Birthday cards — mermaid and dragons

We’re heading into family birthday season for everyone except me. It’s touch and go whether people get handmade cards (I like to keep them guessing), but this time I managed cards for both my mother and my (second) nephew.

Here is a column from my notebook, where I was working out what to do:

I loosely sketched the designs onto thin white photocopy paper, so I could use them as a guideline for the inks using a brush pen.

No calligraphic intent, just loopy handwriting, with some classic ornamental creatures.

And, of course, some hasty (imitation) gold leaf to brighten things up.

Not tidy, but cheerful