2021 and all that..

Hi there

So another weird year is about to end... As my last (semi-regular) blog of the year I thought I'd try and sum up how the last 12 months have gone.

I shall try and focus on the positives, as no one wants to hear about the bad stuff, especially at the moment!

I've had a lot of fun making new prints this year, from giant crows to intricate landscapes to psychedelic landscapes. The new 'Happenings in donkey world' prints have kept me very entertained, and it has been really interesting experimenting with brighter colours and transparencies.

Likewise it has been interesting getting back into landscapes, and I finally plucked up the courage to take on 'Saltaire' in West Yorkshire. I had been meaning to make this print for a couple of years now, but had procrastinated a fair bit as it is a really complex view! So finally, I plucked up the courage and make the print, and was pretty happy with it!

Birds have been a frequent visitor to my sketchbook too, with Swifts, Swallows, Housemartins, a Hooded Crow and a giant Crow all becoming prints! More planned for next year too...

One of my highlights of the year has been my collaboration with The Stitch Society, designing and making smocks and aprons! I have known Charlotte of TSS for a while now, and always admired their artisan workwear. I have designed a few t-shirts over the last few years, and created textile patterns, but never combined both things until now! I was very lucky in receiving a grant from the Freelance Fund in Sheffield to finance this project, and they were launched in June 2021. Each garment is made to order and available either from my Folksy shop or their website.

The other main highlight this year has been the return of events. I hadn't realised how much I would miss them until there were pretty much no art/craft fairs for 12 months or more. They all started with the mighty Craft Festival at Bovey Tracey, Devon, in early September. I love this event. It is really more like a cool music festival, except the music is swapped for the best art and craft in the UK (there is some music too). There were lots of visitors who had clearly missed connecting with craft and it was so nice to see so many art and craft friends I hadn't seen in such a long time. Big-ups also to the brilliant Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Manchester and Craft Fair Contemporary in Nottingham for putting on brilliantly curated events with great atmospheres too! I'm very grateful indeed to have good pal Ben Partridge (of The Owlery) as my travel buddy for most of these events. We have travelled many miles and had so many daft conversations.

Thanks to everyone who also came to Sheffield Print Fair 2021 too (the event I co-organise). after a year out, and a new venue (The Millennium Gallery) we couldn't have asked for a better and busier event!

My final exciting 'thing' has been building a new studio, in our old garage. It was a smelly, damp spider-den for many years, and I decided this year to convert it into a screen-print studio. I still have my lino studio, but this new one will be just for screen-printing. It has taken quite a while, with some serious damp-proofing and building work (not done by me, obviously!), and some of the equipment I needed has taken a while to arrive, but I'm pretty much there. Thanks to Studio Waterhouse and Hunk Print for their help. I just need to put up a load of shelves and I'm there, I think. So I'm really looking forward to a very productive 2022!

Thanks for your support throughout this year. It is really appreciated and never taken for granted.

Take care, and a happy new year to you! x