Illustration Friday - Round

A new fabric with a retro feel for my fabric shop and I hope you don't mind but I entered it in this weeks Illustration Friday, 'Round', as I felt it fitted the theme rather well .

Studio Pottery

We've been in our new house for a month now and we are still unpacking boxes. I found a box full of some of my favourite pottery that I thought I would show you. Over the years I have aquired quite an eclectic collection.
I used to be a decorator for Colin Kellam, a master potter whose studio is here in Totnes, so I have a number of seconds, mostly decorated with his iconic chickens and ducks.
I am also near the world renowned Dart Pottery and love Janice Tchalenko's vibrant decoration. The pottery shop was on the cycle path through the woods from Dartington to Totnes and there was many a time I found myself cycling home with a bowl or vase, suspended precariously in a bag from the handle bars. I never broke a piece in transit!
Then there are the pieces many of which I cannot attribute to their creator because they were given as presents or I found in a charity shop. The teapot, used daily, was from one such establishment and the blue-green lidded pot was a present from a friend and talented potter called Melon. (Where are you now?) And of course I cannot ignore the treasures created by my boys, the piece I decided to show you is Arthur's 'Arctic Man' made at his school which has a brilliant art department.

The Tree of Life

The beginnings of a new fabric collection called 'The Tree of Life'. This is for a cushion cover, but could quite easily be curtains or something that can take a large repeat pattern.

The inspiration came from a black and white cushion cover I am designing with a photograph in the centre. ( a secret Christmas present so I can't show it to you yet!) This then lead to me drawing the boarder with the leaf pattern, which lead me to the idea for the tree of life as a motif.

The colours came from a desire to use vibrant jewel colours and a photograph I took a while ago of my little nephew on a beautiful bedspread made from indian silk.

Illustration Friday - Stripe

This is a new stripey fabric design, for more of my stripey street fabrics look here.

The Big Draw

The Big Draw is a nationwide event held every October in the UK with the aim to get people drawing. Here in Totnes The Big Draw and Transition Town Totnes got together and using recycled cardboard, black and white paint and chalk and charcoal posed the question 'how do you see the future?'
It was a gorgeous sunny autumn day, we were in a part of town called The Rotherfold and anyone who felt so inclined could stop by and draw their idea of the future. With the Transition Town idea of life without oil and the quote 'take a line for a walk - into the future' as a starting point, drawings and paintings appeared. Ideas could be as fanciful, bleak or as optimistic as desired.
So we saw many beautifully imagined ideas including robots, water wheels, windmills, cycle powered planes and buzzy bees. It was great fun and brilliant to see passers by, big and small,  stopping and joining in. I particularly loved the pictures created by the kids. Loads of fun!

Moved

 Boxes and boxes and boxes!

 Flat pack shelving to be assembled.

 Vats and vats of white paint.

 The kids and their cousins desperate to help, started to paint my new studio. (It was a much better space for them to spatter paint everywhere than letting them loose in the house.) And much fun was had by all!

Edward must have snuck in to the studio to have his say!

YAY!!!! We have moved across the river!

Much unpacking has been achieved, but now the big project starts, dragging this funny 1950's home out of it's 80's decor into the 21st Century and taming the amazing garden into a productive and beautiful space, but I am so excited it doesn't seem a problem. Not much illustration will be done this week as we are trying to get both boys bedrooms painted before they return to school after half term.

Across the River Dart

The River Dart from the Old Bridge

A beautiful chilly Autumn day in Totnes and this will be my last post for a few days. 

We are moving at last. Across the river, a significant barrier to us Totnesians! The little house is looking like a warehouse, piled high with boxes, and I'm wondering where we are going to put everything in the bigger house. (we have so many books!) Norman, the removal man with his lorry, is booked and we are waiting for a chain of solicitors to all talk to each other on Friday. 

I'm nervous, excited and exhausted already, and the hard work is only just starting. The bigger house is a huge decoration project, but it should be fun filling it with our personality! So I'll see you across the river next week.