Experimenting

Good afternoon,

I hope you're all having a lovely Saturday.

I'm having a fun afternoon channelling my inner toddler, I have been making my own stamps out of foam and blocks of wood!

While I was away in Malta at the start of the year I took this picture a wall there. I love the irregular rickety look of it.

 

I want to recreate a similar look in different media. The first way was by making my own stamp...

 

I used items I already had at home

 

 
I cut the foam into uneven rectangles and attached them to the wooden block. I'm quite chuffed with the outcome.

 

 
I used black acrylic to print. I also applied the paint with different textures such as the mesh fabric above. I'm really liking how the paint isn't printing equally and therefore giving that uneven look, like in the original wall picture.

 

I can feel a very experimental afternoon coming on...!

 

See you soon

xx

Happy Friday Eve..

Evening,

Just a quick post tonight to say we're nearly there....

 

 I'll write a longer post at the weekend to say what I've been getting up to.

 

Hope you're having a good week,

xx

The Coral Collection..

Evening all,

Hope you're all have a good week, just one more day to go then we get another bank holiday weekend, wooopppeeee!

As I said in my last post I hoped to use some of the lino Prints I had made and work with them in Adobe Photoshop, well, I have done just that...

 

I really enjoyed working with my motif and experimenting with colour palettes.

 

 

 

I really like these subdued yellows, chocolates and blues, I think they work well with my motif.

 

 

I also wanted to work with a mixture of compositions from a very regimented design to a more abstract 'bursting' design.

 

 

The image above was one of the last designs I did to compliment the others I had done. It's one of my favourites. Isn't it funny that you can spend ages on one design then just do a quick one and sometimes the you prefer the less 'thought through' one?

 

Above is my first collection with my new design work. I think these designs would work well on a range of different surfaces from wallpaper to a stationery range. Watch this space..

 

Have a lovely bank holiday,

 

See you soon

 

xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lino Printing

Happy weekend and what a gorgeous weekend it is, I hope it's sunny with you.

This week I have finally got round to using the lino printing kit I bought a little while ago. I've never used Lino before and was really excited to try it out.

I found this image on Pinterest and really loved the textures and shapes so thought I would use this for my initial motif.

 

 

In the kit there was already some circular lino pieces (this made it a lot easier!) I then began carving out my design.

 

 

 I really liked the outcome of the print. After stamping the lino into the ink I loved the impression that was left in the ink itself, and took a couple of prints directly from the ink tray.

 

I also experimented with different media such as ink, graphite sticks and using sting to print with. The possibilities are endless! This afternoon I think I will scan some of my work in and work with them digitally and see what happens.

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, see you soon

xx

If at first you don't succeed, tri, tri, tri again...

Hello,

Happy Saturday to you all.

A few months back I signed up to take part in the Stratford 220 Triathlon, I should be taking part in this tomorrow. Sadly two weeks ago while out on a training run I hurt my knee (a reoccurring problem) and had to pull out. I'm quite gutted as over the last 8 weeks I'd really stepped up my training and could feel myself improving.

However, I'm not going to let this stop me as I hope to do the Lichfield triathlon that's taking place in September. I aim to train for this along side being creative. If you have read my previous posts you will notice that I'm not very good at being focused on both training and creating. But I'm going to really try to manage both my hobbies and get results from both of them.

One way I thought I could do this is incorporate a bit about my training in my blog too so that my poor old blog doesn't suffer and get the silent treatment too! So expect to see regular updates about both my training and my creating. Then hopefully one past time wont be neglected for the other!

Have a lovely weekend whatever you're up to.

 

See you soon!

xx

Getting cracking...

Evening,

Well I've made a start...

 

At uni we used to use little slide pockets to put in colour inspiration or images that we liked. I have used one here to gather together some pictures I have torn out of magazines of textures.

 

I have then done a series of quick pen and ink sketches to get back into the flow of things.

 

I also treated myself to a A3 sketchbook (I've never really worked in a sketchbook bigger then A4 before) and started to fill it with experiments trying to replicate textures in different media.

At the moment my main focus is just to have fun and experiment as much as I can. I'm really enjoying it actually, long may it continue :)

See you soon

xx

Harrogate...

Evening all,

Hope you have had a lovely bank holiday weekend.

I thought I best update my blog with what's been going on as I haven't for a little while.

Mum and I took a trip to Harrogate to attend the British Craft and Trade fair a few weekends a go. I really wanted to go and visit as I'm keen to exhibit there for my first trade show and wanted to do some research. It was a perfect opportunity to turn it into a girly weekend with Mum too.

We went up on the Saturday to explore Harrogate first. We were keen to sample the famous Betty's Tea room's cream teas and yummy cakes. We couldn't believe when we got there the size of the queue (but it was definately worth it):

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed a scrumptious cream tea ..It was delicious. We then went for a walk round the shops. (we had to work the scones off some how!)

 

On the Sunday we went straight to the British Craft and Trade Show.

 

 

I was excited as I was a given a badge for 'Designer-Maker' - it's the little things! Mum and I started by going to straight to the 'Newcomers gallery' as that is where I would be showing (hopefully).

 

Everyone's stands looked brill. All the exhibitors that I spoke to said how helpful the organisers had been and how well run it was with the unloading and setting up. The stands looked fab and really got my mind whirling with ideas and inspiration. It was also lovely to meet up with another student of the Art and Business Of Surface Pattern Design Liz Smith of  Elle Jane Designs who was showing in the 'Newcomers Gallery' her work looked gorgeous.

 

I'm very keen to get cracking now and experiment, experiment, experiment.... and maybe next year 'May I Design' will be showing there (fingers crossed)!

 

See you soon,

 

xx