'Striped Vogue Collection' painting sold while being exhibited in the Twickenham branch of Harris & Hoole,
 so pleased!

Back in November I entered a competition to have my work displayed in a branch of Coffee Shops named Harris + Hoole I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the winners. Earlier this week I along with a representative from Somewhereto (Oscar) went to the branch that had been selected to display my work in Twickenham. I set up my pieces and was interviewed by somewhereto to learn a little more about me. I'm so thankful to this charity for providing so many opportunities that I try to get involved with as much as I can.

With the help of Somewhereto_ I was able to access one of the pods at the Art Market located in Spitalfields in Shoreditch from the 14th - 17th November, this was my first chance to show a large selection of my portfolio in London. I had a lot of nerves and worries running up to this event, mostly about carrying all my stuff from Leicester to London on public transport including the underground! It was a very stressful experience but I managed it and it was really helpful proving to myself the things that I am able to do (I did have massive help from my mum and boyfriend who I wouldn't have been able to do it without). 
I took a whole mix of my paintings and my stitchwork, I was really suprised with how the embroideries were noticed by people. The feedback that I had come across until this event was that people struggled to realise what the medium was and only when I told them did they notice the detail. Here however people realised almost straight away and were intrigued by it, also how many men that were taken with it really surprised me.  
I had some lovely comments some slightly critical but it was nice getting the feedback from a mostly London crowd and tourists, it gave me inspiration in which way to take my work. It was a successful show and I managed to sell quite a lot of my pieces which made it lighter on the way home, I definitely hope to be able to do this event again. 

At the start of November I took part in a Leicestershire event 'Ladies that Love to Shop British' that took part in the Kibworth Grammar School Hall. 
This was a really nice event to be a part of set within the lovely village of Kibworth at the old Kibworth Grammar School Hall built in 1936 it was a beautiful venue. I was in a room with 5 other creatives with a mix of different things including jewellery, photography, stationary etc. 

During October the charity Somewhereto_ worked with BOXPARK in Shoreditch to provide a space for young people to show their creativity. 
Opened in 2011 by founder and CEO Roger Wade, BOXPARK Shoreditch will be open for the next four years. BOXPARK is constructed of stripped, and refitted shipping containers, creating unique, low cost, low risk pop-up stores.
BOXPARK is not some run-of-the-mall shopping centre. It’s a living, fertile community of brands packed with talent, innovation and attitude that puts creativity and fashion back where they belong: on the street.

I was able to send a collection of my paintings down that were displayed within the unit from the 1st-3rd October, it was a great chance for my work to be shown in London. They were shown I feel that people really connect with my work around this area and appreciate it's bold nature. 

COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

1. The winner must be a UK resident.
2. The picture chosen can only have one person in it. 
3. The picture chosen must be of good quality. 
4. The winner will be chosen at random on the 1st December 2013. 
5. I have the right to ask for a different picture. 

Over Half Term in Leicester I was given the opportunity from SomewhereTo_ to exhibit my work in the city shopping centre the Highcross. They have a campaign called the 'Highstreet Heist' for this Re:Store we used an empty space that has been vacant for quite a while. Along with other creatives we took over on old Virgin store I was given space to display my paintings and stitchwork. 
During this time I was also painting some new pieces within the space which allowed passers by to see me at work and a little of the behind the scenes of my working process. 
On the last day a make up artist Kelly Odell painted me in the style of one of my paintings. It was a really cool experience to see how someone else would interpret my painting style. 

A little update on how my work is going, I finished this painting of Freddie Mercury on Friday. His singing was the soundtrack of my childhood and he is the number one person I wish I had been able to see perform live! 
He was such an incredible performer and I've tried to capture a little of his stage presence in my picture. 
I also put together a little video of my painting process to see a little behind the scenes about my work. 

I have been wanting to create some original images to paint from for a really long time. I finally got around to pulling something together and on the 29th of this month I managed to achieve this. 
My inspiration from the shoot was the Ruven Afanador's shoot of the Olsen twins, I wanted a similar style but with fresh new images to work from. I love the use of coke cans as rollers, I fell it brings a real juxtaposition between the vintage and modern. 

I had some fantastic help from the photographer Paul and Gaz from Rococo Imaging who took so many incredible shots, I'm going to have so many to choose from to paint! The gorgeous model is Natasha Vernon who is available to book she is stunning and I'm looking forward to getting to know her face in my painting. Her aunt is the talented Kelly Odell MUA who helped to me to create the look that I wanted. 
A friend of mine Rebecca Griffin aka Betsy Olive helped me with the styling of the shoot . Finally the sudio that we used was Lux Photography a fantastic studio based in the city centre of Leicester was such a great space! 
I'm so looking forward to starting my collection of paintings from this shoot!

I have just sent these pieces down to London, I've been lucky to have them shown at the BOXPARK in Shoreditch. 
BOXPARK is the world's first Pop Up shopping mall located in the heart of East London - Shoreditch. My work will be shown from the 29th September - 3rd of October, so if you're going to around London please stop by and have a look.