Inspire Me Thursday - My Studio

I'm busy preparing for my Children's art day demo this Saturday so my space is a bit of a mess! I think being a collage artist (or as my other half puts it, an excuse to be a hoarder) makes me naturally messy when it comes to working and I am also confined at the mo to a cupboard (above) , a corner in the bedroom where the plan chest lives ( top photo - my clean area where I make my books and cards and stuff where paint is not permitted) and what occasionally doubles as a dining room table where the messy stuff happens. Oh and of course there's the computer desk but that's too boring to qualify for a photo.


I've got a few collage projects for the kids to have a go at - here is a sneaky peek of one I'm trying out - it's going to be exciting seeing how they interpret them. I will be posting photos of the day here so watch this space!

Cambridge Open Studios - July 1st - July 23rd 2006

Next month is Cambridge Open Studios. I'm not participating as such this year, these are photos from last year (and no, that's not my studio but I was lucky enough to share a beautiful space with a couple of others), but I am showing a couple of pieces at the COS gallery in Fulbourn and doing a couple of demonstrations during the course of the month! The first one coincides with children's art day so there I will be doing collage (12 - 1pm) (3 - 4pm) and Jill Ogilvy will be doing printmaking (1 - 3pm) for the kids to have a go at. If you live in the area come along! There are also kids activities at the Fulbourn arts festival, check the website for more details.

Inspire Me Thursday - In good time

This weeks IMT was to produce a piece of art quickly and as I was already thinking of trying some smaller collages decided to have a go at a series of ATCs. I optimistically thought I would get 6 done in an hour but it ended up being closer to 2 hours, that's still 20 mins each - not bad! I didn't plan them in any way but a theme did emerge if you can spot it. (For sale on Etsy.)

Illustration Friday - Dance

This was inspired by a photo of my little one twirling around. She loves to dance, Top of the Pops is her favourite - no namby pamby kiddy music for my daughter, she's a full on rock chick! Thankfully at only 14 months she also loves her frilly dresses and is utterly adorable.

Oh, and I actually painted this one instead of colouring it digitally like the last one, in fact I went as far as buying myself a massive set of gouache (watercolour are too thin for my liking and acrylic dry too fast on paper to be manageable). This is just a quick attempt, to see what would happen and I much prefer it. I can feel a whole new style of work developing and it's very exciting!

Card packs

I've put together 25 inspiration packs which have 3 greeting cards and envelopes, a dozen pieces of yummy papers from my own personal supply of fancy papers and tissues, 3 workable lengths of ribbon and a little bag of beads and bits to get you started. Each one is different and is to a particular colour theme. The last time I did these for craft fairs they sold out really quick and these are a lot better this year so get one quick! They cost £5 plus p&p so if you live in the uk send me an email or go to my etsy shop if you live elsewhere.

More goodies to follow next week!

Kamal's latest painting

Kamal doesn't paint very often, but when he does he manages to put mine well and truly in the shade! Aptly enough he's called this 'flower gaze'. Brilliant.

Latest Painting

Another thing ticked off my list - have added the rest of my paintings including my latest one (titled Drift) to my website. Many of them are still available to buy. See more here.

Shhh...

Been a bit quiet of late, mainly due to the fact that I suddenly realised it was June and I still hadn't got to the bottom of my new year's 'to do' list and panic set in. Not least because I officially finished maternity leave almost a year ago and I still haven't got my wedding/card website back up and running yet and I need to start bringing in some more regular pennies before the wedding season starts again and christmas descends!

So, firstly I've finally got around to creating a header for my other blog (which wasn't actually on my list but this way it won't even end up one) and secondly I have actually finished my main art site after 6 years of twiddling and tweaking (champagne corks popping!), all that's left to do is photograph everything and finish filling it up. Yeah! So far so good....

Inspire Me Thursday - Functional Art

This weeks Inspire Me Thursday is to create a piece of functional art so I dug out a couple of wooden mirror blanks from my craft fair days and decorated those. I'd forgotten what fun this was, will have to see what else I've got buried in the cupboard! See more functional art here.

Ilustration Friday - Portrait

Illustration Friday - Cake

There has been a lot of birthday's in the family this last month or so and there's a few more to go in the next couple of weeks so we've all eaten a lot of cake. And if that wasn't enough Kamal insisted on making one the other day (being home for half term) so we made the biggest victora sponge cake you have ever seen - it's a good job we like cake!!