Aardvarks to Zebras!

Recently my lovely friend welcomed a new baby girl into the world! They named her Ziva and I wanted to make something fun for them and her. So, I took her name and illustrated Aardvark fabric, Vole Fabric, Iguana fabric and Zebra fabric, which I then made into these fun cubes that could be displayed on a shelf in the nursery. They also have little bells stuffed inside so they jingle when they shake, so can be played with too! 

I have to say that my favourites are the Aardvark and the Zebra! I printed a bit extra of the Zebra print and made some items that are in my shop right now and pictured below, pouches and little bags! 

The Chicken Collection

Around Easter time last year, I created a limited edition chicken screen-print which was sold at the Hepworth Gallery's Print Fair - the money raised from the prints went towards supporting The Art House print studios, which is where I print a lot of my work. I handed over the prints to them not to be reproduced until after November last year. The response I got from the chicken was amazing when I posted them up on instagram. Lots of you from all over the place wanted to own one, but lived far away to take advantage of getting one through The Art House. There are still some for sale in The Art House shop, where the money will go towards supporting the print studios, but I have extended the range so that more people can enjoy my chicken print! I made cushions, oven mitts, hand-cut and handprinted wall hangings/plaques and a range of prints. These are available through my online shop and from The Art House Shop! All of the original screen-prints have sold out now, but I have included some really affordable reproductions of the screen prints. 

2020 vision

(image from a screen print workshop I taught at Nottingham Trent University in 2019. Make, Create & GO FOR IT!)

Hello! Happy New Year. I have recently had an influx of followers on here so: hello! Which is obviously lovely, but also I felt a bit 'errk' as I haven't posted since March 2019 ! That's last decade!! But it's not because I haven't been making and creating, I have been using my instagram really to document and share new makes and creations, but I do feel bad I have neglected this space... so in a New Year/New Start vibe I'm back on it and I am going to spend the next few days updating what I've been up to. I think the best thing to do maybe is a little wrap up of last year... 

2019 was a good one, I made work for some really great people - indie makers and businesses and also bigger companies. I was approached by Ikea to create some posters for a new range. These were pitched worldwide, but unfortunately didn't make the cut but it was a fabulous experience and I've made some great contacts through it. I also produced illustrations for the NHS and a BBC pitch (more posts on these later as well as the indie work I've been doing). 

(imagse from the Hwpworth Gallery's Christmas and Summer Fairs 2019)

I was lucky enough to secure more stockists and sell my work at the truly amazing Hepworth Gallery summer and winter fairs. I didn't do many fairs this year, I returned to the Hull Print Fair on Humber Street which is always a fabulous event, super fun and hosted in awesome spaces as well as the Hepworth, which I truly think is one of the best markets in the North of England. I would love to do more this coming year, I just need to get more organised with when to apply for them, as demand can be so high and the call out is very early I sometimes miss when the application date is ... but I'm going to keep my ear to the ground more, I'd love to do some fairs in Manchester and Liverpool this year. 

(imagse from the Art House Shop at the Art House, Drury Lane, Wakefield)

One of my amazing new stockists this year was at the Art House Shop - which is a brand new enterprise this year! I have been a print studio member at the Art House studio for a year now and have even taught a few workshops there. It's an ace space, fully equipped for all kinds of printmaking. When they opened their shop in 2019 I was thrilled to be asked to stock my work in there and it has been really successful. I sell a range of prints, textiles - plushes, pillows, cushions, pouches, cat balls, tiger balls, bags and oven mitts! I'm in good company with local makers and designers who also print and create work at The Art House, including and pictured above are Ellie Way and Kirstie Williams. 

Talking of cat balls and tiger balls....

Wow they have been popular this year! This week I will be stocking them, alongside some other feline goodies at a brand new stockist in the centre of Leeds - The Handmade Collective in the Grand Arcade in Leeds. I'll write a new post when I've dropped off my stock there!

New Stockists

At the start of 2019, I made a New Years resolution to try and get five new stockists for my work - to most be brave and put myself out there more! I'm really happy to announce my new stockists in Leeds, Wakefield, Hull, Loughborough and Huddersfield - you can check them out here on my website. In each I have a selected of prints, some homewares and postcards. 

All these - and more can be found at Hey Form in Hull, The Bowery in Leeds, Modern Painters New Decorators in Loughborough, The West Yorkshire Print Workshop in Mirfield in Huddersfield. 

At the Art Shop in The Art House in Wakefield, I currently have a limited edition (of ten) four colour screen print chickens available. These are only available here and 50% of the sale of each of those prints go directly back to The Art House to help buy new equipment in their print studios for everyone to enjoy and access! (I have another vacation in my etsy shop - just in time for Easter!) 

Hull Print fair 2018

Last Saturday I was at the Hull Print fair in the Humber Street Gallery - selling printed textiles, illustrations and screen prints to the lovely people in Hull (and I really mean that, everyone I met was so nice)! It was a fun day meeting lots of makers and creatives from the North, sampling the new GF Smith stock and playing with print presses. I thought I'd share some snaps of my stall, including new products - new printed cat and pigeon pillows and owl prints! Uploading the new stock on to my Etsy later today in case anything takes your fancy. 

Now we are fully in market season - I have also updated my events on my website, check out new workshops and markets I'll be at over the next month here. 

MATS : tealeaves

I keep forgetting to share these on my blog! But - here is a design I made for MATS - to design a journal cover based on reading tealeaves. This was the first design that I created on my iPad Pro - I've printed a batch and have made them into handmade notebooks which I will be selling at the Hull Print Fair tomorrow! 

Halloween 2018

Halloween is over for another year - and here is my redesigned range for 2018! I updated some older designs and added three new cards into my shop and stockists this year. I also remade some spooky patterned notebooks which I will be taking with me to the Hull Print Fair this weekend at the Humber Gallery in Hull. I am really excited to be heading to the city of culture (I haven't been since I was about nineteen I think - to visit friends at university and the most I saw of the city then was the inside of a rock club called Spiders and a Hip Hop gig at the Adlephi - which is an amazing venue by the way, if you ever get the chance to visit!) If you still want to hang on to spooky season (and like me, are holding Christmas back at arms' length) then come and visit me at the Humber Gallery this weekend and get a late spooky treat! I love Halloween imagery so much, I hope you enjoy my range for this year: