Win a Print With Peskimo!

Wall art is my thing. I can spend hours online looking at prints, pictures, maps, photos - basically, any form of decorative adornment for walls. Testament to my obsession is an incriminating trail of holes that pepper most of the walls in our house - my love of moving pictures around but lack of skill with a hammer doesn't make me very popular with the other half.  But there's nothing I find more relaxing than pottering about with a cup of tea in hand, rearranging my gallery of photos and pictures.

Luckily for me (though my husband might disagree) there is a wealth of shops in Bristol to feed my obsession for screen prints and lino cuts - you'd don't have to travel far to stumble upon a window filled with gorgeous pieces for your home, whether you're looking for something Banksy-inspired and urban or a prints with a more illustrative aesthetic. 

There are some great shops on Gloucester Road (Room 212 is one of my favourites) and Stokes Croft, while Clifton is home to another of my must-go places, the Soma Gallery on Boyces Avenue.

The latter stocks one of my favourite local print-makers, Peskimo, a husband and wife team I've got to know through working at Aardman (Jodie and David regularly lend their creative talents to a variety of Aardman projects). Their gorgeous pieces combine all the things I love - bright colours, retro styling and cats (amongst other animals.) I have several of their pieces in my home and now you can be the proud owner of a Peskimo print by taking part in my competition over on Instagram!

I have two lovely Panda Riso prints (pictured above) to give away - here's how to take part:

1. Visit my Instagram page at @luisa_m_sanders*
2. Like my competition post and follow both myself and Peskimo (they are tagged in the post)
3. Tag a friend in the comments box too!
4. Competition closes at 7pm BST on Saturday 10th June 2017

Winners will be announced in the comments box on the Instagram post. Good luck! 

*Please note this competition is not affiliated with Instagram. Terms & Conditions: Two individual winners will be picked from all entrants who meet competition criteria; no cash equivalent; competition winners will be announced by Saturday 17th June 2017

South Bristol Arts Trail

There are lots of things Bristol does well - green spaces, independent shops, cool bridges - but when it comes to creativity, the city is a veritable powerhouse of interesting people doing interesting stuff, from street art (Bristol hosts Europe's largest graffiti festival, Upfest, each summer) to screen printing and every conceivable artistic discipline in between. 

I'll admit that when I started working at Aardman, I was pretty overwhelmed by the wealth of creative talent housed in just one building; and in between doing their creative day jobs, my colleagues somehow find time to pursue other interesting side projects too (whereas I usually just go home and do the ironing...)

Through working at Aardman I've had the great pleasure of being introduced to not only some lovely people, but also the interesting projects they work on around their day jobs. Take Jodie, for example, one half of Bristol-based design duo Peskimo. 

By day, Jodie does a variety of freelance jobs at Aardman but in between she creates the most gorgeous illustrations with her husband David. Appearing on colourful prints and quirky accessories, I was instantly drawn to Peskimo's retro-inspired aesthetic and have a few of their pieces now hanging in my home. 

It was also through Jodie that I got to hear about the South Bristol Arts Trail, an annual event that has become one of the biggest and most popular arts trails in the city. I've pottered around the trail a couple of times now and this year promises to be another fab event, with over 45 homes and public spaces opening their doors in the Southville, Bedminster and Ashton areas. 

On my first visit a few years' back, I really enjoyed exploring less familiar city streets, with the added bonus of having a snoop in some seriously arty houses and taking in the talents of some of Bristol's most inspiring illustrators, screen printers, ceramicists and jewellery makers. 

There's something really lovely about grabbing a coffee and wandering from street to street, popping into artists' homes, having a chat and perhaps picking up something a bit unique for your home - so much nicer than filling your walls with mass produced pieces from Ikea. I've always found prices to be very accessible too - you should find something that brings a little joy into your life without breaking the bank.

But what if you have kids in tow - surely, dragging them from house to house to 'look at art' isn't the most child-friendly activity to fill a Saturday afternoon? Aside from the obvious risk attached to errant toddlers let loose in houses filled with artworks, your little ones are well catered for at this year's event with children's workshops taking place at a variety of venues during the weekend. Make an animal shadow puppet, mask, or head over to the Tobacco Factory for a special Bricolage workshop with the Let's Make Art team and get stuck into an exciting sculpture project.

If your kids love getting creative in the kitchen too, there's the chance to try their hand at some Indian cookery with The Thali Cafe. While you tuck into some lunch, your kids can learn how to make chapattis and lassis, as well as designing and decorating their placemats and colouring in a special limited-edition ice cream bowl, which they can take away as a souvenir. 

And don't miss Roy Gallop's Wonky House workshop, featuring mechanical toys for children of all ages and a human juke-box...that's right, a HUMAN JUKE BOX. If that doesn't sell this event to you, I'm not sure what will. 

Oh, and did I mention that you get all of this eclectic entertainment for free? You can also drop into the Tobacco Factory for music, St Francis Church for choral entertainment and Trika Yoga for some free stretching and mindfulness. 

If that sounds like an eclectic mix of weekend entertainment you can get on board with, you can find out full details about the South Bristol Arts Trail on the website here.

Affordable Art

A couple of weeks back the Affordable Art Fair made its annual visit to Bristol and I was invited to take a look around courtesy of Smithson Art Gallery. Bristol's a creative city and galleries and print shops abound, but what's great about the Art Fair is being able to see a variety of stuff in one huge place. This time around some 55 galleries were in attendance, taking over the vast space that is the Engine Room at Temple Meads station. The fair rolls into town each year, as well as taking up residence in two locations in London, Hampstead and Battersea. If you missed the Bristol event and don't want to wait until next year to see what the fair's all about, the next event takes place at Battersea Evolution on 23rd-26th October. 

So, what exactly is meant by 'affordable'? Unfortunately most of the pieces that caught my eye were very much out of my budget (a particular favourite came in at £1700) but in proper art terms this does constitute a reasonable price point and if you're a serious art collector you'd find plenty to tempt you. For amateur art fans like myself, it's perhaps less about investing in a piece and more about dipping a toe into the contemporary art scene, seeing which artists catch your eye and perhaps leaving with a print to brighten up a bare wall.

What I enjoyed about it was being able to browse at ease - it's a different experience to stepping into an empty gallery and feeling a bit self conscious about looking around with no real intention to buy. There was also a huge range of styles on offer, from edgy photography to quirky screen prints, unusual sculptures to nostalgic watercolours. After a bit of deliberation I came away empty handed but there were plenty of pieces I hesitated over, none of them coming in over my pre-set budget of £100. But with no obvious space to fill on my walls and other more pressing financial obligations needing attention, I decided to hold off making a purchase. 

If you can't get to London and don't want to wait a whole year for the next Art Fair, this month signals the beginning of the autumn arts trail season in Bristol, with the West Bristol artistic community hosting their trail on the 11th and 12th October. Taking in private homes and studios around Clifton, Redland and Hotwells, it's a good way to view local talent across everything from jewellery making to ceramics. Find out full details here.

Then in November, North Bristol takes up the baton, with one of the biggest trails in the city covering areas such as Bishopston, Horfield and St Andrews. I've been visiting the trail for the last couple of years and love the idea of popping into different homes and studios, meeting with the artists and browsing original pieces of art that usually have a very affordable price tag. Find out more about North Bristol Arts trail here. 

Finally, you can also browse affordable art without even leaving the house thanks to www.original-art-under100.com/. I came across this site thanks to brilliant blog The Frugality. There's a lot on this site so you may need to do some sifting to unearth something that rocks your boat, but there are handy filters to help make the job easier, and the prices are very wallet-friendly if you want to buy something a bit more unique than a ubiquitous Ikea print but don't know where to start.