Relaxing With The Caterpillars...

Humming-Bird Hawk Moth Caterpillar Mixed Media Sketch

Hello there

Hope you are thriving (and doing exactly the amount you do or don't want to do at the moment).

For my own part, I meant to do so much, and yet, somehow...

Here's the thing. This August feels so *pressured* for some reason. Maybe it's all self-imposed, or maybe you can relate?

Anyway, there were *so* many things I meant to do this week. To present to you, and to to help you with. (Yes, I see you, honestly, all the people to whom I've been promising more YouTube videos since forever...). 

And then there's that "tariff" word...

As you'll know if you've spent any time here, I do my very, very best to avoid politics here altogether. If you love happy and whimsical art, you're welcome here, and that's that.

But as the elephant has made its way into our actual room here, it feels like there's little choice but to say something.

To anyone worried about tariffs affecting their shopping for my designs, my best answer so far (after hours of searching, and-unsurprisingly-very little previous knowledge of international trade) goes like this: 

"Everyone's geographical situation is different, so my trying to say anything here (or even steer all my designs into one place) wouldn't help a bit, and might make things worse. Please just get to know what's best for you personally, wherever you are, and I'll do my very best to accommodate that if I can, in considering in which shops to place designs."

Luckily...

Luckily, online downloads remain easy to access wherever you are, as far as I know... (I'll be introducing new items to my Craftsuprint shop soon, for that very reason).

So, obviously...

So, obviously, the only thing to do in response to all this weirdness was... to hang out with the caterpillars. :-)

For context, we had had  a humming-bird hawk moth visit our window boxes a couple of weeks ago. She was verrry interested in a particular plant with "pinwheel" leaves that was growing rather rampantly in our box we dedicated to wild flowers a few years back.

(I say "was" growing rampantly, because six caterpillars make incredibly short work of an awful lot of leaves. Which, in our case, suited us just fine, and probably saved us a lengthy autumn tidying/weeding session :-).

And so it came about that our enticement to live in the moment once more has come, this week, from an insight into the not-so-tiny and voraciously-eating lives of six fat caterpillars. Who I strongly suspect may have been the inspiration for the Very Hungry Caterpillar young children's board book by the late, great, Eric Carle (Affiliate link proudly placed to leading to the book back there. Because who doesn't love a book that-as far as I remember- has pages  actually *designed* to look munched?)

Artistic License?

I'll keep you posted if we see anything progressing with these really now rather large creatures (1.5 inches each at least, and growing by the day).

In the meantime, in the interests of accuracy, I'll close with The Computer Man's photo of one of these beings, so that you can see that I have liberally used artistic license, in giving them extra and wider pink feet, and, um...eyes.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth Caterpillar
 (Photo by Jim Fernbank).

The funny thing is, despite everything going on in the world, a few minutes of "caterpillar watching", really *is* incredibly calming. Who knew?

And with that, I'll leave you to your day.

Thanks so very much for being here, *and* for reading down this far.

More soon.

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A New Floral Painting (And A Very, Very, New Shop)

"Echinacea River" Painting by Clare Walker
Available at Pixels.Com

Hello there

Hope all's well and happy for you.

Here, as you see, there's a lot that's new here. Firstly, the "Echinacea River", above.

The story behind it

I have to give huge thanks to my friend and very-talented-photographer-in-her-own-right, Marilyn Doyle, that this painting ever even happened.

She shared tales of a happy afternoon. And I was so transfixed by her photograph:

Photo by Marilyn Doyle, used here
and as a reference with her permission.

that I immediately asked if I could use it as a reference...and found myself with a completed painting in an afternoon, pretty much, (if you come here often, you'll know how rare that is).

So, just enormous thanks to Marilyn for such an inspiring photo, and for the use of your photo here on the blog too. (I would link to her as well, but she doesn't have a website as far as I know).

I mention this all here because I really want Marilyn to get the credit she deserves. And because it's an unusual story behind the "Echinacea River" painting...And because I've already wondered whether these are echinacea (coneflower) or rudbeckia flowers...Or even something else...

Going on their cone shape, and the large prickly seedheads in the middle...I'm sticking with the Echinacea/Coneflowers. But the debate is on, if you want it to be...I'm about to start it on Instagram.

Update on Aug 9th: Have just remembered a great thing about the new shop: you can *comment* below images. Yay! If you have an idea about what these are, please comment here. Many thanks!

Update on August 10th 2025: Have just discovered that the original flowers may have been Euphorbias.
Really not sure what to do about this yet.

Hang on a minute. What about this shop thingy?

Ah yes, the new shop. Just in case you're thinking that I may have gone out of my mind to launch this on a Friday evening in August at the bottom of a post about something else... Well, yes, I might.

But this isn't false  modesty or anything. It's just the softest possible "launch" (those quotation marks are working particularly hard, there :-) ), so that I can keep everyone whose been such a support in the loop, whilst still being able to correct inevitable mistakes as we discover them.

There will be more on this, I promise. And with that, thanks as ever for reading this far, and for your support...and have a lovely weekend.

More soon.
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Happy Harebells...And (Sort-Of) Christmas in July...

"Happy Harebells" sketch...

Hello there, and I hope you are thriving in your corner of the world.

This week's art and designs are such a mixed bag, that, like football (soccer!) they are a game of two halves.

First came this sketch of harebell flowers, that then made its way onto a really dear friend's birthday card. (I think she might actually be a newsletter reader too, so this comes with even more good wishes. And speaking directly to that person for just a second, no, I won't put this on anything for sale until you've had loads of time to enjoy it, and maybe not even then. Thank you for being you. ;-)).

Then there is/was... the "Christmas in July" situation...

And just like that, here we are again. The point in the year that astounds any sane person. Namely, that July is the traditional time in which artists and designers are supposed to prepare designs so that they are available/algorithm noted etc, in time for Christmas or pre-Christmas purchases.

And yes, I'm aware that it's the very last day of July, as am typing this.

In truth, I just couldn't face even trying to get festive in the midst of summer weather (and ooh, you know, the state of the world, etc).

But then some little robins and berries just made their way into some art the other week. And what do you know? That snowy robin led to an entire collection of designs.

I hasten to add, they are still very much a "work in progress".

But if you'd like a quick peek at the collection in its rough form, here's a photo.

Thanks to Jim for this pic, who came into our bedroom
when I was trying to get this into a photo, and took it for me.

So please watch this space, a little later in the year.

And with that, I'll leave you to your day (and huge thanks for reading down this far).

The next instalment might not be for a couple of weeks or so, as there is a huge amount still to do, not only for this collection, but also on items that'll be fun for you much sooner.

But there will be...

More soon.
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