AVOCADO AND PINK

I have just completed this sign for my friend Dawn's new flower business - avocado & pink!   Not content with Custard Pudding, the tearoom and art gallery, that she set up nearly a year ago next door to the One Craft Gallery, she has now opened this new business!  It is being operated from a downstair area of her tearooms - see below.  The flowers are mostly grown in her own garden or are locally sourced.

As with food, there is a growing demand for local, seasonal flowers with a reduced carbon footprint.  Dawn provides fresh-as-a daisy, hand tied arrangements, in beautiful colour combinations and scents, with more than a hint of hedgerow about them!  She also supplies bouquets and flowers for weddings and special events...  Avocado & pink are a delightful addition to Shepton's High Street.

  

CHRISTMAS IN THE HIGH STREET

On my early morning walks I have a good chance to look at all the decorations in the High Street. There are Christmas images everywhere - loads of red and white!  In the middle pic above, I am looking at a reindeer, decorated by my friend Dawn, who owns Custard Pudding - the tearoom and gallery that is next door to the One Craft Gallery, where I exhibit my work.  She bought two plain wood cutout reindeer, painted and decoupaged them, and then hung baubles from the antlers - makes a change from a tree!

Above are some more images from High Street shop windows and look at our street lights.  I reckon they are the best in the area, even though they have an air of frilly knickers about them!!

CHRISTMAS CARDS!

I am reluctantly thinking about Christmas!  I am planning to run some card making workshops with my friend Dawn, in the basement workshop of her art gallery and teashop - Custard Pudding - so I have made some samples.

There is no painting on these cards, just collaged papers and the addition of some felt tip marks.  I started by making a collaged background from old wrapping paper, tissue, music, napkins, and paper scraps from other projects - see above right.  I used matt acrylic medium, coating both sides of the papers and left them to dry. I always iron my papers, when dry, with a layer of baking parchment protecting the iron.

The background was then cut up and then suitable Christmas imagery and shapes, in this case, stars, punched out in various papers, was added. When this was dry I used a metallic gold pen to make a border and marks. I also added embellishments with a black felt tip and white gel pen. I like to make marks that imitate stitching.  These are now ready to attach to some cream card stock.  A great way to recycle last year's cards and wrapping!

DAWN'S DREAM

It has always been my friend Dawn's dream to have a teashop and art gallery and now she has it next door of the One Craft Gallery in Shepton!  It is still work in progress, as it has a downstairs which needs to have pictures hung and more work displayed, but she is open for business and enjoying it!

Here are a few interior photos.  The writing in the middle is the outside of the toilet door!  Dawn has a way with words and often incorporates them in her mixed media work. For her shop she has employed a sign writer to illustrate them. She has hand painted and decoupaged a lot of the furniture herself, making the place quirky and fun. The two bird sculptures decorating the windows are mine.  I made them for a textile exhibition on gloves.  If you look carefully you can see that the feathers and feet of the birds are all gloves!

FUNKY FLOWERS

I have just made some funky flowers for my friend Dawn's funky tea shop and art gallery called Custard Pudding!  Dawn, a fellow artist and photographer, has, with her sister, opened up next door to the One Craft Gallery in Shepton. They worked really hard to get it ready to open last Friday. It looks great - fresh, light and quirky with a range of artworks.  I will show some photographs of the interior in future posts.

Dawn bought an old milk grate, complete with bottles, which she thought would be great decoration if filled with some giant flowers.  She asked me to make some and this is what I came up with.  I recycled old cardboard boxes and dowling, together with napkins, textiles, tissue and other bits from my studio stash to make these flowers.