Tuesday 24 December 2013

happy Christmas!

Thank you for all the help, advice and support this year. It's been a wonderful year and I look forward to an even happier and sparklier 2014. 

Happy Christmas!!!




Sunday 17 November 2013

Getting across what the surface of my work looks like.... some close-up photos


One of the biggest problems I have encountered is photographing my work so people can see what they really look like. Photos taken straight on show the composition but never really show the surface. I often cut through several layers of paper, so the pieces are very much constructed. Cut and stuck and re-cut again. So I took some photos on this grey November morning. The light was lovely - cool and grey and perfect to capture the surfaces on the cut paper. I am having one of those working through the lists doing days....time for another coffee I think!

Gannock House, Tempsford, Bedfordshire

"I still believe" close-up

Ickwell Village illustration for Discover Bedfordshire

"The Path" close up

"The Path" close up of the little bird



Seeing my work in the papers....David's Bookshop, Letchworth commission


It was lovely to see this in The Comet - the commission that I made for David's Bookshop. It was a piece they bought the copyright for so it can be used on advertising and merchandising. It was fab seeing it in the local paper. I was away for the event which was PANTS! I normally do a fair bit of Christmas shopping on that day!




Sunday 3 November 2013

A quick couple of nights in Nottinghamshire....

We just did a lightening couple of nights up to Cotgrave to see family and friends, and stayed at Primrose House B&B. We had the best two nights sleep - so warm and comfortable... slept like the dead!!! And here are some snaps of the room. The light this morning was just lovely. And I couldn't resist a photo of the gloves lined up to dry. We did nip into town. I say"nip" - got stuck in traffic mainly....but Nottingham is a great town, always fantastic to go and visit.






Monday 14 October 2013

October Rose.....flowers in the Autumn in Stevenage

I love living in this new house in Stevenage. having lived outside Stevenage for years, it's very different being in it, and I like it a lot. So much is easy here. It's such a warm house, its so light and the neighbours are friendly, and I can watch all sorts of people walk past the house. It's feels like a town with lots of activity, hussle-y and bustle-y. And look what's come out in the garden?  gorgeous Autumn rose... and there is another one coming too, so I hope the cold weather doesn't finish it off. It's such a thing of beauty.


Chattering on a Sunday afternoon - a beautiful barn and a first drive after the toe!

It was lovely to go to the Wedding Open Day at The Priory Barn in Little Wymondley. I chatted to the other exhibitors - some stunning cakes! Wow, such detail and delicacy of the flowers on them... amazing. Oh! and the flower arrangements! So pretty!  And lovely to show people the commissions I make for couples. It was my first attempt at driving too after the toe break... it felt very weird and is swollen up again now, but so good to get out and see people chatting and discussing their upcoming weddings. Its such a pretty place and has the most amazing Box trees in the grounds.... very, very old, probably about 800 years old. Made me think of all the people that have passed through the barn. The weddings yes, but all the worker who worked at the farm all those hundreds of years since...beer and a chunk of bread in the hot summer. It's a wonderful building.


The Priory Barn Open day

Saturday 5 October 2013

The Priory Barn, Little Wymondley - Open Day 13 Oct 2013 - "Art For Lovers" work on show

This coming Sunday (Oct 13th 11am - 4pm) I will be taking part in the Open Day at The Priory Barn at Little Wymondley. I have produced a piece of work for the show that will be available to order as a greetings card/wedding invitation along with a selection of my "Art For Lovers" pieces. The Priory Barn is a wedding location that is rather spectacularly beautiful. Tucked away in the deepest Hertfordshire countryside, I have driven past it without knowing it was there for so many years! A wedding commission brought me to the place and a visit last week to have a look around so that I can make the original piece from was a real delight. The barn itself is magical - both inside and out, and there are some very, very old box trees in the grounds which I almost couldn't believe. So very beautiful. To marry there or hold a reception there would be a wonderful start to married life.


The Priory Barn, Little Wymondley

Thursday 3 October 2013

Remembering another me....remembering another time...

Photo albums should probably come with a health warning. I have been sorting today, boxes that are lurking in the corner, boxes that have remained untouched since my move back in August. Lots of pictures are in the boxes... photos from at least the last 25 years or so. A broken toe meant I couldn't face more daytime telly today, so sitting on my bum with feet on a cushion I started looking through. So many memories - good and not so good - came flooding back. And I came across these...ones of me in the year or so after I graduated, designing rugs and working freelance designing printed textiles. So much seems to have happened. The Vanessa that is in these photos has no idea of what the future was that was coming. Would she have liked to know?  Could I have saved myself some of the tears and the heartache? Probably not....time would have happened, history would have happened anyway so events would have happened even if they were not the same as the reality that did. All those experiences have made me the Vanessa that I am now, and for that I am glad.






Sunday 29 September 2013

Feeling like a real boy!.....David's Bookshop Commission - the mug stage!

I woke up on this lovely sunny morning and checked my phone whilst I slurped my tea in bed... and there in my notification was something exciting! I was commissioned by David's Bookshops in Letchworth to produce a cut paper piece of the shop front back in May. The bookshop wanted the commission to publish postcards and make merchandise but the image they had used for years was a bit outdated. So I set to work and made the piece... and as with all things things went quiet, life rumbled on and I got on with other commissioned pieces.

But now... the mugs and postcards have been made and it's so lovely to see! I have always loved seeing my work reproduced, not only aesthetically because the flatness of the colours really comes out, but it makes it all so accessible for lots of people. I am not a great one for stuff being too fancy pants and unattainable...so to see these mugs, though only small in the great scheme of things... is really exiting for me to see and sort of an aspiration come true.

So... at long last, it feels like I am slowly becoming a real boy!



David's Bookshop, Letchworth Garden City

Saturday 14 September 2013

My cunning plan greetings card plan!


So ....my cunning plan to take over the world! MWAH HA HA HA!!!   - so very, very excited to see all these shops selling my cards, second orders are already in! A big thank you to:

Cambridge:

Letchworth Garden City:

Hitchin:

Stevenage (Old Town)
Little Willow Gifts

Botanical Gardens, Cambridge


David's Bookshop, Letchworth Garden City

Kenmore Interiors, Hitchin

Little Willow, Stevenage Old Town

my cards now available at the Fitzwilliam Museum!

oh....a bit of a dream come true! My cards on sale at the Fitzwilliam Museum - can you see one of my bikes lurking?



Tuesday 27 August 2013

Cambridge Edition magazine - the front cover for August!


It was great to see one of my pieces on the front of Cambridge Edition - August's magazine. It's a great little magazine that features all sorts of news and articles in and about Cambridge and is delivered all over the county! I have been asked to perhaps do the winter cover... so watch out for Cam in snow!




Wednesday 21 August 2013

At long last after many requests - my work as cards!


At long last I have got some of my works made as greetings cards. I picked up the box a couple of weeks ago and I was SO excited! I always have loved seeing my work reproduced... the printing process flattens and saturated the colours even more and I am a great believer of art available for all. many people have asked me for cards and poster in the past as the originals are beyond many people... and besides that, many people actually dont want the original, they really like a manufactured thing! All thanks to Ian Abraham and Jeremy Brown at JHB Publishing at Luton. I have worked with them for the last five years and they are really helpful and generally excellent chaps.




Tuesday 9 July 2013

Last year - the universe splitting apart and reforming

If you have wondered why I have been rather quiet on here - the cut text piece below will hopefully say more than just words on a page can say. It was the worst year of my life... nine months of awfulness beyond awfulness. 




BUT....through all that awfulness, a lot of truly amazingly wonderful things have happened. So though it was all very hard, the river keeps flowing and thank goodness for that....here is to life!

Cambridge Titfers


Just a mini post....a trip to Cambridge on Saturday meant lots of wonderful sights and sounds. It has such a wonderful flow and energy there, and I hadn't been just to mooch about for ages, so it did me a lot of good! I saw hates and punts, and meadows and people... in fact lots and lots and lots of people!!


Less than 5 minutes walk from the hub-bub, a Cambridge meadow!

Still and peaceful part of the Cam

Entwined in Cambridge

Traffic jam!!
Cambridge market titfers