A penguin for christmas :)

British Woodworking Magazine!

I am extremely pleased to let everyone know that the book I helped produce Richard Fyson, Cabinet Maker, Legacy of a Master Craftsman is currently featured in British Woodworking Magazine, The UK's No.1 magazine for woodworking! The August/September issue of the magazine can be bought in WHSmith for £3.75. 


The next issue of the magazine will include a review of the book which we are very excited about. 


Richard Fyson, Cabinet Maker, Legacy of a Master Craftsman was published in May 2012 and is for sale at £35.00. If you are interested in purchasing a copy then please email me at mail@felicityfrench.co.uk. 

Pink and yellow and grey and . . . .

I have been working on a new range of everyday greeting cards inspired by a limited palette of pink, grey and yellow, incorporating pattern and typography. I think the patterned designs would also look great on gift wrap. I hope you like them!

Poem for Jelly

Here is one of my latest children's illustrations. Commissioned for a little girls birthday, the poem is by Rebecca Taylor. We received this lovely email from the customer - 

"We were blown away with it. I showed her last night so it gives her the weekend to rustle up a nice looking frame to match Angelica’s bedroom. Please pass on our thanks to Felicity too. The intricate detail with the colours on the dress and hair of the bouncy little girl on the trampoline was a nice touch."

The Book Launch of Richard Fyson, Cabinet Maker, Legacy of a Master Craftsman

As many of you will be aware I have been working on a book about my grandfather's (Richard Fyson) life as a cabinet maker for about 8-10 months. After two very intense final months of work, the book was printed and bound and 55 copies were delivered to my house; the excitement as I opened the first box and held a real copy in my hands was amazing! After working on a project for so long it was great to finally have the finished product; the book looked even better than I had imagined. 


My grandfather made furniture and special pieces for churches, schools, colleges and domestic use. Some of his more well known pieces include two lovers' knot chairs for St Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol, a carved dove for St Swithun's Church, Kennington, a carved cow trophy for the British Holstein Society and a spectacular set of bargeboards for the stunning Tudor house, Compton Wynyates. He also undertook a large amount of antique restoration work. His career spanned over four decades of which this book provides a comprehensive overview. 

Last Monday was part of the long Jubilee bank holiday so we picked this day for the book launch. My uncle (who commissioned the project), was over from Australia for a few weeks so this was the perfect opportunity to hold the event. We had a marquee, display of furniture made by my grandpa, pimms, plenty of fabulous food, champagne and cakes galore! Over fifty people turned up; family, friends and two of my grandfather's former apprentices, Carl Mapes and Matthew Burt (Matthew has written a tribute in the book). My Uncle Christopher and close family friend and editor Vicky delivered fantastic speeches, followed by a timely unveiling of the book from under Grandpa's old apron, by my Grandmother, Ella. There was much cheer and applause! Everyone seemed very impressed with the book and we quickly sold over forty copies! I was thrown into sales and book-signing (which is a lot harder after a few pimms!). 

It has been such a privilege to work on this book and to learn all about my grandfather's life and works. It couldn't have been done without my mum, Mandy, my uncle Christopher and Vicky, what a team! 

The book is hardback with a dust jacket, colour, landscape, just under A3 in size and approximately 280 pages. It is full of photos (old and new) of my grandfather's work and lots of supporting text. It includes a CD digital archive with over 600 images of his work. They are selling for £35.00 each, a bargain! Please contact me if you would like a copy. Detailed images of the book are coming soon in another blog post.

I hope you enjoy the photos of the launch day . . . now to sell the rest!

Vector me

Being able to vector art is such a handy skill to have, so I have been busily practising my illustrator skills, I think I am starting to get the hang of it . . . 

Elephants

A couple of elephant inspired card designs I have been working on. They would also work well on wrapping paper and stationery.

Maps!

As my grandfather's work can be found all over the country we thought it would be nice to create two maps - one of England, and one of Oxfordshire - to show the general distribution of his furniture in churches, colleges and schools. I just love maps, and it gave me a chance to practice my skills on Illustrator!

St George's Church

As I wrote a coupe of months ago, I have been compiling a coffee-table book documenting my grandfather's profession as a cabinet-maker. The book 'Richard Fyson - Cabinet Maker, Legacy of a Master Craftsman', is full of photographs of his work. It includes items made for churches, schools, universities, colleges and domestic use, as well as antique restoration. My grandfather made the beautiful altar below for Kencot Church in Oxfordshire. The grapes are inlaid in ebony and the leaves in boxwood. My Granny wrote a poem about Kencot Church and I have used the grapes and leaves depicted on the altar to create a decorative border for the poem. The book will be going to print tomorrow which is very exciting!

Greeting cards

A few more greeting card designs . . . .

Happy Mother's Day!

Since doing the previous poem, I was commissioned to illustrate a second mother's day poem, this one written by Rebecca Taylor. It was a gift from a little girl to her mum - the two people in the poem.

One more step along the world I go . . .

A few weeks ago I was commissioned to illustrate a mother's day poem for Rebecca Taylor. She will soon be launching a new company - The One and only Story People - writing and illustrating personalised children's books. I will be involved with illustrating the stories which is all very exciting! Here is the poem . . . 

Mothers Day Cards

I am so ashamed that I have not posted anything on my blog for nearly three months, I can only blame having a hectic life with too much going on for my laziness! I have been busily creating new designs, so over the next few days I will start posting them up. Here are a couple of Mothers Day designs I have made recently.

New christmas card design

So my dad asked me to design him a christmas card based on the theme nine ladies dancing . . . this is what I came up with. First I drew the ladies by hand, painted them separately with watercolour and added this on using photoshop, I added the red border to make it more christmassy!

Book update!

I thought it was time for an update on how the book and digital archive of my grandpa's work is coming along. All four photo albums are now scanned, and in total there are over 600 photos! I am now going through the process of resizing, rotating and retouching them on Photoshop before adding them to the spreadsheet I made. The spreadsheet includes descriptions of the pieces, the date they were made/restored, any extra information on the work and photographs of the items. Below are screen shots of the spreadsheet so you can see how I am doing it. I have completed the first two Albums and am half way through the third, this album has nearly 300 photos so it is taking a while! Once it is done I will have made a full and comprehensive digital archive of his work. Then it's just the book!

Ragamala: Painting's from India

Whilst we were in Brighton we came across an exhibition on Ragamalas, which are miniature Indian paintings dating back to 1605. Commissioned under royal patronage, they tell stories of love and devotion, longing and loss, anguish and separation. The exhibition is based on the collection of Claudio Moscatelli, and is accompanied by Indian miniature paintings from Brighton Museum's own collection.

The paintings are minute, incorporating figures, animals, buildings, mythical creatures and Gods. It is amazing how the artists painted them as some of the brushwork is so tiny and detailed you need a magnifying glass to see it. This unique exhibition is definitely worth a visit; it is on at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery until the 8th January 2012.

Brighton

This weekend John and I spent the Saturday in Brighton (as I had never been) and we realised it is only 45 minutes from us! No excuse for not going sooner really. We walked up the pier, had fish and chips, walked along the sea front and found some cute little shops and art galleries. The top left picture is Brighton pavilion, and next to it is a great arty shop we found on the sea front. It sells loads of prints (including Rob Ryan's!) as well as funky wrapping paper, gorgeous cards and an array of other goodies, including artist prints on tea towels, notepads, decorative plates, mugs and bags. This shop is an artist's dream! Right next to the shop is a fab little art gallery called Two Kats and a Cow (bottom right). The gallery is really open plan, airy and very inviting with some great art on the walls. The very bottom right picture is a painting by Katty McMurray called 'Boat Trip', Oil on canvas. To see more of her work visit www.kattymcmurray.com

Update - Witney in Pink

So, Witney In Pink was a huge success with lots of shops raising money for breast cancer. I am really pleased to say that Sue and Maggie at St Andrew's bookshop sold loads of my homemade products and I made £65 which is great! Well done to them and a big thank you to everyone who bought my goods :-)

Autumn-ness!

Check out my latest work, inspired by all things autumnal! I've used leaves, acorns, flowers and vegetables together with warm autumn colours; reds, browns and oranges to create some repeated patterns. I thought they might look nice as stationary designs, possibly on notecards, gift wrap and gift tags etc.