Latest Posts by jen-collins - Page 5

welcome

this drawing is three years old but the sentiment rings true once a year. oldie/goodie.

perpetual bicycle

my best friend asked if i'd create a cycling certificate for her. i came up with this perpetual bike design, which i then made it into a tiled pattern. you can use it, if you'd like. (for personal use only, please. remember to download rather than hotlink.)

peek

one of the pages from my sleeping on the sleeper zine. finally managed to finish it, now to print, photocopy & bind.

soon

on sunday night, i went down to london on the sleeper train. on monday night i came back. it was nice to have a day to wander around, meet people & be all self-indulgent with my drawing (a perfect example of the "nothingness" that this article berates, & that this response from lizzy stewart celebrates). as a result, a zine. but not for another few days; once i've finished doing drawings for other people. then i get to be self-indulgent again.

twenty-six

as of yesterday. if this one's as good as previous ages then i'm one lucky lady.

on a side note, this image served as a reminder that i am not ambidextrous. if i ever lose my right hand, i am screwed.

shades of grey

one of the items on my list of things to do this year was experiment with colour pallets; specifically, to exercise a little more restraint when it comes to how i work with colour. i always feel a small degree of awe when i visit the websites of people who constantly work with the same limited pallet. when i'm working, i'm more like a child in a sweet shop, grabbing whatever treat feels right/is closest.

i found this beautiful image by adrienne adams via pinterest the other day. i found myself coming up with a snapshot of a narrative in my head, following the torch light through the bushes to that tiny, hidden snake on the ground. lately, i've wanted to spend some time illustrating some sort of narrative, something more than just a snapshot. adams' image reminded me of a short story i wrote when i was twelve (which, due to an overwhelming and elaborate use of adjectives in an attempt to set the scene, i'll spare you of), where i was lost in the huge public park in my hometown at night, afraid of every rustle of bushes & strange shadow (fear not, i found my way out). after spending today wandering around the forest of our new-to-us local country park, & feeling reminded of reading wildwood earlier this year, i came up with this image.

it might not seem much of an experiment, but there were a few changes in direction for me (using only one colour! drawing the outlines last! a hint of a background!). it feels good to try something new.

teapots & paper

today was spent cleaning out my old flat; mainly our spare room, the studio. after two trips to the recycling centre to offload paper that i've had for at least four years, my paper-hoarding problem was finally brought to light. i found scraps of paper that "might come in handy", & paper that i've used for uni projects but then kept the remnants because i didn't want to bin them. at least my younger self saw this coming; i found a folder of paper titled nice paper to keep even though i'll probably never use it. & what do you know - i found it under a pile of paper that i haven't touched in about two years.

i was justly rewarded for my ruthlessness today. along with the recycling, i took several bags of clothing, kitchenware & art materials to a charity shop, where i found this beautiful teapot. clear-out-karma. joy.

pros & cons

some food for thought. i need to adopt this as my new mantra.

what i wore (yesterday)

it's been a long time since i did a what i wore today drawing - in fact, the last time i did one was when gemma correll did a call out for images for her what i wore today book, which comes out in march. i was lucky enough to have my drawing selected to featuring within its pages, i'm looking forward to getting my copy in the post.

anyways, this is what i wore yesterday. notable things include a necklace from my best friend & a cardigan that my nannan knitted me for my christmas - there haven't been many days since receiving it that i haven't worn it.

red cat tote

after pretty swiftly selling out of blue cat totes last december, i finally got back into the print studio to make some more, this time in red. due to the unpredictable nature of screen-printing (& the fact that my arms are weak, weeeak), there's a pretty limited number of these kitties available. however, i also stumbled upon a happy accident; i'll reveal more next weekend...

on a somewhat related note, i'm almost at the milestone of 500 sales in my shop. that's kind of incredible. there'll be a small heap of extras going out to whoever lands on five-oh-oh.

settling in

slowly but surely, we're settling in. well, alan's been here for five months & feels pretty settled already, but after six weeks i'm finally feeling a bit more at home. inanimate objects make all the difference; being surrounded by significant items that have collected/been gifted over the years has been key in making this flat feels like ours. this doesn't bode well for travelling lightly over any great distances in future, but i think i'm okay with that.

the most organised space so far is the living room. pictures on walls & a bunch of flowers on the dining table. a rocking chair from a family friend & an amazing rug. as of next weekend we'll finally have everything from our old flat in this new one (that includes the massive cd collection & old portfolios full of drawings from four year degrees that we've been reluctant to sift through). by the time i'm twenty six, in just under a month, we'll be done, & then i'll share more.

the illustrated lady

after a day long screen-printing session yesterday (most productive day of 2012 so far!), i added this little print to the shop today. i think i mentioned in a previous post that my tattooed lady hallowe'en costume was the main inspiration for drawing this. each of the thirty prints in the edition is coloured by hand, meaning no two are alike.

tattooed lady

feels good to do a bit of drawin' again.

after a short hiatus, taken as a means of sorting out some life-stuff, i picked up my pencil & paintbrush to create the above. this lady is the illustrated version of last year's hallowe'en costume; a 1920's tattooed lady. her tats are a bit less complicated than the ones i decided to ink on myself (seriously, do you know how hard it is to draw a stag on the back of your calf?), but i'm liking how simple they are & how happy she looks to have them.

26 things

i'm blogging this a little later than usual, but i've been trying to whittle this list down & i think i'm there now. since 2009 i've come up with to-do lists that coincide with the age i'll turn that year; some things on the list are big, some are smaller. i managed to complete just over half of 2011's list, which is what i did the previous two years, so here's to 2012 being the year i do everything.

1. train to run 5k 2. get used to having tinnitus 3. reach 700 sales on etsy 4. do taxes quarterly 5. make a minimum of ten things on my sewing machine 6. including a dress 7. including a tie for alan 8. find a dentist & doctors in glasgow 9. start flossing again 10. join the library 11. make a recipe box/book 12. make at least two out of three of my workday lunches a week 13. organise and manage my freelance days 14. learn a new knitting stitch 15. start blogging more regularly 16. escape the city at least once a month 17. read thirty books 18. host dinner for some friends 19. experiment with limited colour pallets 20. get my wardrobe down to 200 items (clear out/manage over time) 21. take a life drawing class 22. take up yoga again 23. finish my needlefelt fox 24. learn to love (or at least like) cooking 25. get some plants for the flat & become greenfingered 26. get better at coding

i've made a start on several things already, & you can help me nudge goal three in the right direction - there's just a couple of days left of my etsy sale - enter coupon code 'hello2012' at checkout to get 20% off your order.

shop sale

get 20% off your order in my etsy shop until fri 20 january with coupon code HELLO2012. there's prints, cards, notebooks, zines & more - i'll be adding to this over the next few months, but for now you can get a nifty deal on current stock.

new year

a slightly belated happy new year! this little blog has lacked updates over the past few weeks for various reasons (working, living in two places, festivities, getting tinnitus) but i feel it in my bones that this is the year for getting back on track, blog-wise & otherwise.

there have been a couple of big changes that have been stewing for months. firstly, i'm finally living in glasgow. whilst quite a bit of my stuff is still residing on the east coast (including the contents of my desk), i'm now in this city full-time. our new flat is lovely, quiet, bigger, better. we live close to big parks, transport to the city centre, a greengrocers & lots of good places to eat. i'm very excited to be somewhere new.

secondly, something that isn't full-time anymore is my day-job. i'm really happy i can still work part-time (it's a bit of a commute away) but i'm also really happy that there's more time than ever before to spend drawing, making, printing. this is something i've been dreaming about for years, & now it's time to get to work.

2012, i have high hopes for you.

cape girl + postage update

added a new print to the shop: cape girl is one of my favourite things i've drawn this year, & now she's a three colour screen-print.

speaking of the shop, here's my christmas posting dates. all orders must be in by these dates to allow time for me to package & post them: uk: thu 15 december western europe: sun 11 december eastern europe/usa/canada: wed 7 december elsewhere: thu 1 december (today!)

any orders after these dates will not be guarantee that they'll reach you by 25 december. if you order before these dates (if the postal service is willing to cooperate), you're likely to receive them in time.

one more postage note - all orders made between fri 2 & wed 7 december will be posted out on thu 8 december.

shop update: activity zine

stave off rainy day boredom! pick up your pencils & battle dark winter evenings! fight long train journeys & arrive at your destination feeling glorious & victorious! well, hopefully & perhaps. the newest addition to my shop is a twenty page activity zine. complete drawings, dream up patterns & add your flair to some silly little illustrations of mine. have some fun along the way too. pick one up from today.

shop update: 'let it snow' cards

oh man, is it really that time of year again? i always plan to do more work for the festive season - decorations, tags, wrapping paper, calendars - but once again, i'm not quite on the ball (next year, i swear). i did manage to get cards done however; these gocco-printed 'let it snow' cards feature festive snowflakes (including some shiny golden fellas) on recycled card. you can get these, plus a couple of older designs, over in the shop from today.

shop update: cat tote bags

here's tonight's update: cat tote bags! this was my first time printing onto fabric - i bought these bags over a year ago, so i certainly put it off for long enough. things went smoothly though, & i'm happy to finally have a small number of these to add to the shop. each bag come with a cat face badge too - see some more images over on etsy.

shop update: 'hello, friend' cards

today's shop addition: some pretty little cards that you can send to a friend, just to say hi. the tiny flowers were fun to draw, & i spent a bit of time writing those words over & over until i got the perfect combination. available in the shop for £2.45/$3.80 each.

shop update: cat notebooks

it's been a little while since i've had something new to add to my shop, but i've been busy making some items over the past little while & i'm finally putting them up for sale. over the next week or so i'm going to add one new item every day, starting with one of my favourite things i've created.

this is definitely one for cat fans; a notebook adorned by lots of feline faces. these notebooks feature an original illustration, & are screen-printed & bound by myself. they're pretty therapeutic to make, not to mention the feeling of accomplishment when you have a pile of freshly trimmed books ready to go. they're £7/$11 each; find out a little more about them in the shop.

lately

man, i am no good at updating my blog these days. i think it's partially to do with the move to tumblr - i can't quite put my finger on what i mean by that, but i think other platforms are probably much better suited to the way i like to use my blog. however, i'm going to stick it out. also, that aside, i've just been too busy: living in two places, making lots of new items to sell & day-to-day life haven't left much time for blogging. hopefully, once life's kinks have been ironed out, i can fit in a bit more writing.

work-wise, i gave my website a long overdue update today; take a peek. all jobs i've worked on over the past few months are now out in the world, so i've finally got them all online. i might go into a little more detail about individual jobs on here in future, but i probably shouldn't make any promises!

pipeline

finally working on some new things - feels so good! as well as stocking the shop for the festive season, i have a magnificent deadline for making things thanks to a craft fair on 4 december. i've written a to-do list for pretty much every day over the next few weeks.

above you'll find a cat i drew yesterday - possibly the best cat i have ever drawn.

a brief update

there's been a bit of silence over here, apologies. brief update: currently living on both the west & east coasts of scotland; new flat is rad; just finished up a sizeable illustration job (which i will share soon), meaning i have time for - gasp! - personal projects/printing again (or more paid jobs, i'm down with that too); found two of these whilst packing, next two orders in the shop get 'em; i joined instagram (see above).

hope all is well with you too.

yurt

when my boyfriend & i got our car last year, i figured we'd probably head out on lots of little trips, go camping & spend a little more time in the great outdoors. i'm not sure how i confused 'getting a car' with 'magically having more free time' because, of course, that's not quite how it's panned out.

however, we made good use of our automobile at the weekend & headed out to stay in a yurt at loch tay, a sweet present from my mum & dad for my birthday earlier in the year. this was one of the things on my 25 things to do when i'm 25 list, & it's so nice to finally tick it off (especially since it rolled over from 24 things to do when i'm 24). the yurt was lovely; full of killim rugs & pillows & - most importantly - a wood-burning stove (we'd timed our visit to miss the high-season & catch the last of summer whilst not being too warm for a fire). the first night we chatted by candle & fire light, fuelled by a couple of bottles of red wine, before falling asleep to the sound of rain bouncing off the canvas. the next morning we sat on the yurt's small deck in the sun, watching the fog over the loch & feeling grateful that we had no hangovers (a miracle!). the day was spent feeding ducks & a short car trip to nearby village, killin, before another night in our cosy little hut, quietly enjoying some downtime & keeping the stove going.

the next morning it was time to return home & to work. just a short little escape, but a nice reminder to take time out every so often. hopefully we'll go camping on the west coast soon.

moving

my boyfriend & i like the little city we live in. we have a cosy flat, live close to lots of friends & know of cafés, local shops & creative events that make you feel part of a community. however, lately we've been yearning for a small adventure of sorts, a change of scenery. despite all the great things that make this little city worth staying in, we've decided to pack up & move.

perhaps a little dramatic seeing as we're only heading a couple of hours west, but come mid-september we're waving goodbye to dundee & heading over to glasgow. whilst i'll still be working my day-job here for the foreseeable future, alan has a new job which gives us the opportunity to shake things up a bit. a new flat, a new place to explore & new people to meet. unlike alan, i've not done much moving about, so i'm excited about cleaning out what we don't need, putting things in boxes & having a blank canvas to make our own.

west coast tips appreciated!

shop - reopened!

after a small (but much longer than planned) hiatus, i've reopened my shop. i originally closed it as i had a busy couple of months coming up, & had hoped to reopen with lots of new work to sell. life hasn't stopped being busy though, so i've had to make do with just one new print, but  i'm going to be giving away one of my pushpin bookmarks with the next few orders. 

i've missed my little shop. i had a dream about it the other night, which was a little kick up the rear to get it in shape again. that said, i may have a small shop hiatus at some point in the near future, but more about that another time.

in wild waters

my boyfriend recently opened an online shop to sell his prints. all bias aside, i recommend you take a look at his work (including the above print, in wild waters). he's had a few sales already, but he's still offering a free mini-print with the next seven orders. go!

the quest for less stuff

i have too much stuff. while my flat isn't even close to overflowing, i (like most people) bring in more than i get rid of. the thought of ever moving is daunting; i started six years ago with the contents from my bedroom in my parents house, & over that time i've slowly filled the whole place (currently with the help of my boyfriend). one of the things i wanted to do this year was go through each room & do a clean-out, & today i took on my wardrobe.

after being directed to this blog entry where the writer sets herself the goal of cutting the number of items of clothing she possesses down to 100, i wondered whether i could do the same. it turns out i can't, but after a few hours of sorting through things, my total wardrobe content is now approximately 200 items (that's not counting socks/tights/underwear but covers everything else, including belts/scarves/shoes). a part of me was a little disappointed with the outcome; despite having a bag of 30 items i no longer want, it doesn't actually feel like i've made any sort of dent in my belongings. however, this is also where my one-in-one-out policy starts. definitely time to cut back on the frivolous charity shop/ebay purchases

200 articles of clothing sounds like a lot to me, but after going through everything i own, it doesn't seem like so much. how big is your wardrobe?