Just a quick in and around for those who haven't set foot over the threshold.
The first thing you see as you enter the 'Studio' is the Edwardian screen - rescued many years ago from a skip, by my father, and relatively recently re-covered in my 'Memphis Shire - Aztec' fabric design - it hides an oak gramophone cabinet filled to the gills with sketchbooks.
Moving into what used to be the guest bedroom, visitors now have to sleep on the handsomely restored 30's sofa in our living room, don't worry it has been upgraded to a sofa bed. I digress... as we step into the 'Studio' we see the twenties bookcase full of 'Arty Farty' reference books, a Pantone colour book and almost completely defunct GW type scale - I used to do a modicum of graphics too. Oh, and for purely inspirational purposes... a fifties snow globe I bought from the Save the Children shop where I am a volunteer. What can I say ...it appeals to the child within. The bookcase is topped off with my Victorian watercolour box, with tinting saucers on top - yes I do use it but not as much as I feel I should - and some other smart boxes, including a 1940's chocolate box from my Aunt, and on the very top you'll see a Matryoshka - bought for me in Russia by my father - and my childhood piggy bank... empty... I think... no it's got two bob in it and yes, I am that old! On to the 'where did I put that? - I know it's here somewhere' corner.
I originally wrote this for Society6 in October 2014 and the photos were taken then, but very little has changed... the pile has just morphed into two yellow plastic crates. It is a work in progress. Walking quickly past the 'it's been done' and neatly filed in the Tall boy, and then moving on to the creative hub... my converted oak drapers table, drawers removed, it is now my desk but has a very handy brass yard stick set in the top. I do a lot of design work for Spoonflower.com an American company, so yards and inches are the general rule (pun unintended but very apt) and have my own shop where you can have any my designs printed to order, see the 'PRINT TO ORDER' page on the website. You'll also notice the laptop, I use Coreldraw - my preferred tool for CAD - and my trusty old MAC which I use for the graphics side of things, with Adobe Creative Suite. The bunny is my screen cleaner!
As you 'walked' around you may have noticed some of my limited edition original prints adorn the walls. They were all hand printed by me on my medium sized Gerstaecker press, which lives with the plan chest in the 'Print Room' downstairs.