Bug Art #1 The bee and Ladybird {Art}

Hello my friends! 

One of my favourite things in life is listening to the bees buzz and watching the ladybirds zip across the garden. So seeing as I haven’t posted a drawing or painting for a while I thought I’d share two little pencil drawings with you, that I’ve been working on while sitting in the sun enjoying being part of nature.

I’ve drawn a very fluffy bumblebee and a seven spot ladybird beetle, two of the most recognisable bugs in the world – both are postcard size 300gsm paper and are only 13x18cm. They are drawn free hand and created using Arteza pencils.

It’s odd but I don’t often sit down and actually work with colouring pencils too often, but it’s been nice to change things up a bit. Also they’re definitely better than using paint while sitting in the sun.

Seven spot ladybird beetles are particularly beautiful, I love the way they bustle about in the grass and I love having the chance to create some really bright and nature inspired art.

I’m so pleased with this bumblebee, I think I captured the fluffiness of him pretty well, actually I drew one similar back in 2021 and its really cool to see how my style/technique has improved and developed over the last couple of years.

Thank you so much for stopping by to check out my art…I hope you like it! Do you have any suggestions of other bugs I could draw? I wish you a truly wonder filed week ahead…next weeks post is shaping up to be the third of my Fleeting Thoughts.

Ps. If you wanna check out my 2021 bumblebee its HERE!

© ArtyMissK 2023

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Orange tip {Embroidered Butterfly}

Hello my friends! 

How ya doing?

I’ve got a new butterfly embroidery to share this week. I recently got the chance to be the adoptive parent of some Orange tip butterfly pupae – I did a post on them a couple of weeks ago (links at the bottom incase you fancy giving it a read!)

So this is #2 on my Embroidered Butterfly challenge. According to Butterfly Conservation there are 59 types of butterflies in the UK.

Unlike the Small tortoiseshell (that kicked off my project) you can easily distinguish between the two sexes of Orange tip butterflies. The males are unmistakable little white butterflies with bright orange wingtips and the females are white with black wingtips. 

I thought it would be fun to create both a male and female and have decided to call them Gary and Gladys (I have no idea why) size wise this lovely little pair are both about 8cm across. The body of each one has a crocodile clip sewn on so that I can attach the butterflies to plants, my intention is to fill the house with them…

I’m also starting a hashtag for them so my butterflies will be tagged with #ArtymisskButterflies on here and my other socials.

Creating these butterflies always starts with sketching the basic butterfly shapes, I only focus on one upper and lower wing and then copy it in reverse, the Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Richard Lewington is full of these amazing sketches and facts about each type of butterfly. Once I’m happy with the design I then transfer my sketch onto calico and colour them in with the closest matching threads I have – actually picking a colour for the veins is tricky with a white wing so in the end I went for a pale grey.

Well that’s it for this week…what do you think? I’d love some feedback on this piece and I’m hoping that you’ll stay with me on my butterfly creating adventure. Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

Ps. My Orange tip butterfly post is HERE and if you want to have a look at butterfly #1 its HERE!

©️ ArtyMissK (2023)

Bag End and Beyond {Art}

Hello my friends!

Lets travel back a couple of weeks…

Incase you didn’t know March 25th was chosen by Tolkien as the date on which The One Ring was destroyed, defeating Sauron forever and finishing Frodo’s quest!

It’s known among fans of the author as Tolkien Reading Day. As I’ve mentioned before J.R.R Tolkien is one of my two favourite authors (the other being Terry Pratchett). Celebrating the 25th and Middle Earth can be as simple as picking up a book and reading or creating a piece of art, writing some poetry or just watching the movies…I know some of my fellow nerds who spend the day in their awesomely recreated costumes!

Tolkien Ready Day has a theme each year set be the Tolkien Society, 2023 was themed Travel and adventure. So I drew a quick little postcard sized pencil sketch of Bag End and the Wide World Beyond as I love to draw new places I’ve been to when I’m out adventuring and painted it with my watercolours.

I don’t often paint landscapes but its been nice to change things up a bit.

Tolkien himself was a really good illustrator and actually illustrated the early versions of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, his line drawings are amazing. If you’ve never seen them I defiantly recommend having a look – The Art of Tolkien is a great book filled with his drawings and sketches. 

Well that’s about it for me! Is there anywhere in particular you’d love to adventure to? As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week filled with excitement and adventure!

Small tortoiseshell {Embroidered Butterfly}

Hello friends! 

I’ve got a new butterfly embroidery to share this week. I’m really happy with the Small tortoiseshell photograph (that I posted last week!) I particularly love this type of butterfly, they always seem so happy – don’t get me wrong all butterflies seem happy, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t like/was scared of them (not that there’s anything wrong in that of course).

So now I’ve created a few of these I have decided to give myself a bit of a challenge…I’m gonna have a go at creating all 59 types of British butterflies…in scale with each other!

Obviously not actual life-size scale  – they’ll still be larger than normal, ones like the Chequered skipper or the Small blue are tiny and would be so fiddly to do, I’m going to use the Large white that I made last year as the starting point for the sizes I’m using because its one of the biggest butterflies we get here.

So, first up is one of my favourites – the Small tortoiseshell, they have a wingspan average of 4-ish cm and are one of the first butterflies to be seen in spring after hibernating over the winter in adult form, amazingly these butterflies can live for up to a year! They lay their eggs on Stinging nettles which grow into spiky green and black caterpillars.

Now, this little fella is only 8 centimetres across and I’ve tried to make the body seem as fluffy as the photograph (my plan is to make them twice their normal size!) Ain’t he cute? 

Size wise my Large white is about 4 inches across – there are only a few bigger than this, one is the Swallowtail another is the Purple emperor. The body of the butterfly has a crocodile clip sewn on so that I can attach the butterflies to plants around the house or even wear them in my hair!

I start by sketching the basic butterfly shapes out on paper, I’ve gone and bought the Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Richard Lewington which is super helpful. Once I’m happy I then transfer my sketch onto calico and colour it in with the closest matching threads I have and when finished I attach the wings to the body and create a backing canvas with the butterflies name in an embroidery hoop with plain calico.

Each one takes roughly a week to do so I’m expecting this to be a long haul hobby!

Well that’s it for this week…what do you think? I’d love some feedback on this piece and I’m hoping that you’ll stay with me on my butterfly creating adventure. Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

©️ ArtyMissK (2023)

Mothers Day World Turtle {Art}

Hello friends! 

This coming Sunday is Mothers Day (in the UK) and one of the things I’ve always done is make something for my mum, I decided a while back that I wanted to paint her something which evolved into a new World Turtle illustration, that I want to share with you. 

This is the fifth World Turtle and my growing collection now contains Spring, Autumn, Winter and Valentines illustrations and now I can add a Mothers day one too!!!

So this painting features not one, but three World Turtles – a mummy and two hatchlings! As its a mothers day themed painting I wanted there to be a lot of pink and flowers – so its kinda incorporating all the colours you’d find in a bouquet. Foliage wise the trees and bushes are in bright shades of green.

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I would rather spend one lifetime with you {Art}

Hello friends! Welcome back…unless this is first time you’ve read one of my posts, then, hey! How ya doing and most importantly welcome!! 

I’ve got a new piece of hand lettering art to share with you this week. I would rather spend one lifetime with you, than face all the ages of this world alone is a quote from Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings. Tolkien’s works are filled with many a wonderful quote…although I’m pretty sure this isn’t one of them.

**I did check the books but couldn’t find it so I assume it was made up for the movies.**

Something I’m trying to improve with my hand lettering is allowing the words to flow together and get in each others space as opposed to just being in straight lines. Although I like the cleanness of using straight lines if its quite a long quote for these shorter ones letting the words nestle into one another looks way more interesting…but it takes a little practice.

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Valentines World Turtles {Art}

Hello friends! 

This coming Tuesday is Valentines day and I decided a while back that I wanted to create some love themed art so this week I wanted to share a new illustration with you. My growing collection of World Turtles now contains Spring, Autumn and Winter illustrations and I thought why not create a Valentines day one too!!!

So this painting features two World Turtles – As its a love themed I wanted the colours to reflect the theme of love – using lots of reds and pinks. Foliage wise the trees in vibrant shades of green and help to create a heart in the negative space between the turtles.

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All We Have to Decide {Art}

Hello my friends!

This week I thought I’d share my first hand lettering post of 2023. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us is a quote from J.R.R Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring. Professor Tolkien’s books are an endless supply of wise and beautiful phrases, that I really love turning into art.

**spoilers ahead** 

This particular line is said by Gandalf the Grey while the fellowship are in Moria in the movies, but actually it takes place in Chapter 2 of FOTR: The Shadows of the past in a conversation between the wizard and Frodo Baggins before Sam gets caught eavesdropping and the hobbits leave the Shire.

**okay no more spoilers**

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Winter World Turtle {Art}

Hello my friends!!

I said I’d started this painting and here it is!

This weeks post is as the name suggests a Winter World Turtle – and the third World Turtle illustration.

As this one is winter themed I wanted the colours to reflect the time of year – the snow is painted using white ink and acrylic with a very pale ice blue watercolour. There are even some tiny icicles hanging from the turtles’ shell.

I wanted the trees to reflect the time of year so I made a few of them flop to the side – as if they’re weighed down by heavy snow! Its funny we don’t really get ‘proper’ snow where I live, if we’re lucky winter may grace the area with a very light dusting, but that’s it and its always such a disappointment!!

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Festive hand lettering {Art}

Hello friends,

Happy December!

As we’ve finally entered the festive month I though I’d share some Christmas Carol themed calligraphy art!

Something I’m trying to do is create a collection of festive themed art – I have a lot of art up around the house and have decided it might be fun to create winter pieces to go in each frame for the holiday season.

Two of my most favourite carols are O come all ye faithful and The Holly and the Ivy, which I’ve turned into A4 sized pieces in traditional festive colours. 

I love Christmas music – not necessarily the pop stuff, but the old school carols and folk stuff and having it on in the background while I’m making last minute gifts or decorations is always lovely, ideally I really like to have festive music playing in the background as soon as it hits December 1st.

Anyway that it for this week! I hope you like my festive hand lettering. I’m thinking of maybe trying some tutorials for calligraphy next year. Would anyone be interested in that?

And as always thanks for reading and happy December.

Autumn World Turtle {Art}

Hello friends! 

A couple of weeks have slipped by without me posting – they flashed pass so quickly its unreal (I don’t know how some weeks can disappear in the blink of an eye and yet some days can last a lifetime)

This week I wanted to share a new painting. Back in July I posted the finished watercolour painting of ‘A World Turtle’ and thought, why not do a turtle for each season!

As its autumn I wanted the colours of the foliage to reflect the time of year – November here is a bit nippy but the trees are beautiful as they change colour. I’ve even tried to include little piles of leaves that have been swept together – even if they look like bushes!

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Embroidered Gatekeeper butterfly {Art}

Hello my friends!!

This week I thought I’d post a new embroidery that I’ve been working on.

Looking back at the Gatekeeper butterfly photographs (that I posted last week!) I decided to embroider one similar to my other needlework butterflies – I’m developing quite a collection of needlework bugs/insects.

As always I started by roughly drawing four wing and body shapes onto calico and then filled them in with the closest coloured threads I had. I like to block colour first using two stands of embroidery floss and then blend using a single strand (on the smallest needle imaginable – its like a hair!)

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Embroidered ladybird beetles {Art}

Hello friends!

This week I thought I’d post about some new needlework pieces that I’ve been creating on. Last year I fell so in love with bumble bees that I embroidered one (in fact I posted a new bumble bee embroidery only a few weeks ago!) and thought that as I’ve been captivated by the ladybird beetles why not sew one and add it to my ever expanding collection of insect needlework (in the end I created two!)

Usually I start all my needlework pieces the same way – by roughly drawing onto the calico and then its all sewn free hand using a single strand of coloured floss at a time onto a hoop and then sewn in teeny tiny little stitches. I’ve tried to sew them to look as round as possible.

I’m really pleased with these little ladybirds each piece is about an inch across so they’re very small, due to their size each one only took about 30 minutes to create from start to finish and its quite nice to have a quick and easy craft on hand for when the nights begin to get longer.

Up close the beetles are tiny – needlework is so soothing and I find its a really good stress/anxiety reliever.

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Another Embroidered bumble bee {Art}

Hello my friends!!

I hope the week treated you well!

This week I thought I’d post a new embroidery that I’ve been working on. Looking back at the bumble bee photographs (that I posted last week!) I decided to embroider one similar to my the needlework bee (that I posted last year).

A short but delicate art post this week…I’ve embroidered a new bumblebee! Very much like the one I created last year but the wings are in a different position.

As always I started by drawing the shapes onto calico and then filled them in with the closest coloured threads I had. For the bee I like to start in the centre of the body and work out in layers, using one stand of embroidery floss (on the smallest needle imaginable – its like a hair!).

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Home is Behind {Art}

Hello my friends!

This week I thought as I’ve not posted any calligraphy art for a while I thought I’d share this one. I very much consider Middle Earth to be my happy place and the works of Tolkien have long been one of my favourite things!

So the actual song Tolkien wrote isn’t actually sung in The Lord of the Rings, part of its last verse is sung in The Return of the King, by Pippin. On the soundtrack of the film, this track is named Edge of Night and Billy Boyd sings it beautifully.

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Embroidered Large white butterfly {Art}

Hello friends! I hope you had a good week!

I’ve got a new butterfly embroidery to share this week. I’m really happy with the Large White photograph (that I posted last week!) I particularly love this type of butterfly – they’re so beautiful but because the caterpillars eat cabbages humans consider them a pest.

So I decided to embroider one similar to my Holly Blue.

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Embroidered Holly Blue butterfly {Art}

Hello my friends!

This week I thought post something new that I’ve been working on…as you know I love needlework and I embroidered bees before and wanted to experiment to see if I could create a 3-d butterfly.

When I saw the Holly Blue butterfly and was able to take some photographs of it (that I posted last week!) I knew that I wanted to create a piece of art about this insect.

So I decided to embroider one similar to the bee I did last year, but instead of being a flat piece I want to try and make it a little more three dimensional. 

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A World Turtle {Art}

Hello friends!

Just a little art post this week, for world turtle day (23rd May) I posted a pen illustration of a World Turtle. Well, I’ve actually finished it and I am so happy with this painting!! I wanted the trees to reflect the colourings of the turtle – which I decided had to be a greenish-blue and tried to give the castle a natural stone effect.

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Glom Of Nit {Art}

Hello my friends!

This week I thought I’d post a new piece of calligraphy art so I thought I’d share this one with you. Going postal by the comic and literary genius that was Sir Terry Pratchett, is one of the wittiest books out there (actually all the Discworld book are fantastic) and there are so many great quotes in them that Pratchett’s books are an endless supply of fun and clever phrases, which I love turning into calligraphy art.

The mantra of the postmen in the book is “Neither rain nor snow, nor gloom of night can stay these messengers about their duty.” which adorns the post office in large metal letters – its a fun play on the US postal service motto.

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The Little Mermaid {Art}

Hello friends,

I thought I’d post an illustration this week, I’ve recently been reading fairy tales and The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen has always been a great favourite of mine.

“The little sea-princesses, were six beautiful children; but the youngest was the prettiest of them all; her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea; but, like all the others, she had no feet, and her body ended in a fish’s tail.”

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