Oh, Hello, Blog

Long time no see. The past couple of weeks have been just a tad busy. My new illo project is on, and I was working like a crazy loon getting the first roughs done for last Monday, resulting in a late night/early morning finish of 5.42am on Monday itself. I blame that on liking having January off so much I just couldn't get back in the swing of things. Ahem.

Roughs in, Hubbo and I had our customary February week off, with much hiking of hikes, visiting of interesting places and consuming of cream teas. We went to Bath for a couple of days, and visited Avebury Manor, which you might've seen on TV late last year, and Lacock, TV and film location extraordinaire. For uber Potter fans, Lacock Abbey is part of Hogwarts, and the village itself Godric's Hollow and Budleigh Babberton, as well as Cranford.

























Today I'm having one of those sort-it-out-plan-it-good days which will hopefully mean I won't be working til 5am again any time soon. Tomorrow, I've crazily agreed to run a couple of illustration/storytelling workshops at a local primary school where I'm hoping this idea will go down well again. Wish me luck!

**Just realised I totally missed my six year Bloggerversary on the 13th. Happy belated Birthday, blog.**

End of Week 8

End of Week 7

My kind of Olympic sport.

Happy Val Day

Source: marthastewart.com via Emma on Pinterest

Any excuse to post a picture of lovely looking biscuits, right? I'm loving the new (probably been around for ages, just haven't realised) way you can embed a photo from Pinterest at exactly the right size in your blog and it comes up with the right credit. Brilliant.

End of Week 6

Fire Drawings

Fire drawing from Glithero on Vimeo.

The blurb says: The protagonist in the Fire Drawings is a flame. It travels through time over a path of flammable screen-printed paint, multiplying or merging together, drawing, leaving a decorative charcoal trace as it goes along. 

Each piece in the series choreographs a different path of a flame, that starts burning from a single fuse and then branches and multiples towards a climax; A burning circle of fire. The remaining charcoal pattern resonates a memory of a moment that has already been. Literally and metaphorically it is the ashes of a process. 

Glithero are British designer Tim Simpson and Dutch designer Sarah van Gameren, who met and studied at the Royal College of Art. From their studio in London they create product, furniture, and time-based installations that give birth to unique and wonderful products. The work is presented in a broad spectrum of media, but follows a consistent conceptual path; to capture and present the beauty in the moment things are made.

Just a Tad in Love With These Quilt Designs

These wonderful mountain-like patchworks have been created for the next Winter Olympics which will be held in Sochi, Russia in 2014. Jaw dropping gorgeousness, right?

The blurb says: At the heart of the Look of the Games concept design lies the principle of the "patchwork quilt" - a combination of 16 designs representing the most famous traditional Russian arts and crafts, ranging from Gzhel to Khokhloma. The Look of the Games concept is the visual embodiment of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games philosophy and is intended to express the character of modern Russia whilst at the same time introducing guests from all over the world to traditional Russian hospitality.

I love the idea that these beautiful patchworks are going to be all over Sochi for the games as part of "... a unified design for sports venues, infrastructure facilities, city streets and squares." Patchwork all over the shop. Knocks our summer Olympic designs into a cocked hat, quite frankly. 

You can read more about the Sochi 2014 quilt designs here. I shamelessly borrowed these images from a Quilt Inspiration blog post, which is my favourite new blog. Lots of stuff to drool over and a tonne of free patterns to boot. I've got to make me something with triangles. Like, right now.

Cathedral of Light

This stunning installation is "The Luminarie De Cagna", part of this year's Light Festival in Ghent. It's made up of some 55,000 LEDs and towers 28 metres above the ground. Amazing. Read more about it and see other light installations in the same festival here.

End of Week 5

A for Awesome

A lovely package for me this morning: puppets and aprons! My lovely AD at OUP sent me the first real-life glimpse of all the work I've been doing over the past year.



I think I was banging on about designing the apron back in May. The darker green shadow on the skin has come out a little too dark; the AD wanted it taken off completely, but the printers forgot! Oh, well, still it's an APRON WITH MY CHARACTER ON IT!!!! I'm torn between keeping it pristine and cooking in it everyday. The pocket on the front where the zip is is designed to hold the flash cards that come with the book.

The puppets I didn't have to draw anything specific for, they're just based on my characters. Aren't they great? Hours of fun! I'm so pleased to see it all in the flesh; can't wait for the printed stuff to arrive now.









(I do feel a bit bad putting my finger up Spot the ladybird's bum, though!)

Three Primary Colours

Another classic from OK Go. Lucky Sesame Street; shame we don't get it over here on terrestrial TV any more.

WiP

Nigh on the End

Hurrah! A whole month of blogging accomplished. I'm not sure why I like to blog every day in January; it's just a bit of a tradition now. Maybe it's because I like to keep my brain busy on interesting things in that dull and quiet month after the rush of Christmas. Who knows? Anyhoo, January is just about over and February is about to begin. It's finally feeling like winter outside; some snow would be FANTASTIC. The weather forecast says we might be in for a bit tonight. I hope we can get a few flakes before the cold snap is over; I love me some snow. Then, maybe, I can get my red duffel coat out, which I bought in the sale in the summer and have only been able to wear three times.

This is just the right weather for snuggling down, which can only be a good thing when I'm just about to start a new project. I should be getting the details for it tomorrow, by the end of the week for sure. Exciting! As much as I have liked having a quieter January, it will be nice to get scribbling again. I've been working on ideas for new prints for the Open House in May, and for a quick Gocco print inspired by Steph and her Ladies in Monochrome. Hopefully I can share those soon.

Speaking of prints, I came across the lovely screenprints of Lara Harwood this morning. Isn't this horse just lovely?:

Her design work is gorgeous, too:

A nice mix of print making and watercolour. Do go check out her site.

Right, I'm off to work on print ideas of my own!

End of Week 4

Liberty Owl

Bit of an owl theme at the moment. This one is a finial on the balustrades in the haberdashery department at Liberty's. (OMG, by the way. I'd never been in there before yesterday, shockingly. I felt I had died and gone to stitchy heaven.)

TwooOOOOOooooooo

Check out my Szeiler owl. I picked up this little moneybox dude at a vintage fair in Rottingdean back in November for the bargain price of a fiver. He has a chip on the money slot but, surprisingly, still has his bung!

Apparently, this yellow and green colorway is much rarer than the usual brown they appear in. I've been doing a bit of research online, and it seems the going rate for one of these guys is £15, so I am rather pleased with my bargain! He's not going anywhere, though, apart from my studio shelf unit. It's a bit of a horrible website (My eyes! My eyes!), but you can find out about Szeiler pottery here.

Charts! Cables!

Brace yourself for this: I have knitted with a CHART. I have knitted CABLES. Two things ticked off my "must learn how to do" list. I'll be doing colourwork in no time, now.

In progress, the Grassy Green jumper. The back:



And the front so far:



Bit addicted to knitting this at the mo. I'm going to go with it; try and get as much done as possible while I still have the enthusiasm!

Gene Genie

I've got a bit of an unofficial New Year's Resolution. It stems from a shocking confession: I have seen very few old skool Hollywood musicals. Or, at least, very few all the way through. Isn't that bad? I've lost count of the number of times over the years Husband has said "Oh, yes, that song is in such-and-such a film", to which I've replied with a blank stare, much to his consternation.

So, I am working on changing this. On Saturday, I had the day to myself, and, after a humungously long walk, treated myself to two DVDs from the library. (I say "treat", as staff I borrow them for free, but a DVD rental from the library is an absolute bargain anyway, especially as you get to keep it for a week. But I digress.) Once home, I settled down with a bit of sewing to watch "Singin' in The Rain". And I have to say I loved it, of course. I have a total pash on Gene Kelly, now, too. And he was 42 at the time. Phwoar. What surprised me the most, however, was its similarity to "The Artist", which Husband and I had seen just two days before. How the advent of sound affected Hollywood as a whole, and particularly those people, like poor Lina Lamont, who just didn't have the voice talent to cut it in the talkies. Interesting. I also have a bit of a pash on 20s fashion, too, although I always feel it's not really for gals with bosoms and hips, but seeing Jean Hagan and other curvy 50s lovelies pulling it off, I might give it a go! I have "An American in Paris", another GK special, to watch, too. I might put that on tonight.

In the meantime, here's a genius bit of remixed Gene from a few years ago:

Sheffield Park

This house was owned by the Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, uncle to Ann Boleyn, who  entertained Henry VIII here in 1538. The grounds - designed by Capability Brown in the 18th century - are now run by The National Trust, but the house is now apartments and privately owned.

Pine Cone