Inspiration

 

Transferring my prints into designs and then integrating them into our lifestyle transforms our everyday experiences.  We spend a lot of time inside our home  - especially during the winter, when it is very dark and cold in Scotland.  It is important for our wellbeing that our inside environment is colourful and welcoming.

 

 

Upcyling - We bought an old house and have done it up on a budget, including upcyling second-hand furniture. We moved from a tiny flat to our current house, which dates from 1890.  It has large rooms and tall ceilings, and the furniture from our flat looked like it was from a doll's house!  We had to buy furniture which fits its scale - and this we got from neighbours who were moving on, and local thrift stores.  It has been a treat to take these pieces of second-hand furniture and give them new life using my fabric and wallpaper designs. Here you can see an old tuck chest completely transformed using my train tracks fabric; and an old IKEA cabinet brightened using pink paint and my hummingbird design printed up as wallpaper.  Upcycling old lampshades is also an easy way to bring design into a room.  I used the rings of an old lampshade which fell apart and recovered it using my blue tit fabric.

 

 

Utility Items - I love to use my designs to sew into utility items. The task of ironing a pile of washing is made slightly more bearable when using my poppy adorned ironing board. This clothes peg bag brings a smile to my face as I hang the washing. This duckling nappy mat was easy to stuff in a bag when on the go when my daughter was a baby.

 

 

Artwork in the Livingspace - Of course, the other way to bring my prints into our life is to hang them as pieces of art!  Some of the prints I produce are bold and dramatic, and they can be used as a focal, statement piece of artwork in a living space. Here, you can see the two triptychs of poppies which adorn our kitchen wall. They fit well in this period room which has been done up in a modern style. My linocuts also have a foot in both old and new - they are produced in a traditional manner using heritage equipment, but to create a fresh, colourful look.  It is not just my art we have hanging in the house, we have the artwork of many different artists.  To accommodate this we have walls which are a single, light colour, and the pictures bring life and joy to the room.