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!).

From handwriting to calligraphy and typography

Since I can remember I have held a fascination for handwriting.  Written forwards or backwards, in pen or pencil, informal or formal....

I loved to practice letter forms in an orange Woolworth's exercise book and soon progrssed to experimenting with my treasured left-handed calligraphy set, a gift for my 6th birthday.  

The years have passed and my passion for letter forms is still as strong and falls under the banner of Typography!  I indulged in the luxury of letterpress during my degree studies and found no trouble in passing hour upon hour setting type.

My artwork often includes creative writing and lettering in various forms....

Barcelona

These images are paper-cut pieces linked to my unique artist's book Barcelona which draws on my experience of living in this magnificent city and the work illustrates key landmarks and annual celebrations.

Views from the sofa

A couple of my 'closed-eye memory drawings'.  It's amazing how you think you take it all in but so much is unobserved in reality.

To view intriguing inspiration take a look at the art work of Camilla Engman.

La maison de Victor Hugo

A May day with a cold breeze and a day trip to Paris.

A visit to the house of Victor Hugo and a discovery of inspiration in interior decoration.

Wallpapered walls and matching ceiling, curtains and drapes.

Beautiful!

North York Moors

A recent trip to the North York Moors inspired me to commit the colours to memory and create this colour palette on return home.  I have in mind to use the colours in some kind of painting work.  We'll see...

I have been keenly making mini videos using my mobile phone!  Moving image is new to me so the results are truly amateur!  Here's the view from the car whilst driving over the moors - apologies as it is upside down and i am unable to rotate the video!

North York Moors