A new Print – now in the shop! Title: Flowers in the Dark. Based loosely on one of my paintings from the “Looking for Trouble” show. Someone mentioned they would work well as prints – so tada! I tried mimicking the speckled grey card that the originals are painted on but the colours looked washed out in the print form compared to the paintings, so I settled for a darker background. The print measures around 21cm x 29.7cm (A4) and is priced at £12.

The bright colours on the black reminds me of fireworks and another print I used to stock – my last attempt at a jug of flowers back in 2009. Weird looking back at older prints and pictures, they sometimes feel so primitive. Do you find that? I know the older picture only dates back a couple of years but it just shows how subtly styles can develop without you really being aware of them doing so.

ANYWAY and more importantly ;) Autumn is nearly here which is making me greedy for Halloween, pumpkins and Bonfire night. Not forgetting the gallons of Gingerbread lattes I will be drinking when the time comes…

I’m busy getting all the work ready for the shows next week. Tomorrow my Nottingham Castle painting experience begins. I’ve planned a nice packed lunch to take with me to ease the nerves – so now I’m looking forward to tomorrow lunch time, which means by then I should be at least 3 or 4 hours into the piece. Cunning yes? I hope the distraction works!

Today I’ve been colouring in the smaller pieces and apart from the name tags I’m pretty close to the finishing line! That’s a really good feeling!

I bought this desk YEARS ago from a charity shop for the grand total of £3!! It’s been living in a friends basement and ever since, mainly because I could never find an easy way of getting it home via public transport and I kept forgetting about it. But as you can see I finally brought it home!! It has little legs you can screw on the bottom but for now they’re tucked away inside and I have just the top resting on my work table. It makes the table the perfect height for painting projects so I’ve nicknamed it my ‘paint station’ for now. In the past I’ve been using big books to lean on (as you can see in this older post) as an attempt to limit the back damage I keep accidentally inflicting on myself. Fingers crossed this beauty does the trick!

Below: The spring flowers are filtering their way into a lot of my doodles at the moment (but I think that was a bit obvious in the recent sketch book updates). Anyway, here are some of the beautiful flowers I’ve been enjoying and some examples of how I’ve been putting them in my pictures.

And here is a random illya picture:

I’m trying to keep up with number 6 on my list (my missions for 2011). I’ve spent 2 days doodling in a sketchbook and thought I’d pick out some of my favourites and share them with you. I’m a little bit addicted to that chevron pattern now…

The title says it all really :)

I’m doodling on Saturday March 12th at the SWITCH studio launch right here in sunny Nottingham. So if you’re local and want to listen to music and watch a cluster of doodlers armed with paint take on some beautiful clean white walls – come along! (details below)

Well… so far I’ve spent the day painting – I didn’t intend to, but sometimes that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I woke up with the good intentions to go hunting for supplies around town… until I opened the curtains and saw the drizzle – yuck. Instead I finished off a painting (below) and kick started 2 more. I love the wonky table and I wish that jug of flowers was real (I’m glad the wonky table isn’t – we have plenty of those).

My next mission this evening = Pizza and wine. Wish me luck :)