happy tea cup people

a little mock up of an idea for some mono prints onto fabric that I will make for the panel. I want there to be lots of rain coming down onto the figures and they are happy about the rain and also looking forwards as they travel in their royal teacup... on their way to a city somewhere across the sea.

sneak peek

so here is some of 'the panel' or 'the journey panel'... it doesn't really have a name yet, i just refer to it as 'the panel' for now. it doesn't photograph so well with our bad flat lighting and evil flash. i would like to get it up on the wall and photograph it with good lights, but for now it shows where i am at.

i have split the panel into sections. only parts of two of the panels are shown here. the beginning of the journey with the two figures waving goodbye to the journeyers and then the journey section of the panel (with some details to show you the faces). it is still in progress, there is plenty more stitching to be done, (i have holes in my fingers!) but it is feeling more whole now and not just an idea in my head. the planning for this piece has existed as small sketches, big cut-outs, photoshoped images and colour swatches. it has been fun and frustrating trying to collect the right textures and fabrics. the best find was a pillow case in an op-shop in angel that had advertisements from an old newspaper printed on it. it was the 'to let' section of the paper, so all the words were to do with houses and london etc. you will find parts of it in all my work...

the biggest break through with this piece was being introduced to monoprinting onto textiles. i think it has been the most sucessful and organic transition from working with paper to working with textiles. Being able to integrate print and drawing into the work has allowed me to make the textiles unique to my hand. i plan to do more monprinting this week to achieve the final charaters for the piece.

progress

some works in progress. thinking about travelling and buses... the big journeys we make and observe and the everyday ones. also the historical journeys and the ones made by us on our way to work. my work is a challenge of trying to merge the two into one narrative. i am enjoying working between the sketchbook, fabric and stitching and the computer.

pencil boats

economics

we've had a very productive day in the studio today at home. at times there were five of us beavering away, each on our own projects...actually things are still going. yuki and i are making silly little books of nonsense!

my project this week is to come up with ten illustrations for my dad's company brochure material. they are a 'board surveys' company, so the illustrations need to be be about people and economics, money, decisions, ideas... but they have to be fun and original too. the company are sick of using i-stock photos and are tired of the same old illustrations that get associated with those sorts of companies... so here's my take on it...

a boating bowler

a little picture for friday. it is a sort of construction of what i would like the man on the textile panel to look like.

i have used newspaper tones and textiles to create an image that suggests a captured moment in time. it still needs work, but i think it is a nice little step towards making a body of illustrations within my own visual language.

letterpress

here is the new adana press that aine and i bought is bristol. it was a bargain and now we can letterpress to our hearts desire. the back of the book shows my business card used as a label, i'd like to custom make labels in future with old adana... i like to think i could create a branding that is uniquely mine.

i had a tutorial with becky, aine and jenny and i feel really clear about the direction of my work now. it is exciting to give the panel more breathing space and a life beyond the masters course. the illustrations are coming along now too, i have created a book of textures and am scanning them as i need them for backgrounds and collage elements. i am going to stick with a similar palette and work on some more bookcovers and things.... i'll keep you posted...

gondolas

the butcher

this is a collage of photographs and drawings of this lovely italian butcher in bologna. he had such a great face that i thought would make a great character for a story or something. anyway, i am not sure if it works, but it was fun to play with.