Space + Pattern

This week has been super busy as always, I think I was having the most stressful day ever on Tuesday, you know when everything possible that could go wrong goes wrong. But I resolved it all wednesday, I was super proud of myself for sorting everything out a warm feeling and I just wanted to shout go me!! 

At the moment, I am not entirely sure what colour my hair is, one moment it is deep read, the next it is light purple and you know what i actually love it, waking up not knowing what colour it might be is fun. Thank you for all your kind words about my last outfit post, you are so lovely and complimentary about my hair I also wanted to take the time to thank you for the kind comments about my Note from me to you post, you beautiful support people. It really is surprising when I went on my twitter ella_masters how many of you also suffer from Dyslexia. It was really heart warming to read all your kind words. 

So now onto my outfit, the dress I am wearing was an impulse buy after seeing the beautiful Gem wearing it in her latest post, she is just one of my favs. Now i really hate being mean about companies but there was a bit of drama involving this dress (at the start of this post i talked about drama here is part of it) the delivery was awful basically the driver decided that he couldn't find my address in his sat-nav so took my item back to the depot, even though I had paid for next day delivery you can imagine I wasn't happy thank god for twitter the delivery company were so helpful and the problem was solved the next day thanks to a lovely lady called sam over on the twitter customer service who managed to calm me down ( i hate talking on the phone) and sort everything out you star!

Anyway, the dress itself is so wonderful and I am really glad I decided to purchase it from asos, its made from a soft stretch cotton with beautiful galactic patterning, perfect for . My Topshop boots were my treat to myself at Christmas I wore them when I was shopping in Oxford you know that time it really rained hard (haha doesn't narrow it down does it, everyday it rains I live in England) and now I have a water stain on the leather but I don't mind i like the worn look. Oh forgive my little pinkie finger with its big fat plaster, I pulled my little fingers nail off it hurt a lot totally by accident, silly finger, silly me. 

In other news on Wednesday night I registered to go to London Fashion Week, I am looking forward to hearing back, but I think if I don't get a pass I want to go along and snap some street style photos. Now there is something to look forward to who else has registered and are you going?

/ ASOS - Dress / Blazer - Newlook / Boots - Topshop -similar / Belt - hand-made / Necklace - datter and graduation present  / Bag - Ella Masters   scarf - Charity shop /

Inspired by : Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood

Todays Inspired by post is by one of my favourite art movements the pre-raphelites brotherhood, the deep velvety colours and floral patterns are a must in any Pre-Raphaelitet painting. I could talk about my love for their creations for hours, but I shan't bore you. They were the reason why I lived the bohemian lifestyle when I was at university down in cornwall, my best friend has the perfect Pre-Raphaelite look, long hair, she would always wear floral layers and we would paint for hours in our studio. I do love remembering those moments. I think I will always have an infinity with the art and the movement. The clothes are subtle versions of what kelly use to wear, its all about the deep colour and details.

/ Trousers / Beaded necklace / Silk top / Blue Dress / Leather wedges / Floral head-dress / 

a note from me to you.

I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone that reads my blog, comments and follows me. I do sometimes forget when I am writing and taking photos that people take the time to head over here and bother to read, I am baffled and humbled at the same time, I love blogging so much and being able to share so much with you and getting such a positive love and great responses from you all really means the world. I was reading all my tagged tweets from readers the other day for the #bbloggers feed and so many of you felt inspired by me which is so amazing and awesome and I do forget that. 

Recently blogging has really been my only online creative outlet allowing me to speak to and get to know so many creative and inspiring people, there are so many layers to blogging it a full community of beautiful resources ready to inspire and produce the best in someone.

My turning point for this blog and realisation that i could be good at something was a break up of my long term relationship almost two years ago, it was a chance for me to do something for myself and push myself away from what I had been and what I had lost. All the negativity no longer had a place in my heart and ella was born (thats not a child thats just my name and my blog ha!). I am so grateful for that break up and how it ended, I do know that he still reads this so thank you. I am such a believer of fate and paths and things happening for a reasons and my path lead me here. 

Blogging itself is more popular then ever, the amount of people who have blogs is astonishing and I really love it, people finding their voice online is truly amazing. If you had told me at school or even when I first started at uni that I would write and publish text on the internet I probably would of panicked and past out not a lot of you are aware that I have server Dyslexia like when I was tested at uni I got 1 out of 50 on the test, not to mention my 5 second memory, yep my short term memory is 5 seconds, pretty crazy right, i get a lot of people say "you haven't emailed me back" sometimes i forget sorry, not a good trait in a blogger! The lady testing me was amazed that I had even got into university, what I am trying to say in my own ramble round about way, is that this blog has given me a voice and a passion that would of terrified me less then four years ago. The thought of sharing anything set fear in me, like you wouldn't believe any now over sixty thousand people read it every month.  When you see my art and creations ( which i love to share) the hard work of finding my place, pushing and working hard really didn't come easy, and being supported by so many of you who return everyday to read is truly is heart warming. To put myself visually out there and then to put my illustrations and drawings out there to a warm reception not that i do it for that but it is a perk is always s lovely. This space is ever expanding, its a sort of extension of my brain and thoughts, a little like those early myspace days....how awesome where those! haha! 

So what I am trying to say is if you want to blog do it, if you want to share pictures of your cat whats stopping you? nothing should be the answer. Don't let the fact you can't spell all that well, or your camera is rubbish..draw. If you want to share your passion and love you'll find a way. Do what you love and do it well. Thank you 

rock and red

First outfit of 2013 on the blog, and since loosing a stone since christmas, I think I am making a conscious choice to dress nicely.  I wanted to share with you my look for the first half of my week working in my studio, its a pretty basic. You are probably thinking she wears her leather jacket in her studio...No i don't but I wear it on the way to the post office. The majority of this outfit is new, I grabbed most of it in the left over January sale, my urban outfitter boots are my new favourite item in my wardrobe, I wear them with everything, I like to think it adds an edginess to my outfits. The skirt I grabbed the other day before meeting Lydia Bright from Topshop, I am always a little worried about wearing skirts with a dip hem because of my hips and little legs but I really love this skirt, my studded leather jacket is also a bargain from Topshop, I am going to have to sell my old h&m leather jacket as it is now too big for me, so keep your eyes peeled for my next sale. 

I find it is always nice to get properly dressed when I am working I think I feel far more motivated when I feel like I am actually dressed as if I am going out. I have heard from alot of other freelancers and self-employed people that they also do this, to make them feel like they are going to work. I do love working from the comfort of my studio.

In other news my red hair is very red at the moment, I am loving the change of hair colour, soon to be brunette though. I am rather excited about sending out all my new orders! If you fancy a little valentines card for your loved one or a cool tote my shop has lots of wonderful things in. 

give me space with Joanne Hawker

So here is my second instalment of my new feature Give me space Featuring the lovely Joanne who creates wonderful illustrations. Joanne shares her illustration process, talks about her space and where you can find her creations

Please introduce yourself:

Hello! I am Joanne Hawker and I currently live in a small corner of Somerset where I drink far too much tea and draw pictures! I graduated from the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff in 2010 and since then I have been working a variety of wonderful freelance projects whilst working full time. I was lucky enough to have a piece of my work in John Lewis, Oxford Street over the summer during the Olympics and took part in project by Pointe Blank, which saw my work in the Cardiff Design Festival and the Eye Candy Illustration Festival! Recently I took the plunge to open up a Not On The High Street Shop where people can own a little piece of my world!

Talk to me a little bit about your space? And what you have photographed:

My creative workspace is quite a small one as you can see from my picture. It’s actually in a corner of my mother’s living room and is usually far messier than that! I have my own print above the desk, a copy of which was in the Oxford Street store of John Lewis this summer. I have my trusty pot of pens, a desk calendar and a huge stack of Mollie Makes. The drawers are full up with sketchbooks, more pens and various tapes. You can also see my new toy! A Canon printer for printing my new personalised prints. I also have various boxes of paper, art materials and an owl cushion. My chair is covered in blankets to make it look a little cosier and they are there for when the cold comes in through the door. The fox cushion that I made also looks after my space. It’s nice to have a space of my own but it soon gets filled up with rubbish and doesn’t stay tidy for long. Before you know it I’ve taken over most of the living room! Ok so now I’ll you a bit about the other things that I have photographed.

Calendar Pages: For the last two years my boyfriend has bought me a calendar by Gingiber from Etsy. Its out of date now but I don’t really care. I didn’t want them for the dates I wanted them for the illustrations! So they still sit on my desk so I can have a look at them when I want to

Pens: I have quite a lot of pens and these are a very small few. I like to have a variety of fine liners, roller balls and poscas. I also have a thing about a red biro right now. No idea why as it’s a really cheap pen and I’ve broken it which is why its not in the photo!

As I mentioned before the draw in my desk is where I stash my sketchbooks. You’ll notice from the photo that everything appears black and white. It’s very rare that you find illustrations that are full colour. At the same time its not very often you will find a neat finished drawing. I mainly use the sketchbooks for scribbling. Some of it is VERY rough. It only gets neatened up when it’s put into the computer. Then I draw it all over digitally using my pen tablet.

Diary: I have a confession to make about diaries. Last year I had the most beautifully illustrated diary. The sort that you don’t want to ruin by scribbling in. Anyway, I wrote in all my details, birthdays and addresses and had the best intentions of using it. Needless to say I completely forgot about it and didn’t use it all! This Christmas my younger sister bought me this owl diary. I have good intentions to use it and have started scribbling things in. Lets start a wager. How long until I forget about it and don’t use it?

This is my little collection of Ammo Magazines. I also have the other limited editions they have done. I love these magazines. They are so small but contain wonderful illustrations and great interviews. One day I hope to be good enough to be considered to be a part of it.

This is my insane budgie Bobo. He keeps me company when I’m designing and generally losing the plot when my laptop gets the spinning wheel of doom! He seems to have a thing about The Lion King Soundtrack and squawks like mad when he hears it! He also likes to chew on my finger, sometimes he can be quite vicious about it but its all ok. 

Why does it inspire you? 

It doesn’t really. My desk is usually a massive mess so I just sit on my sofa and scribble. I’ll move to the table when I get my pen tablet out though.

If it doesn't inspire you how can you make it more inspiring?

I’d love to have a bigger space, a larger desk and lots of storage. I’d also plaster the walls in inspiring images and other lovely things. However, I’m not allowed to do that because my space is in my mother’s living room and she wouldn’t appreciate me re-wallpapering her walls!

What’s your favourite part of your space?

It’s not too far from the kitchen! So I can make as many cups of tea as I like with minimal effort. And the fact it’s near the conservatory doors so I can look out into the garden if I want to.

Is your space always evolving?

My space is a vicious circle of mess – tidy, tidy-mess, mess-tidy etc etc. It’s a losing battle. It also tends to sprawl a bit. Might have to put a stop to that soon.

Do you think your personality shines through in your space?

No, not as much as I would like it too. If I could do all of the things I stated in the ‘make it more inspiring’ section then I think it would. I can’t wait to have my own house then I can go mad on decorating and make it a little more ‘me’.

Is having your own space important to your creative process?

The space isn’t really that important in the creative process. I can draw anywhere. Everything starts with a basic idea. Either a song lyric gets stuck in my head or I see something and make a quick scribble. Then later on I’ll go back to my book and see what I’ve made and something will jump out and I’ll develop it from there. I’ll draw it up a little bit neater and then I’ll whip out my wacom bamboo pen tablet and draw it into my laptop. Once its there I play around with it until I’m happy and then I reveal it to the world! I can do that in my living room, at my boyfriends or even on a train if I had to. 

Do you use this space to photograph your products/art?

I don’t as the surface is not that great and the natural light isn’t really in the right place. When I photograph my prints for my shop I pop over the road to my nan’s house and use her back bedroom where the natural light is almost perfect. She also has a lovely wooden dresser with magnolia painted walls. This means that I can change the wall colour to what ever I want!

Tell me a little bit about your work and what you create...

At the moment I mainly create prints to go into my shop but I’m looking into new products that I can create. I also do freelance design work, which is good fun and keeps me busy. My work could be described as something for the young or for those who are young at heart. I love, love, love to design for children and some of my newest prints are suitable for a young child’s bedroom/nursery. I have also recently been experimenting with typography as it was something that I was never really good at so it’s good to practice at your weaknesses! Out of that I managed to create a few prints that I am really happy with. My work is designed to make you smile, feel good and mostly importantly for you to enjoy.

Please describe yourself in 5 words.

Quirky, Passionate, Enthusiastic, Designer and Tea Pot. 

You can find Joanne work all over the internet, Not on the high street you can find wonderful creations, also Joanne has a lovely etsy shop, you can also find Joanna across all social networking sites,  facebook, twitter she also has a portfolio available to view.

I hope you have enjoyed my second Instalment of give me space, I am a massive fan of Joanne's creations, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I love her cosy space perfect for being creative in. Enjoy!

Bloggers interview Lydia Brights New collection for Littlewoods

On Tuesday, I had one of the best blogging days to date, ( my sister a massive towie fan was beside herself when I told her, the only way is Essex is the only reality show I have watched in the last ten years) 

Me and a other bloggers were invited along by Littlewoods to hold an interview with Lydia Bright herself, I pondered over the questions I was going to ask for a few days, As I have always been impressed by Lydia's professional determination and mix of fashion sense, being a business woman myself I thought one of my questions has to be about her ambition within her businesses and her creativity. So my first question to Lydia was; You seem to be involved in every element of designing, promoting and creating your collections how do you stay motivated and inspired?

I was so enthralled by her talking, I found her so inspiring, she talked about how her mum had taught her if you want to do something well you have to do it properly, and how she loved going to fabric sampling, how she enjoys all the aspects of creating her designs. You could really see how passionate she was about designing her collection and being able to be involved in all aspects, especially having the ability to create her collections inspired by the things you can see she evidentially loves, vintage and the 50's.

She dressed in a vintage style cape from her collection, the gold and pale pink was perfect for her skin colour. Everything in the collection had hints and flavours from by gone fashion, Lydia said at one point in the interview that she was creating pieces for every type of female, which you can see in the collection, a mixture of embellished flapper style dresses that wouldn't be out of place at parties in the 20's to tailored style dresses that I am pretty sure Marilyn Monroe if still alive would be adored in.

My next question got a few laughs, linking in with Ms Monroe I asked Lydia if possible which other celebrity dead or alive would you love to see wearing your collection, Lydia did reply her dream would be marilyn, but alive she chose SJP. I found Lydia to be inspiring, she really did lighten the room with a starlet quality. I was really enthralled by her answers, in depth and to the point. Her collection was created within England only the embellishment was done abroad, which I thought really makes a change from other clothes out there on the market at the moment. You can see her flare within the collection. I really think it is always good to see someone passionate about something they have created be it a dress or a painting and getting the opportunity to be part of that to be a privilege. 

Lydia also talked about running Bella Sorella (beautiful sisters in italian) which is a shop in Essex that Lydia and her sister Georgia run. (which i just spent a full 30 minutes totally distracted from this post looking through all their clothes oops!) It was so nice to hear about her family and how down to earth she was, we talked about my job and dealing with children with ADHD as her brother has it, it was calming I think for all of us that Lydia was so relaxed and we were all able to free-style the interview between us bloggers. 

One of my favourite part of the collection was the white Draped V-neck dress, which you can see me holding in the photo above. I think I liked it the most, because the simplicity but then again the detailing on the collar, it was different to other laced collar dresses I have seen recently. The embellishment and lace on the dresses was beautiful and the mixture of styles was reflected in Lydia's love for vintage and by gone fashion. 

I thought I would take away from the interview a few ideas about clothes and fashion, but the main thing I think I took away from meeting Lydia for littlewoods was that if you can dream big, have ambition a passion and drive you can create amazing things and still be stylish, hard working and love what you do. 

I just wanted to take the time to thank the littlewoods team and Lydia for such a lovely night. 

So Whats your favourite lydia Bright dress? 

*Illustration by Ella Masters