Autumn Sunshine

Screen printing these limited edition three colour 'Autumn Sunshine' prints turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. Often I don't realise there's something wrong with a design until I've printed it. After the first attempt at 'Autumn Sunshine' I had to tweak the artwork, reprint the positives, re-coat & expose screens & mix new colours before printing more sunshines. Unfortunately I wasn't happy with the second attempt either so this one is actually my third! I think it was probably the pressure of creating new work for both Oxford & Brighton Print Fairs. I rushed & didn't do things properly which ended up costing me time & money.

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

After working on the commission for Handsworth Park Arts Trail I had just three weeks to get ready for the Autumn season of print fairs. The sunshine design I created for the commission got such a positive response when posted on social media I wanted to develop it to use for new prints. I'd been away from the printroom for almost a month so was feeling out of practice. I decided to start with the easiest prints first; some one colour A4 screen prints & two colour A6 greetings cards. It was good to be printing new work at last even though I did make mistakes!

Beautiful All Year Round

Summer was busy with workshops so it was nice to end it by working on something completely different. I was asked to create a design to be installed outside on a large plinth as part of Handsworth Park Arts Trail. The other criteria was that the design should be based on the wheel of the year so it had to show each season as well the text 'Handsworth Park, Beautiful All Year Round'. Luckily I know someone who prints vinyl wraps for exteriors so this was a great opportunity for me to work BIGGER & with digital print rather than screen print. I was able to incorporate many of my usual folk art elements. Aswell as creating new motifs especially for the commission I was also able to create new ones. The sunshine, trees, fox, butterfly & bird were drawn especially for the design but everything else had been previously used. Look carefully & you will see a familiar owl, hegdehog & rabbit!

More Purple & Yellow Cats!

I was surprised by how much I liked the metallic purple & yellow cat cards so I decided to take a risk & screen print a small edition of 20 A4 prints. As with all of my recent screen prints I used a gradient for the background which was fairly straight forward. The purple was harder & it took a few attempts before I got the two different shades right; they were either too dark or too light. The cats have turned out to be one of my favourite prints & they always cheer me up. I love the bold patterns & bright clashing colours! It's an added bonus that other people also like them, I'm happy that both the cards & screen prints have been selling well.

A Fleet of Foxes

My Soulmates screen print of a pair of foxes has been popular & people have been asking for fox greetings cards so here they are at last! I chose another clashing combination of colours & screen printed the fox cards in metallic green & red. I also created one colour screen prints and three colour screen prints using the same design, I like to get my money's worth! I've even screen printed my fox onto totebags.

Cool for Cats!

 

April & May were busy months, as well as workshops & a challenging commission I was working on new greetings cards & limited edition prints. I really wanted to create a summery cat design with a retro feel but couldn't decide which colourway would look best. First I tried mint green & metallic blue & then took a risk by using colour clashing yellow & metallic purple! It's not a colour combination I would normally use but I really like it & hope to print a larger version of the design in similar colours. Until then I've played it safe & screen printed some one colour teal cats.

The Big Sleuth Sculpture Trail Birmingham 2017

In April I was very lucky to be invited back to Colmore Junior School to help them design & paint their sunbear sculpture for The Big Sleuth sculpture trail. I worked with a group of 16 year 4 children to explore themes relating to sunbears including their name, characteristics, habitat & countries where they live. We talked about the bears' diet, why they are endangered & environmental issues. The children drew pictures to illustrate the bear's nocturnal habits, they drew other endangered species from South East Asia as well as rain forests & even a Chinese themed bear! Inspired by the sunbear's name & the Great Bear constellation the children also drew pictures of the sun, planets & space rockets. They overwhelmingly voted on a space themed sunbear!

Once they had decided on a theme each child drew something to go on the bear. Somethings were drawn from their imagination such as space bears, planets with aliens & rockets. Others were inspired by antique maps of the stars & old astrological illustrations. There was an eclectic range of ideas & images to fit onto the bear but amazingly it all came together in the end! The children used acrylics to paint their designs onto the bear and I then added the background using metallic black acrylic paint. I'm really looking forward to seeing the bear when it is part of the sculpture trail & I think the children are too! http://thebigsleuth.co.uk/