Lucky black cat wall hangings.

I have been using the laser cutter at the Art House to cut out wooden versions of the Chewy (the cat who inspired my appliquéd bags) I really enjoy painting on wood and I thought that my characters would lend themselves well. I cut out a few of these, and handprinted them. Then I screwed in a ring and placed a ribbon as a hook so that it can be hung - anywhere. They are also vanished so that you can hang them outside or inside with no worries. I believe - I know some people don't - but, I believe that black cats are lucky (beautiful mini panthers they are) so you can hang one in your home and feel lucky all the time! They are up in my shop now! 

MATS 3 : The White Cat

So, I finally finished the front cover for 'The White Cat', which was the third assignment for Make Art That Sells. The White Cat is an American fairytale - it's got a prince, a quest, a princess cat and the usual dark undertones of a fairytale. For a strange reason, I found this one challenging, which is strange because I thought that the children's book assignment would be the easiest one for me to complete. It was also about cats - so I thought hey, I will complete nail this! But it took me ages to get started, to contextualise the story into a page... but here we are. I tried to use a complete different colour palette that I would normally use and draw cats in a different way. I am pleased with it, would love to know what you think! :)

Papier Mâché

 

I've been experimenting with making papier mâché masks recently, using the Staffordshire Pottery sketches in my sketchbook which you can see here.

I took them into my studio today and asked Richard Storrow to photograph them for me. Check out his website here. There's some ace stuff on that!

The papier mâché masks were super fun to make, just using leftover cardboard packaging I had laying about, a whole stack of free papers I picked up at a local supermarket, PVA glue, masking tape and bright acrylic paint. Really fun to see the characters come alive as I painted their expressions on!

Uppercase / Cats / Make Art That Sells.

In my last blog post, I spoke about cats of the past which I had created and how I was going to create new ones for the latest Make Art That Sells assignment. Well since then, Make Art That Sells launched a competition with Uppercase magazine (which, alongside Chickpea, Frankie and Flow is my fave magazine of the moment)! The competition was to create a page for their Surface Pattern Design Guide. The brief was loose, the content of the cover could be up to you although you were constricted with size and the copy/Uppercase logo. So with cats on the brain and coming out of the hands, I decided to work with what I was having fun making and incorporate some of the cats I was doodling in my sketchbook to make a repeat pattern for the competition. As promised, here is a glimpse into my process: 

I spent a whole day doodling and drawing different cats in different medias, above are a few pages from my sketchbook. I tried not to think too much, just getting loose and having fun, then I started to refine my favorites and painted them using gouache paint, scanned them into photoshop and edited final touches to them:

 

 

I started to play around with the pattern the colours, what other motifs would be added to the repeat to give it an exciting rhythm and pace. I spent a while moving things around on photoshop, printing it out, using my lightbox to move things around with my hands, scanning back into the computer etc, etc, documenting it in my sketchbook: 

 

I find it useful to always print and document in my sketchbook - I'm quite a messy person - I spread my work around my studio and have many projects going on at once, so for me, it's really useful to make sure I keep my development in my book so that I can look back on the decisions I have made and also keep all my work organised and safe. I changed some cats around, took some away and re-drew others until I was happy with the composition and every single motif. Then I added the copy - which I drew myself and scanned in:

 

Ta-da! Here is the final outcome, repeated over the cover. I submitted it to the competition and I am so so pleased to say that it was selected in the top eight and live reviewed by the amazing Lilla Rogers and Janine Vangool (editor of Uppercase), which was such a treat! Lilla said that she chose it because of the individual repeat and the eccentricity of the design (!) I'm so happy to have been picked and reviewed over at MATS. It's really boosted my confidence and I've been a making machine ever since! I'll share what I've been up to once I've finished making them all :) I'd love to know what you think! Any comments would be fab, and I hope that sharing my process on this project has been useful.