An Amsterdam Home

Many of you are familiar with my Amsterdam screen prints, lets be honest, they are one of my favourite pieces and I do tend to use the illustration on quite a few bits...screen prints, cushions, greeting cards, pocket mirrors...the list goes on!

This request, was for a thank you present.  I'm a huge fan of a bit of travelling, the odd holiday etc (well who isn't?), and this client had stayed with a friends parents whilst in Amsterdam and commissioned me to illustrate their home as a thank you for having her and a few friends stay.  Such a lovely, thoughtful idea for a gift!

Indie retail shopping experience

At the beginning of the year Coco Marie commissioned me to illustrate the front of their darling little boutique in Old Amersham (see finished illustration here and in practice here) and over the year we've kept in touch and helped to promote each other on the social media side of things.

Coming up to christmas happenings they got in touch again, having seen my print of Old Amersham (you can get yours here) and were asking to use it for an 'Independent Retail Shopping Event' to take place in Old Amersham at the end of November. Amazing!  I love it when customers come back - the best compliment I can get!

Always one for a challenge and to illustrate something new, I volunteered up my services to illustrate Old Amersham and in particular the shops that were getting involved - rather than have them use something illustrated for a different purpose, plus it wasn't Christmassy at all!

I'll be posting the finished map soon!

Happy Birthday

This illustration follows on from my 'Home Sweet Home' design and shows a birthday house!  YAY!  Filled with cake, bunting, balloons and banners, it shows a home alive with birthday celebrations.  The perfect card to use as a party invite and to send or take to a birthday.

Home Sweet Home

This piece marks the start of a new personal project of mine to do more illustrations of buildings.

HURRAH!

It is so easy to get distracted with all the lovely commissions I get, that I get carried away and forget that I need to illustrate for me too or I'll have nothing to show for what I love.  I get a great sense of achievement being able to illustrate other peoples loves, bringing a smile to your face and maybe a chuckle if I've got it spot on.  But It's not always something that can be shared with everyone.  Therefore, I have given myself this project to design and illustrate a range that is focused on what I love.  Buildings.  Cities.  Architecture.  Houses.

Give Away

Thats right, you heard me correctly!

I am giving you the chance to win an illustration by me commissioned by yourself.  An A4 illustration of your choice, a complete one of a kind illustration specially for you.  I will use watercolours and add fine line detail, which is the style I tend to opt for when illustrating.  I'll allow a border of paper round the edge to make framing easier.

Some examples of past commissions I've done

In order to enter, I'm asking that you visit my Etsy shop and give me some feedback.  Now.  This doesn't mean that you have to buy something, (although that would be nice if you are tempted).  It means that, I have recently added new products, experimented with the photography and altered my postage costs and therefore would love to hear what you, my lovely customers / fellow illustrators / crafty folk / friends / family, think of it all.

Ideas for you customisable illustration:

• Home / House
• Favourite city
• Garden
• Invitation
• Favourite cafe/shop
• Sweets / Chocolate
• Logo
• Favourite plant
• Pet
• A trinket
• Favourite shoes / bag
• Or you might just like to tell me a few things that you like and see what I come up with!

Please follow this link: www.etsy.com/shop/charlottevallance

And either leave your thoughts in a comment below here, email me, send a message via Etsy (there is a link to 'contact me' on my page) and of course let me know how you would like to be contacted if you won!

I'd love to hear what you think of my photos, the postage costs and the actual items for sale.  If you think something needs improving, let me know!

After all the entries have been placed in a hat I shall select one lucky winner and three runners up.  If you are a runner up, I'll be sending you a little goody bag :-) ppppst I've just had confirmation of a piece of Naida Crystal Jewellery to be in the runner up prizes...you can see her work here: www.etsy.com/shop/naidacrystal

So a total of 4 prizes to be won, you have just under 3 weeks to enter and closing date is the 22nd August at 8pm (UK time).

Most importantly, anyone can enter!

Good luck

X

30 Days of Creativity 2012

30 Days of Creativity is something that Create Stuff do every year in June.  In order to participate you have to pledge to them that you will do something creative everyday throughout June aka 30 Days.  It's a great project and it really tests you!

30 Days of Creativity 2011

Last year was my first year, and I found that I mainly created greeting cards along with doing creative things in the cafe I was working at, Seasons Cafe @ Rowan.  You can see photos of what I did here.

This year, when I pledged that I would create something everyday in June, I pledged also to myself that this would be 30 illustrations of buildings.  Buildings, cities, architecture...this is what I love to illustrate.  It's not always that I get to do this so I thought I'd take the opportunity (& excuse) to get on with illustrating what I love.

In the past, for projects when I've chosen to illustrate buildings, I've generally drawn whichever takes my fancy, be it one that I am near at that moment in time, or if it's one I saw on my travels at some point.  For this pledge, I decided to stick to a building that I had seen on that particular day.  Apart from one.  There was one rather dreary day when my thoughts were elsewhere, maybe you can guess which one I'm talking about?

 

To see the rest of my 30 Days of illustrated buildings please click on over to my 'down your street' blog where I keep all of my illustrations of lovely buildings.

www.downyourstreet.blogspot.com

Private, staff only

Typography for the Artichoke restaurant

Recently I was contacted by a restaurant local to me in Old Amersham called 'Artichoke'.  It is a lovely little restaurant across the street from the cafe where I used to work.  They have a great colour scheme going on both inside and out of soft natural colours, an amazing open kitchen, so if you're close enough you would be able to see them preparing your dinner!  Find them online here and follow them on Twitter for quick updates here.

They were wanting me to do some signage for them for within the restaurant.  The dining areas have a lovely feel to them and standard signs just wouldn't fit in!  'Please mind your head' and 'private, staff only' are self explanatory and save customers the embarrassment of having to ask or going the wrong way.

Along with the guideline of using lower case font for the two signs I tried to compliment their colour scheme with my choice of typography design.  I stuck with a simple, yet elegant font, and added in a few twists and flicks to make it their own.

'private, staff only'

Up these little stairs is another kitchen (not the toilets as you may think) so this little sign will save customers a tricky climb up the higgledy steps.

'please mind your head' Cropped view

This sign is quite self explanatory, the beam is pretty low (I just had to stand on tip toes to draw out my design comfortably!) and they were fearful for their customers heads.  This sign is now on both sides of the beam so you're sure to 'please mind your head' from both directions.

'please mind your head' Full view

'please mind your head' Up close view

I loved doing this commission, something new and a bit different from my 'normal' at the moment.

Do you need a sign painting and quite like this style?  Get in touch via email charlotte_vallance(at)hotmail.com or leave your details in a comment on this post and I'll get back to you.

This post needs a special mention to the lovely ladies Laura Manfre and Anika Starmer.  They helped me to continue posting images on my blog posts.  Please check out their lovely work (click on their respective names for the link to their work).

Thank you!

Printmaking and Polaroids

Printmaking and
Polaroids












For the past couple of weekends I have been frantically getting together material for my upcoming exhibition and this has involved two sessions at the East London Printmakers.  Unfortunately last weekend wasn't so successful as my images weren't quite black enough for exposing a screen with (silkscreen printmaking).  So it was really frustrating, but I literally didn't even get one colour printed.  This weekend however, more pressure to get it right!  I went away and got my images improved and came back fighting!  Last weekend I had had my trusty helper and loving boyfriend with me, this weekend, it was just me.

I did it. I printed an edition of 27 two colour MASSIVE Amsterdam silkscreen prints.  You can see how massive in the polaroid where I'm holding it up!

I am so relieved that I managed this small feat.  If I hadn't, it wouldn't of been the end of the world but I would of been a bit disappointed.









HURRAH!


After I had finished up at the printers I headed on over to Brick Lane to meet up with my cousin Tom Wright as he'd just held a Polaroid workshop there that morning (Impossible Project Workshop)...I was a bit late for the workshop, but I did manage to get a few photos taken on my little but chunky Fuji Mini Polaroid and even a few on a 'proper' polaroid camera of Tom's.  I let Tom take my polaroids back to Manchester with him so i'll have to share those with you another time!

Myself & Tom

Me & Lauren

THE Goat

Ahem...I think maybe I need to clean my scanner.