red

right, i've abandoned the pouch making for the time being, not for good, you understand, but just while i gather every ounce of patience possible to have another try. in the meantime i've made some new art cards in red. this is more like it, i've finished something and feel chilled, not like tearing my hair out. cards are available here.

aceos

i've been meaning to make some aceos (art cards: editions originals) for ages but i haven't got around to it. this week the floor in my workroom has been dug up as we have had a rather serious leak for some time...gah! so i've done no work for about 2 weeks and have been feeling rather desperate and in need of some ripped paper and glue on my hands. so i gathered a little box of stuff and went upstairs where i created a temporary studio in my bedroom and made a couple of art cards. and most enjoyable it was too. 'how long?' (top) and 'the following' are now available at the shop

inspired

i've been knuckling down and getting on with my 'quilt 2008' entry this week, i've left it a bit late as per usual. and i haven't made life easy for myself...this is just a drop in the ocean compared to all the little collages i've still got to make. colour-wise i've just realised i've been inspired by the beads that i packaged up in amy last post. ha - who knew that would happen? technically, it's going to be based on a well-loved patchwork and quilting block, but obviously the twist is that it's made up of paper collages instead of fabric. it's going well so far, i'm really happy with the intensity of the colours together. onwards and upwards (only some 187 'blocks' to go :)

good feeling

an update on 'skyline 2'. after a difficult week on a personal level, (two words: teribble twos) i've buried my head and got on with some work... i've made 16 of these little collages so far and i've mounted them on my living room wall so i can look at them while i work...they make me so happy, i can't tell you. i think it's the clarity of the colours against lots of white...and the strength of the black stitched line against the fairly soft colours. it's a good contrast, and i feel they are very 'me'. i'm terrible for surfing the net and finding stuff that's inspiring, which should be a good thing. but sometimes when i'm feeling doubtful and insecure about my work, it makes me uneasy and slightly depressed and i feel my work isn't 'good enough'. with this piece i've ignored those silly thoughts and really feel i've found my groove and it's a good feeling.

home sweet home

i've made a series of 10 collaged gocco prints using my little houses drawing called 'home sweet home', just listed on etsy. i've rather abused my first little gocco screen already, i think i may have been a bit heavy handed with the cleaning of it. never mind, it'll make these pieces more special if i can't print any more of them! i've also used it to print some flat cards in different colours, rather sweet and whimsical if i do say so myself. it's nice getting back into the etsy swing! oh yeah, nearly forgot, i just ordered an archival printer...i'm soooo excited!

batty about birdies

i've really tried to resist the temptation of doing anything birdy as i know the design world is over run with some amazing bird inspired pieces, but i made this bird print block last year and used it on my bags, but then it went largely unused until this week. the red and white obsession seems to have dissipated and has been replaced by birds. i'll get it out of my system i think...next week i'm sure it will be something different. anyway, above is a new sketch in the

shop, called 'flight'. the brooch underneath is a play with the paper cutouts from the sketch. waste not want not!

cock-a-doodle-doo!

i had a bit of fun with my new little canvas today...a photo shoot on my back deck. the sun was shining brightly (slightly harshly in all honesty for pic taking, but beggars can't be choosers ;)

i originally wanted to take a pic of the canvas sitting on a beautifully made wooden shaker-style box (a proper handcrafted one, all the way from the us of a) but it looked terrible. but inside the box i found this little cockerel, how long he's been there i have no idea...but how cute is he? i have amassed an enormous collection of vintage-y style plastic farm animals, saved from a recent cull from the boy's toy box because i just know they're going to be useful in my work some day. much to the disgust of my husband who said something along the lines of

'it was you who wanted to get rid of all this crap, what the bloody hell do you want to keep them for?' for art's sake darling, was my sheepish reply.

oh yeah, if anyone is interested, the new canvas is called 'forty-eight' and is up for sale. and yes, i'm fully aware it's red. again.

yeah, i know, boring

just nipped in to post this new sketchbook, it's in the shop right now. my throat is killing me this evening, so without any more delay, i'm off to bed with a hot chocolate and to watch 'doc martin' in comfort. lovely! see you tomorrow, peeps.

nice words

two pieces of nice blog posting this week, firstly from a new find for me, dear ada, which is a brilliant blog full of really interesting arty finds, i have bookmarked it for regular reading. the other is from the ever wonderful print + pattern. interestingly, they've both chosen to showcase my black and white drawings...anyway, as always, i'm thrilled and honoured to be featured on such high quality blogs, thank you both!

last but not least a quick shop update, another sketch entitled 'tie ends', about to be posted in a minute. happy tuesday, folks!

crikey, this is post 130!

just thought i'd drop in and let the world know that 'reflect' is up for sale in the shop. and to tell you i really hope this is the red obsession out of my system. i just can't help it...especially with pale pink. and dark grey. and with white, oh god, especially with white. anyhoo, i'm going to ban myself from doing anything in that particular colour for ohhhhhh, at least a week. 'kay?

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree...

how lovely are your branches...and so on. just to prove i have been working away in the background, i thought i'd post this christmasy piece. it's a possible christmas card design, to be printed with vegetable or soya inks onto recycled card. if all goes well, they'll be some up for sale in the etsy shop nearer the festive season. if somebody had told me at the beginning of this blogging malarkey that i'd have blogged twice about christmas in october, i wouldn't have believed them. i'm a 'start buying stuff on the 23rd december' kind of girl :)

a bit of wipping

not too much to report on the creative side at the moment, i've been busy with a couple of not on the high street orders, so not too much to show. (i don't feel i can show them off here because it's not fair on the buyers who are buying personalised goods- i might spoil the surprise for their recipients) i have got this wip (work in progress, for those of you that have no idea what that means) though, i must have red on my mind, i'm just lovin' it! happy weekend, i might nip in to say hello tomorrow, but it's my husband's 33rd birthday, (oh crapola, i'm married to an old man ;) so we'll be doin' all that family/cake/present stuff.

may sixth

back to my 'prettier' colours with this piece, called 'may sixth' (which coincidentally is my wedding anniversary) up in the shop. i'm sorry this is another shop item today, i had another post planned but i couldn't get the picture right...i've saved it as a draft do it another time.

i've also had a shite afternoon. won't go into details, (she says, but does anyway) i'll say just this: one 2 year old with no nap for two days plus an over-tired 5 year old who has just been told he can't play with his friends because he was utterly horrid to me multiplied by a lightly pissed off husband who had a crappish day at work potato harvesting (and has come home to tepid fish and chips, his wife is ironing instead of cooking) equals a big, big unhappy household. i tell you, sometimes i wish i could shout and scream and stamp my feet and go to bed in a huff. oh wait, that's what i did. (nah, not really ;)

eat more bloomin' fruit!

a new sketch...up in the shop right this very, very minute!

when, where, which, what

i should be cooking right now, and indeed things are probably burning to a crisp as i type...but i wanted to get this done straight away, because when i get in my mind i have to do something, i drop everything else. horrible, inconvenient habit really. anyway...i've been playing with fabric, paper and paint today and created this mixed media 'sketch' called 'when, where, which, what'. the pretty fabric is an old charity shop find- a hankie for 20p! oh crap.....there's a distinct smell of singed sausages...gotta dash...!

opening

friday night was the opening of nahcotta's enormous tiny art show , oh how i wish i'd been there! it looked very busy and exciting going by the pics on the nahcotta photostream. in one of their photos you can see my work behind a couple of people; i have cropped it and it is above. it was nice to get an impression of how it looked, it's hard to imagine when you're so many miles away! oh yeah, i had a sale too! yay!

dare i say, another sketchbook?

just listed, (it's called 'shield') and i'm afraid there's another one tomorrow, in blue, but then that's it for a while 'til they sell, 'kay?

two more...

sketchbooks for the shop the black one (shown as a detail in yesterday's post) is called 'dart' and is already up for sale. the pink is called 'charge'and will be posted this evening.

heart-felt thanks go to alice who emailed me to let me know that my fridge magnets had made it on to a treasury list, yay!

shiny and new

i'm so glad i'm not a graphic designer, it has taken me hours to decide on a new banner (the old was drove me bonkers with it's pixelated edges) and i've had to upload each one to see what it looked like in situ (all of them pretty shite). i'm now happy, even though the above isn't exactly blue, it's a very grey-blue. and it's simple, and you can read it quite easily which is always useful. my etsy one has been given the same treatment.

sneak peek of a new grey and black sketchbook. my, my, isn't my colour palette of late rather muted? i like to think of it as sophisticated...of course you may feel it's possibly depressing. oh dear.

black and white and red all over...

...wasn't that a punchline to a really lame joke from my childhood? what was the actual joke? penguins and newspapers spring to mind but i could be wrong. anyway just to announce to the world that another canvas is up in my etsy shop, and it's called 'imported'. so go forth and purchase if you so wish, but hurry, there's only one ever in the world. blimey, that was the hard sell wasn't it? move over pushy car salesmen and women ;)