NEOS, Zippi & Prince

Where has the last 11 days gone? They have just flown by!

I failed in my challenge to create a vector image every day for 30 days.....life and technical issues just got in the way :( ...............but I'll give this another try sometime in the future.

Well the big news for this week is I've stepped out of my comfort zone and signed up to do NEOS (North East Open Studios) for 9 days in September. Along with other creatives in the North East of Scotland I will open the doors of my studio to the public and exhibit my work, and hopefully sell and take orders and commissions. I have never done anything like this before so I'm excited yet very apprehensive about it. In the weeks leading up to this event my OH knows his life is going to be hell with me stressing about having everything ready, but he's the one who kept encouraging me to do it so it's his own fault! Oh well you only live once and if I didn't do it this year I would never do it. More about NEOS in the weeks leading up to the event.

I have also been busy researching print on demand companies and now have a portfolio on zippi.co.uk, where my designs can be printed on a variety of items. I like zippi as it is located in the UK.

I ordered myself a mug, a cushion and a bag to see for myself the quality of the prints and products. I am impressed with the results and the speed of delivery. Pop over to my portfolio and see what you could purchase, more designs will be getting added over the coming weeks.

I also have a shop on Redbubble but have still to add my designs, which I will be doing this week so will tell you more about that later.

I was stunned by the sad news that Prince had died this week, another creative genius taken from us too soon. My favourite song was Purple Rain and when I was at college one of my projects was to create an art book about one thing, my one thing was Purple Rain. You can see the book and it's box and read more about it in my portfolio on Behance. 

Here's images of two of the pages, but displayed as posters.

RIP Prince :'(

On a brighter note, the swallows have started to return, just 3 at the moment but more will be arriving soon. Summer is on its way! 

Set myself a challenge

I'm having a FAB time the noo.......lol.... (image rich post further down)

It's been a wee while since my last post, but I'm still here working away. I went through a week of not being able to concentrate and work on anything creative, so stepped away from my computer and had a wee break.  It's still quite cold and wet here but when the weather allowed I was out in the garden trying to tidy up and making the most of the fresh country air. I also enjoyed watching the wild rabbits that seem to have recently appeared, I think my garden might suffer a little this year. The vegetable garden has already been fenced of with rabbit netting, in the hope it protects our veggies,  once I can get them planted from munching rabbits

Another wee visitor to the croft is a feral cat. This little cat and what I think was it's mother had been sheltering in our barn over winter. We hardly ever saw them and they were very timid, but over winter I was putting a little food in the barn for them. We haven't seen the larger of the cats for a long time but the little one is making more appearances and seems to be getting braver. It's still very timid but will sit at a distance and watch me and my dogs. The dogs don't bother about it, just like they don't bother about the rabbits hopping around, they are far too busy playing with their ball and watching the horses in the field around the croft.

Anyway this is turning into a longer post than I had planned..... so let me speed this up lol......

I needed that creative break from my computer as I ended up doodling, sketching and making notes of ideas that started to pop into my head....one idea can lead to another and then another..... not all these ideas will get developed into design or art.

To start with I have set myself a challenge to use Adobe Illustrator to create a little vector image every day for 30 days.....I love a challenge lol ........... 6 days in and I am totally benefiting and enjoying  this little creative challenge...............but will I be able to keep it up for 30 days? 

Heres the images I have created so far, which I have posted to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook everyday and have been getting some very good responses.

My favourites at the moment are the teacup and the cheeky monkey. Some of these little vector images might never been seen again, others may appear as part of a larger design and others may be developed more.

Which one is your favourite?
Do you have any suggestions of other little vectors I could create?

Till next time bye :)