Goodies from Lichfield

You may, or may not, have read my blog post the other day about a little outing we took to Lichfield. While we were there I managed to pick up a few pretties! 

We spent a while in a second hand book shop, and to be honest with you, if I had not restrained myself, I could have bought arms full of beautiful tomes! However, I picked carefully, allowing myself to get one; 'The Boy's Own Book of Ships' I just love all the illustrations, with their limited colour palette, which was probably done to save money on printing costs, but looks great. I think the images would look great on a terrific framed, though I wouldn't have the heart to actually take any out of the book; maybe I'll scan some of them in.

In another book shop I also found the England By Rail 2013 calendar, which I had had an eye on before, but it was too pricey. However, now we are well into 2013, it was £1 :) 12 beautiful reproductions of vintage England By Rail posters. I have put up a few pictures of my favourites.

Lastly I picked up a vintage silk scarf from a charity shop. It is a gorgeous teal colour, and will be adorning my neck or head on many occasions I'm sure.

A trip around Lichfield

We'd been to Lichfield quite a few times before, but recently I have been making an effort to really LOOK around when I go to places, especially those that I know really well.

It is amazing what things you notice and can take pleasure in when you make an effort, rather than rushing from shop to shop. It's also great what images you can capture on your phone now, so it often doesn't really matter too much if you remembered to bring a camera with you or not.

I had great fun picking up lots of gorgeous books in a second hand bookshop, feeling the old paper and enjoying that old book smell, and taking photos of the ones with especially pretty covers.

Lichfield is well known for it's Cathedral, yet previous times we have been, we have only looked at it from a distance. Looking at it up close, I was in awe. It's just so so beautiful, and you can't help but feel something, whether it be spiritual or just sheer astonishment at the amount of skill and hard work that went into making it.

There are lots of cute wonky buildings, decorative door handles, coloured glass, public artwork, carvings, sign painting and much more to admire, if you take the time to find them, and walk a nit further astray from their, unfortunately ugly, shopping centre! Looking forward to our next trip to find the little things that make places special!

Princess Leia

Being quite a fan of Star Wars (well at least the original 3), it was only a matter of time until I did a bit of fan art, and with my love of drawing beautiful women, Leia was an obvious choice.

I had great fun doing this, quite ironic that she has a bit of a look of a Disney character in my image, now that Lucas Films has been bought by Disney! This was unintentional!

pearly collar

I'm not exactly great at sewing (though I'd like to change that), but I saw a tutorial for this in Mollie Makes and thought, now even I can manage that!

I bought a men's denim shirt on ebay, and made the it all together more feminine by sewing some beads onto the collar. A quick fix that Instantly makes It unique. Super, smashing, grand!

Wedding Commission

A few weeks ago, I was asked to create a portrait of a couple for their wedding. This is not the one I did, as they're not married yet, and I didn't want to risk them seeing it, but I wanted to share it with you, so I have altered it to this made up couple.

I really enjoyed creating it, and think that it would make a lovely memento for a wedding, anniversary or engagement.

If you are going to a wedding this year than why not get them something more personal and get in touch? Prices start at £20 for a digital file that you can print to any size you want.  Email me at samanthaeynon@gmail.com if you want to enquire.

Lady in a hat

Just thought I'd share my latest completed illustration with you guys. I'm quite pleased with this one. It's one of the most striking images I've done for a while. Now I want to do more!

At the top is an image all three colour ways I tried. I struggled to decide which one to go for, and thought they looked quite nice all lined up together. Now I want blue hair too!

February Workshops

In February I had great fun leading a workshop at Derby Quad, teaching a group how to design and make their own Robot paper toy. They were all boys, and I think my work was all a bit cute for them, with by far not enough guns! They came up with some great work!