October 30th 2011

I've bought a new camera - one that does Super Macro! -ooh, get me with my new plaything!

Going to have lots of fun with this..........

My current obsession

Paper!

Cutting, trimming, sticking, - lovely lovely collage. It's a whole new experience for me. I spent a hour wandering the aisles in our local Hobbycraft (my Favourite shop) and bought myself a cutting matt and various craft knives,  not to mention a spectrum of wonderful coloured papers - the teal and magenta pinks are my favourite colours of the moment. 

Since my trip I have been busy with my new goodies - the floor of my dining room now scattered with a thousand tiny coloured specks of paper - to the point where my eleven year old son asked if he could push the hoover round today! - well that's never happened before!:-). 

Rob Ryan

I have always loved the work of Rob Ryan and have followed his work for a few years.  His paper cuts comment on the world around us, relationships, love,  and the connections between us and the universe we live in. Illustrating this further, these connections are replicated by the nature of the medium. In a paper cut, all the elements have to be connected, people have to touch, branches overlap - everything connected to each other to hold the design together. His designs are both relevant and personal, which explains why his designs manage to transcend from fine art to commercial gift ware. See his work in John Lewis and other high streets biggies! 

And the dress!.....wow!

Might be a pain to iron though! 

Where does your inspiration come from?

A lovely thing happened yesterday - a source of  inspiration.
I visited my friends, to deliver a birthday present to the dad. Whilst I was at their house the dad showed me the cards his young daughters had made him. The girls are very artistic and had made the most beautiful cards. Inside his youngest daughter had written

"Make your Best Wish Ever"

 Wow, I thought, what a beautiful sentiment,  how succinct, what a lot said in only 5 words.


The eldest daughter had written in her card:

 "Have a great day, in every single way" 

Again Wow!- heart felt and warm - and again, such a lot said in so few words.

Having scribbled these on a piece of paper I went home and started work on a paper cut.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84537224/make-your-best-wish-ever-print-of-an

Have a great day, in every single way - coming soon.

Welcome to my Blog!

Well, I have finally taken the plunge and opened a blog.

I am an artist living in Eastleigh, Hampshire, UK. I have always enjoyed creating art and draw or paint every day, just because I love it.

I studied for a degree in Fine Art Painting at Winchester School of Art and since then have spent my time working on a variety of illustration/painting work including pet portraits, murals, painted pebbles, children's canvases, and designs for licensing in the gift market - cards, wrap etc. I also run a face painting business with my friend Bernadette.

As you can see I have fingers in many pies. I have spent time wondering if this was OK? Should I be concentrating on one area? Wouldn't I get bored? Wouldn't I miss out?
Other artists seem to have one style they concentrate on and expand gradually - or do they? Is this just what we see on the surface - the projects that we see published are, after all, the only ones we associate with that particular artist. I wonder if famous illustrators; Axel Scheffler, Quentin Blake have secret sketchbooks packed with other styles of drawings. Perhaps Rob Ryan is a closet knitter, or Tony Ross enjoys making wood cuts - I don't know , but by the nature of creativity, it seems probable that artists have more than one string to their creative bow.
I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter. I have decided to create what I want and stop worrying - art should be enjoyable!