New Studio!!

I'm starting to organise myself now in my new studio space but the start of term and my teaching 3 days a week has meant a bit of a slow start! Still, this month I have managed to fit in a couple of commissions, 2 exhibition submissions, a meeting about using my designs for a book cover and some end papers, a competition entry and a visit to Kirty Allsopps Handmade Fair at Hampton Court Palace which is not too bad!

I met the lovely Charlotte Bezzant and saw her fabulous silver jewellery on display at the Fair and discovered all sorts of interesting things at some of the other stands. My head is buzzing with product ideas but I need to sort some admin things out before I launch into anything else.

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How to start a sketchbook project - Part 1

Since I've started a new sketchbook recently I thought I could do a diary of sorts to explain how I have put the various sections together. I chose the theme of 'Layering' as I was looking through some old A-Level Art & Design question papers and this topic appealed to me. If you want to create your own sketchbook obviously you could choose any theme you like, just make sure that it's something that interests you and you will find plenty of inspiration. I favour an A3 size sketchbook but there are no hard and fast rules on this, and it's best to go for a scale that you feel comfortable with. I started out with a title page and a 'mind map' of written ideas of anything that I felt could relate to the theme of 'layering', a brainstorm of sorts. This is a good way to get over the dreaded 'first page fear' when you just can't bring yourself to start your pristine book and any mark you make is overly scrutinis...

'Marine Life' Sketchbook,

Having taken part in several Open Studio events, I have come to realise how much people do like to look at a sketchbook. I find creating the books a hugely enjoyable process and I'm still referring back to and using some of the imagery from the ones I did some 25 years ago! In this post I thought I would give you a quick flick through my 'Marine Life' book which is a more recent creation and helped to inspire my 'Shoal' and 'Sea Garden' ranges. Once I've chosen a theme I generally do a mind map and look at all the different areas I could explore within that theme. Over the next 5-10 pages I play around with different images, textures, media and scale to explore the possibilities. I also like to focus on a few artists or designers that inspire me too and may relate to my theme. I might do a few pages combining their style with mine and my theme and see what happens. I recently wrote an article for 'Workshop on the Web'...

Putting it all out there - Illness and Art Therapy!

I've recently discovered that I haven't written a blog post since last July, shocking! The truth is that I've had a pretty bumpy ride recently and I haven't been sure whether to talk about it on social media or keep it to myself and carry on (thinking that no-one will be any the wiser and that wouldn't be such a bad thing would it?). The problem is, being a 'Creative' my feelings and thoughts go hand in hand with my work and it is not so easy to compartmentalise these things. I think I need to start being a bit more honest with myself about how events have affected me though so that I can grow stronger and move on in a positive way. I hope that putting this out there in the ether will help me to stop worrying about telling people and whether they think any less of me as a result, it is what it is. This is now sounding overly dramatic and I apologise as it is just related to my health issues. To sum up: I have had Rheumatoid Arthriti...

Juliette Orton

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