Love themed greetings cards

Recent submissions for the last 'Love Typography' competition at Tigerprint

Pica Pica competition entry

Have just submitted an entry for the craft magazine Pica Pica's illustration competition.
Here's my entry....a combination of hand drawn, collage and Photoshop.

Experimenting with leather!!

We've got all these leather samples at work, so I thought I'd have a go at using my pyrography tool on them. It is more successful on the reverse of the leather and although it stinks I like the result.....

More of the same!

New sketchbook work

I've just started a distance course in Children's Book Illustration and am fiddling about working on the first brief, here's bits from my sketchbook which include monoprints, lino prints and drawing.....just got to do the whole composition as a double spread.

Gavin Perry

Great images, they look like they're produced using some kind of printmaking technique but I think they're all done using Photoshop. Whatever, I think they're bloody lovely!

Gisela Goppel

Lovely work, I particularly like her fluid use of blank ink to make her drawings..

Sandra Krumin's lino work

I love Sandra's striking illustration work which uses a combination of lino cutting and digital techniques.

Here's some of my favourites!

...and a couple more!

Trainer/shoe paintings

Made these paintings a few years ago, some have been sold, some given away..... now I'm building up an illustration portfolio I must get back into drawing shoes as I forgot how much I loved it!!

Sarah Gooch - illustrator

Having received the Big Book of Contemporary Illustration for Xmas I'm adding some work that has caught my eye, starting with Sarah Gooch.

I love her drawing style and use of colour and collage, here's one of her gorgeous animal screenprints.

Yellena James

My friend pointed me in the direction of Yellena James
..incredible, gorgeous drawings.....and she sells on Etsy Hmmm, she has a sale on, might have to treat myself!!

Planning for my PHD proposal

Thought I'd do some writing on my blog today, to help me focus a wee bit I suppose.
I really need to pull my finger out now in terms of doing an initial proposal towards what will be my actual proposal.....and already I'm stumped!

I know that I want to do a practice based PHD..but don't quite know how that will manifest itself...perhaps along these lines - For the past 15 or so years I have made pattern based work. I was painting, but since re-engaging with contemporary art and my own work through the Artist Teacher Scheme at BCU and New Art Gallery, I have begun to make installations using cut paper.

Anyway, for a long time I have struggled to locate my work within a fine art context. Obviously I am interested and inspired by many artists but am also very influenced by printed textile design - but have no desire to print fabrics. I also love interior design and decoration as well as contemporary illustration and grafitti.
To put it in a nutshell, my influences are eclectic!!
Although I make work that I want to be aesthetically pleasing, I am not heavily into aesthetical theories...yet.

I am thinking about researching the possible locations for my work, putting it into a range of contexts - Fine art, interior decoration and craft for example. The reason I mention craft also is that my work has to fit around a full-time job and my family and is in a way very repetitive (although I feel it is therapeutic)...does this make it a craft practice? Who knows? Is craft still seen as a lower 'art form' than fine art? Is there anything wrong with creating pieces that are purely decorative or ornamental and could be placed in a domestic setting?

I have so many questions, which if is a good thing I guess....now I just have to try and make sense of it all.......

Hmmmmmm, think this ramble has helped a bit, thanks for listening!

Genevieve Dionne

I particularly like the wood burns as I've been using the same pyrography tool to burn fabric.