Fair and back again!

It was the Folksy Fair this weekend and a great success all round. The children came too and loved all of the activities that were available both in Endcliffe Park generally (a really lovely park, open bits, woodsy bits, watery rivery bits, playgrounds and wild bits - perfect) and as part of the Folk Forest event - my son loved the Forest School and is a natural fire-maker, oops. I was too busy to take lots of photos but I did manage a couple of snapshots - here are some views of and from some of the stalls.

General view through the Folksy Forest

My stall on windy Sunday (so no bunting up)

 Butterscotch and Beesting's magical wonderland.

Gorgeous goodies at Nuada Accessories

Fun and Fine China at Mellor Ware

A Fiddle of Folksy Fair-ites

This will be a quickie - still madly getting ready for the FOLKSY FAIR this weekend (Saturday and Sunday 12-8pm both days) at Endcliffe Park in Sheffield as part of the Folk Forest and Tramlines Folk Festival. We are all nestling in a tree lined lane (ok so I am getting romantically ahead of myself as I haven't been yet!) full of Folksy love - the stall tents all huddle up together next to a tarmac path so with trees, shelters, and no muddy paths, it bodes well whatever the weather - but hey, it's going to be SUNNY - so pleased.

I am excited to see who else is going to be there but can give a little sneaky peek at a handful of the lovely designer-makers who will be attending.

Emily Pickle

doodlelove

NostalgiaKnits

Jenny Wren

Butterscotch and Beesting

Inkyprints-Originals (sneak preview, not yet in Folksy shop!)

 

I have a range of new designs, new journals, and now some magpie prints to add to the Inkyprints-Originals house of hand-printed goodies. The above print, limited edition, is one of the two magpie prints which will be with me at the fair.

Right, time to finish packing the boxes and display stuff - come along if you can, there will be lots of different activities to suit everyone. I think my two children will probably first head for the forestry skills, face-painting and snacks (oh so important!). Whatever happens, am sure it'll be fun. Have a great weekend everyone. x

All the fun of the fair.

No, happily for me it is not the whirlygig waltzers kind of fair with wickedly grinning spin-makers ready to make your stomach lurch in fear. Don't get me wrong, I fall for all that lovely slightly spooky but charming nonetheless carnival music, it's just am not a fan of any rides except the dodgems and the carousel (ok, and the big tea-cups are ok too)! Not your bravest individual, clearly. No, I'm thinking more of a different kind of charm altogether - this will be a festival full of finely-tuned folk music, festivities and an art-craft market, all courtesy of The Folk Forest, Tramlines and Folksy.  It is all happening in Sheffield's Endcliffe Park in just over a week on Saturday and Sunday 21/22 July...and I'm going to be there together with the friendly Folksy family and 34 other lovely stalls of  things brightly and beautifully made.

thefolkforest.net/event/210712-the-folk-forest-tramlines-2012/

I have obviously been very calmly doing my thing and not at all been a picture of crazed mum all splattered in ink sporting a dangerous smile, not a bit of it. ;P Of course the rest of our little world has decided that now is the perfect time to slip in one or two extra commitments, meetings and appointments and I naturally welcome them all (dangerous smile is back, watch out).

Still, I can see light somewhere and I think the end of the tunnel is lurking close by just waiting for the smile to relax a little. I have been adding a few things to my Inkyprints range to launch at the fair (always wise, I won't hear a word against this plan) so there will be some new larger journals, some limited edition hard-back journals and some art prints to go along with the more familiar stock. Phew. I'm saving the reveal for the Fair itself, so pics will be after that...I might manage a sneaky peek soon, but just a little one mind!

I have also been working on the presentation side of the business and am delighted with some bits and bobs coming together - these include my new event banner:

 

...do you know, I think I really am looking forward to it now. I'm breathing again and hey, that smile has softened at last too. 

Birmingham Printmakers Open Studios

I tweeted, I FB'd it, I even old-fashioned talked about it without a gadget involved at all..and now I will blog it to complete the circle. On Saturday we had a wonderful time at the Birmingham Printmakers Open Studios.

We set up the studio with beautiful mini-stalls for the artists to display their hand-printed artwork, notebooks, artists' books, cards, gift-wrap, textiles and more! All this alongside the framed artwork on the walls and unframed original work in all the print browsers. There were nibbles and drinks and a lot of cheery chatter while people came to mingle, to enquire about membership, to watch printmaking demos, to rummage and happily to buy both artwork and gifts. Here are a couple of snaps I took when we set up and a couple during, and in the background you can see some of the gorgeous equipment...I love presses, brayers, silkscreens and ink slabs!

Some of the member printmakers present and artwork represented:
Jacqui Dodds; Christine Bradshaw; Mike Allison; Jackie Rankin; Ann Irby Crews; Phil Wilkinson; Victoria Linehan ; Fiona Humphrey; Catherine Bowdler; Sarah Ray; Jo Ruth; Chris Doran...but these are just some of the members with work on display, there is always much more available through the print browsers or hanging framed ready for purchase on the walls throughout the studio.

Christine Bradshaw

Mike Allison demonstrating lino printing. 

If you are interested in doing a workshop or becoming a member, please take a look at: http://birminghamprintmakers.org/

I am delighted that we all had such a good turnout and thrilled that I sold a couple of framed intaglio collagraph original prints as well as work from my Inkyprints-Originals range. A good day all round.

Caught on the hop...

...just as I was giving myself a few too many excuses for not having blogged in over a week, I popped on to find that the very lovely Stef at http://jaysmonkey.blogspot.co.uk had nipped in to nominate me for the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you Stef.

There is something of the chain letter about these things but they also serve to widen our online appreciation and get to know others better when we follow the links. I am grateful for being thought of for this award but if anyone on my list isn't happy to go ahead with it, then I also understand that perfectly. x

The Rules

1. Add the award to your blog.

2. Thank the blogger(s) who gave it to you.

3. Mention 7 random things about yourself.
4. List the rules.
5. Award to 15 bloggers.
6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.

Ok, so now for the hard bit - 7 random things off the top of my head - truly, otherwise I'll go mad over-thinking it:

1) I can produce an unnaturally high ear-splitting beep. Why? Don't ask me, it started when I was young and now my children love to make me do it.
2) I am double-jointed in both thumbs.
3) My favourite sweets are Lions midget gems - the real ones, not the pretend 'original' ones in the supermarkets. The original Lions gems are fruitier, harder and the black ones are liquorice flavoured.
4) I've never tried sushi and probably never will.
5) I find the Waltzers scary. Really.
6) I love walking in heavy rain. Well sometimes.
7) Ticking clocks drive me potty and I hide them under cushions to muffle the noise.

....phew, too late, they're done...and here are my chosen 15 bloggers:

1) http://jacquidodds.blogspot.co.uk/

2) http://littlebrickhouseclayworks.blogspot.co.uk/

3) http://noodlebubble.blogspot.co.uk/

4) http://mandyhills.blogspot.com/

5) http://amz-afewofmyfavouritethings.blogspot.co.uk/

6) http://ello-design.blogspot.co.uk/

7) http://redbrickglass.blogspot.co.uk/

8) http://marievickersart.blogspot.co.uk/

9) http://sayitsays.blogspot.co.uk/

10) http://foundinkeswick.blogspot.co.uk/

11) http://handmade-by-edwina.blogspot.co.uk/

12) http://www.helenlimbrick.com/

13) http://dabandadash.blogspot.co.uk/

14) http://audreyscat.blogspot.co.uk/ *

15) http://dottiedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/ *

*Already awarded (there may be others, if so, sorry) but I had to include in my list because I do visit these regularly. No-one can expect you to do the list thing again, but it is nice to be mentioned. X

In between times

I am in the middle of completing commissions, printing fresh stock to send out to galleries (great news), and generally getting ready for things coming up soon (more in another post), and  I find myself distracted by images I want to pursue.

I promised myself I would concentrate on getting Inkyprints-Originals established with a portfolio and stock base before heading back into art for art's sake, but I need to do some and I think it will be good for me and for Inkyprints if I let myself. I have been wanting to do a series of bird prints for quite a while - I had collagraphs and drypoints in mind, but I think I'll do some in linocut as well. I am sure that there is room for some linocut prints in my Inkyprints range and hope that they will complement the notebooks and other stationery.

Here are a few of my sketches.  I love all of the bad-boy birds: crows, rooks, magpies etc (jackdaws are a real treat, but we don't have any near us) - I think it's the sense that they have attitude that I like.

I have a messy loose style when sketching - quite different from the graphic qualities of linocut, which is why I have previously caught them in drypoint. It'll be a challenge giving them new life, I'm looking forward to it - oh, and it'll take time (mum stuff has to come first) but I'll post the results eventually!

I'm hoping to see some more birds today - we're off to a Falconry display in a minute - a Father's Day treat (there will be coffee and cake in a cafe I'm sure)  - hard to get good pictures when they're in flight, but it'll be fun trying.

Time to start saving up.

I've been very busy this weekend juggling my way through a schedule of competing printmaking tasks but it's been great to tick them off and make room for more work - in my studio as well as my head.

Apart from finishing a wedding commission set, I also printed my dala rocking horse linocut onto notebook covers - these are delicious in cherry red - moving onto gift/wedding favour boxes in rose, white, plum and cherry (more colours to come) - labels and bunting were not forgotten either - so altogether, well over a hundred impressions which isn't bad given that we also managed an outing with the children to take advantage of the clear skies!

As the prints took their places on the drying lines, and then the shelves, and then every flat surface available...I came to the decision that it's definitely time to save up for a couple of free-standing drying racks to augment my trusty suspended lines. Printmaking studio racks can be very very costly once you've exhausted more purse-friendly options so I'd better start scouting ebay tonight.

Half-term is over, the downhill run of summer term is here - it's all school trips and fairs, picnics in the park and general winding down until the clock only whispers through the long holidays. Am looking forward to it.