It's the last day of my exhibition with the Circus of Illustration at the Place theatre in Bedford. Here are some snaps of the work. I can't wait to exhibit some personal work again soon.

Embroidery Mistake

Usually when I do hand embroidery I draw my image onto soluble paper, which I baste onto my fabric. The paper dissolves straight away so I was really confused when this didn't happen to this piece. It turns out I have used fabric interfacing! What a dope! The plastic iron-on side was touching the fabric so I was able to fuse it, but I'm not happy with it...

 It's not perfect, you can see the texture of the interfacing as it is lighter in colour to the beige background and the creases in the face can't be ironed out or stretched. I felt so depressed about it last night, five hours of work thrown away! And it was going to be in an exhibition next month! I've learned a few lessons and everything in my craft box is going to get labeled from now on. Not sure what do with her. Have her in my house as a reminder to pay attention, perhaps.

New pens

I've got some new pens. Dip pens. There are so many nibs to play with and they are so cheap I decided to buy a selection from the Art centre in Bedford. 

I don't really hold my pen 'properly'. At school I was still writing with a pencil when everyone else had advanced to using ink. I use it in my right hand but hold it like a left hander. This makes the line very scratchy.

So this is taking some getting use to. With the finer nibs I draw a line and no mark is made because of my cack-hand. However, when the mark is made, especially with a really fine line... It looks really tasty, if a little shaky.

Here are a few experiments from my sketchbook using my new toys.

Drawing hair with super fine nibs was fun.

This bear is my favourite!

Spotlight Exhibition

If you're going to be attending one of the amazing acts for this year's Bedfringe festival, then maybe you'll be going to The Place theatre on Bradgate Road. If so, be sure to check out the Circus of Illustration's 'Spotlight' exhibition. Andrew Foster from the circus designed our eye-catching poster!

We'll have some illustration work up in the foyer and bar for you to admire. Something to look at as you're having a tasty beer before the show or interval. How exciting!

 This our the website for the Circus of Illustration

Playing With Oil Pastel

Recently half of my dining table has been commandeered by my inks, oil pastels, watercolours and pencils. It's the best way to keep me busy whilst Jack is busy working on his next album. During the day, I'm upstairs doing the cutes on my computer for Doodle Press and in the evening, when I need to get away from the screen, I can play around with my toys in a different room.

I like trying new things. I've had oil pastels for ages, but it's only until now that I've decided to experiment. These are the better drawings from my sketchbook using the pastels. I referenced the models from my 1950s Good Housekeeping magazine. The bright colours make them look more like 1980s fashion illustrations. I like the loose style. I put a few pencil lines down on the page as guides then just broadly used the blunt pastels on the whole page without worrying about the little details.