Turkey!

Henry and I took a trip to Turkey last week. Henry's mum is a great fan of Turkey and goes out there often so we thought it would be fun to join her there for a while.  I have to say I have never been on a holiday quite like it before but I enjoyed it very much none the less! I wish I was still there!

Here are some of the things we saw and did:

turkish delight

we ate out A LOT!

Henry, me and his mother

ate chocolate gateau from a patisserie

Henry drinking iced tea

bought some tzatziki spice

ate turkish ice cream

more turkish delight

went on a crazy sofa ride in the sea

visited Icmeler- a quieter and more beautiful version of Marmaris

Did lots of swimming in the sea

posed on the mermaid fountain

It was such a good holiday! It was really hot there so we spent a lot of time dipping in and out of the sea and lying on sunbeds. We also had a turkish bath where we got loofah'ed down and them covered in foam and then had an all over body oil massage.  We ate out at so many restaurants.  Henry and I were keen to hunt down the more traditional local places rather than the touristy ones on the beach front.  We ate a lot of lentil soup and mezze.

One day we took a trip to the neighbouring town of Icmeler where we visited the marketplace and then went down to the beach.  It turned out the the beach at Icmeler was a lot nicer than the one in Marmaris so we ended up staying there for the whole day.  The sea was clear and bluey green, the sand was much nicer and it was a lot less touristy and crowded.  We ate pizza and greek salad for lunch.

Another day we went on a boat trip which was really fun. We were given breakfast, lunch and free drinks all day.  The boat kept stopping in coves where we were allowed to jump off and go swimming in the sea.  Henry brought his goggles and snorkel. A little speedboat came whizzing up beside us at one point selling ice cream.  It was an ice cream boat!

We had a really nice meal one night at a restaurant called Ali Baba's. It was traditional Turkish cuisine. Chickpeas, rice, aubergine, lentil soup etc.. Afterwards we watched the dancing fountains and then got Turkish ice cream.  Turkish ice cream is different to English ice cream. It stretches like chewing gum or mozzarella. It's also not quite as sweet. We got a tub of chocolate and blackcurrant together. It was a SUCH a good combination. We ate it on the seafront looking out to sea.

Ah looking at these photos just makes me want to be back there! In the sunshine. It's back to reality now...

Have you been anywhere nice this summer?

xox

Snow White and some exciting news!

After making the Ice Dancer that I wrote about in my previous post I felt inspired to make another dancing girl.  So here she is!

 Snow White

I think that really I am just getting addicted to making tiny tulle tutus!

Anyway, this picture is actually FOR SALE.  £40.00 plus p&p
For £40.00 you would receive:   

-the original artwork (ie the cardboard cut out doll, hand-painted with tulle skirt)
-one glossy (approx 9 inches by 6.5 inches) print

If interested please email me at harrietmuncaster(@)hotmail(.)com

Hope you like her! I think she's my favourite so far.  

Also, not a new thing for me (as all this happened back in April) but I haven't announced it on my blog yet. I AM GETTING PUBLISHED!!! I am so excited! My first book will be coming out in 2014 and it will be my Witch's Cat book that I wrote and illustrated for my final major project on my masters course. You may remember it if you are a follower of this blog...

In other news I have become obsessed with tiny letters recently. My mind just seems to get totally fixated on really small things sometimes. Why? I don't know but I couldn't rest until I made some tiny fairy letters and envelopes... no reason!

Not quite sure what to do with them now but at least they look cute.

Happy Monday everyone! xox

Ice Dancer

Finally, as promised, a piece of illustration work!

This is a recent commission I did of an ice skater. I really enjoyed making her and finally getting to use some of my sparkly netting fabric for the skirt!  I wish I had the skill to make the glitter on the skirt sparkle more on camera.

I think this image goes quite well alongside the ballet dancer girl I did a while back.  Maybe I should make some sort of dancer illustration set...

That is all. Hope you're all having good weeks! xox

more drawing and some miniature stuff

Last post I mentioned that I went to a drawing session at the 'Art Nest' near where I live.  I went there again last week and also today.  I think it's really good for me to go and practice my drawing more.  It makes me actually have to sit down and draw something from life looking properly at the shapes and shadows rather than making things up and stylizing all the time.

Last week we drew onions and garlic.  I have to say I was rather pleased with my drawings- especially the garlic. It's been soooo long since I have really drawn something properly (I know that's bad!) so it's nice to discover that I havn't completely lost the knack altogether!

This is the drawing I am most pleased with. It was the last one I did.

I also took the opportunity to draw some of the other people at the session...

This was the same little girl as last week.

Also last week, I met up with two of my friends who I used to play the 'mascots' game a lot with when I was younger and we had a look through some of our old stuff.  It brought back a lot of memories!  I can't believe the amount of stuff we accumulated between us!  We were so obsessed.

Look at the dust covering Henrietta's dolls house! Kind of spooky, like Miss Havishams house...

dusty dining room

tiny puzzle and Henrietta's old mascot

miniature book I wrote and illustrated back in the day!

tiny clothes, a lot of them made by me.

i am jealous of those miniature trains

Just thought you might like to see some of the photos I took as some of the stuff is pretty cute.

Anyway, next post I will definitely be posting a new 3d illustration I did. About time hey! xox

Paddington Bear and other things

In my town, a short walk away from my house there is a place called 'The Art Nest.'  I have always walked past it and thought it looked like a nice place.  It's the kind of place where creative workshops are held and paintings hang on the walls. 

On Tuesday I decided that I would try out 'The Art Nest' and go to their Drop in and Draw session.  I got my friend Henrietta to come with me and on Tuesday morning we went down there with one sketchbook between us and two pencils.  We wern't entirely sure what to bring!

Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed the drop in and draw session.  It made me realise how little life drawing I have done lately!  The task on Tuesday was to draw a loaf of bread- a french plait.  I have to confess I didn't spend the entire time just drawing the loaf of bread like everyone else.  I took the opportunity to draw the other tings on the table too like the fancy teacups and the other people at the class.  Another nice thing about the session was that they gave you tea and cake halfway through.  I tried apple and cinnamon tea which was really nice and which I now plan to buy.

My attempt.

Anyway I will definitely be returning to the drop in and draw session. It was nice to meet other artists in my hometown and also just to have a break from all my other illustration work.

quick sketch of the woman opposite me.

quick sketches of the little girl who was also opposite me

Also this week, whilst in town, I discovered this old Paddington Bear book.  It was in a charity shop for 50 p.  I was pleased to find it because I love Paddington Bear and found it interesting to see the more traditional illustrations.

There are aspects of this book that I really like. I like the scruffy strokes on Paddington.  I am still not sure whether I prefer these illustrations to the later ones though... Maye I just like them both the same!

I think a lot of people have had a go at drawing Paddington.  The very first person to draw him was Peggy Fortnum. I'm guessing these pictures would have been for the original stories- so for novels rather than picture books.

I think I like these ones best of all actually. They are so full of life!

Anyway, I digress. This post didn't actually mean to end up as a Paddington-through-the-ages post.  Though as we're on the subject I'd like to mention that my ABSOLUTE favourite version of Paddington is the one where he is a stop motion character.  Right here:

Ok enough of Paddington now. Finally I'd like you show you a little character I made the other week. I'm not quite sure what it is. it's maybe a little scary looking actually but I like it's eyelashes. I think it looks quite like a fennec. Sort of.

He/she is now sitting in my unfinished castle dolls house.  You can't really tell from the picture but he/she has a very pointy nose!

Well that's all for now folks! Have a nice day! :) XOX

Le Secret de Mademoiselle/Chloe Remiat

As soon as I saw the cover of this book I knew I had to buy a copy from amazon.  I am always intrigued and delighted by any book that has 3d illustrations in it- probably because I like to create my own illustrations in a similar way.

I was not disappointed when the book arrived. Every page is beautifully illustrated. I am only slightly sad that I cannot read the story because it is all in French.  However, the illustrations more than make up for that and I hope that one day someone will be able to translate it for me!

I just love it! I find it really inspiring. It's really nice to see how other illustrators make their illustrations.  Since getting this book I have been searching for more of Chloe Remiat's work and here's a small selection.  I will definitely be looking out for more or her work in the future!

What are your thoughts?