Collagraph prints

In the last few days I have attended two different print classes.  I haven't created anything by hand for a while so it was good to refresh.  I made several collagraph plates from mount board, scraps of paper and cotton.  I was influenced and thinking of the Peak District National park when I made them.

Garden of light in Bradford

Bradford's city park has been transformed into a colourful night garden of light.  It is on until the 14th of October and lights up at dusk every night.  It is a display of bright green spiral stems, circular florals dandelion clocks and blue hanging tree lights.

Bradford sculpture trail

Earlier this month I spent a day in Bradford and walked around the Bradford sculpture trail.  Some of the sculptures are quite old and traditional but some of the newer sculptures are very innovative such as 'The needle' by Rick Faulkner. I like 'Fibres' by Ian Randall and Grandad's clock and chair by Timothy Shutter.

Colour trends for 2013

I have been looking at new colour trends for 2013 and the tribal trends move onto different colours and tribes in casual wear.  I really like the denim shades and the vibrant latino colour palette.  Images are copyright of textile view magazine.

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Hallmark Great British summer competition

Yay. I am thrilled to have been shortlisted with my homemade jam design for the Great British summer competition run by Hallmark.  See the other shortlisted and the winning design here

Huddersfield food and drink festival

Last week I went to see what Huddersfield food and drink festival had to offer.  There were lots of local restaurant stalls as well as Yorkshire produce and unusual foods.  St George square in front of the railway station was a mass of people tasting the various food and drink on offer.  You could choose ostrich, llama or zebra burgers, giant meringues or some sugared creepy critters.

British summertime

For a few days only the British summertime has arrived and so decided to enter the Hallmark British summertime design competition.  I chose pretty pastel shades for my jam and ice cream designs. What could be more British than strawberries....one of my favourite fruits. Yummy

An Australian trip

One of my friends has just returned back from a trip around Australia.  I sent this illustrated postcard to their address for when they arrived home.

Lulworth cove and Lyme regis

Earlier this month I paid a short visit to Lulworth cove and Lyme Regis.  The weather was very wet and grey but as I have always wanted to go it didn't put me off.  Lulworth was so pretty and inspiring with small English cottages and pretty gardens, very beautiful.  The following day I did some fossil hunting on the beach which is organised by Lyme Regis museum.

Painted florals

After looking at the amazing painted floral cakes by Natasha I had to have ago at painting straight onto paper with no drawing involved.  Here's what I did, after some playing around on Photoshop I sent a painted floral design into the Tigerprint contest.  I do need to have more practise at painting like this and it doesn't take long to do.

My final design for the Tigerprint contest

There are an enormous amount of design entering in this contest so I am  not expecting anything from it but it is all good practise.  It is difficult to pick a favourite out as there are so many good ones and I assume it is going to be a difficult task for the judges. See all the entries here  Here a few of my favourites that stand out for me but there are so many to choose from.

Flora by the print tree.com

Diamonds by sarah bagshaw

Attachment 4 by wendy

by katie frizpatrick

Merci by simi

by dalbir

Wallpaper collage

I am loving these lovely wallpaper collages.  I think it's time for a change in my bedroom and a visit to the DIY store is a good place to start for some colourful inspiration.

Olympic torch relay

The Olympic torch relay came to Yorkshire this week and into Sheffield city centre.  The sun stayed out all day and the cauldron was lit before it conrinued to Doncaster the following morning.

 Lighting the cauldron

 Olympic torches on the relay bus

The Olympic mascot

Plastic bottle art

Look at these amazing plastic bottle fish on the beach in Rio de Janerio.  They were made from discarded plastic bottles.

photos by jcassiano - flickr

Other plastic bottles artists such as Gulnur Ozdaglar make jewelry, bowls and buttons http://www.gulnurozdaglar.com/index.html

These are some lanterns I made from plastic bottles.  I placed LED lights inside them.

Developing designs in photoshop

After going to the degree shows I decided to have a play around in photoshop as I havent used it very much since leaving uni, simply because repeat designs are so much easier to do in illustrator.  From two simplistic drawings I played around and experimented in photoshop with the bucket fill, masking, erase tool and hue and saturation.  By using a few tools I created a butterfly floral design.