Hope Bourne Inspiration and Copper Beech

Last week I saw a film by the photographer Chris Chapman about the life of Hope Bourne, a gifted artist and writer who lived an extraordinary life on Exmoor. Her philosophy and take on life was both moving and uplifting... 

“Money as such is a useful invention, making commerce possible beyond the state of barter. A moderate amount is necessary to us all - but consider: of all the things you buy, that which you buy dearest of all is money. For money you sell the hours, the days of your life, which are the only true wealth you have. You sell the sunshine, the dawn and the dusk , the moon and the stars, the wind and the rain, the green fields and the flowers, the rivers and the sweet fresh air. You sell health and joy and freedom” 
― Hope L. Bourne

I've been selling the hours printing cushions. I wondered if Beech leaves, bronze foil and raw linen would be a interesting combination to evoke a sense of Copper Beech..?


I've had two lovely Q & A blog features about my work recently :

The first by Stacey Sheppard on her fab Interiors/design blog 'Design Sheppard' here

The second by Country Homes and Interiors on their Country Days Blog here

Heart Napkins for William Morris Gallery...

William Morris Gallery in London have just ordered my 'Heart' napkins !!

For the last two days in the midst of fairly hectic preparations for Cornwall Design Fair next weekend, I've screen-printed, steamed, washed, pressed and packed my Heart Fawn and Heart Rabbit napkins in deep blue, turquoise and red colourways - phew!

silk screened Fawn...

Racking up Rabbits...

The napkins are (exceptionally well!) printed onto 100% natural linen, are fully machine washable and cost £26.50 for a pack of two. They are now available not only from me directly but as of next week I'm really delighted to say, will be in the shop at William Morris Gallery!!!

  

Postcards

Selecting just twenty-five favourite images from my notebook pages to exhibit during the Land Sea Sky exhibition is proving difficult, but having to choose just six as postcards has been ridiculously hard! In the end I ran out of time and couldn't faff about any longer. In no particular order here they are...

First: Monterey Cone's remarkable popularity continues, 10,651 page views at this moment. While I do like it - I'm not sure it especially warrants this kind of attention (but I did include it!).

Second: Old Tea Rose. I like this for the drawing as well as the colours. It's discovery on such a cold February day, gave me such immense pleasure and I think I captured something of this in the drawing (which is always astonishing).

Third: Sunflower. "Are there any flowers more full of Summer's sunshine" is what I wrote about this last year in France. I may have even had a glass of wine in my hand at the time...need I say more?!

Fourth: Spider Chrysanthemum. I drew this straight off in pen and ink without sketching which required intense concentration. Now it's screen-printed at a scale of 1.83 metres! It reminds me of my son Josse and feels like only yesterday it/he was only a little plug plant!(x)

Fifth: Bamboo. Elegant, rustles in the wind, reminds me of Sikkim and also 100%Design. Probably one of the most difficult plants I have ever drawn and I really really want a large screen print of it in my living room!

Sixth: Dandelion Seed head - Because I am in love with clocks, watches and therefore of course Dandelions!


...from my Seasonal colour sample notebook. 

Screen Printing in the studio - Chrysanthemum flower

After a difficult start to the year, I've come out the other side feeling pretty positive again! This has been helped along no end by putting new work onto screen and sample printing in the studio this week. Also driven by the forthcoming exhibitions and applications this year which won't hang around and wait for me.

Here's what I've been doing. It's just the start!

I'd already (digitally) printed out a giant Spider Chrysanthemum onto drafting paper to get an idea of how it might look scaled up. I had to scale it down a little from that to fit on my screens but as you can see here (I'm 5' 7") it's still quite big.

I decided to do a test print onto fabric in black and white. Just lifting the screen on and off the print table can be challenging.

Printing white. Lucky that I remembered to check the size of my biggest squeegee when I scaled the flower. Only just fits!

Lifting the screen is always a wow moment!

Now printing the second screen - the black...

and finally - well - just a peek!

...and to think that I grew this Chrysanthemum from a little plug planted in my greenhouse!

Next week I'm print sampling in colour - more to come on this...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Hot off the Press! - Moorland Rabbit and Pheasant collection for Ary Trays

I can't begin to tell you how delighted I am to have designed a new tray collection for Ary Trays!

The samples will be arriving in my studio next week (and will be available from Ary in January) but in the meantime here's the very first photograph of the new collection taken in Sweden last week!

May I introduce...(drum roll)...Pheasant and of course his best mate Rabbit and some other Pheasant he met in a pub on Exmoor.

Designs in progress on the studio wall a few weeks ago...

Ary will be showing my Moorland Tray collection at Home (the definitive Homewares and accessories event), London 12th - 14th January 2014 - for more information contact Joakim Sohlberg.

'The Accomplisht Cook'...

...'or the Art and Mystery of Cookery' by ROBERT MAY published in London in 1685

contains...

"Bills of FARE for every Season in the Year; also how to set forth MEAT in order for that Service, as it was used before Hospitality left this Nation".

Designed last year for an exhibition at Dartington Food fair, this runner sets out extracts from... "The most Exact, or A-la-mode Ways of Carving and Serving"..."A Bill of Fare for Christmas Day, and how to set the Meat in order" (not for the faint hearted it has to be said!).

The Preserve recipes screen-printed on the linen napkins are for Gooseberries Green, Damsins, Cherries and Apricocks, (all of which I intend to attempt making one fine day).

Owing to popular demand - I've just put the design back onto screen and have been re-printing it this week onto fine natural hemstitch edged linen. Durable and fully wash-board and mangle friendly, I think even Robert May himself might have approved!

Favourite things: Accomplisht Cook table runner and napkins; Vintage 6 Pt Casserole by Pearson's of Chesterfield; Antiquated Sharpening Steel by Taylors of Sheffield; Rosehips; Sweet Chestnut and Sparrow feathers.

Accomplisht Cook table runner and napkins now for sale in my shop (here :)
'tis the season to be jolly and all that!

Pattern Repeat and Heart Fawn napkins

Batten down the hatches - stormy weather here!

The clocks went back last night and gaining an hour today, I went for an early morning walk at Simonsbath on Exmoor (pronounced Simmonsbath). Got totally drenched through, but exhilarating nonetheless as Exmoor is incredibly beautiful at this time of year. Then to the studio for a spot of screen-printing. It never feels like work whether it's Monday or Sunday and anyway I was dying to sample print my new napkins.

I had designed a simple repeat background using some of my notebook drawings selecting those that would balance well together as silhouettes, as for this design I wanted to create a single colour print - this was how I started...

(in case you didn't recognise them here they are in their full colour glory all from my notebook..!)

I then developed the design by mirroring and balancing the elements until I felt it worked well as a repeat pattern - now in perfect digital repeat...

I scaled down the design and placed it in a heart shape, carefully cutting around the pattern to keep an uneven edge. I then added the Fawn because it's Christmas!

They come in packs of two - screen printed on 100% natural linen. I love the fact that you don't see the heart shape until you open them fully...

'Heart Fawn' - designed with some of my best friends in mind...

A postcard from Simonsbath today, in the foreground Moorland Bracken and Chip dressed appropriately for the weather ...

'Heart Fawn' linen napkins are £26.50 for a pack of two. Screen-printed with love (!) the price includes UK postage (Please email me further details and for shipping costs for the rest of the world).
(Heart Rabbit and Pheasant coming soon!)

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Trays

There's nothing I enjoy more than learning about technical processes, so it was really exciting in March this year to have a wonderful opportunity to visit a tray manufacturer in Sweden to put some of my designs onto trays.

The trays are constructed from multiple sheets of laminated birch wood sourced from sustainable forests - with a melamine coating as the top laminate they are very strong and have an exceptionally high quality of finish.

Prior to manufacture, every sheet of birch wood is checked for quality. The sheets are then laminated and pressed using wooden and metal embossing presses and moulded into the many and variable tray shapes and sizes. It's still very much a hands on process using traditional craftsmanship and the trays are manufactured in very much the same way as they were 60 years or so ago, although much of the printing of the surface design is now processed digitally and not lithographically.

My tray designs which include Rosetta Glory (top), Geotaxis, Spiral, Cork and Dahlia & Chrysanths (below) will be launched in two weeks time at Pulse 2010, London!

  

finally a few cut outs of my personal favourite Geotaxis...!

If you would like further information about the tray collection contact Joakim Sohlberg at Ary Trays.