Another pen drawing

The night before last I began another detailed pen drawing. I'm only working on this at night just before bed. It has Melusine in it again. I don't know where the narrative is going, but isn't that just like a novel?

What I would like to do is a huge pen drawing, perhaps next year.

Finished new drawing

Here she is. Melusine. HAs anyone thought who the mystery man behind the curtain might be?

Melusine update and emergence of mystery man

I was working on Melusine last night at bedtime. As I was blocking in the left hand curtain I noticed the shadowy figure of a man in a bowler hat emerging. His appearance is surprising and a bit disturbing, I'm not sure if he is a sinister presence or friendly.

If you have any ideas, please let me know.

New Drawing of Melusine reading, work in progress

Have I done any of the 101 things I was supposed to be doing this weekend?
Um, no.
But I did spend a lot of time working on a new pen drawing of my crab-clawed mermaid Melusine. I love the work of Edward Gorey and decided to do a full out, detailed piece inspired by his style.

Hoping to waste more time on it when I get home this afternoon.

Sneak Peek at sketches for Two Fearsome Tales From France, retold by Adele Geras, illustrated by Fiona McDonald

Two character sketches for Beauty and the Beast (top) and Blue Beard (bottom). Can't let you see anymore than this at the moment. Christmas Press is bringing out Two Fearsome Tales From France, retold by Adele Geras and illustrated by Fiona McDonald, earlyish in 2015.

Unemployed Again! Can't wait.

A long time has passed since I posted on my poor little blog. If I want fame and fortune I shall have to work harder at it.

The good news is that my contract at uni is coming to an end and it doesn't look as though there will be anything more from then. This is a good thing because it has made me very, very, lazy. I am returning to self employment.

I shall be rebuilding my music studio: flute, recorder, clarinet and saxophone. this means I will actually get to play music myself.

I will be bringing out more knitted toys designs, including the long awaited dragons and other mythical beasts.

I will be writing more books-non-fiction and some fiction, at last.
And I will be doing lots of drawing and painting and illustrating.

And then I will be happy again.

Oh, and I will make a big effort to keep my blog updated.

 

My new book Fairy Gardening 101

Here is a link to my newest book: Fairy Gardening 101 published at Sky Horse Publishing, NY. It was so much fun to do.

 

Selkies, websites and writing.

Hello everyone!
Fiona has been hard at work on a LOT of things! As mentioned in our last post, we finally have our website up and running! www.grannyfi.com and it's beautiful!
We're working on more toys, stories and a way to sell knitting patterns so that they can be downloaded instead of posted...watch the website for details!
While the website has been building, Fiona has finished the illustrations for her first picture book, written by the magnificent Kate Forsyth of Bitter Greens fame. Two Selkie Stories from Scotland will be published in May by Christmas Press Picture Books (you knew that Fiona started her own publishing company with some friends, didn't you?).  This is the beautiful cover she's done! I'm so proud of her!

The launch will be at our shop on the 10th of May at 4:30 if anyone feels like dropping in for tea and scones!
She's also been working madly on a proposal for a book on the history of Voodoo... she has a wide variety of interests! Plus working on picture books and her fiction works.
In her down time (ha!) Fiona has been knitting up some 'woodland folk' to be a new range of toys and patterns. She has been forced to watch 'The Labyrinth' (if you haven't seen it, you should!), 'The Dark Crystal' and 'The Princess Bride' for inspiration. What a hard life!

All the while we're BOTH working on the Booked In! Children's Literature festival that will be held at the shop for the second year in a row and she's working her boring 9-5 job out at the Uni.
We meet for lunch almost everyday and watch our favourite episodes of Escape to the Country and dream of where we'll live once we're rich and famous!
You can follow her (and me) on pinterest if you want to see more of the things we dream up or about! http://www.pinterest.com/beattiealvarez/ and http://www.pinterest.com/123fionadolls/

Love,
Beattie xoxo

We have a website!

Hello everybody!
It's been a few months since our last post - it's been busy, busy, busy here in hot, hot, hot Armidale!
But we've got big news, as you may have guessed from the title of this.
We have a website where you can go and buy all of Fiona's beautiful toys and artworks! You can find us at http://www.grannyfi.com .
It's a beautiful website filled with dragons, Doiley Birds, Lady Jackals and much more. Never fear though, this blog will still be manned by the two of us.
I hope everyone has had an exciting start to the New Year the way we have - although it's March already and hardly new!
In other news, the book Fiona has been illustrating for Kate Forsyth will be on its way to the printers very shortly, Fairy Gardens 101 has been edited and I am working on a super-secret Mother's Day surprise toy for Fiona (let's see if you actually pay attention to your blog Mum!)!

Okay, off to work on the website with a cup of tea and too many chocolate biscuits now!
Lots of love,

Beattie