Portfolio

Mussels, Clams, Barnacles & Snails

This is part one of a series of three digital paintings I worked on for A level textiles; inspired by Cornish coastal life. Each painting was created on my iPad using an app called brushes. They are based on highly textured and vivid photographs I took while down there. From these images I have created these graphic works. This piece was inspired by a little nook I found in the rocks on a walk along the beach. It was full to the brim with sea creatures of all kinds. Although it is a digital piece, I have added a paper texture on top of it which makes it seem as though it could have been done traditionally by collaging bits of multicoloured paper. It's an interesting effect and one I continued to use for the other two pieces.

     Seaweed

Down by the docks in St Ives the brick walls that are built by the sea are completely caked in thick layers of seaweed. Here I have put my artwork alongside the original photograph I took. I believe the possibilities for artistic inspiration while looking at this oceanic vegetation to be endless. Jewellery comes to mind and as does fabric design. 

Shells My Grandma Collected 

Here are some shells my grandma collected that I decided to draw: Periwinkles, a sea urchin skeleton, a mussel and limpets just to name a few. 

Mussels

Although this piece was inspired by Cornish coastal life too, it isn't part of the series. It's a similar style but not quite the same and this I did by traditional means rather than digital - mostly. I looked at some of my own photography of mussels and from that created a slightly abstract rendition trying to capture the shapes and textures of barnacle coated mussel shells. I had 'make it good for a repeat pattern' in mind whilst creating it. I drew it in black pen and coloured it with promarkers in different shades of slate purple and blue. Once I had finished I scanned it into photoshop where I used the cut out filter on it which gave it a poster like effect and smoothed it out somewhat making it better for a repeat pattern.

Beach Inspired Gold Velveteen Embroidered Box

This was my final piece for that same project. I took an old box and stitched in a layer of golden velvet down the sides as well as creating a richly adorned lid for it. The lid was inspired by a shelly and pebbly beach. I free machine embroidered some pebble shapes into it before spending many hours stitching in hundreds of tiny glass beads, wooden beads, shells, citrine shards etc. Here you can see a photoset of the process which included removing the original fabric that covered the box to be replaced by the gold velvet, removing the lid entirely, placing the bejewelled calico over it and disguising the heavily worked underside with a piece of velvet before attaching it to the box once again. The lid could be fasted into place with a little press stud I stitched in.

Plants & Creepy Crawlies 

Here is a set of some of the photographs I have taken of bugs and plants over the years. From left to right: 

a cluster of insect eggs - likely centipede, autumnal ferns, ladybug, dew adorned spiderweb, succulent spiral, large garden spider, spider resting on morning glory, cotoneaster and snail.

Mushroom Montage 

I've been a big fan of fungi since I can remember, but it's only in the past few years that I have started to document my fascination. I mostly express it through photography - however I find myself drawing them often too even if it's just a doodle. Here I have arranged some of my favourite specimens. The photographs were taken in either London or Oxford in graveyards and woodlands. I'd love to be a good mushroom identifier, but I'm really quite hopeless as there are just so many hundreds of different types. I aspire to learn the magic of mycology in the near future. Until then I can tell you that I am 99% sure that the one on the bottom left is a cluster of pink oysters. 

Mushroom Adorned Tree

Using some of my own photographs as primary material I created this digital painting of a tree cloaked in mushrooms and boasting some ferns, forget-me-nots and a peacock butterfly. The sections of the tree are all coloured differently; some with a gradient effect. The starry sky and crescent moon background is simple but dreamy and effective and doesn't deduct from the main subject of the piece which is of course the tree. This piece is from the graphic illustration project I am currently working on in my foundation course called 'Angel's Aren't Real' which is a book I am working on about alien hybrids, spirits, the sixth sense and the relationship between mother nature and god.  

Gemini 

Another illustration from my current project - this time of my original character Gemini. She's a purple haired alien hybrid who in spirit form has massive albino bat wings and an impressive gecko tail. I drew this on my ipad and used a variety of textures which gives is a more three-dimensional effect. Her outfit is based on an outfit of my own. 

Pulp Fiction Poster 

Graphics A level final piece featuring characters Butch, Jules, Vincent and Mia Wallace. 

Chey & Gavin 

This is a digital painting I did of my sister and her boyfriend as a christmas present for her. I put a lot of work in - using a colour picker to pick up colours from the original photograph of the two of them I managed to create a mosaic like effect with my brush strokes. If you look at Gavin's arm you can see it is made up of hundreds of slightly varying shades of skin tone. 

My Shop - Best Selling Designs 

I have a shop on a website called RedBubble where I sell my photography, illustrations and designs on t-shirts, cases, pillows, stickers, leggings, skirts, duvets, clocks, scarves, bags, canvases etc. Here are some of my most popular designs available on different products. In the shop you can click on a design and see all the merchandise it's available on. As an artist, you can decide what products your designs are available on as well as resize/ reshape your work in order for it to fit onto the garment, case or home decor.  Even though I am yet to make any serious money, it's really encouraging for me to see that people like my work and to get my stuff out there. 

If your interested &it's appropriate here is the link to my shop redbubble.com/people/coraln

Mirrored Circular Pattern

Here I have created a symmetrical circular pattern from a black quarter circle patterned digital drawing. By repeating and by mirroring the image horizontally/ vertically or both I have managed to create this mandala-esque pattern. It works well as a repeat pattern. 

Patterns - A Colourful Collection

Using that same drawing as before I managed to create a whole collection of different patterns for my shop! They don't just vary in colour, but shape and size too. As they are all made from the same drawing, they are somewhat similar. I managed to create these patterns by zooming in on certain details in the original image and mirroring and repeating them. On the left you can see just the patterns, and in the set of images on the right you can see each pattern on something available in my shop. 

Gemini And Mushroom Adorned Tree Bags

I've ordered a number of things from my shop and so far these bags are all that has arrived. These photographs really don't do them justice at all but unfortunately I have not yet had a chance to do a proper photoshoot with a model. I will do this once all the other things I ordered have arrived and my model can have a full outfit of things I have designed. I really like the way these bags came out - they are well printed and the material is good quality. It's quite something to see ones designs look presentable on merchandise.