New for The Guardian

This is a sneak preview of an illo about the "Sandwich Generation" that will be published in tomorrow's Guardian (Work section cover, no less)
I got the roughs in on Wednesday evening (after a particularly unpleasant episode of dealing with my non functioning scanner) and the lovely art director, Sarah Habershon said she liked my sofa idea to depict the "Sandwich Generation" where both ageing parents and children have to be cared for - despite the fact the carer also holds down a full time job.
Sarah doesn't like to have an obvious work theme on the Work cover so I made this as domesticated and family-orientated as possible, yet trying to show the pressure that the carer is under to look after family properly yet still get work done.
I like the hamster metaphor, myself (based on Chewbacca who is my nephew's spritely rodent). The bird in the cage is, of course, a MASSIVE homage to Charles Keeping, whose work I love.

And I don't understand why I keep drawing cats when it is dogs that I love.

fantastic biker action in Edinburgh

Big red building? Edinburgh college of Art. I love this film.

Proper Dog Training!

You should know I am dog daft and that my husband and I have been training our now 7 month old pup, Birdie, pretty successfully. She is very intelligent and biddable and has a lovely soft mouth...AND she comes back to her name!
However, my mum-in-law, Sharon is a bit of an expert dog trainer, as she gets her canine brood to track and to do man work and agility.
She has just got herself a magic wee black lab bitch called Daphne and is training her already. In fact, Daphne is so intelligent she is writing her own blog - Daphne's Diary

Pic of Sharon, Daphne and Chris the trainer.

Dog news over and out.

Incy Wincy Spider...

quite like this spider I did for NMS...
put the leaves in to show it wasn't a massive, big 'ol Aussie man-eater of a thing, but rather a proper little British spider.

Lettering for Carte Blanche

Amongst all this museum work, I have also done a bit of logo work for my super talented friends Cait and Gibson at Carteblanche, who are specialists in distinctive decorative painting techniques. They do murals, graining, gilding, marbling - you name it! They also hold classes in both the UK and USA, which are very popular.
If you happen to be near Auchterarder, then drop into their brand new showroom and shop at 94 High Street!

The Flowerbed

This is a rough of another pretty big wall illo for Garden Detectives - 4.4m long
There will be interactive, scented elements here for the lavender and mint etc. and all sorts of other fun things for children to play with and try out. I have been having a job getting my head round the technical drawings that the 3D designer supplied - hence my scribbles on the rough.
Another wall section in this part of the exhibit will have a honey Bee Journey on it too!
The end is on sight now (it's been a week of working 'til midnight - most unlike me!)
and I just have a few more beasties to colour up and send off.
A few posts back I mentioned that a badger I did had been rejected for looking too "weird" - well, here is the new one. It got an "Aw!" from the designer!