Flying fish puppet
Assorted fabric and wire
16 x 46 x 60 cm
I made this hand puppet to help with literacy in a primary school, so the children could write about his travels, which as he was a fantastical creature, could be anywhere in the world, or beyond.
Twilight
Watercolour and ink
23.5 x 17 cm
In a private collection
We had a beautiful snowy winter, and I love the lacy outline of trees against the sky, so this made a wonderful combination. I used watercolour to put in the sky and snow, and then added the trees using ink.
Pine cone
Coloured pencil
25 x 30 cm
In a private collection
I picked up the pine cone on a holiday in Italy, and decided to set myself the challenge of drawing it using coloured pencils, a medium I don’t usually use.
Cat
Papier Mache
27 x 37 x 14 cm
The cat was made as a demonstration piece for a workshop I was running. I decided to paint her as a tortoiseshell.
I design and draw illustrations for use in publicity and books.
The picture of Martha (amongst others) was for a book called ‘Assembly Lines’, written by Andrew Smith, with ideas for school assemblies.
Labyrinth
Quilted patchwork made from silk
49 x 49 cm
I love the patterns of labyrinths, particularly the medieval circular ones, and decided to make one using squares of silk to form the path.
This design is available as a greetings card from the Northumbria Community online shop:
http://www.northumbriacommunity.org/product/labyrinth-greetings-card/
I dyed the silk to get the deep brown and copper colours for the first labyrinth, and decided to tie-die some other pieces of silk at the same time. I used them to make the same pattern, but with the path a solid colour, and the surround like ripples in a puddle. I then added glass beads, small shells and chips of tigers eye to give variety to the path.
The Gaelic Blessing
Ink
20 x 20 cm
When I read the words of this prayer of blessing, I wanted to combine them with a celtic-style pattern. I finally settled for this, and used inks to give the glowing colours for the background. Then I was listening to a cd of friends’ daughters singing, and realised it had a tune as well!
This design is available as a greetings card from the Northumbria Community online shop: http://www.northumbriacommunity.org/product/deep-peace-greetings-card/
Rachel chose this picture as her favourite, and says ‘This is my choice because I remember it when it was a song on a cd…watched as it developed through line drawings, noted its corrections and finally viewed the finished item. Its beautiful simplicity hardly reflects the amount of effort spent on it. It will always be my favourite!’
