yummy things

I've recently bought the most fantastic double sided wrapping paper from a gem of a local gift shop Gift, I've subsequently had a look at the company's website and it's full of truely scrumptious things. Check their blog out here: House Doctor. I can't wait to use the wrapping paper for friends and family's presents this year, I always love wrapping presents up as much as I love making or buying the gift itself.

on the highstreet

This is a picture of me taken on Sunday holding one of my Christmas cards in my local branch of Waterstones, I've finally arrived on the highstreet! You can see some more of my textile illustrated designs along the front row of the display rack (by my knee). The card in my hand is one of my all time favorites, and of course it's a robin! This cheeky chap is stood ontop of an old fashion postcard with a sprig of mistletoe in his beak.

An enlargement of the Post-Robin in question!

More of my Christmas designs are available through my website or through Art Press.

christmas card designs 2010

My Christmas cards have finally arrived, Yipee!

I'm delighted with the way the two designs have turned out. The first is a rather cheeky chappie, a robin sat ontop of his own watering can waiting for the snow to arrive. The second is a delightful stocking stuffed full of parcels, ready to be opened on Christmas morning.

I absolutely love Christmas, spent with family and friends and enjoying mulled wine in front of a roaring fire and these two pictures, made in my usual style with tiny pieces of fabric stitched together, remind of all those things.

Now for the sales bit! The cards are available to buy from my website in packs of ten cards, five of each design or as single cards. I hope that if you do buy a pack you'll enjoy sending them to friends and family as much as I have enjoyed making them.

beautiful buttons

I am just so in love with these gorgeous reindeer buttons from Australia. They are lazer cut and carefully hand painted, hand painted! They are so small, the details on them are minute I totally admire the skill and the patience of the person who made these fantastic creatures. What's more there is a whole range of wonderful buttons to adorn your craft projects with from birds and bees to houses and dovecotes.
These little beauties came from a local craft shop, Coast and Country Crafts and Quilts. But i'm sure you can find them on the web. I'll keep you posted when I do!
I'm not sure what i'm going to do with them yet, probably prop them up on my table and look at them adoringly for a few weeks until I decide.

stationery heaven

My "Congratulations on your New Baby Card" is now for sale on Paperchase's new website.


I'm so excited that it's been picked and represented on their site. I love Paperchase and have to go into any branch I come across. I love their main flagship store on the Tottenham Court Rd in London inparticular as it has three floors of the most fabulous selection of cards, sketchbooks, notebooks, wrapping paper and general stationary supplies, I love it all and now I'm part of it, be it a very small part.

Here is my card for sale in one of their stores!

I even have to go into their small platform-side booth at Paddington Station before I board any train home just to make sure I have plenty of supplies for my creative activities on the journey home to Cornwall.

getting the hang of things

Since breaking my wrist for the second time this summer I've tried to be good and keep a left-handed only sketchbook endeavouring to do little creative 'somethings' each and every day.

However I have been slack at keeping up with it. I have found it hard at times not being able to do the things I would normally do with my right hand (mark making that would be second nature), and although this leads to interesting and exciting work, really there is no excuse for not doing something!

I have started another tiny sketchbook, a spiral bound 4x4inch 'pink pig', in which i've tried to capture bits and pieces from our French holiday.


Mimosa August 2010 (c)C.Rowe

I've started here with a little sepia pen illustration of the house we stayed in and the dates of our holiday. It needs colour now and i'll probably have to refer to my photographs, of which I took lots so that should be straight forward.


I have also made lots of little collages from the pictures I took, postcards collected and other bits and pieces saved. It's a more achievable form of art work at the moment and I get a lovely sense of accomplishment in creating smaller pages. I just loved the colour this outhouse door was painted, just so French and elegant in a shabby chic kind of way. The whole house was scrumptious and very inspiring to stay in. I felt very fortunate and it was just a shame not to have made many drawings or paintings out there.

Festival of Quilts

A selection of the purchases I made at the Festival of Quilts this week. What a show and wow so many wonderful new traders to buy fabrics, threads, buttons, trims and work from. I've come back brimming full of ideas and new projects.... must finish off some of the half started/half completed quilts first!

handmade

I came across this great website, online magazine and blog dedicated to making all things Handmade. The magazine is full of beautiful images and really useful information, as well as connecting makers. It helps with advice and resources for it's members, and promotes the handmade online.

What a fantastic find!

le jardin

Just a few photographs taken today in the garden. It never fails to inspire, sculptural, fresh, tactile and it has the most stunning palette of colours, I adore it.


The onions have gone to seed.



Sweet peas and honeysuckle.



Poppy heads and artichokes.

left handed life 2

Sweetpeas from the garden 10.7.10
Agapanthus 10.7.10

More drawings using my left hand, mostly flowers again i'm afraid but they are so bright and cheerful and seem so forgiving! I've tried drawing things with harder lines and edges but they all appear as if they've been drawn on a boat in a force 8 gale!

left handed life

Two weeks ago yesterday I broke my right (drawing hand) wrist and have been in a cast since. After the shock of not being able to use my right hand to do any of the things i'd usually do, having taken for granted these things for 29 years, i've been learning to use my under-used left side (I have most definately been right sided dominant).

It has been the most unusual and frustrating experience, marks, lines, shading that I would have normally expected to or were used to making using my right hand I couldn't reproduce with my left. I have had to go back to nursery school and learn to write and draw all over again.

Until I can cut up fabric again with a pair of scissors ( I could go out and buy a left-handed pair) i'm just sticking to practicing and playing with pen and ink.

The images above are my first attempts at drawing and colouring with my left hand... it's been akward, annoying and very frustrating but some how rewarding in the end as I hope through the process of using my left side more, to become a more even and balanced creative person.

new designs

http://www.art-press.co.uk/id5.html

My latest range of Birthday designs for Art Press have just been launched including these rather delightful designs. Bunting, cakes and floaty dresses form the basis of these femine and girly cards!

donna wilson

http://donnawilsonsblog.blogspot.com/

This woollen maze by Designer Donna Wilson is fabulous. So tactile and colourful, my five year old self just wants to go crazy and run around it! Having only taken up knitting recently this piece really appeals to my magpie eyes. It's definately inspired another scarf (which is all I can make at the moment!).

studio photos

The good luck tea cup and saucer from my sister. I like how the paint chart on the wall behind it looks like a Cornish flag, feels appropriate.

I love the yellow of these fresh tulips, they always make a room look so cheerful. I think they look lovely against the backdrop of my framed textile art works.

Another shot of the studio festooned with fresh flowers. I adore the pink and yellow combination of tulips and lilies, why does this combination always seem to work?

cornwall today feature

I'm delighted that my work is featured in this month's (June's edition) of Corwall Today on the Cornish Cravings page. The feature is focusing on Artist's and Craftsmen that are taking part in Open Studios at the end of May, beginning of June. It's a lovely little write up about my textile illustrations and when my Studio is open to the public.

"Seaside Special
Cornish beaches and harbours are captured brilliantly in the textile illustrations and collages by Redruth based Cat Rowe. She draws on a range of media, from fabric and paper to stitches and ink, to add a host of charming detail that is instantly reminiscent of coastal life. Framed work is available alongside a range of limited-edition prints and cards.
Falmouth Harbour II, £95. Exhibiting at Studio 1, The Lofts, Gweal Pawl, Redruth, TR15 3AN. Open May 29th - June 6th from 11am to 5pm, late night opening Thursday until 8pm. For more details, www.textileillustration.co.uk"

delicious new designs

St.Ives, Still Life. (c) C.Rowe 2010

My new card designs have arrived! Hot off the press there are five designs in the range and all have wonderfully domestic and cheerful themes to them.

All are available to buy on my website www.textileillustration.co.uk , i'm really delighted with them, you can definately can see the influence of all those days spent by the seaside in Cornwall.

still lives

There is something so very charming and lovely about a nice flower arrangement on a windowsill, preferably with a lemon or cup and saucer in the foreground. Perhaps with some small items of everyday life arranged as well.

These are some of my favorites at the moment.


Winifred Nicholson, "Flowers in a Jam Jar", c.1928

Gwen John, "A Corner of the Artist's Room in Paris".
Michael Coutts, "Spring Light"

outside the studio

It's all looking nice outside my studio today. I now have two lovely blue pots of plants just outside my front door. Agapanthus (my absolute favorites), a palm, hostas, a type of daisy and strawberries (I had three last year). It really cheers the place up and will be a welcome sight for visitors during Open Studios week.
It's a nice spot in which to enjoy a coffee first thing in the morning. The sun warms this little area up and for a couple of hours is a very charming place.

open studios in three weeks

The website is live. check.
Cards are at the printers. check.
Private View invitations are ready to send. check.
Leaflets and posters are ready. check.
Frames are on order. check.

Work is in progress......

blossom

I took these photos of an apple tree in blossom this week. I've always loved this time of year when everything is blooming and life is springing up all over the place. The petals all look so delicate and charming and this year i've learnt of a Japanese tradition called Hanami, when a picnic is taken under the blossom of an apple or cherry tree. The idea of this really caught me and i've been looking out and spoting trees in bloom since.



Perhaps because spring flowers are all so pretty and come in such a graceful pallet i've found these influences creeping into my recent work and i've just finished a set of new greeting cards which I hope to post later this week. The designs all seem to have flowers in them and all use a fresh and light range of colours. Quite delightful.

going live

My website is now offically online!

Bunting in the Harbour (c) C.Rowe 2009

I'm probably more nervous about this than I should be. There were no big bangs, champagne corks or party poppers. The site's looking great and I'm now really pleased with how it looks and can't wait to keep it updated with new textile illustrations, art works, cards, postcards, prints and brooches.

busy in the studio

Outside the V&A, Saturday 24/4/10

It's been non stop this week, since I got back from London. I went up to see the V&A Quilt exhibition, which is excellent and would recommend it to anyone who has a keen interest in Quilts or related Textiles.

I've been writing invitations and flyers for the Open Studio event that is being held during the week May 29th - 6th June. Getting all the necessary information down in a relatively small space is quite a challenge. I'm nearly there!

The website's nearly up and running and i'm really excited to see this go live later on in the week, all fingers and toes crossed!

My new range of cards are at the printers being proofed. It's a key moment to see how they have turned out. The designs look so different once they've been translated into the card format. It's a slightly new departure for me as they are all square designs rather than the usual 6 x 4 inch format that I have favoured up until now. Watch this space.

Open Studios Catalogue Launch Day

It's here, the new catalogue for this years Open Studio event in Cornwall has arrived! It looks fantastic, over a 140 participating Artists across all disciplines are throwing their doors open to the public between 29th May - 6th June, (Cornish schools summer half term holiday).

Here is my page in the catalogue with one of my Textile Illustrations as an example of my work. Each page is really well laid out and is clear and easy to use.

I'm going to be open every day between 11am and 5pm, including a late night evening on the 3rd June till 8pm. Ideal for those artists unable to visit other studios during the day and people working normal hours.

I'm really excited about this year's event and the arrival of the catalogue makes it real. Only 6 weeks to go!