Happy Holidays!

Thank you Lanalou Style!

Thanks to Lana at Lanalou Style who recently featured my work on her wonderful blog on style, decor and inspiring finds.

I like this description she gives of my illustrations "they make you wish you were there". Here's the post.

Illustration Friday - Entangled

This is my submission for this week's Illustration Friday theme Entangled.

Free Shipping in my Shop: Black Friday to Cyber Monday!

Today through to Monday I'm offering free shipping in my Etsy shop.

The Daily Commute

This is one of my latest drawings, looking on as a train cuts through the city.

Village Underground

These old tube carriages on top of a building in east London have been converted into studios for artists and designers. Looks pretty cosy inside. If working in one of these is anything like sitting on the running tube I hope they have air-conditioning in the summer.

Quentin Blake & Friends

A couple of weeks ago I went to see Quentin Blake at the National Theatre where he drew to readings of extracts from some of Roald Dahl's books, including The Twits, Matilda and The Witches. I was pretty in awe. And at the end I waited for almost an hour to get my book signed.

Illustration Friday

This is my submission for this week's Illustration Friday theme Germs.

Penny door

Not your average door. I walked by this place on the weekend in East London. I'm sure there's some fascinating reason for the copper coin decoration, I just don't know what it is.

Little treasures!

It's been a very long time since I put together an Etsy treasury, but here's my latest. Made up of lots of lovely things, many I've only just discovered.

Commit No Nuisance

Commit No Nuisance, originally uploaded by janicejs.

This caught my eye while out and about in Southwark, London. I find this area pretty fascinating with its range of architecture and weaving streets.

New Print! 25 Watches

What kind of watch do you wear?

My latest print is now in the shop!

Feed Your Soul

Indiefixx's wonderful free art project, Feed Your Soul, is a great idea. Just download and print and you've got a little piece of art. This month I've contributed too. I'll also be popping over to have a browse.

New print - 23 Chairs

My latest print is now in the shop!

Free Shipping this Weekend!

There's free shipping on everything in my shop starting today and ending on Sunday!

My Little Clutter

Toiletries, originally uploaded by janicejs.

Here's a little sketch I made of my toiletries & cosmetics (+mugs, bits of paper etc.) shelf in my room. Much of it is empty pots I can't quite bring myself to throw away because I always think they might come in handy. They haven't yet...

More New Prints for August!

The first is the final outcome of the work shown in my earlier post, Drawing the City.

The Watched City

A Scribble in the Sky

In the shop!

New Prints Available!

The Waterfront


Southwark Row

Both in the shop.

DIY City Mag - London Issue

Thanks to Guest Editor Sara who included me and my work in this issue and even on the cover! It features some great crafty places in London & Brighton, and many wonderful artists and designers.

Drawing the City

I've a few new prints coming soon so here's how one of them came about over the course of several days building the scene bit by bit.

I'll be posting the finished piece a little later.

envelope char siu

envelope char siu, originally uploaded by janicejs.

A little bit of my last week on an envelope:

A much needed hairdressers appointment

& a char siu bao (roast pork bun), one of my favourite foods, from a Chinatown bakery my parents used to take me to as a kid. They look a lot more delicious in real-life. : )

Hello again!

Today, in an attempt to shake things up a bit I've put away my usual fine line pens and picked up a homemade bamboo one (carved from bamboo from the garden). I'm enjoying the variety in the thickness of line and that bit of unpredictability.

Creating a scene

drawing in progress, originally uploaded by janicejs.

This is what I've been drawing today. I'm always drawn back to cities and streets, I just find all those random bits of street paraphenalia so fascinating to put together on the paper.

That little bit of something in the top left corner is a test print of my latest nearing completion illustration which I'll reveal later.

Catching up on some reading...

So now I'm a google reader convert. I've just spent almost an hour adding and catching up on those blogs that get lost among my hundreds of bookmarks and I've only just started.

Most days I just about get round to checking out a couple of my favs but there's so much interesting reading that the time just goes.

My head's a little overloaded with the happenings of the blogosphere now so I'll be getting back to my own little world and work. All to a bit of Simon & Garfunkel.

Once upon a time...

The Cinema - Pitfield St., originally uploaded by janicejs.

Browsing through the mass of photos on my computer I came across this. I took it in Hackney earlier this year and turns out it was a cinema. Can't you just imagine it looking all fresh and fancy and being the place to go on an evening back in it's heyday? Or maybe I'm just romanticising it.

What's the time?

watches, originally uploaded by janicejs.

As I mentioned in my previous post I've been working on a new series based around everyday objects and their many variations. This one as you can see is on watches and I really enjoyed drawing all the little details. I'm working on the colouring now although I do like this one in it's raw drawn state.

Small wonders

cards?, originally uploaded by janicejs.

I've been thinking about branching out and putting some of my illustrations onto notecards or postcards so I had these printed to see how they look.

The illustration on the left is a new one from a series I've been working on on the theme of multiples.

Animated Friday!

I've been doing the rounds on YouTube checking out the animation category and thought I'd share a couple I think are pretty fantastic. They're both to French songs, fun with a little dark humour.

First off, one for the lovesick in Paris...



And one for the coffee addict...

Who lives in a house like this?

Interiors are my latest endeavour. With my trusty new Faber-Castell Pitt pen I'm exploring imaginary homes. It'll be nice to get a little colour on this.

Here's a few doodles for good measure.

Any answers to the title question will be much appreciated. :)

The Snow Fox

Last week's snow meant snowmen and snowladies, snowball fights and a fox on my shed. This week it's just back to rainy days.