Happy Sunday!
How’s your day going?
I am writing this yesterday in a cafe in Edinburgh while Pie gets her hair cut. What are our Sunday plans? Pie wants to put a Christmas tree up in her bedroom but I am putting my grinchy foot down. I know John Lewis is an Elf 🎥 ❄️ style winter wonderland but we must resist.
Stop the goats 🐐
How to tell this story…
Well, a ‘friend of mine’ (ahem, me? No I would never vandalise anything! How very dare you!) was getting the train back to her hometown when she saw a big piece of graffiti, visible to everyone heading north that said, ‘Stop the Boats’.
My friend was angry.
So she got a small gang of comrades together under cover of darkness, put Mission Impossible music on the car stereo and headed out to change the message. They changed the ‘B’ to a ‘G’ so that it read ‘Stop the Goats’. It made my friend and her small band of accomplices laugh until they fell over.
Job done.
The End.
Next thing…
and this is the weird bit
You won’t believe this but it is true.
Goats keep turning up in town!
REALLY!
Firstly a goat turned up in someone’s garden.
Next, as the sun rose, a goat was spotted outside her local Lidl.
Then a goat was spotted under the bridge when the tide was out.
Are the goats rising up against the anti goat campaign? I don’t blame them, I would too 😂
Really, this is some weird magic. Is the universe telling ‘my friend’ something?
Let me know your thoughts. 🐐
Cute, Spooky, Floaty Ghost Baby 👻
Art Club last night was a fun one, we did a ‘Picture Book Backgrounds’ workshop. I don’t know how this happened exactly, but I ended up drawing a cute, spooky, floating ghost baby!
Do you struggle with backgrounds? Or drawing from your imagination rather tan from life? Me too. It’s a common problem.
But perhaps we overthink it. Backgrounds can be easy! If you missed Art Club, the replay is on our feed here. And we are doing a PART 2 of this workshop FREE on Instagram on 21st November. You have some prep to do beforehand: here’s how.
The #walktosee drawing prompt for November is:
#walktoseecosy
Join in!
Kitchen Table Lino Cut
I promised I would show you my lino cut when it was ready. Here it is. It turned out grand.
Have a lovely Sunday. What are you up to? Seen any goats lately? 👀
Helenx
P.S. If you join our Good Ship Picture Book course between now and the 21st November you will be part of a special LIVE ROUND. You will get snail mail stickers and a chance to win 1:1 mentoring with the Captains.
I asked Pie to make us animation to tell everyone about the free stickers and she made this!
Rachel Bevan Baker I think you inspired her.
P.P.S. Me and Jane Porter are doing a FREE Picture Book Pitching Masterclass. Come along!
P.P.P.S. All Pencil Pals posts are free for everyone now. I want this to be a fair and friendly space, where those that can afford pay do, and those that can’t can still enjoy my writing. If you like my work please consider becoming a paid subscriber. I really appreciate your support.
Stop the goats AMAZING! 😆😆❤️This town is coming like a goat town. (A Specials remix )
So, if I write STOP THE TURTLES on the wall, do you think turtles will come? I feel very tempted.
The story is absolute magic, though!