A little retro in my life

I stumbled across these fine specimens of retro-ness when I was visiting another village yesterday.  I adore these old pub pegboards.  They take me back to my childhood and I vividly remember seeing these in hairdressers. 

I particularly liked this chalked sign.  Very assertive in the 'eyes down @ 8pm'.  Sometimes you don't need fancy fonts to steal your attention, a simple piece of chalked up writing will suffice.

Textile Printing

I love this medium.  Simply mix in with acrylic and away you go.  Now to find some clothes to print on to!

My take on 80's

I keep going back to this design even though I created it a few years ago. 

 It's one of those ideas that you never quite get the time to fully develop as something else takes priority.  

It was designed to be a black and white pattern but I saw the piece in my sketchbook last week and took pity on it.  I dabbled with some primary colours initially and then took it from there.  It's still not finished ;-)  

I think it's a pattern suitable for MC Hammer or on Bermuda shorts.

Textile Design

Textile design based on previous 'Urban' series work.  

The first design is a simple 180o repeat.  The second design uses colour to create a different mood within the piece.

Smile

Saw this little stencil piece at Roseangle.

Cactus fun

I am always intrigued by the shapes and textures in cacti. I will do something with these images later.

A trip to the garden centre ;)

I took these images when I was passing a box of stones in the local garden centre. The colours on the detailed stone are lovely and rusty and made me think of looking down from a plane onto Tuscan fields.

Work in progress

I have started working on 'Urban 3'. This is another mixed media piece which links to the two previous pieces. Currently don't like the bottom half of the piece so next step will probably be to chop it off!

'Urban' textile print

Textile design based on 'Urban' pieces created.
Mixed media on grey cartridge
9x7cm

10 second landscape

Watercolour and ink on white card. 8.5x4cm

Happy Bunny Weekend

Unicorns by Unknown

I don't know who created the unicorn series of postcards at 6x4 (pieces weren't named) but I thought they were very clever and quirky.

6x4 exhibition preview

The exhibition is now open to the public and runs until end of March.

6x4 exhibition details

Frosty little crocus

6x4 exhibition

I previously uploaded the pieces that I had created for the upcoming 6x4 exhibition and I also included some 2011-12 portraiture work into my submission selection. I haven't formally exhibited in a gallery for a long time as I tend to sell my work mostly in shops, so this is a slight change of creative direction for me.
It looks like this exhibition will have 400+ pieces being exhibited. This is a staggering amount of submissions to catalogue and hang!

The exhibition opens on the 15th March 2013 @ the Cooper Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee. Admission is free.

Urban continued...

I have continued working on the urban landscape theme for my next piece and have used a limited palette of grey, blue and white. Still at the building and layering stage.

This looks worth a visit...

Another piece for submission

This piece is slightly smaller than the 'Urban' pieces. It is a pencil drawing on gesso and is an analytical study of my Papa. It combines strong lines with subtle, delicate strokes. The emphasis being to create a memory through line.

Exhibition pieces

I posted a few weeks ago 2 little urban pieces that I had started working on. I finally got around to finishing them this afternoon. My initial idea, which was linear urban landscapes evolved into mixed media and negative spaces. These are experimental pieces and are a big step away from my usual illustrative work. If I had more time I would work further on them with increased layers.

Edinburgh minus snow

I love the shapes scattered across the parliament building. It reminds me of a strewn jigsaw puzzle.

Bendy colours

It has been a very busy week so haven't had much opportunity to get out and about to take some photos. I did manage to get out today and came across an intriguing composition which drew me in like a magpie catching a glimpse a shiny coin. I just adore the flow of the red next to the block colours on the geometric shapes.

Quick 6x4 piece

This is a quick 20 minute piece where the background is already provided (you basically rip a page out of a magazine and work on top of it). You can work with existing colours, patterns, shapes etc or you can create something completely different. It's a simple and cheap way to experiment.

"Clown of the town"

Just playing around with a little mixed media illustration on a gesso and ink background.

Tonight's work

Some mini gesso and ink architecture sketches. Using a restricted size of 6x4 so that I can possibly submit these into an exhibition. I haven't used ink for some time and I forgot how varied the colour intensity can be depending on how it hits the paper and how it can be affected by a primed background.

Boing, boing

Found this little play horse when we were out walking earlier. Poor wee thing needs a lick of paint.

Lovely notebooks

I love this website. It will feed my notebook obsession. Looks like a great selection of quirky diaries and notebooks.
http://www.themagicnotebook.co.uk/

Buy handmade :)

Still working...

Still working on the lino print. First proof was too heavy with black. Gouged out the frame and tidying up edges. Here's how it looks so far. Still not happy with it :(

Twitter

I thought it was time to try to start networking. Find me on twitter @weeharlequin :) x

Cutting

Cutting... It takes soooo long to cut.

In the studio

The labour intensive task of refining an idea, tracing it onto lino and then creating clear outlines. That's my afternoon sorted :)

A productive afternoon

After moving house in the summer I eventually got around to setting up my studio the way I want it. Even found my sewing machine pedal in the garage. Yay!

Nutcracker

He's a wee smasher ;)

Edinburgh's Hogmanay

The view of the castle from Princes Street. Working on a miniature painting of this view.

Giddy up horsey

Candy Floss :)

Pink fluffy clouds concealed in plastic.

Vintage biscuits

Found this fab biscuit tin in the cafe we had breakfast in this morning. I really like the simplicity of the colours used.

Edinburgh @ Christmas

Blue orchids

I love the colours in these orchids.

Website Update

Check out the new website layout @ www.littleharlequin.com

Gallery

I currently have some work for sale in Neo-Design in Dundee. Work includes illustration, watercolours and jewellery. Lots of affordable work to brighten up your life :)