Wheely geese!

I can't think why, but  I have never made geese on wheels before

 I might make one or two just for me, as these will be rolling off somewhere. Honk!

 

A secret revealed

At last I can let out my breath; I have finally received my advance copies of the most exciting job I have ever worked on. And work it certainly was. Blog followers who've had the patience to stick around this quiet place might remember that I spent the first half of last year working on *stuff* which rendered me an exhausted hermit. And here is the first fruit.

'Mrs Mouse's Cupcakes ' April 2011 available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk

Yes. My needle felt toys now have their own little world, 'Puddletown Tales', published by Templar UK. It has been over two years in the making; one year of waiting to hear if the books were going ahead, six months of creating them and then a long, slow wait for the first copies to arrive this week. Regular readers may recognise the mouse on the front, a bit altered from the original.

Dear Andy has looked after me for nearly twenty years. We aren't married, but we have stuck to each other like glue and he has been there for me all the time, solid as a tall oak tree. It hasn't always been easy, especially during the ten years when it seemed as if I would never get a break. Without his support, this book may not have happened. So this first *all me* book is dedicated to him. There is also a beautiful introduction composed by Hannah Wilson the editor.




Friends will know I adore silhouettes. They aren't terribly commercial, but Janie the designer (who shares my love) squeezed one in as the Puddletown logo - naturally, a goose. Although this first book has no geese in, long time readers will know that I have a 'thing' about needle felt geese and they star in the next title.




The first spread is flat. Every penny counts in book production and we had to choose between having the multi-layered cover (expensive) or five pop up spreads. So one pop-up scene was sacrificed to pay for the simply gorgeously produced cover.



Quite often I unconsciously drew on familiar home surroundings to create Mrs Mouse's little home.




The actual book design was put together by my friend and designer Janie. All the artworks were done as spots or separate layers and the needle felt characters photographed in-house at Templar by William Steele. I did enjoy making the cupcakes!




Thankfully in these days of Photoshop and digital magic, single items can be manipulated and reproduced, saving a lot of work.




I was allowed to more or less indulge myself to my heart's content, which (as my fellow professional illustrators will know) is quite a rare and wonderful thing. The cake which Kitty Blue is pulling is just one example.




And of course, there had to be toadstools of some kind, illustrated and needle felted. ( am a very keen mushroom spotter and sometime gatherer).




There are a few little 'in-jokes' in the final spread.




For instance, this little picture of trees by moonlight...





...is *rather* similar to one we have hanging on a beam in our own tiny cottage.




It's a photo of a mixed media/textile illustration I made an awfully long time ago at college in 1993.





On this side you can see a grandfather clock which has a tiny wooden mouse on one side, referencing one of my favourite furniture makers, Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson.




And to end with (you will be relieved to hear) a cheeky nod to my own Red Flannel Elephant Designs logo, which anyone who has bought my cards or toys will recognise.

Thirty one years ago, a sad, angry and very alone twelve year old orphan stood under a favourite tree. Her parents had died, one after the other, in the space of a few months - her mother had passed away at Christmas. Now she was off to a strange new foster home - God help her, she didn't know then that it was to be as unkind as it was.

She stood under that tree, looked at the sky and whispered 'I will become an artist for you Dad and a writer for you Mum'. She swallowed the many tears that she couldn't bring herself to shed and walked off to her new - and very uncertain - future. Well Mum, Dad - it took three decades, but I finally got there. For you. With cupcakes.

Toy collection

It's funny how a picture can look really wrong, until the final cropping is done. Bearing in mind that I will be making these artworks up into cards, I added a big extra wodge for the scans - which got cut off when the time came to frame up. When the magic circle mount was added and it made compositional sense.

'Sea Horse with Button Moon'

As I was getting near deadline, I revisited a favourite theme - 'We Three Kings' - rooster style. This is the first version from 2004 -

The second version from 2006 -





And the third version for the Green Gallery, 2008 -



Rounding off the batch of toy sculptures - Sherbettina -





- and the 'blob' who turned into Bonbon the rabbit -

Last Friday was D-Day; most of it spent scanning all artworks for my records and future usage, as well as taking a thousand photos of the animals. Before I packed the paintings up, I couldn't resist seeing how they all looked together...

Then I emptied my toy shelf -

(all except poor Minxie, who is on her own again)

- to see how it all worked as a package. And was rather pleased. After years of hard work, I finally feel as if I have created my own identity. I am a toy artist. Which is where I always wanted to be.

Yes, there are only five toys here - I was a little late with the final one, and poor Tommy was hastily needled over the weekend.

Hey! What about me???

With some relief I sent the toys off, on Monday last. And celebrated my new status of No Deadlines by getting the cottage straight - girl's got to relax somehow! And while I would love to put my feet up and do a bit of reading, I find myself back to full steam, planning new lines of needle felt bits and bobs and finally indulging in a little dream I had a loooooong time ago...

A pair of chaps

Funny how deadlines creep up on you...the next few days are going to be intense (er) . I am five toys down and on my last painting.




Mr Lavender was the first piece I made for the Green Gallery order. I think he is a retired actor, now living in genteel poverty, but who still has a way with the ladies.




Pippin was a bit of a tricky one, black is an absolute bugger to work with, if you'll pardon my language - it seems to pick up more stray (non-black) bits than white. I am not over fond of penguins myself, and Pippin has a calculating look in his beady glass eye...but I am going to make more, as I know that there are penguin lovers out there.




Although his flippers are quite cute and as they are jointed with strong waxed cotton, he can march all the way to whatever Pole penguins come from...I always forget.




I am now going to disappear for a few days and get my act together. Quick march!