I was recently nominated to do the 5 day art challenge on Twitter by the lovely Jane Porter.  I often avoid any kind of nomination type thing but this seemed like a fun idea and having moved house it was quite a useful challenge to find half the images I wanted to use.  I haven't been making a lot of work lately and it was a good reminder of all that I love.  

Having rediscovered my lost pencil case I have started drawing again and I am attempting to do a visual diary which I am SO enjoying.  Wow, what a revelation.  It is such a good way to make work without getting bogged down with ideas as all you have to draw on is your day.  I am trying hard to be more observant because I very quickly realised how little I actually notice - was he wearing glasses?  Was her hair tied up or down? It is a beautifully satisfying project. 

It has been an interesting summer and I have been busy with all sorts of different things.  I have managed to get into the studio a bit and this week I have really enjoyed putting together a series of characters for a website being designed for gorgeous hand made slippers. The new site will be going live in September and over the next couple of weeks I will be adapting the characters to fit with the photographic images.  It has been a really fun process and I can't wait to see the finished site.

I have also been using social media a lot more with lots of images going onto my Instagram and Twitter. It would be lovely if you could come and visit me there too.

I am really enjoying collage at the moment.  I'm finding it a really useful tool to free up my drawings.  I now have a tiny pair of scissors and I am gathering a good collection of papers though I am very fond of my buff sugar paper.  I have been spreading my wings onto other social media recently.  Do come and visit me on twitter if you haven't already...

I have really enjoyed creating some designs for the OhhDeer t-shirt competition.  The aim is to promote your work through facebook, twitter, instagram etc and OhhDeer will then select a new contributor based on the artists successful promotion and obviously great work.  I'm not sure I have the huge network needed to massively promote the work but I have had a great response to my posts which is fantastic. It is so cheering to put your work out there and have people say lovely things about it.  Keeps you going and inspires further ideas and plans. 

A couple of days ago I managed to waste lots of time fiddling with an early morning doodle to create this repeat pattern.  There is something very satisfying about a repeating pattern.  Being a doodle there are some slightly dodgy moments in the repeat but it has kindled a desire to create some more. I also discovered on You Tube a far easier way of repeating patterns on photoshop so the world is now my oyster and I am itching to get going but school work is the priority for the next couple of days otherwise I will have classrooms full of children and no idea of what to teach them!

I have spent quite a few months putting together 20 designs for printing as greeting cards.  I have finally had them printed and after the excitement of them arriving and packaging them into cello bags I now realise that I need to start selling them and this is mine and many other artists greatest downfall.  I have started to load them into my etsy shop and it feels really good to finally get some work out there.  

I have also entered some work into the OhhDeer competition with one design here and another here.  The competition works on your ability to promote the work through social media so any like/shares or tweets would be very much appreciated! I still have one design to do for them but with the Easter holidays in full swing and new chickens to look at I am currently a bit distracted but I think today might be the day for getting things done.  

Opening up my shed and clearing a space amongst all the winter storage of junk to start screen printing again equates to the first day of spring for me.  My printing career is a very seasonal thing and it makes me so happy to kick off the process all over again.  Selecting designs, cutting stencils, preparing the screen, the colour etc etc.  Etching was my first love and even though I do love painting there is something about a print process that occupies my mind so beautifully and makes me a lot less anxious than painting does.  So, who knows what prints will appear from the shed this year but todays output is the beginnings of a bright pink bunny.  

I'm busy at the moment completing 20 greeting card designs ready for the printers.  The past couple of days have involved painting up some number cards and the painting here is for 2 - "Two little butterflies sitting on my hat".  Finished designs will be here soon (my deadline for the printer is end of next week...HELP!)and I am quite excited about the whole thing.

I am going Rococo crazy after watching  Waldemar Januszczak in his BBC4 programme Rococo: Travel,Pleasure,Madness.    The portraits of Gainsborough's daughters were amazing and I can't quite believe that after many years of looking at art that I have never really looked at those.  Next time I am in London I shall head to the National Gallery and soak it all up.  The above 7 will end up as a very tiny badge on the dress of a little character who is gracing one of my birthday cards.  I need to sort out the background - I was aiming for Pompadour Pink but it seems to have turned out a bit too purple.

I am now on Twitter so please do come and find me. 

I make quick notes and drawings in several different notebooks and sometimes I rediscover one that I haven't used for months and months.  I found this one while attempting to clear out the utility room and amongst lots of to do lists was this picture of my daughter totally absorbed in the joy of sucking juice up through a curly straw. 

A very happy New Year to one and all.  May 2014 bring exciting adventures and wonderful memories.  I have lots of ideas for illustrations and things I would like to try out.  This year is going to be the year of the layer.  I am going to start using the gouache with a bit more transparency and be braver with my layers and mixing of media.  I am also going to do lots more screen printing as that seems to have fallen by the wayside recently.  I am always excited at the beginning of a new year and eternally optimistic about the year ahead. Here goes...

It has been such a long time since I have been able to get on with some painting.  I started this months ago hoping to complete three other designs as well ready for Christmas cards.  Unfortunately that plan has gone out of the window and I think I will keep the designs tucked away for next year.  School seems to have taken over and I am there far more than I should be.  Trouble is I love it as much as I love illustrating but trying to find the balance is tricky.  Who knows what next year will bring.

This weekend I went to The Printhaus in Cardiff to learn about photo emulsion screen printing AT LAST!!  I have been wanting to do this for so long.  It was a brilliant weekend and I picked up lots of tips for my paper cut screens as well.  They run all sorts of courses and their website is well worth a look if you are interested in printmaking.

I was reading the blog of an illustrator who was praising the re-discovery of observational drawing and the effect it had had on her work.  The strange thing is that before I entered the world of illustration I did nothing but observational drawing but now for some reason I hardly ever draw from observation so the time had come and it has been so good to sit and observe.  All those questions I have been trying to solve in my illustrations are beginning to find some answers.  I do have two partners in crime aged 6 and 8 and while doing the drawing above I had to contend with their arguing over what makes great art.  The 8 year old claims hers was better because she was really looking and drew what was there but the 6 year old felt that the addition of a little girl on a slide and a big splash of water in the pond made for a much better picture. An artistic dilemma I am constantly dealing with!!

I am passionate about paper.  Ever since my days as an etcher I have had a love of the perfect paper for the job but recently I have found myself rather comfortably beginning to churn stuff out and felt that I needed to step away from the paper and turn to a canvas.  Oh my word, it is so much fun.  For a start it is a lot bigger, secondly it really doesn't like gouache on it so you have to paint quite differently and thirdly it just makes a Friday a bit more interesting.  I tend to work with gouache as a flat colour but in order to place the paint I had to keep layering up and that is something I want to do more of.  I still love my paper but this just reminds me of how easy it is to keep doing stuff that works and how much you learn if you step away from the easy option.

I did this 'Sweet Dreams' in response to Illustration Friday's theme of 'sweet'.  I haven't done an illustration friday for ages but it is always good to turn to when you are having a bit of a blank moment and just need to make something, anything, rather than do nothing and worry that you are doing nothing!

I have just completed a set of birthday cards all ready now for the printers.  I am off to London next week for the biggest trade fair for the greetings card industry Progressive Greetings Live.  My aim is to take a stand there next year so I am off to pick up some tips and I am really quite excited.

I have designed a series of cards and I am now in the process of painting them.  It is so satisfying to see a whole group of images come together.  Really enjoying myself, it is such a lovely feeling when everything flows.

I had a great trip to London visiting friends and getting a really good dose of inspiration from lots of great exhibitions.  The Pick Me Up festival in Somerset House was visually really exciting.  I do love a bit of screen print and there was an awful lot at Pick Me Up.  I managed to finally sit down after two days and spend an hour making a newspaper with The Loop.  This is my front page.  It was so much fun coming up with ideas really really quickly and the joy of making something just for the sake of making it.  I haven't done that for quite a while.

My husband found me the most amazing table for my studio.  I love it!