Artwork

On a mission…

May 12, 2017February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

What a busy week. My mind has been buzzing with ideas for next month’s Art on the Street so I spent the day yesterday working on that. Mostly looking at old house pictures I’ve drawn and playing around with Photoshop, great fun. I’ve realised I need to be structured with my time, so Thursdays are my day for art stuff and nothing else. It really works. I also feel like I achieved a lot this week – I managed to book a summer holiday (what a relief!), squeezed in lots of exercise and even did a bit of gardening.

This week I thought I’d share with you some drawing commissions from last month. They were in the same order but very different – one of an old land rover and one of a very nice big house in the countryside in Herefordshire.

The land rover was drawn in ink, then coloured in Photoshop and giclee printed on lovely textured paper. I found a lady in Maidenhead who does art prints from her house very near me which is great and saves lots on postage. So I hope to do more of this in the future. That’s the plan. Drawing the car was a bit of a challenge as the real one is in pieces at the moment, thank goodness for Google!!

I drew an old Volkswagen car a while ago with the same kind of effect – see it below.

The house was just drawn in ink, then cut out and stuck to a patterned sky background. Not such a clean finish but I think people like them for that reason.

Here they are together, in their mounts, ready to be wrapped in tissue paper.

Get in touch if you’d like to order a house (or car!) drawing commission, or come and see me on Saturday 17th June at Art on the Street in Maidenhead, not long now…

gilhoolie gets out

Back on the road…

May 5, 2017February 16, 2025 Julie Gardner1 Comment

Right, no messing, it’s time to get this blog back on the road. Just one of the things I’m trying to get back into at the moment. The other is drawing regularly – I’ve started drawing everyday items around the house in a small sketchbook, just to get back into practicing. I’m enjoying it but quickly running out of things to draw! (Have to keep telling myself, it’s not what you draw, it’s just the act of drawing…)

So what am I up to these days?

I’m still working part time but have just reduced my hours so I now have more time to get back to being creative which is great, I know I’m incredibly lucky. And I know I have to seize this opportunity because of that. So I am going to.

I’m still making lampshades, although I don’t shout about it much (I should though!) I make them for a couple of local interior designers and for a curtain company too. I still love them and I still get a thrill when I’m given a beautiful piece of fabric to make into a lampshade. The bit when you roll the rings along and make it into a cylinder is the best! Only fellow lampshade makers will get this.

I still teach lampshade workshops occasionally, the last one to my hairdresser and her mum which was great fun. Still with homemade cake and a cup of tea, of course.

Plus there’s the drawing – I’m not the kind of person who has to draw all the time, but when I do draw, I escape from all thoughts, it’s a kind of meditation for me. And I love it when I can sit back and look at a drawing I’m pleased with and say “I did that”. I’m still drawn to old houses in a big way. I walk every Friday morning with a walking group and I never know where I’m going or where I’ve been, I’m always far too busy looking at the houses and countryside.

I still take orders for drawing commissions and recently drew a house and a land rover for someone – I’ll show you pictures soon but they’re presents so I like to leave it for a bit first.

Because I have suddenly found myself with more time on my hands I have signed up to do Art on the Street in Maidenhead on Saturday, 17th June. Not long to get some art work together but I like a deadline.

I also plan to get into London a lot more. It’s so close to where I live and it’s great for inspiration.

Last week I visited the Fashion and Textile Museum on Bermondsey Street, SE1. Followed by a walk through Borough Market (yum!) and a quick visit to Tate Modern before hopping on the train back home. The museum was amazing, we just managed to catch an exhibition on the designer and artist Josef Frank – have a look at their website but unfortunately it’s only on for a couple more days. I wasn’t really prepared for writing a blog post on it but I will be next time! This is what the museum says:

Explore the work of designer and artist Josef Frank (1885-1967) in the first-ever UK exhibition of his textiles. The Austrian-born architect moved to Sweden in 1933, where he developed his colourful brand of modernism, working with Estrid Ericson on furniture, glassware, lighting and interior design ideas. Together they redefined what is regarded as Swedish Modern. This exhibition in association with Millesgården, Stockholm highlights Frank’s vibrant fabric designs for Svenskt Tenn alongside a number of his previously unknown watercolours.

It was so great to see his watercolour paintings of the textile design repeats next to the fabrics themselves, I loved it. I only took a few photos so have just searched for some images on the web (NB these aren’t all in the exhibition but give you a good idea of his style). There were others I didn’t like as much but the jolly colours of these ones appealed to me the most.

So, that’s my first blog post in a LONG time! Sorry about that. But I’m back and will try and find something to write about weekly. See you next Friday! 🙂

Artwork

My favourite local buildings…

May 2, 2016February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I love old buildings, especially the fine details that architects used to incorporate and that are often missing from new builds.

I also love drawing old buildings. So it made sense to set myself a challenge to draw my favourite local ones as a personal drawing project. Something to do in between making lampshades, working part time and being a mum (not much time there then!)

The first one is literally 5 minutes from my house – the Marlow Road Centre – which has been a technical college and hospital during the war and is now a youth and community centre. I have thought about drawing the fine details of this building for a while, so although it was a bit of a challenge it is great to finally see it completed.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead use the building and have asked if they can print my drawing to display on the wall – not bad for my first attempt, very happy!

Marlow Road Youth & Community Centre, Maidenhead

Next is one of my favourite local National Trust properties – Cliveden House in Taplow. We go there lots as a family; I never get tired of looking round the gardens and admiring this impressive house.

This was a bit of a labour of love to draw – 26 windows and countless spindles on the balustrades. My drawing board came in handy for all the straight lines and I’m really happy with the final result after a few hours of fiddling in PhotoShop.

This is the front of the house where there are usually lots of posh cars parked. I decided to put a soft grey outline on this one and the colours are generally much more muted than my first red brick drawing.

So, what next? After choosing two tricky properties I may pick an easier one next time! I haven’t decided yet but I have a feeling it won’t be long before I’m itching to get started on another drawing… let me know if you have any suggestions!

Uncategorized

Lampshade for a London exhibition…

March 4, 2016February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I was contacted last year by a lady who was interested in having a lampshade made from images of record sleeves. I must admit I was a little confused about the concept at first but it all made sense after a bit of a chat. It was to be displayed at an exhibition in London on sound system culture (which I knew nothing about, hence the confusion!)

The Sound System Culture website says:

Sound System Culture is a compact, informative and carefully curated exhibition tucked away in a corner of west London arts venue The Tabernacle. Using photographs, archives and memorabilia, as well as highly detailed narratives, it traces the history and growth of sound system culture in London, from private parties in the 1950s to the modern day Notting Hill Carnival. The travelling exhibition began in Huddersfield, journeying to Bristol and Birmingham before hitting London this month.

Born out of a need for ‘community focus’, these systems acted as vehicles for the excluded Caribbean people to be heard in London. This was achieved through decades of dedication towards sound and communication – these systems were, and still are, the stars, taking precedence over the musicians that play on the decks. These gargantuan speaker set-ups provided the people with music from their homeland in the way that it was meant to be heard.

The exhibition is not just a two-dimensional experience; you can have a go at cueing up a record and feel the sound coming out of the speakers, which must be pretty impressive judging by this amazing photo from the Sound System Culture website:

Mandy from Sound System Culture wanted to display images of the original record sleeves in an interesting way and we agreed that a drum lampshade would look great.

It wasn’t just about making the lampshade for this one though – my first challenge was to fit all the scanned images into one long strip in Photoshop and then get it printed at my local printers. Next I made the long print-out into a drum lampshade and trimmed the top and bottom with white bias binding to neaten.

I really enjoyed making this lampshade for Sound System Culture and hope it looked great displayed on one of their sound systems in the exhibition. You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter (@Stringupdisound).

This photo is from ‘The Cultural Expose’ website:

Here it is in my house, where it looked lovely even if it didn’t quite fit in with my decor:

Artwork

Gotta love a camper van…

February 25, 2016February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I love drawing commissions and this is my second vehicle (see the first one here). You see, it’s not all about houses (although they are my favourite!)

I completed this drawing a couple of months ago but couldn’t post it on here as I didn’t want to ruin the surprise (it was a present for someone who loves their camper van, Jerby!) Ideally I would scan this into the PC and colour it in but this was requested as an ink drawing with the gilhoolie patterned sky background so here it is.

Now I’m starting my own commission(s) – my plan is to draw my favourite buildings in my area. There are so many beautiful old buildings, it could take a while, but if I can complete a handful I’ll be very happy…watch this space (and let me know if you have any suggestions!)

Lampshades

Lampshade challenge…

February 4, 2016February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Lampshade making is not always easy. Mostly because they come in all shapes and sizes; not just the simple, straightforward drum shape. Sometimes a client has an existing lampshade they want recovering and sometimes they just have a frame that they want to see transformed into a beautiful light source.

[Recovering, by the way, isn’t as simple as it sounds – it involves stripping down the lampshade carefully and then using the old PVC panel to cut new PVC and recovering that in new fabric, then remaking the lampshade. It’s a great idea though if you have a lampshade you like the shape of and can’t find a replacement in the shops.]

One of my clients had seen these lampshades in India and managed to find someone to make the frames for her, which then sat in her garage for a while… until she found me 🙂 and asked me to make them into lampshades for the corner walls of her extension. She also had a pair of curtains in a sheer fabric that she wanted to use as they would let through lots of light.

It was a bit of a challenge to make them as I wasn’t sure if they were all identical so had to make each one bespoke. I’m so happy with how they turned out though – sometimes the challenging jobs are the most satisfying when you can sit back and look at what a good job you did!

There were 5 lampshades in total, all measuring 63cm tall – here is a shot of them halfway through making (the one in the middle is finished). I covered the PVC in the client’s curtain fabric first and then attached it to the frame on the curved side only, folding slightly around both edges to give a neat finish.

Below is a photo of 3 of the 5 lampshades all ready for collection by a very happy customer. Hooray!

Artwork

Chuffed…

January 22, 2016February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

That’s how I felt when I met up with a friend of mine last week – Samantha Johnson – who is a very talented Interior Designer with nearly 20 years experience of designing amazing homes. Sam recently moved house to a lovely cottage in Buckinghamshire and asked me to draw it for her so that she could use it for her business materials. Well, I wouldn’t class myself as an ‘artist’ so whenever anyone asks me personally to draw something for them I am over the moon. Big smile inside… I love drawing but really struggle with what to draw so this takes that worry away!

As I drew Sam’s cottage last year sometime I had totally forgotten and assumed it wasn’t good enough to use – so was incredibly chuffed when Sam showed me her new business cards and postcards with my design on the front – cool or what?!

Here they are – in a gorgeous grey with a thin stripe of yellow around the edge of the cards. Since then I have decided that drawing buildings is the way to go for me – I’m always obsessed with every little detail, from brickwork around windows to pretty chimney pots. So I’m starting to put together a collection of drawings of my favourite buildings in Maidenhead and the local area. More on that coming soon…

Artwork

Happy new year!

January 8, 2016February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Well, it’s a new year and I’m feeling good, I hope you are too!

Why am I in a good mood? I’ve been thinking and I put it down to:

A break in the rainy weather (the sun is shining even if it’s cold out there!)
I’m a big fan of starting something new and I love the fresh feeling that a new year brings
I’ve discovered yoga! Well, I’ve been going to yogalates for 6 months or so but I recently signed up to a 30 day yoga bootcamp and am on day 5 now. It’s with ‘Yoga with Adriene’ – who was recommended in an Instagram feed of a Swedish fabric designer I follow. Watch the introduction video on YouTube here. She’s great – young, pretty, relaxed and fun too. Luckily, I have a part of the day when I’m kind of ‘in limbo’ – kids home from school, too early to cook dinner – so it’s the perfect time to ‘get on the mat’ (if I had one!) for some yoga. I fully intend to make it to the 30 days and am going to treat myself to a mat and a nice yoga outfit at the end – something to look forward to! (It’s the small things you know!) 😉
Finally, I adore my boys but it’s good to get back to some balance in my life after the school holidays – I have totally made the most of my freedom this week (including wandering round the shops yesterday and some serious clothes shopping today, as well as some much needed exercise, cycling to work, oh and the yoga every day of course!)

I don’t really have any new year’s resolutions but there are definitely some things I want to do more of (drawing, having fun, traveling, relaxing and generally doing things that make me happy, including buying new clothes, made a good start on that today, watch out credit card!) Plus some things I want to do a lot less of (stressing about silly things mostly).

So, that’s my start to the year – the kids have been back at school for a week, I’ve been back into work and everything is back to the usual routine which is refreshing for me after 3 weeks of lazing around (which was great too, feeling very chilled now!)

I thought I’d share this drawing I was asked to do last year as a commission for a couple who got married somewhere a bit different – a big teepee! Drawing commissions are my absolute favourite – it’s so nice to be asked to draw something by someone who likes your style (I had previously drawn the client’s house for her). We’ve never met but she found me on the web and trusted me to draw the wedding venue for her friend as a present, no pressure! Anyway, here it is, with my signature patterned sky print. Happy New Year everyone! 🙂

Creative Courses · Lampshades

Lampshade workshops – such fun!

November 26, 2015February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Where does the time go?! Being a busy mum of two, working part time and running a small business means sometimes I tend to neglect my blog and end up writing for others instead of myself – which is all very good but surely I can do both? I know it’s my own fault but there always seems to be something else I need to do, (including the gardening, keeping the house running, shopping, oh and of course coffee and a chat with friends, very important for my sanity!)

I was thinking the other day, “what’s missing from my life right now?” Well, I was actually sitting down with the Headspace meditation app which I have been doing for 18 months or so. (I’d really recommend it – whenever I feel like my head is too busy, which it often is, I get back to Headspace on my phone). The app is great; you just download the ‘pack’ you want to follow and away you go – ten minutes of calm a day, bliss.

The new pack I have just started is called ‘Acceptance’. Basically, I had to think about what, and who I am resisting right now. To be honest, I’m pretty happy with my lot, in fact very happy. So I found it hard to answer this question straight away (well, the whole point is that you don’t answer it straight away, but anyway). The only thing I could think of is that I’m a little frustrated that I’m:

a) not writing enough for my own blog and

b) not drawing or sewing at the moment.

Both are things I really enjoy but have to be in the right frame of mind to do. Since I started working part time a couple of years ago (after 2 years off work, just being creative and doing ‘gilhoolie’ stuff) I do find it hard to fit it all in and these things always seem to come last. I absolutely love my job though so I wouldn’t have it any other way. And here I am, finding time to write (at last), and I have some ideas on what to draw too so I plan to get on with that ASAP. So it is possible! Hoorah! I’m even finishing this off at 8 o’clock at night rather than watching TV 🙂

For this blog post, I thought I’d tell you a bit about the lampshade workshops I run from my house in Maidenhead, Berkshire; in particular the one I ran this time last week, the day before my birthday.

It was with two ladies who had traveled from Milton Keynes and been in touch by email a lot over a period of six months or so. I teach private lessons too but it’s always nice for someone to bring a friend to keep them company and learn a new skill together. It’s fantastic when we come to the end of the 2 hours and they can sit back and compare lampshades over a cuppa.

As soon as I opened the door I knew we were going to get along and have a really fun time. It’s not like working at all and I’ve come a long way since I ran my first lampshade workshop a few years ago.

The beginning…

The workshop starts with a cup of tea or coffee and a chat while I have a look at the fabric they have brought with them and then iron it to make sure it is nice and flat for making into a lampshade. In this case, they had brought some fabric remnants from John Lewis so made identical lampshades but you can bring whatever takes your fancy as long as it isn’t too thick and doesn’t fray too easily.

The middle…

Ironing and introductions made, we crack on with the fun part – making a lampshade. I’m obviously not going to tell you what goes on exactly (you’ll have to book a workshop!) But everyone ends up with a perfect, 30cm drum lampshade for a table lamp or pendant fitting. All with a little help from yours truly – I show them what to do and then hand over – doing it yourself is the best way to learn. Some techniques are more tricky than others but the most satisfying bit is definitely when they roll the rings along the panel and the lampshade starts to take shape. You can see the relief on their faces that they have done it right!

And the end…

We always end with homemade cake (gluten free brownies today, Victoria sandwich with cream and jam last week) and tea or coffee, plus a bit more of a chat about making lampshades of course. I advise on attaching trims, making lampshades using paper, making lined lampshades and answer any questions they may have. They’re always welcome to contact me afterwards too for advice, all part of the service.

So the two ladies last week really enjoyed themselves and went home clutching beautiful handmade lampshades for their homes. One of them wrote a lovely testimonial for my website (before I asked her to!)

“Many thanks for giving us a thoroughly enjoyable time today: making lampshades, eating your scrumptious cake and generally having fun! it was a great pleasure to meet you and spend time in your lovely home.
I am absolutely thrilled to bits with my new lampshade and now feel confident to embark on making more – you gave an excellent course.”

When I close the front door after a workshop I always feel satisfied and incredibly lucky that I get to do what I do.

Now I need to get on and draw – that’s my aim for the next couple of weeks – I mustn’t put it to the bottom of the list of things to do… (must look back at this blog post to remind myself that).

To find out more about drum lampshade workshops click here or contact me for more information and a booking form. I tend to book them when asked so I’m very flexible on dates. Anyone can learn with the right guidance, even those who say they’re no good at using their hands or not creative can make a lampshade on a workshop with gilhoolie!

Artwork

A few logos and some curly pasta…

July 9, 2015February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I didn’t realise how important logos were or really think about them much; until I had a go at designing my own a few years ago. And when a couple of friends were looking for logos for their small businesses I offered to help them out – it’s lovely to have a bit of a project to work on and as I still struggle with deciding what to draw this takes away that decision.

So, first there was my logo – at the top of this page of course.

I wanted it to be clean and simple but a bit quirky and fun too. And to reflect that I draw as well as make lampshades. It was my second attempt and I still really like it. It just goes to show that you need to make sure you are really happy with a logo before you go ahead with it; even if you’re just a small business.

Below is a logo I designed for Louise from Simply Sewing. It was a while ago too but I don’t think I ever shared it on here:

Louise already used the flower shape on her website and Facebook page and just wanted to play with the font and colours as well as add one of my drawings somewhere.

I had a play with some ideas and really liked the one below but we decided as she makes amazing curtains and handmade soft furnishings it didn’t really reflect her skills!

I drew some curtains for Louise too, which are on her website front page:

It’s great to look back at this work and see how I came up with the designs, I really like them and luckily Louise did too…

Next, I worked on some drawings for the menu of the Italian cafe on Furze Platt Road in Maidenhead, Palmieri’s. They make amazing pasta dishes and bread as well as selling scrummy Italian ice-cream. Plus they do a roaring trade from the local mums meeting for coffee.

Here are a few snapshots of the menu with my drawings; the curly pasta is my favourite (and to eat!) I can’t take any credit for the design including colours and font though – that was the very talented Chris Isted at Three Sixty Design.

Last but not least, the most recent project I have worked on, maybe I should’ve shared this first really – designing a logo for a friend who has just qualified in reflexology and set up her own practice in Maidenhead. Hanne wanted the logo to incorporate one of my drawings and had some of her own ideas on how it should look. It took a bit of playing around to fit my foot drawing into the logo but I think it worked out really well in the end and the customer was very happy so that’s what counts! I painted the toes yellow towards the end of the design process and I’m really glad as it really lifts the design.

Hanne is in the process of setting up her website but you can like her Facebook page and book a reflexology treatment here.

That’s it for now… I have managed to complete another machine embroidery picture today, this time of a bird which is a first for me (no teapots in sight!) I’ll share that with you another time, enjoy the sunshine! 🙂