The "Shoulderette" is Finally Complete!

And, according to Ravelry, in only a mere eight months and seven days since I cast it on. I know, I know. It's an easy pattern, but in my defence I have been busy and I did run out of yarn and then my sock obsession got in the way....you know how it is.

Anyway, it's done, and I'm rather chuffed with it.



Oh dear. Hair is rather in need of a good handful of gel.

New Website Is Alive and Kicking!

My re-designed website is now up and running. Hurrah! After the initial Oh-My-God-What-Have-I-Taken-On-Here moment, it actually came together quite quickly. It's somewhat pared down compared to its previous incarnation, but I think it's easier to navigate. Go check it out here. Can't wait until June when all the Pirates stuff can go up, and then September, when all the Frogs stuff can join it, too. Feeling in a particularly web-based-tidying mood, I also updated my rather neglected childrensillustrators.com pages. All I have to do now is spruce up my Picture Book page and I'm all done!



I have to say I'm pretty chuffed with this little animation. So simple (only four frames) but very effective.

Speaking of Things to Salivate Over...

..here is some lovely yarn:





These are the by-products of our second Dyeing Day last Tuesday at Jan's. I love this hand-dyeing malarky. Again, these were fabulously named by Steph as "Hummingbird" and "Lolita". As you can see, "Hummingbird" is already making its way into a pair of socks for Boyfriend*.

I've just come back from the print studio where I finished all the LRRH prints this afternoon. I'm uber chuffed as I thought I would definitely have to go back in tomorrow, but thankfully it all went super-smoothly and it's now no longer necessary. I will be spending my day looking for suitable A2 card and washing my bedclothes instead!

* I did for a moment think "this yarn is waaaaay too nice to make into boy socks!", but then my caring, sharing side kicked in and I relented. Bah.

Cream Crackered and it's Only Monday

My. Feet. Ache. I've been up to Lahhdahhn Tahn today to the London Book Fair. I didn't stay long, but I got to meet up with my first publishers again, and meet one of my current publishers face to face after months of emailing, which was lovely. I casually dropped the fact I'd written a junior novel into the conversation and they asked me to email it in, so that's a bonus.

I met up with Boyfriend for lunch beforehand (even though I'd only said goodbye to him this morning) in St.James' park and marvelled at all the lovely tulips.



Then it was off to the fair, then a trawl through the artshops after A2 card to protect my screenprints. None to be found that wasn't either too flimsy or too expensive, so I will have to have a look around the shops here before Saturday when it all has to be delivered to the library ready for hanging.

This weekend was very nice. Boyfriend and I finished painting my bedroom (which didn't have much left to do on it, so it only took an hour or two) on Saturday, then went for a monster walk on Sunday up to Queen's Park, down to the seafront, along to Hove then back up to Dyke Road and home. We found a lovely cafe next to the park called Home which I'd read good things about in the past, but had never ventured up there to sample them. I had these FANTASTIC pancakes with summer berries and greek yoghurt, and Boyfriend had a dish of baked mushrooms, egg and goat's cheese served with toast. All very yummy, and I couldn't help but think what a fabulous place for a knit it would be! They had some very homnomnom sounding Apple & Carrot Cake on the menu, too.....





Excuse the slightly dodgy photos; they were taken on my phone and I was busy salivating.

Apron no1 of Potentially Many

I've got a bit of a thing for making aprons right now. I got this fab book, "A is for Apron", for my birthday last year, wanted to make everything in it at the time, but have only now had the chance to get the old sewing machine out. (Not only are the patterns in it lovely, the title reflects another of my current obsessions, alphabets. Awesome all round)

I made a simple bib apron for my Ma for her birthday last week, but, of course, forgot to take a photo of it. It was so quick and easy that I made another straight after for myself (which I also happen to be wearing right now). Here is Youngest Sister beautifully modelling it for me:





Quite impressed with myself as I have never made anything from a pattern before. Usually it's just curtains or transforming a pair of jeans into a skirt. I even altered the pattern slightly for the second go as my hips are quite high up (which is a blinkin' pain int' bum when buying tops as I have to make sure they are long enough to balance my weird-arse figure out) so I shortened the top half to make the ties higher. And check out that bias binding, man! Never used that before, either.

I've cut out a third apron already, so I'll keep you posted on its progress! Quite what I'll do with all these aprons, I'm not entirely sure! Etsying them seems a good idea. But it is a good way to use my Ikea fabric stash, another thing I have a weakness for. No trip to the Blue and Yellow Place is complete without just a metre of this one, and just a metre of that one over there. Ooo! That one's nice.....

New Toy, New Hair.

So the iMac is here at last! It came last Tuesday, but it took me until Friday to get it out the box. It is AMAZING. So fast! Boyfriend and I worked out it's SIX times faster than the poor little MacMini (not that it was a bad computer, just not big and beefy enough for my present requirements.) I feel I've hardly started playing with it, but I'm sure there are projects around the corner that will mean I spend all my time playing ... um, that's working on it. It's going to make my working processes so much easier and quicker. And it's great to watching films/TV on, too!

I feel I've barely stopped to take a breath in the past week, although I also don't seem to have all that much to show for it! Boyfriend and I spent the weekend painting my kitchen, which is now lovely and clean and bright, and putting up two new shelves in there. There's been a bit of crafting and knitting going on, and a trip up to London to the Tower. (Which was fab. Go see the Henry VIII: Dressed To Kill exhibition. Modern, exciting and uber informative.)

As you can see, I've also changed my hair colour again. The pink was lovely, but it just faded so fast and left me with two-tone hair. I had to go to the hairdressers and beg them to cut all the over-processed orange-tinged ends of my hair off. Be that a lesson to you, my children, don't bleach over an already existing permananent colour. So I am a tomato now.

So now I am going to have the long Easter weekend off, spending it at my Ma's, followed by another Dyeing Day (that's yarn, not hair), then working on updating my sorely neglected website for the rest of that week. Then there's a bit more screenprinting the week after to finish off the Little Red Riding Hood prints ready for submission on the 25th. Phew! The postcards I ordered last Tuesday came this Tuesday, even though I opted for the slow 21 day delivery. I've never ordered cards with a coloured reverse side before, and I have to say they've turned out beautifully. Vistaprint really can be brilliant sometimes. I know a lot of people don't like them, but I've never had any problems.

So the postcards are here, and I've ordered cellophane bags for them and the A2 prints, and three frames to display the best copies. I've just got to get some card to put in with the prints to protect them - and to actually finish them off, of course! So I'm pretty organised. All I need now is people to buy them!

The Past Week in Pictures

Work in Progress....

Cream Crackered

Wow! Uber long day in the printroom although, I have to say, the time just flew by. I had so much to carry in my over-stuffed "Big Shoulderbag" that I couldn't squeeze in my camera to document it all (not that I would've had time!) so apologies for no photos as yet. BB Wolf is completely finished and I've set up a new screen ready to print Grandma tomorrow evening. I'm only in for four hours, so I think I'll only manage to get the backgrounds done, with the possibilty of a few of the keylines. I'll try to take the camera tomorrow if I can fit it in my bag. Feet are killing me.

On a bit of a different note, one of my favourite illustrators, Jen Corace, has a show on in Philadelphia at the moment, which you can read all about and look at the beautiful illustrations here. I LOVE her stuff - I have a couple of her children's books and her "Hansel and Gretel" has been on my Amazon wishlist for ages - and these larger pieces are just beautiful. I love the negative space. What I am very excited about is her silhouettes. They give me all sorts of ideas for potential future screenprints. Negative space, negative space....hmmmm...........

Prints & Postcards

The final designs to be screenprinted:







The finished size will be 39 cm x 49cm printed on A2 cartridge. These three will also be printed up as postcards by good old Vistaprint (with slight re-jigging to fit the taller format) with this image on the back:



(My phone number is the part blurred out)

I did um and ahh about this other white version below, but as I received three other Objective Opinions in the favour of the black path version I naturally had to swing that way!



REALLY looking forward to the print session tomorrow.

In other news, the new iMac came today! I'm going to wait until Thursday when I'll have pretty much all day to set it up, otherwise I'll still be here at 4 in the morning playing with it!

Some Screenprints - Finally.

These are just a few from the middle couple of weeks of the eight-week course. What you can't really tell from these photos is that that green ink is actually shimmery. Fab. I have a third from this set, M is for Midnight, which has glow in the dark ink, which is just AWESOME, but I've not photographed it yet. I've set up a new Etsy shop called "Screening Blue Murder" to sell my prints through, so when that's up and running I will take new photos of everything. I also have some number-based prints to take pictures of and stick in there, plus my Little Red Riding Hood-inspired screenprints will be up in there once the exhibition is over.

The re-planning of the LRRH posters is now done so I'll put the new ideas up here ASAP. I have an all-day printing session at the print studio this Wednesday, so I'm sure I'll have some documentary-style photos afterwards, too.

Even though the planning stage is now over it seems to have taken ages. I suppose that's the difference between planning your own work and doing it for someone else; you're never quite sure if your personal work is "good enough" so you faff a lot more. As long as it pleases you then I suppose it doesn't matter!

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

In May, I am taking part in an Open House at Jubilee Library as part of the Brighton Festival. It's called PBK09 (that's Paperback 09) and it showcases the artwork of library staff. So, as all the pieces have to be submitted by 25th April, I thought I'd better get my behind into gear and design something.

I'm going to be producing a set of three screenprinted posters with a bit of a Red Riding Hood theme. Here are a few of my scribbled ideas:





I have an all-day session booked at the print studio next Wednesday, so hopefully I will have something more finished to show then. I'm getting very excited about producing new work! I'm going to make a set of postcards to sell at the exhibition, too.

That reminds me, I didn't blog any of my later screenprinting sessions. The main reason for this is that I gave a couple of prints as birthday presents at the end of February and the beginning of March, so I wanted to keep them under wraps. Now the recipients have their prints, however, I can put them up here. Will try and update that tomorrow.

Cake Cake Cake

I promised I would blog about my Raspberry and Coconut Sponge Cake, so here it is. I was a-sitting' in a well-know American coffee chain named after a well-known literary character, Stitching and Bitching away and munching on a square of OK, but not amazing, sponge cake with a topping of thick white icing, raspberry jam and desiccated coconut; when I realised I could make something similar, but 794 times more yummy. It's very simple:

For the cake:

8oz butter/Stork
8oz caster sugar
8oz self raising flour
4 large, free range eggs.
1 tsp vanilla extract.

For the topping:

Icing sugar (I don't weigh it, but I'm going to take an educated guess at 80z/200g, depends on the size of your cake(s))
Splash of water/lemon juice
Good quality raspberry jam (I swing between Frank Cooper's and Tiptree's)
Desiccated coconut (or, indeed, any kind of shaved coconut, toasted or untoasted as you desire)

Other Chattels:

1 square tin, measuring approx. 23cm x 23cm, buttered and floured
OR 2 sandwich tins, buttered and floured
OR cupcake papers and tin, makes about 12 large/18 small.

This batter will make one largish square/rectangular single layer cake, or a slightly smaller two-layer round sponge, or little baby cupcakes, or, indeed, huge mama muffin-sized cupcakes. Entirely up to you. Tis the beauty of this versatile Everyday Cake Batter.

What You Do:

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time, beating well between each one, sift in flour in three stages, beat in vanilla.

Take whatever tins you are using and butter well, then sprinkle over a light dusting of flour to prevent any sticking. Belt and braces. Spoon in your batter, give a shake and a tap to level out, then bake at 180 degrees centigrade for between 20 (for cupcakes) and forty (for tins) minutes. Lick the bowl. The cake is ready when you can lightly press the surface and it springs back atcha.

Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack and leave until completely cold. (Obviously, if you are making cupcakes, just take them out of the tin after five minutes and place upon the rack.)

Then comes the fun part.

If you have a two layer sponge, this is where you can stick it together with a generous spread of the jam. Then, to the icing.

Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl, then add in a splash of water/lemon juice at a time until you get a thick but pourable liquid. You want to be able to cover the surface of the cake, but not have it run away so much that more ends up on the counter than on the cake, and therefore, in your mouth. Pour/spoon over your cake. Spread it about with a spoon/palette knife/whatever until the surface is covered. Any drips down the edges just add to the charm. Once that has set (about 30 minutes), take a couple of tablespoons of the raspberry jam and melt over a low heat in a saucepan with a splash of water, stirring constantly. You don't want this to boil, just become liquid again, so it really only takes a minute or two. Pour over your cake, then sprinkle from on high with the coconut. Et voila.

This is the cake I made yesterday. It is my go-to recipe. I made the single layer version, but I don't have a picture of it. However, I do have have photos from late last year when I made the cupcake version:



Give me a Hom, another Hom and a Nom.

The fab thing about this batter is that it is so versatile. You can add anything to it. Choc chips, nuts, banana, cocoa powder, cherries, coffee, lemon......whatever takes your fancy. The even greater thing about it is that if you need to increase/decrease the quantities, all you have to remember is the Golden Rule: one egg to every 2oz of flour, butter and sugar. Just increase/decrease the cooking times accordingly. This is why I find it easier to work in ounces, even if it is a bit retro old skool classic these days. This is also due to the genius of my mother, who has been making awesome sponge cakes this way since the dawn of time, and even probably before that. Cheers Ma.

Korean Books and A Bit of a Breather At Last!

Back in August I was working on a set of five books for a Korean publisher (this is the project that turned into a nightmare of Wes Craven proportions after the original five week timescale was dragged out to three months after lots of faffing about, unnecessary changes and language difficulties). Last week, I got the finished books through:











Yes, I am the sap who named their character after their boyfriend. No need to tell me I'm cruising near the top of the Spew-o-Meter.

They are not what I would call my best work. They wanted me to work in "real" paint and cited my book "Munch" as the example to follow. This was all very well, but I wrote and illustrated "Munch" waaaay back in 2004, and four years in a long time in Illustration when you are constantly developing and changing your style, usually subconsciously. So I painted it with real brushes and gouache and paper and everything, but I was just constantly reminded of why I now prefer to colour my illustrations digitally. Like, for example, when you've completed all the artwork, sent off low-res scans for colour approval, only for them to say they don't like the main character (after OK-ing him at the rough stage) and can I change his hair style? happens, you can do it all at a click of a button.

I have to admit, they have turned out much better than I thought they would. The colours have reproduced well, the endpapers (not my work at all*) are lovely, and the covers bright and interesting, even though they are not the ones I supplied. (But here I really don't mind as their idea was much better than mine). I shouldn't really complain, even though it was hard work, as the fee meant I could buy my toaster and sofa, not to mention a new iMac which should hopefully be delivered this week, and given me a bit more financial security over the coming months.

So this weekend I finished the remainder of all my other work. Pirates II was in the bag the weekend before, and Frogs IV finished Friday evening. This was an unexpected bonus, as I fully expected to be working all through the lovely spring sunshine over Saturday and Sunday. It was Boyfriend's weekend off, so he was down and we spent a lovely day wandering through Stanmer Park, getting the bus into town for a few purchases, eating ginger cake at The Sanctuary and scoffing a Grubbs on the seafront in the early evening. So right now I am in a rather unusual position: a weekday with no work. I've caught up with the washing up, put the washing machine on three times and baked a cake. I think I will go out this afternoon and enjoy a bit more of the spring sunshine before it all disappears and make a list of what to tackle next....

*Edit: When I say not my work, they are, of course, my work, I just didn't design them. They took bits from other pages and made them up. Sorry!

Hom Nom Nom

Roll on Easter.

Hurrah!

Pirates II is finished, just the last piece (cover tweaks) uploading now. Just the last Frogs book to colour now. Due in next Monday. Better get cracking...

Oh My God, That's Pink.

Funny for Money

As it is Red Nose Day tomorrow, I've decided to "do something funny for money" and dye my hair pink. That's right. Pink. Really, really bright pink. This involves bleach and everything.

The kit just arrived:





That's the dye itself there are the bottom. As you can see, it's called "Hot Hot Pink". Sure is.

So tomorrow (hopefully, time willing, over the weekend if not) I will becoming pink. Not sure how the library will react to that, but oh well, it's for charidee!

If you would like to help raise money for good causes please go to www.myrednoseday.com/ohmygodthatspink and sponsor me.

Cuteable

The lovely peeps over at Cuteable have featured one of my button bracelets on their yellow Monday Mosaic today! Coolio.

Bleurgh

LOTS of work left to do. One deadline for this Friday, and another for the 23rd. But then Freedom! Hurrah! I've decided to give myself lots of breaks and "treats" to get myself through the last couple of weeks. I'm just about to transfer the latest Simon Mayo/Mark Kermode podcast onto my iPod so I can listen to a bit of Wittertainment while I work and will pop out for some fresh air later, especially as it's just turned all spring-like in past week or so.

Just wish my brain would concentrate on the jobs in hand rather than going off on lots of "Ooo, I could do this next" tangents!