Advent of unwanted gifts #23

Bottle of 'Nan-booze'.

Snowball?!? Everybody knows Advocaat is mainly composed of phlegm (probably) & eggs - We can mainly blame the Belgians for that!

Advent of unwanted gifts #22

'Budget' electrical goods.

Advent of unwanted gifts #21

Wall calendar. (Mayan)

Advent of unwanted gifts #20

Unfortunately timed fancy dress costume*

*& one in the eye for all you smug 'I ALWAYS buy my Xmas presents early to avoid the rush' types!

Advent of unwanted gifts #19

Ill-advised gift voucher.

Advent of unwanted gifts #18

 Inappropriate jigsaw puzzle*.


* I always hated jigsaws as a kid, they're even worse if you're without discernible limbs.

Advent of unwanted gifts #17

Hideous bling.

Advent of unwanted gifts #16

Fluffy anthropomorphic footwear.

Advent of unwanted gifts #15

Unfortunate pop culture genre-fail.

Advent of unwanted gifts #14

Anti-hypo-allergenic make up kit.*


*not tested on nice animals (or even nasty ones)

Advent of unwanted gifts #13

Over-fussy 'coffee experience delivery system'™ - destined to be used on precisely 4 occasions before thinking 'f*** this, where's that jar of Gold Blend'*

* see also; juicers, the Breville pie-maker, anything kitchen-shaped to do with George Foreman etc.

Advent of unwanted gifts #12

Dual purpose novelty Donald Trump / One Direction hairpiece.

Advent of unwanted gifts #11

Spurious kitchen gadget.

NB I have NOT made this up

Advent of unwanted gifts #10

Idiot mittens.

NB whilst finishing this the other day I sudden realised I'd unconsciously nicked the basic idea from another illustration so in fairness here's a link to that - let's call it 'homage' rather than theft huh?

Advent of unwanted gifts #9

Niche electrical goods.

Advent of unwanted gifts #8

Tangerine.*

* qv "in my day we just got a tangerine & a few nuts"(© everybody's nan.)
       

Advent of unwanted gifts #7

Well meaning charity goat gift card.

(& you wanted a f***ing iPad!)

Advent of unwanted gifts # 6

Crappy TV tie-in annual.*

*Recipe - quickly re-hash old TV scripts together add a few photos then season with a healthy dollop of contempt for the buying public.

Advent of unwanted gifts # 5

Offensive confectionery.

(shhhh...don't shoot me but I always liked coffee creams etc. - the ones everyone hates!)

Advent of unwanted gifts #4

Unfortunate socks.

(my sister & I always dreaded the 'soft parcel' at Christmas)

Advent of unwanted gifts #3

New aftershave.

Advent of unwanted gifts #2

Nice tie.

Advent of unwanted gifts #1

Xmas jumper

Reading Agency 10th birthday party

My agent Tamlyn Francis & I were lucky enough to be invited to the Reading Agency's 10th birthday celebrations at the British Library after working on illustrations for this year's Summer Reading Challenge.
Jeanette Winterson made a very impressive speech about the importance of British Libraries & what a precious resource they are. You can read more here http://readingagency.org.uk/news/blog/happy-birthday-to-us.html

(Photograph copyright Robin Mayes)

Happy 49th birthday Doctor Who!

#Geekfact: The first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast on Saturday November 23rd 1963 (even though he's supposed to be about 900-ish or something really)

Compendium of Useful Things #2 Cheese Hat™

Yep, that gnawing, yawning emptiness you feel inside will be easily dissipated by this cheese based millinery treat!*

*although there is a chance that your life IS completely empty & futile & even cheese can't help you... have a nice day!

Compendium of Useful Things #1 Cat Pants™

Cat Pants™for the more prudish pet owner

BOOO!

Happy Halloween folks! (& yes guitar geeks, she's playing a Vox Phantom of course! ; )

Hurricane catcher beastie

Beastie with ACME hurricane net™ - drawn for all my friends in NYC - that'll stop Sandy... probably...

Purple beastie

A beast with a purpose...