Category Archives: Animals

Horses for courses

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My father in law has an age old tradition that started many years ago when his brother forgot his birthday.  As the story goes, the brother was reminded of his lapse in memory whilst they were out shopping and not wanting to lose face, grabbed the nearest card he could find and handed it over.  The card happened to feature an ugly,  googly-eyed horse and from there on, the horse card was sent (unopened and still in its plastic wrapping) back and forth between the brothers for 20+ years.  Until, one sad day, it was lost.  But not to worry, I was asked to quickly sketch a horse as a temporary stand in! 

Horsing around

Pigs do fly don’t they?

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I’ve been holding onto this cartoon for an age, hoping that at some point I will think of a funny conversation between the two pigs. I’ve failed miserably. Sometimes the funny just won’t come! If you want to have a bash – be my guest! I’ll update it to include any good suggestions.

Pigs fly

Conversation Stopper

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Autumn is here – my favourite time of year!  Scrunchy leaves. Clear, crisp skies. Seeing your breath. Warm coats and scarves. Squirrels manically burying seeds. Irresistibly shiny conkers that you just have to pocket. Log fires and a palette of golds, reds, browns and oranges that make you want to paint or write poetry!  This is not however, the topic of my cartoon.

Last week I was chatting to L about the day’s events on my walk home from work, when along the path bounced the most adorable puppy.  Anyone who knows me, will know that I’m a sucker for anything cute and fluffy.  I’ve been known to fight my way through a crowd to stroke some unsuspecting mutt, whilst L marches ahead with embarrassment muttering “She’s not with me. She’s not with me”.   Just the sight of a ball of fluff will more than likely cause me to let out an uncontrollable squeal of joy followed by a gush of unintelligible coos and babbles as I stroke and hug said creature to death.   I’ve even been known to shout ‘hello’ to cows and wave to cats…Yes, I would agree, these are not the actions of a sane person.

So, when I spied the puppy running down the path, without a moment’s thought or warning, I hung up mid-conversation. Just like that.  It wasn’t until after I’d had my fill of puppy cuddles that I realised what I’d done.    Understandably, L was a little bemused by the sudden disconnection – was the network down? did I drop my phone? had I been attacked by a mad axeman?  When I finally rang back to explain what had happened, she was not in the least bit surprised, for nothing can come between me and a puppy!

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Deer! Deer! Deer!

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I’ve spent a hefty portion of the weekend focusing my energy on photography.  On Saturday morning I was up early and raced to the moorlands nearby to watch the sun come up and photograph the herds of deer that are congregating in preparation for the autumn rut.  It was a clear, crisp morning and the sound of bellowing stags echoed around the heathland – what a great way to start the day.

In my good mood, I headed off in search of king fishers at my local nature reserve – I had it on good authority that a pair had been making a regular appearance and I drooled over some of the photographic evidence.  King fishers are on my list of ‘must photograph’ animals – needless to say, it didn’t show up.

Today I took part in a sponsored photography walk in aid of a local charity.   My photography group, I Just Wanna Tek Gud Photos, spent 2 hours on a historic tour of Sheffield, taking photos along the way.  The fruits of our labour will be displayed in an exhibition come November and the money from any sales will go directly to the charity.

So for today’s post, I thought I’d forego the cartoon and share a photograph or two.

Deer's looking at you!

Call of the wild

Dawn breaks on the moor

 

 

Dinosaurs, dragons and guinea pigs

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Entertainment in the form of conversation with a two and four year old is hard to beat.  I spent the weekend with my brother’s family and was immersed in a world of dragons, dinosaurs, strange children’s stories about moles with poo on their head, growing crystals, modelling chocolate, kings and princesses, train rides to Africa and much, much more.

It was my nephew’s fourth birthday and 95% of his presents were dinosaur based, right down his birthday cake and dinosaur tattoos.  He told me that dinosaur means terrible lizard and that a t-rex and a pterodactyl merged to form a terrifying flying menace which flies around Edinburgh. To kill a T-rex, you must stab it in the stomach with a sword and run between its legs. I think the first bit is true at least.

My two year old niece on the other hand, is happy making pretend tea and moving beans from one pot to another whilst chattering away in pidgin English.  When she is out and about, she is permanently attached to a toy buggy which she pushes everywhere with great determination regardless of whether it is occupied.  She loves her guinea pig and insists on stuffing carrots in its mouth while it dangles desperately off her tiny knee.  My world seems positively bleak now that I’m back at home.
Guineapig

A Rabbit’s Tale

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I often get suggestions for stories but have yet to meet someone keen enough to put pen to paper.  My skills as a writer are pretty limited, so although I have a bank of ideas, a creative story arc is unlikely to flow from my grey matter.

My sister in-law once wrote a short story about a seagull in Edinburgh.   I have sketched the character but need to spend find some time illustrating the landscapes for the background – something that doesn’t come as easy to me as character design.

After doodling a few rabbits and posting them to Facebook a few months back, my sister in-law’s mother penned the first paragraph of a possible story (clearly writing is a family trait).  I liked her intro and thought I’d post it here – it was an excuse to draw more animals!

Perhaps, if someone feels the urge, they could draft another paragraph or two – it would make a nice little series of blog posts!   So , Nicky, thanks for your contribution….

We rabbits are numerous, though like icebergs and Russian spies we are more under than over ground.

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We have a long history of storytelling – from the epic Watership Down, through Peter Rabbit and of course the proverbial Bre’r Rabbit. 

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Some might think hares are more elegant – but we don’t waste our time gazing at the moon. While they gaze, we graze. Hares are distractible, hence their inability to win races against tortoises; we rabbits can not only beat a tortoise, we have even won races against Porsches – those loud, often red animals who drink evil smelling liquids and regurgitate humans.

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Unlike you humans, we teach our young by telling stories – a flat screen cannot convey the detail, especially moral and emotional, of a good story told by Granny or Aunty.

Here follows the fabled rabbit story of how William Rabbit won a race against one of these Porsches, which I believe has never before been translated into a human language.

If you think you can see where this story is going…why not get in touch?

Hippos

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A friend at work had an idea to write a children’s book about a short sighted hippo…tonight I thought I’d sketch him. I’m still warming up (so to speak) and have yet to sit in front of the computer to scan and ink. It’s been nearly 8 months since I’ve felt remotely inclined to draw. Instead, I’ve been putting all my energy into photography. But a couple of weeks ago I did a small job for the English Speaking Cancer Association and their annual Paddle for Cancer dragon boat race! I suppose this gave me the boost I needed to open the pencil case!

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