So, I am officially grinning like a lunatic right now. Most of the day. Winning the 101010 thing was unbelievable to me - a person who wins nothing ever.

Before winning I was stressed to the max because i'd committed to take quite a bit of unpaid leave from my job this year in order to prepare for 2 solo exhibitions.



I had saved some money to do this but it was tight, and I have a bad book habit to feed as well (educational as well as trashy).

So, you can imagine the amount of pressure to actually sell some work....normally I go into an exhibition on the assumption that i'll lose money or at least make a very paltry amount (There are numerous reasons for this from postage costs to travel costs and framing and % commissions) but it's fine with me...I have a wage coming in and I can afford to do that in order to self-promote and take part in exhibitions I like the sound of.



But this time I knew I couldn't really afford to do that. I had to either eat beans all year or sell some big work at the first exhibition...

Then I entered 101010! I didn't expect to win but I thought there were ok odds in the first-time submitters category. I expected lower volumes of entries. And I think that was the case....it was worth a shot anyway.

My giddy joy at winning has lasted several days already and will probably continue all year. I'm incredibly thankful for the weight it's taken off my shoulders.



Anyway, all for now, time to put the painting head on and get doing!

Thanks all for your encouragements and generosity when I first came here X

The last few months i've been away and unable for one reason or another to do anything much...but hopefully that is changing now!

Christmas is usually the time where everyone else gets merry and I work madly in my room trying to crack the back of some poor painting.....I'm betting most of you are the same!

Anyway, I decided to submit a tee with one of my drawings from this year on it...The original drawing was quite grisly so I removed that aspect of it.



I will probably submit another one later which the very helpful Terry Fan suggested and then I really do need to start on some more paintings! My solo show in England is fast approaching. I won't be working for the most of the 2 months before it so I know I have that time....even so, the pressure is rather starting to show!

Anyway, all for now! Happy xmas peeps.

This is just a wee 'Hello' post. I'm new to designing anything for silkscreen or t-shirts so I hope you'll all be gentle with me! :)

It's a lot harder than I initially anticipated, and not only that but the range of things that Threadless can do seems to become more complex the longer I spend ogling their shirts.

I'm generally used to either painting or making toys. For folk what are interested in the toys side of things, here's my toy gallery:
http://pickle-town.typepad.com/photos/toys/

Most of the above are moving or hand-cranked automata. Very simple mechanisms but proof that a few scraps of wood can make a bit of magic happen.

Generally though the toy-work has had to go on a back burner as I prepare for a first solo exhibition of paintings. A sample of these being here:
http://pickle-town.typepad.com/photos/gallery/

I'm also on Society6 if you prefer! http://www.society6.com/studio/littlerobot

Seems like most folk on here, like me, have lots of creative outlets & activities? Shirts are just one aspect of their output. It's a funny old world - the general perception of an artist is that they are pretty lazy or disorganized, but I don't know a single artist who doesn't try to cram work into every second of their life!

I say all this in the knowledge that i'm up at 4am - again - trying to get some blogging/painting/and responding to emails done before I go to my job ;) & I realize you're probably all doing the same completely going against popular perception....And the fact is that tottering along, propped up by coffee I wouldn't have it any other way!

Anyway, here's to hoping for new friends and lots of laughs

X