Nouveau-style Custom Bloglovin' Button

As a means of procrastination, I've created a little art nouveau inspired bloglovin' button freebie for people to use. Google reader is closing down soon, so what better time to move all the blogs you read over to bloglovin and nab yourself a pretty button for your blog?

Installing it is easy.

1. Right-click save as on the above image and save it to your desktop.
2. Join up to Bloglovin' if you haven't already and follow their directions on how to get a little widget for your blog here.

http://www.bloglovin.com/en/widgets

http://www.bloglovin.com/help_icon

3. To put your own image in, upload it to flickr or an unpublished post on your blog and right click and copy it's location.

4. Replace bloglovin's basic image url with your new image's location. For example, this:


http://www.bloglovin.com/widget/bilder/widget_watkins.gif?id=663992
" alt="Follow on Bloglovin" border="0" />

becomes this:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyrJXi6s3Ww3zze-83k3gwBMIPxAlm0RalVNutHVWv-u4wOmzpQKEAHIqhy7ZVb-3HaOgrx44fbUxL843uQcD9g5cKqV9aP_88l_LUm4fFeMfwkPaHedEYSHYok1RZ9LmAE6HXj9opjVW/s1600/bloglovinwidgetfineliner.jpg
" alt="Follow on Bloglovin" border="0" />
Ta daa!

It's pretty straight forward. If you do decide to use this button, be sure to leave me a little comment so I can see it 'in action' on your blog!

Fawn and Thistle Shop

Fawn and Thistle ( the name I collaborate under with Sangita Southgate) are happy to announce the launch of our online store!

Drop in at www.fawnandthistle.com or click the link to the side.

We hope you enjoy it and we'd love to hear your feedback. You can look forward to cushions, pocket mirrors and many more fun goodies coming soon!

An '8 Tracks' mix tape for you

I'm busy setting up the Fawn and Thistle shop/still working on a lino cut, so I thought I'd share a mixtape with you. I've seen a few other bloggers doing it and thought it seemed like a good idea, as I'm pretty much constantly listening to music whilst working and am often inspired by it.

This one is kind of cohesive, but mainly just some of my favourite songs that weren't too loud (coffee induced headache!)...

 Stars have their moment...  8tracks

1. Patti Smith - Because the Night

2. Nick Cave - Spell

3. Bat For Lashes - Horses of the Sun

4. Radiohead - Blackstar

5. Yeasayer - Madder Red

6. Nick Cave - (Are you) The One That I've Been Waiting For?

7. Patrick Wolf - Bluebells

8. David Bowie - Rock and Roll Suicide

The Enfield and The Leucrota

So here are the first prints of two of the creatures from my Medieval Bestiary, plus one failed one of The Catoblepas.

Enfield

Leucrota

 

 

 

I'm really happy with how these turned out, considering they're my first proper foray in to the world of Lino Cutting (and especially as I did them on my own DIY press ie, me standing on them under a big bit of wood!). The large areas of solid colour didn't work well, however - I don't think my body mass equates to the pressure of a printing press (thankfully) - so I'm adding in a bit more detail to the prints. May also experiment with colour.

Catoblepas

With this one, I thought I'd try a more textured, thicker paper. It did not work, but I still kind of like it.

Overall, I like the outcome and really like the way linocuts look, it's got a very specific and bold quality to the line I like. What do other people think about the process? Do you like it? Or think it's too time consuming / outdated?

More to come, I'm working on the Peryton, and those feathers are taking a long, long time.

A Little Freebie

I've created a little desktop wallpaper for the people who read my blog (I know there's only a few of you!) but I hope you like it. Just click on the image, save as and then go about setting it as you background the way you usually do.

it's only sized at 1440px x 900px at the moment, but if you'd like it in a different size, just leave me a comment xoxo

Society 6

Some of my work has been selected by Society 6 to be in their shop. I'm not sure how this is different ot where it was before, but it sounds good!

They've chosen

The Ramskull http://society6.com/product/The-ramskull-and-bird_Print

 

The Bow and Butterfly http://society6.com/product/Bow-and-Butterfly_Print 

Fawn and Thistle http://society6.com/product/Fawn-and-Thistle_Print

 

Polka Dots Fill My Eyes  http://society6.com/product/Polka-Dots-rlO_Print

 

and The Peryton http://society6.com/product/The-Peryton_Print

Related to the Peryton print, I've finally gotten round to doing the actual lino prints (in a make shift printing press in my garden) and will be putting these up soon.

Sneak peek: