elidillonart

I've been MIA from this little slice of the internet for a few weeks. Several reasons... 1. I've been doing a few commissions for weddings, baby showers etc and don't feel it's right to share the artwork as someone has specially paid for it. 2. Little hiccup has decided not to nap during the day anymore, napping is for wimps. Ride or die. 3. We are doing up our house little and often but it often means outings to Homebase, B&Q and Dunelm. However I have managed a couple of personal projects in the hour after baby is put to bed! I'm working on promoting my artwork more and putting together the bits and pieces I need to open an online shop. Sometimes it feels like I'm starting from a mile behind everyone else; this is a new career path, I'm older, I graduated a long, long time ago however I try to stay away from that particular rabbit hole of worries and just keep pushing forward. I try to remember that someone, somewhere will like my work, just as...

I finished a picture this weekend between feeds and naps and the pain of first immunisations for a child's bedroom. Colours were specifically requested to match the room and it is printed A3 size.  Media: watercolour, ink and digital. Hope you enjoy! This has inspired me to crack on with my children's book pitch and finish the artwork for the first few pages. Now stay focused Eli, staaaaay focused.

Hello! It's been a busy few weeks with birthdays and babies and houses and drawings and commissions and hot weather and lethargy BUT I did manage to finish the Hook and Ladder drawing that is now up on the website and part of the New York Project! Hurray for personal work!

Finished a picture of local attraction Merchant Adventurers Hall in York. This is the street entrance on Fossgate and the beautiful hall is hidden behind.

Happy Monday morning! This morning the baby has been sleeping for hours as we had a busy weekend so I've been able to begin work on updating my portfolio (www.elidillon.com). I have a personal project called The New York Project. As I've been drawing York architecture being a local York artist I thought it might be nice to pair those pictures with famous locations in New York City. I started with the set from Rear Window - an Alfred Hitchcock film starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly (and my all time favourite film). Though this isn't a real location, it was an epic set building on a multi floored stage, it was designed to be in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan. I'm updating that project with 3 new pictures - Katz's Delicatessen - the famous location seen in When Harry Met Sally Hook and Ladder Company 8 - the fire station seen in Ghostbusters Holly's Apartment building - from Breakfast at Tiffanys There are others on the horizon, perha...

Now that the ol'baby is getting into a slightly predictable napping routine I can plan my day a little more and be a little more creatively productive. I have finished a portfolio piece for the Food Project and a couple of buildings in York - my usual go to sketchbook work. I have a couple of commissions of people's homes and families to draw in the upcoming weeks so all the nap gaps have pretty much been filled with drawing. This is good as I was a tad worried that a baby would change absolutely everything and though life is definitely different - baby is so chill that I can still retain bits of life pre 4 weeks ago!

So #mermay did not work so well for me. I did birth a baby in May though so that's my legitimate excuse. I managed the grand total of two mermaids and one was pregnant as that's pretty much all that was on my mind towards the end. Oh well! Now that mini-me is here and sleeping soundly for a couple of hours each day I have started sketching again. I keep one of mini's naps for napping myself and then the following nap is drawing time! It's part of the day I love because it links pre-baby and post-baby life, no matter what there is still a pencil and a sketchbook and 100 drawings before you get to one you like. So this week I picked up some magazines and scoured the internet and sketched some food. Most of it is vegan or I adapted them to become vegan because I'm all about saving the animals. The desserts are inspired by one of my favourite youtube channels and blogs @hotforfood by Lauren Toyota. Some of the other food ideas are from the free Tesco magazine (wh...

Trying out the #mermay challenge on instagram this month. I've only done a couple so far so not following the one per day structure but I'm enjoying the hashtag and finding new illustrators to follow!

Another food pun - this time it's Pamela Corrianderson! I quite like watercolour paints. I have never really used them before doing this food pun project but I like the idea of painting quite a simple 'boring' still life then bringing a character to it through digital art. They are some of my favourite pictures that I make. Long live the food pun! This one will be added to the gang of Benedict Cucumberbatch, Pear Grylls and John Lemon. All can be viewed in my portfolio at www.elidillon.com and should be available as prints soon! This week I've been working on a few things. It's quite nice but also strange to have time back after leaving my old job. It has definitely taken me a while to get into the swing of quiet but busy days again and I have to write tick lists of things I want to do so that I stick to it! My last job was a never ending cycle of tick lists and meetings and a never ending stream of tasks that needed doing. I work very well with a list. Here is...

I thought I would share some of the pages of my recently finished sketchbook. It is part of the sketchbook project which is based in Brooklyn, New York. Once you complete the sketchbook it is added to their library and people can look through it and buy prints from it. I was gifted the book by my sister and it has taken a while to get around to finishing with other work commitments but I'm so happy it's now complete and ready to send across the ocean! The theme is 'Home' and I've used a range of media: ink, digital art, paper cuttings and paints. I have now started a new sketchbook that is much bigger (this one was A5) to do with food puns and children's illustration. You can see more pictures on my instagram @elidillonart or on my website www.elidillon.com Enjoy!

So it's still dark. It's no longer festive and you have to go back to facing the daily grind with a lot less money. However! January is also a great time to set intentions for the coming year, resolve to do something better (for me it's tidying up after myself) and focus on bringing into your life those things that will make you feel happy and purposeful. I have set 4 intentions for 2018. Last year I set a lot more and quite a few went on the back burner or I just didn't have the time or energy to focus on them enough. This year is the year of change in our household so it's a great time to focus on bringing positive change and actively seek new challenges and opportunities. I miss the city centre and our nightly walks so here is a doodle of St Michael Le Belfrey next to York Minster as seen at night. Happy January!

Today I finished a drawing where I added some people! This is a new one for me. Usually it's buildings or people. A set or a character but this time I was drawing a bar/restaurant and felt that it needed some life as it's always so busy. I really enjoyed this process, it was obviously more time consuming but I limited my palette of colours and kept the people super simple though tried to give each a small story within the picture. Judge's Lodging - York Here is just the building itself.

I like lines. Mainly black lines. Lots of ink and felt tip pen. I also like drawing buildings. At the moment I'm working on a few personal projects alongside normal work. One is a poster of York's architecture; a sort of trail of old buildings to take you on a wandering path inside the walls. I think one of the posters will focus on places of worship as there are so many beautiful buildings in York that are either still in use or converted for another purpose. One poster will just focus on brilliant buildings; giving a bit of history and information about them. Here are some of the pictures and sketches I have been working on.

After finishing 'Rear Window' yesterday I had a little bit of spare time so I drew my very late breakfast. I like it very much. It's fried tofu with avocado, sun-dried tomatoes and pesto. This is quite a busy week but I have high hopes that project 'Films of New York' of which the first is 'Rear Window' will make some progress. I have also bought some new pens and drew a lovely old cinema in York which I need to colour. I love colouring. It's my favourite part. I also made a very successful vegan bread and butter pudding last night, with butterscotch sauce and ice-cream. It was dreamy. So dreamy that it may be my full dinner tonight because it's Monday and something has to set me up for the stressful week ahead. May as well be fake butter. Onto the rest of the evening I go! Bye, come back soon! Doorway to my instagram