Finding the time.....

I have enjoyed knitting miniature book cosies for miniature artist's books (yet to be made)....

...when i find the time!

More papercut fun!

Through the Magnifying Glass

more miniature making fun

Guardian Big Draw 2010

Here are some great images taken by Chris Tribble from the Guardian News & Media Big Draw 2010...

Guardian Big Draw 2010

I'm really happy to see some photos from my Miniature Me workshop! 

Keep an eye out for the adverts around September 2011 for the next Guardian Big Draw as places go fast.  It's a fantastic event for children - and the adults get well involved too :-)

Words of inspiration

I am teaching creative writing to EFL students and finding inspiration in the work produced and this work has prompted me to take a look at my other sources of inspiration.

I opted for a Creative Writing module as part of my BA degree at the London College of Communication.  A great choice as I was taught and truly inspired by Catherine Johnson and Ronnie McGrath.

I love the poetry and performance of established poets Aoife Mannix and former colleague Meryl Pugh. 

If you fancy hearing, experiencing or performing live poetry and the spoken word, I recommend Excess Express events, The Poetry Cafe and the Southbank Centre in London.

Check out the Poetry Society and Spread The Word websites....

State (of) Education

Ideas are brewing.

My current aim is to make work which is a comment on current affairs.  This is just the beginning...

32 in the room

Keep an eye out for more......

Guardian Big Draw 2010

I am looking forward to running creative workshops once again at the Guardian News and Media Big Draw event 2010.

I'm returning as a guest illustrator and really pleased to be working in partnership with RCA alumni Joanne Ayre.

Check out the Big Draw website for event near you and maybe even organise your own!

One Line

 

 

I am very pleased to be exhibiting my series of illustrations One Line at the Hornbeam Centre in Walthamstow as part of the E17 Art Trail 2010.

The illustrations have been created by drawing 'live' in the Hornbeam Centre using my signature continuous line drawing technique to reflect the immediacy of the moment captured in each image.

The exhibition is open from Saturday 4th to Sunday 12th September.

Read more here.

E17 Art Trail

I am really pleased to be taking part in the E17 Art trail 2010.

I have been keeping my eye on the Trail for the past three years but lived in the far distant postcode of RM8!

My illustration series 'One Line' will be exhibited at the Hornbeam Centre on Hoe Street between 3rd and the 12th September 2010.

Find out more and read my E17 Art Trail blog entry here.

Paring down to the minimum

A poster has appeared on the London rail networks depicting key people from the world of pop music in the most minimalist and rectangular way.  It's fabulous!

 

I cannot find any information about the designer :-(

The poster links to a British Music Experience competition too FACE THE MUSIC

Paper engineering

Folding, cutting, tearing, ripping, scoring.

Paper is a joy to manipulate and I am inspired by many paper engineers as I have mentioned in previous posts.

I have recently discovered the work of a friend of a friend Hattie Newman.  Check out Hattie's blog - the paper engineering is amazing, inspiring and colourful!

Talking of paper scenes, here's one I made earlier....

Printmaking at the London College of Communication

I have recently had the pleasure of leading two weeks of workshops in Printmaking at the London College of Communication.

My course included experimental drawing, drawing for detail, collograph printmaking and drypoint engraving printmaking.

The students from London schools and colleges, were fabulous and worked really hard to create amazing work.  

I have to thank my two assistants, Nadia and Sean who were so helpful, knowledgeable and fun to work with!

Below are some images of the students' work in traditional collograph printmaking and dry point engraving:

Midsummer Making Day - Review

Taking a day out to spend creatively making in my Midsummer Making Day workshop, all five participants worked intensively, creatively and imaginatively to make a unique, hand-sewn Artist's Book with text and image.  The books were bound with a Japanese stab-binding sewing method.

Poetry, prose and single words were used to convey written content and watercolour and paper collage to depict visual imagery.

A great day was had by all - I loved it!

Here are a few images of the workshop and the Artists' Books...

My workspace in Uppercase magazine

I have an illustration published in the new issue of Uppercase Magazine(Issue 6).

Invited to draw ' My Workspace' I submitted a continuous line illustration and I am proud to see the result in the preview Flip through issue 6 page 47 on the Uppercase blog.

Congratulations to Janine and the team at Uppercase for attaining a GOLD award at the National Magazine Awards 2010 (Canada).

I really look forward to receiving my copy in the post!

My Workspace (June 2010)

Midsummer Making Day

I am really looking forward to leading my Midsummer Making Day creative workshop on Sunday.

Illustration, creative writing and book arts combined into one day's inspirational session!

Small hands make great work!

I spent a really enjoyable day as a Visiting Artist at the Hartley Primary School in Newham.  I am always impressed by the ideas and innovation of young learners and these Book Arts workshops with Year 6 and Year 1 were no exception.

In my workshops the Year 6 made sketch books for their school Arts Week ideas and artwork using the three hole pamphlet stitch bookbinding method.  The Year 1 pupils made lovely concertina structures with papercut designs.

Thanks to the school staff for a warm welcome.

For more information about Arts Events in Newham, London click here. 

The Book Club event

A great evening demonstrating book binding and talking book arts at The Book Club in Shoreditch, London.  Thanks to the University of the Arts alumni team for inviting us along.  It was really nice to chat and make alongside Jaquinta, Sky and Tori whilst sewing a traditional French binding to create a miniature book of my illustrations.

 

Above shows my hands making the mini book of illustrations.

And some more snapshots of our Artist's/Artists' Books captured on camera...

The last pic shows more of my Artist's Books.

Fabric dye

I translated my rose window illustration into a fabric dye design today.  I kept the style free and flowing and i'm really pleased with the result!

making miniature maquettes

My love of bright colours and paper engineering combine in these two paperworks.  The first was inspired by the rose window in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and the second by the sunrise and sunset.

I'm really pleased to be running Book Arts drop in workshops at LCC tomorrow.

Collage

Really good fun to create but I feel my collage skills need some work to become as accomplished as those of the enigmatic artist Camilla Engman

I have recently come across Tumblr - i'm not sure what it is exactly yet....but this link Tumblr images tagged 'collage' is an intriguing one to follow.

Arts Wednesday at the Book Club

I will be demonstrating traditional book binding at the University of the Arts London alumni event at the Book Club in Shoreditch on Wednesday (2nd June) along with fellow BA Book Arts alumni from the London College of Communication.

I'm looking forward to spending time binding in a cool venue in East London and catching up everyone.

See you there!

Chasing inspiration...

I ran an early morning 5 kilometre run today and this was great for clearing my mind and taking 'time to smell the flowers' - as they say.  Clearly not literally, as this would have adversely affected my effort to achieve a Personal Best!

Hackney Marshes Park Run is a lovely course taking in shaded tree lined paths, open fields (bordering the new olympic site) and the canal tow path.  I would always recommend running as a great sport and effective way of chasing thoughts of inspiration.

Find out more about the national Park Run events here.  The graphic design for the site is brilliant too!  Simple, recognisable and amusing!  One run down, 49 more to go before I qualify for my Park Run t-shirt!! 

 

Capital Letters

I am really inspired by UPPERCASE - a great visual arts online site with a fabulous magazine and interesting web entries.

UPPERCASE 

The most recent blog post includes a video of the hand printing, letter press pressing and hand binding process of making a series of Artist's Books.  Hours of work in just over 5 minutes!

This brings back memories of hours spent in the letterpress workshop setting type and printing Fairy Tales, my limited edition of hand bound books featuring fairy tales in 31 words.   I raise my glass to the dedicated, skilled craft process of book binding!  

Below are images of the hand binding of the Fairy Tales limited edition books.

I have just found the rather beautiful website of the featured Book Artist Abigail Uhteg (by pausing the video to read the text near the end!).