Merry Christmas!

... and happy holidays everyone!

Mermaidens

A few days ago I told Kailey how much I would love to paint her portrait. She has the most amazing candy pink hair and I was sure it would be fun to do with watercolours!

So yesterday, as I had some free time I decided to go ahead and paint. I'm so happy that she loves the result, thanks again Kailey!

Her lovely blog Mermaidens is one of my favorites!

This week

I made this deer pattern with all the vintage figurines I wish I had!

Talking about figurines, I bought these two little cuties this week - Monty the bird and 

I'm still looking for a name for the doggie (yes I give names to my figurines...)

I also found this lovely mug, perfect for my brushes

And here are two pet portraits "in progress"!

Stay Home Club

I'm so happy to finally tell you about my contribution to Stay Home Club!

My 'Kitty Cat' illustration was selected for the patch collection!
Stay Home Club is a fantastic label created by the very talented illustrator Olivia Mew.
I'm so honoured to have my work next to wonderful artists such as Caitlin Shearer, Audrey Malo and of course Olivia Mew!

Thanks again Olivia!

You can buy the 'Kitty Cat' patch here!

Pet portraits available!

You can contact me or go to my etsy page!

Portrait of a pug

A little pet portrait to remind you I'm available for commissions!

*Contact me in time for Christmas*

And I'm now on tumblr! 

Smile!

I just felt like painting something happy tonight! 

(And this is my 150th post!)

Kitty cat

I'm available for pet portrait commissions, contact me if you're interested!

A DIY guide to Self Breast examination

Two days ago I was asked to illustrate an article about breast cancer/self breast examination as it's Breast cancer month in the UK. I had a very short deadline - one single day - but I'm so happy to have helped Rebecca from Florence Finds!

You can see the post here! Please have a look and share!

On film

Pictures taken with my Ricoh Kr-10 Super

Popsicles

Kiwi, strawberry, lemon, grapefruit and watermelon.

Strawberry, basil & honey.

Fruity ice cubes

Modcloth & me

Finally, I can share the good news! My illustration "Fruity" has been chosen by ModCloth for their new lookbook! Called "Fashion from the art", it features 8 illustrations and their matching outfits. (I am quite in love with this banana print and the lovely bag)

For the story, if you follow my blog you'll know that two months ago I was having a panic attack over copyrights. 

I can now tell you a bit more about it. 

The company who contacted me? ModCloth. The illustration in question? Fruity! 

Yes, this popsicle was painted from a photograph by the famous Con Poulos. When I painted it, I didn't know. This photograph is really all over tumblr and many websites/blogs use it as their own, which made my research difficult. But I found Con Poulos and wrote to him - I even contacted his agents.

His answer was really kind and I want to thank him again for that.

I had obviously told ModCloth I didn't paint this from my imagination and even if Con Poulos was fine with my illustration, I really wanted to credit him. And Modcloth did it! 

A big thank you to Angela from the ModCloth team for all her help with this.

Here you can read more about the lookbook and the 7 other artists.

Food Lovers' Fayre

Here's the flyer I designed for the Norwich Food Lovers' Fayre!

The darkness of copyrights

Do not worry, I took this picture - but maybe I should give a link back to the bakery

Do illustrators/painters/any artists have to only use their imagination or great memory -or money- to create work?
Recently I've been (super) worried about copyright issues. I often use photos as reference for my illustrations because : 

1 - I don't have access to the objects
2 - I don't have the money to buy the objects/go to the places/etc...
3 - I don't own a time machine to find the objects/take a picture of a celebrity/etc...


So, how do I do? Should I stop painting what I love because I can't buy it/photograph it myself? Only use my imagination? If I want to paint a portrait of Marilyn Monroe, how does it work? For obvious reasons, I can't take a photograph of her to base my portrait on... Do I break copyright by using someone else's? Do I have to contact/pay the photographer?...


When you think about it, everything around us is under copyright. 
If I take a picture of a copyrighted item and then base an illustration on it... Who has the copyright? The person who made the object? Or the person who took the picture?
There is such thing as "derivative work" which is a new version of an existing work.
But where is the limit? How much can you take from an image?
Copyright laws are such a dark area for me and I'm kind of ashamed to say this.
So many people don't know, are not aware of it.
You can't be ignorant of these things when you want to be a professional illustrator.


I'm actually having a little issue with one of my paintings. When it's not for a commission, I paint for fun, for myself. A few weeks ago, I found a photograph of the result of a recipe. I tried to track the original owner but it was impossible (the joys of tumblr). As I didn't plan to make any money out of it, I abandoned the researchs -shame on me.
But I've been contacted by a big company which would love to use my painting for one of their projects. I decided to spend all the time needed to find the owner.
Let me tell you, it tooks hours! But I found the website AND the photographer!
I wrote him a letter and I am now waiting for his answer. It is very stressful. 
Maybe I'll have to turn down this big opportunity but I prefer that than being sued!
How funny when you think I abandoned law studies to be an illustrator...


Anyway, if any of you knows more about copyright and would like to share their knowledge I would be very thankful.


I'll share the news as soon as I get a reply!

Eat or Heat

Here's my submission to Emma Ridgway's new zine. 

For the first issue of Sidle zine, she decided to respond to Creative Review's *now famous* article "Where is the content? Where is the comment?".
 "Create an illustration dealing with a contemporary issue which you feel strongly about."

I wanted to illustrate the expression "Eat or Heat".
"The poorest pensioner households cut their food spending during very cold spells of weather to cover the cost of heating, a report has said." BBC News

Mini trip to Paris

 

I love this! I would translate it by : "Make collages! Draw! Paint at infinity! Every owner of this box has to become an artist! Be an artist!"

Last year, my sister and I had a little trip to Paris (only a few days). 

One of the visit we really wanted to make was the Centre Pompidou. And we were not disappointed, it was amazing!

Today I found those pictures and thought I would share them with you!