Eagles Return

They're back! Their first egg was laid on the 17th of February. If you'd like a look at the chick stills from last year, click here or visit the Raptor Resource Project's blog here!

Two eggs and a newly renovated nest.

3 Chicks on the 4th of April:

The first chick hatched on the 27th of March and I'm glad to see they're enjoying sunny weather over in Iowa this year. This pair are amazing parents; this is the fifth nest they've raised and four of these had 3 eaglets, which is apparently rare. If you click the image above, you'll see the humungous fish they've caught for them.

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Lagoon

Lagoon



Lagoon details - click to view larger.

I love the versatility of vector graphics. For anyone who's looking to upgrade their software, I'm currently using Xara Pro 7 (update Nov 12: I've upgraded this to Xara Pro X which you can read about here!) which is a fraction of the price of the Adobe stuff and has a really usable interface. Apart from the layering and flexible editing of shapes that vectors offer, using the texture fills is addictive and they can be absolutely anything. The water in my design above for example, is made up of layers using a photo I took of sunlight reflecting off a bowl and I'm really pleased with how that's turned out!

You can see all the other 'fluid' illustrations here! 15% of proceeds from Lagoon go to the Coral Triangle Initiative!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

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80,000 feet

Have a look at what two students from Canada can do with a lego man, a helium balloon and a couple of cameras:



You'll be pleased to know that he's safe at home after his stratospheric adventure. Read more here and here.

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

All quiet on the blogger front.

We've decided to use our spare time this month to continue work on our decrepit, but loveable, house. I was assigned as plasterer and wall fixer-uper a while back, which was daunting but turned out not to be so hard once you get the hang of it. Did you know that in past centuries they used to add white wine to plaster to help it harden? I heard that a lot of the wine ended up in the plasterer instead of the plaster and that's where the word plastered comes from - I bet that's the first bit of diy trivia you've heard today :)

Plasterworks at Owlpen Manor in the Elizabethan style.

My plastering efforts won't be anything like these beautiful examples; I'm still just trying to keep it as straight as I can (no wine for me then)!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

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Jhali..

.. is a set of four designs for this week's spoonflower contest: coordinates. I originally meant to call it Jhari (which, according to my Google search, means river in Sanskrit) because of the Indian feel to it and also because it is based on water gardens and fountains. Uploading the design last minute I mistyped and I think I prefer the typo - so Jhali it is! Does anyone know what that means (in any language)? I'd love to know; hope it's not rude :)


Jhali

Jhali details - click for larger view.

You can have a look at all the other coordinating patterns that the talented members of Spoonflower have uploaded here.. and vote of course!

I really hope you had a fantastic new year's eve and that 2012 will be good to you!

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Festive Freebie!

Thanks to everyone who's visited this blog and for all the kind and encouraging comments about my work this year! I've made a high resolution PDF of the above image for you to download and use as gift labels or cards, or anything you like - click here to download the file (under 'file' on the top right)! Just print onto card or sticker paper and fill in your name or personal message on the blank cloud at the bottom.

I hope you have a brilliant festive season and a very happy new year!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

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Evergreens

Thanks so much to all of you who bought a 2012 calendar and journal cover! I really hope you, or whoever you give them to, will enjoy using them next year. This design follows a similar theme, with just the red crowned cranes and pines making up the pattern for this week's Spoonflower contest (evergreens, limited to just four colours). Apparently the clouds are for good fortune and the cranes and pines both symbolise longevity in eastern tradition.

Pine & Crane

Pine & Crane details - click to view larger.

Click here if you'd like to see all the other evergreen designs (and vote!) and if you drop by tomorrow, there'll be a small Christmas freebie from me to you for you to pick up :)

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Update: See the new night and day versions of this design here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

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Illustration Friday: Round

This is the view round about now from Curiosity..

and this will be the view in around about 8 and a half months!

Amazing! 

I made these illustrations digitally with lots of good texture in them - click for a better look. You can also see some other round illustrations here!

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Barn Swallows

Birds of a Feather..

This repeat design of Barn Swallows was adapted digitally from the original Illustration Friday watercolour for the feather contest at Spoonflower. These birds and this colour remind me of the time of year when the night sky doesn't get darker than indigo until after midnight - one of the few pros of northern life!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Beautiful

If you haven't yet seen Kina Grannis' amazing video, directed by Greg Jardin, have a look:

 I think the animation goes so brilliantly with the song - beautiful!