Ollerina

Oh my! My new printer is good!

I am really pleased with my new printer it picks up the detail of all the paint texture and brush strokes. I have been very busy testing paper and doing lots of finishing touches. I have amassed quite a cute little stock pile of goods that I will be photographing this weekend so pictures will be up soon. My Epson stylus R1900 in action

 My sample paper packs from www.on-linepaper.co.uk This little lot cost almost £100 but it's beautiful quality paper and you can really tell!

 It is a good job I went for samples because the thicker card that I assumed would make better cards was too thick and cracked on the fold and some of the papers gave better colours. I have ended up choosing paper that I didn't expect to use.

Creating a look

I have been doing some design work to go with my art work. This is a sign I am going to laminate and decorate with some ribbons etc. I thought it might look good in shop windows if I can get some boutiques to stock some of my things. And I am thinking craft fairs in the future so I am creating a look for my stall well in advance to avoid a crazy rush. I did a rough sketch of this and redrew it and painted it in photoshop. I really enjoyed doing it and love the result, I think I must be pleased with myself. 

A black version.

badge making machine

Oh my gosh my new badge making machine is fantastic! I knew I liked it as soon as it arrived because it was hot pink/red and sparkled. After leaving it to gather dust for a couple of months I have finally gotten around to making my badges and some magnets that are surprisingly really strong. After a shaky start which I now know was due to me using 3 circles of plastic instead of 1 ( they stick together!) it is working fine and I am well on my way to stocking my etsy shop (currently empty) with cute badges amongst other stuff. With so many badges I could also be in danger of looking like a pearly king or queen!

My new badge machine from www.blankbadge.co.uk

Reworkings

Hope this is not getting repetitive but I am not doing any new work at the moment. I am reworking all the bits I have before I start with new stuff soon I have reworked the Christmas Fairies mainly their faces in photoshop, seen below.

Klimt, Charlie and Lola and Manga, Yay!

Me and Ollie just managed to catch the last day of Green Drops and Moonsquirters: The Utterly Imaginative World of Lauren Child at the Manchester Art Gallery.

It's possibly not a very good thing to blog about because it has now finished but it was a great exhibition. I am a huge fan of Lauren Child so I loved it but I was really proud that Ollie was at an art exhibition that was really good fun and not at all elitist towards the average two year old. It really was art for all and jolly good fun, Ollie got to play with the orange phone from his I am too absolutely too small for School book and sit at Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent's Desk (a particular fave of mine) I did bang my head on the entrance to the Bobton-Trent office and feared concussion for the rest of the day but I survived. I didn't take my camera so I have no good pic's what a shame.

The Manga exhibition on at Urbis also in Manchester is great fun too and very accessible to all. We got lucky this year with art on the door step.

I have just booked tickets (booking is a must it seems) for Klimt at the Tate in Liverpool that also ends soon. As usual always leaving things to the last minute! Can't believe we missed the Miffy Exhibition at the Manchester Art Galley earlier this year though, wonder whats on next?

Writing group

A poster for The North West Events organised by the lovely Steph who runs our writers group so people don't have to travel down to London, it's small at the moment but good the last event was very interesting and useful.

Still plugging away at the writing it is so handy going to a writers crit as I don't seem to notice some very obvious glaring errors like how come my bat character is keeping normal daytime hours?

Badge bonkers

I have been doing these badges for ages now, there are just too many possibilities. I am very busy cutting out paper circles and shuffling them around unable to decide which ones will make it to the finals for badge making. I enlisted my nieces help as she has an excellent eye for the visual and doesn't mind pointing out the rubbish ones it has speed up the process!

Taste in the park

Taste in the Park – a weekend food and drink fiesta at Platt Fields Park, Manchester. A very pleasant family friendly day out with music nice food and baby loves disco! best bop I've had for a while!

And his prefered toys

Despite the abundance of toys this is what Ollie prefers to play with... wires, plugs and all associated stuffs.
You will often see us in Woolworths (me hanging around hoping we don't get booted out) while Ollie links up five or more extension plugs to build a super Vacuum cleaner?

Cable chaos!

Ollies toys

Ollie room full of lovely toys...