Our summer has come to an end with a week in the Lake District. It's a place that is very special to me; having spent a week in Coniston every year throughout my childhood. I love the smell of bracken, wet moss, and the sound of running water.  There wasn't that much time for drawing (as we were either climbing or cycling), but I managed to squeeze in a couple of quick sketches. I'm particularly interested in the slate cottages that cling to the edge of the fells and the colours and textures of the landscape.

As a result of a previous trip to the Lakes, I developed a series of fabric designs based on fern leaves.  The pattern was applied with hand cut foam pieces, which I covered with Farrow and Ball paint before pressing onto the fabric. In this way, I printed soft furnishings for our house and learned how to cover lampshades. I've come back from this holiday with lots more ideas for patterns, but no time to print them! 

A selection of my original collages are now on sale at the Hybrid Gallery, Honiton, Devon. http://www.hybrid-devon.co.uk 
Hybrid will also be taking my work to the Bristol and Battersea Affordable Art Fairs in September and October. Do not hesitate to contact either myself or Tim and Jacqueline at Hybrid if you would like further information!

This week I have been getting very excited about laser cutting again! Having collaged a new image of Bristol docks onto plywood, I cut it out with a laser cutting machine. The sky is designed to be dropped behind the top row of houses.

I am really excited about the possibility of working on multiple layers, so that the collage becomes more three dimensional. This piece of work will be framed in a box frame and exhibited by Hybrid Gallery at the Bristol Affordable Art Fair in September.

I have just returned form a family camping trip to The lizard,Cornwall. The fishing village of Coverack is one of my favourite places and I managed to find time for a quick sketch whilst my children were off paddling.

The water in the harbour was an amazing clear green... totally beautiful. I really didn't want to leave!

My husband Rob is a Hot Air Balloon pilot and every two years we travel to France for the International Mondial Hot Air Balloon Festival, which takes place in Lorraine (an area of north west France famous for it's quiche). The peace of this beautiful landscape of tiny villages, rolling wheat fields, wooded hills, plum and cherry orchards is shattered by the arrival of over 400 hot air balloon teams. My job is to chase our balloon across the French countryside in a recovery vehicle and trailer. It's a great way to explore the area. This year we took part in a mass launch and broke the world record for the most balloons taking off at one time (433 to be precise). It was an amazing spectacle.

Balloonists have to get up at 4am so that they can fly before the sun warms the ground and causes thermals. By 10am the balloon is usually recovered and packed away ready for the evening flight at 7pm. This leaves a window of opportunity for sketching in the middle of the day. 

Above is a sketch made at the village of Hattonchatel, perched on a hilltop surrounded by fruit orchards and boasting a grand chateau. The village well stands in front of a covered arcade which looks to be a good few hundred years old judging by the old timbers holding up it's roof.

I had a great time taking photos of interesting textures, which I will get printed and use as a valuable source of collaging material. There was a wealth of rusty, crumbling surfaces and peeling paint for me to collect!

Our French campsite was far less romantic and boasted some caravans that had definitely seen better days! The one next to our tent was covered in faded stickers and surrounded by garden gnomes.

I really love this part of France and was very sad to leave. Hopefully we will return in 2017!
You can see more photographs from this trip on my intagram page.