fabulous flats

Lovely summer shoes.

Flats are my fave but I'll make allowances for the the tiny heel in the middle pair but only because they have studs!

school mosaic

Back in October, I helped out with a project at our children's school to create a mosaic depicting everyone's favourite patchwork elephant, Elmer. Lots of parents and children had great fun sticking the tiles and getting covered in glue. Although it has been up on the school wall for a couple of months, a few of us spent yesterday afternoon doing some finishing touches and completing the dreaded grouting. If you haven't tried mosaic-ing (think I just made that verb up), then give it a go - it's very relaxing!

new prints

I had a lovely day last week at the Arts Sunday event organised by the Guernsey Arts Commission. I met lots of lovely people who were all really enthusiastic about my work and I was able to show off some new print designs. The 'Ormer' design below was really popular.

beach trip

Had a lovely beach trip yesterday with the smallest boy's class. We walked from school through the lanes picking up any rubbish we could find (which wasn't a lot I'm happy to say as Guernsey is pretty clean) and singing the womble song (although that was probably just me!)

The children had to create beach art inspired by Andy Goldsworthy. The pebbles are so beautiful that I'm definitely going to have another go at my own pebble circle using the different colours.

 

and what about the colour of this lichen on the rock!

sushi!

At the weekend we faffed about (because it IS a bit of a faff) and made some sushi from a Yo! Sushi kit. Perfect activity for a rainy afternoon AND you get to eat it at the end!

Yay! Moo

They're here! My new 'Guernsey scenes' cards from Moo, in all their silky gloriousness!

tea towel

I was recently contacted by the lovely Fenella of Torteval cheese to come up with a design for a tea towel to promote her award winning cheese, Fort Grey, named after the well known landmark on Guernsey's west coast. I suggested a hand lettered style for the product information which complements the illustration and also her delicious artisan cheese.

Happy with the finished design we are both looking forward to seeing the finished product!

this little light of mine....

Hand lettering process in my trusty Moleskin sketchbook before the finished illustration.

before

I was looking about recently for a sideboard or chest of drawers to stand the TV on and store away all the 100s of DVDs that we (when I say we, they are mostly children's movies) have accumulated. I looked at a new pine, flat-packed piece which had a price tag of about £200 and thought "hmm, I'm sure I could do better than that". I always resent buying new stuff as the quality is so rubbish unless you have £1000s to spend.

So I mosied (not sure if that's the corret spelling but such a great word!) round to a second hand furniture shop not feeling very hopeful when I spotted this little beauty for £40! She's solid as a rock but is suffering a little from orange varnish disease with a small case of cheap brass handle-itis. Nothing that can't be fixed up with a little elbow grease. Enter the husband with power tool. He's done a great job sanding the top which is a great colour. I can't be so cruel as to suggest removing the varnish off the whole thing as it's such a job, so a couple of coats of off-white paint along with new handles and she's going to be a beauty!

Will post pics of the finished article at a later date...

Bakewells!

The picture in the magazine looked like this...

... and the finished product looked like this!

But they tasted good.

finished sunshine lettering

Here's the finished piece...

Rough idea process below as I try to work out the layout.

First snow & hand lettering

It seems that Jack Frost visited my little corner of the world last night!

After trudging through the slush to walk the children to school and back, I managed to find a bit of time to work on some hand lettering for a new design.

Liqueur Label

A recent project was to illustrate this label for a local producer for their Raspberry Liqueur. It's absolutely yum and there are more flavours in the pipeline - can't wait to sample! All the fruits are grown on their own land and other products include chutneys, jams and biscuits.

runner up!

Well wadda you know! I was a runner up. Shame the runners up don't win anything!!

watercolour lettering

Working on some ideas for the latest Tigerprint competition I've been having much fun with my watercolours trying out some lettering styles. It's really addictive and quite different to my recent work.

Here's a couple of finished designs

go Parsley!

Parsley has moooved to pastures new after her auction last Sunday. She raised £1500 for G.A.L.P (Guernsey Adult Literacy Project). I was thrilled!! Would love to see her in her new home.

personalised cards

OK, nothing new about personalised 'wordy' cards but I've been doing some of my own for friends and family which have gone down rather well (and they're lots of fun!)

church square

New illustration of St Peter Port church square.

down at the harbour

We've been spending a fair bit of time down at the harbour in St Peter Port recently. It's a great place to clear your mind and get lost in thought as the brightly coloured fishing boats go about their business.

 

Last week the younger boy child went on a sailing course which allowed me and the older boy child to mooch around the harbour with our sketch books and a flask of tea for a few days.

We also ventured down to the Harbour Carnival to watch the various wacky races including the plastic duck race - not something you see everyday!

The finish line!!