My prints...................

Oh fantastic, only an hour and a half to go before it's officially the weekend! For me, the weekend starts at 6 p.m, that's when I start to think about the words 'cosy, cup of tea, fire place, warm toes and knitting'.

Last night, as I was closing the shutters (we don't have curtains), I caught myself thinking about how cosy it felt, retreating into the house, the windows shuttered, the fire blazing, and I came to the conclusion that I'm starting to come to terms with our winter season, and I'm enjoying it, which surprised me, I mean, we're meant to hate these cold dark months aren't we?

Tonight I've been shutting out the world of snow outside, it's been falling in flakes that have gone from big fat movie type snow, to thin drizzle resembling rain, and here and there there's been hail.

I love that cotton wool movie snow, it's so pretty as it falls, don't you think?

Anyway, on to those suspicious looking balls of wool in my first photograph of this post.

If you read my Monday post, you have probably guessed what this means already.

Yep! I have done the deed. I've unravelled my knitting that was the skirt section of the dress I was knitting.

Skirt section as was, in the photo on the left above, and skirt section as it no longer is, in the photo on the right.

The cables didn't look their best on my hips. Not for showing them off as cables, nor for showing my hips off to their best advantage. So out came all that knitting, and I've started re-knitting the dress. I've cast on 384 stitches, (I imagine it will seem less as time goes on!), and am knitting cables all the way round. The idea of the cables going from large to small as they progress up the skirt is still going to apply yo these cable I'm now doing.

Anyway, enough knitting talk, lets move on to my prints.

I am officially open for business in my etsy shop, selling my prints! Feels like a long time ago I first mentioned doing them.

Would you like a quick look at a selection of some of them?

I have prints that reproduce my still life paintings. Some of the prints are laser reproductions, some are reproduced by the more expensive method of giclee printing.

To give you an idea of the cost of a print, as opposed to the cost of the original painting, take for example, the picture of the "Daffs in a Spotty Cup"(above) which is a small painting. To buy the original would cost  £75, to buy a print of this would be £17.55, both prices would be plus postage and packing.

Other original pieces will cost from £75 to £145 to £220, whereas all the prints are under £50. The prints make my work more accessible price wise.

All the prints come with mounts and backing board, ready to go in a frame, and also have certificates of authenticity, they show the number in the edition, and there's some info about my background, and they're in protective self sealing propylene bags.

I've also done some prints linked to my illustration work, there's a separate section (prints, illustration) in my etsy shop for those.

Here's a selection of them:

So there we go! Tra-la! Prints all nicely packaged, ready for giving as a gift perhaps? Or have you done all your christmas shopping...................... If you're interested in buying a print from my etsy shop, the link is here.  Actually, I have to admit, I'm about half way through mine, which feels very organised.

Well, Hugo is cooking beef at the moment, and the smoke alarm keeps on going off, so I need to stand to attention to "waft" the smoke alarm when it trills. Ellie and Douglas hate the smoke alarm going off, they run and hide.

Ellie has just come in from outside, (to escape the noise of the alarm), and is standing shivering, covered in snowflakes, and looking at me very indignantly!

I'll be off now. Ten past six, and time for a glass of wine methinks. Have a good weekend, cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

Comments

[Kate]

Vanessa- really interested in your prints as I'm thinking of doing similar with my pictures- dare I ask who you found to print them? I've looked at Abacus printers- wondered if there were any other printers worth investigating.Thanks and good luck with the new venture, doing it myself , I know just how scary it is!

[Penelope]

What a real treat to read your blog as the weekend arrives, I love your work , especially the prints of the flowers and tea cups. Good luck with the 384 stitches! Look forward to seeing the end result, happy friday xox

[Jessie]

I love that purple wool you're using. I don't envy you having to unravel it all though but well done at starting again! Your prints are lovely and that pink just springs out of my computer screen! xx

[Andrea]

Gosh you are very brave to unravel the skirt and begin again....my house is littered with abandoned projects that I can't seem to get around to unravelling!

PS I love your art work :)

[paintdropskeepfalling.wordpress.com]

Good luck with the prints and the dress mark 2!! Claire x

[Loani]

Delicate, oh so delicate, and pretty.
Not my usual choice.
But you are winning me over with these paintings.

[Elena]

So much snow! And we don't have any at all here, in Moscow.
Love your illustrations, especially the mole.
And love-love flowers in the previuos post.

[Planet Penny]

Well done on your shop, I hope you sell really well, the prints are lovely. Good luck with the knitting, you're are very brave to unravel all that painstaking knitting but that wool is too good to waste. Good luck with project mark 2! Penny xxx

[driftwood]

enjoy your weekend, stay warm and cosy xxx

[maggie]

Why are we supposed to hate the dark winter months? They have an allure of their own just as do all the other months. For me, it's as you said, closing out the world and getting cosied up in front of a fire with books, crafts and a cuppa.
Your animals are delightful.

[Carole]

Gorgeous, just gorgeous, i love them all.
Love Carole from Rossendale xxx

[Helen]

I love your gorgeous prints and will treat myself to one very soon! How to choose though, when I like them all?? I'm enjoying seeing your knitting progress too, and impressed at your patience - though I do get a bit like that myself when I want something to be really right! Have a good week and keep cosy. Helen x

[Alice and Raymond!!!]

Hello Vanessa!!!
Fantastic etsy! I know that Karen would love one of your little animal ones, she has a thing for little cute pictures of forest animals.... which sounds a bit wierd as I type that!!!!! It's all so lovely and I hope you sell heaps and heaps and heaps. Would you do card sets too???
Oh that beautiful Rowan all balled up... it looked very purple in today's post, it's funny, every time you photograph it, it is a slightly different colour!
Show-shots look so fairy tale..... I've never been in falling snow believe it or not, except once on a mountain skiing when I was about 10 which was not softly falling fluffy snow! I wish I could have a go at being snowed on, but then on another blog I saw the temp was -10 degrees and I think that would kill me, it really would!
OK well I hope you had a lovely weekend Vanessa! Lots of love XXXXX

[Alison]

Hope you had a great weekend, and managed to make good progress on your skirt. Love the vibrant colour.

[Teje]

Hello Vanessa! What a beautiful purple yarn! I love always your knittings and paintings!
Best wishes! Teje

[Stephanie]

Hi! I just stumbled upon your blog, and I noticed the animals look like ones in a children's book I just thrifted for my daughter, "The Nutty Nut Chase". Did you do those? They are adorable!

[Siobhan]

Your prints are looking fabulous - I'm hoping to treat myself after Christmas, I've chosen it already in anticipation, not an easy thing to do as they are all so lovely! It will be brilliant to have one of your pictures hanging up.I'm glad you are going with your idea on the dress - doing cables on the sides just moves the problem doesn't it, don't know why I didn't think of that. Cables all the way round should do the trick. 384 stitches, wow! that is a lot. Still, you are such a quick knitter, complex pattern and all, I'm sure it will whizz by. Fingers crossed it goes well. I'm almost at the stage where I want to have a go at making a cardie or something - perhaps a sleeveless top first. Only ever made baby garments before so a bit of a challenge. Our first day of snow here in London and it's causing chaos. No trains for people coming home from work - feel so sorry for them. No gritting, nothing. It does look so pretty though.

[Laura]

Your prints are so lovely! Someday I'm going to get one for my room. Your new knitting project sounds intriguing and the purple yarn is a treat!

[Claire Garland]

Hi Vanessa - lovely, lovely artwork!
I have a knitty type blog too - not long been live with it - I'd love to know what you think?
www.dotpebbles.blogspot.com