I have read that the year of the horse signifies forwards momentum, strength, power and bold decision making. I am hoping for big things to come this year, and in turn I hope I have the courage to be brave , make good decisions, and take some risks. 

Maybe even get a traditional publishing deal, with one of my projects which is out on submission at the moment. 

Birds and wildlife are some of my favourite things to draw, and this drawing challenge introduced me to so many birds I have never even heard. Looking up pictures of the birds, I am always fascinated by the subtle colour changes in their plumage, and how perfectly their feathers fit together and fold in and out on each other when they open their wings. 

I enjoyed drawing each one, and used gouache, watercolour, coloured pencils and Procreate. 

If I had to choose a favourite, I think it would be the short eared owl. 

I was so excited to work on this project, especially knowing that my illustrations would be seen in Waitrose stores across the UK. The theme for this year was ghosts and bats. They provided me with a brief and a colour pallet to work from, and I got started. 

Knowing that this was a job for a really big brand (and my favourite UK supermarket ) I initially found that I got really tight with the first drawings. In my head, I was thinking ‘This has got to be good, it’s got to be amazing.’ And along with this came drawings that were stilted and lifeless, which I knew, and I got feedback that echoed this too. 

So I pulled myself together, gave myself a good talking to, and instead of drawing straight onto my iPad, I bought some large black paper and chalks. I have always loved using traditional materials, the feel of the different media, and the texture of the paper as I draw, so I knew this was the key to loosening up, and getting some much better results.

I was right, as soon as I got to work with the chalks, the flowing, ghostly shapes came so much easier, and I knew straight away that the illustrations were so much better. When I sent them back to the team I was working with at Waitrose , they agreed, and after some back and forth editing , they ended up being the illustrations that are now on show in Waitrose.  

If you’re in Waitrose over the next Few weeks, and see the Halloween displays, I’d love to see any pictures, you could tag me on social media (at) sarahlovellart . 

I hope you enjoy the illustrations and have a happy , spooky Halloween ! 

I have done a few of these sessions in the past, and I always really enjoy them. Holly finds some amazing video footage, and photographs to work from. 

This time is was all about wolves. I love drawing any wildlife, but wolves are one of my favourites, they are so beautiful and majestic. I also have a middle grade novel out on submission at the moment with my agent, featuring a lot of wolves, so I am particularly interested in finding out all I can about them. 

Here are some of my illustrations, I hope you enjoy having a look through. To see more of my work, I post regularly on my instagram page (at) sarahlovellart , I hope to see you there. 

The Highland Cowgirl - Showtime follows Hanna and her friend Calamity Jane the highland calf as they attend their first agricultural show. The only problem is that Hanna also enters the highland dancing class, and as you can probably guess, she needs to be in two places at the same time, and that’s just the start of the adventures that take place in this story. 

Written by Louisa MacDougall, illustrated by me and published by Foggie Toddle Books, this new picture book would make an ideal gift for anyone who loves animals. 

Don’t forget to read the original Highland Cowgirl to find out how Hanna first became friends with Calamity Jane!

You can find both books on the Foggie Toddle website here.

This time, the theme was the colour red. In fact the beautiful photo of a fox on the promo post was what really got me, as I love drawing foxes, and they definitely fit into the ‘red’ category. 

One of the things I enjoy the most about these sessions is the super friendly atmosphere. You wouldn’t think you could get an atmosphere via zoom, but you can, and this one is lovely. A bit like sitting in an art class with lots of friendly people to talk to about drawing and books and art! 

The photos that Holly Surplice and Hannah Camarra choose are always stunning, and a joy to work from. Each photo is on a timer, from 2 minutes up to 20 minutes. You can also go back and watch the replay (included in the process of the 2 hour session) so you can work for longer from the images if you wish. I think I am going to do this when I have time soon, as there were so many lovely photos I like to spend longer working from. 

I used a combination of materials to draw with, including pencil, carbon pencil, watercolours and coloured pencils. 

When we were searching for a new rental apartment , I pretty much knew immediately that I wanted to live in this one as soon as I drove up to it. The drive way turns off a quiet road, up a hill and the house is nestled into the trees. We rent the upstairs flat of the big house and are surrounded by the woods. The deck at the back looks out over the inlet in front, and to the forest every other way. 

It is summer holidays, and my three kids are getting older, two in their teens and one 11 year old, which means, if I get up early (normal working time) I have a few hours before they all surface! So, I have been using the last few mornings to sketch outside on the deck. There are plenty of trees to draw, so I took my paints and pencils out to the table and spent some time in the cool morning to try and capture the surroundings. 

I wanted to keep things loose, letting the watercolours bleed into each other and creating textures with different consistencies of paint and water. 

It is such a relaxing process , and I have learned more about how to use my little set of Deep Deep Light watercolours, and created some new sketchbook pages along the way. 

I met author, Louisa MacDougall , via a Searchlight Book Awards competition in 2022. She had written a book, and was looking for an illustrator to be able to enter the competition. I actually saw her post on Twitter, and replied. She sent me a selection of lovely picture book stories that she had written, and very kindly said I could choose which one I liked the best. 

It was a very hard choice, as they were all great stories and all featured animals that I loved to draw, but The Highland Cowgirl really stood out, so that’s the one we decided on.

Unfortunately we did not win the competition, but a little publisher in Wigtown, Scotland called Foggie Toddle Books also loved the story, and offered us a publishing deal. 

Louisa and I were very excited that our book would be out in the world, and it was a joy to work with Jayne from Foggie Toddle. 

The Highland Cowgirl was published in 2024, and has become one of Foggie Toddle’s best sellers. 

This year, Louisa wrote a second story, and I have been working on the illustrations for the last few months. It is the first time I have illustrated a second book in a series, and it has been a lot of fun to draw Hanna again, as well as her friends , family, and of course Calamity Jane the highland calf (you’ll have to read the first book to find out how she got that name!) Drawing them again is a bit like visiting old friends. I feel like I’ve got to know them all a bit better. 

The new book is called ‘The Highland Cowgirl- Showtime’ and, as the title suggests, is all about a highland show. Hanna takes part, and a lot of fun and dancing ensues. 

Here is the cover art.

The final illustrations have now been sent, and the book will be published later in the summer, I can’t wait! 

Years ago, when I first started creating illustrations for my little card business, (I still sell my cards on Etsy in case you need one) I drew a range of cards and prints, featuring unicorns. At the time, unicorns were on the up, they were everywhere ! Now they are still popular , but not quite as much as then. 

So, I’ve not drawn a unicorn for a white, and creating a new unicorn illustration was so fun, a bit like slipping back into that comfy place, putting on an old favourite jumper. 

I find the process of creating illustrations like this easy, but so joyful. I think because of the magic of something which isn’t (necessarily) real, I can let my imagination run free. Use unusual colours, combine different materials to create textures, use light to highlight the bit I want people’s eyes to be drawn to. Combine this with an illustration made in my sketchbook for my own personal pleasure, no deadline, just pure fun, and it ends up as an illustration I really love.

I would love to illustrate a book about unicorns, and use all of this magical mark making and texture and put it into a big project. 

The Last Song of the Mistle Thrush by Ruth Mary Flanagan, illustrated by me. 

It is so exciting every time I get a new book published and see my illustrations in print, in book form, but this was especially exciting as I finished the illustrations a couple of years ago, so it’s been a bit of a wait, but so worth it when I received my copy in the mail.

The book follows the story of a Mistle thrush as he sings his beautiful song throughout the seasons. But one fateful day, his forest is chopped down and he must sing a different song, one that reminds us of the fragility of earth, and how we must take care of it. 

Ruth’s poem was shortlisted for the Hammond International Literary Prize in 2018. 

As nature and wildlife are my favourite things to illustrate, this book was an ideal project. When Ruth first asked me to illustrate her words, we sat down together and figured out what illustrations she would like. I tried to use a mixture of view points and types of illustrations from full double page spreads to vignettes and single page illustrations. 

Seeing the book in print, I think it flows really well and the colours have reproduced perfectly, following the changing colours of the seasons and the mood as it changes throughout the book and the journey of the Mistle thrush.

Over the last couple of weeks the book has been on a ‘book review tour’ , receiving some amazing reviews across the board, including :

’A must-have for every child’s bookshelf - gentle, thought-provoking and full of heart.’  Vanessa Taylor , No 1 best-selling author and multi prize winner. 

‘A powerful reminder to us all of the need to conserve our natural environment.’ Songbird Survival.

I have added a pictures of the front cover above, and you can see more on my instagram page (at) sarahlovellart , buy yourself a copy here  

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the book.

Sarah 

Host Theresa Villarreal saw some illustrations I posted on LinkedIn, and got in touch with me to ask if they could feature me on their blog, partnered with their podcast of the same name. 

Theresa and her co-host Jackie Garcia-Morales sent over some really thoughtful and thought-provoking questions about illustrating fantasy characters and worlds. As this is an area which I love to illustrate, so I really enjoyed answering their questions. 

You can read the whole interview here , I hope you enjoy it. 

 When I saw that the prompt for March was ‘Wild Things’ , I immediately thought of the illustration I drew (above) of a girl in the forest, running with her wild and magical friends. This illustration was inspired by everything that I love, the forest, wildlife, nature and magical creatures. It fitted really well with the prompt, so I entered it. 

Someone on instagram actually congratulated me on the win, before I’d even realised I had won. I replied to her to say thank you, but I didn’t think I’d won, but she assured me by reply that I had, and that it had been announced on the SCBWI website! What a lovely surprise. 

The illustration is drawn with a mixture of materials, including gouache, coloured pencils, coloured chalks and Procreate. 

I don’t think I have ever won an illustration competition before, and it’s such a lovely feeling. The SCBWI are a big organisation, so I hope it gets seen by lots of people in the children’s book industry, and may lead to more illustration projects. Maybe this girl and her friends may become a story of their own one day. 

I sent her a message, with a link to my website, and she replied saying she’d be keen to work together. She then emailed me with a collection of her picture book manuscripts. They were all lovely stories, but the one about The Highland Cowgirl really stood out for me. We decided to enter the Searchlight competition with this story. 

I put together a storyboard, and from that we chose two spreads for me to illustrate in full colour to complete our entry. 

In summer 2023, everything was ready, and we felt our entry was strong as Louisa pressed send.

Then, we waited……

The shortlisted stories were announced via email, but unfortunately our names were not on the list. It was so disappointing after a lot of work. Louisa and I exchanged some more emails with each other, we both felt like we didn’t want to let the story go, so we started searching for a publisher ourselves. 

There are not many publishers who accept submissions directly from author/illustrator teams, but we found a few, and got rejected or radio silence! Then Louisa got in touch with Jayne at Foggie Toddle Books, a Scottish publisher based in Wigtown , the book capital of Scotland. 

She loved the book and the storyboard/ illustrations I had already done. During this time, my family and I had moved across the world to BC, Canada. So we set up a zoom meeting for the three of us, and the wheels were put in motion for The Highland Cowgirl to be published by Foggie Toddle Books. 

I set to work on the illustrations, which I loved creating. The main character, Hanna, shows resilience and perseverance throughout the story, and it was a lot of fun bringing her to life, and drawing lots of Highland Cows of course! 

I like to work traditionally, using gouache and coloured pencils, followed by tidying and adding extra details and shading using Procreate on my iPad. I sent the illustrations to Louisa and Jayne, and after a few edits, and 2 years after Louisa and I had first ‘met’, were ready to go. 

I received my copies of the book in the post and it looks wonderful, you can see some ‘unboxing’ videos on my instagram @sarahlovellart. Jayne at Foggie Toddle is really pleased with how it’s going so far, with lots of orders from bookshops, including Waterstones! 

If you would like a copy for yourself, please order one from your local bookshop, or head to Foggie Toddle’s Site to order one from them. 

When I was studying art, I found keeping a sketchbook a bit of a chore, and kept a lot of ideas in my head. These days, I really enjoy working in my sketchbooks. From working out ideas, drawing from life or from photos, or messing around with paints and colours , I love the experiments which may lead me down new avenues. 

It is a great feeling when you finish a whole sketchbook and you can leaf back through the paint and pencil covered pages, so satisfying! 

These two animal fairies have gone through a lot of editing, but I'm really happy with how this one looks. I created it using a combination of traditional and digital (Procreate) media.

The traditional tools I used were pencil, gouache paint, and coloured pencils - Prismacolor pencils and Faber Castell pencils. Followed by a digital layer,  I have recently added some new digital brushes to my collection, which I used a lot in this piece. One set is by MaxPacks and the other is by Lucy Flemming . If you'd like to see the different stages this illustration went through, I made some live videos on my instagram page @sarahlovellart , so you can take a look if you'd like. 

I am taking a brilliant mentorship with the Illustration Department at the moment. Getting 1 to 1 feedback is so valuable to improving my illustrations, I highly recommend Giuseppe's course. 

This year I decided to take part in the 'traditional' way, and draw a new picture for each day in October, and it was lots of fun. I used a combination of ink, brushes, dip pen and fine liner pens to  create the 31 illustrations. 

Each year Jake Parker puts up a list of prompts on Instagram, and hundreds of thousands people follow along and create illustrations. If you want to take a look at all the illustrations, look up #inktober on instagram, and feast your eyes! 

If you's like to see my illustrations, head to my Instagram page @sarahlovellart where you can find a short video of my sketchbook in my highlights. I hope you enjoy it. 

Hi!

I just wanted to say (a bit of a belated) thank you to those of you who came along to my exhibition at Walford Mill back in October. It was wonderful to meet so many people, chat about my work, see my pictures all up together, and spend some time at the Mill with the wonderful other artists who are residents there. 

The prints of the 'Spirit Animals' are now available to buy, and make lovely gifts, click here to see them all. 

I also have some of the original paintings still available, including this unicorn, the bear, the hares, the snow tiger, the whale and the black wolf, if you'd like details about prices , please email me sarah@sarahlovellart.co.uk 

Thanks for reading. Bye for now x

I really enjoy taking part in these little challenges on Instagram, as it often leads me to draw something different and I've used this year's 'Folk Tale Week' to create some new pieces for my illustration portfolio. 

This challenge is a week long and was started on Instagram by a group of illustrators, you can check out their beautiful work by searching for their Instagram handles : @jennifermpotter, @devonholzwarth, @sinulee, @carolinebonnemuller, @sofiamoore_studio,  @heycasshey, @rachaelschaferdesigns, @sandiesonke, @debrastyer, @laure_illustrations @louve.draws, @matejalukezic @shelly_laslo @tanja_stephani

This year's prompts were : Home, secret, path, smoke, darkness, key and crown. I created a collection of illustrations inspired by stories I have read and by my own stories in my head, or that I'd like to write. I hope you enjoy having a look. 

If you'd like to follow my illustration journey over on Instagram, you can find me @sarahlovellart.

If you have not heard of it before, Inktober is an Instagram challenge run by illustrator extraordinaire Mr jake Parker and lasts for the month of October. It's all just for fun, and to encourage more people to get drawing . Jake does have a list of prompts (one for each day of the month) which you can follow, but for last year and this year, I have created a large drawing (A1), which I added to each day of October, as I was so inspired by two amazing books by Sylvia Linsteadt - 'The Wild Folk' and 'The Wild Folk Rising' published by Usborne . They are both middle grade fantasy novels and are truly magical. I read them with my daughter, and the writing is so beautiful, it conjured up amazing images in my imagination. They were so vivid, that I had to draw a scene from each book for Inktober 2018 and 2019. 

The scene I chose to draw this year is an escape scene. The two heroes of the story , Comfrey and Tin, are running from their captors and to keep them safe, all of the song birds from the forest fly around them to protect them from arrows being shot at them. It is an exciting and dramatic scene, and as soon as I read it , I knew I wanted to draw it. 

I hope you enjoy having a look at the illustration. If you are a fellow illustrator, do check out Inktober, and join in next time. 

After having recently done a course in children's picture book writing and illustrating (more on that coming soon). I found out about a fair -THE fair- for children's books in Bologna, Italy. I booked my ticket, packed my bag and jumped on an aeroplane. It was so exciting heading out to Italy, where I had never been, by myself to check out the fair. 

The hotel I had booked , The Mercure , in central Bologna turned out to be perfect, the bus to the fair went from right outside, the ride there was about 15 minutes as it is in the 'Ingresso da Piazza della Costituzione' a huge venue just outside Bologna. You can buy tickets before you go from the Bologna Children's Book Fair website which is the best idea as they are 18 Euros cheaper. 

Once I arrived, I realised just how big it is, there are 6 massive halls filled with publisher's stands from all over the world. As you go in, there are walls where illustrators, like me , can stick up examples of their illustrations with their contact details on, so if a publisher or agent likes the look of your work, they can take down your details. There are quite a few of these walls, and they were full of posters put up by illustrators , even by the end of the first day, which just proves how popular it is and how many illustrators visit. But, you've got to be in it to win it right?! 

I continued into the fair, and it was so inspiring , right from the start, there were talks, illustration exhibitions, and of course, many, many publishers stands to see, all full with the most beautiful books.

I decided to go to the fair quite late on, so I was only able to book one appointment beforehand to see a publisher and show them my illustrations and book idea. If you are planning on going, people start booking appointments from the November the year before the show , which is usually in April, so it's good to get organised early!

The publisher's stands are busy all the time, so it was good to have one appointment booked. I walked around all of the other stands and was prepared with a little booklet featuring my best illustrations which I thought were well suited to children's books. You can see a picture of my booklet amongst the photos above. 

 I found myself feeling quite overwhelmed once I was walking around the fair, and had to give myself a stern talking to about 'not coming this far to not talk to anybody!' so plucked my courage and introduced myself to one of the people on the front of the stands. Needless to say, they were very friendly, and once I had spoken to one it was much easier to introduce myself to others.I gave out all of my portfolio booklets over the two days I was there, also collecting the publisher's contact details so I can get back in touch once I was home. Seeing the different books on each of the stands you get a feel for which publishers would be more of a good match for you than others. It's such a competitive industry, and a big learning curve, but it was good to have more of an idea of which publisher to aim for over others. 

I enjoyed meeting some of the publishers face to face, and apart from the appointment I secured before I went, I managed to see a few more who had some spare appointments whilst I was there. Getting some professional feedback was amazing, face to face meetings will always beat email and telephone correspondence. 

Some of the publishers also have a set time where you can queue up to get a portfolio review. These queues are long and people queue up for hours for this opportunity. 

Apart from all of the beautiful publisher's stands , there are illustration exhibitions by award winning illustrators from across the world and inspiring talks by professional illustrators. 

Not to mention Bologna itself, which a really beautiful city, I had time to have a short wander round and a delicious Italian pasta dinner. I'm sure there is so much more to see, I'll have to go back again next year! 

Recap on what to take to the fair for illustrators:

- A portfolio of your best illustrations , I would recommend no bigger than A3.

- A printed booklet of a selection of your best illustrations to hand out.

-A poster with an example of one of your illustrations with your contact details on to put up on the wall at the front of the fair.

-If you have a book idea, a set of thumbnails outlining your story idea, so you can pitch it to potential publishers.

-Be brave, , everyone is very friendly!  

I recently met some one who was perfect for the job , who worked for a company called "Nunet' who are also based in Dorset. We worked on the box together, so it was the perfect size for the 12 A5 colouring cards and their envelopes. It was printed with the same cover as my 'I Believe in Unicorns' colouring book so they look great together. You can see them both on my colouring books page here .

The colouring cards make a lovely gift for anyone who loves colouring and unicorns. It also now includes a free multicoloured pencil and is the perfect size to take out and about with you. 

Happy Colouring! 

For the last two years I have followed the prompts that Jake Parker has put on his Instagram feed (a new one for each day in October) but there aren't really any rules, so you can just draw something each day of your choice, or add to a bigger illustration each day. I chose to create a large illustration.

This summer, my daughter and I read the most wonderful book 'The Wild Folk' . It is a magical adventure story based in the fictional land of Farallone , which follows the journey of the two heros, Tin who is from the city and Comfrey who is from the country, who journey across Farallone to find the magical Elk of milk and gold with their talking leveret companions. Their quest is to save the country and wild folk from the greed of the city dwellers , who are desperate to claim the stargold which runs in the wildfolk's veins. During their journey they meet many different characters, and have to complete seemingly impossible tasks to be able to reach their goal. If you'd like to read the book (which I highly recommend) you can find it on Usborne's website here. It is the first of the 'Stargold Chronicles' and the next one will be out in Spring 2019.

The book is written so beautifully by Sylvia Linsteadt , and full of wonderful descriptions, I would have liked to have drawn the whole story, but decided to choose a passage from the end of the book where the Elk , who is the 'Creatrix' of their world is joined by all kinds of other animals as she walks through Olima. There is so much detail and the scene is so magical, as I read it to my daughter, I could see the image clearly in my mind, and couldn't wait to draw it.

I got myself a large piece of card (A1) and started drawing on the 1st October. I looked forward to adding to my drawing every day of the month, and some days got lost in it for hours at a time. I used fine liner pens, which I learnt a lot about using as the month went on too, it's the biggest drawing I have ever done using just fine liner pens, and I learnt how to use them in a variety of ways to create soft and hard lines as well as shading. I also drew the two children from the story , Comfrey and Tin, if you know my work, you'll know that most of my paintings and drawings are of animals. It was great practise drawing the children from the story, and I'm really pleased with how they turned out, you can see for yourself in the picture.

I will be getting a short run of limited edition prints made of my illustration, so if you would like one, please email me : sarah@sarahlovellart.co.uk and I can send you details.

Welcome to a whole new, wonderful week! I hope, if you're reading this, you have enjoyed a lovely weekend. 

Today sees the start of 'Thinking of You Week' , which is an initiative started 5 years ago by the GCA to encourage people to buy a card (or two!) and send it to some one , just to let them know they're thinking of them. You can never beat 'real post'. You can read more about 'Thinking of You Week' here . I think you'll agree that it's a wonderful idea, and it's such a lovely surprise to get a card in the post 'just because', especially in a time where everything is moving so fast, and it's so easy to send instant messages. If some one has taken the time to choose a card, sit down and write it and pop it in the post, it means an awful lot! 

To celebrate 'Thinking of You Week' I'm going to include one of my 'Thinking of You' gold foiled cards (pictured) with every order placed this week. So, if you place an order, I hope you enjoy your card, and send it to some one special to let them know you're thinking of them. 

Bye for now,

Sarah x

I am so excited that I was asked to illustrate this calendar, I thought I'd tell you a bit about how it all came about....

I was exhibiting at Pulse trade show in May 2017, which I think is my favourite show, when the buyer from the National Trust came along to my stand. She took a while looking at my cards, and particularly liked my collection of cards called 'Three Friends Under the Stars' which is definitely my most successful card collection to date, I'm so pleased I painted those pictures! We chatted for a while, and she told me that they were interested in asking me to illustrate a calendar for them. We swapped contact details and left it at that. 

When I got home from Pulse, I followed up each of the contacts I had collected , including getting back in touch with the National Trust, feeling very excited that the possibility was there that they may ask me to definitely illustrate the calendar for them . At the time, the roles of the staff were being changed around, so it was a while before I heard back. 

I did hear back, and they were still keen on working together for the calendar project. This was the first time they had decided to feature animals in place of people as the focus in the calendar. I submitted a few ideas and designs and was then invited to the National Trust head quarters in Swindon to narrow down the brief and have a face to face meeting to discuss the illustrations they wanted me to do in detail. I can tell you, I was so excited that this was happening as I drove up to Swindon! I waited in the reception area of the beautiful National Trust building and was finally called for my meeting. I was given a series of National Trust sites to paint, and asked to add animals into each picture. 

I initially submitted pencil sketches of the paintings I proposed, and was thrilled to hear back they were happy with my designs and to go ahead with the paintings. The calendar was to be A3 in size, which is my favourite size to paint at. I set to work with my trusty watercolours and fine liner pens on each site I had been asked to paint, adding in the animals we had agreed on. 

After many hours and quite a few very late nights, the painting were ready to go. I initially sent off photos of the paintings. I heard back that they were very happy with them, and they could go to the printers to be made into the calendars. Once I had sent that, very well wrapped, parcel off, my job was done, and all i had to do was wait.....

The next time I saw the artwork was by email where I was asked to check everything looked as it should. It was so exciting to see it on my laptop made up as a calendar, and it really started to seem real! Once it was all ok'd by all involved, I waited to see a copy in 'real life'.

That day finally came , back at Pulse 2018. when a copy of the calendar was personally delivered to my stand by the National Trust. It seemed very apt that it had gone full circle, starting and ending at Pulse! I can not tell you how amazing it was to see it as a calendar, with my artwork throughout and my photo on the back! Really a dream come true. And now it is available in all of the National Trust shops, yep , all 180 of them! 

If you spot it, and if you decide to buy a copy, I really hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed painting them.

If you'd like to get in touch about a commission, you can do so via this site, or email me at sarah@sarahlovellart.co.uk . I'd love to hear from you. 

I loaded up my box of card, paper, tissue paper, sequins, feathers and other sparkly things for the children who were taking part to make their own pictures. It was a lovely sunny day in Wimborne, and there was a buzz in town, as on the same day there was a 'Busker's Bash' , so, a good day to make some art.

I started to lay out the materials for the children to use, and before I had finished, the first family arrived, ready to get creative! As they were getting started, more and more people steadily turned up, and took a seat. The children loved colouring in the animals I had drawn for them , and some children also drew their own creatures. They all got stuck in choosing papers and other collage materials to create a background to eventually stick their animal on, all the children seemed thoroughly engrossed in the activity, and needed only a little help from me to create what they wanted. The pictures they made were really beautiful and I was so pleased that they enjoyed themselves so much. 

Making art with children always inspires me too, they are often so free with the colours they choose and details they add, their imaginations astound me and it's a joy to be around their enthusiasm and energy. 

For more pictures from this art workshop, you can head to my Facebook page www.facebook.com/sarahlovellart where I also post regular updates about what I'm doing and any new products. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog. 

I'm so excited to tell you that I have been featured on the Pulse London Show for their 'Meet the Maker' interview, You can read it right here . I hope you enjoy it. 

In case you've not heard of Pulse, it is a design led trade show held at Olympia, London in May (15th - 18th) , here's what they say:

Pulse is the UK's most exclusive and trend-led event for new product, brand launches and retail inspiration across living, fashion accessories and gift.

I'll be exhibiting at stand L64 and hoping to meet lots of new stockists and catch up with existing ones too. I exhibited there last year, and had a great time, it is a truly inspiring show, I just loved walking around to see all of the wonderful products on display there. 

I am busy working on some brand new card designs in time for the show, which will also be available on my website as soon as they are ready too, so keep your eyes peeled! If you'd like to receive my newsletter, head to the home page of my website, and you'll find the form so you can sign up to be the first to hear all about new products and special offers.

Bye for now

Sarah x

I am a mum myself to three little ones - 8,6 and 4, they are my best creation ever! Every day I look at them and marvel in how amazing they are, how much they have learned, and are learning every day. Being a mummy is a tough job with no rule book, but I feel honoured to be their mum. If it wasn't for my children, Sarah Lovell Art probably wouldn't exist, my children inspire my art work a lot, and I hope by doing something I love (and I really do love it!) I hope I am inspiring them to do something they love in life too! So mother's day is a chance to celebrate being a mum, mummy, mama and hopefully feel appreciated in all you do for them.

I am also very lucky to have wonderful mum, it is lovely to be able to have a day to say thank you for all you do. So I'll be sending her one of my hand painted cards this year. There is nothing like getting 'Real Post', especially on a day like Mother's day. 

Happy shopping!

Thanks so much for stopping by my shiny new website, I hope you enjoy having a look around! 

I started 'Sarah Lovell Art' about 4 years ago, after leaving work as a primary school teacher and having my second of my three children. I have always loved to draw and paint, and studied art to degree level, so I tried my hand at designing some greetings cards. I took my first 9 card designs into my local bookshop, and to my delight, the owner ordered 4 of each design! I was so excited!

From there, my business has grown, and grown. as you will see, I now have over 100 hand illustrated cards (all done with real paper and paint- no computer design here!). all inspired by my three young children, wildlife, and magic (especially unicorns!). A lot of the cards are also available as A3 prints and I have also added hand illustrated colouring books to my collection. My products are available right here, and are also stocked in a number of independent stores across the UK.

There are cards for all occasions, and the prints and colouring books make brilliant gifts. If you have any questions, drop me an email at sarah@sarahlovellart.co.uk 

Thanks for reading and pop back soon, or sign up to my newsletter to keep up to date with all my latest designs.

Sarah x