Fresh from the sweat shop

Over the weekend I made a few new things which i've now listed on Etsy and Folksy, so I thought I would take this opportunity to show them off:

 

 

 

I also added two new prints 'The Hidden Forest' and 'Our Favourite Place' which I created for the Babes In The Woods exhibition as A4 size and A3 size prints.

I'm offering free post to the UK this week on orders over £5. Unfortunately there is no facility on either Folksy or Etsy which will let me offer free post on orders where a combined purchase totals over £5 - therefore if any orders of this type are made on either site this week, then I'll refund the postage cost through PayPal. i.e. if someone orders a brooch and a coaster as this totals over £5 the full postage will be refunded.

Byeeee!!

Folksy Friday - Midnight Pumpkin

Its been a while since i’ve had time to do a Folksy Friday post but i can just about manage to squeeze one in today.
Having not used colour theme for a while it seemed appropriate to do so this week given all the lovely autumnal shades. I thought I’d go for something a bit different to the rustic reds and warm gold tones and have instead opted for dark/midnight blue and pumpkin orange. Two shades very suitable for a fast approaching Halloween and ones that work together really well. But don’t take my word for it, trust your eyes and see the proof!

Oh before i get on with the imagery, just a quick reminder that i’ll be offering free postage to the UK in my Folksy shop on all orders over £5 from this coming Monday (29th Oct) to Monday 5th Nov. That’s a whole week of free UK postage, so if you’re thinking about arty Christmas gifts this could be for you! I'll be adding a few new items over the weekend too.

Right now wrap your eyes around this gorgeous lot:

Hope you enjoyed the colour feast.

Did I tell you I’m working on a book commission? Well i’m off to do my second illustration for it now.
Byeeee and happy Friday x

Short and sweet

Yesterday i finished a poster for Made In Newcastle's Christmas Fair on the 15th Dec and here it is:

There are still spaces left so if you're interested in a stall contact info@madeinnewcastle.org

Could this be the shortest blog post ever?........

Whats gone on

This week has been a whirlwind of excitement, interspersed with annoying problems.
My plan was to post on here with my two new pics on Friday, before i ran off to help transform Newcastle Arts Centre Gallery into a woodland wonderland for the Big Draw event, which was yesterday. However i struggled to do this as my version of Adobe CS2 with Photoshop etc that i use all the time decided to have a major tantrum and no longer work, so opening up the images to format them for the blog proved impossible. Since then i've been trying to work around this problem, however the lovely Ann-Marie Smyth - Graphic Designer extraordinaire who I met at Design Interest (when i gave the talk) a few weeks ago may be able to come to my rescue, for which i will be eternally grateful.

Because of my lack of posting theres lots to catch you up on. Starting with Thursday night which was the preview of the Babes In The Woods exhibition.
There was a fab turn out and the worked looked really great in the space. In between my attempts at shcmoozing and my far more successful wine guzzling i managed to take a few photos (although they're not the best):

 
















That tree in the first photo was made by a sculptor who works at the Arts Centre to help set the scene -  great work Alex!

On Friday as mentioned, I wondered down to the gallery to help create a woodland themed drawing space for visitors to come along and doodle on on the following Sat. 

We made two card board trees, a gingerbread house and papered the floor & three tables ready for doodle madness.

The Big Draw on Saturday was fab. We asked the visitors to draw fish in the stream, sweets for the gingerbread house, food on plates for the picnic rug, leaves for the trees and loads more. Loads of people brought their children along and the kids were really creative. It was a great atmosphere & an awesome time. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics as I was busy running around and helping out, but courtesy of a fellow arty lady who brought along her two very cute children heres a pic on Facebook.

Sas - one of the lovely, super helpful arts centre folks took some photos so once these are up i'll link to them.
 

Okay so now i can finally reveal the two new illustrations I've been harping on about that i did for the exhibition and here they are:

The Hidden Forest

Our Favourite Place
 

Would love to know what you think. I hope to have prints of the two images available in my Folksy and Etsy shop soon.
A big thanks to the talented Set of Drawers for inviting me to take part :) Do check out their charming work.

Confessions of a self-doubting artist (with a happy ending :)

Okay so you may have noticed it all went a bit quiet last week on here. This was down to a mad rush to get work finished for the Babes In The Woods exhibition starting on Friday, which I’m now pleased to say is complete. Just in the nick of time – phew!

I was having one of those moments when it just didn’t feel like the work was coming together. Occasionally when working on a new illustration I'll encounter this. The initial idea in my head when first put to paper is all good. Then about ½ way through the process, when on the computer, it just all starts to go a bit pear-shaped in that it doesn't feel right or quite fit somehow with my original plan.

This isn't always a major issue as sometimes I can identify whatever the gremlin is that’s making it not work, but other times it’s a mystery so I'll keep trying different things until it clicks. I could never show a piece of work without being 100% happy with it, so when this happens its always a worry that the image won't come together. I imagine part of this stems from self-doubt (an inherited trait) & once that creeps in its difficult to think positively about that piece again.

Wow I really hope I’m not the only person who experiences these issues.

Thankfully the doubts were worked through and I can now genuinely say i'm really pleased the results. Yay!! Would love to be able to post them here now but can’t until after the exhibition preview on Thursday. In the meantime heres a peek:

 

To celebrate the completion of the two new illustrations 'Hidden Forest' and 'Our Favourite Place' and my involvement in the exhibition I’m going to offer free postage on all UK purchases over £5.00 in my Etsy and Folksy shops for a week from Monday 29th Oct – 5th Nov, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Well I’ll be off now as I’ve got some framing to do!

Oh don’t forget if you’re in Newcastle the exhibition runs from the 19th Oct – 17th Nov with the preview on the 18th (Thursday night), so please pop along and have a gander.

Baker Days Cakes

Early last week I was asked if I would like to do a design for a cake by Baker Days for review on my blog. Not having heard of the company before I hopped over to their very lovely looking website to take a gander at their wares. Baker Days is a service that offers personalised cakes for any occasion by printing a design of your choosing onto the cake. You can either select one of the pre-made designs available on their site or upload one of your own creation. My first thought when I saw the site was what a great idea and why hasn't anyone else done this before?!

I emailed my design on the Thursday and the cake arrived in the post on the following Tuesday, so I was pleasantly surprised by the very quick turnaround time. Especially considering  I sent the design pictured below on the Thursday evening so they probably didn't pick it up till the Friday. So BIG plus points for super speediness!

The cake which they sent me was one of their 'letterbox cakes' - a cake small enough to fit through your letterbox. I'll admit that my first thought when I read about them was hmm it's a bit small. However when the cake landed on my doorstep it felt instantly exciting to get a cake through the post and it made me think - how awesome it would be if you received this as a surprise gift amongst your mail? The answer is 'very'. So with that in mind I guess the size is a fair compromise.

On opening the parcel I was delighted by the packaging which is gorgeous. The cake comes in a lovely little tin, with a greeting card, three balloons, two candles and a party horn. Very nice touch! It really made me smile and if I'd got that on my birthday that would really make me feel special and get me in a birthday mood. Absolutely top marks and over on the packaging! Heres a little photo:

The packaging was so sweet that I almost didn't want to ruin it by opening up the tin haha.

I savored the moment of anticipation for a little longer and finally cracked it open. Amazingly the cake was in perfect condition considering it had come through the post. This was one of my initial concerns,  that a cake through the post could look distinctly un-cake like on arrival. But no, there wasn't a mark on it! My Bunny Balloon illustration wasn't exactly rendered in perfect print, but it wasn't bad just a little blurry. You could easily make out what it was and in hindsight this was probably a rather challenging image to transfer to icing. So this is what you're all waiting for a pic of the cake:

Later that evening my fiancé and I tucked into it. I'd opted for a plain madeira as there are several types/flavours of cake to choose from on the Baker Days site. The cake itself was delicious. Really moist and the icing was nice and thin so it didn't overpower the taste of the madeira sponge. It was enough for 4 smallish, but extremely tasty and surprisingly filling portions.

All in all i think Bakers Days' cakes are great for special occasions. They're not cheap but they are definitely worth the price if you don't mind paying a little extra for something a bit special. I think it would also do wonders in the event that you forgot a birthday or anniversary and sent one of these little darlings to make up for it, as they really do bring a smile to your face.
So what are you waiting for go take a peek at their site www.bakerdays.com

Design Interest

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to give a talk at a monthly event called Design Interest.
I'd found out about this event a few months ago from Paul Lancaster (http://plandigitaluk.com/) who set up PostOffice. This is a space which used to be occupied by a post office but was vacant for a long time, but now plays host to weekly co-working days and after work networking events for developers, designers and tech start-ups.


Design Interest is on the 1st Tuesday of every month at the PostOffice on Pink Lane, Newcastle. 
Its a free (ticketed) event where anyone with an interest in design of any sort can go along meet like-minded folks and listen to designers from a wide variety of disciplines speak about their work. You can find out more about it on their website here: http://designinterest.com/

I'll admit i was pretty nervous before i got there as i'm crap as giving talks, but it was a great evening.
I learnt loads and met some really lovely and interesting folks. Also listened to a talk on type and calligraphy by Tim Soke which was fab.
I also found out about a very intriguing new tool, the Wacom Inkling which i think could solve a lot of my tendonitis issues and save me a lot of time in the way i work. I'm now desperate to try one out with a view to investing in one.
All in all i really enjoyed it and will definitely try and go again next month. I can highly recommend it to any Newcastle based folks with an interest in design or art.Heres a photo of me giving the talk about my work:


http://instagram.com/p/QSdODXIuDq/

Reet i better scoot :)