The Artist

This blog’s been rather quiet the last few days as I’ve been rushed off my feet with London Fashion Week. At the moment I’m editing photos, sketching, painting, writing notes and sadly wasting hours trawling through street style photos looking for  a snap of me. Here’s a little something until all that comes together. I saw the saw The Artist on valentines day and loved it. You can read my review of it on The Young Creatives.

Tea and Cake Features

Tea and Cake has been featured a few places today. Firstly one Ballad Of’s blog

and secondly on Kelly-Jane’s blog Cooking The Books. As well as reviewing the book she made a rather tasty looking recipe from the book. Thank you both! x

A very special Shipshape Studio event

I can now officially announce that I will be be speaking (and signing books) at Shipshape Studio’s Illustration and Design Forum. It will be lead by Rachel Lewis, Alice Potter and myself. As well as hearing us talk, you can ask questions about the illustration industry, eat cake, drink tea, buy artwork by the speakers and even purchase a copy of Tea and Cake if you are so inclined. You can book tickets here.

Beautiful photos of shipshape studio from their website.

style icon: brigitte bardot

The next in my style icon series is Brigitte Bardot; french model, screen siren and animal rights activist. Her style is relaxed, feminine and effortless. Whilst I’ll never have long blond mermaid waves of hair to backcomb into bouffants and billow in the breeze, I would very happily wear everything in these pictures. I don’t know what weather requires both sunglasses and a trench coat, but I’d like to give the look a go.

features and treasuries

I’ve been featured in lots of lovely blogs and treasuries today! Matin LapinDana Garden DesignMy Little Chickadee’s BlogMy Empire State Building print.My Little Red Riding Hood print.

Golden Afternoon Tea

Last saturday I went to a 99th birthday party. Not many people get to go to a 99th birthday party, and even fewer get to be 99 themselves so it was total honour to be there. The birthday girl was the grandma of Louisa of Golden Afternoon Tea Company. I’m doing some illustrations for the Golden Afternoon Tea Company’s website, so Louisa invited me to get a feel for what they do.

The first thing that I noticed was the seriously covetable crockery laid out on perfectly set tables, and the second was the cake. Piles upon pile of homemade cakes on tired cakes plates, and the piece de resistance was a triple tired victoria sponge cake with bunting.I had a wonderful time. About halfway through I made the transition from sketching to helping, and joined the tea brigade. I had lots of fun swishing around in my long skirt with fresh pots of earl grey and plates of scones. By the way, the cakes were as good as they looked.

a year in the garden

I don’t really have time to do things just for fun with three quite bigs jobs on at the moment, but I think if you don’t make the time you lose the joy of what you are doing at bit. Often my favourite pieces are the ones I do ‘just because’. This is just something little I did this evening to put on my wall to remind me of all the lovely gardening things I have to do in the year.

Plant Pot Cosies

I haven’t done a garden update in a while because there isn’t much happening over winter, except the slow and sad withering of the more delicate plants. Even some of the more hardy ones are looking worse for wear after the snow. Most of the growing is happening indoors these days, but with our single pane windows I was worried about the windowsill plants getting cold. Which is why most the pot plants now have cute little cosies. We have sweet peas, rocket, coriander, garlic, chilli seeds and a butternut squash all attempting to grow in the living room at the minute.

Style Icon: Edie Sedgwick

The next in my style icon series is Edie Sedgwick. Edie was an actress, model, muse to Andy Warhol, and had an incredibly distinctive sense of style. She was a fan of short hair, though here’s a little longer and messier than Jean Seberg’s. I think my favourite part of her look is the massive earrings. I don’t have my ears pierced, but maybe if I scour the charity shops I can find pair of clip ons like that.

a very sneaky peak

I have something special planned for Nancy Straughan’s fabrics, but I couldn’t help using a little bit in this piece, they are just so lovely. This is a part of a much bigger picture for an exhibition.