May : Lavender

Another pattern!  I enjoyed working on my last piece and transforming it into a pattern, so this month has also gone down that route!

The lavender print was inspired by lavender sachets - you see them a lot in little European town markets? - But I also have a lovely home made string of them in my wardrobe!  Whilst selling at The Little Fox market in Rickmansworth (May), I was next to the lovely Caroline who, as well as all of her gorgeous soaps, had some dried lavender for sale.  I saw this as a sign and bought some quick, I've been pondering the design ever since.

I've chosen to print onto a loose weave fabric, in natural and a soft grey, and of course a couple of sheets of thick watercolour paper to make notecards.  The material will soon be sewn into lavender sachets which I'll more than likely be giving as gifts for a while, but if you're lucky, you'll be able to snap one up in my online shop.

                

 So happy with how this has turned out!  A lovely little pattern - what do you think?

March : Beginning

February, March, January

This months subject of choice is 'Beginning' and was chosen by the lovely Alex.  What a challenge!  The subjects you've seen for January and February were quite open not too vague - whereas this is both!  So much scope for directions and ideas, it was tricky to know where to start.

I put my head down and worked hard on this.  I haven't done that much botanical work and certainly not in screen printing, so I was keen to play on the 'beginning' of Spring.  The plan was to make use of Spring buds, but as my idea formed I could only see it as more of a 'frame' than an actual image.  I then had a good ol' chat to my sister and she suggested the New Zealand fern!  Brilliant.  I then check out my paper and decided I could brave a two colour job that wouldn't jump around as much as previously, and developed the illustration for print from there.

The fern represents new beginnings, new life.  But more than that as I went travelling in New Zealand in 2010, such a gorgeous country, loads of wildlife and stunning scenery.  When you're travelling, there are constantly new beginnings - friendships, trips, experiences - the list goes on.  So this print is to remind us that there is always a new beginning where ever we go.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this piece and the project so far, so spare a moment and leave a comment - thank you!

February : Food

The second instalment of the 12 month collaboration with You, Deer.  Have a look on Alex's blog to see where she's up to with her side.  It's so exciting to see how each of us interprets the theme of the month.  We live in very different places (different time zones and everything) so we really don't swap ideas or take a peak over the others shoulder.  Each piece is completed independently from the other.  This is half the excitement with a project like this.

I really don't do much cooking - it's generally baking for special occasions or helping others cook meals.  The recipe that I have illustrated for February is one that I have done the past two Christmases and it has been such a hit!  If you get a chance to try out this recipe then let me know :-)

I have again used gorgeous handmade paper.  It's heavily textured and in fact has a natural wave the crinkles the edges in a lovely manner.  A little note to self : if printing on similar paper in the future, make it a one colour print!  It was a little hard to interpret where the screen would move the paper to - as it caught when going under the screen.  The result of this is a lovely off bonk print on most of the 10 prints I did.

Do you have a recipe you'd like to see me illustrate?  Leave a comment and let me know :-)

This print is now available in my Etsy shop : www.charlottevallance.etsy.com

January : A Positive Quote

'If you can dream it, you can do it' - Walt Disney

You may of heard me talking on Twitter about a collaborative project with my friend Alex Stokes from You, Deer.  In fact I needed some help getting her attention, which you can read about here!  Well, we're now (well) into February and so far so good.  I have my January designs and my February one is taking shape - really happy with them so far.

For Christmas I was lucky enough to get some lovely handmade papers in all different sizes.  I'm using these for each design.  So January's screen print has only 4 of each design as thats all the sheets I had in that size!

I couldn't decide on which design to do so I did both.  I thought that January was a good month for the topic 'Quotes'.  It sort of links in with New Year resolutions but in perhaps a more supportive way.  The ink is a very dark creamy purple in colour.

Both designs are available to buy in my shop and Alex's will soon be up in hers too.  This collaborative project will be running for 12 months, so that's 12 prints I'll be illustrating and printing.  Every month there will be a chance to win one of them through various social media so sign up for updates or keep your eyes peeled!

These first prints can be found in my Etsy shop now and are just £5.00.  They measure 8.5" x 6" and will look great framed or unframed as the paper is a textured thick stock with it's natural edges.  The paper did jump around a little so your print may not be central on the page - it's all in the fun of screen printing!  Each print will come signed and dated by me and cellophane wrapped, posted with a hard back envelope for protection in the post.  Postage costs £1.50 in the UK £2.50 everywhere else.

Be sure to check out Alex's blog to see her design and you'll be able to get them in her Etsy shop if you'd like to buy one of hers.

Collaboration with You Deer

My friend Alex (You Deer) lives, works and plays over in Oakland, California.  She came to visit last year which was amazing and I miss her a lot.  We wanted to do a project together, one that would help us stay creative throughout the year.  This has led us to develop a 12 month project, a brief a month, a final piece a month and hopefully more creative fun every month.

For myself I'm setting the rule of screen printing.  I do not do enough of this!  I love it, and whilst I doodle and use watercolours a lot, I hardly ever screen print.  So this project is in effect giving me that kick up the bum I need to do more printing.  This in turn means more designs - HURRAH!  Designs for me that is.  So much of last year was spent doing lovely commissions that I felt I didn't get the time to develop and grow my style much.  Untapped Cities gave me a helping hand with this in September 2012 in my watercolour work, as I illustrate every 2 weeks for them, it keeps me fresh and gives me a chance to challenge myself.

So I've started on mine, but I am yet to hear from Alex.  I'll be able to share the whole print when Alex has done her piece too!  Perhaps you can do me a favour and leave her a comment on her blog asking when she is starting her side of our project?  Brilliant, thank you so much!  Oh, and if you do, leave me a comment saying so, or Tweet me and I'll send you a little thank you ;-) deal?


Alex's blog : youdeer.blogspot.co.uk
Alex's shop : www.turnipturnip.etsy.com

Illustration Collaboration

The above photo pretty much sums up this collaboration.  Myself and Bernadette Moke aka the Downtown Doodler, both have online shops/stores.  We are also both quite new to the selling our work to actual lovely customers.  Therefore we have spent quite a bit of time sending back and forth emails full of tips and suggestions for each other.  It's been amazing having someone who you know will tell you whats what and offer you their two cents when they know you want it.

From this came the idea of our collaboration.  We both wanted little thank-you cards to include in orders that we send out to say thank you to our customers.  I love Bernadette's style and she loves mine, it seemed natural that we do something for each other.

The rules to this collaboration were:

• One sided illustration
• A6/Postcard size
• Include an inspirational quote

The idea was that we would design a card for each other that we could send out with a little note on it - a thank you card/compliment slip type thing!

What actually happened was amazing.  We both got really inspired and actually did FOUR designs for each other.  We hadn't specified a number of designs but it seemed an unspoken thing that one design would of been perfectly lovely.

Check out Bernadette's work

* Blog * Shop *

These are the four beautiful designs that Bernadette illustrated for me, amazing no?

If you'd like to see the designs I did for her, then please keep an eye on her blog as she'll be posting them on there soon!

Thank you

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