Clean Screens!

Wahay! I've cleaned my screens!......At home with the power hose and stencil remover bought on line from www.wickedprintingstuff.com   I have procrastinated about this simple task for sooooooo long it must be categorised as insane!  Of course this now means that I have to put some new imagery onto those lovely clean meshes and make them work their asses off!!!

For Mrs P.

Back in March I posted a fabric swatch and some colour swatches that I was intending to use on the landing area of our house. The dark colour scheme was inspired by interior designer Abigail Ahearn's use of Farrow and Ball's 'Downpipe'. Abigail (abigailahern.wordpress.com) had used this very dark grey in many areas of her own home on woodwork,walls and floors. This scheme partnered with accents of bright colour produces a dramatic effect. I decided to use the equally dark F & B 'Railings' on walls and woodwork with a dark grey carpet. My friend Jackie Wood altered our old Swaffer curtains to fit the landing window. They provide a lush and colourful accent against the very dark blue. I love the dramatic and slightly spooky atmosphere that this colour scheme evokes in our old house (the staircase in the picture is 17th Century). I still have a couple of paintings and possibly some dried flowers to add in time for Halloween!

I'm Back!

It's been a while since I last posted and now I'm back full of a renewed determination to be creative.  I decided to start by tidying up my work room where I virtually lived during the years I spent doing the textiles and surface design degree.  It felt great to be back in there amongst all my stuff and feeling inspired to create, to draw and design.  Not done anything yet but at least I'm feeling the rumbling in m'belly!

   

....and here are a handful of some of the lovely books that I have up there to inspire me. There's really no excuse for not getting down to some work.

Evanescent Summer House.

The image above is a drawing sheet that I did about 3 years ago which includes architectural details of our Victorian Summer house.  The concept title for the project from which this drawing came is 'Evanescent' which means that something is barely visible, passing out of memory or sight, fading away, (which our summer house will do if we don't sure it up somehow soon!)

Tree time

My friend Joanne joanne4edwds.blogspot.com and I went up to the misty North York Moors to draw and paint landscapes. We didn't get much drawing or painting done mainly because we couldn't see much (because of the mist) but we had a lovely time chin wagging and eating a picnic lunch. I enjoyed drawing the distant trees that sit  like little dark scribble shapes on the hillside. Here's one of the not so scribbley ones.

Printing for the Bradford Textile Society Competition

All set up to go.....

First colour-way done......

Second colour-way done.......

An experiment......

Things getting messy.......

Boards Done!

Abigail Ahern on my landing.

This is a colour palette inspired by interior designer Abigail Ahern. The image on the left is taken form Elle Decoration p.154 September 2008 edition. Ahern is very clever in her ability to confidently combine a whole gamut of stuff. She also uses dark, dower colour (Farrow and Ball's 'Down Pipe') with flashes of bright hues to wonderful 'wow factor' effect, (look at her book 'A Girl's Guide to Decorating'). In response to her work I am going to paint our landing in a VERY dark blue (Farrow and Ball's 'Railings') That means everything but the ceiling.  The bright hues will be brought in via the curtaining which you can see a sample of next to the two splodges of 'Down Pipe' and 'Railings'.  I will post some images of the finished thing once it's all completed. You can look at Abigail Ahern's shop/work/stuff at www.atelierabigailahern.com