Wimbledon Art Studios: Millie McCallum

If I had to a pick a favourite studio it would have to be Millie McCallum's, her linoprint's are decorated with quirky extras, turning what is already a pretty gorgeous print into something beautifully magical. Of corse yet again the bright colours caught my eye, and the fact that she, like me seems to have a love of both pineapples and pandas!!

Wimbledon Art Studios: Arabella Stewart

I just cant help but love Arabella's sketches, they are so cute and yet so simple: black line on a white background. So lovely. 

Wimbledon Art Studios: Jaysen Lilley

These are my three favs from my visit to the studios, the first being Jaysen Lilley who creates bold, colourful screen prints with London themes.  I'm a sucker for bright colours so was immediately drawn to these, as well as his use of screen printing - I love thinking about all the layers which must have gone into each print to create the overall effect. 

Wimbledon Art Studios: Open Studios

Wimbledon art studios is one of the largest single site studio complexes in the UK, and this weekend saw one its twice yearly openings to the public. Luckily for me I live in walking distance of the studios, and with so many artists from so many disciplines in one place I would have been foolish to miss it. 

Having not been to an open studio's in a few years and never on my own (usually trotting along with a bunch of girls from uni) I was a tad unsure of what to expect! What I got was a lovely afternoon- looking into many artists own private worlds. I felt in owe of so many pieces and very inspired to create more myself. It was great to see such vastly different works all in the same place as well as being able to chat to the artists about their style and processes. 

Below are some of the pieces which caught my eye most...

Fiona Brown

Jane Wachman

Elena Garcia de la Fuente

Katherine Le Hardy

Redbubble

So the first step in my year of productivity was to create a Redbubble. I've known about Redbubble for some time now, for those of you who haven't stumbled across this site its an online market place which creates customized products from your designs.

I thought it was time to give Redbubble a try, uploading artworks is pretty straightforward, and it introduces you to a new world of designers which act has a great source of inspiration. 

With sites like this I always worry about my designs being stolen, but I'm hoping its just a good way of getting your work out there and its always nice to hear feedback about your style, good and bad. 

You can see of my designs here

Time fly's...

It's recently come flying at me that its almost a year since my final ever university hand in, and hitting me even harder is recognising that I'm not in the position I thought I might be in a year ago. Not that I even really knew what I wanted a year ago, I just knew I wanted a rest from the deadlines and stresses that come with third year, and its fair to say this last year has given me that. I think perhaps I underestimated just how short a year is, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. 

My upcoming first anniversary for leaving uni, has made me realise just how much I'm missing being creative. It's a lot harder being self-motivated to design than I thought. Not that I've been unmotivated, its just slipped, other things have taken over and here we are, one year on, with not quite the full ideas busting out sketchbooks I would have liked. So I think its time to get back in the creative game, I love drawing and I don't want to miss out on another year of it. 

So when I reach my second anniversary of leaving I want to look back on a more productive year, and that starts with my blog; I will post more, I will draw more, more patterns will be made, more exhibitions will be visited, sketchbooks will be filled and I'll finish knitting all the socks I started!!