Rug design for Land of Nod

My simple spiral design is now on rugs for Land of Nod.

So much of my work is for books and magazines and so it's initially created on paper and then ends up printed on paper  it's interesting for me to see something finish up on a different type of surface. This was such a "flat" image it's wonderful to see the added depth and texture that the hand tufted wool adds.

Caterham Vintage and Art Fair

On Saturday the 17th of September from 11am - 5pm I will have a table at the Caterham Vintage and Art Fair.
I'll be selling gouache and acrylic animal paintings, prints of some of my illustrations, painted ceramics and cards. The event is being held at:

Soper Hall
Harestone Valley Road
Caterham
Surrey CR3 6HY

here is a link to a map

There will be tea and cakes, tombola (I might finally discover what tombola is!), a raffle and live music plus vintage and art stalls. I'm so looking forward to it!

The event is organised by Anita of Mrs Antil's Apartment.

here is what she write on the Press Release:

"The Caterham Vintage and Art Fair is a community event for affordable vintage and art lovers as well as those who are just curious or love a rummage through vintage clothes, accessories and home-wares.
This will all take place on the ground floor of the beautiful and historic Soper Hall in Caterham Valley, 3 minutes from Caterham station.
All items will be reasonably priced - making beautiful and old things available and affordable for the local community.
There will also be vintage inspired art, as well as a variety of quirky, original art works from Surrey and London based artists including: LittleToucan, DiDoesVintage, KatyLou and Trina Dalziel.
Old fashioned music hall style live entertainment will be provided by quirky, sultry and soulful singer-songwriter, Ziba.
There will be a vintage 'tea room' to replenish with ration recipe cakes, pretty cupcakes and of course tea!
Entrance is free and anyone from 5 days to 105 years is very welcome.
Come and have fun!"

The Cat and Dog Lover's Companions

I loved working on this project way back in the winter so lovely to receive copies in the post recently.

Visit me at Sydenham Visual Arts Trail

I'm taking part in Sydenham Visual Arts Trail - an open house/studio event for artists to show their work. It takes place on Saturday and Sunday the 9th and 10th of July and Saturday and Sunday the 16th and 17th of July from 11am to 5pm on each day.

I'll be showing my new acrylic and gouache paintings, large inky drawings and hand painted ceramics - all on animal themes both real and imaginary. I will also have archival digital prints of some of my illustration work and greetings cards.

You can find me in the home of textile artist Diana McKinnon who will be showing her amazingly detailed free machine embroideries. And Sally Earlam will be showing her silver and semi precious bead jewelry. If the weather is dry there will be tea and cakes in the garden (with money raised from teas going to charity). I'm almost as excited about planning the cakes I'll make as preparing my work...but not quite!

Diana's House is at 40 Dacres Road, London SE23 2NR just 5 minutes walk from Forest Hill Station (which is on both the mainline from London Bridge and also the Overground that runs from Highbury and Islington  through the East End to Crystal Palace/West Croydon). Here is a link to a map (we are number 37) and on the right you can click and download a pdf of the Visual Arts Trail Map and Guide -  on the guide. There are over 45 homes/locations in the area open and more than 100 artists participating - so lots to see. Plus ten minutes from Forest Hill Station is the wonderful Horniman Museum which is also well worth a visit.

If you are local and able to come along it would be really lovely to meet you. Let me know if you read about the event here and I will have a small present for the first (or perhaps only!) person who mentions my blog.

Suffolk Alumni Magazine and gathering reference

 

This was for the Alumni Magazine (SAM) of Suffolk University in Boston.

It was a piece about an American woman and her husband who moved to Australia to start a new life and her experiences of her move and starting afresh in a different continent.

The unusual thing about coming up with ideas for this project was that I was working on it before the text was written so it needed to be quite a general image.

I often wonder how I managed to gather reference for commissions pre-internet.....a stock of books and a trip to the library? Now I so often turn to Google - however for this project I got the opportunity to use a book, that has been quietly waiting to be of use for over 30 years. 

 The book I used for reference “Furred Animals of Australia” was given to me by an elderly Australian gentleman, Mr. Marshall, in 1977. He’d emigrated to Australia in about 1912 as a small boy and when he returned to our town in Scotland for the first time sixty five years later, he was put in contact with my grandfather as he was the town Provost and an expert on local history. It turned out they had been next-door neighbours and best friends as children prior to Mr Marshall emigrating! They spent a magical week reminiscing and visiting the local area together. And I as an animal obsessed nine year old when I met him quizzed him about the animals of Australia.

My grandfather died a few months after his visit and Mr Marshall treated me as his “adopted” granddaughter sending me books and presents from Australia and letters that talked sometimes of his childhood memories.

This book has always had a special place on my bookshelf and in my heart and I was delighted to be able to use it for this project - so much more rewarding than clicking on Google!

Family Circle - the benefits of writing down anxieties on test scores

This was a recent illustration for the US magazine Family Circle. The piece was about how test results improved if children were encouraged to write down their anxieties prior to exams.
I'm pretty sure it works for adults too!

One minute Promo Video for Surtex

This was made for Surtex - the surface design and stationery fair in New York that my agents, Lilla Rogers Studio, attend in May. Surtex were asking us to make up to one minute films promoting our work/brand to show on a screen at the fair.

Dennis offered to make a little film for me so I gave him some jpegs of my surface design work and left him to it. Well, mostly left him to it... I went in his office a few times and started being a bit "can you do this can you do that ish" but luckily I had a commission to complete by the end of the day so managed not to be too interfering!

I think just as it is sometimes easier for someone else to put your portfolio together this feels like it captures what I do much better than if I'd tried myself.