Collecting images – still life

Collecting images – still life

This is a mostly visual post, where I just want to share some images with you. I recently spent a few days in a very beautiful country house, and was captivated by some of the objects found in and around different rooms, as I felt these reflected the stillness of the...
Josef Frank at The Fashion & Textile Museum

Josef Frank at The Fashion & Textile Museum

On a grey February day, the unabashed colours and energetic shapes that characterise Josef Frank’s patterns provided a welcome contrast with the outside, and it was a pleasure to walk into the Fashion and Textile Museum to visit this compact showcase of...
A few pages from my sketchbooks

A few pages from my sketchbooks

My sketchbooks are where I play and try out ideas that may later find their way into my work. I often refer back to them no matter how long ago they were completed, and always find some inspiration – or even surprises and insights. The pages you can see here...
On the sources and uses of inspiration

On the sources and uses of inspiration

I am often asked how I use my inspiration. This partly depends where I am or what time of the day it is – I often get flashes of inspiration just as I’m about to fall asleep, or in my dreams! When that happens, I know I’ll remember them when I wake up and...
My life in nine objects: part III

My life in nine objects: part III

This is my third and final post about prized objects: the ones I couldn’t live without and would want to save from a fire. It was quite difficult to choose these three knowing they were the last ones; I kept telling myself they are just the last ones for...
My life in nine objects: part II

My life in nine objects: part II

In last week’s post I wrote about the first three objects I wouldn’t want to lose, the ones I would save from a fire. Today I share with you another three of my prized posessions: things I love for their intrinsic qualities and also as memory-holders. The...
My life in nine objects: part I

My life in nine objects: part I

A lot of my work is inspired by memories, and I see prized objects as memory-holders. Every once in a while I wonder which are the ones I couldn’t live without, the ones I would want to save from a fire. Without much premeditation I settled on nine, and today I...
My own version of wallpaper

My own version of wallpaper

In this post I want to share with you my biggest decoupage project to date: creating “wallpaper” from the pages of an old Larousse dictionary for a feature wall I moved house last year, and had been toying with the idea of creating a decoupage...
Ikea furniture hacks: kitchen chair

Ikea furniture hacks: kitchen chair

This is the second of two posts on furniture hacks where I share transformations of simple items from Ikea using just paper and glue. Last time, in the first of my furniture hacks, I showed you how I upcycled a Hemnes bedside table; this time it’s different...
Ikea furniture hacks: Hemnes table

Ikea furniture hacks: Hemnes table

In this post I share the transformation of a simple item from Ikea using just paper and glue. This time I want to show you the first of two furniture hacks. Ikea furniture is very affordable and even more so if you buy second-hand. There is often a good selection...
Ikea hacks: Papaja plant pot

Ikea hacks: Papaja plant pot

This is the third post in my series on Ikea hacks: transformations of simple items from Ikea using just paper and glue. In this post I’ll show you how to add interest to Papaja plant pots, which range in price from £1 to £5.50. I chose a tall white pot in one of the...
Is everyone creative?

Is everyone creative?

First of all, let me own up and tell you that the gorgeous picture you see above is not mine: it’s a collage on canvas that was created in just one day by a participant in my very first mixed-media workshop. I have been teaching decoupage for a while, which is...
Decoupage obsession

Decoupage obsession

I have been using both collage and decoupage in my work for a long time now, but only discovered that there was more to decoupage last year. The turning point came when I was shown how to decoupage the boots you see above, which were scuffed and worn but otherwise...
Take a look behind the scenes

Take a look behind the scenes

Today I want to share a whole sketchbook with you, all 42 pages of it – I hope you can take a few minutes to look through as I think you’ll enjoy it . My sketchbooks are where I play and work through ideas that later may find their way into my work. I keep...
Streetart inspiration

Streetart inspiration

I love the way street art adds colour to the city – you turn round a corner and suddenly there’s a giant bird, a face, or even a wave inspired by a 19th century Japanese wood block print . Yesterday I came across Camberwell’s Hokusai Wave, a...
When it’s grey outside…

When it’s grey outside…

… I add colour inside, and as my kitchen is the first place I go to every morning, it needs to be particularly bright. A combination of  “The driving lesson” on the main wall, cupboards with turquoise doors and a table cover with a profusion of red...
Maximalist

Maximalist

I love pattern, as those of you familiar with my work may have noticed. Recently I have been playing with decoupage, and used this technique to add a touch of colour to a couple of chairs I found in a skip some years ago. I think they fit in well with...
Oh we do love to be beside the seaside

Oh we do love to be beside the seaside

A short while ago I visited the Turner Contemporary for the first time – a stunning interior full of art and flooded with coastal light. It’s the perfect setting for “Atmosphere”, the Edmund de Waal exhibition which runs until February...
What’s inside your head?

What’s inside your head?

I often use images of phrenology heads in my work so I was delighted to discover this rather fabulous one at an exhibition called  “An idiosyncratic A to Z of the human condition”,  on at the Wellcome Collection until 12 October and well worth seeing. Many...

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