Happy birthday to Hannah.
As this is a big – jumbo-sized – birthday this year it’s a pop-up card.
Safari
Category: cartoon
The Pikachu Auditions
How can I do a birthday card for a Pokémon fan, Ted, when I don’t know anything about Pokémon?
By the way, the rodent above right is supposed to be a dormouse.
Dogtown
A similar problem with Olive’s card, she’s a Bluey fan but I prefer terrier puppies in their natural colours (yes, they’re supposed to be little dogs, even if some of them look more like mice). Richard Scarry must have given himself more time when he drew his spreads of Busytown.
A Souvenir of South Wales
And finally, happy birthday to my brother Bill yesterday. I’d forgotten how he got his good looks until I spotted this in my 1973 diary. Bill and I are one quarter Welsh so really no excuse for not predicting what the consequences of a rugby tour of South Wales might be. I think this was Rugby Union, although Bill also played Rugby League.
The 1973 diary extracts continue inside the card …
The Prehistory of Video Games
The Bradford Media Museum unveils its new Prehistory of Video Games exhibit.
Happy birthday to Bridie
Spaniels in Space
Where no spaniel has gone before . . .
Happy birthday Henry.
Pizza Dough
Our friends Jill and John presented us with a pizza stone for Christmas. Admittedly our first attempt at using it was a bit of a disaster, so we’re still working on our technique for using the stone but at least it was crispy and it tasted good.
Most recipes suggest making enough dough for several pizzas, so I scaled it down here to make a pizza that comfortably fits on our new pizza stone.
I’m dipping into the Adobe Color online program to cook up and save colour schemes in a variety of ways. Here I’ve used the ‘Extract Theme’ option on one of my photographs from this morning and opted for a ‘Muted’ set of swatches.
Seven Crayfish Swimming . . .
As I write this it’s just one blue tit, one great tit and one nuthatch visiting the feeders. No sign of Bruce (who isn’t really a Persian but some equally fluffy variety).
Happy Christmas!
And talking of melting snowmen, it’s at this time of year that we remember Lucky. Actually he wasn’t so lucky as shortly after this photograph was taken he melted overnight leaving only a scarf, a hat, a carrot and a pile of loose change.
Photocredit: Meghan. Lucky’s stylists: Meghan, Millie and Evie. It has been estimated that Lucky’s perfect smile cost 12 pence in orthodontic work.
Ivy Grows
Happy birthday to Linda, and thanks to Ivy for the artwork (drawn years ago on a children’s activity sheet in an Italian restaurant).
The House of Flying Teacakes
Today’s card is rated PG: contains mild shocks, some truly scary characters (uncredited appearances of Abby, Ivy and Leo) and irresponsible use of high calorie foodstuffs.
Parental guidance recommended.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Teacake
Open inside flap and stand well clear!
Happy birthday to Ralph.
In a Galaxy far, far away
Happy birthday to James and, as Mars is in opposition next week, hope his big present is an image stabilised starscope.
Slow Veg
As so often, there’s spontaneity about the roughs that I struggle to carry over into the finished artwork.
The final version included cheering crowds lining the streets and bunting, but I forgot to scan it but hopefully Abby- happy birthday Abby – has it standing in pride of place on the mantlepiece and can send me a photo.
And she has. It’s not on the mantlepiece though but it is looking good on the kitchen windowsill.
Abby was hoping that she’d entered a prize-winning butternut squash in the Vegan Marathon but it got stuck behind a group of country pumpkins from the slow food movement.”