Summer is on it's way I think!

It's actually getting warmer now which means I can get outside in my studio! I have been busy also getting the veg in my allotment area! Let's hope everything grows well like last year! 

I am hoping to use my garden as a focus point for photographing my work. I love flowers and nature. The garden is changing daily! 

Here is the early developments with the veggie patch :)

Dylan is also ready and waiting for the sun! He is very good at understanding when I'm working in my studio and normally sunbathes outside :) 

More posts on the developments on the veg soon! 

Bridlington's Secret Gardens. 2014.

After a fab time at Glastonbury, I am now spending the next few days updating you with news on my blog! I hope my blog has missed me! Many of my blog posts do include lots of floral pictures! But why not! We are all embracing summer so let enjoy what nature gives us. A couple of weeks a go with some friends we went to visit the Bridlington Old Town's Secret Gardens. It has been on every year but due to work commitments I have never been to visit boo. But this year I was in luck.....

It was lovely for the home owners to let us into their gorgeous homes for this event. The event is held at numerous houses around Bridlington, but due to time I only managed exploring the Old Town. First up was the gardens behind the Georgian Tearooms. Along with enjoying cakes and a cup of tea, the tea rooms also hold a fantastic variety of antiques and vintage finds! I did make a purchase of some rustic metal flowers for my gardens! You may see a pic on my Instagram. 

After the tearooms we visited some gorgeous houses! When walking down the High Street you would not image what beauty would be behind those walls! I was in shock. The size of the garden's alone were amazing! 

It was also lovely to see so many people interested in the garden's and enjoying the beautiful flowers. 

Lots of my favourite flowers about, including the foxglove! So many of them popping about at this time of year! Along with finding many secret doors..... 

Alongside all the secret gardens, behind the shops and homes of the High Street in Bridlington is a farm and allotment. I was a little confused by this but the ducks, chickens and geese run so freely, it is fantastic to see them enjoying life. You can certainly tell this has its benefits by the size of the eggs they produce. In this glorious sunny day they were enjoying the lovely sun. 

This is my favourite shot from the day, I am rather scared of bee's and wasps but was determined to get this picture so I could draw it. I love flowers and drawing so it was a perfect occasion to get my inspired. 

I will now wait until its opened next year :)

Burton Agnes Hall Orchid Festival 2014

So it was the gorgeous annual Orchid Festival at Burton Agnes Hall. Here is some of my pictures of the stunning flowers!

The snowdrops are also out in full swing is the wonderful woods. 

Whilst uploading my images on Instagram of some of my Orchids I came across this beautiful account:

http://instagram.com/orchidsinfo

Spring is around the corner!

We have had some lovely sunny days recently and what better thing to do is get some fresh air with a walk along the cliff tops. Dylan is certainly enjoying it. It was such a lovely day and there was certainly plenty of other people enjoying the seaside views.

What else I love about this time of year is the types of flowers emerging for spring! My nan's garden especially displays this with many snow drops and crocus'. They were certainly catching some rays.

How gorgeous are these berries? I have also seen some daffodils emerging! So gorgeous! 

If you follow my blog you will see I go to Burton Agnes a lot. Its nearly time for their annual Orchid Festival. I am hoping to go again so will post some pictures for you to see. They are always great for inspiration. 

New Designs: New Screens to Play with!

Hi all. I am still back at CCAD at the moment, I love spending my spare evenings trying to get some of my work done which is fantastic. The new print areas, dye lab and mixing studio are all fantastic. I have also thoroughly enjoyed being in some of the student work shops. In the future I would love to run my own screen printing work shops so it is great to see Vicky in action! (The pro) :)

For this weeks samples it has all been about my Foxglove design and Mr Robin. I have a few more little designs but these are yet to be tested. I am so happy with the outcome of these two screens. I always get anxious making my screens so when I get to see the first printed result it makes me feel fantastic! I get so excited!

The other high light of my week was producing a jelly! As this is one of my favourite food! Your never too old for some wobbly jelly I say! 

What do you think? 

New Design: Foxgloves & Butterflies.

I did this drawing last year (seems ages ago) but have always had an idea in mind what I wanted the design to look like. So I thought it was about time I got cracking with it. It felt like being back at uni producing a repeat pattern. It was great! With design I have always loved how with a single image you can produce a beautiful repeat pattern. 

After deciding on a layout which, in this case I chose a block repeat. I then drew out the design onto paper ready to produce a paint out. 

I had a look at the dyes I had available. I am aware I need to broaden my colours but to me this happens during the printing process. The dye I chose was a bottle green with some aubergine. I love/hate how messy using dyes is. Green fingers were a definite! 

Next... was the drawing part. Adding all the detail to the foxgloves. Each flower took just over an hour to add its detail. It was very time consuming but I loved every minute of it. I also found it very theraputic.

After the foxglove detail I just had the butterflies to finish. In this case I chose a gold pen to add the detail. With the majority of the piece being quite dark I think the gold is what it needed. They also look lovely when the light catches them. 

Here we are.. the finish paint out of my new design. The next step is producing a cut-threw and starting the Koda Trace. More details to follow!

©Lauren Cherice Designs

www.facebook.com/Laurenchericedesign

www.twitter.com/LaurenCherice

The Annual Orchid Festival @ Burton Agnes Hall.

This time last year I visited the annual Orchid Festival at Burton Agnes Hall. So I thought this year I would also go visit them. With a love of drawing flowers, I thought it was a great opportunity to take some photographs. (sorry for the poor quality as they were taken on my iphone)

We also took Dylan with us. He enjoyed a lovely walk around the woodlands of the Hall. The woods are great for children as there is various pieces of fun sculpture for children to spot. Dylan found this one- a wild boar. We thought it was very funny as its nearly the same size of him. 

I think orchids are one of my favourite flowers. I love their different shapes and colours. Can't wait to get drawing them :)

For more pictures of Orchids, you can view my blog post from last year here:
http://laurenchericedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/beautiful-orchid-show-burton-agnes-hall.html

The Snowdrop Spectacular!

Sometimes pictures say everything. So for this blog post, I will let you enjoy the lovely pictures from my trip to the 'Snowdrop Spectacular' at Burton Agnes Hall. 

Dylan was ready for a sit down after all that walking. 

http://www.burtonagnes.com/Home.html