2013 so far..Part 2 Mitcham Valentine's Market

Thursday 14th February 2013 brought love and romance to Mitcham for Valentine's Day in the form of the Mitcham Valentine's Market. The event was the first in a series of events designed to revitalise the town centre as part of the Rediscover Mitcham project – a multi million pound project to improve Mitcham town centre.

Organised by One Mitcham and funded by the Mayor’s Outer London Fund and Merton Council, Mitcham town centre was transformed into  a romantic haven of hearts, flowers and cupcakes. A timetable of highlights included dancing, balloon twisting, facepainting and even free tea and cake! The events ran into the evening with dozens of jazzed up stalls to invite the local community to the event.

I had the honour of working with the Architects Studio Weave to decorate the market stalls by hand lettering romantic signs such as "Hello Sauce Pot (kitchenware)" and "Get Fruity (greengrocer). The  day was an enjoyable event and I was able to have a chat with the stall holders about the project and what they thought of the revamped market. There was also a bit of spontaneous sign making on the day too which kept me busy.

2013 so far..Part 1 The Call of the Wild Exhbition

This year went off to an exciting start with the preparations for the Call of the Wild exhibition curated by my fellow Kingston alumni illustrator Laura Hughes. Artists were asked to create an original piece in documenting the wilderness in the city. There was some really exciting work from the likes of Colourbox and Sandra Dieckmann. Plus there was a jam packed merchandise table at the end of the room selling prints, cards and trinkets which proved to be a real hit at the Private View. 

My London Wild gate below with some pics of the exhibition.

Images 36 Gallery Talk - Illustration in Architecture and Surface Design Jill Tytherleigh and Studio Weave

I was invited to talk about my work as part of the Images 36 Best of British Illustration exhibition. The AOI and Somerset House set up free gallery talks to the public on the four Sundays during the exhibition. I was very nervous, but after a little stumble at the start the Bach's remedy kicked in and I managed to present my folder of preparatory work. Maria from Studio Weave Architects was kind enough to support me and provide architectural background information to the project whilst dropping in questions.

Often when I go to talks I'm fascinated by the process and how the artist has reached the final image and so I thought it would be interesting to show my visual reference and initial sketches to the audience. I showed how the pattern used elements of the Art Deco style in ship's ballrooms, cinemas and how I tried to fuse it with the shape of the roses in Roses & Castle's visual language. For the borders on the ovals I picked out the delicate tear drops in the Roses & Castles frame. The buildings were chosen as they were along the canal path, the 3 Mills, Big Breakfast House and the brilliantly named Cathedral of Sewage.

We explained that one challenge that we had to overcome when illustrating for architecture was the large scale factor. Maria had to draw a CAD drawing of a single unit of the pattern to scale which I then had to draw over accurately using a light box. The fabric also had to be cut in such a way so the illustration could fit into 1m x 1m squares repeated and the pattern had to be seen both the right way up and upside down as the puff roof would be seen from all sides.

It was a great opportunity and even though I was reluctant to talk to an audience at first I'm glad I took myself out of my comfort zone and gave it a go! The exhibition is on until 28th October 2012 and it is free to the public.

AOI Images 36 exhibition at Somerset House

I was pleasantly surprised to find my Floating Cinema Puff Pattern screenprint framed beautifully on the wall of the first room of the AOI Images 36 exhibition at Somerset House. The private view on Tuesday was a great event and I was proud to have work hanging  in amongst some fabulous illustrators like Olaf Hajek, Gemma Robinson, Chris Haughton and Ekaterina Trukhan. It was also very nice to bump into fellow Kingston University Alumni Rosalind Richards along with my illustrator friend Laura Hughes, and to catch up on how we have found the world of illustration after graduating. The exhibition is free to the public and is on until 28th October.

Jubilee Jamboree!

I've been busying away printing a fresh batch of tea towels and exclusive bunting for those all important Diamond Jubilee celebrations coming up in June. Come and see and say hello at my stalls here:

Sunday 13th May - Pop Up Vintage Fairs - Hampstead Town Hall
Sunday 27th May - Pop Up Vintage Fairs - Islington Town Hall
Sunday 3rd June -  Diamond Jubilee Festival - Battersea Park
Saturday 9th June - Fifi's Contemporary Market - Old Spitafields Market

 

Diamond Jubilee bunting in regal purple

Jilltydrawings stocked in Roses and String on the revamped Queens Parade Willesden Green

Address: Unit 3, Queen's Parde, Walm Lane, Willesden Green, London

I was delighted to be invited to stock some of my homewares at one of the eight shops opening along the newly revamped Queen's Parade in Willesden Green. Roses & String was one of the successful new traders to have secured a temporary lease of a formerly vacant eight unit property as part of the New Windows on Willesden Green project. Funded by the Mayor's Outer London fund, the aim was to bring back life to the Willesden High Road shopping experience where the businesses were able to trade rent-free, while residents and other visitors to the area get the opportunity to support fledgling local businesses.

The launch party was a huge success and I was so impressed by Laura and Heather of Roses & String for arranging such an inviting curiosity shop of homemade gifts and treats.

Spring Markets ahoy!

Come along to my spring markets for those all important Mother's Day cards and special homeware gifts. My next market will be at the Craft and Vintage Fair at the Library pub in Islington on Saturday 17th March, one that I have not done before so it will be very exciting for me. The next will be the legendary Crafty Fox Market at the Dogstar Pub in Brixton on Sunday 25th March renowned for it's buzzing atmosphere and variety of talented stallholders.

Screenprinting Workshop at the Pilot Shop in Willesden Green

Studio Weave Architects invited me to join them in running a free stencil screenprinting workshop at the Pilot Shop in Willesden Green as part of the New Windows in Willesden Green project. Despite the teething problems of a bumpy work surface and minimal clean up space for screenprinting, we managed to eventually produce some sharp stencils prints of some of the components used in our kebab window designs. The kids we were teaching seemed happy with their printed horses, lemons and chilli peppers!

Real Charcoal window illustrations

In December I had the pleasure of working with Studio Weave Architects to collaborate on designs for illustrations for two of the big windows at Real Charcoal Kebab shop along with the projecting light box sign. I worked closely with the Studio Weave team where I was asked to fit drawings into their doner kebab spit design - one depicting the history of the kebab and one showing ingredients and steps on how to make the perfect kebab. We also decided to occupy the vacant light box sign with a persian soldier carving a kebab which turned out to be a super bonus when the illustration lit up at night!

The commission was part of the New Windows on Willesden Green project where the shop fronts on Willesden Green had makeovers to breathe life into the high street. An Outer London Fund project, NWoWG was delivered for Brent Council and Design for London by The Architecture Foundation in collaboration with Meanwhile Space and Blue Consulting. The Architecture Foundation paired each design team with a local shop owner to work together to create a new window display that both attracts new customers and forms part of a giant advent calendar in the run up to Christmas (each shop has its own ‘big reveal’ date in December).

See some of the other windows here.

Crafty Fox Xmas Market @ The Dogstar in Brixton

The Dogstar Pub in Brixton was transformed into this amazing Crafty Fox Xmas Market on Sunday. I was designated the sofa area which turned out to be great. The only regret was that the constant stream of customers coming in meant that I couldn't get away to look at the other amazing stalls! Managed to buy some great tape from a lovely lady called Zeena very inspirational with what she does. Also my lovely craft friend Miwa Vicary was situated opposite so we had lots of lovely in between chats whilst looking at her amazing fabric tea cups and collars!

We Make London Xmas event at Battersea Arts Centre

Such a high standard of sellers this year at We Make London's Christmas event. The hall was very impressive and the stalls enjoyed some carol singers on the stage. I met a lovely lady called Rebecca from Biba's Tea Party, we shared a stall and our tea time theme worked really well together. I had to buy some of her amazing London 2012 paperchains, lets hope there are many street parties to look forward to with the Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee!

Vintage Tea Party and Gift Xmas Fair 3.12.2011

The festivities started at the Vintage Tea Party and Gift Xmas Fair on 3rd December 2011. It was such a cosy event with the aroma of mulled wine and festive music. I couldn't resist having a Vintage style makeover by Pincurls and Pout ready for my Christmas Jumper party that evening!