Artwork

Bucks open studios…

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I’ve lived in Maidenhead for a long time but never taken any notice of the yellow signs you see around this time of year saying ‘Bucks open studios‘. This year a friend asked if I’d like to go and visit some of the homes and studios of local artists. I’m so glad I did! You just don’t know what’s on your doorstep. Firstly, lots of very talented people and beautiful art, and secondly any excuse to explore and see some amazing, very English houses, gardens and countryside. It’s also an opportunity, if you’re lucky enough, to meet the artists themselves and see where and how they work.

And so followed a lot of driving around Buckinghamshire, as far as Wendover (with a few wrong turns along the way, and lots of chatting (which probably contributed to the wrong turns!) Here are just a few of  the artists whose work caught my eye.

Susan Anderson at The Orchards Studio Group in Great Missenden – I really like the simplicity of her black and white prints.

Susan Anderson print

Angela Fielder at Bledlow Ridge – truly amazing watercolour paintings, I was so inspired. I’ve always thought I didn’t like watercolour very much but just flicking through her small sketch books was such a treat. I’m going to have a go myself soon, but have to remember as she said, it takes years of practice to get as good as this!

Angela Fielder

Amanda Curbishley at the Chilterns MS Centre – I loved her painting of seaside villages in Cornwall, the effects on the water are stunning.

Amanda Curbishley

And finally, just a couple of miles from my house, Juliette Palmer RBA in Cookham. Wow, what a prolific artist! Worth the visit to see inside her house which is filled to the brim with paintings and sketches from when she worked as an art teacher in the 1950’s and then as a children’s book illustrator in the sixties and seventies. My favourite pieces though were her simple ink sketches. Unfortunately I can’t find any images of them on-line so here’s one of her paintings depicting a street in Tunisia.

Juliette Palmer

So we barely skimmed the surface really but it was well worth it and I came away wanting to draw and paint lots more. Don’t worry, you still have five days to go and explore, look out for those yellow signs, don’t ignore them!…

Artwork

Happy father’s day!

Julie Gardner

Last week I was asked to draw a picture of a 1971 VW Karmann Ghia car for a father’s day present. It’s a beautiful classic car and I thought it would look best if I drew it in ink first and then coloured it in PhotoShop. So this is the first drawing I have officially done this for a client – giclee printed onto 310gsm Hahnemuhle German etching paper. I think it came out really well; much more interesting than a line drawing and really fun to do.

Hopefully it’s the first of many commissions, but don’t ask me to draw your pets or family members, inanimate objects only please! Happy father’s day to all the dads out there!

gilhoolie car drawing commission

Lampshades

Go with your gut Julie!…

Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Sometimes I think far too much about what I’m doing, especially when I’m designing and I wish I could just get on and ‘do’ more. I had a lovely day yesterday with Angela from Cocoon Home, trawling fabric and trim shops across London (literally, I slept well last night, it felt like we covered the whole of London, by foot!) So today I decided to get on and make a lampshade from some fabric I’ve had sitting around for ages. I bought this Liberty print to make a hand-stitched lampshade originally but it’s a bit too thin on it’s own so I decided to line a drum one instead. Now, the yellow is very bright; much brighter than I thought it would be when I bought it on-line (another good reason to go up to London more, much better to see and touch for yourself) but… it looks really striking with the subtle floral print on the outside and I’m really pleased with it.

So it’s good to get out and about with someone who knows where they’re going and we found some brilliant shops and some that weren’t so inspiring (but useful for any size and colour zip!) I even managed to buy some lovely braid at a bargain price for an empire lampshade I’m making, more on that another day… Thanks Angela, it was a real treat! Let’s leave time for cocktails too next time!

Delicate floral outside
Striking yellow inside
Lampshades

Billions of bilious barbecued blue blistering barnacles!

Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Just had a bit of a chuckle to myself looking at some of Captain Haddock’s insults and exclamations from Tintin (I don’t usually spend my spare time doing that, maybe I should, I was just looking for an interesting title for this blog post!)

Well, this is a Tintin lampshade I made yesterday for a client. I haven’t read the pages I chose to check for any Captain Haddock insults, maybe I should! I hope the seven year old boy / “young monkey!” / “whippersnapper!” / “Fuzzy wuzzy!” I made it for likes it as much as I do. More quotes available if you want a giggle at Tintinologist.org…

Tintin lampshade
Artwork · Creative Courses · Sewing projects

Something new…

Julie Gardner

Okay, last night, unlike most nights when I go to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, I really struggled to switch off. My head was buzzing. Firstly, because I just watched the brilliant Great British Sewing Bee – and then promptly booked myself on a course led by Tilly Walnes from tilly and the buttons (who was on the show). It’s in June and is being held at Lauren Ghani’s new shop in Birmingham – guthrie and ghani, which opens on Saturday 27th April. Usually I have to think about these things for a bit but I decided to give it a go; I need a new challenge and making my own clothes will definitely be that!

Secondly, I took a look at guthrie and ghani’s fabrics (dangerous!) and decided to order some Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy fabric. Not for dressmaking, but for some big lampshades (what else?!)

And thirdly, after my attempt to get back into drawing yesterday, I had a very strong urge to draw flowers today and was dying to get on with it. Not any old flowers either, foxgloves, don’t ask me why, I think I like the shape of them. It’s a shame there aren’t any around right now, so I had to go by photos on the web but it was fun to draw something that isn’t in my kitchen for once.

So a day for being bold today, and going for it, learning something new, not bad eh?!

wot no teapots?!
Artwork

Let’s get creative…

Julie Gardner1 Comment

I would love to say I do lots of creative activities with my kids in the school holidays but…. well, I don’t know about anyone else, I just find it hard to be creative when there is any kind of chaos around. I did have a go at portrait drawing with my youngest over Easter which was fun, but put it this way, I won’t be showing anyone my efforts any time soon!

So today, when the not-so-little loves are back at school, I thought I would have a go at putting pencil to paper again, it’s been too long! I really like drawing, but I have always struggled with finding things that I want to draw (hence all the teapots!)

But hey, this one’s a Poole chocolate pot I bought from an antique shop a while ago, another one to add to my collection of retro teapots and teacups!

Anyone for hot chocolate?

I also thought I’d add some drawings I did a couple of months ago, for a company called Simply Sewing. Louise wanted to update her website and Facebook page and asked me to come up with some drawings that might work.

My first idea was an embroidery hoop, but as Louise is very talented and makes gorgeous curtains, blinds and soft furnishings it wasn’t really suitable (although I liked the end result!)

One of my first attempts

So we decided a curtain heading would be more appropriate:

Simply Sewing curtain heading

I also helped Louise with her new logo and now her Simply Sewing website has a fresh new feel. It was great fun to be involved; although it made me realise how difficult it can be to come up with something that’s so personal to someone and I really need to work on my PhotoShop skills a bit more!

Logo to match

So it is brilliant to be creative again, maybe I’ll do some more tomorrow… what to draw though?….

Lampshades

My Nan’s thimble…

Julie Gardner2 Comments

When I first learnt how to make hand-stitched lampshades I was told, “You really should use a thimble – and one day you’ll wonder how you managed without one”. Well, I found them really uncomfortable at first; they made sewing feel really awkward. But now I fret if I can’t find my Nan’s old thimble that was in her sewing box I inherited years ago. It fits perfectly and really saves my fingers from all those nasty pins!

This week I have finally had a go at making paneled hand-stitched lampshades. There are two ways of making them – 1. Cutting fabric to fit the panels and then stitching them together on the sewing machine (on the left in the photo), and 2. Sewing the panels to the frame directly by hand and then neatening off the joins with some kind of braid. Both work really well, but made me realise how important it is to choose the pattern for your panel and fabrics that compliment each other nicely. The second method is definitely more time consuming, but okay if you want something to do while watching TV in the evening. Both involve a lot of pins, thank goodness for my Nan’s thimble eh?!

2 paneled lampshades
Lampshades

It’s cold outside…

Julie Gardner2 Comments

In fact it’s so horrible and cold I haven’t been out all day (which is very unlike me!) Ah well, at least this spell of hibernation means I have finally started stitching a lampshade I’ve been meaning to make for ages. I bought the fabric a few months ago and have just ordered some bright red velvet trim to put on the top and bottom. This one’s supposed to be for a collection of three big empire lampshades and floor bases that will be for sale on my website. The problem is I always make things I really like so it’s hard to let them go! The plan is to finish this before the Easter holidays and as this cold spell is set to last I’d say for once I will get it done on time! Back to my cuppa and sewing and the radio… 🙂

grey stitching and ribbon
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Just a normal gilhoolie day…

Julie Gardner2 Comments

I haven’t written on here lately about what I’ve done on a normal gilhoolie day so I thought I would now when I feel like it. Once the boys were in school and I’d been for a swim, (that’s not usual, I only go once a week!) I started by answering a few emails, then I wrapped up a couple of house portraits I drew this week, ready for posting.

Next, I had fun with lampshade PVC, scissors, a ruler and a hairdryer! I have a large square lampshade to recover and I thought I’d have a practice at scoring the PVC before I tackle the real thing (the hairdryer warms the PVC slightly to make it more malleable, you have to be careful not to snap the PVC completely, I learnt!)

Here are the lampshades before (a tapered drum one too):

Before

I’ll post photos when they’re all ready at a later date.

Then I sent off an email to Moo – I buy my business cards from them and they’re looking for people who use their products a bit differently. I always tie one of my gilhoolie business cards to lampshades with a matching ribbon so I thought it was worth a shot.

gilhoolie Moo business card

Finally, before I whiz off on the school run, I sanded down my lamp base I bought a while ago – I’m going to paint it this week, so here it is before, looking very shabby (except for the lampshade of course!)

Before

It’s been a very satisfying day, lots done, must whiz now though!

PS Hope you like the shots in our newly decorated dining room, still curtains to do so I’ll show you properly soon!

gilhoolie loves...

gilhoolie loves… grey and yellow

Julie Gardner6 Comments

I’ve been looking for inspiration for adding a bit of colour to my newly decorated grey dining room and, although I don’t usually like the colour yellow much I REALLY like it combined with grey. So here are a few of my finds, some for interiors, others for me, well, I had to include a bag and some jewellery didn’t I?!

The question is, am I brave enough to go for bright yellow dining chairs?! Hmmm…

(You can get to all the links for these via my Pinterest page).