Covering up the owl!

The scary (and messy) bit - covering the entire thing with black Lino ink! Even the light areas need covering, but I need to be able to see what I'm doing, so I won't use much ink here.
It's important not to allow the ink to dry as it will make the scraping less fluid- so I have to start the next stage straight away. . . .

Owl Painting step 2 - colour

Step 2 - oil pastel. It's important not to leave any gaps (as this will leave a black mark when it comes to scraping). The blue I've used here is ultramarine, unusual for me as I'm more drawn to Prussian blue - however, it won't make much difference in this case as I intend the background to be very dark. The owl is mostly white and yellow-grey. I usually use Pentel oil pastels, as they are firmer than a more expensive pastel (eg Sennelier) and hold onto the colour better once scraped.

Example of working method - oil pastel and lino ink painting

This is a step-by-step guide to creating a painting using oil pastel and lino ink and a scraper tool.

Long, thin owl painting- 'Tyto' - stage one: having already done some preliminary sketches I draw out the owl, keeping it quite basic; there's no point in getting too detailed here, as I'm going to completely cover it up. Also once I start scraping away I don't want to see too much pencil work showing through.

Me and 'Affinity '

 I painted 'Affinity ' last year and documented the making of it on my Facebook Vikki Yeates illustration page. 

I'll do this again with my next painting. 

Hare Dream design

I

The painting that I made into a transfer, then ironed onto the cushion cover.
I kept the design for this very simple, like a celtic stone carving. But once I'd finished I felt a bit unfulfilled and so I've taken it as a springboard to another more detailed painting, which I'll show at a later date.

Hare Dream cushions

I came up with the idea for these cushions when I painted my friend's dog Nenagh; she loves snuggling up on the sofa! Usually my animals are surrounded by plants and nature (http://vikkiyeates.daportfolio.com ), so I wasn't sure how to tackle this at first; but then I came up with the idea of designing my own William Morris inspired artwork to put onto the cushions, effectively bringing the outside inside! I really enjoyed the intricacy of the cushion designs so wanted to take the idea a stage further - hence 'Hare Dream' evolved.
Unfortunately I only have an A4 printer and they would look much better if I could make the print bigger. Or get smaller cushions maybe?

Doctor Fell

I do not like thee Doctor Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell,
But this I know and know full well,
I do not like thee Doctor Fell


I love this nursery rhyme. I remember reading it in a Ladybird collection of nursery rhyme, and all of the illustrations had a dark, unnerving quality to them. I think that children get a thrill out of being scared (as long as it's in the right degree) and that most publishers these days don't understand that. Modern illustrations for children seem mostly to be pretty decorations. Which I think is a great shame.