Reveal Festival, Swanning around.....

Reveal Festival, Swanning around!, originally uploaded by Helen Rawlinson.

I've just had an idyllic day by the canal on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in London. Friends invited us to come along and help more friends to feather a giant swan!
It's all part of the REVEAL Festival which happens next weekend, all around the King's Cross area. We were helping Helen Maurer and Sophie Charalambous with their grand plan to illuminate the narrow boats of the St Pancras Cruising club.
I even had a go at wicker work, adding some shoulders to a giant lady figurehead, soon to become festooned in lights. All very therapeutic and fun.
Stanley was in big kid heaven and his dad was happy to do look out patrol. Tea, cake, ginger beer and beer!
A fantastic, unexpected day out. London at its best!

Find out more about the Festival here

Starts April 22 and runs to May 02

More pics of the day on Flickr

...... and if you really want to know what the feathers are? A: bags and bags of bin liners! Well it is going on to another Festival after this one, so they will have more than one life at least! There was talk of a re run of Craft Night Tuesdays at the Club House, so they may well end up as something else too.

Studio Clear out!

No, I'm not leaving..... just having a clear out. It's Spring, so it's time for a change. I've had quite a few big shades hanging around in my studio and once the wrappers are off they get the title 'ex display'. So hop over to my shop and grab a bargain. More to come when I get a chance.

New Tops for My Boy

I've got a bad cold at the minute, so I'm staying in and feeling sorry for myself. Just going through some of my photos and thought I'd put these up as I never got round to posting them.
First top is using my shapes and things fabric, bonded and sewn to an American Apparel Tee. Second was a bit of recycling from an old top I love but has got too small and mucky. So I chopped it up and added a few shapes onto another plain tee. All happily received by Stanley!
BTW: The dogs in the blue top picture are a painting by my friend Dennis.

Boden Bunny and The Great Easter Egg Hunt

boden catalogue and puppets, originally uploaded by Helen Rawlinson.

A bit of fun with Boden!
Other Materials: Cardboard/Cereal Boxes for backing, paper, scissors, gluestick, pen and coloured pencils, tons of sticky tape, lollipop sticks and much patience.
Things learned. Bribery works a treat on boys not much into arty stuff. 'You can use the camera and make a video?'
Cutting out things in advance speeds up the process so boredom doesn't set in after 60 seconds.
OK so he won't draw, but will give suggestions as to how the puppets should look....arms up, down, out to side..... all with good actions thrown in.
Use letters from boxes to create names and write on the backs so we remember.
Get a small friend round next time, preferably a girl, so you're not left on your own finishing it all off.
Lots of storytelling about Stanley, Ernie, Rabbit and Ellie getting on a bus and going to the seaside to hunt for eggs, all on video of course!

Get the full episode on Flickr

Photo Shoot...Lamp(s)

The big one's not for sale.

New Cushions

I had a frantic make before the weekend as I was seeing the family and have promised my sister in law some cushions. So here they are and off they went!
I'm listing as 'made to order' in my Etsy shop for now.
The Wonki Hugs character came from one of the Of Cabbages and Kings Markets last year. I'll dig around to find the name.

Juicy Delights!

I'll be popping these organic mix packs in my shop very soon! You can see the whole set on Flickr

The Gallery Meme: Me

Well this was a tough one so I'll get straight in there:
This picture is Me all over: messy, untidy, disorganised chaos. My studio at it's unfinest.
The working lady....
and then there's Me and Stanley
Having a bit of fun...My crazy lovely boy! Me the Mum.

This was our first joint face painting experience. Getting him to paint my face was a bit of a break through as he's not much into painting and drawing and we had such a laugh.

I hate pictures of myself, so this is a rare posting. I've decided that you may hate them at the time, but looking at them a few years down the line, those small lines and wrinkles don't look so bad! Needless to say, this was me just yesterday, so it's still a bit raw!

Thanks again to Sticky Fingers for setting the task. Of course I've got nothing better to do!

Just a bit of detail:
Face Paints from Early Learning Centre and were a bit rubbish, must look what I'm actually buying and not get Princess colours next time.
Earrings were a great find from Blueberry Park. Karen also has a very cheerful blog here.
Zippy top from my super friend Kate over at Moozlehome Now a teepee queen!
Finally, the gorgeous and accidentally in focus painting is by my old friend Damian O'Brien, who I haven't seen for years and it's about time I did. I can't find him on the web so I'll have to trawl my emails.

See... it's not ALL about me really!

Rachael Howard / Home

Rae and I go way way back to our RCA days and a short stint in India of working and traveling together. I've always loved her work and she was the one that got me filling sketch books on my journeys abroad and not being afraid of messing them up! Now living in West Kirby, I miss my big mate and all her kids, but we do get to spend a bit of quality time together now and then and I know she misses the London life a little too! Having said that, their home is really beginning to look like their own after much renovation work. It is, well, just huge and fab with a fairy tale park at the end of the road and the Marine Lake is just a few steps further. So it's not all bad getting away from London and we'll definitely be visiting again!
Here's just a few pics of her super white space and a bit beyond. Rae had an 'open house' exhibition not long ago, so all her work was still up to enjoy.......

Bobby Dazzlers on the bedroom doors. The mad raggy doll was a Broadway Market find

Teddies sent from London!

Stanley did a spot of picture taking too!
Paintings and work by others are dotted about the house too, love this one by Nicky Bone. Nice to see one of my old collages on the wall, we've done some great swaps over the years.New pencils for the boys!

Bye Bye Liverpool, see you soon!

Rachael's website is home to the Tie Collection and features some funny shots of family and friends. She's just set up an online shop here with more to come I'm sure. Love it all! x

Print Session

I've had a couple of days printing this week. Some designs I've been meaning to get on fabric for a while, whilst new designs are in the pipeline. Sunset Strip, Moroccan tile and Spot. Love the bright red and sage together. The lilac is a new hue. All on organic unbleached cotton at last! I'll be adding to my Etsy shop soon.