Blooms of Nigeria

This flower is a response to a project called "Blooms of Nigeria", initiated by artists Rebecca Bradley and Janna Morton to raise awareness of the kidnapping of the three hundred schoolgirls in Nigeria. Each female artist involved has been given one of the hundred and seventy currently publicly known names of the girls and we were asked to draw a flower and their name. You can look at the rest of the gorgeous flowers here (more are being added each day) and read more about the project.

Little Notions in Uppercase Magazine

This was a submission I did for the current issue of the beautiful Uppercase Magazine on the theme of "Little Notions" - a term I didn't know  - for small sewing accessories. I liked how the words "little notions" also sounded to me like "little ideas" or "ideas of little children". Sometimes not having as wide a vocabulary as I'd like, can be useful as the misinterpretations can spark ideas!

New Work from Make Art that Sells Course

Some of my new work completed as part of the Make Art That Sells Course (Part B) ran by my US agent Lilla Rogers. 

Top piece was for Scrapbooking Week. I knew almost nothing about scrapbooking (as not so big here in the UK as in the USA) but I really enjoyed the project as it allowed for the creation of lots of icons and images but without feeling the pressure when laying it out for it to need to work as a repeat. It also gave me the opportunity to really look at my partner's collection of vintage cameras....shocking how things can be in our home and I realise I've never properly looked at them before.

Party Paper on a Folk theme - I really loved working on this. Usually I draw lots of my elements separately and them scan and assemble inside my computer but for this I challenged myself to draw the whole of the plate in one go.

Christmas Card for Stationery Week. The turquoise angel decoration came out every Christmas when I was small and a few years ago my Mum gave her to me.

The Aesthetic Anteater

I did this for a "facebook drawing club thing" that I was doing with some friends who are animators. The theme was the "Aesthetic Anteater" (chosen by me). As I've been feeling sad for anteaters ever since I learnt they were nomadic as I'm sure there are a few that would like a beautiful home to call their own. That's Heals window he is looking in....or maybe the Conran Shop.

Pooch Parade Painting

This is a painting I did recent - a version of my "logo". Doggies on their way to a party.

First Ever Animation

I drew these doggies a couple of weeks ago. Dennis mapped it out for me and I was to draw over in my style. I don't know if I'd make a very good paint and trace person as I couldn't help making little changes....so any errors are mine and not Dennis's!

It was amazingly exciting to see my still drawings move - it really made me appreciate the thrill animators must feel.

Visit me at Sydenham Visual Arts Trail

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.

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

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.

Otter Drawing

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.

Seasonal Cards from the Last Two Years

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.

The Misbelief I don't have Time!

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.

The Calligraphy of Pine Trees -Sketchbooks and Rubbings

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.