whiskers up or down?

I came across a really cute video of a kitten sucking its paw the other day,and as I'd got a stinking horrible cold and cough and couldn't face going into the shed to do some work I decided to do some drawing/painting inspired by the cute kitten instead. I thought as well I would share some of the drawings enroute to a final painting............

this was the first , which after a bit of fiddling about changed to


but I thought this smacked too much of cuteness, I dont really like the idea of cats in nappies, a bit too disney for me , so



this was the final drawinng that became the unfinished painting that is here.

It wasnt until I'd finished that I thought it bares a cetain resemblance to the Puss in Boots of Shrek fame, this was accidental, I was wondering what colour to paint him when I thought why not ginger its a nice sunny warm colour as it was a nice sunny warm day. He does look a bit like he's wearing the orange version of the cartoonists swag/robber jumper....
What I cant decide is what to do with the whiskers,if you go to my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Hollowbourne/111510052210161?closeTheater=1 you will find two versions of this, one whiskers up one down. In one he looks happy like he's just thoughtfully biting his nails. In the other he looks like he's been caught in the act of doing something he shouldn't have. Its amazing how a different direction can make one simple painting have two meanings . So what does anyone think? Guilty or content?

here are a couple of other variations
on a theme....one of these will be my
new cat booch, I'm not sure which yet.

ACEO cat and bird paintings

Quick blog to say that I've been doing a bit of painting for a change.
Smoe of the good people at Folksy have been doing ACEOs and as I have a few small paintings in my notebooks I thought I would list a few and see what people think.

I've googled myself out of curiosity a couple of times lately and come across "links" that mention my fierce cat painting that is on Dawanda, one site seemed to be sugesting you could download the artwork free, luckily it didnt work,or I would have been somewhat annoyed. The other ended up at a blank page with one of those "you may have got a virus, click here to check messages" ie click here so we can give you a virus! I hope nobody uses these pictures for nefarious ends.

Is it worth while trying to sell these?

cat inspiration

Is there such a thing as reverse inspiration? My cat Zip was wanting to keep an eye on the weather without going outside this week, and was sitting on this chair when I realised it was the perfect pose for one of my cat brooches....

And for once he didn't move whilst I went upstairs for the camera to take this.
Which I think show very well where the idea for this brooch came from originaly.

I'm not really sure which cat looks the most ungainly.

Perhaps some cats like snow..........

"there's something under here"


"maybe if I just roll around a bit...."
"I'll manage to catch it!"
"blimy this is deeper than I thought"
"ok this isn't fun anymore can I come in now?"I dont think this cat has ever been out in snow before, our other cats have refused point blank to go outside never mind running round like an idiot as Spot is doing here.

New shop opened..................

http://www.hollowbourne.com/
My own shop is open at last, everything (ok nearly everything ) all under one roof so to speak........I have been working on this for the last 3 weeks, listing that many things at once can be very boring.I have also had to contend with the fact that my computer decided it didn't want to cut and paste anymore in the middle of it all, computers are such temperamental things. I'm sure there are lots of things that need tweeking so if anyone finds any obvious faux pas let me know please.
I decided to make it including delivery as the delivery thingy was driving me nuts, especially the foreign bit. So for now anyone from outside the U.K. will need to email me and I'll do it as a special listing.

Otherwise its been a dog and bird week............
I visited a lovely artistic lady in my day job capacity to sell her a boiler, she had a very cute dog that insisted on sitting on my lap at every opportunity,as a result of which
this little chap was born .Dont ask me what sort of dog it was I havn't a clue, it was too big for sitting on my lap though ,I know that much. Oh and if you are interested I did sell the boiler ...
Dog no 2 is altogether fiercer

I think he's a guard dog , guarding your pocket, yes one leg is longer than the other. I didn't notice until I was choosing the photos for the listing.It isn't so obvious in real life. This is one of those pieces which is impossible to photograph as there are reflections from everywhere....
In addition to the 2 dog brooches, I made 3 little bird brooches.



I had some small bits of brass to use in between larger pieces, birds are good for using that sort of space up,the original idea was to make a robin, but I decided I liked them better plain in he end.
A couple of christmas trees are waiting to be photographed tomorrow if the weather is a bit better.........more about them next week,
That's it for now, I must find out how to do a proper link for my shop but its a bit late at night for that now .

Hearts and Flowers

Jewellery with a message, hearts and flowers; symbols of love and affection.
Anyone who knows me is aware that I am not a particularly soppy person, so I was suprised at how many different items I have made this year with a romantic theme in mind.


I made this early in the year in the hopes that it might go for Valentines day.along with these......

The brooch went to someone in the summer, it was bought by a man, I hope the recipient of this,(I was going to say his girlfriend but I suppose it could have been for a mother or boyfriend ) liked it. The flying kisses reminded me of a flock of birds especially in this picture where you can just see the reflection of the sky in the heart and the blue wooly background is like the night sky, with the birds flying home into the sunset at the end of the day. The earrings I still have, maybe they dont fit well with the rest of my work so no one notices them.
My next foray into the realms of lurve was the cat with a heart..........


This cute kitty lying on his back is just begging for affection, he has a little pink copper heart. He looks very happy, perhaps he's high on catnip! My cats look at bit like this after a teaspoon or two of fresh cat mint.I suspect he's just inviting you to tickle his tummy so he can grab your hand with all four paws and pretend he's caught a pigeon....Too cynical?

So next I was doodling a new robot, thinking to do one from the side for a change and I was looking for a reason for him to be sideways on, presenting a flower seemed to be a nice idea. Thinking on it again now , maybe I should have made the flower from a watch cog wheel, perhaps next time after this one has sold. In case you are wondering he is standing on the windowledge of the shed that I work in, just about visible behind him is a clock I started making 20 years ago,(o.k. clock case) and standing on top of that the clock I use to time my etchings.And yes those are cobwebs.........


This handsome fellow came next, a new cat again with a flower in his paw. This is the second flower as I melted the first beyond redemption. He looks very pleased with himself. I feel he has just stolen this flower from someones's garden, I dont think cats would have the patience to grow their own flowers, (if they could) but his heart is in the right place. He means well, he just wants to make his owner happy, so that they will tickle him behind the ears and open a nice smelly can of whiskas for him. He knows that that smile would melt the hardest of hearts.



Lastly a new robot who shows off its heart to prove its humanity..... a Wizard of Oz tin man type robot. Its little copper heart is encapulated in clear resin like a tv screen, it's trying to show the world it has feelings too. Maybe it needs the heart becuse it has no mouth. I say it but I think it looks more like a she, as the body is a bit dress shaped. You dont seem to get too many tales about female robots, is it because mechanical things are usualy seen as the domain of males? I'm sure someonee will prove me wrong. There's the one in the old silent movie, Metropolis, and one in that Robots animated film that ran the boarding house. Them aside female robots seem to be weird japanese fantasy items and I'm not going there in this blog...You could read a lot of different things into this image, none of them intended. It was/is intended as a geek present, nothing more or less.
And it has been the springboard for this blog. I just want someone to love him/her/it.
Let me know what you think.

random ramblings and assorted jewellery

I find I have some new followers and thought I just ought to say welcome.
I am a bit neglectful of my blog as there never seem to be enough hours of the day to do everything I want to do for my jewellery and do a "real " job too.
Perhaps it is the perfectionist in me that wont normally post anything until I've agonised over it for a while.
So I'm glad someone likes what I've done so far.
This week I've made a few new items and remade some one old favorite and one that sold quite quickly.
The small friendly dragon has sold already so I've done a slightly different version, facing the other way and with different wings.

I've also made a flat cat............

I started making these in about 1986, I used to call them Splat cats, but daren't anymore since a certain pottery had started making mugs etc with splat cats on them. I just wish I had some proof it was my idea first!
What else...oh yes I was in a military mood on sunday and made these........

not perhaps my normal fare but I like them, they remind me of the sort of thing the Queen gives out.
and lastly and best of all I have been a featured on the Folksy "featured seller" slot this week which has given me lots more views and more importantly a few new sales so thank you to whoever chooses the front pages.
As a consequence of which I have started listing some of my "olde" collection hitherto unseen on Folksy, just to gauge reactions. And one of the cheaper ones has sold after a couple of days, interestingly it has been on etsy since july and only been viewed 10 times. I cant decide whether to list another on there or not.
The other items I did this week are being saved for the next blog, which I have in the course of writing this decided will be about romance..watch this space.