A little of what we've been up to :-)

We've been feeling really productive lately and have been working on all sorts of new ideas.  I'm so enjoying the lighter evenings and being able to get outdoors in warmer weather.  I love all seasons and try to see the beauty in each of them but there's something really lovely about Spring and everything it promises :-)  We are so lucky in the UK; we get to experience such vastly different weather - and temperatures!  And you have to love the way the good old British public flock to the beach or dig out the flip-flops the moment we get an inkling of warmth!  Even we couldn't help ourselves ;-)

Ok...it was a bit chilly...but lovely to feet the sand between our toes :-)

Little feet at the beach :-)

Our priority recently has been trying to find a supplier to get some of our paintings produced as prints.  This has not been an easy task and has taken so much longer than we were expecting!  We've had many, many samples on all sorts of paper, from various printers.  We even tried printing our own but we weren't 100% happy and we can't send anything out we wouldn't love for ourselves :-)

But then these arrived:

Our first glimpse of the prints on unwrapping them!

And we were so pleased!  We chose to have the paintings replicated using gicleé printing, which is a really high quality method on thick artist paper. The feedback we've had so far from customers has been wonderful and in particular the comments have mentioned the detail and how close to the original it looks.

This is one of Mum's creations and just look at the detail!  You can see every piece of fabric, just lovely :-)

I can't wait to get cracking on some more mixed media pieces that we can add to our collection :-)

We've also been working hard on blocks.  We've been making the blocks for a while now - we sourced a very particular type of wood that we felt fitted perfectly with our rustic style.  We cut every piece ourselves before sanding and then starting each design.  Sometimes we have some words in mind and the design just comes to us or sometimes things are half started until we know what we want to do.  I loved working on this one which is currently available to order in our Etsy shop.

I had in mind a child's bedroom.....I love the phrase for children......encouraging them to open their minds; expand their horizons; dream a little :-)  

The blocks are always fun to photograph and we like to try to capture as many different angles as possible to give a sense of the character of the wood and the depth of each piece.  

We found a gorgeous new light blue floral fabric which we've not yet found time to do much with but I did manage to use it for the sea here.  And we do love our bunting :-)  It's just so much fun and why not put it on a boat too?!

Here's a few other recent blocks which you'll also find available to purchase in our shop:

So much inspiration all around us at the moment.  I'm wanting to do everything and having to remember that every small step is an achievement......there's no rush......and time for everything :-)

Gemma xx