Fiona Meakin Designs - Draw With Fi

First there was Sharky and George, a couple of gold fish. Then came Baldrick a little hamster with a penchant for sleep. Somewhere along the way I think we had some stick insects and the odd colony of sea monkeys. Now   we share our house with the very beautiful Zeta (aka Cat Face!) or rather she allows us to live here with her. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had our ups and downs; she’s bought many a mouse in, in various states of aliveness, the odd frog and occasional mole (eek!)   Anyway, I thought I would search for some other crafters and illustrators who are featuring pets in their art practices. Hope you enjoy having a look as much as I did finding them. Wow! Spot the difference By TimeTravelersWares on etsy   Wooden wedding topper with pet cat By iislands on etsy Boston Terrier earrings by Pooch Tags on etsy  Custom couple portraits by Rose Hudson on etsy

Blue skies over the UK!   Last Monday was one of the most memorable Bank Holidays I have had for a while. I took my daughter to Mayday in The Meadow, a wonderful event near the town that I live in. Attractions included traditional Maypole dancing, worm charming, a huge bubble machine, pancake stall and to top it off the weather was unusually hot. Here in the North West of England we are used to the odd cloudy, rainy day to say the least! Yum yum!   I am involved with a local community organisation called Project Cherrywell, consisting of 6 ladies who call ourselves the Cherrywell Cherries! We tend to meet on Thursdays with a wonderful community organiser called Laura, who is highly motivated, supportive and positive and together we plan events to raise money to refurbish a community space with the intention to turn it into a vibrant community café. On Monday we ran the pancake stall and held consultations with the attending public in order to gage and idea of what

I'm really behind with my BEDM challenge but I'm determined to complete it! Here goes...      I've not had a particularly healthy tea this evening, but when I am in ’getting fit’ mode, there is no better way for me than Pilates. I get a lot of my ideas for illustrations and off-shoot projects when I take part in a class and that must be down to the meditative nature of it. Plus, I have a great, motivational teacher. If you’re interested you can read about Joseph Pilates, the founder at the link below. Joseph Pilates

Today's challenge is to write about my five favourite blogs. Each blog provides something slightly different along the lines of illustration, the first two I mention, Lynne Chapman's and Holli Conger's are the staple blogs I always refer to. A good blog should obviously resonate with your interests. My favourites offer that glimmer of hope that becoming an illustrator (with a lot of hard work and determination, and obviously very good work)  IS  possible. Never Give Up on Your Dreams! An Illustrator's Life For Me I began following Lynne Chapman's blog after she visited our local library during a summer festival that our town holds. Lynne's passion and enthusiasm for illustrating, sketching, sketch crawling and anything creative is completely infectious. She visits a lot of schools and library and talks animatedly and entertainingly about her work. She even drew a Koala character in front of the children's very eyes which astonished them! She is a

Well, today's blog should have been yesterday's but my day was jam packed (it mostly involved making chocolate brownies. From a packet I may add!) and was nicely topped off with an evening wedding reception so I'll do two blog entries today instead... BEDM 4 to follow a bit later! A usual Friday morning involves me getting my little girl over to pre-school for the morning and I have 3 hours to get 'stuff ' done! Now, 'stuff ' can involve a number of things. It should involve me knuckling down and getting on with art work, designs or the next stage of business planning for fi&me but invariably there is a MASSIVE piles of laundry or washing up to do. If I ignore it, it calls to me, it taunts me until I crumble!   I wonder how many of us fight this battle? How do you manage your time? In an ideal world I would have a studio space in an alternative location. I have toyed with the idea of a shed but it gets pretty cold here in the winter. Something

My favourite thing about spring… Well, spring has certainly made an appearance today and what a wonderful day it has been. Spring is my number one season! What I love about it is its optimism. There is a promise that the days are getting longer; flowers are appearing and people are immerging from hibernation.   Blossom is one of my favourite things, and also the fact that my birthday in spring makes me rate spring particularly highly. Whilst on the topic of birthdays I have to mention that my Grandma is 98 tomorrow, here she is, sunning herself in my parent’s garden on a visit last year. I think it may technically be a summer photo but I couldn’t find one that had my Grandma and cherry blossom on! Anyway, she is amazing.     My second favourite thing about spring is County Cricket. I haven't got a clue what is happening but I love watching and listening to the game ticking away. Maybe one day I'll join a ladies' team, although Rounders is much more up my s

As many of you know, I run a little handmade business with my younger sister Lu. Lucy told me about a brilliant idea called Blog Every Day in May  and I have decided to give it a go, in order to keep my creative/blogging juices flowing. Lately, I seem to have neglected my blog but I really don't want to let it slide so, rising to the challenge seems like the perfect remedy. Here goes! Five Lines #BEDM   The Psammead www.dailyinfo.co.uk Five things about me...that all, conveniently, include the number 5!  1. My favourite story (and TV show - see above) as a child was 'Five Children And It,' by E. Nesbit. I REALLY wanted it to be true! 2.I have worked in my current role as a Teaching Assistant for 5 years. That's my day job - (as soon as night falls I turn into an illustrator and designer and begin howling at the moon. Shhh! No body knows!) ;-) 3. This blog is 5 years old. 4. I was expecting my first child this time 5 years ago (time flies!