As Christmas is creeping up...

Last month I happened upon a little competition to get my teeth stuck into. I have been a fan of the Cornish company Seasalt for a while now and their website, clothing, designs and window displays are always brilliant! So they had a Christmas card competition running in aid of a charity called Fishermen's Mission, the theme was a Coastal Christmas! I initially thought that this theme was quite a tricky one ..but I reckon I was over thinking ideas. So one night ten minutes before bed I decided to just blast some ideas down on paper, it worked a treat and after those ten minutes I had numerous ideas! So i'll be sure to use that technique again :) and so the fun began.....

As you can see, I don't think I could have fitted much more on my desk if I tried! Can you spot the Seasalt bag I was using as inspiration for colours? 

I went for a quite conceptual idea in the end and made a departure from printmaking, using acrylics to paint my design. But texture is still an important part of my work, in any medium. Here is the finished work:

Unfortunately I never met the deadline. But I still sent my entry. I'm not sure I would have got anywhere with it anyway as all of the winning designs were more decorative and Christmassy! My design was more coastal with a nod to Christmas :P However I was pleased with the outcome and idea behind mine. An improvement I would consider making would be to try and make the sand castle more prominent against the background. But it was a great little brief to keep my creative mind going....

I recommend checking out the company Seasalt and the winning entries here:

http://www.seasaltcornwall.co.uk/blog/10/2012/winning-christmas-cards/

Time for an update!

Finally I have found some time to post! I have been meaning to do this for so long... one advantage though (of time passing), means that there are many things to post to my blog and update you on :)  So firstly over the summer I managed to submit three pieces of work in for a local North Somerset Arts Showcase Exhibition. Each of the works had to be framed, which was great experience... finding and selecting frames, colours, deciding on mounts etc. I was really happy with the results, after framing. Oddly, I have never had any work framed until now and it seemed to add something to my artwork.  As well as framing, pricing had to be calculated, which is always a tricky one.....but again good practice! Two of my prints were selected for the walls, which was really exciting news! The Showcase Exhibition was up for one week and featured many local talented artists. It was great to go and see all of the diverse artwork and exciting to be part of something after completing Uni! (Above and below: my two prints that made it in and me! Notice the frames and mounts...think it sets them off quite well?!)