Tenby collage

Well done to Melanie Wickham for guessing Tenby!

I love the colours of the buildings here, they remind me of Neopolitan ice-cream!

We have had a few lovely days of sunshine here in Cornwall this week, and with the days drawing out and daffodils blooming, it really feels as though spring is well and truly on its way!
This makes me very happy!

We headed down to the beach looking for "treasure" yesterday....

....and we were not disappointed! (Poor Steve, you cant really see from the picture, but he has 2 industrial sized buckets filled with little bits of driftwood over his shoulders, as well as the longer planks he is carrying - what a star!)

We found this big chunk of hardwood (maybe oak?) which is really heavy and quite an irregular shape. Steve wanted to keep it as a bookend....but then I had other ideas!

Hello Autumn

There has been a definite change in the air over the last week or so, and the start of the new school term means that summer is over once again. The next few months are usually the busiest for me, so I am trying to cram in a few new pieces before I get wrapped up making robins and penguins - plus a different Christmas design for 2011 that is in the pipeline!

I had a lovely commission for a customer a couple of weeks ago: she wanted 9, yes 9, hanging jellyfish for her little boys room. The only specification was no pink...so I could really go to town!

I had plenty of bright fabric to choose from...

And here is a shot of them finished!
While it was most enjoyable using a vast array of colours, when I chanced upon some gorgeous cotton lace fabric on eBay, I knew I would like to have a go at a neutral one...

And here it is: has a kind of vintage look to it, wouldnt you say? I used cotton lace trims and (get this) sequins as well as satin and organza ribbons. Very dreamy! If you fancy having a go at making your own jelly, you can find a tutorial here.

I have been thinking about doing some mixed media pieces, combining driftwood with painted canvasses: here is my first attempt....

What do you think? Hoping to do some more (I have a bit more time now that the boys are at school).Speaking of which, my baby started a few days ago! He was most excited (long may that last!) Here he is on his first day...

....with the obligatory too-short fringe!
Have a great weekend lovely people!

Fowey Collage

A nice little commission I've completed this week. It may not be instantly recognisable as Fowey, though the letters on the boat give it away...

I love all the roof tops - though it was one of my more fiddly collages (it measures about 30cm x 23cm). Off to the framers now!
Hope you all have a most excellent weekend!

Latest collage commission

Hi folks! Any Facebook followers may have glimpsed a sneaky preview of this a couple of days ago: I am relieved that it is finally finished! I have to say I struggled with it a bit - it's not my usual subject matter, and it is the most complicated collage I have ever done!

So much detail!

So many shades of green!

And even whilst I was putting the finishing touches to it, I was still finding flowers that I'd missed somehow!

Here is a real close-up, so you can see how many hundreds of bits of magazine it takes to create the finished product!
Gotta go hoover now, my floor looks like it has been showered with confetti!
Hope you're having a good week my lovelies!

Something a bit different

I was commissioned recently to do a collage for a friend of a friend of a friend. Nice to put the sewing machine/drill to one side for a while! I worked in this style when I was at art school (a long time ago although it feels like only yesterday!) It's basically made up from layers of torn bits of paper.

Here are a few details... can you tell where it is?


This might give it away (especially to any local Cornish maids!)


Give up?
Here's the whole picture!

That's right, it's St Ives! I wish the weather was like this right now, me and the boys are starting to get cabin fever with all this rain!

Toucan

I had a fun little commission this week: remember my elephant cushion?

Well, a nice lady bought it from my Folksy shop and she also wanted a matching mobile: she liked the owl ones, but her son's nursery had a safari theme, so she needed a creature to tie in with that theme. We decided on a toucan!


The customer had a clear idea of colours/fabrics etc - all I had to do was adapt the pattern from here!

I'm quite pleased with the way he turned out - I hope the little tiny baby likes him too!

Childrens cushions

They've taken me a long time to complete as I've had loads of shop orders lately, but the final two commissioned cushions are finished (see previous post for others) These are for the customer's grandsons.

PS Don't they look nice with our star bedding?!