A Very Rene Christmas

I've decided to design my own cards this year at long last (don't we ALL look at the ones in the shops and think 'I could do better' then never actually do.) This year I was motivated to do so by the great working relationships I've developed and I wanted to do something special for all my loyal clients.

The design features my omnipresent hound Rene and, this being a non-commerical endeavor, is unashamedly inspired by Sanna Annukka and Eleanor Grosch, two illustrators I admire hugely.

1st Design in Store at Tesco

I started working with Tesco in May, and wasn't expecing to see any of my designs hit the stores until spring 2011 as thats what we were working on then. This one must have been pulled forward though. Its been a long time coming but its a real buzz to see my work at Britains' largest retailer.

New Designs at Delicious Couture

I was asked by the lovely Nicola T of Wags Boutique and Celebrity Big Brother to collaborate on a new range for her fab label Delicious Couture. Not only is Nicola a pleasure to work with, it was really refreshing to work on a fashion-forward edgy product. I can't wait to see how it is widely receieved.

New pyjama designs in store

"Ace Cartoon Artwork"...

... According to Mixmag

High Summer Ts in store at Tu Clothing, Sainsbury's

One of my designs used in marketing material, above...

Lost My Dog "5 Years and Still Looking" CD...

...Featuring my artwork is released in July, but here's a sneak peak courtesy of Pete Dafeet...

My Work Featured on legendary blog 'Print & Pattern' via Pink Light Design

Its so exciting to see my own work featured on a blog I use myself as an inspirational bible, above is a design I created for Mary Beth Freet's Pink Light Design studio. Full article here

I've got a new toy...

...A 50mm f/1.8 lens that is a cheap way to start playing with wide aperture. Perfect for capturing the kind of shots I love to take, naturalistic, low light still life and portraits. I had the perfect excuse to try it out this weekend at the Featherdown Farm in Herefordshire where we celebrated Phil's 30th birthday.

Branding badges and repeat prints feature on Next Girlswear garment

This girlswear garment currently available at Next features graphics and repeat prints I created. heres the original artwork below:

New Watercolour Butterfly Designs for Next Girlswear

Here are two handpainted watercolour designs I have done for Next Girlswear available here. Its tricky to produce artworks which have a true watercolour quality that can be commerically outputted with standard screen inks. I've developed a way of creating this kind of design which gives it a true painterly quality while only requiring standard output process with a limited number of screens.

Next Boys Embroidered Triceratops T-shirt now in store

Above, the original design created in Photoshop

I'm happy with the way this one has turned out almost exactly how I designed it. Available at Next

Designing Winter Pyjamas

A childrens pyjama set I designed today for winter 2010-11. I'm pleased with how this particular plaid turned out.

Revamping My Kitchen

We've been planning and saving to fit a new kitchen for almost a year and when the time came, we had a massive rethink and decided to have a revamp on the cheap instead. Integral to the plan was ripping down an unsightly, cramped wall unit and putting these Ikea shelves up instead. I already had most of the storage items now on display, bit I treated myself to the cornish stripe pasta jar and the red lantern.

With the other simple changes we've made it feels like a new kitchen, and the best bit is the money is stil in the bank :) more pics on flickr

Some more #savebbc6music nonsense...

Causing a stir and here

New Designs in Adams

A couple of my designs now available at Adams kidswear...

Sad Day #savebbc6music

Exciting project for Portmeirion

While I've been recovering form my operation, I've been spending time researching inspiration for surface pattern design for gift and homeware. I'm particularly interested in traditional Welsh craft and design after falling in love with the folk style of design on recent holidays in Wales. During the course of my research I've been interested in Portmeirion's 50th Anniversary collections which are celebrating traditional designs from their archive. My particular favourite archive collection is Susan Williams-Ellis' Totem. I love how it represents the Scandinavian quality of Welsh design simplicity.

Image courtesy of Flickr member The_Moog

By Pure coincidence, I was thrilled this week to be asked to work on a range of surface pattern designs using botanical prints from Portmeirion's archive. These are to be considered for a range of soft homewares for the brand. Its a real challenge trying to apply such classic designs in a contemporary way, but I can't think of a more enjoyable project to kick start me back into work after my convalesecence!

Below is one of the original designs I have been asked to work from.

Convalescence & Flickr

Recovering from my recent op, I'm confined to a chair most of the day but have thankfully unearthed a decrepit old laptop. Its super-slow so not a hope in hell of running any design software but it means I can connect to the internet and I've been spending a lot time on flickr.

I mentioned before I've been doing a photography evening course and learning how to get the best from my digital SLR. I am finding that Flickr is really effective as a platform to display my photos and gain inspiration from others, and its nice to open into dialogue and be connected to a community other than facebook while I'm feeling so separated from the world.

While I chuck all my event, friends & family snaps on Facebook to share with my pals, I'm using flickr more as a gallery for my more considered photography. Alongside photo sets of my travels and college projects, I've just decided to create a set of images I captured in the days before DSLR, or even digital, and above is the first...

Look After Your Insides

I'm having a laparoscopic cholecystectomy today. Or in laymens terms, gallbladder surgery. I'm less concerned about the operation itself, rather the recovery and how long I'm going to be missing work. I'm hoping somone will buy me this Howies tee to help me feel better...

Portraiture Project

Every week on my photography course we are set specific projects. This week it was posing people for portraiture. We were set this assignment last term too and I found it one of the most difficult as its much harder than it looks to capture people in a relaxed, natural pose when they feel anything other than that. Here are my efforts on a weekend mountain bike ride with a very long suffering Mr. Phirefly...

Character Pyjamas at Dunnes

These are the first intake of a range of character nightwear for new client, Dunnes. I design these via an intermediate supplier. Being a new account of theirs, this was tricky as the buyer was cautious about working with a new supplier, but is apparently they're very pleased with the results and will be looking to book again. I like working on these value ranges as there are no pretensions, there's no question the product is anything other than a fun, well priced item.

The supremely important business of selecting kitchen wallpaper

We're updating our kitchen and while I really ought to be pricing up appliances and sourcing suppliers for the worktop, I'm more interested in choosing the wallpaper and have settled on this beauty, 'Tick Tock' from Mini Moderns:

New Graphic T in store at New Look

Here's one of my designs currently on sale at New Look. I'm really pleased with how its turned out as it has managed to stay true to the original design throughout the production process in spite of the delicate nature of the design.

Lost My Dog 5th Anniversary Album Sneak Preview

Here's the artwork draft I have done for the forthcoming release on Lost My Dog Records