something for your screen

It's Friday (yay) and I feel a freebie coming on! Here's a new downloadable wallpaper to brighten up your screen. Get downloading here, enjoy and I'll think up a new batch for next month. 

Have a great weekend. I plan to!

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Hark!

It's fast approaching carol season! It's our first proper carol service at Trinity West and I was very happy to design the postcards for the event.  I was equally great to have a bit of time to illustrate, something that so easily gets shoved to the bottom of the design pile. Anyway if you are near Shepherds Bush on Sunday the 15th December than we'd love for you to join us at 5pm for carols, mulled wine and mince pies. Details are on the postcard back below and you can also find out more about us via our website. 

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rosemarie auberson: colour

I pinned these a few weeks ago and decided I had to post them because I think they're just so lovely to look at! I desperately want a huge version on my wall...maybe every wall! These gorgeously minimal collages belong to Rosemarie Auberson, a talented lady who is well aware that less is more. Check out all her collages here. 

I was also quite taken with the colours she used hence the colour palettes I picked out for you. I hope they inspire! 

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so that was september...

From left to right:

*Out from the dusty depths came my tights, boots and coats. It wasn't the happiest reunion but I think I'm just about over it now and ready for that thing we call Autumn.

*Nick and I celebrated 2 years of being married. So much has changed since that lovely day but I'm very thankful for where we are.
*This was my very first month of Freelance Fridays. Aside from the pleasing alliteration, it's been so amazing to have an official day dedicated to doing my freelance projects. It's made my weekends a lot more relaxing. Welcome to my studio...our dining table.
*Leaves are turning golden and lining the pavements. Nick's 'I love Autumn' t-shirt has been worn all through Spring & Summer but has finally lost it's irony.
*Plans have been underway for our church to move for a trial at a new venue next Sunday. For more info check out the Trinity West blog.
*My favourite children's illustrator came to town! We made the most of it by visiting Mr Jeffer's new exhibition at Lazarides and spent an evening listening to him talk about his life, work and inspiration at the Southbank Centre. What a legend!

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cardboard cities

I totally fell hard for this artist's beautiful collages. Meet Laura Redburn and her vivid imagination. She's the talented designer behind Cardboardcities. Her dream-like mixed media illustrations beg to be delved into but just like a dream, they never quite make sense. That's the fun of them! Visit her portfolio here or her society 6 shop and lose time scrolling through all these beauties. 

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something for your screen

Another little something from my creative hour on holiday. Here’s some free desktop wallpaper love to adorn your screens. Oh the fun you can have with the humble felt tip! So click on the link to download your free desktop wallpaper.

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sometimes you gotta

There came a day on my hols when it had just been too long since I'd picked up a pencil. To medicate this unhappy situation I decided to spend the morning having a creative mess around. I very lazily decided to draw what was in front of me, which happened to be all my shoes lined up by the side of the bed. So here they are; all the lucky pairs that made the cut to travel to Turkey with me.

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summer smiles

Um, I’m wondering when I’ll wake up from this extended dream of a heat wave! I’m 100% loving that bare legs and sandals are on the menu everyday. Ok so the tubes are a glorified sweat fest and bed time leaves me groaning for an electric fan and wondering if sleeping outside on concrete is a feesable idea, but then hey!...I’m not complaining. Here’s a little summery illustration of mine to celebrate our little slice of summer. Hot air balloons always signal summer for me. In the same way the Coca Cola advert tells me it’s the beginning of the festive season, hot air balloons tell me it’s time to prepare the patio and and replace the sunglasses I lost the previous year. Praise God for such beauty and grace revealed in his creation under the warmth of the sun! I'll be back to more meatier posts soon. I've been a very busy girl!

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Pick Me Up

Happy weekend! I thought I'd post a few sneaky photos from my trip to Pick Me Up. Be inspired by these cute and colourful visual treats. It made me aware that there hasn't been enough typography doodle time in my life recently. I'll try and get that sorted.

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happy birthday mr muncey

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jazz it up

Often I create random illustrations and patterns that just end up sitting on my usb stick as they don't really belong anywhere. I realised a great way to give them a home would be turning them into wallpaper for the iphone/ipad. So if you fancy a change get downloading and enjoy! 

Download 'shower' here

Download 'hello you' here

Download 'triangles' here

Download 'circles' here

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much loved

May I introduce you to Rob Hodgson. I love love love his naïve illustrations so very much. His printed and scratchy textures gives each image added depth and his characters ooze personality. I’ve posted quite an array for you to peruse so enjoy.

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playtime

I've always been a fan of Belle & Boo's vintage style illustrations but I was even more excited to come across the latest selection of cards on Nineteen Seventy Three's website. I love that they look like they're straight out of a story book and the range name 'Playtime' certainly suits this fun collection of cards. I went a little bit gooey over the colour palette as well...mmm.

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la vie et belle

Here’s some work from a talented duo that go by the name of Evajuliet. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that one’s called Eva and the other’s called Juliet. Their illustrations are gorgeous and full of personality. I love the way they bring watercolour up to date with hand painted lettering. They give me a strong urge to dust off my paint set straight away! Have a look and see a their prints and even cute plush toys on their website, as well as some lovely styled photographs of what they do.

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drip drop

Who would have guessed I’d actually be inspired by this dreary weather we're having. Here’s a little illustration to put a cheery spin on the not so cheery weather. This week I’ve felt a strong pull back to drawing, realising I’d spent quite a lot of time immersed in graphic projects recently and as a result forgetting my good old drawing roots. From the time I could hold a pencil to about 14 years old, I sat and drew for hours and hours. Funnily enough I’d chuck everything in the bin afterwards, only recently finding out that my Mum would retrace my trail to the bin to retrieve the creation in question. She has a whole box in the loft filled with my retrieved drawings from over the years! Sneaky. So more illustration is on the agenda but posts are coming a little slower at the moment as I’m working on quite a few design commissions for friends. All exciting things but it leaves me with a bit less time to play. 

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the 'goings-on' of 2012

I’m always looking for something to illustrate, which may well have something to do with why I ended up in cards. Here’s a little present I made for my husband last Christmas after much talk of getting organized. I’m not sure it worked but it does look nice on the wall. As usual I thought it would be a quick project, after all there are only 12 months to illustrate, right?  Hmmm…well it took a little longer than expected and I ended up finishing it on Christmas Eve and giving it to Nick unbound.  It’s the thought that counts.

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i heart drawing

Yum Yum! I love Amy Borell’s hand sketched drawings. The free pencil line mixed with watercolour and coloured pencil gives them such a sweet, naïve charm. Looking through her illustrations reminded me of my default style of old. At uni I loved creating linear images with little bursts of texture and collage. Hmmm, perhaps it’s time to go back to basics. We’ll see...

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the panda that lost his smile

Here’s a post all about a book I made for Nick just before we got engaged. Back then chronic fatigue slowed my hectic pace of life down to almost a stand still. This meant I had a lot of extra time confined to the four walls of my Thames Court bungalow. Although not particularly impressed with my situation at the time, I can now look back with a massive amount of thankfulness. God had a finely tuned and much more beautiful plan for me than I could have ever thought up myself. A bi-product of much more time spent at home was more opportunity to get stuck in to slightly longer term creative projects. This book is one of those.

I’ve always wanted to illustrate a children's book and after many an enthusiastic discussion with Nick (he was equally enthusiastic I might add), I decided to write and illustrate my own story as a surprise for him. I thought long and hard about what the story should be about and realised it obviously needed to be about Nick himself, with the slight modification of transforming him into a Panda called Cuthbert. Before you ask, no Cuthbert did not get his smile back when he met the panda version of myself. It's funny how many people have asked that question! Now that really would be a bit self indulgent wouldn't it!

What seemed like a fairly straight forward idea was actually quite a lengthy process. As usual I decided to complicate things for myself by collaging everything by hand first before going anywhere near a computer. My carpet got very well aquatinted with snipped bits of newsprint and coloured paper! Finally I found blurb.com where they allow you to either download their software or upload each page online to create your very own, shiny, new book. There are loads of paper and cover options to suit any project so I would definitely recommend it!

It was an exciting moment to actually receive the printed book in the post, although much more exciting to give the package to Nick! I’d love to make another little book sometime although I’m not sure when I’ll have the time for that in the near future. To spur me on Nick has bought me nearly every book by Oliver Jeffers, which provides endless inspiration! Have a peak it his website. 

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