A dream come true

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Hannah

For a long time as a child, when asked the question, “what would you like to be when you grow up?” I answered that I wanted to be one of those people who read out the birthday cards on children’s TV. I mean, what a brilliant job! Getting to read out all those lovely cards to people on their birthdays. And the best bit was all those cool cards that had photos of the relevant child hidden under a balloon flap or something similar. I’d never received a card like that in my life and I thought they looked pretty amazing. Well, today my dream has come true. Today I have been asked to wish a special lady a Happy Birthday. So, from all your family, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARBARA! And also from Little Owl, Big Dreamer, and I, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Have a wonderful day.

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Folded clothes

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Hannah

There have been smiling faces on the farm because there has been a persistent drizzle all day and the ground really needs it. This evening I have been folding clothes by the fire. This is one of my favourite jobs to do in the house and it’s one I save up. No matter what has gone on in the day folding a basketful of clean, dry clothes makes me feel that all’s right with the world. I look at my beautiful clean piles and feel that all is calm and under control. Even when it blatantly isn’t!

Below is a clip from the latest episode of Top Gear. I had to share it with you because it had the tears streaming down my cheeks I was laughing so hard. Top Gear may seem a strange viewing choice for someone like me but I grew up with a Dad who spent hours tinkering with old bangers so it has a certain appeal. In this clip the team road test mobility scooters.

http://youtu.be/VIc8ulSjlHc

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Lambing

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Hannah

The first spring lambs have started arriving, heralding the busiest time of year on the farm. Last year our next door neighbour, who is one of the shepherds here, completely lost a day. She didn’t turn up for work. The curtains stayed closed. Nobody saw her. We wondered if she was ill. But she appeared the day after as if nothing had happened. Where had she been? She didn’t know what we were talking about and it seems she must have slept right through a whole day she was so exhausted. We now supply her with little parcels of cake to keep her going, which we leave on her doorstep so she can’t refuse.

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New things

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Hannah

I have added a new range of books, cards and badges to my shop. In a similar vein to my sheep book these feature UK bee species. The range was inspired and designed for Big Dreamer’s mum who has become a bee keeper in the last year. She has opened up a whole new world to us and we’ve enjoyed hearing what her ‘girls’ get up to. It has been agony keeping it a secret as we wanted to give it to her for her birthday, which we have now done – phew! She loved it and I hope you do too.

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Things that don’t work out

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Hannah

The world of illustration is a funny one in that sometimes things just don’t work out. The illustrator does lots of work but the project just doesn’t quite come together and the illustrations are never seen. Here is an example of one such illustration. I did this for Edinburgh University Science Society to go on the back of sweatshirts but for whatever reason it didn’t quite work out. But it’s a pretty illustration so I thought I’d show it to you.

The last few days have been significantly warmer. I’ve discarded my thermals…brave move I know! But it feels like spring might be on its way. There’s that spring-like smell in the air. I like to think of it as the smell of grass growing. There’s a sense of excitement everywhere, of budding things straining for the sky. Big Dreamer’s garlic has started popping up in the vegetable patch and the daffodil bulbs Little Owl and I planted in the autumn are well on the way. The longing for summer days has begun.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Hannah

Big Dreamer is normally quite a subtle man but not on St Valentine’s Day and I received a highly suggestive card this morning. At heart he is mischievous so although he wants to be romantic he can’t quite bring himself to take this day of national loving seriously. It’s just a bit too conformist and mainstream so he inserts a few naughty words and a bit of innuendo. This allows him to participate in good conscience that he hasn’t compromised his manliness in anyway.

Today was the final crit for a collaborative project we have been working on with the jewellery department. I’ve put up a few pictures of the final piece my group produced. We took the four elements of alchemy as our inspiration (fire, air, water and earth) for a pop-up landscape.

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Agate Hunting

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Hannah

This weekend we all headed down to London to stay with some very special friends of ours. The temptation with London is to dash around madly trying to see all the things going on. There was a children’s festival, an exhibition on illuminated manuscripts, not to mention the David Hockney show that would all have been wonderful. But this time we barely moved out of the borough and it was a good choice. We properly saw our friends and also got to sample some of the more local treasures including a micro brewery and a brilliant Mexican restaurant.

On the subject of treasures I am in this month’s issue of the BBC’s CountryFile magazine. I’m not appearing as an illustrator but a writer. Many of you will remember that I did an internship with them in the Autumn and they asked me to write an article on agate hunting in Scotland for a special feature on treasure hunting. I spent a brilliant day with agate hunter and jeweller Nat Forno, searching for agates on the beaches of Fife. Agates are a kind of stripy quartz. They are beautiful and easily found on Scottish beaches. Pick up a copy of CountryFile to read more about it!

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Severe Weather Warning!

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Hannah

Hormones strike again. I was drying my hair last night with the hair dryer and my hair seemed strangely sticky. What was wrong with it? You can probably guess. I hadn’t rinsed the conditioner out.

I have also broken a beautiful water jug we only got at Christmas and knocked the contents of the spice cupboard all over the work top. I feel like I should alert the Met office when I get like this and they can put out a Severe Weather Warning for Scotland.

Here is a cheeky little spider I drew this week. He is going to crawl around a corn field in glorious sunshine.

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Ode to a Tumble Drier

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Hannah

Snow is pouring from the sky this morning. The ground and the sky are exactly the same blinding whiteness. I am grateful to the snow because it is covering over our lawn which was feeling quite sorry for itself with over 30 mole hills. At least then I can’t see the damage. Big Dreamer and Little Owl were out first thing moving the tops of the hills into planters so the grass can grow back. They were amused to find that, because the ground was so cold, the mole hills could be levered off in one piece.

As some of you know last year I got a bit obsessed with my chest freezer. In all the carnage of the winter it kept us fed whenever we got snowed in. This year it has been my tumble drier. Don’t get me wrong, I know a tumble drier is a complete luxury and really there is nothing like line-dried clothes. We were given this one second hand if it makes any difference (and we’re very grateful). The toddler group mums were all discussing this one wet cold morning. Yes, a total luxury but so handy for “finishing things off”. That was the phrase that rippled round the table, “finishing things off”, and it’s so true. In a country where in winter the water content of the air itself rises significantly it’s impossible to get things totally dry. The stove is lovely to dry things beside but there are only so many pairs of mini pants, socks and vests you can rotate before you go completely mad. So, here’s to tumble driers and “finishing things off”.

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Animals on the loose

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Hannah

I’ve put my last illustration project up as prints for sale in my shop so do take a look. Here is one of them. Rockhopper penguins examining an abandoned fridge. Again you can click on the image to see it enlarged. Click here to go to my shop or follow the link from my website. They are available as loose giclee prints, mounted or mounted and framed.

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