Sunday 31 January 2010

lady birds




Cannot stop entering spoonflower competitions at the moment, I seem to need a deadline in order to complete anything these days! A trip to the Natural History Museum ( which is stunning and has a new Darwin Center ) and the subject of insects has got me thinking about specimen cases full of bugs all lined up....

cutie pie


Sharp intakes of breath all weekend as friends and family are introduced to this stunning photo by the wonderful Rebecka from Vintage fairytales.
All the women love it and all the men are not too sure! I think that it is fabulous, the colours and the clarity are so vivid that it just reminds me of hot summer days dozing in the garden. A truly lovely gift on this grey january weekend...

Friday 29 January 2010

crayon cakes


I won the spoonflower competition! They have already printed a fat quarter of the fabric which is the most exciting thing to happen for me in the whole month of January! Thank you to all the people who have left such kind comments....

Sunday 24 January 2010

happy birthday


Happy 70th birthday dear dad! chocolate cake when you get back!
My folks are having a great time over in Brunei with my brother and his family....oh to have those blue skies and aquamarine sea.....

Friday 22 January 2010

daily painting






Book club annual get together with husbands and without books on saturday was a reprieve from the incredible cold and january greyness that has swamped Molesey..... at least I have managed to get something down in the diary/sketchbook...it has definitely given me something to think about other than surviving the english winter!

Sunday 17 January 2010

more cakes


Am very pleased that I have managed to finish my design for this weeks competition despite suffering form the after effects of our book club party last night!

Friday 15 January 2010

wayne thiebauld




I decided to look at the amazing work of american artist Wayne Thiebauld for this week's spoonflower challenge which is to use only crayola crayons to design a length of fabric......I have been having a go at cakes of all shapes and sizes and trying to get the same wonderful colours that he uses...

Wednesday 13 January 2010


Yesterday my mum presented me with this beautiful knitted flower corsage! I first saw these flowers at the workshop last year, and now mum has the pattern and so I am the pleased owner of a very Julie Arkell accessory!

Monday 11 January 2010

second week in Jan






Well I am still managing to paint a little sketch in my diary every day without cheating too much.... there is always something funny or amusing every day like the red car with a snowman on its roof whizzing by on the bridge, or John P carving 2 chickens for a lovely sunday lunch at the Pickersgills......but its trying to remember the details when I get home that is sometimes tricky!

Thursday 7 January 2010

coral






Under he heavy snow clouds in Molesey Francesca has been beavering away on a whole sketchbook using just one colour - coral! Here are some of the pages that she did using found and made textures and materials...my favourite is the knitting with hand dyed strips of chiffon....

Wednesday 6 January 2010



Sorting out some old cupboards I found this gorgeous little cloth dolly that Francesca had made me while staying at my parents house years ago......thought it was very Julie Arkell like!
Have removed most of the Christmas decorations now, but had to hang on to this wonderful card sent by the very talented Becky who I met on the Julie Arkell workshop last summer. Check out her amazing blog crammed with beautiful whimsical photography...vintage fairytales




New Years resolutions had me thinking about painting more instead of the more important things like being more organised, or being more thoughtful to others or having a cleaner house! and so because I am still in awe of 'today I saw" blog I will try to do my own version of an illustrated diary! Carrying around a sketchbook or camera every day so far though has taken up most of my energy! I shall have to develop that photographic memory!

Monday 4 January 2010


Oooh very excited to see my products in the window of John Lewis before Christmas.... had to have this cheesy photo on the blog to remind me to think about work more often!