Dubai!

Hello! It's been a while.  That's because  have been in DUBAI! And I didn't do a single spot of work (even though I brought loads of art materials with me and planned to do lots)

So I'm afraid don't have any new drawing to show you... but I do have some holiday snaps!

Stripy Rabbit also came to Dubai and was photographed in various locations.

The day we went to the fish market in Sharjah.

Riding the four wheeled bicycle at Creekside Park. We also had a picnic.

My mum and Henry on an Abra boat going across the creek.

View from the restaurant balcony where we watched the dancing fountains.

Underwater swimming in the pool. These were taken through a window.

Swimming as night begins to fall and the lights come on in the pool.

Henry pretending to meditate in the baby swimming pool.

 Me seemingly captivated by the snakes in the Dubai aquarium.

We had such a wonderful time!  Highlights included:

- arriving on my birthday and having a chocolate cake and presents :)

- playing 'Bananagrams,' such a fun game!

- eating yummy food such as squid rings and shark and falafels and the most amazing 'hunger busta burger' yum yum yum

- discovering a really delicious layered smoothie drink at a cafe, mango, avocado and strawberry you should try it!

- going to the Dubai aquarium and going in a glass bottomed boat over the sharks and stingrays

- going to 'Wild Wadi' waterpark, they have some amazingly fun and terrifying rides there

- doing lots of reading.  I think I sort of rediscovered my love of reading this holiday.  Among others I read 'Tintin' and 'Fire and Hemlock' by Diana Wynne Jones. Really good! I also read the last book in the 'Mennyms' series by Sylvia Waugh- a story about a family of life size rag dolls. 

- picking up some lovely sparkly netting in the material shops in Satwa, all shades of pink, purple, black and white.  I want to make more ballerina tutus with them. They have so many craft and fabric shops in Dubai if you know where to look.  They also have an incredible button shop, just rooms and rooms full to bursting with buttons. Also shops full of diamante's and beads in all the colours of the rainbow!

- going to the gold souk and looking at all the sparkling jewelery.  I found the most beautiful stunning jaw dropping diamond necklace there.  It was white gold and all the diamonds were shaped into stars of different sizes.  I wanted it so badly!... but it was around five thousand pounds.  

- cycling in the park on the four wheeled bicycle and having a picnic there by the creek under a palm tree

- watching 'Arrietty' which I got for my birthday.

 - stumbling across a performance at the Bastakyia one day. There was a girl there doing a solo show, reciting bits of Shakespeare and her own bits of writing.  You could sit on bean bags and watch. It was actually really good.

- eating steak and chips on the balcony of a french restaurant whilst watching the dancing fountains next to the tallest building in the world.

Overall a really really good holiday! And it was nice to come back to a sunny England yesterday. Now it's back to work again!

Hope you're having a sunny Sunday,

Birthday Times

There are a lot of birthday celebrations going on around here at the moment.  Henry and I both have our birthdays four days apart and we are currently between the two.  This is probably why I felt inspired to make this image today.  It's Victoria Stitch on her birthday!

Victoria Stitch loves having a birthday and because she's the Queen she gets to have two every year.  She demands that all her presents be wrapped in her favourite stripy and bat patterned paper. She insists that all her birthday cards must be suitably gothic and glittery. And she eats chocolate cake with buttons for breakfast.

I really enjoyed making this picture today.  Lately I feel like I havn't done a lot of Victoria Stitch stuff. I've been busy with commissions and the exhibition and birthdays.  I know I have a lot to do at the moment but I felt like I would go mad if I didn't just let myself have half a day to work on something 'fun.'

This is the card I got for Henry.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. Henry and I had a low key joint birthday party with some friends.  We ate Lebanese food (or Hebanese as we like to call it seeing as it's only really inspired by Lebaese food and a lot of it is our own creation)  We played articulate, drank Jack Daniels and had zelda themed chocolate cake.  My friend Nicola gave me a pincusion in the shape of a cupcake which has a tape measure that comes out of it which is pretty cool.

The Zelda themed birthday cake which I made. Harder than you think!

Rainbow fruit skewers. Yum

View of the table...

Pop up birthday card from my friend Bruno which I love.

Henry blowing out his 23 candles.

The great thing is, that my actual birthday day is still to come! It's on Thursday.  I'm so excited. I'm going to be doing a very exciting thing on Thursday but I can't tell you what it is right now.  You will have to wait and see.

I hope you are all having exciting weeks too!

Love and Glitter,