pretty little horses

This is a half-step repeat pattern I created by hand a little while ago. I am fascinated by making pattern tiles which fit beautifully when you put them together, it feels a bit like magic. Creating a physical picture tile is such a different process to creating a repeat pattern tile on the computer which, in my case, relies on a certain amount of trial and error! This horses tile repeats in a half step which means that tiles are put together like bricks in a wall rather than tiles in a bathroom. One day I’d like to make this design into a linocut, once I have figured out how to make linocuts that is…

October 13, 2022 0

Summer holidays are at an end and it is time to get back into the studio! I am working on a new series of patterns at the moment and here is a snapshot from some of the artwork. These blue cats are inspired by the fabulous tale of Dougal and the Blue Cat, a story I loved as a child. “Blue is beautiful, blue is best, I’M blue, I’M beautiful, I’M BEST!”

September 14, 2022 1

repeating bats

I was sifting through paintings the other day to take to The Curiosity Gallery in St Ives who stock my artwork, and I uncovered this little pattern tile. Since it had not seen the light of day since I made it some time last year, I thought it was high time I finished it! So one short burst of activity later I had added some black ink to what was originally just a watercolour image, scanned it and tried out repeating the tile. I was highly delighted to discover that it works quite well as a pattern! I love trying to figure out pattern tiles by hand, it’s such fun and gives you a great sense of achievement when you find it all fits together nicely. Here is my (still a bit rough around the edges) finished pattern.

October 26, 2017 2

tropical

I realised a couple of days ago that Gifted? had opened their new competition with the brief “tropical” and I thought it would be fun to enter. Then I realised I was a little behind the times, in fact the deadline was the end of the very same day… I decided to fish out my watercolour set and get going despite the tight deadline – after all there is a certain freedom to feeling like you have so little time to do something that if it doesn’t work, well, so what? Anyway, I managed to paint these two little watercolour pictures and submit them before the end of the day, which made me happy and also made me realise that sometimes it’s actually quite nice not to overthink things!

June 5, 2017 0

night sprites and happy clouds

Patterns and illustrations seem to be coming together for me – I do find it quite difficult not to give everything a happy face, even if it’s just clouds… Here are a couple of new patterns.

June 23, 2016 0

To His Coy Mistress

A little while ago I was asked to create a piece of artwork inspired by and featuring the poem “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell which was to become a print. An unusual job for me and a challenging one too! I wanted to create a piece that was somewhere between a pattern and an illustration and it was also important to keep the background fairly neutral to allow the poem to be read. I used the motif from a pattern I had previously made because this “Queen of Diamonds” just felt like the right character to me. I gave the image a completely different background pattern and overall colour, and placed the poem over the top. Below is the finished result – the print is 50cm high so it’s a bit easier to read!

April 27, 2016 0

feathered friends

As well as working on a new chapter book series I am thinking a lot about patterns at the moment as I am taking of one of Rachael Taylor‘s rather excellent Make It In Design courses! It’s such fun making patterns and really lovely to be spurred on by my teachers and classmates. Here are some of my newest patterns that focus on characters.

April 13, 2016 2

a little inspiration

I have been trying my hand at something a little bit different just recently – Make It In Design are running a competition to illustrate an inspirational quote with the winner earning a place on their Ultimate Portfolio Builder course starting in a few weeks. If I’m honest I’m already signed up to do the course but I couldn’t resist entering the competition anyway! “Damn the torpedoes” has long been a favourite quote of mine and I recently discovered the wonderful “nothing is impossible…” said by Audrey Hepburn. These two images were made by hand with ink and collage and were positively therapeutic to work on!

March 8, 2016 0

red critter and the cowboy snowman

I woke the other day to thick flakes of snow falling past my window. It didn’t last long before turning to so much slush, but whilst it was falling the world was silent and beautiful. I can’t help it, I love snow! Here is a little red critter who has just come across a cowboy snowman. I liked him so much I turned him into a pattern too.

January 20, 2016 2

Mari-Christmas patterns

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… This week, in between scoffing mince pies, I’ve been having fun working on some festive patterns. Happy Christmas everyone!

December 24, 2015 0