The brief was to create a 5×7 illustrated map for Rother Valley Country Park in Sheffield.
The country park has a great range of activities so I enjoyed sketching those, keeping to a consistent style by using the same pens and techniques throughout.
I hand painted the background and water then brought all the elements together in Pixelmator app. Allowing for my drawings to become tiny icons on the map.
With a compass and legend the map was completed and is ready to promote the park as a promotional postcard.
I’m pleased with the map and it quickly shows what’s on offer at the park. Rother Valley is a great place and as the card says is fun for all. Check the website for more details of access and opening times.
See a 27 seconds video of the map here (clicking will take you through to my YouTube channel.)
Tiny lavender bouquet brought by bluebird, delivering relaxation and sweet slumbers.
Textile illustration using hand and machine stitch with appliqué.
First sketched as part of the #illustrationworkshop process before being made in paper, then fabric.
Inspired by the lavender at #dawnirelandtextileartist group
Poppy stages embroidery inspired by our morning walk.
Saw this pretty poppy on our walk yesterday morning so I decided that it would be my subject for an appliqué embroidery. It’s not quite finished, a little hand sewing to follow, please pop back to see the completed work.
Created at @dawnirelandtextileartist workshop at #stitchedupandfleeced
Delighted with my latest furniture restoration. This mid-century G Plan Astro table designed by Victor Bramwell Wilkins. I love how the teak sings when it has been cleaned and oiled. Turning back time for this stunning table.
The table changed somewhat from the original prototype drawings, scroll to see.
Wanted one of these since seeing the table in Wendy’s office in the TV programme Billions.
Poppy stages embroidery inspired by our morning walk.
Saw this pretty poppy on our walk yesterday morning so I decided that it would be my subject for an appliqué embroidery. It’s not quite finished, a little hand sewing to follow, please pop back to see the completed work.
Created at @dawnirelandtextileartist workshop at #stitchedupandfleeced
Sew in the sunshine. Completing the poppy embroidery. Now what to make with it☺️? #poppy #embroidery #textileart
#applique #appliqueart #garden #sewalfresco
Hydrangea embroidery. Added these beautiful hydrangeas to our garden a few days ago. Decided to embroider a flower, then created a design in @pixelmator.
Sometimes small things can make a delightful difference to your holiday. Here are a few suggestions from our recent beach holiday that I’d recommend.
If you’re using hotel beach towels it can be nice to take a small towel for your face/head at the top of your sunbed.
I chose this beautiful Collier Campbell towel. The bright design was stunning in the sun, the fabric soft and easy to spot when returning from a swim in the sea.
It’s important to stay hydrated and it’s possible to stop using trillions of plastic cups on holiday by using a flask. This one is by Life’s a Beach. It kept my water cold all day, saved single use plastic and looks fabulous. Good for the environment and good to use.
Tidy towel – when the sea breeze is buffeting your beach towel these clips keep your towel secure whatever the sunbed design. They can also be used to hang clothes and, as I was here, to secure fabric around Balinese beds.
I love to carry watercolours when on holiday. Painting a scene is an opportunity to really observe and take in the detail, which is great for recalling the holiday feel-good factor when you’re back home. There’s also something magical about the feeling of painting with salt water.
More sunny holiday related posts are at these links:
I thought it may be helpful to share some creative apps, favourite tools and tips for use in visual arts and design.
CamScanner App
A great convenient, ‘on the go’ tool for scanning using your phone and the CamScanner app. You can either take a scan/picture using the app or can import an image to convert that into a scan. The app locates the boundaries of your image and adjusts the light so you can even scan in low light. It’s a huge time saver and has a good memory capacity before it requires any payment. You don’t get bugged by ads. CamScanner is 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 in my opinion.
Screen grab of my CamScanner latest work
iPhone XS
My phone is a key tool in my work, for photographing, drawing, editing. The camera on this phone model takes beautiful images and the ‘portrait’ mode is a useful feature for product shots and photographing work. I like the ‘pano’ feature for creative shots. Couldn’t function without this. Great size, weight and stable when used with a tripod. iPhone XS 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I take a LOT of photos and create new designs on my iPhone
Pixelmator App
How I love Pixelmator. I can’t say how much I use it as it’s seamless in my work. I’m probably across in the app 5 times a day. Layering images, drawing, adding text, creating social media ads, resizing, mocking up ideas, creating repeat patterns. The app is intuitive, making it easy to learn and to use. This is a corker of a creative tool 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Pixelmator App Screen Grab Showing Layers of a Design.
Bernina Sewing Machine
I would never have thought that I could love a sewing machine as much as I do my Bernina. It’s reliable, compact, and with the digital display I know what the machine settings are at a glance. I want to make the marks myself so I’m not interested in sewing machines that take over and do the sewing themselves. Swiss engineering is renowned and my Bernina is a fabulous example of this that runs like clockwork. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Bernina B215 Sewing Machine sewing an ice cream themed fabric that I designed.
YouTube
A learning gateway for everything you might ever want to learn about, where someone always seems to have the answer for using a new product, or technique. I’m going to give YouTube 🌟🌟🌟🌟 as the ads can be annoying, but then again it’s ‘free’. YouTube is about the people who take the time to share their experiences and knowledge. Of course it’s best to watch a few videos for any given subject to be able to gather a few perspectives/ methods.
I’ve always enjoyed making films so I love that I can share my movies and reach people through YouTube. Here’s a link to go to my channel.
Inspire by Kim YouTube Channel screen grab
50 Ways to Draw Your Beautiful Ordinary Life
This book is like a hug of a drawing course. The creators of Flow magazine have done something magical by bringing together exercises from their illustrators to make this big beautiful collection of inspiring, drawing skills inducing delight. Love it with some good TV and a pencil or fine liner. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Flow Magazine.
Collage of the cover and pages of my drawings in the book.
Instagram
The place to see image based posts, as opposed to more wordy content. A window on creative studios, processes and what everyone is working on, it’s such a creative time that we live in. Instagram makes the world shrink to the size of the app and I love how we can connect with kindred creatives and find people with shared interests. And there’s always someone somewhere on Instagram, even in the middle of my night – when the darkness becomes a blank creative canvas for new idea seeds to germinate in my mind. Hoping the ads, which have increased in frequency, don’t takeover, like they appear to have on sister site Facebook 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Inspire by Kim Instagram Screen Grab
Also I have to mention PicCollage, which now allows a mix of still images and videos in collages, and WordPress for my blog.
I hope this proves helpful. Wanted to share these findings and also this is a way of expressing gratitude for this tremendous tech and fabulous phone based functions which are my fundamental tools.
Please stay and see some more posts here.
If you’d like a street these are my favourite ones.
I’m loving birds at present and after 18 months of construction disruption close by, I feel blessed that they are now returning to our garden.
Their song is like a sweet heartwarming tonic after the din of demolition and the intrusive vibration of ground working and construction.
Bird activity is recommending with the sweet joyful chorus of this busy beautiful season for the birds.
Inspired by their uplifting song and always fascinated by flight I’ve created a number of fabric birds.
Designed and printed from plants in and around my garden using heat sensitive dye techniques, then embroidered and embellished before stitching the birds.
The birds have developed from work for a customer’s commission, in which I was asked to produce a bespoke cushion design of a bird with flowers.
For more details about the workshop click here . To see inspiration for what you might like to make visit this link. There really is no limit to what you can design and make.
Here are some examples of workshop attendees designs.
Hope to see you on 2nd June. If you’re too far away let me know where you are and how you like to learn and we can find a solution for you to try these techniques.
Book the workshop and enquire now by contacting Sue at Stitched Up and Fleeced using this contact form.
I’m planning to make a supportive, comforting doll using fabric design techniques. My plan is that the design of the doll is made of positive affirmations and statements. The doll might be a companion to help during a really tough period in someone’s life.
I’ve been wondering what words and statement my followers would find most comforting to use when I make the doll.
Please take a moment to pop a suggestion in the comments for this post.
Please feel free to forward this post to someone you know who this idea might resonate with.
These images are my work that has led to this idea.
It is four years since I decide to push visual arts to the top of my priority list.
Major knee injury meant I had to pass on the opportunity that I’d been hankering for years, to manage the PR for Meadowhall. Facing months on crutches and unable to drive, life was taken up by the countless rehab exercises and everything normal took three times as long. With a recovery period quoted in years rather than weeks time began to feel different. I had so little time spare that I had to get to the nub of spending time how my soul needed and what emerged from valuable sessions with my wonderful life coach Heidi-Mai, was art… making… creating, colour, I felt like there was a whole lot of colour and creations inside me that needed to be let out into the world. And so my visual art journey changed up a gear and I began to prioritise this work, moving it from the ‘indulgent, blissful hobby’ to the ‘if I don’t have much time available I’m going to spend it on what feels great’. And with a feeling of naughty delight I signed up for an Art Foundation course.
What an exploration it has been, and continues to be. I’ve always enjoyed a steep learning curve and staying on such a curve keeps me interested and motivated.
In the first four years I’ve had a solo exhibition, had work in four public exhibitions, have begun teaching fabric design techniques, have shared art skills in school, created commissioned artworks, designs, infographics, videos, animations and have made products from miniature pot plants to fabric birds.
I don’t know where the work is leading and when I’m in the creative moment I don’t think it really matters where or whether it leads. For me creating and making is calming, rejuvenating and present. It’s my antidote to the harrowing stories that the media try to intrude into my calm.
Here are my favourite pieces from the past four years. I look forward to seeing what will emerge from my work in the future.
I’m not stopping here. I’m busy preparing for my next workshop on Sunday 2nd June at Stitched Up and Fleeced, Sheffield.
I’m working on personal projects and strategic commercial communications. I’ve a plan for a book, watch this space, and have some exciting collaborations ahead.
Here are my favourite posts from the past four years:
Here are anniversary stories from the years you may have missed. I’ve always worked on the proviso that my work will improve, although I’ve a good way to go to be at the level I aspire to, when I reflect I can see the progression. Practice makes better…
Here are some examples of workshop attendees designs.
