Wednesday 22 October 2014

Never Stop Exploring...

This post can also be read at www.curiousseagullstudio.co.uk

As promised I have been busy in the studio over the past few days! Thought I would post a few updates...I got a little carried away with new lino the other day and ended up carving something I didn't initially intend to...really happy with the result though!...


That was the lino when it was ready to print the other night. Really enjoyed carving it actually. I really wanted to incorporate something from where I live on the seafront in Tynemouth, so this one has the Priory! Thinking of creating a range of this style of print.
This was the moment of truth...


All of my printing is by hand, I don't use a press. so rattling off print after print is a bit of a challenge for me, which is why a lot of my prints are limited in amount...it's hard to tell in this photo but this one is done with blue ink...I will post a photo later on of the finished print!
I've also been working on the cotton bags. I decided to do a design on the front and the back, so yesterday I worked on printing the back of the bags...


Continuing things with my usual 'house-style' font, the back of the bags is now complete and they're all hanging out to dry...just need to work on the front of the bags today! 
Remember, if you're in the area on the 23rd of November you can find me and my creations at The Net (the old low light building) on the North Shields Fish Quay for the winter fair!


Monday 20 October 2014

New website, blog and Christmas creations...

Morning Folks!
 I am happy to say the Curious Seagull Studio website is now officially up and running!
 So take a peek and check it out...complete with new blog and a way to purchase any artwork that may take your fancy.

As a thank you to everyone for your continued support for the next two weeks (until Friday 31st October) I am also doing 20% off all original Lino Prints purchased through the website! So if you're after a Christmas present with a discount then head over to www.curiousseagullstudio.co.uk


Let me know what you think the website! It's still a bit of a learning curve for me...so please bare with me as I've never done anything like this before!
 I think I may well move the blog over to that website alone as well...but for the next few weeks at least I will double up on blogs and continue to post on here.

For the next two weeks I shall be working hard in the studio to get a few Christmas related creations up for sale. I'm also pondering a few new ideas for a different style of lino print...

Remember you can find me at www.facebook.com/curiousseagull for other things- photos, videos etc. 

Saturday 18 October 2014

Winter fair, bags and Christmas cards...

Last week was a killer! Exhausted barely comes close, however thankfully, it is now the half term holiday, so I have two weeks to get my energy back and get myself sorted for my first ever Christmas market.

In my last post I said I would put up a photo of my latest (and first) furniture creation:


What do you think? I'm really happy with it! a 100% free piece of furniture, fully recycled (apart from a dozen screws) but I love it! It looks awesome in the middle of my living room, and has come in very useful already.

I've also been a little busy designing Christmas cards- I remember a while ago saying I didn't want to make cards, at the time I didn't. But now that I'm doing a Christmas Market I figured it might be a nice touch.
 I am trying to keep them a little different from what I would normally do however, which has been quite nice actually- it makes a change! But here are two designs ready to be printed...


I plan on making five different kinds of cards, so hopefully they'll come out fairly cute!

Another thing I decided to print onto were tote bags...


Not a very inspirational photo I know, but I'm really impressed with the quality of these bags! So I've started carving the lino for these, plan on doing a front and back design so looking forward to seeing what they look like finished!

So hopefully, by the end of November I'll be all prepared for this...


Really looking forward to it, but feeling pretty nervous already actually, having never sold at a market before!! So if you're in the area on the 23rd of November pop along. The building has recently been renovated as well so it should be a good day out...you never know, the weather might be nice and wintery by then!

In other news- I mentioned a fortnight ago now that I was working on an official Curious Seagull Studio website- as things have been fairly busy it's been hard to get things done, but it will be up and running by the end of this weekend...I shall post details here soon!!

Hoping to be able to update a lot more over the next few weeks as well. Have a lovely weekend folks!

Saturday 11 October 2014

Christmas market planning, driftwood and furniture building...

Good afternoon...only 5 more school days before I am off work for two weeks and can seriously start preparing for my first ever market!
 At the end of November I will be taking part in a Christmas/Winter market at The Net on the North Shields Fish Quay. Really looking forward to it but pretty nervous!
 This morning was spent online, making sure I order everything I need/think I'll need in preparation.
 I am currently thinking, my prints alongside notebooks, tea towels, tote bags, cards and gift tags. Happy for any further suggestions though!

So, I decided I needed to start working on how I want my market stall to look. After all, first impressions are everything right? So I spent an hour or so working on this today...


I made sure to use my usual font, so everything hopefully ties together nicely. I painted Curious Seagull Studio on to a piece of driftwood (I have quite a collection).


I was really happy with the finished result! It's just over a metre long, so should hopefully be quite eye catching on a stall.

I then got a little carried away with the driftwood...after moving all my living room furniture around last week (it's a strange shaped room...but somehow we actually managed to create a fair bit of room!) So I decided to use some of the wood to create a coffee table...to, you know, fill the gap in the middle of the room I guess!




I like to give things a go and try things for myself. I have never made a piece of furniture before, and granted it will be pretty rough around the edges and not super neat and amazingly put together, but I don't care!! I had to stop for today though, as it started to get dark (At 6pm!!) So I shall post a photo of my completed creation in a day or so!!

Oh...website is almost complete as well!! I decided to finally take the plunge and have a go at hosting my own website...so may well move my blog over to their when it's up and running...not too sure yet though. I will keep you posted!!

Saturday 4 October 2014

A promotion, professional photography and a winter market...

This week has been a pretty good one! I hope other people have had a good one as well.

The first good thing came about on Monday, when I was offered a promotion at my day job! So of course, I said yes before I really thought about the amount of extra work I'd have to do. But hey, it's all part of the fun. So that was lovely...always nice to be appreciated at work.

The second good thing came about on Tuesday night...a good friend (and local friend who just lives a few doors up) is a fantastic professional photographer called Drifter Visual, and he offered to take photos of my work.
 As I've said before, I also sell my work through the Country Living Magazine online store...but how amazing would it be if they put my artwork actually in their magazine? I however don't have the equipment (or knowledge) to be able to take the sorts of photos they need for the magazine, so thankfully, my friend Tom to the rescue!


As you can see, my living room is pretty tiny (although funnily enough we have just had a furniture reshuffle to today and there is not a lot more room!...shame we didn't do it last weekend!) but he managed to get everything set up and was able to take some awesome photos. 


Daft little Pheobe (my bunny!) was desperate to be the centre of attention though, so almost every other photo had one of her ears of butt in! 

What do you think?







How fantastic are they?! I was more than happy with them, but Tom being the professional decided he wanted to take even more but with something else going on to jazz them up a little. So looking forward to that!! These ones however are what Country Living Magazine were after so let's see how that goes (Although they did tell me they were currently designing February's magazine, so if they do go in, it could still be a good while away yet!)

Another good thing happened later on in the week when I was seriously thinking about getting a market/craft stall. I've never done anything like that before. I'm simply not very good at selling myself in person, I much prefer the safer environment of online! However, I guess we have to be brave every now and then if we want people to recognise and buy the artwork. So while I was seriously considering it, and coming up with ideas for a Christmas craft stall, I was contacted by a fantastic new art development down on my local fish quay called Creative Up North. They are holding a Christmas market at the end of November, as well as a four day pop-up shop in December, so I eagerly jumped at the opportunity to be down there for a lovely winter craft market surrounded by other local artists and crafts people. I'm hoping to be sent a marketing graphic/poster in the coming weeks so I shall post one on here when I do.

So it's been a pretty productive and exciting week! I planned on sitting down this weekend and actually coming up with ideas of things I can stock at my winter market stall. But so far I have simply watched the F1 qualifying and moved my living room furniture around. So Maybe after I've done this!!

Another thing I will be doing in the very near future is setting myself up with my own proper website. Very excited for that as well! I will however be moving my blog and things over on to that platform when it's sorted, so I do hope you join me for what I'm hoping will be a really exciting 2015!!




If you're in the North East of England and are looking for a professional photographer then do feel free to contact Drifter Visual. He does amazing work, everything from fantastic portraits (not just your bog standard mind) to amazing product shots. He's interested in helping start-up businesses so feel free to spread his name around, he'll always be happy to help!

Check out Creative Up North as well! I think they're at the forefront of a new artistic community down on the North Shields Fish Quay...so keep an eye out!!