All about Emma

Yesterday I featured a number of talented artists who have been inspired by chickens. I came across Emma Bennett's work. I was blown away and wanted to showcase a few more pieces of her work here today. Feast your eyes on these lovely birds.

Chickens!

I have the privilege to share ownership of a lovely bunch of chickens with three other families who live in our village. The chickens are a constant source of amusement, worry and inspiration. I find myself increasingly drawn to the work of others which features chickens. So as I was collecting eggs this morning I thought it might be nice to say thank you to the chickens by featuring them on the blog.  In honour of our 14 lovely ladies I give you the chicken collection!

This fine looking bird is the creation of Anna Pettigrew on Folksy. Anna has a lovely selection of prints, tags and cards in her shop - well worth a look.

But which came first!  This card by Jolyon Yates reminds me of some of our younger ladies who are just getting the hang of this egg laying lark. Sometimes they do look very nonplussed!

This handsome chap would certainly get our ladies all of a flutter. This fabulous collage is by Emma Bennett. Her collages are simply amazing.

And finally this gorgeous lino print of "Hens Clucking" by Marliese from Three Bears Prints.  I am very fortunate to now be the proud owner of one of these prints. I just love it - when I look at these lovely girls it reminds me of our slightly less beautiful but equally charming brood.

Etsy Banner Version 1!

 Stage 1:

 This is the very carefully cut out logo elements complete with some orange wool to form the wires and my trusty Xacto knife.

Stage 2

I spent quite a lot of time wandering around the house trying to catch the right light and the right shade of grey. I ended up blu takking the various elements to my slate grey chimney breast. I then took a LOT of photos in the hope that one would be the right quality and scale to play around with on the computer.

Stage 3:

Etsy have a very tricky pixel ratio for their banner space - 760 x 100. It is really really hard (well I think it is) to scale anything to that size without losing the image quality. Despite using an 8mb photo it still lost some of the clarity around the text when I scaled the image down. But still I am quite pleased with the result. I might try using large scale cutout elements tomorrow and see if that improves things but for now I think my grey, blue and orange banner looks alright.  Feedback is welcome!

Grey, blue, orange

I'm about to start an online marketing ecourse. As a taster I had a live shop review of my etsy shop with the company that will be running the course http://www.handmadehorizons.com/. One of the very fair comments that they made was that my Etsy banner doesn't yet seem to be as crisp and lovely as it should be :(.

I was all too aware of this and have been wanting to change the banner for a while. So, I've decided to stick with my "corporate" colours of grey, blue and orange and create a papercut or collage of my logo in that scheme. I'll then photograph it and hopefully my banner will look better! In preparation, I've been browsing Etsy on those colour searches.  Here's what I found:

This cushion is by FunMakesGood (who incidentally are running a promotion this weekend!)

I like the colour combination obviously but I was very taken with how the colours worked together to pop out of the design; look blurred or ultra crisp.

This very stylish IPad sleeve is handmade by CaseClosedUK 

The confident use of two colours and the simplicity of the design really stood out.

I love everything about this print from yumalum and could spend hours drooling over all the lovely prints.  Crisp, cool and yummy!

This geometric cushion cover from Thirtyfive Flowers shows to quote my A level art teacher "how colours can have a conversation with each other". This is a good conversation.

If I was well designed as this penguin from speakersfive I'd be boasting too.

Now I just have to go and find the right grey, the right blue and the right orange and creat something which lives up to the high standard set by these guys. Gulp!



Typography heaven and the shipping forecast

Clive Sefton let me know about this fantastic website unlimitededitions.co.uk. Several of the artists I've already featured on the blog are here, including Clive and Jacqui Sharples. Unlimited Editions is based in Brighton and create their own pieces as well as featuring the work of other artists. They have a shop in Brighton as well as the website gallery.One of the artists they feature is John Christopher who did this fabulous letterpress print based on the Shipping forecast.

  The shipping forecast has always been a source of wonder, mysterious place names and confusion. I have fond memories of listening to the forecast as a little girl whilst eating my tea! I might consider basing a papercut on that very memory...

But as you can see I'm not the only person who has been inspired by this weather based poetry.

This print is from Chay Hawes of Chayground

And this blueprint by Russell Squires of spacemonkeypress sheds a little bit more light on the locations of these strange sounding places.

Now time for tea and the shipping forecast!

Top typography

  To be honest I could have chosen anything from this Folksy shop but went for this save the date card because of the way the colours work to emphasise the subject. Do take a look at Bianca's shop Two for Joy Paper Studio - you won't be disappointed.

Darren Horner from Pressed Face created this gorgeous 16th Century letter press print. Darren says "
I love traditional typography and letterpress techniques from ancient wood block printing through to metal type and this ornate design reflects everything I love about this media including the beautiful tactile finish of the finished prints."
I say "what he says!"

Genius! I just love this interactive print from Clive Sefton

Aptly named Lyric A Day this shop has a fantastic range of lyric based work. I love the versatility of Charlotte's work. You could spend hours browsing - just like a good old fashioned record shop.

Typography

I am rather addicted to typography and get the feeling that it will start creeping into my work more and more. I'm currently working on a piece for a friend about to have her third child. Pink, blue and mint green just aren't going to cut it and the family is currently living in a house they are going to totally rebuild and redecorate so doesn't give any clues as to their colour preferences.

I'd really like to have the piece finished before the baby arrives so needed to come up with something personal but generic simultaneously (is that possible?)

The bare bones of the design are finished and I have been struggling to come up with a colour scheme. Sketch Inc has come to my rescue and this print seems particularly apt! I'll post the completed design when its completed. Meanwhile why not check out Rebecca Kemp's fabulous Etsy shop and search typography art in Etsy Handmade - the results are fascinating.