House Portraits

Thursday 26 January 2017

Bridlington Contemporary Art Gallery

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the opening of Bridlington Contemporary. Supported by East Street Arts, an old Cooperative supermarket has been converted to the new exhibition space and studio of contemporary artists, Nigel Folds and Vivien Stamford.

Lots of the supermarket features remain, including fridges and checkouts, used as stands for Nigel's canvases - they were my favourite bit! These quirky features and the sheer size of the space provide an exciting and inspirational backdrop for the artwork.

On show is 'Garden of Signs' by Nigel Folds and 'Sea Cloths and other pieces' by textile artist, Vivien Stamford, until the 14th March. A wonderful venture for the artists and community, it is well worth a visit for the curious, as well as art lovers. Plus, you can have lots of seaside fun while you're there, like I did... 2p machines, donuts, fish and chips, a haunted house, I crammed in all the novelty coastal delights and couldn't have wished for more!

Find out more about the gallery here, where you can view photos of the transformation progress, from it's original state as an supermarket to a contemporary and inspirational space.

Painted canvases propped up on checkouts

The big open space exciting lots of people

Artwork and supermarket fridges living joyfully beside eachother

The old stock room provides a separate space (and more to explore)

Nigel's materials and work in progress to be seen alongside finished artwork.






Wednesday 18 January 2017

Etsy Made Local, Sheffield - December 2016

So my January has been a little less crazy than December, which means I am working through a few things I needed to catch up on, blogging being one of them! I've been mega busy lately and feel like I've got a really good momentum going now - having a day job plus running a double-sided business (being a freelance illustrator and having an online shop) does take some getting used to, but I now feel like I get enough chill time to savour as well as working like a beaver!

Etsy Made Local in December was my first full weekend fair and I felt so privileged to be there. Not only was Sheffield Town Hall a beautiful, festive and atmospheric venue, but the people were absolutely wonderful. The Etsy Sheffield team were brilliantly organised and the city centre location meant lots of footfall, feedback and sales too - hooray!

Visit my etsy shop here to see what you missed or what I've added to my shop since.

Here are some photos of my stall and the venue...






Though I spotted lots of gorgeous things to ask Santa for, I had to be strict not to buy for myself, for all my pennies and more had gone on expenses recently. But I instantly fell in love with this little guy and HAD to call him mine!



This gorgeous little bear is made by Holly Balfour of Holly Heartfelt. Since seeing her lovely characters at Etsy Made Local, I have followed her on instagram and love seeing her adorable quirky creations, many with endearing, smiling faces like my bear! 

I was also delighted when I found a basket of felted acorns (oh, I did buy more than one thing then) - they felt so delicate and all different from each other. I love saving real acorns when I find them on a walk, but unfortunately they do perish, so Holly's felt acorns had Josephine written allover them. I decided they made fabulous earrings for my Christmas reindeer:


One of the amazing organisers of Etsy Made Local was Sophie Cooke, a milliner and owner of Imogen's Imagination. Sophie makes beautifully vintage inspired hats and accessories, I loved her headbands with big bows on and most of all, gorgeous felt berets. Her lovely website is very inspirational to look at for style ideas for yourself as well as great gifts.

I have always been a beret fan (though I haven't had one I've been attached to for a while) and I saw a particular one I fancied on the website before the christmas market. When I saw that the navy beret with navy velvet ribbon wasn't at the market, but tried lots of other lovely ones on, I casually mentioned this to Santa (my boyfriend) and what a gem, he remembered! So this is me modelling my very special christmas present...






Friday 6 January 2017

Happy New Year! A new work round up.

Hello and happy new year!

I hope you have all had a wonderful start to the year so far. I got so busy towards the end of the year, so I thought I'd do a quick round up and share some snaps of new work I've recently listed on my etsy shop. 

Regular blogging is not my strongest point, so do please follow me on twitter, instagram or Facebook for updates in between my more detailed blog posts :)




A 24 page colouring book full of busy streets, detailed houses,
quirky shops and lots of bricks to colour!


Printed in Leeds, Yorkshire. Dishwasher & microwave safe.


Printed in Leeds, Yorkshire. Dishwasher & microwave safe.




Sheffield Town Hall Screen Prints, £48-£50
Available in blue and pink, pink/purple tonal and single colours coming soon.
Limited edition, numbered and signed
Printed by myself in Mirfield, Yorkshire, using archival inks and acid free paper.




Available in blue, pink and yellow.
Limited edition, numbered and signed
Printed by myself in Mirfield, Yorkshire, using archival inks and acid free paper.