Note to self--blog more or you ll lose all your followers,every single one and then you ll only have yourself to blame ......Merry Christmas followers !!!!!!!!!!

Late Autumn (as in it s now winter so i m late)

Spent a lovely day at Clivedon during the half term.Can t remember why Ruby was laughing.Possibly because i was constantly playing with my Pantone app on my phone-it s genius !!!!!

New prints alert !!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been very naughty about blogging recently-i m suprised all my followers haven t cleared off in search of more interesting and current blogs.But hey,let s make up for it -new prints alert !!!!!!!The print above is March hares in mid-June and it s my favourite print for ages.I m going to do a series like this based on the english countryside.yeh,that s what i always say.....It s £265 unframed and measures about 60cm x 60cm.

This beauty is called Clucking Hell-more eggs.It was a pig of a print to do-just ask any off the other printmakers unfortunate enough to have been in the vacinity when i was working on it.It weighs in at £265 also .Lovely for a kitchen i thought.Both available framed and unframed from Fig .And soon from my online shop on my website.

Mad men or land of nod ??

Can t make a decision-do i watch the 30 mins of Mad Men that i missed last night because i fell asleep on the settee until 1 am after a night out and only 2 glasses of rose or do i call it a night ?Got to be up at 7 -but still need to iron school trousers,tidy kitchen,make a packed lunch,sew on some scout badges and read my new Marie Claire -oh ,and damn,just seen that Batman with George Clooney s about to start .....

New prints alert !!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes-it s finally happened-new work !I m trying to print for England at the moment.Numerous Christmas shows are just around the corner and they want new work !I was a bit nervous of printing this cockerel but it s turned out well and I m going to print a large one too.Called Clucking hell.
I ve been experimenting with layering foliage again and this print s going to feature some rabbits some how or other.
Yes,always slightly behind-as we head into autumn and winter i finally get around to doing a butterfly.I m going to do a gianormous one in a week or so -who says size doesn t matter.

This weekend the first Devon Art Fair is taking place in Torquay .I m being represented by Hybrid ,a lovely gallery in Honiton.Be sure to pay a visit if yur in them parts.

Fame at last

Well excitements of all excitements.My Daniel Craig card was mentioned on Radio 2 by Lynn Parsons at approximately 6.43 am on wednesday morning.A friend of hers had given it to her.She even read out the verse and everything !!!!!!!!!!!! Such thrills !!!!!!! I m sure there s a way to have it here so you can listen to it but i ve not got a clue...........

Boo hoo ...

I seem to have lost a follower !! Were there not enough blogs ?(Fair point).Were they dull ?Not enough pictures ?Horrible to think someones not interested in me any more....and then i looked today and there s a lovely new follower-thank you Fiona Chapman Jewellery !!!You have restored my faith in the blogworld.

Had a jolly good clear out at Fig today.I was like a woman posessed -tearing up cardboard,shredding paper-even sweeping the floor.It s a goddamn palace in the cellar now.Even found my lost scalpel in amongst the grime.Hoorah !!

Got 3 parcels in the post too so am feeling very smug.Off to see Eat Love Whatsit tonight-roll on a giant tub of minstrels.And maltesers.

Here s a new idea of mine -need to get printing for all the Christmas shows in the pipe line.It s rather cheekily going to be called " Clucking hell-not more chicks" or something in that vein.

Had a good day at work today.I ve moved downstairs at our shop Fig so that a)i ve got loads more space to spread all my papers and b)i don t have to listen to endless Radio 4(Jemima and Kate s channel of choice) which quite frankly makes me feel sleepy.I mean,i caught these girls listening to the Budget once,yawn......

Barcelona,butterflies and birds printed by gocco !!!!

I ve been a very brave girl and broken in my gocco ! Not a great start when i wasted 2 of my precious bulbs by using artwork that didn t contain carbon (despite having read and reread the manual ).But then i got cracking and have produced this simple little print called Birds without a clue.
I ve embellished them with origami paper and am selling them for only £15 exclusively at Fig.They re not quite as crisp as a screenprint but i quite like that.I managed to print about 40 of them.Much excitement and itching to have another go !Loving the flashing of the bulb when it exposes the little screen.

Goccowoccodoodaa!!!!!

Much excitement-i have purchased a gocco print machine-can t wait for all my packages to arrive from Japan-!!!Much nervous tension when i use it for the first time !!!Anyon got any tips ?

My wife went to the carribean .Jamaica?No St Lucia actually.

One thing about the Carribean is that you get the most amazing sunsets,night after night.This picture doesn t do it justice at all.
I found this angel fish woven out of banana leaf on the beach-beautiful.
Using the fancy hipstomatic app on my iphone to capture ruby cartwheeling on the beach.
This hardly ever happens-a printmaker with clean nails-it won t last.
And finally ,below,my super dooper expensive sandals- flippin uncomfortable !!!!!

Back to Blighty.....

Back again ! Just flew back from 10 days in St Lucia.Lovely.Hot.Warm sea.Cocktails.Don t need a cardi in the evening.Lots of shifting around on sun loungers ,trying to tan your inner thighs.I have come back with a few holiday rants though........

1.Towels at dawn-people were creeping out at 5 am to reserve their lounger.We witnessed 2 arguments involving the French (I ll come to them later) over sun loungers.Great entertainment for the kids.

2.Women wearing those weird diaphonous, floaty kaftans over their bikinis.They look like nighties so STOP !

3.People who are too brown-they just look leathery.

4.French women who are clearly older than me but much thinner than me- totally not fair in any way shape or form.

5.Cakes for breakfast - WRONG WRONG WRONG !!!

6.Flip flops-flip flop flip flop -i don t want to hear you coming!!!!And wearing crocs is not the answer !!!!!

Thank goodness i ve got all that off my chest.I feel better already.

Here are some photos of palm tree leaves -just lovely.

hoorah hooruh new work for you ....

Yes people,it s new work.Not yet on my website but new all the same.This one on the left is called 'Don t worry, he got away ' as i decided to many people would be traumatised (like the beginning of Finding Nemo).

Here we have 'Carrot thieving rabbit struck by the almighty beauty of the setting sun'.Note to self-shorter titles required as it is no fun whatsoever writing that 50 times.

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And here we have 'Birds in fear of shrinkage'.I ve always told my children that our cats don t like the rain because they were worried their fur coats would shrink.

The summer holidays are now upon us so the blog may fall silent for a while due to general relaxation and picnics.I asked my kids to write a list of things they d like to do and my son wrote in big capitals-ALMOST ANYTHING BUT NOT NATIONAL TRUST.I ask you......

Drizzle and dancing.....

Well lookey here-here i am written on another window-a snap of Snap,a wonderful printmakers co operative in Bristol which includes several of my friends.I have taken part in the mini print exhibition where you can snap up a print for £25 from 23 other printmakers .Get down there and make it snappy (see what i did there ?).

Little bit wiery today-went to see JLS at Warwick Castle.Oh the irony when they sang Umbrella while we all danced in our kaguls and attractive plastic capes as it lashed down.Thank you to our 3 nine year old girls for accompanying us there.Hilarious scenes ensued as we tried to get the girls on our shoulders unaided.

Here s a pic of the girls relaxing during the riveting support band .And thats a picture of my dear friend Alison reacting to the support bands band.A good time was had by all though .Thanks to Alison for driving us all there and for giving the man who was selling dodgy JLS merchandise off the bonnet of her car a real earwigging.

Meibh s dog-atlast.......

Goodness-here are my menagerie of cardboard beasts !!Starting with a carrot thieving rabbit named after a new print .And here are my fox terriers- Meibh at Iota (a fabulous shop on the Gloucester Rd in Bristol)asked me many months for one of these and i have finally got on with it!!It s good news for her and great news for me as i can start going in her lovely shop again instead of avoiding her ........hoorah with a capital H !!
Here s an army of them -available in our little shop, Fig ,exclusively now !
This one s for Meibh and is called Laverne-hence the pink ribbon -a special detail for someone who s waited for 4 months.

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EXcitement beyond excitement !!!!

Ladies and gentleman i have been featured on the fabulous Print and Pattern blog !!Very thrilled and excited -hoorah hoorah hoorah.This makes up for the fact that i have been diagnosed with inflamed tendons in my elbow (tennis elbow it s known as) and Doctor says I m not to print for a month or so -boo hoo and sob-i m hanging up my squeegee for a while....

Come on England ! (oops ,too late,they re out)....

Just thought i d share this patriotic window display from our local hardware shop-particularly enjoying the white rubber gloves being set off nicely by the red ketchup dispenser-inspired!

Look-10 lovely followers !!!!!!!!! There are other people who fritter away endless time reading other peoples blogs -it s not just me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back from a short holiday....

So,a week ago or so i had the lovely Jess working with me as my print assistant and PA.Jess was doing a weeks work experience and i think she had a good time.She certainly worked hard and let me tell you it was about 90 degrees at Spike Print that week -so she had her work cut out!I had her mixing inks,cutting paper,coating screens etc etc.There should be a pic of her print too.I ve just come back from a jaunt to Jersey for my Mum s 70th birthday.It s a confusing place where you feel like you re in France or Spain but there s a Dorothy Perkins on every corner.And I didn t even have a Royal Jersey potato !!!Boo hoo !

Journey to the big bad city.......

Hello people.I am pooped.I went up to London yesterday to see the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and meet up with some chums for a posh tea.Lovely.And we saw Boy George ! Here are some snaps of what i saw......Starting with my friend Chitra s print at the Royal Academy-look at all those red dots -super !!!!My Mum and i then perused Fortnum and Mason s-check out the sweet counter -and in the food hall downstairs they sold chocolate covered ants and healthy baked scorpions ( not fried you notice).

In Piccadilly I passed this amazing japanese sweetmeats store-i have no idea what these creations are made of but they were so beautifully packaged in tissue -they looked gorgeous.The japanese really know how to package things well.

Charlotte can work miracles...

Here s an amusing shot of me and my lovely hairdresser Charlotte -i seem to have a strange spike growing out the top of my head -but thankfully it s gone now.Oh we did laugh.....

my final deadline.....

Yup,I m sort of winding down work wise before the summer holidays kick in and my last project has been the Snap print exchange.Here they are in all there glory-40 little beauties to be hung with the good and the great.It s called Australian birds unaware they d flown to Saffron Walden.No idea why i chose Saffron Walden.....

horns a plenty...

My husband went to the World Cup in South Africa and all he brought me back was this lousy collection of vuvezelas...

Feeling hot hot hot...

Well look at that -I ve not been going much more than a week and i ve got 2 lovely followers-thank you mystery people!

It s been scorching hot again today.Scorching hot means my lovely gold Dune sandals.Here they are in all their goldbaubliness (excuse the chipped nailpolish).

I am having to crack on with my piece for the Snap print exchange.Snap are a great little printmakers co operative based in Bristol city centre .I have been asked to take part with 24 other printmakers including Anna Marrow,Simon Tozer, Lucie Sheridan,Johnny Hannah and Katy Chard.I need to print a no smoking sign for the shop and so i ve got this thing about a cat smoking going round in my head.And then i remembered i d seen this fabulous vintage matchbox illustration-DAMN !!!Back to the drawing board....

A strange and beautiful day....

Mmmm,the day didn t start promisingly.Awoken by my cat,Hilary,being sick onto my bed at about 2. 30 a.m.Not nice.

Then Ruby ,my 9 year old said she was off colour and would definately need a day off school.She doesn t look too bad does she ?We had to go to the print studio to print the Father s day portraits and they ve turned out well.Ruby was a bit disappointed at how much washing,scrubbing and wiping was involved with printmaking.Aren t we all.Anyway,what could any father want more on father s day than 2 pictures of him by his children and a giant bar of toblerone.?

I have been featured in Artists and Illustrators magazine this month.It s a small questions and answers column about my show at the Rostra in Bath.I thought i was witty enough.

Got to retire to bed now-an awful camping trip is looming -I HATE CAMPING- it messes with your head.All that scrabbling around on the floor and the deafening dawn chorus-moan,grumble,winge.Well atleast you get to eat marshmallows .........