A little snippet of something I’ve been working on, it all started with a drawing that I did for my Ma’s 70th birthday, back in March. I wanted to create her an extra special keepsake card, and had all of these fancy ideas for a laser cut concertina card. Inspired by ones that I love by Mark Hearld that I have dotted around the studio, that are published by Art Angels and I purchase from Lizzie in Lantic Gallery, Tiverton.

The drawing started with a quick sketch, combining some of my Ma’s favourite Spring time things, like Primroses and Tulips. But I also wanted to bring in her love of a still life composition, from teaching hundreds of students the finer points of Cezanne and Picasso’s over the years. Ma was my art teacher as well as many others in her 30 year history of teaching in our local secondary school. Below is a little peak at her finished birthday card. which then sparked another idea.

My Ma’s three dimensional birthday card for her 70th birthday.

Ideas sometimes rattle around and ruminate for a while. I can see what I want it to be, without being to fully seize it yet - it can be a hard one to explain. At this point, I quite often pull together some inspiration ideas, and start thinking about a colour palette, this can help it settle and come into land.

Each design or idea, quite often has multiple drawings, and with each one the image becomes more refined, the lines more fluid, and everything feels more intentional. It’s like the hand and brain are in full communion, they both know the score - it just needed time and practice.

So there you have it, a little snapshot of what has been on my desk recently, the full new design will be released in early July, at the Exeter Craft Festival on the Cathedral Green. 3-5th July. If you’re local, it would be lovely to see you, and yes I’m taking my sketchbook.

Some of you may know, but I trained in Surface Pattern Design in Swansea, graduating in 2008. I have always had a passion for colour and pattern, an as much as I love birds, I have felt a pang of nostalgia for the colours and patterns I used to draw. The natural, organic world will always have my heart, but I do love building compositions and collections of objects. My latest body of work incorporates both loves and I feel like I am bringing more of me to my work. Friends have often commented on the bric-a-brac in my home, none of it particularly expensive, but each with a story. They remark how my home is very “me” and I feel like that this is what I wanted to bring to these pieces - a reflection of how I build my spaces, and what makes a house my home. Of course there are still some feathered friends interspersed in this collection, and I look forward to bringing more natural forms to the collection, as the Summer progresses.