The start of the year has been about organising and planning. This included moving things around in my she shed (my studio at the bottom of the garden). During which I uncovered an old sketchbook full design made during my short stint as a textile designer. I worked for a Bristol textile design agency called fabric8 who sold mainly to the American market. Most of their designers worked and drew by hand and they were looking for someone who could create designs digitally. I would create the designs on Illustrator and Photoshop, print them onto special paper with special ink and then transfer it onto fabric. After which we were expected to mock the fabric up into a garment. I loved the work but blimey it was a lot of work for very little return. It’s great to look back on and ponder on how to make repeat prints or how I got certain effects (headscratch). I was feeling precious about the coloured print outs of the designs and wanting to preserve them but then I thought that was daft and that better use of them would be to incorporate them as collage material into the boards I’m working on. These are works in progress. Not sure where it might lead but I’m enjoying the process and the exploration.