i wanna be yours by john cooper clarke

a customer contacted me a while ago to ask if i'd design a piece based on the poem 'i wanna be yours' by john cooper clarke. it was a fun commission to do, here's the final piece. 

"it's come to my attention that it's the wedding favourite. the number of people that have said, 'i had that read at my wedding', or 'my husband proposed to me using that number'… it's been very useful in the world of modern romance! it is to modern wedding ceremonies what 'always look on the bright side of life' by eric idle is to humanist funerals. i probably go to a great many more funerals than you do, so take it from me."

john cooper clarke interviewed for NME by mark wilkinson

hand lettering

hand lettering experiments for a range of prints that are in the pipeline. you know what's a lot more difficult than it looks? calligraphy.

perfect match

well this year i got (kinda) organised and printed some valentine's day cards before mid february, whoop! i wanted to make cards that combined printed images and actual objects, i've had a nightmare doing this before when i made the tea bag cards (will i never learn) but i like the way it looks so... i printed the typography and imagery in my home studio and then spent ages striking, sealing, hand whittling and sticking each match. if you have a special someone who sets your heart aflame you can buy them a card from my etsy or folksy shops.
i really like the #justacard campaign which encourages people to buy a card from an independent maker or gallery. even small purchases mean such a lot to me and other designer makers and a handmade card is so much nicer than a mass produced one don't you think?

snow balls

there have been some flurries of big, dozy, chubby snow flakes here in manchester but they have fallen on wet pavements and soggy grass and have fizzled away before even the quickest kid could fashion a decent ball. wee j has been enthusiastically reading 'elmer in the snow' and both kiddos were desperate for a bit of the white stuff so today we went to kentmere in the lake district in search of a white out. while we failed to track down a proper covering we did find enough for a few snow balls, yay!

ambridge print

there was a time that my work featured lingerie and fancy hosiery, not any more! these days it's all about radio 4 and tea, how times have changed.
the archers theme is, like the shipping forecast, one of those things that is embedded in our national consciousness. i love imagining people around the country whistling, humming and dum-di-dumming along with that unmistakable tune. the lovely m has a vintage rovers radio which was kind enough to be the model for this print... limited edition screen prints available here.

360 studio

hello strangers! it's been a while. so, we've moved back to the frozen north and this blog has been neglected, covered with cyber dust and virtual cobwebs. our new place is a semi in the world's quietest cup-de-sac. no drunken hipsters walk down THIS street shouting and guffawing at 4am (and hurrah for that). we've got a lovely garden with a pond (with frogs), an apple tree and beautiful stained glass in the front windows. my new studio is in the attached garage. it's luxuriously spacious compared to the old airing cupboard but is several degrees chillier.  i've been donning lots of layers (and the ever present nose drip) in order to make some new work. here's the studio post tidy-up (can you tell?). check out my new drying rack! and wait tip you see how much the kiddos have grown...

stop, hama time!

father christmas left a hama bead set in o-o's stocking. i couldn't resist using a few to make this!

reasons to be cheerful

i made some new art! a typographical screen print of the lyrics to 'reasons to be cheerful' by ian dury and the blockheads. black ink on A2 220gsm seawhite cartridge paper. very limited run, you can buy one here or here if you'd like. x

52/52

o-o - wings
wee baby j -nativity

this is the last 52 project post for this year! it's been fun and a bit of a challenge. i'm taking part in the 52 project, you can see all my 52 posts here and my three/52 selection here. 
at my folks' house and so cannot adjust image sizes, hence displeasing layout!

51/52

both - enjoying lollipop guild lollies in the photo booth in snoopers paradise. here they are in the same spot last year. 

thanks to everyone who has supported my cottage industry over the last year, i really do appreciate it. 

happiest of christmases to you all. X

i'm taking part in the 52 project, you can see all my 52 posts here and my three/52 selection here. 

sticking with it...

i've almost finished the second mitten (here's the first). taking care not to poke my eye out with five DPNs on the go at once.

50/52

wee baby j - during a failed attempt to get some christmas-card-worthy photos
o-o - a lovely sheep in his first school play, the reception nativity

i'm taking part in the 52 project, you can see all my 52 posts here and my three/52 selection here. 

49/52

wee baby j - conversation with grampy m
o-o - fairy jungle created in preparation for a visit by his friend miss w

i'm taking part in the 52 project, you can see all my 52 posts here and my three/52 selection here. 

mini mittens

i'm knitting mini-mittens-on-a-string christmas tree decorations*. they're knitted on DPNs and the work-in-progress looks like a wool explosion in a kerplunk factory (or a kerplunk explosion in a wool factory). i'm hoping to give some as gifts, if i get enough finished...
* can't actually find the source of the pattern now but will have a proper look later

sketchbook monday

mitten. another mitten. better together.

48/52

oh dearie me, i've hardly taken any photos this week, i blame the distraction of christmas preparations. 
wee baby j - enjoying a sofa wrestle/cuddle with daddy and big bro
o-o - tucking into a cream cake during a trip to the theatre. the puppetry production of 'we're going on a bear hunt' was brilliant. o was worried that the bear would be huge and scary but he turned out to be quite sweet. o's favourite bit was the darting underwater fishes in the river. i liked the puppet dog.
i'm taking part in the 52 project, you can see all my 52 posts here and my three/52 selection here. 

47/52

wee baby j - angel with a woolly halo on a chilly trip to the level.
o-o - he's finding school exhausting and a bit overwhelming at the moment so i've decided to keep him at home two afternoons a week. his class has started doing numbers and he's been writing out lots of sums, he's especially proud of his 4s. i'm especially proud that he doesn't seem to have inherited my innumeracy.
last week i liked windows to the soul and and bobble hat. i'm taking part in the 52 project, you can see all my 52 posts here and my three/52 selection here. 

two | behind the scenes at airing cupboard industries

two | tinker and tweak
once i've got a rough version of the imagery and text sketched out in my sketchbook i start working on loose paper (usually the cheap, thin stuff as it's makes tracing easier). i tweak and tinker with the everything using the lightbox (which, pleasingly, because of its handle, looks like a huge white suitcase full of light) and my favourite muji fine line pens, i end up with a lot of sheets with sometimes just a few cryptic shapes and letters drawn on them. i then scan them in and use photoshop to neaten, refine and develop the imagery, gradually dividing everything up so that each separation (colour layer) is on a different photoshop layer. sometimes i illegally use the screen of the mac as a lightbox, which isn't a very good idea, i'm not very good at 'drawing' with the mouse and much prefer to do stuff by hand and then scan in so i go back-and-forth-back-and-forth between lightbox, kitchen table and mac many times. i use photoshop in a completely ridiculous, luddite way (much to the amusement of my swish graphic designer / illustrator pals), without any keyboard shortcuts and spending ages drawing things and creating textures by hand and then scanning them in when i could probably do it in seconds with photoshop wizardry. at this stage of the process i consult the o-o (ah, the honest opinions of a child), the lovely m, other family members and friends and ask their thoughts and preferences which helps lots (thanks guys, you know who you are!), i get quite annoying i think, asking people 'which windows do you prefer' when the only person who can really see any difference between the alternatives is me. eventually, i end up with a photoshop document that is ready to print (as individual layers) and turn into a screen for printing. i'd also like to point out that, as you can see in the second photo i completely neglect my housewifery while i'm working, those are the breakfast porridge bowls on the kitchen table in the background, still not washed-up late in the day. other mamas often ask how i do my art when i've got kiddos, i always say the same thing; something's got to give and i'd rather be making than cleaning any day, i squeeze all my airing cupboard industries stuff into wee baby j's nap times (he's asleep on the sofa as i type). the housework gets done (kinda) in a mad rush before m gets home from work.

this is the second in a series of posts about the different stages of my creative process, from first ideas to screen printing in my home studio to selling the finished prints online. you can see the other posts here.

sock knitting

i'm knitting socks (or should that be sock) on four needles. i've knitted in the round before but never attempted socks but i thought i'd give it a go after buying this rather lovely wool from the ever fab tiger. i'm following jenny gordy's instructions in lena corwin's made by hand book. as you can see, progress is rather slow. it's satisfying though, to get away from the screens and sit down to something like knitting which, in my case at least, requires complete concentration (and when knitting rib, for me to repeat 'knit, knit, purl, purl' silently to myself). it makes me appreciate my fore-mothers who knitted and sewed and made so many beautiful things in the days when such craftiness was done out of necessity not a need for creativity. both my grans were so quick with the sticks, the rhythmic clickity-clickity was the soothing soundtrack of my childhood visits to their homes. thank goodness that we have the option of less labour intensive hosiery or my menfolk would be chilly of toe!

46/52

this week i seem to have a bit of a reflection theme going on...
wee baby j (and mini self-portrait in window)- peeping in through the patio doors
o-o (and mini self portrait in cracked bauble)- riding his (hastily) blinged scooter round to miss o's for a play.  last week i liked the rule of thirds. i'm taking part in the 52 project, you can see all my 52 posts here and my three/52 selection here.