I studied textile design to post graduate level and specialised in print design for fashion. I did some of my own printing, using large screens to print lengths of fabric for my degree shows, which were made up into garments.
Post college, I worked as a freelance designer for a while, producing painted artwork, but began taking illustration commissions which then became the whole of my business. My original hand painted art work is reproduced digitally for books, giftwrap, cards, packaging etc, for various clients and lately for myself. I have an online shop and attend fairs and markets with my products.
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Brighton Saturday 11 November 2023 - Beau Events Artisan Market
Unitarian Church in the centre of Brighton's North Laine, near the Pavilion/Theatre etc. Next to Pinocchio's Restaurant. * Lewes Sunday 26 November 2023 -Lewes Creatives Christmas Emporium All Saints Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes * London Saturday 9 December 2023 Illustrators Winter Fair, Kings Cross London The Crossing- a beautiful covered space part of St. Martin's art college. * Brighton Sunday 10 December 2023 Press + Play print tabletop fair Phoenix Gallery Brighton 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton BN2 9NB Save the Dates!
I have just joined Pedddle, the online directory of independent markets. Their strapline is:
'Find independent creative markets near you, and discover their stallholders across the UK' It is a lovely website and I would recommend you having a look. They have a great newsletter too. As a customer, you can find markets that are happening near you, if you are a seller like me you can find your next venue. You can search by date or area, there are loads of markets all over the country. Pedddle* members have listings on there, so you can track down makers that you wish you had bought from.... *that third 'd ' is important... ​Click on the yellow spot to go to my page. I will be taking part in Artwave this year, at Venue 170 which is in the All Saints Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes BN7 2LE. 9th and 10th of September 2023. I am so happy to be invited to participate in the Lewes Creatives Show, they are a talented group of creatives who always have such wonderful events. I will be taking a selection of my paintings, prints, cards and textiles, and will be there for the whole weekend. The lovely Seven Sisters Cafe will be on hand for sustenance (looking forward to that!) The venue is an old church, and is a five minute walk from the train station, and from the main shopping street. Keep an eye on my instagram page for updates. My next in person event is This Is Brighton Maker and Design Fair, a Paper Daisy event. 23 July 2023 at Wagner Hall Brighton, 2 Regency Road, Brighton BN1 2RU. There will tons of other artists and makers in a varied show in the centre of Brighton. Please note this is a 2 day event, 22-23 though I will only be there on the second day, SUNDAY.
I will be selling my own Happy Tomato range of prints, including my latest screen prints, textiles, cards and badges at various venues this year, beginning with 8 July Illustrators Fair, 11-5pm.
This is at the crossing,Granary Square, Kings Cross London N1C. Expect lots of tomatoes! Come and see me! I have a new range of products in my shop - tea towels.
So, maybe you don’t know this about me, but I trained as a textile designer, and I specialised in print. I learned how to do patterns in repeat, the old fashioned way, with tracing paper and cutting up designs. Yes folks, it was pre computer days….. Now you can do it fairly easily with photoshop, which is great for block repeats. (where the pattern repeats directly below and beside itself in a regular pattern) BUT the thing is, I never did like patterns in repeat. I always wanted them to look as if they weren’t in repeat. so i would either do a huge design so that it wasn’t obvious where the repeat was, or make it a brick or half drop repeat so it wasn’t quite as obvious. I am delighted to be part of Small Indie and Mighty Gift Guide, an online directory of 165 independent makers and designers created by Sarah of @pipandliloriginal . There are different categories that you can browse to discover small business, and a link to their instagram, and their shop. I think it is a great platform for supporting independent creatives, and hope to do a lot of my Christmas shopping via this site. (I've already started!) https://www.smallindieandmighty.com/theguide
Let me know in the comments about any online guides and markets you know of. Painting with Gouache- my method.
Gouache is a thick opaque watercolour paint used by artists and designers. (there is also acrylic gouache, but I will talk about that in a different post, it is great, but it acts differently and you don't want to mix them together) Gouache dries to a flat opaque matte finish (if you want it to) and you can overpaint it. If you are careful the new colour won't lift off/mix with the underneath one- great for someone like me who makes mistakes/ changes their mind… You can paint light colours over dark colours too, which is very useful. Gouache comes in tubes, or sometimes jars, and you just squeeze a small amount out on to a palette or plate, or my favourite, a shiny postcard- I'll tell you why later. Alfie's Amazing Farm illustrated by Jo BrownI really enjoying working on novelty books for small children, there are lots of different types: Touch and Feel, with different fabrics and textures, Lift-the-Flap, with hidden images, Pull-and-Slide, with parts that move, etc.
Lots of care and attention goes into the design and engineering of these books. The illustrator has to provide artwork for the flaps and moving parts and the backs of the extra pieces too, so sometimes there can be twice as much artwork as in a regular book. Here's an example of one I illustrated for Scholastic: Alfie's Amazing Farm, The flaps had die cut holes, which 'revealed' something underneath - but when you opened the flap, it was something else entirely. The little boy Alfie walks around the farm expecting to see ponies, chickens etc, but sees much more unusual animals - lots of fun for me to illustrate! The original artwork was painted in Winsor and Newton gouache on smooth white card, and there is another book in the series Millie's Amazing Garden which features a little girl in her garden, who encounters some hidden exotic animals as she goes about her day. |
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My affiliate bookshop on bookshop.org is here I buy most of my art materials at jacksonsart .com - affiliate link here, you get 10% off first order.
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