This amazing, beautiful building is home to more than 30 different artists covering all manner of artistic directions, from fine art, illustration, sculpture to photography, film, ceramics and jewellery making.

We’ve gone along to the Open Studios for the last couple of years, and it makes for a quirky and fascinating day out.  It’s easy enough to go see art in a gallery, but you don’t often get a chance to see artists’ actual studios and workplaces.  Throughout the Open Studios weekend, each individual studio is a mini gallery for the artist’s work, but you also get to see their tools, workspace, and all the bits and bobs that each artist chooses to surround themselves with.  For me, that’s just as intriguing as the actual work!

I’ve got a number of firm favourites in the list of resident artists – including Bjorn Rune Lie, Leah Hemming, Serena Curmi (can you tell I love illustration?).  Another amazing Jamaica Street resident is Emma Dibben, who draws beautiful pictures of food. You’ll recognise her work instantly, as she’s responsible for the Waitrose food illustrations that adorn their carrier bags and other Waitrose items.

Paper-cutting is another favourite thing for me, and Rose Vickers always impresses me.  The gorgeous piece shown below has been meticulously cut from a map – by hand! No laser cutting, just incredibly skillful cutting with a scalpel!

We’ve seen some of Teresa Murfin’s work in previous Open Studios, but we’re really keen to see some of her collaged work, like this cute as can be llama!

So…make sure you book the Open Studios event into your diary now…it’s a once a year thing and not to be missed!  As well as a sneak peak into the work and life of some of Bristol’s best artistic talents, there’s also an annual auction of mini-artworks from each of the artists – so you could come away with a bargain piece of original art!

Jamaica Street Open Studios

22nd -24th July, 2011

39 Jamaica Street
Stokes Croft
Bristol
BS2 8JP

In this interview, Susie discusses her background, inspiration and her typical day, and talks about her collaborations with Chronicle Books and iPop.

When, and how, did you first decide you wanted to be an illustrator  and artist?
I’ve always been creative, and I’ve always drawn/painted, but it wasn’t until the college application process that I realized there was nothing I would rather do in life. Before the college application process, I never felt challenged into making a decision that would affect the rest of my life like that!

Where did you study, and what is your art background?
I studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and earned my BA in Illustration. In my youth, I also formally trained at Interlochen in Michigan in drawing.

What inspires you the most?
Nature never ceases to amaze me with its complexity, sweetness, patterns and colors. I find constant inspiration from the outdoors. I also find a lot of inspiration in my own memory – moments I remember from childhood, fascinations of my youth, etc.

What is your studio space like?
It’s overflowing! I work from a studio space here in my home. Between the t-shirts, paper goods and all the other products I create and sell, and all my paint supplies, paintings and shipping materials, there’s hardly room for a person in there

What is a typical working day like for you?
My work days vary tremendously based on the project I’m working on at the moment. For example, if I’m working on an art show, I’ll spend the entire day painting and preparing for that. If I’m working on an illustration project for a magazine or publisher, I might be scanning and photoshopping a final painting throughout the day in between returning client emails and faxing contracts. If I’m shipping orders to my customers, I might be writing notes and sending emails and packing goodies into envelopes… Some days I spend the whole day just trying to catch up with email, other days working entirely in my sketchbook. Every day is different, which is part of what I love about my life as an artist Most days involve a good dose of caffeine in the morning and some combination of the activities above…I usually spend about 15 hours a day at work!

How do you approach each new project?
I like to treat each project as a problem that I can solve! It becomes a sort of game for me…understanding the limitations and parameters, and then brainstorming how to best make use of those constraints. Coming up with new ideas is one of my favorite parts of being an artist.

Which projects are you most proud of?
My Bon Voyage Travel Journal is something I’m most proud of. It’s an idea I had while on my honeymoon last year, and I spent the following months creating the artwork for it. It came together exactly as I dreamed it would, and I’m so proud of the end result. I’m also very proud of solo art shows I’ve had, such as “The Wild Life” in Los Angeles in 2008. It’s a lot of fun and work bringing so much art conceptually together in one room for an event, and installation requires so much planning that it’s a thrill when it all works out.

Are you planning any more collaborations with Chronicle and/or Ipop  in the future?
Yes! I have a pocket agenda for 2012 with Chronicle due for release later this summer, and I’m so excited about it! It’s called the Clockwork Agenda. I just released a new magnet collection with iPop as well!  I love working with both Chronicle and iPop & hope to continue growing my collection with them both!

A note to our readers:

If you’re as smitten as we are with Susie’s cute as a button creatures, check out these cute stationery items, featuring Susie’s work.

Colston Street Buildings – I never noticed these colourful buildings until I stood outside Snap gallery and looked down at them. So pretty.

Painting by Mike Ogden in Westbury Park

Wills Memorial Building – always surprises me how grand it is whenever I walk in there.

The Downs on a sunny Sunday morning.

Redland Church, which I believe is now functioning as flats

The Harbourside – we were sitting just outside the Arnolfini for this photo.

Colourful houses on Gloucester Road – there is no shortage of colourful houses in Bristol!

Strawberry & Rhubarb Cake from the Boulangerie – I urge you to try this cake, it’s possibly the best I’ve ever tasted!

Street Art just off the Gloucester Road – if anyone knows the artist let me know in the comments!

Some of our products for the list aficiondo

1. My Future Listography 2. KTWO To Do notes 3. So as Not to Forget 4. Today – Mini Goals 5. Curious Lists

I’ve always loved making lists. My notebooks are constantly covered in bullet point lists of things that are ‘to do’ or ‘should do’ that almost never get crossed off. When I go on holiday I have to make various lists (categorised into clothes, useful things, essentials etc) so as to remember those things that I really don’t want to leave behind. I recently did a stint of 8 months travelling…you can imagine how convoluted and ridiculous the lists for that were!

My list for today. I’m proud to say I got almost all of it done!

I think the bit I like the most is the actual the list making – the contemplating what is going to go on my list. Does that sound ridiculous? It’s often the most satisfying part of the whole process. And once it’s done, it’s a great feeling to see what you’ve got written down, or as Jane O’Brien brilliantly put it (in my opinion) from an article on the BBC “[a] sense of satisfaction from having created a rigid timetable of impossible tasks” . Whether you’ll ever do even half the things on that list is no matter. (In any case, they’ll go on tomorrow’s list!)

Pages from the My Future Listography Journal.

What made me want to write this blog was the arrival of the My Future Listography Journal. I really like the simple layout of the journal, the fact that it is really just all about lists (no hiding behind the façade of a notebook!). Some of the pages are shown in the picture above. It has 1 page in a double page spread dedicated to a specific list, such as “list TV series you want to see”, “list museums you want to visit”, “list events to time travel to (past or future)” and the best of all “list the lists you want to make one day”. The accompanying illustrations are also really cute.

Apparently Picasso, Benjamin Franklin, Martha Stewart, Thomas Jefferson and Madonna are famous list makers. I would like to have seen Picasso’s lists, i’m sure his were adorned with all sorts of weird and wonderful doodles.

Do you make lists? Do you have different categories of lists, like I do? From our Facebook competition yesterday about notebooks, I can see that a lot of you are very much into your lists!

I was actually prompted to join Postcrossing by a friend on Twitter!  We “met” each other doing NaNoWriMo in 2009 and I saw she was doing this postcard swapping project. I wanted to get involved so I asked her about it!  Everyone likes getting post, and Postcrossing is the ultimate way to be an armchair traveller.  You can get postcards from almost anywhere, and lots of people take the time to tell you about the image on the postcard,  usually including a little fact about their country.  You can also ask  people to tell you something about themselves. For example, I have a request on my profile that you tell me what your favourite book is when you send me a postcard.  I sent a card to China recently where the recipient had asked that people drew an animal on her postcards!  I did a very bad drawing of a cat and then apologised at the bottom of the card!

How many postcards have you sent and received so far?  What have been the highlights?

I’ve received 44 postcards so far, and I’ve sent 43.  You get one card per card sent.  I’ve only been doing it for a couple of months, but there are some users who have sent and received hundreds of postcards!  The highlight for me so far has been receiving a card from Macau, which I had to look up on a world map.  The card itself came from someone who worked in the Macau Museum of Art, so it was a double-whammy of interest!  I also had a card from a Finnish Geologist so we had a chat via the Postcrossing messaging system about our jobs (I have a Geology degree too) and interesting places we’ve visited.

What do you write on the postcards you send?

I write all sorts of things.  If someone has requested something, I usually try to do it (hence the awful cat drawing).  If they haven’t suggested a topic to write about, I often discuss the image on the postcard, where I live, what I do, or little things like that which I think might be of interest to someone in another country.

What do you do with the postcards you’ve received? Display them, file them…?

At the moment, I keep the cards I receive in a postcard-sized Christmas box I have.  However, I’ve been considering buying an A5 filofax in the new year and hole punching all the cards I receive, to store in there.  I love to file, and I could then arrange them alphabetically by country.

Have you kept in touch with any postcard senders or receivers?

I haven’t kept in touch with any of the senders or recipients of my cards yet.  I kept up conversations for a week or two with a few, and I did a separate postcard swap to the lady in Macau because I was so excited to receive post from her (we swapped a couple more postcards outside of the postcrossing project).  However, I’ve just this week received a postcard from an orphanage in Germany and I’m now collecting British stamps to send them in the new year as the children like to collect stamps.

You can find out more about postcrossing.com here, and I’ll be sure to blog about the postcards I receive in due course!

An hour later and….the weekend was ours! And last weekend, we headed down to Devon to stay in Kevin and Vicki’s fab cottage. You may be wondering why I was so thrilled to win this holiday cottage for a cold weekend in November…it was the llamas that made it for me! Along with a fantastic cottage that was spacious (an easy sleeps 4), as well as cost (wood burning stove and underfloor heating) there are 14 gorgeous llamas, half a dozen goats, two adorable cats, two dogs and a stack of chickens…if you’re an animal lover, this was such a fun weekend!

Tell us which book has left the deepest impression on you, impressed you the most or otherwise wowed you more than any other.  What made it so special?  Did you read it at a particular time in your life that made it stand out for you?

Add a comment to this blog post, telling us the name of the book and the reasons you love it so much.

The winner will win this rather lovely Lamy Vista fountain pen. We’ll even throw in a pack of ink cartridges too, so you can get writing straight away.

The competition closes on Friday at 5pm GMT, and the winner will be announced on Saturday morning.

UPDATE:  The winner of this competition is Karen (see entried below). Congratulations!

Thank you all for entering, it was really interesting to read your reviews and recommendations of the books you love.

Some of you will know that here at Papernation, we tweet.  And that we’ve been having some Halloween fun over the past few days.   Combine the two together, and the result is the above pic, which is one of my tweets from this afternoon….fantastically illustrated by the very marvellous @irkafirka.

I’d not come across @irkafirka before today, but what they do is genius.  They take one tweet per day from the millions of tweets that pass through twitter and turn it into an illustration. And today one of our tweets was picked.  How fantastic is that!

I see that they’ve been extra busy today and have created a second irkafirka illustration – for a tweet from the King of The Twitterati, @stephenfry, so we feel in very lofty company indeed!

Irkafirka has a website too, where you can see all their previous creations, and they even have an iphone app, so you can get a daily irkafirka delivered straight to your iphone!