London Weekend Inspiration

I've just returned from a great weekend in London: We camped out for Wimbledon tickets on Thursday night and saw a spooky full moon, then we saw the amazingly inspirational John Isner who won the longest tennis match in history, 70-68 in the fifth set on Thursday and we also saw Venus and Roddick in the sweltering heat. Then we went to Kew Gardens where there was inspiration everywhere, lines from the Sackler bridge where we spotted 8 tiny baby coots, humongous waterlily pads that could've been boats (if you wanted to get wet), a really tall pagoda and beautiful seeds made out of willow by Tom Hare. A great inspirational weekend, plus I had the most amazing pepperoni, meatball, mozerella and chilli calzone ever!

Man Met Degree Show

 

Last week I visited the Manchester Metropolitan University Degree Show and here's my two faves: Aimee Dymond with an installation of gridded coloured threads and Tom Bingham's fun illustrations. Also loved the fashion and textiles, lots of great talent coming out of the North West.

Updates: Berlin & Ithaca

                                 

Some updates on a few submissions: My Berlin typography is up with tons of others on Neue and my 'Ten images for Ithaca' poster got an honorable mention which means it got a ten (the highest score) from one of the judges, exciting! It will be exhibited at the Ithaca Public Art Gallery from 17th-31st July 2010 and in Athens at EDO from 22-26 Sept 2010 If you're over in Greece this summer go check it out :)

Song Illustrations: Cherry Lane

Here's the second in my Song Illustration series: Cherry Lane by Ryan Adams. Here's my first one Blues run the Game by Jackson C Frank done in March but now I'm going to try and finish one every couple of weeks and each in a different style. Anyone got any song suggestions? Here's the lyrics that inspired the illustrations:

Books, Roses & Cab:

'Every night I read this novel about you

holding roses in the pouring rain

But the ending's tore up, trying to hail a cab

Think no one can read you but I can'

House & Walking figures:

'Well we move into a house down on Cherry Lane

And watch the world go by, I'm missing a page

I want to be the one who walks you home

who walks you home tonight'

Books, broken glass:

'Curled up with a book down on Cherry Lane

the glass it hits the floor and you're walking away'

Switzerland Mountain Shadows Map

Here's a peek of a new map drawing I'm in the middle of. It's a pictorial relief map of Switzerland and I'm blocking in all the mountain shadows in black. I found this map in a charity shop and along the bottom it has the most amazing array of people in Swiss costumes and national dress. I've been to Switzerland quite a bit and my memories of it always involve mountains, you can never get away from them! They also include a lot of milka, sun, snow, family, falling over, walking, sunburn, laughter, skiing, views, crepes, crickets, mini golf, friends, birthdays (always the day after swiss national day) and Bonjours! Good times!

Rebrand BP for Greenpeace

Here's my entry into the 'Behind the Logo' Competition run by Greenpeace UK. It's in response to the recent horrific oil spill off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico and they want you to rebrand BP and come up with a logo that shows who they really are-bloody polluters out for fistfuls of cash! I also came across the ripple sketches blog which is a cool project (which I'm going to contribute to) which sells small illustrations for donations to help the victims of the disaster through several environmental charities.

More Veggie Rocks

Here's the first group of veggie rocks all done and dusted, varnished and sent off to their new home in Skye. I've got another group to do including broccoli, broad beans, rhubarb, cabbage, salad leaves, fruit trees and some others. I think my faves are the potatoes, runner beans and carrots. What's yours?

Ten Images for Ithaca Poster Finalist!

A while ago I entered the Ten images for Ithaca Poster Competition and I just found out that I'm a finalist! The theme was labels and as I've been filling in so many application forms lately, mine just had to be about the so called equal opportunities questionnaire that you always have to fill out and the boxes you get forced into and the labels that get stuck on you. Anyways there's a People's Choice Award that's voted for by, guess who? you! So go here to vote! There's 142 to choose from and I think they'll all be in the exhibition on the island of Ithaca, Greece in July- including mine, wahoo! Then the top ten posters get blown up and displayed on Ithaca's promenade for the whole summer! Very exciting! Trip to Ithaca anyone? :)

Colour Circle Triangles

Here's a recent painting which I cleaned up a bit in Photoshop. Reinventing an old idea, turning it upside down so it lcan live on in a new form in a new time. Just remembered a thought from the artist Tim Davies; once you've made a piece of art and finished it and it's out there in the world, it's no longer yours anymore, it is free to have a life of its own and you are free to move on. I think I need to do that more, try and set thingds free, don't get too bogged down with the things I've done or I've not done, live in the moment and be grateful for what I have done and what's to come.

Illustration Friday: Trail

Just a quick idea for the Illustration Friday Trail theme. I've played about with images I already had for the colouring of the arrows and the green leaves background of the trail. Trails make me think of walks through woodlands and over leaves, around reservoirs and lakes and through fields. Going somewhere, going nowhere, coming back, turning around and going full circle.

Inspirational Books

I've been picking up lots of books at charity shops lately and here are my two faves that I'm enjoying at the moment. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson which is about an old woman and her 6 year old grand daughters stay on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland (from the author of the Moomin books!) and Nothing by Paul Morley which is an autobiography reflecting everything from the death of Ian Curtis to the wonders of Stockport, his fathers suicide and the many books he has started and never finished. Perfect balance of life and death, summer and winter, happiness and sadness.

News: Pattern Chosen for PAC Background

My pattern that I did for the repeat-x repeat-y project was chosen to be featured on the PAC (Plataforma de Arte Contemporaneo) website and is their background for the month of June! With all the patterns they had to choose from, it's amazing that mine was plucked out from them all, Thanks PAC! Have a great month of Junio!