Cowboy Coasters

This week I made a new range of coasters. They are all drawings of men of the Wild West printed in navy blue.

You can buy them HERE

Russian Brides

This is a screen print I did today for a collaborative book with my friends Joanna, Liv, Mike, James,Lauren, Mark,Scarlett and Nick. We have each been allocated a country randomly and mine was Russia. I have done a lot of research into the trends of Russian brides and American men and the links between 19th Century consumerism in Russia and the priority of wealth over love.

This is a little wall hanging I made form one of my prints. The panel is based on a story of an American man meeting his Russian Bride.

Marching in March

Yesterday I went to the Trades Union Cuts march in London and it was pretty amazing. There were apparently 1/2 a million people marching from Embankment to Hyde Park and it was a really positive atmosphere. I liked these placards the best. 

Fedrigoni

This week I've been working on one of the Young Creative Network briefs for paper company Fedrigoni. I created a mock up of an origami suit jacket, made to promote Fedrigoni's paper range Savile Row which would be sent to possible clients. 

Jewellery Making Update

I'm doing a jewellery making course in Plumpton at the moment and we are just putting together test pieces for our final designs. It's been such a great experience and I've learnt SO much in such a short space of time. These images show some shapes cut from copper sheet and a small dolls house candle stick which was sand cast in copper. I've been experimented with different surfaces for the metal and working towards a final piece hopefully using a mixture of oxidised copper and non oxidised copper.

This is my lovely friend Zoe drilling away at the workshop.

My Manifesto

This is a small manifesto, put together to encourage proactive behaviour and political awareness. The manifesto is illustrated in this 6 page zine, held together by a screen printed felt band. When unfolded this zine becomes a double sided poster, one side the manifesto and the other side a painting of Emmeline Pankhurst who I find particularly inspiring as she was the leader of the British suffragette movement and had the courage to fight for women and was never afraid to voice her opinion. This manifesto is based on a lot of things which I'm trying to do at the moment to help my work move forward and to learn about things in different ways.

If you want a copy you can buy them in my shop HERE

Exploring Chinatown

Whilst in San Francisco I visited Chinatown which was a great experience and it was fun to explore all the chinese medicine shops and $ shops full of odd things. I bought some lovely lanterns and some pretty paper. We went for lunch in a nearby park and it was full of elderly people in big groups playing games whilst sat of cardboard boxes.

Studio Visits

In San Francisco I visited a few different artists and studios to hear about their work and see where they work.

APE DO GOOD are a screen printing studio based in the Mission district of San Francisco. It was great to see a professional screen printing business that was run by artists and it was a great creative environment inside with a giant machine for printing t-shirts.

MICHAEL BARTALOS is a freelance illustrator based in San Francisco who creates a great variety of work often involving themes of science and geography. He was a really nice guy and showed us a model of a large scale sculpture he is creating at the moment.  

CHRONICLE BOOKS are a publishing house with a great selection of books, recognisable for their striking illustrations and variety of inventive themes. We looked around the design department and talked to two women who work as designers for the company.

MICHAEL GILLETTE is a really interesting guy from the UK who moved out to San Francisco. I visited his house and studio there on Friday and his  paintings were stunning. His attitude to life as an artist and morality in the jobs he takes on is truly inspiring. He is an avid Beatles fan and a lot of his work is centred around his love of music. Definitely check out his BLOG

San Fran Houses

I just got back from San Francisco and I was overwhelmed by all the stunning houses. I've got many more pictures and stories to share with you but this is all I can handle after a 10 hour flight and no sleep.

My friend Zoe and I found this house near the Painted Ladies and it reminds me so much of the Adams family. We got caught in a crazy rain that day and were running around trying to find our way and stumbling around lots of pretty places. Sometimes it's good to get a little lost.

BYE BYE

I'm off to San Francisco for a week but meanwhile keep yourself entertained with THIS VIDEO made by my sister ROSE and her girlfriend Sofia. It's lots of fun.

My shop is temporarily closed but will be back in a week with more Ladies First Books to come. Have a great week.

Printing Galore

This week I've been very busy making a second edition of my LADIES FIRST books along with more badges which are now available to buy in my SHOP.

The books should be ready in a couple of weeks as they take so long to put together and print and I'm shooting off to San Francisco.

Jewellery Making

Recently I've been doing a multimedia jewellery making short course and here are a few bits I made in the first couple of sessions. We've learnt about casting objects, image transfer, enamelling and many other processes which are new to me.