This week in the Studio – 5th February

This week has been a wonderful mix of freelance design work and working towards the launch of my new collection. Plus I had a really exciting meeting with a London landmark about a possible commission. 

I started the week with my exciting top secret (for now) meeting and afterwards, I strolled along the Embankment to Tate Britain to see the Lynette Yiadom-Boakye exhibition and have some lovely lunch and a few hours working in the Member Room – I love the beautiful domed ceiling. I spent the time writing a blog post (you can read it here) about my month of reflection and why I decided to take my business in a new direction. I also wrote to my VIP Club about this pivot and gave them access to 30% off across my whole site! 

Just to catch you up if you haven't read my last post – I’ve decided to stop producing my tea towels, cushions and cards, etc, focusing instead on the art, workshops and commission side of my business. So if you’ve had your eye on something, its best to snap it up now before it sells out and sign up for my newsletter to get your exclusive code or it will open up to everyone mid-February.

I spent a lot of time working on the compositions of my new collection of artworks, going back to basics with paper, pencil and paint, and it felt wonderful, it was so meditative just focussing on colour and shape and where the form took me. I also knew I wanted these to be a series of multi-framed pieces that formed one artwork, yes they are going to be big and I have a lot to collect, eek!

Through the process of trying out lots of geometric compositions, I narrowed the colour palette of the collection to black, white (and glass), silver and gold. This was fantastic as on Tuesday when I went to the Sunbury Antiques Market at Kempton Race Course and could really have laser focus on what I needed to keep my eyes peeled for. And I made real headway with this, I found so many and had such a good haul, it really was a treasure trove.

All in all, it was a really productive week with the limited time I had to apply myself – although I did have a coffee at 3 one day and end up painting until midnight while watching Make It At Market! Have you seen it? I love the honest talk about money and the value of good craftsmanship. 

What I'm reading…
I'm a huge fan of Patricia and Anne-Marie and everything they do at the Design Trust, they are a fountain of knowledge and support, I don't know where I would be without them. For this month's book club we are reading Finance for the People by Paco de Leon. Looking forward to shifting my money mindset and talking about it with other later in the month.

Looking ahead…
The big highlight of next week is the massive IACF market at Newark, my train ticket is booked and I can't wait to get there. I will be popping lots of highlights on my Instagram so make sure you stop by.

Pip x