Screen Printing - Woodpeckers

Today, I was screenprinting with my lovely friend Mariska at Badger Press, Bishops Waltham. We hired the studio under their open access.terms. It was a great day where I was experimenting with printing onto fabric.

I'm really pleased with the results. I will make some of the prints available to sell & make some limited edition cushions too. Let me know if you would lile to preorder!

Studio Drawing Sessions - Paisleys

This is a start of a range of short videos documenting my drawing processes.

In this film I draw my new paisley motifs and I use my lightbox to trace and rework individual design elements.

You can see more of my new Home Decor and Wallpaper collections at my website www.aprilmawhinney.co.uk

Enjoy!

Interview with April Mawhinney

Here I am taking about my studio space at The Sorting Office Studios in Eastleigh, and my new creative direction!

Pantone Spring 2014 Colour Palette

Yum, this is a great palette - Love the combination of strong bright colours and the more subtle 'neutral' hues:

Merry Christmas 2013!

The quirky Gingerbread man was made by the lovely Natalie... Thanks!

Silly speach-bubble made by me!

:)

Happy Customer

I love it when you see your pieces in other people's houses! This happy customer bought one of my limited edition screen prints & has it framed & hung above her 300 year old fireplace! Wow!

It lookes so good; the vibrant turquoise against the brickwork...

If you have photos you would like to share, please get in touch.

April
X

Diary of our Winter Open Studio: Part 2 - The Day

The Sorting Office studios in Eastleigh is the hub of my business. Twice a year we open our doors to the public at one of our Open Studio events.

This year, our Winter Open Studio was held on 23 November and it was a great day with lots of visitors.  Below are some images just before the doors opened on the morning the event...

Mariska Parent shows her wonderful wallpapers

Lisa Jean from Iris Hill is writing a Children's Story

Helen's wonderful period costumes

Jason is our latest resident and is showcasing is fashion designs

Anita showing her lovely textile creations

Carly's glass creations

Jo Tinley's fabulous silver jewellery

It was a great day - Thank you if you popped along. If you missed it, well, there is always our Summer event! :)

Diary of our Winter Open Studio: Part 1 - setting up

The Sorting Office studios in Eastleigh is the hub of my business. Twice a year we open our doors to the public at one of our Open Studio events.

This year, our Winter Open Studio was held on 23 November and it was a great day with lots of visitors.  Below are some images of the prep for the big day...

Denise is an expert with picture hanging!

Roselyn hiding...

Anita finishing off her painting

Festive feel to Jason's space...

That's me, doing a bit of labelling and pricing!

The finished Little Red Designs Studio! Phew!

More in part two of this blog post...

Bager Press: Confessions of a screen printer...

Today I completed the refresher screen printing course with Adam Eager at Badger Press in Bishops Waltham, Hampshire, UK.

It was a great day & I met lovely people, including Adam who was running the course ( who also rescued me from a minor mental meltdown half way through).

Today I attempted a three colour print of one of my designs. It was a real challenge to get it completed in the time, not get the blue paste everywhere (& on everyone!) but I'm really pleased with the results considering it has been 12 years since I did anything like this.

I'll be showing off my prints at our Christmas Open Studio event this Saturday 23 Nov. 11-7pm, The Sorting Office Studios, Wells Place, Eastleigh.

Maybe see you there?

April
Xx

Screen Printing at Badger Press

On Sunday, I'm off to the wonderful open access fine art printmaking studio, Badger Press, in Bishops Waltham to refresh and renew my screen printing skills on their refresher course. I'm really excited as it has been 12 years since I flexed my screen printing muscle during my textiles degree at Winchester School of Art. 

I'm going to hopefully work on something nature inspired prints, but there may be some geometric paper cuts happening too.

I'll post my results soon! Wish me luck!

:)

Image Copyright of Badge Press.

The Sorting Office: Winter Open Studios

When: Saturday 23rd November
Where: The Sorting Office, 37 Wells Road, Eastleigh, SO50 5FY

My studio at Eastleigh’s creative hub The Sorting Office, is being transformed for a very special festive celebration. A winter wonderland is being created at the studios in preparation for an open studio event being organised as part of the Eastleigh Christmas Lights Switch On and Fun Day.

The studios are open to the public between 11am -7pm and Santa will welcome you into his magical paper grotto, before leading you in a parade to switch on the bright lights of Eastleigh at 6pm.

As well as meeting the man himself, everyone visiting The Sorting Office can help him build a Fairy-tale Christmas Town. Join us at 11am, 2pm or 7pm and see the wonderland grow!

With bespoke goodies for sale including scarves, jewellery, wall art and Christmas cards there will be opportunities to discuss possible commissions with the up and coming designer makers.

Admission to the Winter Studios is free.
Download the flyer for directions and parking details.

Six month design Sabbatical - A break for Little Red Designs

Phew... It's been a busy year!
It is an exciting time for me at the moment - 2013 has certainly been the year of change. In order of how they happened:

• I was accepted as one of the residents of the amazing new Sorting Office studios in Eastleigh
• I got engaged
• I won a year long Talent Developement Bursary funding by Aspace and Arts Council
• I got married
• Two weeks ago I got my long hair cut to a rather fab choppy chin length bob and finally...
• I've decided to take a six months sabbatical from Little Red Designs

Six months Sabbatical
Yes, it is time for a wee break from LRD. This decision has taken 10 months to reach and it wasn't taken lightly; I love Little Red Designs and making beautiful things from leather, but the reality is that:

1. My passion is surface design, pattern and illustration,
2. And more frequently, Little Red Designs has stopped being about 'design' and I have become more of a small scale manufacturer.

New Design Challenges and Projects
So, until April 2014 I am persuing new design challenges and directions. Since winning the Talent Developement Bursary in April 2013, I have been working flatout to improve and renew my design skills and build a super portfolio of surface designs. It has been so exciting; I've attended amazing courses (including at the London College of Fashion), been to Indigo design show in Paris, bought software and hardware, met amazing contacts and received great mentoring. My goal is to get an agent and sell my surface designs to buyers and manufactures.

Time is so precious, it was becoming clear that with Christmas rush on the horizon, something had to give - I needed some time away from Little Red Designs to finish the work required for the bursary.

So, this is not the end, just the break that I was desperately seeking to clear my head and make room for new creative projects that excite and inspire me.

What's in Store for LRD
I will be having a small selection of pieces available on Little Red Designs's shop, but once they are gone, they will not be replenished during the sabbatical.

Christmas Open Studio Event 
Also, I'm excited to confirm that my studio is having a Christmas Open Studio event on 23 November 2013 (11am - 7pm) and I would love to see you there. I'll be selling my last few limited edition LRD pieces - so do come along to snap them up as Christmas presents.

I will be showcasing also my new wallpaper and textile designs. There will be some of my new prints available for sale and chance to have a chat about everything that is going on with me and my new design work!

Thank you!
I just want to say 'Thank you' for your support over the last 8 years - Little Red Designs would not have taken me on this amazing journey without the support of all of you.

I'll still be around...
I'll be posting on Facebook and my blog with news about my new exciting adventures over the next 6 months! Keep in Touch!

Lots of Love

April
x

Watercolour doodles: Ivy

Fun with my paint brushes continue... Todays experiment is with painting Ivy leaves. I just love their shape, size & shiney surface.

I'm also hopefully visiting some Botanical gardens this week for some on the spot sketching.

What have you been up to this week?

April
X

Studio Ditte Wallpaper

I've been researching surface pattern designs and came across this amazing range of quirky wallpapers by Studio Ditte...

I love this teacup wallpaper ...



I also love this button wallpaper... 

   

And lastly this Birdhouse wallpaper too...

Nature's Colours

It is amazing what you can see on your lunchtime walk...

Pattern Magpie!

Today, I got a bit carried away with my drawing & lovely inks - especially my new gold one...

I think I became a Pattern Magpie!

Passion for Paisley

My obsession for Paisley has been growing lately and I have just made my first short video showing my drawing work... It's just a bit of fun, I enjoyed the process of learning to edit it and filmimg it really simply on my mobile phone.

Design inspiration - Ceramics at the Ashmolean

At the weekend, we visited the Ashmolean museum in Oxford. I specifically wanted to visit the Middle Eastern section for some design inspiration. I find the colour palettes and otifs really exciting - they will certainly help with my latest paisley pattern.