It's not often!

Hello, hello, hello. How long has it been? - like ages and ages right? - Of course, I want to say that i've been on a gigantic adventure, been to the moon, raised ten thousand for charity... but alas no I haven't. I have however been reading a bit. Since the ending of my lovely e-course Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design.. I'm flummexed. Departed from sane thinking, what am I doing, well, I tell you. I've been finding it really difficult to get going. 

The e-course was just so fab, but there was a plethora of information, just too much to take in in one sitting, let alone the 5 months or so I was taking part. I'm actually still digesting most of it.

At the beginning I did think, ha ha, this is going to be just perfect. Once I've finished the course I will have a boat load of fantastic things to sell to you all. I'd have a mountain of patterns, and loads of exciting people breaking down my door to buy them. But No. It is not yet to be. 

I have't given up hope yet. But life has sort of got in the way. Why?

Well simply because what we think will happen never does. What we assume is the next step, can never be. It's not quite so easy to be creative with a 2 year old at your feet. (and two more at school) So here I am flummoxed..

Of course I've been making the odd pattern. Some of which have received supper feedback from my co- patterners.. and thats fantastic, we all need it. But then I've waisted so much time on things of little creative calorific value and I really wish that the Twitterness, and that blasted FB would just switch off sometimes. It does however confirm my belief that even at school I was easily distracted - I'm still the same.

Anyway - going back to my statement above.  I've read my FB, my Twitter, I've read Pillars of the Earth, The Help, (supper fantastically bloody amazing by the way), and I've read a pattern, making book thing. I took the option like many of my fellow patterners to purchase the new book from Lilla Rogers. I Just like to Make things. 

Here is my review:

Beautifully bound, lovely illustrations, great photos and lots of inspiration. It goes along the lines of 'well after you've made all these lovely things, what are you going to do with them?' 

There are some sub heads - Getting into the process of being creative, being good and how to be great at what you do. Then it moves onto some nice interviews from successful individuals, how they got there, what they do etc etc... after that there is quite a large section on different areas to get your work into. Such as Picture book, home decor, fabric and such. Whilst it may seem easy to make patterns, design stuff, Illustrate happy thoughts, what are you going to do with them afterwards? - There are some exercises to complete to get you moving along and helpful tips on getting your plans written for goals and such. 

So if your just starting out - and want to know more, get yourself a bit of direction and see whats out there, this is for you. 

Downsides, there actually is not a huge amount of information that you might not already know, or can seek out easily on the web. It's not a 'grand plan' more of a 'dip ya toes' if you are just starting out and it looks lovely and happy and the interviews do have depth. The book is sort of fatter than the information, as it's all quite well spread out and loads of blank spaces.. (not entirely sure if you're supposed to be scribbling your new ideas in the margin, or dictating your grand plan to take over the world with your new home made dolls, none, of which you've actually made yet) - but I think if you follow it - do what it says to do, then it could be beneficial.

All in all, a nice read, interesting and colourful. Brilliant if your determined to make money from the market but not quite sure whats next, or how to go about it.

Coffe table envy - 4/5

Value for money - 3/5 (amazon did it for £10 at one point)

Information overload - 3/5

Keep forever to refer to again - 5/5

So that's it - hope it's given you a bit to think about.

See you soon

In the mean time - stay well, eat loads of scrummy food, (actually don't do that save it for Easter) -  be nice and make lovely things. 

And of course if anyone has any bright ideas as to  a)how I'm going to make money from my patterns - because despite reading the book above, I'm just on a merry go round.. my fault..or b) what I should be doing next - or c) what to become my mentor for a year and tell me what to do a bit then let me know.

Trina 

x

Moyo Magazine feature and new name

Yeh - I was featured in the Moyo Magazine 3rd Issue.. something to tell everyone about..

Here is the link if you missed it..

Moyo magazine..

For those of you with beedy eyes, of course I'm not Lilly and Sage, but Surface Hug now.. rebranding necessary for keeping in the swing of things, finding my own identity and not necessarily being mistaken for a lady who takes her clothes off 'a lot' for money..

Phew.. what a journey.. its been a big one, that's why I've been so quite, but I've now finished my course ABSPD.. yey.. so pleased, but not pleased. I made so many friends and had such a lovely time doing it that it will stay with me forever I think but I miss it. Those little posting every day became my comfort blanket of necessary creativity each day. I was forced to do things outside of my zone, sometimes more successfully than others I might add.

So will post a lot more about it shortly.

I'm sorry but this blog will be changing names back to www.Surfacehug.com soon but I hope you stick with me.. !

Trina

x

WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS...

How its all done... 

Well, hello there peeps. So sorry I haven't been blogging lately. It's one of those jobs which you really can only do when your feeling a) inspired - or b) guilty.. 

No its not because I've been glued to Strictly or because Downton has started again... (well perhaps a little of the latter). I really have been lazy and for that I'm sorry.

I'm not going to feel bad about it, because I've recently got a new iphone, (well a cast off from himself) and I know I'm not the only one who wakes up and immediately looks at stuff and then gets distracted, then goes with all good intentions to do blog, then gets distracted again.. it really is very anoying. You see I'm not a very disciplined person, (as he will quite readily point out) but I can get down to some serious work when induced to do so.

(see I'm digressing again... stop it)

Anyway the point of todays post, that sounds like I post daily - well, no people I don't.   I thought it might be interesting to show you a bit about my creative process. 

My disclaimer at this point is that I'm sorry if I do it wrong, but I'm still learning, so all those professionals out there - please don't jump down the computer at me.. 

Well here goes.. 

The pattern at the top is one I made from scratch - and here is how it was done.. 

Take a trip out to National trust property because the kids are bouncing off the sofa and take camera.. I'm fortunate that I have a good camera (Cannon Eos 600D) which never really takes a bad picture - I mean at least in the digital age you don't have to go with your mum to town any longer to Supersnaps and wait 1 week to see them, only to find there really are no heads on folk and you have camera shakes... gosh that was annoying... imagine how much money we've waisted on crap pictures...??

Here are my pictures from the lovely Barrington Court in Somerset.. I'm quite drawn to the dead bits on flowers. - (lets not go there)

So now I've got a couple of good pictures - all I have to do now is draw them.  This bit I find the easiest because, well I've always drawn things.. (I'm not very good at drawing anything with pulse, animals, people etc) Unless they are three miles in the distance..!

As you can see - I've hand drawn the flower based on the photographs. Of course they are not exact, because I've cut the bottom off one and well the other I've adjusted to fit the paper size. But it sort of represents the photo a bit.

The next job - is to scan the picture into Photoshop - I'm not going to explain much about this - because I'm not YET a fan of Photoshop. It never really does what I think it should be doing and sometimes I really do loose the plot and just start all over again. I then saved the image as a jpeg file - after a little clean up. 

Once I'm happy with this its then imported into Illustrator. (please note from this point on I'm on a wing and prayer, because, well, basically these systems are so powerful and complex it will take me another - what - year ? - to become Adobe 'confident' - but I do my best as they say.. 

So I'm thinking about colours, do I want it to be natural or mixed, or seasonal etc... 

I'm using an app called Kuler - it's great for looking at colour combinations etc and often taken from photos from nature - which I always think look best for colours, because I don't think we can replicate them. The best bit is that you can download colour combos and then upload them into Illustrator right there, like 'voila' it's done. 

I also try to be disciplined in them - stick to what you want and keep it simple.

So after all that I'm pretty much done. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with them yet, possibly stationary although I've yet to find a printer of wrapping paper who doesn't charge you fortune.. 

Hopefully one day I'll have an agent who can help, but in the mean time, I must keep tapping, undoing, drawing, filling, saving, and photographing. 

Good luck to all my fellow ABSPD students.. Module 2 starts soon people... eyes down.. 

Thanks for looking

p.s. I need another few likes on my Facebook page - so be a love and I'll do the same.

Trina 

xx

p.s Went onto my Facebook page and my little boy (2) had not only tweeted on my behalf but it had gone on my Facebook page and Web.. so if you see a thing about a game to feed a horse - its not me, its him.... (how rude is that?)

Church Flowers - what to do

So there I am about a year ago - in the Church yard standing being neighbourly saying Hello and other pleasantries - what happens, I soon find myself quickly asked 'can you do a few Church flowers?' - what do you say, yes, of course I can 'do a few flowers'.

Shortly after I find myself on the Church rota for flowers... not to be sniffed at because I don't make jam, (I'm rubbish at everything in the kitchen actually) and I'm not on the school governors and I don't do WI - so for my money being on the church rota is doing my bit without having to extend the arm of cakes and bible in hand... I'm not worried I have a whole year to get used to the idea and boom here we are one year later... now what?
(I don't do church either by the way)

Anyway having not bothered to look at anyone else's efforts, thats my fear of failure quashed, I decide to resort to my trusty friend Facebook and happened across a lovely site called Windmill Farm Flowers... 
For those of you who don't yet know - home grown is in gals.... the more Vintage the better. Have you noticed how the modern wedding no longer has a ten tier cake or false nails - its more about Granny s tea cup and wild flowers... and I love it.

So back to this post...

I went along to my local grower - Windmill Farm flowers in Langport Somerset and met the lovely Kate Gibbons. Her house is a typical Somerset farmhouse which they have lovingly restored over the last few years. Kate grows her own mix of cut flowers is four extremely large beds and a to die for polytunnen. My friend Leanne and I were impressed and not to say extremely envious of her whole plot..
I'm sorry I have not pictures of her home, because it was raining all the time we were there and probably better to get permission before posting anyway..

So I gather my lovely local, low carbon footprint flowers and toddle off back to High Ham Church.. I won't dwell on it, suffice to say we did two lovely sprays and missed the big one at the back which prompted a bit of shuffle but we did it.. and below are the results. I hope you like them as much as we did.
(note to self, always check with Churchy person which ones you are supposed to be doing before hand)

Kate from Windmill farm flowers can be found on Facebook and is planning a few Christmas workshops if you fancy - details below - perhaps a work day out for Christmas lunch instead of straight to the pub...

Christmas Workshops

Would you and your friends like to make your own door wreaths, table centres or candle rings for Christmas and pick up some new ideas for Christmas decorations? Get in the Christmas spirit with a fun relaxed workshop with people you know, perhaps you could even follow up with lunch nearby.

Enjoy a morning or afternoon at Windmill Farm where you will have all the materials and tuition you need to make a gorgeous decoration to adorn your home!

All the materials used are locally sourced or from the farm to create a natural and lasting arrangement.

You can book workshops on the following dates for a minimum of two people and a maximum of six at a cost of £25 each, this includes refreshments and all materials

Please call Kate on 07767 310833 or email kate.gibbins@sky.com to discuss your requirements.

Dates

Tuesday 4^th Dec              10-12.30 or 2.00-4.30

Friday 7^th Dec            10-12.30 or 2.00-4.30

Saturday 8^th Dec            10-12.30

Tuesday 11^th Dec            10-12.30 or 2.00-4.30

Monday 17^th Dec            10-12.30 or 2.00-4.30

Times can be altered to suit your needs.

Hopefully I'll be able to pop back in the future and take some more pictures of Kate cutting patch to show you soon. In the mean time please check out her Facebook page and a 'Like' would be fantastical...

Thanks and see you soon

Trina
x

Images - all Lilly and Sage and Windmill farm flowers except the tea cup with flowers which belongs to The Sweetest Occasion and jennifer dery

Well that's the end of Part one..

Hello all,

Well, where to start... my lovely Surface pattern course has now ended for a five week break between modules..... :( feeling like I've really learnt a lot every week. Sorry for not blogging earlier, but I got quite far behind at one point - and sometimes life just takes over.. anyway, here is a little idea of what I've been up to.

So Pattens, where do they come from?  what types are our there? which do you like etc... its a big learning curve, but I did really enjoy it...
Earlier on in the course, we were making up pattern books.. collecting photos, mag clips, cuttings etc and gathering them all in a pattern book.. seems a very basic exercise but its well worth it. It really gets you to notice what you are drawn to and what you find appealing... Obviously there is no point is trying to make patterns you wouldn't put on your own wall is there...

At this point I'm starting to miss the odd exercise, but one I did manage was to complete a mood board, either on paper in the traditional manor or in Photoshop. I chose the computer option - this is me in board form...
I picked up pictures from all over the internet and resized them to fit.. It was great fun and well worth the effort because you really can tell at a glance what you like and don't like.. interesting..
I think it would be beneficial to redo it in the future just to see if my tastes are changing..

So the next thing I find myself induced by colour - I've always noticed colours, but now I really do look at them. Part of the course is to engage with colours more, so how do they make you feel. Personally I hate lilac with a vengence, I think it came from that time when everyone painted their bedroom Lilac and purple with a moave border. Pink I love, Red, I love, Lilac I hate..

What do you do when you hate something.. hit is hard and try to work with it.. so I find a purple flower and get painting... now I'm back in my comfort zone...

Here's a bit more purple just so you know I was trying..

So - now the course is moving into Pattern creation.. This is where I started to fall behind with the excersises. Fortunately the classroom remains open for some time, so in the next five weeks break between modules I should have plenty of time to catch up. 

One of the briefs was to make Mock ups of rooms with 'your' wallpaper design or cushions. This is my next task when I've mastered Photoshop.  I did however manage to complete a presentation of my designs. This shows how it might be changed slightly to compliment a range or just simplified to show how the design was created.

So I now have lots and lots of things to catch up on. I'm reassured by the other students that I'm not the only one catching up during the break. 

Well here are few pictures I've been playing with  - and the placement print I made with them. Unfortunately when your using your own paintings it does take up quite a lot of computer power.. but I'll worry about that later.. 

So thats it.. Module one of The Art and Business of Surface pattern design completed..

Thanks for following and please like my Facebook page above, because that would be fabulous.

See you soon 

xx