More Folk Trees and Birds

I drew this Folk Tree last year, it was originally only intended to be for Christmas cards but it's still one of my favorite designs, perhaps because of the patterns and symmetry or maybe because the lines look so crisp and clean. I'm always striving for perfection, working by hand means this is probably unobtainable but for now I'm happy to keep trying. I like to work as big as possible and then reduce the size of my drawings so they look neater. This Folk Tree is A4 but the birds are both actually A5 and when reduced the lines were really fine, I'm amazed at how well they screen printed. 

I was hoping to print an edition of these Folk Trees on 300gsm soft white Somerset Satin printmaking paper. Unfortunately when I went to buy more paper from Cass Arts in London they had almost doubled the price of Somerset Satin from £3.50 to £6.50 which seems a bit excessive. I've printed some of the edition on Fabriano paper and the rest will have to wait until I've found some reasonably price Somerset Satin.

Hello Spring!

It seems like we've been waiting months for spring to arrive but it looks like it's finally here, just in time for summer! I'd almost forgotten what sunshine and warmth were like. It's so nice not to be cold all the time and it's great to see leaves on trees and flowers in gardens. Inspired by this I've drawn and screen printed two new card designs for spring, Hello Flower and Cluck Cluck. I love orange and yellow at the moment though probably should use other colours for a change so will be making an effort to try something different in future.

Obviously I like drawing flowers, birds and animals, but if I had time I would definitely draw more bees. They might look cute and furry but these little insects are also very important so it's worrying that they are under threat and that their numbers are declining. Because bees pollinate plants we are dependent on them for many basic things we need to survive, not just fruit and vegetables but also cotton for clothing. Apparently Albert Einstein even said 'If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.'

You're So Sweet You Give Me Toothache

In January I designed a new card for Valentine's Day,You're So Sweet You Give Me Toothache, which was inspired by one of my favorite films, Clueless. If you've seen the film you might know what I'm referring to. The character Elton says that Tai gives him toothache, and one of the other characters explains that it's because she's so sweet. If you haven't seen the film then you're missing out, it's a really clever, funny, version of Jane Austen's novel Emma, and so much better than all those costume dramas.

As well as printing new cards I also spent a lot of January reprinting some of my favorite designs from last year including Made For Each Other and You're a Star. They've already made their way around the country and into a few shops, fingers crossed they're selling well so I can buy some more printing supplies.

Spring is in the air

It's a probably a bit optimistic to be thinking about spring at the moment, especially with all the snow we've had recently, but I really wanted an excuse to use some lovely bright colours. This Spring Flower Tree is my first screen print of 2013 and as well as a bright green and dark green colour combination I've also printed some in yellow and orange. The Spring Flower Tree cards are printed on cream recycled card which I folded and cut by hand. But I've been using a bone folder and it's much quicker than scoring and folding the card.

Mythical Creatures Exhibition at Here Gallery

For the latest Girls Who Draw exhibition we will be unleashing an array of fabulous beasts and beings to fill the windows and walls of Here Gallery. The show accompanies Mythical Creatures, the fourth limited edition Girls Who Draw postcard book, and will include a selection of prints and original artwork from the book as well as new pieces created especially for the gallery.

The exhibition line-up features a range of emerging and established female illustrators from around the UK and different characters from myths, legends and folklore. Amongst them will be Wood Troll and Firebird screen prints by Ruth Green, Pegasus and mermaid paintings by Lee May Foster-Wilson and prints of Imaginary Beings by Sarah Lippett. Some of the exhibitors have also made Mythical Creatures inspired products and craft-work such as Kate Hindley’s Ratatoskr cushions, Yee Ting Kuit’s Gnome and Unicorn brooches and Beth Morrison’s hand painted, wooden figures of Bigfoot and Brownie the helpful elf.

As part of the exhibition there will be a small showcase of self-published books from some of the exhibitors including mini comics by illustrator Kristyna Baczynski and handmade comics and zines by screen printers Esther McManus and Helen Entwisle. And as if that isn’t enough Gocco queen Xtina Lamb and myself will be printing, cutting and sticking to produce a large scale installation in the windows of Here Gallery.

The flyer is another amazing design by the super talented Kristyna Baczynski www.kristyna.co.uk

Mythical Creatures Exhibition: 

Saturday 9th of February – Saturday 6th of April

Opening – Saturday 9th of February 1pm – 4pm

Here Gallery

108 Stokes Croft

Bristol

BS1 3RU

www.thingsfromhere.co.uk

Shiny New Christmas Cards

Despite spending so much time on buses, trams and trains lately, traveling to various parts of the country to deliver framed prints for different exhibitions, I've managed to get a new card design finished and screen printed just in time for Christmas. Hopefully the cards will make it to a few of my favorite shops, galleries and craft fairs. I'm not sure if the colours are particularly festive but I wanted to try something different and also use the metallic purple acrylic which has been at the bottom of my box of screen printing supplies for a long long time. The metallic ink shows up well on the eco natural cards but I really like it on the brown kraft cards. This time I used A6 recycled card blanks and envelopes from 'Docrafts' which are about £5 for 50 so seem like good value for money. The brown kraft card blanks are from Fred Aldous in Manchester, it's a great art shop and definitely worth a visit.

Folk Tree Window Installation

Ok, so I might have gone a little bit overboard with the Folk Trees but I really enjoyed creating this installation and little exhibition of my work for The Red Door Gallery. Admittedly it did involve a lot of late nights spent folding, glueing and cutting out little card trees. And the vinyls were a nightmare to install but no pain no gain as they say. It was a great opportunity to be able to finally show the whole series of Folk Tree screen prints together.