The House of Elliot

i implore everyone who was watching tv in england (or watching english tv in another country) between 1991 and 1994 to visit pia's blog over at pia jane bijkerk.
pia has captured perfectly how this program made me feel and for a tv program to inspire a 10 year old (me) and a 14 year old (pia) i reckon thats something rather special.

make sure you have a look - oh my god, nearly 17 years on and i STILL want to be evie!

china japan and korea - here i come

my count down has started.
until last night when i was 7 interesting things about myself, my upcoming trip to asia didn't feel real. since posting last night, i'm now very excited and counting down......53 days to go.
it seems impossible that we're actually going ~ indeed we wouldn't be if it wasn't for my boyfriends incredibly generous mum who is paying for it!!!
we are very spoiled and extremely grateful.
i can't wait to see how this trip influences my sketches? i expect there will be a few geisha appearing from the middle of april onwards.....

TAG! i'm it!

I was tagged by Beth over at Boatshedchic the other day to tell you some little known facts about me. Now brace yourselves pets - i've a feeling that i'm not as interesting as i think i am!!!!

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

So here we go...

1.) I've been homesick for London for 1 year and 6.5 months. it's true~ home is where my heart is. The man in my life is the only thing keeping me in Newcastle. I moved up here to be with him and i'm not leaving without him.....we will move back to London eventually though - thems the rules!

2.) i can write backwards. properly, with joined up writing and everything! and i don't even have to think about it! I don't know how i discovered this completely pointless talent - i never practised or even tried to do it - i just could! and the weirdest thing...sometimes if i'm making notes or writing a shopping list - i'll write it backwards by accident because it feels normal!!! i also prefer my handwriting when it's backwards!

3.) i love drinking tea (i was born in yorkshire) and all the rituals that go with it. some how i've ended up collecting teapots too! and i haven't bought a single one of them for myself. i've never asked people to buy me them - one day, i woke up and suddenly i had 6 of them! i love when people make tea with tea leaves and would never consider using bags. it's awesome.

4.) rhubarb and custard boiled sweets from sainsburys make me giddy.

5.) in 2 months i am going to China Japan and Korea for 3 weeks. i'm so excited to eat there! to see different people, to visit new places and hear new sounds. it's gonna be amazing. i also get to indulge my weird obsession.....

6.) .........supermarkets in different countries. i could spend hours in them. chemists too! last year in new york i drove my other half to distraction with my lust for duane reade. i had to go in every one i came across (and there are a few) just to look at the products that we can't get here in england. some other good countries for supermarkets are South Africa, France and Mexico.

7.) it took me until i was 25 to find a job that i love. it doesn't pay very much and i'm always skint but i wouldn't have it any other way. my boss is great, the hours suit my illustrating and as for the shoes....? there are no words. it's the best job ever and i feel very lucky that i stumbled across it.


so, thats all folks. hope it was a little bit interesting. thanks to beth for tagging me, make sure you all visit her blog - her home is amaaaaaazing. i feel blind rage sometimes that i don't live there! you'll see what i mean.

by way of reciprocation i tag some of my favourites;
chocolate canary
black*eiffel
a cup of jo
absolutely beautiful things
lola is beauty
{this is glamorous}
through my eyes

thanks guys, it's been real x

shes finished i think....?

so i'm feeling pleased with my girls today - they both behaved themselves and didn't do anything to cause me to spoil them.
absolutly rubbish photography though for which i apologise!
the girl on top (ooh er~saucy!) is a bit of a mixture of everything. have i mentioned before that i don't photoshop anything? i'm trying to stay as organic as possible which can be difficult as it's easy to ruin things but it also improve my watercolour abilities and it also means that collage lends itself nicely for filling big spaces.
girl in chair might stay as she is - i haven't decided yet??? i rather like her! she looks kind of bored ~ like she couldn't be bother to be coloured in.
we'll see

screaming with frustration

i've just spent 20mins writing a post and it has disappeared.
gone.
deleted.
vanished forever.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

the ultimate supermodel?

seriously~how gorgeous is this woman? lets forget for a moment her 'indiscretion' a while ago and her terrible taste in men and instead focus on a long, very successful career and her ability to become different women... her calvin klein ads show a girl, not sexy but pretty sans make up and styled hair then we see the polar opposite in this agent provocateur shot. SUPER VIXEN or what??? and also i love that she (like me) is a quite tall and rather skinny girl and she still looks like the sexiest woman on the planet. being skinny can make me feel awkward and angular rather than sexy but she inspires me. and for anyone who is reading this and thinking "god how irritating, another skinny girl complaining about being thin-shut up you twat". well tough! there are two tales to every size.
rock on kate moss

sketching continues

well. another day of drawing and some more success and more crashing dissapointment. but i carry on. i do find that it makes such a difference when you draw every day. it's feels more natural and less trying. when i walk away from my sketch book for a week, the next time i try to draw feels like the very first time. it takes a while to get back in the swing of things and that can be very time consuming - hence the importance of trying to be creative every day.
it is a struggle but i will do my best.

p.s i've had a bit of a make over with my blog. the pink was feeling a little sickly. maybe i'll change it back soon ~ or perhaps i'll keep on changing it? i do think it depends on my mood though. i'm still sliding into 'mean reds' territory and so i feel a little more stark (hence the white) perhaps when my mood picks up so will my colour scheme!

january blues

i'm really feeling them at the moment. they seem to be coming through stronger and stronger every day. soon they'll be the january mean reds. today picked me up a little when i flicked on the tv for some background noise to sketch to (1 good sketch and 1 horrible one today!) and breakfast at tiffanys was on! at exactly my favorite part. the part at the beginning when she first meets paul v.a.r.j.a.k (like he spells it out to het at the new york public library) and she is getting ready for sing sing but she is late.
absolutely the most awesome film of all time.
ever.
and why are favorite films always better on the tv?
p.s - can anyone direct me to a really good picture of the half bath tub sofa featured in the film - i've been looking for hours and.......nothing! - thanks

delicious

oh happy day

the worst thing

the worst thing.
is getting excited because you think you've achieved something no matter how small and then finding out you didn't.
and it made you feel so good and then you feel like a fool for being so excited.
a gesture made out of kindness is always a good and kind thing but can also hurt.
when seeking and needing advice, it hurts to feel palmed off onto someone else.
when first steps feel like giant leaps of faith
and they are not repaid.
but the worst thing
is receiving a compliment that you cannot trust to be true.
when you suspect that someone well meaning is behind someone else's false words.
thats the worst thing.

and hands...gloved hands! but hands none the less!

back to basics - paper and pencil

i do find that the worst and scariest part of drawing (apart from - of course - will anyone like it?) is making the first mark on the page. once that is done it doesn't seem to matter so much what i draw! when sketching difficult compositions or something that i know i'm not very good/rubbish at i draw that part first - purposely badly - and from then on things can only get better. like hands and feet. i abhor drawing hands and feet. it just doesn't come naturally to me at all, what i wish for the most is to be able to draw hands like the character jack can in titanic. that was the only part of that film that i liked.
so a decision.
i will practice and practice and practice until i don't even think about it anymore. when drawing girls - i won't hide their hands!!!
keep your eyes peeled for hands and feet people...they'll be everywhere this year!

a work in progress

i can't decide what i think of this girl. i feel that i may have got a little carried away with the pattern!?! i might colour this differently. still in black and white but perhaps filling in the details rather than the negative space as i have with the illustrations below.... i'll keep you updated!

some things that i have been workng on.......

i have been working on this series of pen and ink drawings for a while now. they do take a while but it's worth it when you see them completed. i had considered adding colour but i think it may take something away from the complex simplicity of them.
i plan on making these available to buy in my hopefully upcoming etsy shop.
please let me know what you think.

flutterby's are our friends

enjoying a stroll through the www and stumble across this gorgeous ad for vespa. it's by a chap called boris matas and i think it's lush. the perfect recipie for an ad campaign. just enough measures of hippy. chicky. pretty. trippy and offset against the 'blue for boys' background it's not as overly feminine as you'd expect.
i'd love a print of this for my flat as the vespa appeals to the aspiring cool kid in me and i adore butterfly imagery~not in a creepy mariah carey kind of way but i find them peacefull and delicate.....the absolute polar opposite of me!!!!

just. gorgeous.

oh how i wish and wish and wish...

let it snow let it snow let it snow

woo hoo! and boo hiss! all at the same time today.
woo hoo it's snowing! not very much were we are of course because we live in the centre of town but ross has just come back in from work (he only left 20 minutes ago!) because it's a snow day!he can't get to work!-i don't have a luxury of that excuse unfortunately!
boo hiss we have no hot water! none. anywhere... so no showers, no clean hair, no getting warm on the first day of snow this winter in a nice hot bath full of lush xmas goodies. what to do?

i've been thinking alot about resolutions over the past few days of this brand new year. i hate making them because i find it so very difficult to keep them.one of last years was to always have beautifully painted red nails. this was fine and i was doing well until mid-february when i noticed that my nails seemed to be flaking away.literally peeling off. so not entirely my fault that i had to stop but still a resolution unresolved.
the thing is. why set a challenge that i'm likely to fail? so rather than promise myself (i never tell anyone else my resolutions) that i'll change the world and myself - i'll cheat.i resovle to do something creative everyday. thats my reslolution. it may sound simple but sometimes i get so distracted by real life. bills. rent. no hot water. eastenders. making dinner. clearing dinner. sleeping. ect ect.that i forget to draw. or sew. or do anything at all actually.

now i've got more ideas so here comes a list. (incidentally not the first one of the year)

~ i will do at least one thing creative everyday~
~ i will buy a big issue every month~
~ i will put some of my art in the singing kettle cafe asap~
~ i will sell a piece of my work~
~ i will show someone else this blog (ross doesn't count)~

this list - i'm sure will be added to and subracted from all year.
but i must try.

christmas dinner

it was so good, we ate so much and we were very very grateful! shortly afterwards michal slipped into a food induced coma and ross and i had to go for a walk.perfect opportunity to try out the new ugg boots. then we came back and had champagne cocktails and profiteroles. a good day indeed!

happy new year - here is my christmas day

so i know its time to look forward to the new year but i'm still loving my christmas with ross and michael. here's a few snap shots of our morning - the real fun came when making dinner! it was stupendous. a feast. and my happy(ish) helpers made for some amusing moments. thanks ross x