Coffee morning at April House

On an almost last minute whim, I got a table at April House for the coffee morning supporting Macmillan and Renaissance that Sejal Sachdev puts on every year.  This year, she's in a lovely new house - that I actually saw being built!  But this meant much more space, great big rooms to fill with tables full of goodies for people to buy from local businesses.  All in all there were about 12 different tables/stalls ranging from me with illustration work, to jewellery and homewares, dolls, Christmas decorations and blankets to flowers, jams & chutneys and cake & biscuits.  Phewf!  Loads to look at basically!

For my table, I hiked up to the end of the garden and pulled out our tressle tables, which gave me a great big surface to work with.  Unlike at Book fairs where I would stand behind my table, this one was to be designed so people could walk all the way around.  I pulled out my mini and small frames with original illustrations and drypoint prints in them to be scattered around and built up the middle centre piece with my London Map prints, stands of cards and boxes full of lucky dip bags and pocket mirrors.

I was quite pleased with the outcome and overall look of my table, but this is definitely something I may need to invest a bit more time into organising in future!  I absolutely love my cards stands as they're cardboard and flat-pack, so are easy to carry around to fairs and markets here, there and everywhere.

Here is a list of all the contributors, and even a few photos I managed to take before everything came down.

'Becci-Bocci'

Rebecca White of Becci-Bocco dolls ~ beautiful, bespoke dolls handmade with time and love, the perfect gift for any occasion. All commissions welcome.. www.becci-bocco.co.uk

'Sally Gibbs'

Sally Gibbs- The handmade Tale, Sally is a local artist. Original Paintings for sale and by commission and a selection of original craftwork. www.sallygibbs.com

Sam Moore & Dee Sanders- Baobab candles- as seen in Harrods. Welsh slate, amazing Anjou ice buckets  half  price & other stunning gift ideas.

Sally MacDougall- Sally MacDougall Offers beautiful flowers for all events including weddings, parties & corporate events. We also hold workshops throughout the year. www.sallymacflowers.co.uk 

Lisa Thomas- Fine food for all occasions, Homemade Christmas Cakes to sample and order, chocolate truffles & cupcakes

Pami Ratnavel- Inara Jewellery is a unique collection of beautiful handmade pieces that balance contemporary chic with understated elegance. Pami, local mum, designs and makes each piece at home.  

Alison Pao- owns Rowan garden centre.  Gifts for garden & home. Xmas decorations.

Dipti Daryanani- who has a Diploma in Vegetarian Cookery from the Vegetarian Society, runs ‘the little aubergine" which caters for functions and busy parents. Dipti also makes scrumptious cakes, biscuits, jams & chutneys. 

Nita Nathwani- makes ceramic objects and paper clay formations inspired by sea life, sculpted textiles and the built environment.  www.nitanathwani.com

Jodie Aziz- scarves in sumptuous silks are affordable luxurious accessories that are both unique and stylish and have the ability to transform any outfit. You may have seen Jodie at the Spirit Fairs at Olympia. www.jodieaziz.com

Charlotte Vallance -local illustrator and printmaker focusing on working in watercolours and screen printing, producing original illustrations and screen print editions of places she has travelled to and been inspired by. charlottevallance.blogspot.co.uk

Natural quilts- Jyoti lives in Chesham Bois and designs quilts and has them made ethically in India. Cuddly and soft 100% cotton hand block printed quilts and quillows (quilts that fold up to become cushions) in different sizes and colours. www.naturalquilts.com

'Judy's Jams'

Judy’s jams- Judy lives in Chesham Bois. Home made jams , chutneys and cordial made from locally picked and sourced produce

Massive thank you to my Mum, who was kind enough to step in for me while I had to go to work in the middle of it all!  I had wanted to get a photo of us in front of my table but it was coming down by the time I got back and I clean forgot.

The 7th Manchester Artist Book Fair

What a great weekend!

This year Hot Bed Press managed to secure us two days in the lovely Holden Gallery, within the Manchester School of Art.  This meant that on Friday we saw lots of students and Saturday bought in people having a browse - I even recognised a few faces from last year!

I was honoured with one of the first tables as you walk in the room - can you believe it?!  Myself and Sarah, of Big Jump Press had our tables set up to welcome people in through the doors and to bid them a good journey on their way out too.

Over the two days I did manage to leave my table for long enough to enjoy a look around everyone else's tables, however, I only got photos of mine and Sarah's! Oops.

I had two new releases for this fair, my 'Down Your Street : York' screen printed book and my 'Lucky Dip' bags.  Both went down great and I had some awesome feedback.  I love hearing what people have to say about my work, it's even more fun when people are really not holding back.  I was lucky enough to hear my table be described as an 'Illustration Wonderland' - how gorgeous does that sound!? As well as '...and shit that's amazing!'  I also managed to get stocked up with more lovely stripy paper bags for future fairs in return for an Amsterdam card.

You can find a list of all the contributors here, be sure to check them out, some really stunning works.

p.s. everything on my table is available to buy and will be found in my shop here.  If it's not in the shop, send me a message and I can do a custom listing specially for you at no extra cost.


You'll find posts about the 7th Manchester Artists Book Fair on many other blogs, but after this one, you can have a look at Fishink's blog fishinkblog.wordpress.com :-D be sure to let us know if you got here from the other!

Rosie Williams Day

Following on from the Christening commission I did the other week, I was asked by the same client to design a flyer for 'Rosie Williams Day' in aid of 'Ovarian Cancer Research'.  A day to honour her recently passed Mum and to help further support Cancer Research.

They have a beautiful poem, (said by Audrey Hepburn and also read at her funeral!) 'Beauty Tips' and wanted me to illustrate it in a similar fashion to the Christening piece.  Handwritten text supported by my illustration.  For the text, I've opted for a more script-like, free-flowing handwriting.

My first thought was to illustrate the poem literally, but there are just too many body parts going on, and there being a photo on the reverse, we thought that a face would be too much.  I then went to focus on hands, or perhaps a nice border.  We wanted it to be prettier!  Rosie, often Rose, loved the Wild Irish Rose, and it really seemed to fit.  A flower is such a thing of beauty, and this nice subtle link made it the perfect image for the illustration.

I then used the same illustration on the reverse, with a picture of Rosie and all the details.  If this inspires you, all donations are welcome!

A little camera illustration

Jennifer Brookes got in touch via Twitter ( @stripeyflowers ) for me to do an illustration of a camera to be featured on a flyer she was having done for a photography event.  She let me know which camera she wanted the illustration of and sent a couple of photos for me to use.

A lovely commission to do, makes me want to do a few more camera illustrations :-)  Thank you Jen for getting in touch!

A Christening Piece

One of the loveliest commissions I've done ever!  Karen got in touch with me to illustrate a verse/poem for her Nieces who were to be baptised.  The brief was to hand draw the text and illustrate to compliment the script, in a way suitable for children, to go in the girls' bedroom.

' May the long time sun shine upon you




All love surround you




and the pure light within you




guide your way on '

After jotting down a couple of ideas we met for a coffee at the lovely Seasons in Old Amersham to make sure we were both thinking along the same lines.  It's so nice when I'm able to meet with clients to discuss their illustration before I go head on into it.  You can be clearer and get much more across than over email I find.  (If you're on the other side of the world, maybe I can take a holiday?! Or there is always Skype!)

The script is used in Buddhism and while Buddhist imagery would be suitable for adults, neither of us thought so for children.  I focused on the idea of light, and following, being outside (the sun).  I decided to work with a blue (sky) background, with prominent black handwriting text and either kites or butterflies.  Karen loved the idea of butterflies, and we were able to discuss this take on the design and develop it to be relevant for her, the girls and their family.

Do you have a family saying/song/poem that you'd like to see illustrated?  Thinking of my own family, they wouldn't be quite as sweet as this, a bit more jokey, possibly a funny quote from my Nonna that would bring a smile and a tear to the eye all at the same time.