Trina New Work

Shop Keeper!

2011-12-07T19:36:00.000Z

I've just opened a shop on etsy selling prints, cards and ceramics. In the New Year I plan to also sell paintings and things made from fabric with my artwork on it. It was such fun photographing etc and no dusting to do like in a real shop.

I have a fifties green kitchen cabinet in our hall that I kept planning to get rid off (I bought it for £3 at an auction in 1991) which I've turned in to my shop/packing area. Dennis suggested I get a bell I could ring if I sell something :-)

Thanksgiving - Rhode Island Monthly

2011-11-25T23:31:00.000Z

I did this a couple of months ago for Rhode Island Monthly

It was for an amazingly poignant piece of writing by Ann Hood – about her teenage years spent wishing to escape her home and after years of travel her return…and how Thanksgiving with her family is now so special. It’s actually the type of writing that is so vivid and visual it almost doesn’t need illustrating…but I don’t want to do myself out of a job :-)

I just remembered to post these as it's Thanksgiving in the US at the moment and also because I'm just about to watch tv show Pan Am on catch up tv! Being an air hostess in the 60s/70s looks so glamorous.

Illustrations as Diagrams

2011-10-06T09:27:00.001+01:00

Nobody told me when I was a student that illustration could involve drawing simple diagram type information - I knew botanical, technical and medical illustrators did this....but on my course it was all about illustrating Iris Murdoch, Angela Carter or stories we wrote our selves.

I think out of the twelve on our course (only twelve!) I would have been far down the list of those likely to end up drawing "information illustrations" - actually we probably all would have been - we were all encouraged to tap into our imaginations and be explorative with different media. Which I think is fantastic and two of the main purposes of an illustration degree.

But as a working illustrator a lot of my work involves doing step by step type illustrations - often for craft books or exercises/yoga positions for magazines - and I love doing this. There is a real satisfaction in getting it right but also aiming to make it look attractive. I think my nineteen year old self would not have believed I'd ever end up doing and more so enjoying such work!

The above illustration was for the US Family Circle Magazine - a simple foot relaxing exercise - it feels amazing!

Vintage Fair and vintage reflections

2011-09-27T14:42:00.000+01:00

When I arrived in London in 1991 after art college via Paris and Scotland, my friend Katie and I rented a small, tall terraced house in South East London. No heating and no carpets...just gaps in the floorboards and wonderful coal fires in most rooms. (We'd take a taxi to the coal merchants with polythene sheeting to lie in the taxi driver's boot on the return journey).

In the basement we had a workroom where we'd stay up late listening to the radio and making papier mache pots, painted boxes and furniture, mono printed and hand bound albums and notebooks. I'd done my thesis at art college on the Bloomsbury group and inspired by the Omega workshop we'd come to London to make and sell!

Over that first cold winter we'd get up early on a Sunday and stagger to the station loaded down with those big cheap checked laundry bags and head for a stall at Camden or Greenwich Markets. The money we'd make mostly went on cosy lunches and hot chocolates with marshmallows to keep us warm. We had business cards printed and that was our promotion done! It's strange now in this land of Etsy, websites, twitter and blogs to think how different things were just not that long ago. I remember whilst still in Scotland writing a letter to a ceramicist in London who I'd read about in a magazine asking politely for some business advice....I never had a reply. I always think of that unanswered letter when contacted by students. Nowadays it seems as if there is much more a culture of sharing and supporting amongst artists/makers - all made easier by the internet. Most of our planning for the move to London and our "business plan" was done over the phone - me in Scotland, Katie in Guernsey. My Dad wouldn't allowed me to chat on the phone so I'd go to the phone box across the road with a bundle of ten pence pieces and a notebook and pen. Pre mobile phones and pre internet days. I wonder where we found the contact details for the market organisers...and I guess we read printed timetables to know which train to catch!

Anyway after a few winter Sundays Katie got a real job and I got a full time job working in a friend's shop (where mostly I spent my days drawing and writing stories on the back of the shop's fliers, occasionally there would be a customer - often lovely, lonely women who would return, after pouring their hearts out to me, with a box of chocolates or once an amber necklace!) and later I started a Post Grad Art History course. And our dream for the "Worldbackwards" emporium quietly died away.

After a round trip of fifteen years to North London I'm back living in South East London and two weekends ago I found myself up early and trundling along the road to the station with a wheely suitcase and a bundle of bags....helped by my boyfriend...regretting the death of our car in the springtime and on a train to Caterham Vintage and Art Fair. I caught myself thinking here I go again....still doing the same old thing "carrying my wares around" has nothing changed!

Later in the day Katie turned up to keep me company in the beautiful Edwardian Soper Hall and we enjoyed delicious cup cakes from Bake plus more yummy cake and coffee from A Grand Affair served in old china cups. With a sound backdrop of 40s and 50s music we chatted to customers and other stall holders and I ended up spending some of my takings - on vintage children's books and a 60s pale blue Finnish enamel kettle - not a good business model!

By the return journey in the evening I found myself reflecting how lovely it is to meet the people who've bought the things you've made and to be around other people who are selling things that they've made or gathered with love or care.

It didn't feel any longer like a step backward - just looping back around on a beautiful walk!

Rug design for Land of Nod

2011-09-18T11:59:00.000+01:00

My simple spiral design is now on rugs for Land of Nod.

So much of my work is for books and magazines and so it's initially created on paper and then ends up printed on paper it's interesting for me to see something finish up on a different type of surface. This was such a "flat" image it's wonderful to see the added depth and texture that the hand tufted wool adds.

Caterham Vintage and Art Fair

2011-09-11T12:08:00.001+01:00

On Saturday the 17th of September from 11am - 5pm I will have a table at the Caterham Vintage and Art Fair.
I'll be selling gouache and acrylic animal paintings, prints of some of my illustrations, painted ceramics and cards. The event is being held at:

Soper Hall
Harestone Valley Road
Caterham
Surrey CR3 6HY

here is a link to a map

There will be tea and cakes, tombola (I might finally discover what tombola is!), a raffle and live music plus vintage and art stalls. I'm so looking forward to it!

The event is organised by Anita of Mrs Antil's Apartment.

here is what she write on the Press Release:

"The Caterham Vintage and Art Fair is a community event for affordable vintage and art lovers as well as those who are just curious or love a rummage through vintage clothes, accessories and home-wares.
This will all take place on the ground floor of the beautiful and historic Soper Hall in Caterham Valley, 3 minutes from Caterham station.
All items will be reasonably priced - making beautiful and old things available and affordable for the local community.
There will also be vintage inspired art, as well as a variety of quirky, original art works from Surrey and London based artists including: LittleToucan, DiDoesVintage, KatyLou and Trina Dalziel.
Old fashioned music hall style live entertainment will be provided by quirky, sultry and soulful singer-songwriter, Ziba.
There will be a vintage 'tea room' to replenish with ration recipe cakes, pretty cupcakes and of course tea!
Entrance is free and anyone from 5 days to 105 years is very welcome.
Come and have fun!"

The Cat and Dog Lover's Companions

2011-09-02T13:25:00.000+01:00

I loved working on this project way back in the winter so lovely to receive copies in the post recently.

Visit me at Sydenham Visual Arts Trail

2011-07-03T12:23:00.002+01:00

I'm taking part in Sydenham Visual Arts Trail - an open house/studio event for artists to show their work. It takes place on Saturday and Sunday the 9th and 10th of July and Saturday and Sunday the 16th and 17th of July from 11am to 5pm on each day.

I'll be showing my new acrylic and gouache paintings, large inky drawings and hand painted ceramics - all on animal themes both real and imaginary. I will also have archival digital prints of some of my illustration work and greetings cards.

You can find me in the home of textile artist Diana McKinnon who will be showing her amazingly detailed free machine embroideries. And Sally Earlam will be showing her silver and semi precious bead jewelry. If the weather is dry there will be tea and cakes in the garden (with money raised from teas going to charity). I'm almost as excited about planning the cakes I'll make as preparing my work...but not quite!

Diana's House is at 40 Dacres Road, London SE23 2NR just 5 minutes walk from Forest Hill Station (which is on both the mainline from London Bridge and also the Overground that runs from Highbury and Islington through the East End to Crystal Palace/West Croydon). Here is a link to a map (we are number 37) and on the right you can click and download a pdf of the Visual Arts Trail Map and Guide - on the guide. There are over 45 homes/locations in the area open and more than 100 artists participating - so lots to see. Plus ten minutes from Forest Hill Station is the wonderful Horniman Museum which is also well worth a visit.

If you are local and able to come along it would be really lovely to meet you. Let me know if you read about the event here and I will have a small present for the first (or perhaps only!) person who mentions my blog.

Suffolk Alumni Magazine and gathering reference

2011-05-26T11:23:00.000+01:00

This was for the Alumni Magazine (SAM) of Suffolk University in Boston.

It was a piece about an American woman and her husband who moved to Australia to start a new life and her experiences of her move and starting afresh in a different continent.

The unusual thing about coming up with ideas for this project was that I was working on it before the text was written so it needed to be quite a general image.

I often wonder how I managed to gather reference for commissions pre-internet.....a stock of books and a trip to the library? Now I so often turn to Google - however for this project I got the opportunity to use a book, that has been quietly waiting to be of use for over 30 years.

The book I used for reference “Furred Animals of Australia” was given to me by an elderly Australian gentleman, Mr. Marshall, in 1977. He’d emigrated to Australia in about 1912 as a small boy and when he returned to our town in Scotland for the first time sixty five years later, he was put in contact with my grandfather as he was the town Provost and an expert on local history. It turned out they had been next-door neighbours and best friends as children prior to Mr Marshall emigrating! They spent a magical week reminiscing and visiting the local area together. And I as an animal obsessed nine year old when I met him quizzed him about the animals of Australia.

My grandfather died a few months after his visit and Mr Marshall treated me as his “adopted” granddaughter sending me books and presents from Australia and letters that talked sometimes of his childhood memories.

This book has always had a special place on my bookshelf and in my heart and I was delighted to be able to use it for this project - so much more rewarding than clicking on Google!

Family Circle - the benefits of writing down anxieties on test scores

2011-05-18T12:03:00.000+01:00

This was a recent illustration for the US magazine Family Circle. The piece was about how test results improved if children were encouraged to write down their anxieties prior to exams.
I'm pretty sure it works for adults too!

One minute Promo Video for Surtex

2011-04-27T10:37:00.001+01:00

This was made for Surtex - the surface design and stationery fair in New York that my agents, Lilla Rogers Studio, attend in May. Surtex were asking us to make up to one minute films promoting our work/brand to show on a screen at the fair.

Dennis offered to make a little film for me so I gave him some jpegs of my surface design work and left him to it. Well, mostly left him to it... I went in his office a few times and started being a bit "can you do this can you do that ish" but luckily I had a commission to complete by the end of the day so managed not to be too interfering!

I think just as it is sometimes easier for someone else to put your portfolio together this feels like it captures what I do much better than if I'd tried myself.

The PaperQuilt Collages

2011-03-30T12:21:00.000+01:00

The Paper Quilt Project was initiated by Dawbis (her psuedonym) a Texan based artist in 2007. 244 illustrators and artists from around the world were sent a small card and pieces of scrap paper to produce a collage on the theme of "A Day in My Life". The plan was to submit them and Dawbis would make twelve "paper quilts" to auction for a charity voted for by the artists.

The top collage I did in 2007 however it got lost in the post somewhere between London and Texas. The project was then on hold for a bit but when it relaunched last year I got the opportunity to submitted a new collage.

It seem the days of my life have changed little in the meantime...still involves drawing at my desk, drinking coffee and looking out for an elusive fox!

Freedom of Speech for Hamsters

2011-03-15T15:07:00.002Z

I've been meaning to post this for ages. Dennis made this film "Free Speech for Hamsters" last summer. I hope it isn't just because he's my partner but I really think this is animation used to its best abilities - it conveys complex and important ideas in a simple, concise and funny way. And just like how sometimes an illustration can be so much more universal than a photograph the use of animation and fluffy little creatures speaks more directly than more "related to our world" mediums might.

This is the second of his Public Information Films for Hamsters. The first one "Advice for Hamsters Buying Squeaks" was done fourteen years ago and won him several animation awards. I love the simple pencil drawn quality of it. Wondering what the third hamster film will be about in 2024!

(Here is a link to view it in YouTube without the right third of the film missing! I'm not sure why this always happens when I import videos? If anyone is able to explain to me how I can correct this I'd really appreciate it - thank you!) - Addition 27th April - I found the answer! Before I'd been pasting in the embedded info straight from youtube but if I use the insert video link on the blogspot tool bar when making a post it centres it! It's strange how learning such simple things make me happy!

Backgrounds for Fly Origami Fly

2011-03-03T14:05:00.000Z

I loved working on this project last year. It's a book on how to make origami flying objects - planes and rockets but also kites, birds and animals and flying toys. The origami is designed by and the book written by Mari Ono and her son Roshin.

It's published by Cico Books, for whom I've been producing illustrations for nearly ten years. Sometimes when you work for people they can only picture you being able to do what you already do, however I'd shown Cico some styling I'd done for a photographer friend and they asked me to make and style the backgrounds for the book; simple paper and card environments for the origami objects to inhabit. I really appreciated them giving me the opportunity to try something new and combine my passions for illustration, making and styling.

It's strange how cutting cardboard and using glue can bring such joy!

Above some shots of the book containing photographs by Geoff Dann, a couple of works in progress and a view of my kitchen table mid project!

Last month I worked on a sequel which was even more fun than this one! Will show some images when it's published later this year.

Our Afternoon Visitor

2011-03-01T18:45:00.000Z

Mr Foxy was curled up in our garden this afternoon! I called to him and asked him up for hot chocolate and toasted fruit bread but either he was ignoring us or very deaf. I'm hoping he was just feeling bold lying there and not poorly.

Below is an inky fox drawing I did last autumn.

The Cresswell Horsehead and where does our need to make marks come from?

2011-02-25T17:52:00.000Z

A week Saturday I'd gone to Chichester without a sketchbook. On the train home I drew these on the back of a brown paper bag.

When I've imagined being imprisoned somewhere - like you do :-) - as well as the obvious fears - one thing that would concern me would be not having access to paper and pens.
I wish I knew more and understood more in an anthropological and psychological way about where this need to make marks comes from and why we as humans have it?

On the BBC documentary the "History of Ancient Britain" a couple of weeks ago they showed a beautiful drawing/engraving done 13,000 years ago of a horse's head scratched into a horse's bone. Here is a clip about the Cresswell Horsehead.

When I'm responding to a commission I'm conscious of and considering an end result. But there is something about the sometimes sudden need to draw that is so immediate and the act of making the marks is the total driving force. I feel a much closer connection to the Cresswell Horsehead artist than to all the more recent art historical periods in between him/her and me.

I see the British Museum are planning an exhibition "Creative Beginnings: European art in the Ice Age" from October 27 – February 2012.

26 things I wish I'd known...about being freelance

2011-01-28T00:16:00.005Z

Earlier this week I took part in an Employability Event for third year art, design and media students at Portsmouth University. I'd been invited to speak about my route from college to what I do now and my experience of working as a freelancer.

Professional Practice is something I have taught on several Illustration degree courses and that I feel particularly passionate about as when I graduated twenty years ago this just didn't feature on the curriculum.

I'm always wishing there was more discussion (online and in the real world) about the experiences and realities of being an illustrator so I thought I'd post here "26 things I wish I'd known...about being freelance" which were the headings to my powerpoint slides. I'd love to hear your thoughts, experiences and any additions to these...

If you are self employed you need to be able to do a bit of everything

Working from home can at times be very lonely and at other times a delightful and privileged experience

Working in a shared studio space can be an immensely supportive experience. It can also give you a sense of professionalism, give structure to the day and can lead to making contacts.

Networking is not a nasty 80s word but something that occurs naturally

The best way to be able to keep in contact with existing clients is to have new work to show

All commissioning and buying decisions are related to appropriateness and marketability. It can be a balancing act staying in the industry, staying “fashionable” yet staying true to self

Your priorities might change

As an illustrator you may be able to work from anywhere in the world!

The way you might be working in five or ten years may not even be invented yet

Your greatest creative spurt might still be to come

Not everybody is ready at the same time

The most important clients are the ones you already have

It can often seem like good money - but you have to divide it over times you aren’t working or when you are focusing on promotion and business and office management and over holidays, etc

Everything will constantly change so you will need to continue learning and developing new skills

Sometimes work days will go by that don’t involve doing any creative work

Some of the people you are sitting next to might be commissioning you in the future

The grouchy people are just as likely to employ you as the enthusiastic people

Self-promotion is about promoting yourself often as much as about your work

It’s a competitive world but we are all different

How hard you work doesn’t always relate to how well you do so sometimes it feels like Snakes and Ladders

Don’t take things personally and persevere

Be persistent (without being pushy) And follow up opportunities quickly

Don’t hold back because things aren’t quite perfect. Get your work out there - into the world

If offered poor pay or poor terms - consider the long term consequences as well as short term gains - both for you and for the industry

Don’t get overwhelmed by what other people do

Keep tapping into the things you are passionate about

Christmas card artwork

2010-12-20T22:29:00.004Z

Two illustrations I did recently for company Christmas cards - meccano trees and playful penguins! And here is a link to the ones I did for them last year.

Illustration for Community Care

2010-11-29T10:07:00.003Z

I found this a really interesting subject. It was an article informing social workers how to end a client relationship in a professional and successful way.

Design your own handbag....so addictive!

2010-11-26T19:08:00.000Z

I stumbled across this site recently. It's such fun, like a grown up version of paper dolls or those "misfit" books where you combined different top, middle and bottom sections to create a character.

I'm not even a very handbag obsessed type girl so be warned it could be addictive!

Below are a few roughs I submitted for a book on handbags a while back. I so prefer the mismatchedness of the Lill Studio bags to the elegant ones I was trying to capture!

Circus Ceramics for Cosmo China

2010-09-21T13:52:00.005+01:00

I've been having lots of fun at Cosmo China in Bloomsbury recently painting plates and mugs and eggcups and butter dishes etc with this circus theme. It developed from the blue circus design I did in the spring as part of a collection of circus themed repeats. And they came from the little sketch above from my sketch book in the winter. I love the way ideas, themes and projects can grow and in doing so change form.

Party Pup Pyjamas for Boden

2010-09-15T12:08:00.001+01:00

I was waiting until a friend’s gorgeous little girl could model these dog pyjamas for me then Charlie my draught excluder stepped in and volunteered and suddenly he seemed like the ideal model! Though he is a little long on the body for them :-)

They are available in the Autumn/Winter collection as little girl’s pyjamas both on the UK and USA sites. To be asked by Boden(a dream client) to draw dogs at a party(a dream subject) made it a dream commission!

The Homemade Home

2010-09-14T11:12:00.000+01:00

Another book I loved working on - "The Homemade Home" - though full of projects I kept wishing I had time to stop and sew and make.

There were so many projects in the book and a tight schedule so the illustrations got divided between me and another illustrator - Stephen Dew. I wasn't sure how it would all sit together but it turned out really well as we were both working from the same colour palette and our styles aren't disimilar - Stephen just obviously knows how to do more clever things on the computer! I'm sure I only learn about two new things a year!

Diagrams for The Gentle Art of QuiltMaking

2010-09-13T17:35:00.007+01:00

One of three craft books I worked on that have been published this summer. For "The Gentle Art of Quiltmaking" by Jane Brocket I just had to draw these simplified diagrams as a guide for laying out the quilt swatches. The actual quilts and the photography and styling in the book are gorgeous.

Recent Illustrations for Bulletin Magazine

2010-09-02T10:50:00.006+01:00

These illustrations are for a UK based magazine. It’s called Bulletin and it is aimed at people working in the field of Speech and Literacy. I illustrate their monthly opinion column.

Because the text and vocabulary are usually very specific to its field I love the challenge of coming up with “soft” but relevant solutions. Which is what I love about illustrating for magazines is having a text that is a little dry or outside my usual scope of knowledge and finding a visual way of making it more approachable and appealing.

The topics were (from top to bottom) about gathering information to create the society's framework, working in partnership, the difficulties in assessing language in children and gathering data.

On my USA agent's blog there is a longer post about this project.

Otter Drawing

2010-08-22T16:19:00.000+01:00

When on the island of Skye we went to an otter haven. It was a wooden hut on a hillside overlooking the sea with big windows, seats and binoculars. We waited and waited and waited looking and scanning the sea and the beach hoping we'd see one. I so wanted to see one I started to think I did - every ripple on the water or long bit of seaweed on the beach.

Eventually we gave up and as we walked back through the forest to the car I imagined what it might be like to meet a standing up clothed one possibly offering us hot chocolate from small cups. This drawing came from that wishful hope!

I think I sort of like otters all the more for being so reclusive and elusive.

Irn Bru

2010-08-22T16:16:00.001+01:00

Keeping the Scotland theme - here is an Irn Bru advert Dennis was animation director for in the springtime. He now drinks quite a lot of Irn Bru - I think he is trying to single handedly increase the sales in England to reflect well on the advert!:-)

Scotland

2010-08-20T09:30:00.003+01:00

Gathering reference for more fabric ideas.

One of my favourite places - Plockton on the west coast mainland, in a sheltered inlet near Skye. It was here where much of "The Wicker Man" was filmed but even without the film's connections the place has an unusual feel to it - so sheltered and with palm trees on the main street and tropical looking plants - it feels very different from it's windswept neighbours along the coast that face out to the Atlantic.

A village close to Plockton where the Highland cows graze freely amongst the houses and wander on the road.

When at school I did a test on learning styles. The thing that I remember coming up was "can't see the wood for the trees". It's certainly still true with my camera - I can't stop myself focusing on all the close up detail whilst surrounded by the most amazing vistas!

A beautiful dog with an amazing job. We were told he'd been coming to work on the little four car ferry for six years linking Kylerhea on Skye to Glenelg on the mainland.He seemed to think his main duty was to run round and round the outside edge of the ferry and bark at the seals as we crossed!

Things from the Cupboard

2010-08-18T11:09:00.004+01:00

Home in Scotland a couple of weeks ago I had a search through my old "toy cupboard". We had a boot fair in London a few months ago so I couldn't resist bringing some things back to start filling up the cleared out spaces!

This is a map from 1963 - the year my parents (as newlyweds) went on a road trip to Norway with my grandfather and teenage aunts.

My beloved Tufty Club Book - I thought it was lost so was very happy to discover!
Illustrations are so powerful to children and the emotions they create seem to get so fixed inside us - when I saw these pictures of bonfire night, the naughty weasel and the mole family on a long dark road I remembered how fearful I found them. And it surprises me how gentle the pictures seem when the feelings I can recall are more akin to those created by horror films!

I'm also surprised how things are not nearly as complex as I remember. I loved the tree house Tufty lived in - but now it seems so small and simple - not how it was in my head as a child!

I bought this book with a book token I got as a school prize aged seven for art. My Mum thought prizes were a terrible and unfair thing until I got one! I have just discovered a little about the illustrator Ronald Ferns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Ferns
What a wonderful selection of projects he worked on!

2010 USA postcard

2010-08-18T11:01:00.005+01:00

Last week I received my this year's Lilla Rogers Studio promotional card in the post.

Gorgeous Puffin film

2010-07-09T14:26:00.007+01:00

I wish I could make things move! I love this stop motion / collagey animation promoting 70 years of Puffin Books. Sadly Puffin haven't mentioned on youtube who made it or sang the song.

This is bound to be brilliant - a book about the design of Puffin books and also this biography of Kaye Webb, editor in chief at Puffin throughout it's glory years of 60s to 70s sounds like a fascinating read....they are both on my Amazon Wish List.

Grayson Perry on Creativity

2010-07-07T11:18:00.003+01:00

There is a fantastic programme on Radio 4 this week (only available on the BBC iplayer until the 13th July) about creativity where Grayson Perry speaks to artists, writers, neuroscientists about creativity. Rose Tremain is particularly eloquent - well she is a writer :-) - about the subject and Grayson Perry describes his imagination/thought area as his "Inner Shed" which I think is so lovely.

I use to babysit/nanny for a now grown up girl who at about age seven described to me a place she had in her head which was a room made of marzipan lined with books and a marzipan chair where she would retreat to and read stories to herself. Now twenty one, I met her at a party at the weekend, and she is about to start an MA in Renaissance Literature.

I think everyone should nurture their "inner shed"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sx8ng/Grayson_Perry_on_Creativity_and_Imagination/

Love when I get to do hand writing too...

2010-07-06T11:10:00.003+01:00

This was for an American magazine - Lupus Now, about some of the complications associated with lupus.

Maternity Rights

2010-06-10T10:24:00.002+01:00

This was a recent little spot illustration about maternity rights in the work place.

Flower Wish List

2010-05-24T12:45:00.000+01:00

Writing about bluebells reminded me about this drawing I did a few years ago for my boyfriend...not long before Valentine's Day - it makes me wonder just how control freaky I might actually be!

Bluebell Time

2010-05-23T12:01:00.000+01:00

When it comes to flowers I know I'm fickle...in June my "all time favourite" will be floppy pink peonies and a couple of months ago my most loved flower was blue hycinths...but for May it's always bluebells.

A couple of years ago we had a picnic in this bluebell wood. Although there are many at the moment growing in clumps in the parks and gardens of London, I'm hoping we'll make it to the countryside in time to see a forest full!

Featured on Workbook.com

2010-05-21T17:50:00.002+01:00

I'm currently on the online front page of the Illustration section of The Workbook. I'm delighted to have been chosen as one of the featured illustrators this month.

As so often when you sign up for illustration directories and online portfolios it can feel like you are just one little fish swimming around hoping to be fished out from amongst hundreds and thousands of other fish. When I'm teaching professional practice to Illustration students I always say it's worth giving these ways of promoting yourself a go - but for me at least, most of my work seems to comes instead from individual, well targeted promotion. It's usually easier to go fishing than wait to be fished out!

Surtex, PrintPattern and Gone to Earth

2010-05-14T09:15:00.009+01:00

This weekend my agents and several of the other artists they represent will be at Surtex in New York - the big surface design fair.

Last month I was busy designing a Blurb book as my 2010 portfolio and printing out repeat patterns to send to Lilla for the show. One of my oldest and loveliest friends came to stay for a couple of days and helped me print out repeats and make choices for the book.

One of the things I love about being an illustrator is the autonomy/self sufficency and the sense of achieving stuff on your own - but sometimes when you get support from someone else you realise just how nice (and sometimes needed) that is too! The other great thing about having Katie to stay is we always line up a little film show for her. This time we watched one of my most favourite films "Gone to Earth" - beautiful, magical Powell and Pressburger film about a girl and her fox. I've just discovered it was an inspiration to Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love" (but don't watch the youtube montage to the end if you plan to watch the film!)

I also have some work on the always fantastic Print Pattern Blog earlier this week.

Real Simple Wedding Book

2010-05-06T19:00:00.000+01:00

I've worked on the annual edition of this book for three years now. The first year involved creating these tiny little line drawing icons which are used as chapter and column headings.

Then in 2008 I produced flower drawings as a guide for brides when choosing their bouquets.

In autumn 2009 I drew these wedding dresses and necklines. It was fun to do - it's a long time since I've drawn such romantic dresses. And it brought back memories of being eight years old and driven out in to the Scottish countryside to paint on a Sunday afternoon. Too cold to venture from the car my dad sat in the front painting the rural landscape before him with watercolours whilst my Mum read and my brother in the back with me drew an imaginary urban landscape with a ruler and I drew a sheet full of Victorian girls in wide skirts with nipped in waists and lacing up boots and muffs. I think my dad possibly wondered why he'd taken us!

Illustration on diabetes during pregnancy

2010-05-01T19:24:00.002+01:00

A recent illustration for an article on diabetes in pregnancy.

I think when "dressing" the centre woman I must have been subconsciously influenced by all the peach and flesh colours around in fashion at the moment!

Exciting World of Pattern Design

2010-03-30T09:36:00.000+01:00

A small but very fat book I have some work featured in arrived in the post recently.

Birch Tree Bag for BlueQ

2010-03-29T16:10:00.004+01:00

A week or so ago I received some samples of the bag I illustrated last summer for BlueQ. We were staying at our friends' house when I was working on the project. They have a long thin garden with apple and fig trees and a vegetable patch at the end. For three mornings in a row a squirrel came to the garden - I think he though I might need a model - because on the third day he tap-tapped with his little paw on the patio window! When I finished the project I didn't see him again.

The other lovely thing about doing this project was it was a collaboration with Hallie a freelance designer based in New York. It was my first time of communicating on a project using skype - talking can sometimes be so much easier than writing and it's so nice to feel you know someone a bit by the end of the project. Hallie doesn't have a "complete website" as yet but I love her front page just as it is.

Perfume Bottles

2010-03-06T16:40:00.005Z

I've been collecting perfume bottles since I was six and last autumn I finally got my "London Collection" out of old shoe boxes and into a cabinet. I also have many in Scotland and when home last year I drew some and recently made these repeat patterns with them.

Maybe sometimes simple is best?

2010-01-26T23:42:00.003Z

I did this sketch in the autumn in a beautiful B&B in Cambridgeshire when I attended an archive day at the Curwen Press. It was dusk, we'd just arrived and we were having a cup of tea before exploring the village of Linton.

Now I've spent an evening doing the colour version below ...I realise I actually have a fondness for it just as a blackline drawing straight from my sketchbook!

Illustrations on Prejudice

2010-01-26T22:15:00.000Z

These were part of a set of illustrations on the subject of Prejudice for Nursing Standard magazine.

Snow Dog

2010-01-25T16:52:00.004Z

We built this snow dog at my parents at New Year. My Mum said now he is just a lump of snow a foot or so high on the newly revealed grass.

Photographs from our Snowy Trip

2010-01-25T16:46:00.004Z

Northumberland and Scotland in the snow over Christmas and New Year. We walked every where and left the car in Northumberland and took the train to Scotland as snow was so deep and the roads so dangerous. I took so many photographs....I hope at some point they'll feed into my work. I was obsessed by the patterns that bits of grass and bare twigs made in the snow...somehow it reminded me of calligraphic marks.

Yoga Journal - Prana

2010-01-18T22:10:00.002Z

Above is the final artwork for a piece on prana in the January/February issue of the US Yoga Journal. And below some roughs. I'm really missing not being able to keep an eye on US magazines since all the UK branches of Borders closed down last month. Does anyone know of a good stockist of American magazines in London?

Ceramics at Cosmo China

2009-12-22T22:40:00.001Z

This autumn I’ve spent a few days painting china at a wonderful shop /workshop in Bloomsbury, London. It’s called Cosmo China and it has been running for over twenty years. Artists are invited to paint and if their work sells they are invited back…..I have to wait and see if any of mine sells! I hope it might as it's a lovely change to my day to sit around a table with artists and use a paintbrush as an alternative to too much furious mouse clicking!

Animated Christmas cards

2009-12-22T22:38:00.002Z

Whilst I sit in my room making my very still drawings Dennis sits in his room down the hall making moving pictures. You can see two animated Christmas e-cards he made recently - here and here.

Seasonal Cards from the Last Two Years

2009-12-22T22:35:00.001Z

These were my work / personal Christmas cards from 2008 and 2007.
The one just above was drawn in Devon in February 2007 and the boat to the right was the Spanish container ship that had recently runaground.

These were Christmas cards for the USA card company Madison Park Greetings and the one below a Hannukkah card also for them.

Christmas Card Commissions

2009-12-22T22:12:00.003Z

Cards I illustrated recently for two companies - Viadynamics and The Toolworks. The Toolworks make web tools - I loved how Louis who commissioned the one with the shed in the forest wanted it to look like a small workshop in a forest....so far away from Exmouth Market in central London where they are based!

Bringing Up Your Baby

2009-11-25T22:13:00.000Z

I worked on this back in the spring but the book has come out recently. It was fun using a limited palette for the spot illustrations.

Love Your Leftovers

2009-11-25T22:11:00.003Z

This is another book I worked on at the beginning of the year and has been published recently. The back cover was originally going to be the front cover then it changed to the second picture down but then it was changed to a photograph of the pot instead.
I wonder if you really can get pink hobs?

Design*Sponge Sneak Peeks

2009-11-05T12:13:00.007Z

This week our previous flat is featured on design*sponge's sneak peeks. The shoot was done by friend and interiors photographer Jon Day - we had a lovely day in the summer taking the pictures (it started with coffee and cinnamon buns - a perfect start to any day!)

We moved into a new flat a couple of months ago and due to work and life we still haven’t unpacked all our boxes or hung any pictures so seeing these photos makes me nostalgic - but I have to remind myself it didn’t look this tidy every day!

A Day at the Cuwen Studio, Unearthing Old Work and Kate's Beautiful Lithograph

2009-11-04T15:35:00.002Z

These are lithographs I did as a student twenty years ago! (Plankton, Noah's Ark after reading "Not Wanted on the Voyage" and Wolstenbury - lying on top of the South Downs)

I unearthed the slides of them after a fascinating day last week at the Curwen Studio, near Cambridge with my friend Kate. We attended an "Archive Day" where we visited the lithographic print studio, were shown the process and heard the history of the studio from Master Printer Stanley Jones who has been involved with it for over fifty years. It was wonderful to hear about the different approaches of artists who have produced work there including Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, John Piper and Paula Rego.

"War Horse" by Kate Dicker
At this same time last year Kate was at the Curwen producing this beautiful lithograph after winning as a prize a day's access to the facilities and technical support. The piece is inspired by the moving and creatively produced play "War Horse" at the National theatre based on Micheal Morpungo's book. She still has some for sale on her website!
http://www.katedicker.com

The Misbelief I don't have Time!

2009-10-19T15:02:00.005+01:00

With commissioned work I seem to be able to work in any circumstance - on trains and planes, at other people's houses or surrounded by unpacked boxes as I've been doing the last six weeks. But I wanted to test my belief - that to do personal work I need at least half a day, a tidy desk and a clear mind.

So last night after sixteen hours in front of my computer - (I felt like I had saddle sores without the joy of leaving the house or being on a horse!) - I wanted to see how quickly it would take to create something with "no purpose" - just for the fun of drawing. It was about fifteen minutes! If only every piece could be this quick!

....There is a wonderful interview with the illustrator Jan Pienkowski on Desert Island Discs this week.

Premiere Vision and Paris

2009-09-28T19:20:00.001+01:00

The week before last I went to Paris to Premiere Vision - the massive fabric trade fair. It was fascinating - a vast seemingly never ending expanse of little cubicles populated by fabric companies from all over Europe.

I went to research fabric manufacturers....however the two bits I loved the best were a stall selling vintage buttons and The Potterton Books stand which had several fabric sample books from the early 20th century on display. The sample books sell for around £2000....so I bought some buttons!

I love the one on the far right of a pixie on a toadstool smoking!

I spend the second day wandering Paris.

I love it at this time of year as it reminds me of the autumn I spent there in 1990 working as an au pair - just after leaving college. It was a time when everything I saw seemed new and exciting...I was constantly discovering artists I hadn't known about and Katie (my friend from college who was where at the same time) and I spent all our free time in museums, galleries, cafes and fleamarkets.

This was just my third time back since and the first time on my own. What surprised me most is how little the city has changed in comparison to London...mainly because they haven't surcumbed to Starbucks on every street like in London.

I had breakfast with Anne of the wonderful pretavoyager blog who has just moved from Paris from Baltimore. She looked so parisian chic some tourists stopped us in the metro to ask her for directions!

Then I spend the rest of the day wandering and photographing and eating chicken soup in a cafe and browsing in small galleries and visiting the Musee des Arts Decoratifs and a wonderful exhibition of dresses designed by Madeleine Vionnet until it was time to head for the airport.

A very different sort of day from my usual desk bound days!

Some shop window photographs....

This was a beautiful old style haberdashery shop full of yarns and ribbons.

Runner's World Illustration

2009-09-01T00:32:00.000+01:00

This was an illustration I did for the current issue of the UK Runner's World magazine. The article was written by a woman who whilst recovering from cancer had found running (and initially walking) really helpful for her physical and emotional recovery.

Some Photographs from the Calligraphy of the Pine Trees Workshop

2009-08-28T11:04:00.007+01:00

This is going to be my last post about the "Calligraphy of the Pine Trees Workshop" - just a few of my favourite photographs below. The bird's nest was found by Leila - a sculptor who was also from Britain but now lives by the sea in Mallorca with her boyfriend who is a boat builder. Every day we went on a trip she found something amazing - the rest of us were gathering pine needles and cones - and she found two beautiful birds nests, the bones of an animal we think was related to a pine martin and the parts of a huge stag beetle!

This was my favourite of all the places we visited - it's Menut - a tree nursery in the Tramuntana Mountains. I think a little may have got 'lost in translation' but my understanding was it was the equivalent of the UK Forestry Commission. They held a seed bank as well as growing the pines to be used for re-afforestation. What I loved about the place was the contrast between the wild nature / earth and sky outside where the small trees were growing and the clinical feel of the laboratory were the seeds were kept.

Monoprints from Miro Foundation Workshop

2009-08-28T10:23:00.003+01:00

Above the monoprints I produced at the Miro Foundation workshop using a mix of paper cut stencils, embossing with pine needles (hard to see in photograph but all around big brown cone!) and leaves, drawing on reverse on to an inked plate and a transfer of a photograph I found several years ago in a Barcelona flea market. It's a little boy in a forest surrounded by pine cones - I like to think he too was on a trip to the Mallorcan pine forests fifty years before me.

Below are some things from my A3 sketchbook - it was refreshing to work at that size - realise I tend to always stick to A4 because it fits under my scanner!

The Calligraphy of Pine Trees -Sketchbooks and Rubbings

2009-08-26T12:40:00.000+01:00

In July I spent a week on the outskirts of Palma at The Fundacion Pilar i Joan Miro a Mallorca on a printmaking workshop after receiving a grant. The grant paid not only for the workshop fee but also covered the cost of my flight and hotel!

The course I chose to take part in was called "The Calligraphy of Pine Trees" led by the artist Michael Angel Blanco - you can see some of his beautiful work here. It involved several day trips in to the Mallorcan mountains and countryside then a day in the printmaking workshops which was really thrilling to be working were Miro had worked!

For me - the amazing thing about the trip and the course was it was the first time in years that I've felt I've had a chunk of time totally to myself with the opportunity to explore a project purely for the process rather than an end result (whether that's a commission or a self imposed brief!) Also going somewhere completely alone and free to be totally autonomous was an amazingly liberating feeling! I loved that I could choose to spend three hours on a Saturday afternoon drawing in a tiny doll museum and no one knowing where I was. One of my best memories was staying up to 2am drawing on the hotel room floor with the balcony door open and just the sound of cicadas and the occasional car passing by.

The interesting thing about the trip was how, perhaps more than the work I produced, the value of it was in purely the experience. If only we could all have this stepping out of "real life" to "play" for a week once in a while.

Above are some of the sketches, rubbings and sun prints I produced during the week.

The Black Bound Hound Book

2009-08-06T00:44:00.005+01:00

I drew this "dog parade" over several nights at bedtimes - it was a lovely way to wind down at the end of a day. I'm a bit obsessed at the moment with these moleskine concertina books - I have an empty one waiting for the next "parade" idea......

Here is a movie of "The Black Bound Hound Book" made by my animator boyfriend - our first joint project. For my birthday I've asked if he can animate one of my drawings (and maybe a bar of Lindt chilli chocolate too)!

Illustration for Minneapolis St Paul Magazine

2009-08-04T10:45:00.001+01:00

This was for an article on Nutritional Therapy and being trained to see your plate as "half full". Below are a couple of the other roughs I also submitted.

I think on these I was really focussing on the "full plate" versus "half full plate" in the circular patterns as I'd just been to an exhibition at Tate Modern "Rodchenko and Popova" and I'd been amazed at some of Liubov Popova's textile designs. So ahead of the time and simple and geometric.

Ceramics

2009-08-03T08:22:00.000+01:00

Above are some more ceramics from my winter evening class (mentioned here http://trinanewwork.blogspot.com/2009/06/ceramics-scraffito-work.html ). In the summer term I went to a course focussing totally on glazes - which I found fasinating even though it felt like a throw back to school chemistry! I was hoping it would help me gain a clearer idea of how to get the colour results I wanted as some of these ones hadn't turn out as I'd hoped. (the deer outline on the top one - with the pagoda - just faded away and the bottom one I was hoping for blues and browns but everything just came out brown!)
What I came to realise is there are so many variables it's hard to have control over the results until you become either very experienced in handling lots of glazes or just focus on a couple of glazes and always use the same technique. I haven't decided yet which way I'd like to go - but probably the latter!

Beautiful Cafe in Palma

2009-07-31T00:02:00.000+01:00

I found this peaceful cafe just off one of the main bustling, touristy pedestrian streets. I had a clementine sorbet and espresso and sat for a long time in the cool, dark interior drawing up ideas in my sketchbook. A perfect afternoon!

Buildings, doorways and through shop windows in Palma

2009-07-29T01:16:00.006+01:00

I was in Mallorca a few weeks ago for a printmaking course - I'm planning to post examples of work etc relating to the workshop soon - but here are some photos of things that caught my eye in Palma.

Small Illustration for Family Circle

2009-07-28T23:32:00.003+01:00

This was for the August issue of Family Circle. It was to illustrate the signs to look for when someone might be having a stroke. The challenge was to fit all the information into a 3inch by 2.5 inch area...but I like challenges...well ones like these!

Mini Book for Peter Pauper Press

2009-07-27T20:56:00.007+01:00

I've just found these images on Amazon. It's a mini book of inspirational quotes for Peter Pauper Press which I illustrated last winter.

I can remember the story I was listening to on the radio while I was working on the image above. It was about a man who had left Sweden as a child with his family for Australia and when he returned fifty or so years later - he stayed and married his childhood sweetheart.

Some previous illustration projects featuring dogs

2009-06-30T09:50:00.002+01:00

"Talk to your Dog" by Susie Green
I loved working on this project and how it was possible to mix up quite dog-like drawings of dogs with others that were very anthropomorphic. The dog in the egg chair is drinking whiskey and ginger beer.

This was commissioned by a friend who was designing a brochure for the Bite Theatre Season at the Barbican in London. The illustration was to tie in with a circus event in a giant tent in Victoria Park. However the budget was really tight so David persauded me to do it by offering the possibility of drawing dogs rather than people on the trapeze!

I'd forgotten about these and can't remember the name of the book. Just a little step by step on how to wash a dog.

This was for a Barnes and Noble day by day calendar for 2007. The project involved drawing 365 illustrations to go with a quote for each day of the year. This one was, "Being followed by a strange dog is generally considered to be lucky...."

Organic Pet Food Illustration

2009-06-28T22:46:00.010+01:00

This was for the May issue of the Canadian based magazine Best Health for a piece about organic pet food and whether dogs can tell the difference.

The top one was the final artwork and below it is one of the roughs.

I often try to slip a dog into my illustrations whenever possible/appropriate but it's even better when I'm specifically commissioned to draw them!

Sketches from Summers Past

2009-06-22T23:17:00.014+01:00

I realised at the weekend that for the past three summers I've been on holiday abroad on this week of the year. This prompted me to get out my sketch books from these holidays - and have a mini 'memory holiday' at my desk! Below are some drawings from those trips.

2006: Ferry between Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos

An isolated rocky beach on Skopelos

2007 Sketches from the train window on The Golden Pass journey between Montreux and Zweisimmen. As the train climbed the mountain leaving Montreux a woman waved to us as she lay cosy under blankets on her patio. It gave me that lovely feeling children get when a train driver waves or toots his horn!

The cable car down from the Shilthorn and Piz Gloria (the lookout tower where James Bond stays in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"). It wasn't as exciting as his visit - I just drew, took some photographs, played with the snow that was still up in the mountains, watched a fox and had a hot chocolate in the revolving cafe.

Bears kept in a pit in Berne. This was incedibly distressing to see. I found it hard to believe animals were being kept this way in Switzerland in 2007. There was talk of rehoming them - it couldn't happen soon enough.

Lake Annecy in France

2008 A restaurant in the Tramuntana Mountains in Mallorca
It was set high up in the woods - an old farmhouse I think. It was an incredibly hot day and we swam in the swimming pool before lunch which had a waterfall flowing in to it - mountain water - it was freezing!

Cardboard Printing for Feng Shui Book

2009-06-16T12:01:00.002+01:00

This project was fun as I had the oppportunity to work in a slightly different way from usual. When I went in to discuss the book - Cindy the publisher at Cico Books asked if I could do something in a linocut type style. By complete chance just a few weeks before I had done a one day Cardboard Printing workshop at the Curwen Print Studio near Cambridge. It was taught by the artist / illustrator Chloe Cheese and she showed us the technique that her mother Sheila Robinson also an illustrator / artist had developed in the 50s and 60s. She showed as some of her mother's prints and also the cut cardboard. They were amazing - so detailed and controlled and textured - just cut from cardboard.
Mine are totally crude in comparison - just cut shapes - but it gave me the idea to get the feel of a linocut printed background - without lino!

Below is one of the prints I did at the workshop. One of the things I most loved about the day (as well as the whole having a day a way from "real" work, a train journey through the bleak March Cambridgeshire countryside, spending time with my friend Jacqui (http://www.centralillustration.com/jm/jm.php), eating our sandwiches around the big table in the print room, chatting while we cut our card, printing..the train journey home...) was seeing how differently everyone had responded to and treated the cardboard.

Not very successfully printed - I know lots of women would like a permanently on call hairdresser or chef, I would like an on call print technician!

Two Book Covers - I love these colours together!

2009-06-15T01:26:00.003+01:00

I did these two covers several months apart but when I placed them together to photograph I noticed it one of my favourite colour combinations. Pink, Mustard and Chocolate. When I was a teenager I had this old fashioned wool floral carpet on my bedroom floor (until one day against my parents permission I ripped it up and varnished the floor boards instead). But I remember there was a small element of the floral repeat I used to really enjoy kneeling on my carpet and gazing at - and it was these three colours.

Step by Step Illustrations for two New Craft Books

2009-06-11T11:10:00.001+01:00

Last week I received copies of some books I illustrated last year, including two craft based books: The Perfect Apron by Rob Merrett and Decorating Pumpkins and Gourds by Deborah Schneebeli Morrell.

I think if I'd been told when a student that in the future I'd be working on illustrating step - by - step projects I'd have thought "how dull!" However I find something really enjoyable about doing these - the need to find solutions to explain the information and yet not make it look too "technical". I also like the way that there are usually quite a lot of illustrations and so it's sometimes possible to work in a way that feels like a cross between a production line and a meditative flow!

Both these books have such gorgeous projects in them, though it can be frustrating to just be drawing them rather than be making the real thing!

Ceramics - Scraffito Work

2009-06-10T13:19:00.007+01:00

These are some pieces I've made over the winter at a ceramic evening class at City and Islington College at Finsbury Park (fantastic facilities and wonderful tutors). It's taken me eighteen years in London to finally get around to attending a class (every year I would think about it and end up doing something else!) I'm really glad I finally did as it seems I may be moving out of London - I just hope I can find a class or workshop or somewhere to fire and glaze my work wherever we go to live. As I'd love to add to this scraffito set that is based on dogs and dog related families.

The top one is based on a film I saw on youtube. CCTV in Chile filmed a dog knocked down on a motorway and his dog companion wrapped his arms around his neck and dragged him across three lanes of fast moving traffic to safety.

The wolves I sketched while watching a nature programme. On Saturday night I saw a family of foxes - two adults and three cubs - playing in our garden. I would like them to be the next plate.

I will post images of more ceramic work soon - before they get too broken or chipped!

Boston Globe - Lola Magazine Illustration

2009-06-01T10:11:00.006+01:00

This was for a piece in the May issue of Lola, a monthly magazine given out by the Boston Globe. The article was written from the perspective of a freelance writer whose artist husband had been out of work for a while but she didn't feel able to ask him to give the extra help and support she needed with the home and childcare whilst she juggled supporting the family.

I always love to see other artists' and illustrators' roughs and preliminary work. So below I've posted two of my roughs. Both of these focussed on the final happy resolution with her partner and the editorial department wished to focus more on the prior negative situation - which made sense. But hopefully these two may have another life in a different form in the future!

Buttons / Badges

2009-05-28T13:58:00.012+01:00

I got these produced by the Vancouver based company www.sixcentpress.com last month for my US agent (www.lillarogers.com) to handout at Surtex - a trade fair in New York. It meant I had them all sent directly to Lilla and I haven't yet seen them in the real. So lovely surprise when I found this photo of them on Six Cent Press website - thank you.

I'd never heard of the word "button" for these until last year. Growing up in the North of Scotland it was "badges" people pinned to their school bags. Buttons were to be found in this jar (I now use it for jam) and on rainy days my mum would let me sort through and admire them.

I still get great pleasure from looking at my own collection of buttons - rainy day or not. :-)

Giant Anteater

2009-05-27T12:19:00.012+01:00

Until a few weeks ago I had a year's pass to London Zoo. On the week it was running out I went twice to say goodbye to this Giant Anteater. Below are some photos of him, a sketch and a rubbing and a couple of prints I did of him. It had been along time since I'd had my printing inks out and I felt like a play.

His inside home looks a bit drab but he had an anteater companion and a huge, quite private garden though I think he must dream a lot about his relatives in Latin America.

I found some information on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Anteater
which says that "The giant anteater does not sleep in any fixed place, instead curling up in abandoned burrows and hollows. It covers its body with its long, bushy tail to sleep." so perhaps this is why the zoo hasn't made much effort with his home - he is a wanderer by nature?

Sewing project Illustrations

2009-05-26T17:15:00.001+01:00

These three illustrations I did for a presentation for a book publisher. It was to be a book on sewing but sadly (for me!) their client wished to go with a different illustration style.

However I really loved doing them and it got me thinking about how often it's the "rejected" work or the roughs and ideas that get left behind that on a personal level sometimes contribute most to work "moving on" and developing.

Egg Tempera Paintings

2009-05-22T15:22:00.004+01:00

I love this technique. You need alot of time though.... days....it's very painstaking. Thin layers of pigment mixed with egg yolk and a little water built up over time - each layer ought to be dry before applying another.

I first did it at a course at the CityLit in London in about 1995. We mixed up all the ingredients (rabbitskin glue(!), french chalk over muslin...I think I remember) and made and prepared the board. Though I've more recently worked on ready prepared boards which is much quicker.

I remember a long time ago (when writing my college thesis on the Bloomsbury Group) reading about Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant going into Lewes in Sussex in the 1920s to buy rabbit skin glue when they were decorating Charleston farmhouse (www.charleston.org.uk). There seemed something very earthy yet romantic about this - poor rabbits though! :-(

Some Work Featured in Painting Book

2009-05-22T12:36:00.002+01:00

New Portfolios

2009-05-22T12:19:00.002+01:00

I created these books a couple of months ago using the site www.blurb.com. It was my US agent's (www.lillarogers.com) idea that all her artists showing at the New York trade fair Surtex produce these books as a fresh alternative to traditional portfolios.

I think it is always hard creating your own portfolio - it's so much easier editing work you haven't produced! But I really enjoyed putting the books together and I was impressed with the print quality and wrap around cover.

If you click on the link below you can see a preview of the first 15 pages of each book. I'm also going to post above some of the work featured on the other pages.

My Main Illustration Style Book

2009-05-22T12:07:00.003+01:00

Trina DALZIEL

Main Illustration ...

By Trina Dalziel

Book Preview

My Painting Book

2009-05-22T12:04:00.002+01:00

PAINTINGS Trin...

REVISED

By Trina Dalziel

Book Preview

More Mermaid Suite

2009-03-11T10:52:00.006Z

These were the cards my friend Katie Lillington designed for the Mermaid Suite using the illustrations in the post below. I also supplied some line art and handwritten headings that will also be used on the website.

The Mermaid Suite

2009-03-09T14:31:00.003Z

The project above I've just completed. It was for The Mermaid Suite which is being set up by Susie Edwards down near Lewes in Sussex. She provides a selection of treatments from her home and also a mobile service. Hot stones treatments, Indian head massage, facials, make up, manicure etc. it sounds wonderful!

I was producing work to be used on her business cards, flyers and website. I'll post more from this project soon and also Susie's website address when it's up and running.

My website

2008-11-24T17:56:00.000Z

My website - http://www.trinadalziel.com/