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 the red and white obsession seems to have dissipated and has been replaced by birds.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!

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?

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...!

ever had one of those weird days...

when you feel you have accomplished nothing but have actually cleared up a few jobs hanging over your head? i finished this wedding sampler order today, it's the first one i've done in this colourway, it's called 'amish' and it looks really great framed in it's white box frame. i'm also really pleased because i didn't think i'd get it done for the customer to take to the wedding this weekend (she knew this and ordered it anyway) but i did, yay! i hate letting people down, so this has made me very happy. i've also managed to get a piece of work done for an etsy-related secret swap organised by charlotte. i really, really hope the person i've made this for likes their package...i've steered clear of her likes and dislikes, so fingers crossed :)

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 ;)

i love a happy customer

i can now officially post the above pic, the cloak and dagger stuff is no more because my customer, the lovely dom, couldn't wait to give this to his partner, the equally lovely julie, for christmas which was the original plan. i received a really happy email from julie yesterday, so thank goodness, she loves it. it's all about their little girl luella and includes all sorts of things that she loves, like elephants and ducks, a swing and a lot of pink! it was such a joy to make. inspiration struck me, of all places, in our local 'pizza express'. they have some gorgeous paintings on the wall there and one had a lollypop tree in it...i scribbled down some ideas on the back of a napkin with those little packs of kid's pencils they give out, bloomin' useful that! it got my little brain whirring with possibilities and the piece went together like a dream. so tell me folks, where is the weirdest place that inspiration has struck you?

interruptions

just as i settled down to start a serious amount of binding last night, (saturday night i just couldn't be bothered although i did have an enjoyable evening deciding on what colour silks to bind the paper quilts in whilst watching a million 'csi' type thingies on the box) i was interrupted by my email alert dodah going off and discovered i'd got an order for a wedding sampler and a baby's name plaque. isn't it weird how it never rains but it pours? so anyway that's what i've been up to. between working and getting stressed with the kids, (it's the first day of the holidays, how am i going to cope for 7 weeks?!) it's been an eventful day.

b,d,h&l are tall letters

orange and brown for today. and yesterday i did speak too soon, this was a pain in the ar*e. it has been reworked, unpicked, reworked again to get here. now i like it. it's quite simple and that's what works with these pieces. right, onward and upward...

i've got a very stroppy kid. frank has finished pre-school today and has come home with a tiger painted face which he keeps forgetting. he then wipes his face and smudges it, then gets upset cos it's all coming off, starts to cry, his nose then runs and we have rivers of snot and tears and tiger face is no more. yuck.

on sunday i saw a little cat

blacks, greys and creams for this piece today. it went together so nicely, it was a pleasure to do. the 'little cat' in the title is referring to our first ever family pet; she turned up on our doorstep and never left, much to my dad's horror. not a fan of felines on my paternal side - there's a family horror story about a feral cat shut up in a cupboard and my grandmother's aunt's father's second cousin five times removed was very badly wounded when she opened the cupboard door and out sprang the half dead cat. my father has a tendency to exaggerate wildly, (not a trait i have at all, *wink*) so i have always treated that story with a large dose of skepticism. anyway, we called the little cat 'diana' - and guess what? it was 1981 and charlie and di had just wed, what a bunch of royalists we were. or replace 'royalists' with 'saddos', whichever you prefer.

nahcotta number one

busy, busy, busy. reality struck me today and left me feeling queasy. art work wise i've been basking in the knowledge that nahcotta gallery wants little ol' me to participate in the enormous tiny art show ii, but i realised that i'd better get my skates on cos they want the goods by the beginning of september, and i want to send them by the end of august to be sure of them getting there on time. in between that i've got a wedding sampler to make, an abc one for my son's pre-school, my website to redesign, and my dreams of getting an etsy store up and running seem to be receding by the day. i seriously need to start making some money from this gig, i can barely pay the broadband bill as it is, and that simply would not do. while i work (see the above evidence, a piece for nahcotta, possibly to be called 'dates for examination'- not entirely convinced i'm pleased with it yet) anyway, as i was saying, while (or should that be 'whilst'?) i work i've been daydreaming about the lead singer of maroon 5 (don't even know his name) in a not altogether appropriate manner for a 32 year old happily married mother of two. ahem. back to work, methinks.