A trip to Cockpit Arts

I had a great time in London last weekend....it was really good to pop by the Cockpit Arts Open Studios in Holborn.  It was so much bigger than I expected it to be and I am already hoping I'll be able to make it to their christmas one.  If you missed out last weekend it is on again this weekend in Deptford, see here for more details. I'd certainly recommend a visit.

Mary Portas was having a look around with her cute little dog when I was there.

Here's a photo of her having a look at an Abigail Brown bird!

You can read what she had to say about her visit here.

photo by Jamie Trounce

Abigail had her beautiful creations on show... 

I've got my eye on one of these lovely flamingos!

One day!

There was so much talent to admire there, here's some lovely stuff that really caught my eye and is now on my want list!

Perfect leather bags from Katherine Pogson

 Amazing ceramics from Katharine Morling

and I love this magnetic wallpaper from Sian Zeng

Have a great time if you make it to Deptford this weekend.

I'm off for my first Glamping experience at Jolly Days near York for a hen do!

The wellies are packed and I can't wait!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Off to Cockpit Arts Open Studios

I'm off to London tomorrow to visit the Cockpit Arts Summer Open Studios.

I've been wanting to go for a couple of years now as my lovely friend Abigail Brown is

part of Cockpit Arts Studio in Holborn. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing the variety of creations from the artists based at Cockpit, as well as Abbie's lovely birds of course!

It's on all weekend in Holborn and then next weekend in Deptford.

I'm sure you will love it if you visit....click here for more details.

Summer really is here....

Well it's not looking very summery out there for us in the UK

but it's nice and bright on the high street with all the summer fashions out now.

Here's a tee I worked on with George@ASDA available online and in-store in 

their girlswear section.

 I loved adding all the texture and pattern to this artwork.

**PLEASE NOTE ALL ARTWORK BELONGS TO ASDA STORES LIMITED**

Have a great weekend everyone, come rain or shine!

God Save Our Queen....

Well firstly a big thanks to Queen Elizabeth II for giving us an extra day off to 

enjoy this weekend! Mine will probably be spent working but still it will be a relaxed day!

Here's a picture from my visit to London on Tuesday....all looking very patriotic on Regent Street.

I know people have very mixed views about the Royal Family...but I see this weekend more as a time to appreciate the positive things about being British and living in the UK.

I know there are many lows, so many people are really struggling here, 

politicians bicker like they're in a playground and the media constantly lies to us.

but to risk sounding annoying....it really could be a lot worse! 

For so many people in the world, everyday they don't feel safe, 

they put up with an extremely corrupt government, no available health care or education.

You can't choose where you're born and I feel lucky to be British, really lucky.  

To live in a relatively safe country where I've had countless opportunities, 

education, healthcare, clean water, heating and much much more!

(Like Marmite, fish and chips, the Beano, sports days, the seaside and cornish pasties!)

I'd love for you to comment with what you love about being British!

Rose-tinted glasses or not, it's weekend to be thankful!

Here's some character artwork I created for George@ASDA.

It's available in-store now or here online for any little girls out there for only £2!

**ARTWORK COPYRIGHT BELONGS TO ASDA STORES LIMITED**

Have a great weekend everyone!

My Latest Book...Perfect Patterns

Last summer I was lucky enough to work with Buster Books again on a new colouring book 

and here are the results.... Perfect Patterns!

It was such a lovely project to work on, lots of fun and very rewarding!

It's now available to buy here as well as on the high street, here are some of my favourite spreads....

Perfect Patterns is a follow on from my first colouring book Pretty Patterns which you might remember from a previous post...here.

**PLEASE NOT ALL COPYRIGHT OF THE IMAGES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

BELONG TO MICHAEL O'MARA BOOKS LIMITED**

Ginger Tea Tour....

Big things are happening with Abimaro and the Free this week.....

(they top my favourites list!)

They are launching their debut single 'Ginger Tea' by touring around tea and coffee

shops in East London and doing a series of live gigs.

There's loads of dates and it's FREE! unless you would like one of their exclusive goodie bags!

Here's some more details here and a list of dates here.

**please note all images belong to Abimaro and the Free**

desktop wallpapers....

The lovely flower people at Bunches have converted the calendar

I created for their customers

(see here for my previous post from earlier in the year)

into desktop downloads....

For each month I have illustrated a quote from one of their customers about

how they plan to create happiness throughout 2012.

Click here to download for your very own desktop.

Hello mischief....

This week has flown by in a blur of work and sunny skys!

I'm enjoying having my lunch outside this week!

Here's some snaps of some garments that I worked on for George@Asda that I ordered online.

I loved working on these and am really pleased with how they've turned out,

the gold foil print looks just lovely.

Available to purchase here, here, here and here!

**PLEASE NOTE ALL IMAGES AND ARTWORK BELONG TO ASDA STORES LIMITED**

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

a lovely new etsy shop....

Rachel over at RahRahRepeats has been busy creating some super designs

for her brand new Etsy shop which has opened just this week...

Here's a couple of her beautiful prints, click here to see more over on Etsy.

There's more designs to come and you can keep updated on her blog here!

**PLEASE NOTE THE COPYRIGHT OF ALL ARTWORK SHOWN IN

THIS POST BELONGS TO RACHEL HARPER**

Wacom Inkling....second attempt

Well this is more like it! I should have watched this video before.

I'm not very good with instructions when I'm excited about something...I just want to get on with it!

From watching the video I realised I was holding the pen too far down therefore

blocking the sensors. This quick little doodle is far better and more like

what I was thinking I would be achieving from the Inkling!

Despite my initial disappoint I must say the inkling is very well packaged, it all fits

into a small rectangular box making it very transportable and it is easy to

set up and use with your Mac

(I can't comment on PC usage due to lack of PC experience).

It is literally just a matter of plugging in the sensor once unclipped from your page,

opening your sketch, click a button and it's in illustrator! Amazing!!