Monday 18 November 2013

The Fairy Tale Fair - Success!

1 Christmas Fair down, 5 to go.

It was an amazing day! Surprisingly busy for early November which I don't really consider to be Christmas shopping time, but evidently a lot of people do.

 I ate some delicious cake!
My stall :)

Some treasures.

Up next is the Makers Boutique at the Unitarian Church - Saturday the 23rd. 


Wednesday 30 October 2013

Give Me Your Fur

 Bison are one of the best creatures and are only made better when accompanied by naked moles. 








Tuesday 29 October 2013

Creature Hoarder

Long over due post. 

I had a horrible cold a few weeks ago and in my drugged state of mind I created this:











It took roughly 20 hours in total; so, I started and finished it in a single weekend which was a great feeling. Thinking back, I don't even fully remember the whole process or why this idea came about. 

Its A1 size, which is the largest I have done since being in the UK. When I was in university, everything was big, 5ft big. I had the studio space, storage space, and my dad's workshop to build stretcher frames. Here in England, I feel a little limited by my workspace. Another is scanning. I always want to have a high quality digital version of my artwork for reproduction. Usually I am scanning A2 artwork about 6 times and stitching it together in photoshop. Working on A1 size this time meant I needed to scan this piece 14 times. Its a long process but 100% worth it for reproductions. 

Thursday 24 October 2013

The Fairy Tale Fair

Christmas!!! 

My first Christmas Market is only 3 short weeks away:

The Fairy Tale Fair - November 16th at Patcham Methodist Church in Brighton. 

I am very much looking forward to this one, as it will be my first time at this market which is always exciting.

I have two brand new creature paintings that will make their appearance in the form of prints, Christmas gifts tags, and some new phone case designs all in time for Christmas. I hope to see some familiar faces again.

Sunday 13 October 2013

Friday 20 September 2013

Crafty Fox Market

I have come down with what feels like the plague I'm sure, so all the social media and website updating I had planned to do went out the window this past week. This evening I have just realised that it is just 2 short weeks until the CRAFTY FOX!

Brixton Oct 5. I am so excited for this. It will be my very first market out of my brighton/southsea comfort zone. Also the talent that will be there is phenomenal so I expect to be spending most of my earnings. 

I feel super honored to have been successful in my application for this market. Take a look at the traders line up for Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th. It is ridiculous. 

Get excited. It's going to be pretty awesome.

Wednesday 4 September 2013

LACK OF UPDATE!


It has been far too long since the last update. But within good reason. Sort of. I went home to Canada for just under three weeks as my little brother was getting married. It was quite nice to have a break from my real job and my crafty job too. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with my Etsy shop as in the last few months things have been picking up slowly. I read that it wasn’t a great idea to put it in ‘holiday mode’ for a few reasons. So I opted to not and changed my Shop Announcement and automated responses. Lucky I did so as I received 6 orders while away and even more lucky each were happy to wait until I was back. The only draw back was I was answering a few emails and fretting a little about the customers being upset about having to wait, whilst on holiday. It was all fine in the end. I flew back to England, went in to work the same day, then worked a Friday and had a long weekend to catch up on Etsy orders.


Here are two new custom Russian Owls. 







Friday 26 July 2013

Nakkid Owls - Behance Served Gallery Feature - Character Design

Screen Shot from Character Design Served Gallery
I have been very much neglecting my Behance portfolio and focusing more on Etsy as of late, so it was a nice surprise to wake up to an e-mail from Behance letting me know one of my projects was featured. This will be the 7th Behance feature for me (yay!). 

You should for sure go and have a look and 'appreciate' it.

Friday 12 July 2013

A Day in the Life of Moi - Makers Boutique

Hopefully you have already seen and ready this over at Makers Boutique... But just incase... I wanted to post up the text and images over here too!
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It's Saturday morning and I'm up early because I cannot bear to sleep in ever. I always check my email and social medias first. Sometimes its hard to keep up with them all (Facebook x2, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Blogger, Behance! Plus my website and Etsy!).




I have an order for a custom set of Russian Owls for Southsea Coffee Co. in Porstmouth, which I have been dying to get started on all week. I work a 9-5 during the week, which doesn't leave a ton of time during the week to get creative. So I make breakfast and get organized to get started.

I start by collecting some images/colour palette for inspiration into a folder on my computer for when I get stuck on what next to do. Sometimes I pull inspiration from some of my old favorites.


I am a huge image hoarder and have been collecting inspiration sources since university. I am also slight obessive and label each image correctly for easy finding later.

I start sketching some basic lines and details for the owls and then get some colours mixed while I eat breakfast (banana & egg pancake).


My most favorite thing to do:


I'm using Stevenson acrylic inks and have been since university. They are what was suggested in my first year and have gotten so used to this brand it's hard to change. The only problem is I can only get them when I'm back home in Canada.



I get a colour palette decided, trying to stick with the shop's colours. 


 After painting the grey on this owl about 4 times, I think I have the right shade.



It's time for a break and I always have more than one project on the go. And today's task is doing a little stock take of my products after last weekend's fair at Fabric for Craftaganza.
                                

My 9-5 job gives me access to all kinds of printing equipment which allows me to produce all of my products.
I have an etsy store which I'm still new at and trying to build it up a little more, so I take some photos of some new products which I printed last week.



My husband is always a big help to me when doing fairs especially, but sometimes he is busy so I have to get creative.



I do a little bit of photo editing so they are ready to go up on Etsy.



It's time for a change of scenery, so I walk into town (chichester) which is literally a 3 minute walk.
It's not Friday but I put out a print for Free Art Friday anyways as I didn't have time last night. I hope it makes someone's day awesome.


I have decided to treat myself and buy some new paintbrushes and white paint.



I go back to the Russian Owls, desperate to get them finished sooner than later so that I can go deliver them to Southsea Coffee and drink coffee and eat some of their cake. Cake is my weakness. My husband and I avoid all grains, legumes and dairy and anything processed, but I can never say no to cake. Ever.


For now almonds and dried pineapple will have to do.



A few more hours of works:


I feel satisfied with my progress today, so I call it a day. I eat a late dinner and spend some time with my husband watching a movie until I don't feel guilty about going to bed early.




Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz