Christmas has come early today!

I named this Christmas wrapping design: Bouncing Bauble’s. It makes me smile.

It always foxes me that you have to think of Christmas designs during Spring in production terms. So I worked hard in Dec and Jan while I was still in the festive groove.

I love these Christmas roses, they came out just right and I like the colour palette too – so I’m hoping (fingers crossed) that a buyer will too.

All designs are available for license or sale through Advocate Art on stand 416 at Surtex.

One of my new design collections at Surtex 2013 is called Bright Garden.

This project began when I saw some beautiful lace and after close inspection drawing it I could see a garden of flowers in each tiny intricate piece of lace.

It was fun to play around with different pens and brushes to make fine lace-like lines.

The Surtex show in New York opens on Sunday 19th May and all the designs are available for licence or purchase through Advocate Art on stand 416.

Surtex is the biggest exhibition linking designers and manufacturers together to buy or license designs.

I so wish I was actually there but the next best thing is knowing that my agents Advocate Art are –  on stand 416.

And one my designs that are in the portfolio is Collaged Flower.

Today is the second and last day of the Progressive Greetings Live show (PG Live) where my agents Advocate Art are on stand 107.

I have been butterfly crazy of late and have enjoyed using them to adorn some fun greetings cards.

Today is the first day of the Progressive Greetings Live show (PG Live) at the Business Design Centre London. This is a specialist trade show focused on greetings cards which is now in it’s fifth year.

 The show attracts buyers from our big home-grown companies such as John Lewis, Selfridges, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Next and Boots, as well as attracting a number of buyers from overseas too.

My agents Advocate Art are on stand 107 with some new designs from me. I’m hoping that these four birds might catch someone’s eye today.

Earlier this week whilst under the heavy influence of sunshine, I put my Primula paintings to work in a pattern.

Original photograph: Homes and Antiques – Jan 2013 – Tria Giovan/Gap Interiors

What came about looks tropical! Funnily enough this photo was taken in a house in Florida. I’m not suggesting it’s suitability here as a wallpaper because you may need sunglasses in and outside of the house but it’s always fun to mock-up ideas in this way.

Here’s hoping for that sunshine back again this weekend – have a good one !

This is the time of year to enjoy Euphorbia at it’s best.

And it looks extra special with all this gorgeous sunshine filtering through it.

When it puts out new growth it’s a lovely lime green colour.

I cut some to bring in and paint (beware it has a sticky sap running through it – yuk)

I thought it would die quickly so I kept the composition simple, but days later and it’s still quite happy in a vase.

Euphorbia © Claire Leggett

What a gloriously sunny bank holiday weekend we have just enjoyed. A little bit of sunshine is good for the soul.

I am trying to keep a balance of things in my life by adopting ’a little and often’ approach.

I love gardening but find that this is the season where there is housework indoors and housework outdoors. So I have been trying to keep on top of it all by doing a little inside and a little outside.

Taking a little time out of working to see friends, take trips (Powis Castle above) and enjoy spring’s inspiration.

Having a little time to read (dream holiday booked for this summer!) and a little time to knit. I’m hoping this approach will stop me going a little crazy often!

Filed under: knitting, nature, Travel ]]> http://paintdropskeepfalling.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/little-and-often/feed/ 2 Claire IMG_7063 IMG_7065 IMG_7066 spring IMG_7064 http://paintdropskeepfalling.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/meadow-flowers/ http://paintdropskeepfalling.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/meadow-flowers/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 09:30:19 +0000 Claire http://paintdropskeepfalling.wordpress.com/?p=6749 ]]> I am, creatively speaking, all over the place at the moment! Card designs, paintings, patterns. I’m following my fancy wherever it leads me.

I keep trying to tidy up and find a ‘blank’ space to start from but I inevitably find something that I meant to do ages ago and didn’t. Which is how these came about. Thinking back, it must have been getting on for a year since we had these few days down in St Ives which is where I took these photo’s.

There is a place called The Island which is a large lump of land sticking out at the top of the town centre away from the shops. It used to be part of the defences for St Ives and had a fort on it at one time. Now it’s used by the Coastguard and birdwatchers.

Artists from the Twentieth Century enthused about the light in St Ives for good reason and the habitat is sub-tropical in many places in Cornwall.

Wheatfield © Claire Leggett

On the day we visited, as you can see from the photos, we were lucky enough to have sun, flora, beautiful light and amazing colours.

Meadow Jumble © Claire Leggett

It has later inspired these three designs as a memory of this place.

Mono Fern © Claire Leggett

I’ve said it once, twice, a million times… I loVe tulips!

Any colour, any pattern, in any state of decay.

I like them standing up, flopping down, insides showing or not.

My daughter remarked recently that I haven’t painted tulips much considering my strength of feeling for them. Hells Bells – she was right!

So that needed rectifying, trouble was the bunch I had been enjoying was already passed it’s finest, so the race was on.

I could remember the colours but after drawing it, as the petals fell, the shapes changed beyond recognition. Lucky I have an artistic licence.

Magenta Tulips © Claire Leggett