The Crafty Fox Market

I'd been hoping to participate in this market for ages!  It's so popular with stall holders and buyers a like that in the past I've not been accepted to sell.  But this time, I was successful and very happy to join the other sellers at the Dogstar in Brixton.  It was quite a quiet market - the weather got a bit chilly outside, but the cafe serving tea and coffee and lovely food, along with the bar, kept up a great atmosphere inside.

I love it when a market really makes me get my thinking cap on - this time it was signage for my products.  As my favourite pieces I've created are my building watercolours, I decided to focus my signage around this and created little folded cards with 'road sign' style signs to display prices of each product.  Really happy with the overall look that these give my table at a market now.

Have you been to the Crafty Fox Market?  Who is your favourite seller?  I had such a fab view of the other sellers work from my stall, however didn't get such a big opportunity to take a proper look around.

You can find out about the next Crafty Fox Market on their website or by signing up to their news letter : www.craftyfoxmarket.co.uk

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!

Illustrated Homes Part 2

You can find 'Part 1' here.  This is the second commission I got from the April House Coffee Morning last October, which you can read about here.

This is such a gorgeous house, it really was a pleasure to illustrate.  If you follow my Untapped Cities illustrations, you will of seen my love of bricks shining though!  My use of perspective was really put to the test, which was good - it needed it.

Illustrated Homes Part 1

Back in October I had a table at the April House Coffee Morning in aid of Macmillan and Renaissance charities.  I took details down from two lovely ladies both interested in having their homes illustrated by me.  I absolutely love being asked to illustrate peoples homes - there is something very individual and personal about them.

Due to Christmas coming towards me very fast we scheduled in that I would begin work on these pieces in February, and to be finished by the end of March.  Perfect customers!  Any other time of year I'm able to be much more flexible, but coming up to Christmas it was just too much work to juggle.

This first piece I'm sharing with you was to be a birthday surprise for the lady's husband - lovely!  With a view in mind to have some greetings cards printed with the illustration on them as well in the near future.

If you'd like your home illustrated then please get in touch.  You can leave a message under this post or send me an email to : charlotte_vallance (at) hotmail.com

Old Amersham Museum

I was contacted over Christmas by Emily at Amersham Museum, and after a meeting in January we'd organised that I would do an illustration of the Museum for use on promotional/informational flyers and possibly online.

Due to time restraints I had to keep the illustration quite small, but I don't think it hindered the overall image at all.  The museum is in a lovely building in Old Amersham and has some great original features - it was interesting to draw, and to have a look around the inside too!

I definitely recommend a trip to Amersham Museum if you're in the area.  It costs only £2 and has some great old photos from the town over the years as well as a cute garden out the back.  You can see original features in the building as well as toys and other bits and pieces from the history of Amersham.  It is quite petite, so you won't need long to get a good look around, and once you're done Seasons Cafe Deli is an excellent place to stop for a bite of lunch or a spot of tea and cake.

Old Amersham also boasts a fair few independent retail shops so there is plenty to look at if you're up for a wander down the high street.

Great Oaks from Little Acorns grow

If you live in England, you might of seen an Entertainer shop around when you're out and about.  Well, that business started up where I live in Amersham.  Over the years it's been in 3 different locations in the town, the one it's in now being a very recent move.

I was commissioned to illustrate both the oldest and newest shops next to each other, showing the progress of the shop, toys and the Entertainer as a brand.  It's come such a long way!  It was a pleasure to capture these shops in an illustration and it'll make the perfect gift for the recipient at Christmas.

Amsterdam Cushion Covers

I absolutely love my screen printed Amsterdam prints and books and have enjoyed having them on cards too.  I've had it in my head to do cushions for a while now and figured that using my imagery from the Amsterdam print would be a good place to start.

I haven't ever printed seriously onto fabric before.  There has been the odd bit as a test, but nothing solid.  Not having a soft printing bed (as I think you should have for printing fabric no?)  I mounted up my pieces of fabric onto a thin card stock - possibly made it easier for positioning too.

I've gone for a peacock blue and gold.  This gives a slight variation from my prints on paper and makes it it's own product!

The gold went down first, and looked great on my paper tests but seemed a bit pale on the canvas material.  I then double hit it and I'm much happier with the result.  The blue was similar, a bit thin on one pull but a lot better so I've done a mix of one hits and two hits.

I also have sewn these myself!  The cover is removable, so if you spill something on one, it's not the end of the world.  But please be gentle when washing.

The cushion is shown here on my craft fair table at The Old Fire Station for the Hand Made Makers Market where they were shown a lot of love!  They measure just 35cm x 35cm although may vary slightly due to my sewing skills.

It's getting Christmassy!

This year has been all about me illustrating buildings more.  I love to draw buildings, street views, aspects of cities, etc and really felt the need to get this into my work more.  Through Untapped Cities this has really become possible towards the end of this year and continues on into next year hopefully!  In June I participated in the '30 Days of creativity' challenge and illustrated a building everyday in June.

 

I think that my Christmas cards this year, continue on in this fashion and show Christmassy shop fronts from all different kinds of shops.  I used watercolour to illustrate and then put them together digitally to bring together a collection of 5 designs.

I'm really happy with them - and I'd love to know what you think.

You can see last years cards here and you can buy both (while stocks last) in my online shop here.  If you can't see them in the shop please leave me a message with your details and I'll organise your order for you.

Thank you!

X

Down Your Street : York

YAY I'm back with a new artist book!  It's been over a year since I made one of these.  In the same style as '(Delft) Blue' & 'Down Your Street : Old Amersham' this little book opens out in an accordion fashion to stand open on a shelf, table or mantle.  Folded, it's not even A6 in size and is printed in 2 colours, the perfect treat for yourself or as a gift.

I recently visited York to see my Aunt while she was living up there but also mainly to see all the gorgeous buildings and streets the city has to offer.  It's such a mix of lovely styles and architecture it was hard to know where to look first!

Available in my online shop here for £16.

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!

Drum roll please...!

HURRAH!

Thank you all for your entries, your RT's (re-tweets) on Twitter, the shout outs, passing it on, spreading the word...etc etc etc.  I really appreciate it.  My little online shop has been a bit 'bish bash bosh' since I first opened it, and to be honest I've found it hard to get people to let me know what they think.

Therefore, I have loved reading your valid points you've shared with me and look forward to putting it all into action.  Thankfully a lot of the points boil down to the same thing,.  Otherwise I would have 15+ different areas to work on within one little shop and that may of broken me (I would of got there eventually of course!) but two main issues, is what I've summed up and that's great.

I am proud to announce the winners - woohoo!

The grand winner is Jodi of Art by Wiley.

My lovely runner up's are Juliet of 'The Crafty Green Poet', Audra of 'Audra James' and Jasmin of 'A Couple of Photos'.

I'll be working closely with Jodi to complete the illustration she wants and the runners up will be sent goodie bags in the post this week.  One of which will contain a lovely necklace by Naida Crystal.

I was going to share with you all what I put in the goody bags but got so excited with my new packaging that I completely forgot to take photos - drat! 

Untapped Cities

A very exciting announcement!

I have started illustrating for Untapped Cities (WOOHOO!), you'll be able to see new work from me every two weeks on their site www.untappedcities.com under '(Art)chitecture' which will be my column.  I'll share a new building illustration and write a few words to go with it each time.  Go straight to my column here.

It gets better -

Untapped Cities has just opened a shop!  You'll be able to buy prints of my illustrations in their 'Society6' shop and other works which will also be for sale in their 'Etsy' shop too.

Marvellous no?

pssst... You'll also find work by The Downtown Doodler on Untapped Cities who I recently did a collaboration with :-) You can read about that here.

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

The Button Project

For a while now I've followed 'Muddleduck' aka Jules Young on twitter and have enjoyed little updates and news on her blog.  She follows a lot of arty / crafty / illustratory people and always has great links.  Jules recently celebrated her 30th birthday! HURRAH! Happy Birthday Jules!  And as a ways of celebrating, she organised the Button Project, which you can read about here.

I nearly missed the deadline.  Which would of sucked as I had specially requested that Jules let me know a favourite building of hers that I could illustrate for her as my contribution to the project.  Buildings are my favourite thing to draw/sketch/illustrate and it seemed only appropriate that I do this with a special building rather than a random one.

I was really pleased with my little illustration, and proud that I kept it as simple as possible.  Jules has also given some lovely feedback on it as well, and I've sent the original illustration to her as an added little extra for her birthday.



Do you have a favourite building?

Coco Marie

Commission for Coco Marie

I've been a massive admirer of Coco Marie in Old Amersham for a good couple of years now.  It was on route from my car to work in the days that I worked at Seasons, and since I don't do that anymore I now enjoy the online aspect of the Boutique.

Last year, for the opening of Seasons Cafe at Rowan I illustrated the Seasons Cafe Deli in Old Amersham, to remind them of the Rowan Cafe's Mother Cafe!  The lovely Jen, happened to spot this particular illustration and got in touch for me to illustrate their little Boutique 'Coco Marie'.  I was obviously more than thrilled to get this commission!  It's so lovely illustrating the buildings in my town, and even nicer to know how much it is appreciated.

Above, you can see the final illustration.  I'm really happy with the finished piece, it shows off the quirky nature of the shop (it being in such a petite building!) and the cuteness of it.  Below, are some photos I took inside the Boutique for inspiration.  It gives you the whole picture - as it were - of what the illustration is showing off!

Thank you for reading.  Have you been into Coco marie, or do you have a local Boutique like it?