Kew Gardens

Several weeks ago I was asked to design some floral inspired prints, so I saw this has the perfect excuse to take a trip to Kew Gardens in search of some botanical inspiration! 

Below are a few of my favourites, I was on a bright colour hunt, but sadly I think I was a bit too late in the summer for a lot of the flowers. I also wandered around Kew's botanical gallery, I hadn't done this before and I'm really glad I did, filled floor to ceiling with beautifully detailed paintings, photography is not aloud the gallery and I don't think a photo would quite to it justice, but its certainly worth a visit if your a fan of florals. 

Elton John: Western Homes Community Stadium, Colchester

Elton Johns 'Crocodile Rock' used to blast out from our house at full volume, every morning before school, my mums go to tool to drag us out of bed and up jumping around the living room to 'When Suzie wore her dresses tight'. So its no surprise that Elton had long been on my list of top musicians to see live, I even debated buying a ticket to Bestival last year purely because he was the headlining act. 

When I heard that Elton John would be playing in my home town of Colchester I HAD to go, it seemed strange travelling home to Suffolk from London to see a Legend, a reverse to the usual! Western Holmes community stadium did not disappoint, and nor did Elton John, I hope this is the start of Colchester appearing on the touring locations of many other musicians, and its made my love for Elton ever stronger!

Southbank: Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden

The Thames is one of my favourite things about London, I love it in the day, the night, even in the rain, so obviously South Bank ranks pretty highly among my favourite London places. I hadn't been in a while, so it seemed like the perfect location to enjoy a saturday night, I love how every summer so many cute locations pop up along the river. 

We had been craving a roof top bar, the perfect way to spend a summers evening, and South Bank did not disappoint, watching the sun go down looking over the thames from The Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden. The roof is open till September from 10am-10pm, complete with grass, flowers and wooden mushrooms the perfect relaxing location, one which I'd certainly recommend visiting at some point this summer. The Mango Mojito was my drink of choice for the rooftop, and that alone is enough to bring me back time and time again, a definate must have. 

Polo in the Park and the Kia Oval

The world cup seems to well and truly be upon us now, with England's first game having taken place last saturday, and with it, my interest in sports remains at pretty non-existant. That being said I surprised myself recently by attending not one, but two sporting events last week: Essex V. Surrey 20/20 at the Kia Oval and Polo in the Park. 

The Oval is just a few stops down the northern line for me, so off I went with my Dad to watch the cricket, and it was totally not what I had in mind, I was expecting a quiet evening with the occasional bit of panic as a ball heads toward the crowd. What I got was a wonderfully buzzing atmosphere, everyone surrounding me seemed in great spirits. Gleefully welcoming in the weekend with a pimm's and a spot of cricket, a great way to spend a summers evening - either has a pre night out warm up or the main event. Definantly worth going to if your at a loss for something different to do on a friday night, especially now the summer seems to have arrived.

My next sporting event of the weekend was Chestertons Polo in the Park, at Hurlingham park, Putney. With it came the tough of decision of what to wear, one must make an effort for polo! The park had been transformed into somewhat of a posh festival with the Polo taking place in the centre, the usual greasy burger and chips of a festival were replaced with wonderful food vendors selling pealla, mac 'n' cheese as well as bread flavour ice-cream! I opted for a delicious lamp wrap from French and Grace and would certainly recommend a visit to their premises in Brixton. 

The two areas which most caught my attention were the giant Makhiki tent and a double decker Pimms bus, perfect! Having never watched Polo before I have to admit I didn't really know what was going on, but it was certainly an interesting sport to watch.

Who knows maybe I'll be transformed this Summer and become a major sporting fan, with Wimbledon around the corner you never know!

Sunshine, Daisy, Buttercup

This week I popped back home to suffolk for a few days and was met by an abundance of beautiful flowers that had sprung up since I was last there. The perfect inspiration for drawing; summer flowers and sunshine, I'm a sucker for both. 

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

degree exhibition photos

ooo gnomees..

Yesterday I realised I've been spelling the word Gnome wrong, its a silent G, and apparently everyone knows this!! Poor Mr.Knome and his none existing G.....

some things i've been doing lately

Prettie ones

Some pretty flowers from the farm shop.

Summer Garden Party

Miss. Tangled Mess invites you to her summer garden party...

Recently I've been pondering how to best show off my designs, I find it hard to design without thinking about the products the prints could be used on, with this is mind I decided to throw a summer garden party. Not myself personally, but one of my sketches... miss.tangled mess, will be inviting her friends to a summer garden party. This theme will allow me to use my designs in a variety of in-situ's: invitations, table cloths, tipi's, lanterns, dresses, plates, rain mac's (it might rain), sunglasses, bunting, cupcake cases, umbrellas, parasols, cushions etc 

I only hope her friends enjoy it..