Love bird family

I forgot to show you my Valentine's products for this year!
How utterly useless am I?!

I have made some more love birds in delicious new fabrics: this idea is nothing new, merely something I change eversoslightly now and then...

...but, whilst in the middle of making a batch of birds, I thought how lovely they all looked together - and how it would be great to have more than 2 birds on the perch...

...and then it hit me! A love bird family!

And here is the first one: two proud parents with their baby!

You could even add an older sibling or two!
Anyway, I thought it would be a lovely idea for a newborn gift - or even an alternative Valentine's idea.
I braved the cold and wet at the weekend (no snow here in Cornwall - boo!) as I had an order for some driftwood cottages.

You can see here the different blocks I used

And from this view, you may be able to tell what I used for the roofs? It is the corner pieces you find in fruit crates (we find a lot of those on the beach for some reason).
Perfect! Nothing goes to waste in this household!

I hope you are all managing to keep safe and warm - another chilly one tonight!
See you soon!

Latest work: Mevagissey

It's been quite a productive week: fairly quiet on the orders front, so I've been able to crack on and finish the first of two pieces of work which will be on show at Delamore Arts in May.

I think I prefer the little snippets of the background as they are so simplified - almost like using a large brush - whereas the foreground is more complicated!

I love the colourful buildings and their reflections in the water!

Certainly makes me wish for spring, if not summer!

And here is the finished piece - it measures about 50cm x 30cm...

So... one down, one to go - and I have two commissions to crack on with after that!
It's enough to make your eyes go squiffy!

Have a great weekend!

Mini Tutorial!

Hmmm, I am writing this post, but as yet unsure whether I will publish it or not!
A few people have asked me how to "do collage". This is like asking someone how they paint! I don't know how I do it - I just do it! But, I thought I would have a little try at a blog post, to explain - mostly through pictures. I am no teacher....but I will do my best!

So I decided I would do something simple: a lemon. Except that a lemon did not turn out to be simple at all - not least because yellow seems to be the least common colour in my whole stash of magazines!! Nevertheless.....here goes!

So, this lemon! If you look at it, you may see as well as yellow, there are shades of orange, lime green and ochre there.

I started by drawing the outline and began to fill in - start with your basic light and shade. I often end up with layer upon layer of paper or fabric, so you neednt worry if its wrong at this stage (this is why I am hopeless at watercolour - when you have to get it right first-time!)

I like to use pieces of paper with a bit of text on. I try and use the line of the text to follow the form of the object.

Personally I prefer to rip my paper, but you can create lovely collages using little squares cut with scissors.

White tissue paper is a staple for me: I often use it in landscape to make the background seem further away, or take the vibrancy down a notch.

Almost finished. I feel that I overworked this, normally I would use half as many pieces, but hey-ho! I never claimed to be perfect!!

And there you have it! Not my best piece of work, but hopefully you get the idea!
Maybe I have inspired you to have a try? If so, I would love to see (yours will probably be better than mine!) Leave a link on here if you make a collage of your own!

Happy creating folks!!

Latest collage work

It's been a while since I've done any collages, and it has been great to work in this way again: using scraps of old magazines to build up scenes like this one of Polperro.

It's the second one I have done of this popular harbour village - you can see my first effort here.

This one was commissioned by a friend of mine who is moving away and wants a reminder of beautiful Cornwall.

My favourite bit is the reflections....

I have a couple more commissions in the pipeline (which I will share will you in due course, naturally!) and I also have to produce a couple more, because I am going to exhibit in a real-life exhibition!! This is a big deal for me, because I haven't exhibited in a real-life exhibition since my degree show......um, 18 years ago!

So, I'm going to be busy.....but of course, that's the way I like it!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!

2012

Well of course it has been for over a fortnight now, but it has taken me a little while to get back in the swing of things! I hope you all had a fun/relaxing time over the festive period (already feels an age ago!) Seems a little late to be wishing you all a Happy New Year - but I do hope it will be a great one for you guys!

Of course, as soon as Christmas is over, we are bombarded with gumpf about Valentines Day! I remember this time two years ago, I made this seahorse mobile (thought it was quite a nice, non-traditional theme for Valentines, as seahorses mate for life) but never took it any further. So this year I have tweaked it a little and popped them in my shops on Folksy and Etsy.

The colours/fabrics in this one were requested by a customer...

The mobile casts a gorgeous shadow on the wall....
Other Valentine offerings include the caged love-birds which seem to be popular all year round!
I have 3 orders for them at the moment, and while I should have been finishing the first one last week, I had the urge to make this little fellow...

...and then a little racing friend for him!

Not sure what inspired them exactly, I think it was the gorgeous fabric ('Echo' by designer Lotta Jansdotter). Anyway people seemed to like them and they sold after I posted a picture on Facebook.

If you are anything like me, then January is definitely time for home improvements! I think it's because the house looks so bare after the decorations have come down. Last week I painted the lounge (looks so fresh and clean now, doubt it will last long!) and Steve sank this fab piece of driftwood into the plaster above the fireplace, which had always seemed a bit stark before - the wood really warms it up, I think!

I picked up this mirror at our local junk shop for a fiver - gotta love a bargain!! The knitted corsage hides the nasty brass picture hook!

And finally, look at what lovely Steve made me as an extra Chrimbo pressie! Authentic lobster markers are available from Bringing The Outside In.... but I love my "pretend" ones just as much!

Happy Holidays....

Yippee, my favourite time of year is here again: all orders have been made up and posted off (much to my utter relief), the boys have broken up from school and "Elf" has been on the telly!
I just thought I would share some festive images from us down here in Cornwall...

...the great tradition that is choosing the tree...

a little shot of the fireplace with gorgeous pixy advent calendar and matching stockings by Danish designers Maileg. Usually we stand the Christmas tree on that antique sled, but it was a little too tall this year, so we made an impromtu seat for the kiddywinks...

Finally got around to buying some outdoor fairylights this year, so they are hanging on the archway. They look really magical!

Here is the tree: I took loads of photos of it, but none of them came out very well!

On Saturday I decided on a whim to make some really tiny cottages (made from driftwood blocks) to hang on the tree. I am thinking they may be part of my Christmas range in 2012!

I am going to be *40* tomorrow!! To celebrate/commiserate, Steve and I are staying in a hotel near our favourite beach, and the plan is to do lots of walking/beachcoming (fingers crossed that we dont have torrential rain!) so I am really looking forward to that! Got a few things in the pipeline for next year, which I will share with you nearer the time!) so I am really hoping to collect some good bits! With any luck there will be a fair bit to choose from, following the recent gales!
Anyway, I would like to wish you all a sincere Merry Christmas and most excellent New Year!
See you in 2012!! xxx

December Already!

It just doesn't seem possible, does it? I am counting down the days now until the boys break up from school, because that will coincide with my last posting date....and then a well-earned break!
Thankfully, both the fairs I took part in have come and gone, and I feel as though the pressure has lifted somewhat - or maybe it's just that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
Sales were disappointing at both events - but actually I am quite glad in retrospect, because orders are still coming in thick and fast, and at least I'm not having to make loads more stock (always look on the bright side, me!)
Anyway, Ill show you some photos of recent work....

Check out the gorgeous ochre-y tones on this piece of driftwood - it just reminded me of the rooftops in St Ives.

I find alot of wedge-shaped pieces of driftwood, and usually cast them aside. But I sliced the top edge off, hammered in some nail 'chimneys' - and look! A quirky free-standing town house!

I love this piece of wood (above). It's quite unusual to find driftwood with yellow paint on, so I thought I would keep it simple, added an iron rod for a mast with a single blue flag.

Some chunky driftwood cottages with slate roofs.

I find alot of tiny blocks on the beach - and have finally found a use for them! The biggest of these cottages is only 6cm x 5cm. Like a model village!

Had a little bit of press this week, in the festive issue of My Cornwall.

And finally, I thought I would share this special order with you. It was commissioned by a very good friend of mine, who wanted a butterfly for her mum's birthday present. It pushed me out of my comfort zone....but that's no bad thing, right?!

I was quite pleased with the way it turned out!

Well, that's enough for one post I think! If you got this far, then thanks for reading!!
Catch up soon xxx