Friday, 20 August 2010

Scotland



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!

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Things from the Cupboard

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





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

Friday, 9 July 2010

Gorgeous Puffin film



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.

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

Grayson Perry on Creativity

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/

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

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



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

Thursday, 10 June 2010

Maternity Rights



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

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