**Vintage tins, vintage radio, brush portraits and Mary Poppins prop** --- This little corner of the studio shows my love of the ‘vintage’ and nostalgia once again. Some of these tobacco tins belonged to my Pop and it is still possible to smell the tobacco inside some of them. This is an area where I store *work in progress* or work that is ready to be shipped out. Here you can see some ‘brush head’ portraits and angels and a Mary Poppins umbrella head that I have made. I’m passionate about theatre and prop and set making. I work on many different scales from large theatre backdrops to small handheld props and illustrations. I am able to bring these different disciplines together when discussing ideas with you. It really helps to bring different perspectives to your design briefs.

**White mini tree with Mad Hatters Tea Party hat and prop cakes** --- A wee selection from the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party including prop cupcakes and doughnuts. Dressing events, display and prop making is a huge passion of mine. From full-scale events to smaller photo opportunity areas. Clients can create these ‘photo opportunity areas’ and brand them so that selfies taken in these locations and uploaded to social media, can provide free, fun and unique advertising.

**Nothing more than a bit of fun! ** --- This number plate adorned my first car when I was 17...a brown Cortina I named Ned! I ripped this number plate from it before the scrappers squashed ‘him’ into a little cube!

**Ice hockey mask, skate & with steampunk goggles!** --- This peculiar selection of goodies features ice hockey memorabilia and steampunk goggles! A mighty strange smorgasbord of objects! ⁣ ⁣ I love eclectic mixes of items. If you like something, you like it! I’m all for embracing ‘the crazy’ and celebrating that which makes you happy. ⁣ ⁣ **Clients never need to worry about over-explaining their requests. My role is to help clients achieve that which makes them happy. It’s as simple as that.** ⁣ ⁣

**You found me!!!!** --- Yep... It's a red hat and Steampunk glasses...

**Welcome to the favourite part of my studio!** --- If my work could be summed up, then this drawer would do this perfectly! It’s full of random bits and bobs; cogs and buttons; old stamps and springs; keys and doll parts! Zoom in and have a look at the madness. I love it! Inspiration, for anyone, can be found in the smallest item.

**#ThisCallsForLove** --- This was a very quick project that helped me through the lockdown. Gary Barlow called for photos to be sent in of images that epitomised lockdown. It was a project completed in a day (paint on canvas) which I filmed on time-lapse. Time-lapse is a great tool for capturing murals and paintings being created.

**"I’m late... I'm late, for a very important date"** ⁣ --- I made this prop for an Alice in Wonderland photo photography set for a wedding & tailored exclusively to the client. It's the ‘bespoke’ part of my business. - *"Anything is achievable from working to tight budgets to wild and crazy installations!"*⁣ ⁣ - It’s so important for my clients to know I’m listening; to trust that I understand their needs & understand their requirements.⁣ - I love to meet over all forms of communication, but you can't beat meeting over a cup of tea or coffee!⁣ ⁣

**Twenty three 1930’s doors!**⁣ --- All recovered from skips and transported in my old yellow convertible VW bug! ⁣ ⁣ Painted a multitude of colours and hung on their sides, to provide the cladding for the inside of my studio. Requests for discarded doors on Facebook and messages from friends spotting old doors in skips around the borough made this possible. ⁣ ⁣ Next door neighbours looked on perplexed at the growing number of doors lining my garden ready for sanding and painting. All became clear…⁣ *well as clear as sideways hanging doors on your walls can be as we screwed the doors to the wall!*⁣ ⁣ ⁣ **Lesson...** Never be scared to add colour or paint. Nothing is permanent. ⁣ ⁣ **Not that I ever plan on taking these 23 doors back off of the walls!⁣** ⁣ ⁣ ⁣

**This sign was bought for me before my studio was built...** --- Finally putting it up on the wall was amazing! A real sense of achievement. It’s a constant visual reminder of William Arthur Ward’s quote, *“If you can imagine it, You can create it. If you can dream it, You can become it’... * it’s all about the imagination for me!

**Bike Wheel** --- One of the random objects I have hanging on the walls! This was a prop I used in a still life class to help students learn about proportion and scale and negative space. So why is it decorating my studio? Sometimes I simply like objects because I like them! There’s no deep meaning. My studio is a place I can surround myself with objects and images that inspire me. Sometimes the breakthrough and inspirational moments come from unexpected sources.

**Montgomery’s Chair** --- I have a studio ‘buddy’... My very own furry apprentice! Introducing ‘Montgomery’ our cockapoo. This is his chair where he is more than happy to keep me company as I make and create!

**Jars of materials** --- No, I didn’t eat all the sweets from all those sweet containers, nor did I drink all of the coffee from all of the jars... **I’m a tea-drinking kinda gal!** I just like to fill them with collage materials. Look at all the colour! It makes me smile. A lot of my work in schools utilises this lot! It’s always useful to have a selection of materials that are *ready to go* for workshops or lessons at short notice.

**Triptych** --- This triptych is just a celebration of boxed art. An indulgent bit of quirkiness for the sheer fun of it!

**An eclectic selection of objects!** --- Old boxes, a silver skull, brushes, a pair of glasses, a vintage cash register toy and an empty bottle of Channel No5! **What’s this all this about?** To anyone else, it looks like a boot sale collection... to me it’s inspiration and nostalgia. I love vintage packaging and distressed surfaces. It’s always been easier for me to work from a *“marked”* or *“used”* surface than being faced with a pristine blank canvas. The nostalgia comes from... - The glasses were once worn by my Pop (grandad) - The brushes belonged to my great uncle who was a French polisher - The empty Channel No5 bottle when opened smells of my Nan (who still wears this perfume in her 90s). Clients have bought me random pictures and objects that they are drawn to and from these objects, which spark the senses and the imagination, great ideas have evolved.

**You found me!!!!** --- Yep, a Pigs head! I make anything!!

**You found me!!!!** --- Zazu (Lion King birds head)

**Bespoke sign** --- I had just received this gift (soon to be on the outside wall of my studio). ⁣ ⁣ My studio was a long time in the making. It’s my happy place, where I find inspiration at all times of the day and night and where I solve design briefs that ultimately make my clients happy. ⁣ ⁣ **Have I mentioned that I love my job!?**⁣ ⁣

**Sketchbooks, sketchbooks, sketchbooks! **⁣ --- They're so important to me. Not only do they act as visual diaries and offer me time to *“switch off”* and simply draw for pleasure whilst continuously learning, but sketchbooks are where ideas and interests are logged and where design solutions evolve. ⁣ ⁣ A clients idea is often verbal, and sketchbooks transform words and ideas into pictures. It is quite normal for a client to *“not know what they want”* or how to articulate it. That can deter prospective clients from making contact. ⁣ ⁣ **Sketchbooks and sample boards can be a simple solution to taking away that anxiety and finding a solution.**⁣ ⁣

**You found me!!!!** --- Just for fun - Look around and you will see just me, me & me!

**Scar (Lion King character head)** --- **Oh my, this was a fantastic and full-on design brief from a local Stage School...** One week to make versions of the 7 main character headdresses from Lion King, plus 15 hyena masks, 15 lioness tiaras, 4 neck dresses, 4 full costume zebras, 4 gazelles, bird headpieces and wings, a life-size warthog and... a partridge in a pear tree! Add to this a very tight budget and there you have my design brief! However, a creative design solution can always be found. Sometimes it’s about thinking outside of the box to make something work.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ **Shhhhh (it’s a secret)... see if you can spot the other character head from this show hidden in the studio!**⁣ ⁣ ⁣