I can never say my job isn't full of variety, and that's one of the things I love about it. I put my portrait artist hat on last week and completed this drawing of Vincent. He's adorable at 2 weeks old. His portrait is for a friend(his mum) in Los Angeles. The portrait is A4 pencils on card.

Airbrushing techniques

Good day today. Dusted off the rollerblades and took them for a spin in the cold sun, after a session gathering photo ref on the web for a Sarah Jane Smith painting. Then ( fellow artist Steve will be so proud of me), for the rest of the afternoon, I played with my airbrush!!!

Best explain. I bought an Aztex A4709 set a few years ago, intending it to be a tool to create beautiful matt skies, which are difficult to do with brush and acrylic alone. Keith Scaife, whose work I greatly admire recommended a Badger, but the Aztex felt better when I tried them both out at the shop. I also liked the set of different sized interchangeable needles and cups, which came with it!

Since then I've used it once and never had the time, or a house free of inquisitive toddler to have another go.

Goodness what a messy business. Such endless cleaning of needles and cups and leaking paint of too thick and too thin consistency. Not to mention nose hairs coloured blue!!! THAT was a shocking side effect! I did manage some interesting bits and pieces. LOTS more playing and practicing to do. But at least I've made a start. I've been promising Steve I would for a long, long time. He'll have to find something else to rib me about now, hah!

Now I'm off for an evening's Line-dancing!

Harry Potter will reappear later this year in the final book of the series. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows should be a most interesting read, its conclusion no doubt mourned by millions!I've really enjoyed the whole saga, not least the indulging of my inner child!

The above piece was completed late last year. It is pencil and acrylic on card, size A4. Bit of an experiment in style. I've been influenced by Albrecht Durer and Leonardo da Vinci, particularly their beautiful studies of human and animal anatomy. I love the contrast between the pencil, the lighter background and the white pencil highlights, which bring the whole thing to life. Adding the highlights is my favourite and final part of any picture I produce in this medium.

Castrovalva

I've just completed a private commission based on Escher's famous woodcut - "Relativity".

Dimensions: approx 12"x13" pencil on artists board.

I was asked to produce a piece of artwork which combined elements of the Doctor Who story 'Castrovalva' with the artwork which inspired it.

Architecture isn't my strong point, nevertheless, I enjoyed the challenge this piece presented, not least trying to avoid smudging the pencil!

I've always loved getting lost in Escher's artwork. He enjoyed playing around with mathematics and the norm in what we perceive as the physical world. He liked to "deliberately confuse two and three dimensions, the plane and the space, or to poke fun at gravity", with often beautiful, eye catching results.

'Castrovalva' was Peter Davison's first story as The Doctor. It was broadcast on BBC1, 1982.