Flower Festival, Ely Cathedral

I sent a couple of boxes of new stock off to The Stained Glass Museum Shop recently. Included in there were some pieces to tie in with the Flower Festival being held at Ely Cathdral between 20 - 23 June. During this time, the interior of the Cathedral will be adorned with thousands of flowers and will be accompanied by performances from choirs and orchestras from around the world - alack I'm too far away to attend, so I'll have to imagine what an incredible sight, sound and scent that will be. 

This nasturtium is a new version of some I made a few years back.  I'm such a huge devotee of the humble nasturtium - it grows easily, looks great, you can chuck it in a salad, it attracts butterflies, covers weeds, climbs up or dangles down - it's the multi-tasker of the plant world.

Currently only available at The Stained Glass Museum Shop, but I'll see how they go and may add to my Etsy shop at some point.

Can't Get Enough Of (#1)... Jean Jullien

all images © Jean Jullien

So I thought I'd do an irregular series of illustrators, designers, artists, makers and general-all-round-creative-wizards whose work I just can't get enough of.

First is French illustrator/graphic designer/film maker Jean Jullien.  His work is funny, dark, smart and visually arresting all at once.  One of the themes of his work is the interaction between people and technology - it's hard not to find yourself cringing in recognition at some of his images.

I love the flatness of the digitally rendered colour combined with those loose, painterly outlines, and the deft simplicity with which his message is conveyed.

He also runs a tidy Instagram account, for a daily hit of brilliance.

The Big If

The Big IF is a free event in Hyde Park on 8th June that will call on G8 leaders to take action on global hunger - a scandal that leaves 1 in 8 people going hungry every day.

As part of this family-friendly event, they will be creating a giant art installation made of thousands of hand-made spinning paper flowers.  There will also be guest speakers, creative workshops and live music.

More details about the event are here, and instructions and a template for making your paper flower to contribute to the installation are here.

Here's one we made earlier.

30/5/13

During "No News" times, it's always ok to post pictures of your cat looking cute/half asleep on your blog.

New Cards!

I am very excited to show you some new cards that I've had printed.

While I've had cards of my work printed before, this is the first time I've played around with the colours and I'm so pleased with the results.

The designs are taken from photographs of my original stained glass pieces - they have not been drawn on a computer.  The thick black outline is actually the lead that surrounds the glass, and the finer black details are handpainted onto the glass using kiln-fired paint.

My colour palette is normally quite restricted by the glass I use, but by digitally re-colouring the designs, I can choose any combinations I like - and it's so liberating.

I've gone with a more summery colour palette, with watermelon pink, grass green, turquoise and aqua.

When I opened the box they arrived back from the printers in, I may have let out a high pitched squeak of delight, then had to restrain myself from, er, licking them (that's a bit odd I know).

The cards have been professionally printed (by lovely Moo) on FSC credited card stock (350gsm) with a light satin coating.  They come with a crisp white envelope and they're all available in my shop now :)

Internet On The Radio - After The Jump

image from here

I love the internet.  I devour blogs, procrastinate on Pinterest, enjoy the bantering on Twitter and so on.  But the problem is, you can't do anything else at the same time.

It really eats into your productivity.

So that's why I'm enjoying Grace Bonney's series of podcasts, After The Jump. It's like the internet, but on the radio.

She interviews fascinating people from all walks of creative life - illustrators, designers, entrepreneurs, writers - in an informal but intelligent way. Through the course of the interview, their route into their career is discussed as well as their family background and plans for the future.

I was a bit worried that it might be all too "Yay Me!" for my self-effacing British ways, but  she's a great interviewer, naturally curious and engaging, and the people she chats too are open and generous with their answers, often dishing out sound advice on how to deal with the problems of running a small creative business.

And all the while I'm listening, I can get on with making stuff! Meanwhile, I'm picking the brains of some really talented people.  Working and learning.

Any other recommendations for great creative podcasts are welcome - there is also a good list here by Abby Glassenberg.

Stocking Up

A few in-progress Instagrams from my lightbox.

I'm currently working my way through some new stock for The Stained Glass Museum as well as some for a new stockist which, very excitingly, is opening soon in Bridport.... more on that another time.

I've never sold any of my work locally before (apart from to friends and family) so it's going be interesting to see how it goes.

Lets Make Art

I spotted the top image in my Pinterest feed a few days ago and fell in love with it.

It comes from a children's creative workshop, run by a Bristol-based company called Lets Make Art (Karen Davies and Alice Hendy).

To find out more about them, and upcoming workshops and events, visit their blog, or follow on Twitter / Facebook

I'm wondering if I could lure them to do some sessions in Bridport....

All images reproduced by kind permission. ©Alice Hendy

RebelMouse / Blogging The Lazy Way

It occurred to me recently that what I need is a site that amalgamates all my interesting, informative and visually splendid* social media content (Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram), and puts it out there in one easily digestible dollop.

If you can get past the name and cartoon mouse, Rebelmouse does exactly that, and in a pleasingly simple layout.

*My actual content may not be interesting, informative or visually spendid...

Where They Create

JASON WOODSIDE

GREEDY HEN STUDIO

IJM

JOE ANDOE

Where They Create has been around for a few years now, and there is also a book available, but I've only just come across it.

Loving the Selby-esque, unstyled shots of creative spaces, which reveal a lot about the inhabitants' processes and working habits.

It also makes me feel a bit better about the perma-chaos of my workshop.

There are even more enviable environments over on Where They Dwell.

All images ©Paul Barbera

Pocket Money Shop Update

A new A4 print listed in The Pocket Money Shop, entitled Thinking Man.  When Nelly painted this the other day I thought how much it reminded me of Cathy Cullis's work, which I absolutely love.

And below it, the artist, with the WWF snow leopard she received with her adoption pack, purchased with her shop earnings (we got a bit excited that we might have taken delivery of an ACTUAL snow leopard as part of the deal, but thankfully it was just a Sky TV van parked outside our house).

Thanks again to all the kind and generous supporters of Nelly's project.

Crafty Magazine.

What?  Another new craft magazine?  Ah yes, but this one is quite a sexy little beast.

I was pretty excited to get my hands on a copy of the first issue of Crafty Magazine, after I saw Perri Lewis tweet this.  Because there really has been a gaping hole in craft magazine publishing for one that has a bit of edge, a bit of bite to it.  A Rizzo to the rest of the Sandra Dees*

With lots of moody, grainy photography and printed on uncoated paper, it's got the sniffability factor I like in a mag.  Articles include some great DIY projects (ombre Converse anyone? make your own moth?), interviews with contemporary artists (Mel Elliott, Iona Thomas) and guest spots from Perri Lewis and Mr X Stitch.

I'm looking forward to the next edition already - I hope they continue pushing the boundaries and seeking out genuine original talent.  You can have a peek at issue 1 here.


*Don't get me wrong, I love Sandy.  Primrose yellow cardigan, white high-collar shirt, too-short fringe.  It's a great look.