Echo and Narcissus

This is a series of prints I've been working on based on the tragic greek tale of Echo and Narcissus. I've used a mixture of lino printing for Echo and flat perfect colour for Narcissus who falls in love with his reflection in the story. I really like the second print which shows the mother and child, and the reflection of yellow as a metaphor for love which I use through the sequence. I's probably really unclear still so I'll be taking quotes from the story and using them to title the prints to help the viewer along a bit.

I'm quite glad it's all done at last, it was quite a mission planning it all out and getting it done. Phew!

geometry rocks!

Oh wait, that's geology isn't it? Well, no matter. I'm working on an ABC of geometry, shapes and that kinda thing for a uni project.

The written side of our course this semester has been called Writing for Images and has been really fun. The submission includes two original written pieces and a visual piece developed from a third piece of writing. I've gone with my informative alphabet we did a few weeks ago and am going to work up 8 or so images and keep the rest roughs - apparently that's OK. But who knows, I might try and finish the whole lot over summer as I think it would make a lovely border for a child's wall. I'm making each letter a square 7 and 1/2" so they could be rearranged into a poster format too.

I really enjoy painting paper with acrylic for collage like this as you can be precise with your palette, but today I also used a toothbrush to flick paint to give a bit more texture. Simple but effective I think. Thanks Eric Carle!

Yummy hessian

At the weekend I started to bind my drawings together in a huge concertina book as a nice object - more for myself than for the looming deadline. I love handmade books, and quite enjoy making them and wanted to have something special to flick through once my degree is over (and of course to show my Grampa who was the inspiration).

I was thrilled to find this website selling sticky-backed hessian a fortnight ago which was just what I had in mind for my book's cover and slipcase. I think it's the perfect texture for the project, industrial yet natural, hardwearing, and reminds me of imports and exports, and old suitcases.

I'll miss stroking it when I have to submit this year's work!

Set, match

I've been ogling my own work. It's only when I saw all my drawings together that I remembered why I'd started this project.

The advice I got in the 2nd week to keep colours limited was invaluable as it brings the countries together and makes the differences shine. I hope it seems exciting to other people, it's often hard to tell when you're caught up in the fine details of a project if it still works and you've still got the essence of what it was you embarked on.

You can see the whole set here.

Slideoo!

use slider at bottom of image ------------------>>>>

This is the coolest Flickr tool ever.

I'm so chuffed with it (as I don't have to get my head round Javascript anymore) that I'm going to embed this into a blank site, write a few words of explanation and use it as one of the three solutions to the brief. Have a play on the slideoo site, it's super duper!

Brighton

On Friday we drove to Brighton on a spur-of-the-moment thing. It was great! I'd heard Brighton was lovely from pals who'd studied there, and seen it enough on telly to pretty much know what to expect but it was far lovelier. The pavillion was amazing, so weird - especially the ornate windows. We ate delicious crab salad sandwiches and fish soup rather than the usual greasy fish and chips and then went round The Lanes and looked at vintage clothing. It was all the tacky bits of any English seaside town, with a whole bunch of interesting culture thrown in, not to mention a bookshop/gallery on the seafront that sold Charlie Harper books and Rob Ryan prints. Lovely jubbly!

Pick-me-up

What a beautiful day!

I thought I'd give ceramic on-glaze paint a try on a set of espresso cups thrifted last week. I really liked using it and will try it again for sure. This little set of four are now on etsy.

Plus, a new ebay-ed lamp for my desk. I bit the bullet last week and moved my desk downstairs to our living area. Now I can half-watch morning TV, half-work without leaving the whole dining table covered in cut paper and paint-covered plates. The trade-off however, was that I had to take apart our table football. I'm afraid I am officially boring now. And grown-up. Ew.

That is a handsome lamp though.

Coral Pencil Case

Today I have been catching up on 90210 as I'm such a saddo. I also made this pencil case and listed it on etsy.

Hope you had a super Easter and are stuffed to the gills with chocs! I'm still munching my way through bunnies in denial of the fact that I must really do the proper food shop today...

Northern Europe

Today I've been exploring Scandinavia, Germany, Holland and France in my world tour.

The cine films are really fun, especially the funny trousers people used to ski in in the early 60s!

I've still got so much to do, adding to my coverage of Africa and the Middle East. Oh and then I have to scan EVERYTHING (last count 65 A3 sheets), learn how to make a horizontal website with javascript (?????) and then learn how to use After Effects. Nothing too challenging right.....? Did I mention I have only 5 weeks?

Bring on the distractional Easter treats, I think some chocolatey inspiration will help!

Prints

Prints of my journey piece are now available on etsy. Hope you're having a nice weekend!

Finally found

I've been stuck at home the last few days with a horrible cold and cough and have got sooooo bored. This evening there's been nothing good on TV to distract me so I got to looking for old books that I had as a kid, then I started thinking about old toys...

My very first memory is of playing in my grandparents' house in Cape Town before we moved to England when I was two. So we're talking pretty early memories. What I remembered was playing with these lovely little wooden blocks they had (I think from my Dad's childhood), that were made of hardwood and stained in purple, and pink, and brown. I loved tocking them together and remember my granny and my older sister piling them up (I guess I was a bit too little to manage it myself though!). I have to say I got a little emotional when I stumbled across this vintage set of Cuisenaire Rods - I now know that's their proper name - that sold a few days ago on ebay.

There's a book about colour theory that I had when we moved to England that I'm working on finding too, and I think I can pretty much attribute my entire fascination with colour to these two sources! I can't describe how exciting this is!

Nice pair

A lucky half hour at the car boot sale this morning - Avocados and Catherineholm pots.

And we're back.

Didn't take me long to get back to bright colours did it?

After coveting Tif's beautiful collection of vintage knitting needles I decided that I was going to be good and frugal this week, ie no more buying 60's children's picturebooks on Abe Books, or anything else on ebay. But when I accidentally found myself in a charity shop yesterday (ignore the fact I'd parked up and put money in the meter round the corner, it was total chance I happened to be there.... OK?) there they were.

A box full of knitting needles, a lot of them brightly coloured in all shades of yellow, red, coral, turquoise and green and for 5p per pair. I can't even knit but my goodness they're nice to play with and sort into colours and pairs. I've actually had to put them in a cupboard upstairs so I can get on with some work today.

I need help people.

Softly, softly

Don't you sometimes just need a bit of quiet colour and tactility?

I've been making paper with little flecks of painted paper and gold card, a lovely way to re-use all those scraps that I end up with after a good scalpel collage session. I've also been burnishing with the back of a metal spoon to give clay a wonderful silky feel and a slight pinkness, like the pot is blushing.

My big project is coming along. I'm having to trick myself into doing bits of it though. I start off with a bit of typography, looking carefully at retro typefaces and reproducing them in colour, then I move onto a bit of architecture picked out from the cine films and finally, when I've loosened up I can get into drawing figures which is not my greatest strength. Add several litres of tea and you get an idea of what my work-at-home Thursdays are like. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Hope you are having a productive and fun week. And Happy St Patrick's Day!

The journey so far...

These are a few of the drawings I've been churning out for my big project for uni. I'm drawing inspiration from postcards, business cards, cine films and ephemera from the 1960s to 80s when my grandad was travelling around the world. My aim is to create ten or so a3 sheets of drawings and typographic studies per week (bearing in mind I have a printmaking module and a creative writing one to work on!) so that by the end of the Easter hol I can start scanning and piecing together my website/film from the best drawings. Daunting is not the word.

Hope you're getting a bit of sun this weekend. It can't make up its mind here. I'm off to the museum soon to help with a families afternoon painting Chinese masks, should be fun! Have a good one whatever you're doing.