer, it’s actually okay to keep it down sometimes, you know?