Fluffycloud Studios

That's Liza Smith MA if you don't mind.

2012-01-25T09:48:00.000-08:00

I passed, thank goodness.

If you'd like to come to my graduation exhibition, here
are the details:

MA Children's Book Illustration Graduation Exhibition
8th - 15th February 2012

The Gallery at FOYLES(Third floor)
Foyles Bookshop
118 - 119 Charing Cross Road
London
WC2H OEB

Mavis in the Hood

2011-11-30T02:00:00.000-08:00

If you are ever tempted to do a Children's Book Illustration MA, let me tell you...it's stressful. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, because on the whole it's amazing. But be prepared for headaches, mouth ulcers, hair loss (but ironically weight GAIN) and quite a bit of poverty. Oh, and give your family photos of yourself looking happy and relaxed, because they will forget what that looks like. It will all be worth it in the end though. Please tell me it will be worth it in the end...

Pondering

2011-10-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering (in a Laura Marling style of course). Not known for my good decisions, I am pleased to say that changing my job last year was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I moved from the sometimes futile-seeming world of retail, to working in a nursing home for the elderly. The work is emotionally draining and physically back-breaking - but it's so rewarding, and a privilege to work with the residents. It has broadened my horizons and challenged my views. I'm now proud to say my oldest friend is 103.

In our society the elderly can be at best invisible and at worst treated with contempt. But once, they were just like you. They were bookbinders and soldiers, bank clerks; headteachers and ballet dancers. Inside, they're still the same.

Anyway as you may have guessed I'm keen to have an older character in my work. Here's the latest on Mavis...

...who I hope will also star in my puppet theatre piece for children.

That is all.

Goings On

2011-09-08T02:26:00.000-07:00

So, I'm back. What's been going on since I've been away? Stress and more stress? Hurricanes and general disasters? Jeez, I leave you people alone for five minutes...

Anyway I have been taking part in an artists open house during the Artwave Festival. It's the last weekend coming up so don't miss the chance to buy some art, post your wish in the magic Wishing Tree, or sample some delicious home made cakes and tea! Here's a taster...

In other news, I haven't just been panicking about university and faffing about with Open House stuff, oh no. I have made a cover for my Kindle. (Now named "Mindle" for reasons I can't be bothered to go into.)

Beauty and the Beast!

2011-07-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

Here are a few sketches and a model I made for the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. They are for a competition. Wish me luck!

Printmaking

2011-06-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well the massive news is that after 3 years of longing, complaining, hinting, making do and general miserable failure, Fluffycloud Studios finally sports a PRINTING PRESS! Albeit a tiny, bench top one - but it is mine! I had a very quick go today and printed the two plates above - not as dark as the presses I used to use at the BIP studios but only to be expected I suppose. The woman on the left was etched using environmentally friendly materials which so far are as rubbish as I expected them to be - but I will have to persevere and get to know how to use them, because I can't bugger about with nitric acid in my studio with no fume cupboard etc.

The top prints are just experiments to try out backgrounds. Oh I really need to get this project underway and stop faffing around!

I've also been making some 3D models, but those projects are so new and may not even go anywhere, so I won't post them up just yet.

Enough about me. How are you?

Tayori - Postcards for Japan - Put The Date in Your Diary!

2011-06-17T08:47:00.001-07:00

Buy a postcard sized piece of ORIGINAL art in aid of Teachers For Japan.

Tayori - Postcards for Japan

Michaelhouse Cafe
St. Michael's Church
Trinity Street,
Cambridge CB2 1SU
01223 309 147

Dates: 5th - 11th September 2011

Opening times: 8am – 5pm Monday – Saturday

The title of this exhibition can be interpreted two ways: Tayori, ‘便り’, means letter or tiding, and interpreted with different characters '頼り', it means help or reliance. Our intention for this exhibition encompasses both.

We present a collection of original work submitted both by student and professional artist/illustrators, some already established, some at the beginning of their careers. Each piece takes the form of a postcard: individually and together, they are intended as a message of hope and good wishes for Japan.

The work will be exhibited and sold anonymously and at the same price. In this way, anyone may become the owner of a piece by a well-known illustrator, and everyone will be able to buy original artwork to enjoy!

Teachers For Japan is a nonprofit, all volunteer charity initiative dedicated to the cause of rebuilding education in northern Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami of March 11th, 2011.

Visit our website here.

Postcard

2011-06-03T12:01:00.001-07:00

It's hot and sunny in this neck of the woods, and I wore the fewest ever clothes to my studio today. (Normally I feel daring if I take my gloves off).

Our uni group is organising an exhibition/sale of original art on postcards to raise money for the Japan Tsunami survivors. This might be my offering (or might not if I have time to do another one!). There will be loads of people taking part, some of them dead famous and everything. Watch this space for details!

Another Pigeon Post

2011-05-27T09:55:00.001-07:00

After a key-losing drama ending in a tearful flounce to the clifftops, I finally gained entry to Fluffycloud Studios. When I proposed my new project to my tutor I suggested that I went out sketching so that I could include more backgrounds in my work. As you can see, I have really succeeded.

I also did a bit of 3D modelling which I'll put up when I remember to take my camera down to the studio with me...

Nostalgia

2011-05-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

Well now that my dissertation has now been dissertated, I can move joyously onto my MA project - the grand finale. I definitely want to have some sort of three-dimensional aspect to it and gearing up to that has meant looking through all my books about puppets and dolls. My friend gave me some old toymaking books a while back. This is a page from a 1970s volume which made me feel very nostalgic.

We live in a throwaway society nowadays... I don't even know if people make their children soft toys any more. I hope they do. I would have very much appreciated a Humpty like this, being an avid watcher of Playschool! (And look at that groovy fabric!)

Silly Tree

2011-04-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

Just experimenting with materials in my studio and got a little carried away with the tree. (I was listening to the lovely Bill Nighy in the Radio 4 Afternoon Play and just didn't want to stop!)

My dissertation is still bubbling away - although I do admit it has been turned down to a gentle simmer after coming to the boil quite quickly. I really wanted to have it finished before I go away next week. I am just too busy to have a job, you know.

Experimenting and a Bargain

2011-04-07T13:54:00.001-07:00

It was such a beautiful day today I couldn't face staying in dissertating. So I took Poppy out for a walk and then dabbled around in my studio for a while...without the heater on can you believe?

I just noticed I didn't crop this image...oops. Anyway, as well as this I tried etching an aluminium plate with some copper sulphate solution I cought some months back when I still had high hopes of my mangle working as an etching press. I didn't know how long to bite it for and will take the plate next time I go to uni and try printing it out - if I can get past the grumpy technician, guardian of the printroom.

On my walk I spotted this on a table of books for sale outside the library. I've bought some really good graphic novels there before - they must have a policy of not keeping them very long! I have wanted this book for a long time and now I have it...and all for a mere pound.

Scooting around

2011-04-04T04:02:00.000-07:00

Hello there. As many of my friends know I am currently working on my dissertation, so 'tis a mean period, artwork-wise. Sorry about that.

In other news, I have been constantly tired and look and feel like an elderly woman.

Scanner Infidelity

2011-03-07T01:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a bit of sketchbook malarkey. Sorry for the absence...I spent some time familiarising myself with the toilet bowl, during which time my computer and scanner fell out. Since then they have refused to accept that they ever knew each other and insist that a scanner has never been installed. They now seem to have formed an uneasy truce, even though the computer sometimes tells me the scanner is working for another device. I think the scanner is a man.

Back to the sketchbook!

2011-02-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

Had three much-needed days off, most of which I seemed to spend sweeping up dog's hairs, worrying about money and watching television. I don't know which is the most depressing! But, I did venture out with my sketchbook.

Have also started thinking about my dissertation. But of course I couldn't actually write anything, because I was busy waiting for Jeremy Kyle to give those all-important lie detector test results.

Cutting a Long and Painful Story Short

2011-02-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Here is a sample of images from my MA Diploma Project. As my friends must be sick of hearing it was a really difficult project for me and I seemed to come up against one obstacle after another. But I got there in the end and passed...whoop whoop! So it's onwards and upwards for the Diploma Review and Masters Project!

I must thank John Lawrence for counselling me through the engraving process and Digital Goddess Abbie Stanton and her family for letting me invade her house and abuse her equipment...I am so lucky to have such knowledgeable and generous friends!

Not Enough Hands

2010-12-01T00:34:00.001-08:00

Well as many of you know, I rent a little studio, and at this time of year it becomes encased in ice, and I have to chip my way in, and then a friend or family member has to chip me and the dog out again at the end of the day. The sub zero temperature has not helped my injured fingers (my fingers aren't great at the best of times) and it took me all day (and more than a little pain) yesterday to engrave this image, for the first page of my book:-

When I was printing it, I realised I had completely missed out Bea's other hand. A Freudian slip, perhaps. So all in all, a failed day, hand-wise.

I can't decide whether or not to brave the journey to uni today. Maybe I will chip my way into my studio and see which body parts I can leave off my characters this time.

Struggling

2010-11-26T07:25:00.001-08:00

Sorry once again for my absence...I have just got a new job with more hours so have even less precious time for my coursework. So you can imagine how I chortled when I stumbled down my steps last night while putting the rubbish out and hurt my RIGHT hand while trying to save myself! Oh, I roared with laughter, I can tell you. I was in denial at first, and went to work today as usual - but the fingers swelled and were stiff and painful. So I ended up having to go to hospital. Luckily it's not broken, just bruised and inflamed. But the doctor told me it could be like this for TWO WEEKS!! Two weeks!! Well, I won't allow it. I can hold a pencil and draw a little (albeit wobbly) but I can't curl my hand round an engraving tool at all at the moment. Hand in date is 5th January. What a hoot!

Here's a rough I did just before IT happened.

Crit Day

2010-11-03T13:04:00.001-07:00

Here's the drawing I did yesterday on the way to Cambridge. He had very big unruly hair, something I am very much in favour of. He reminded me of the eagle newsreader in The Muppet Show (which I am also in favour of) and was reading a book about Otters and Martens - breaking off to type important looking things on his Mac book. It's reassuring to know that while we ordinary mortals go about our mundane business, someone is keeping track of the Otters and Martens.

So, it was the Big Crit day at Uni, and, as if this wasn't stressful enough, there was a Japanese tv crew there, filming it. I mean, what next...naked crits? Crits while someone is whacking us with sticks or throwing water at us? (Luckily, though, they were only really interested in the, er...less mature students. Just as well because our tutor could not have held his stomach in for much longer!)

A tube strike meant that I had to break my journey to panic and get lost in London, phone home and cry, vow to give up my course and resign myself that I would never ever escape from the crowd I had found myself swept along in. Once I had done all that, I simply got on the tube as usual, (which ran completely normally), and carried on to make it home in better time than most weeks.

Here are the two drawings I did on the way home. Out Of Proportion Arm Woman, as I affectionately call her, was not at all happy about whatever she was reading - she kept shaking her head and tutting. She does have a hand, at least. Someone in the crit got their hand drawing criticized - and most of us admit to avoiding drawing them at all costs. One look at OOPAW tells you why.

Not really catching up.

2010-10-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

No uni this week - I've been feeling a bit under the weather - plus it's half term, so I thought instead of abandoning my child I would try and catch up a bit at home/in the studio. That was the theory but, of course, millions of obstacles were put in my path. You know when you have one of those bad dreams when you're trying to get somewhere or do something and you can't move properly or you realise hours have gone by and you've missed something really important? Well that's real life for me buddy! Anyway I did get to try a bit more engraving.

Bea and her (newly acquired in the re-write) cat:-

And a mouse I did for my New Address card:-
Thank you and good - Nytol enhanced - night.

Pondering

2010-10-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

I had a nightmare journey to Cambridge this week and was stuck on a train for ages due to points failure. That meant I only attended uni for the lecture before starting the crappy journey home again. To top it all I forgot my sketchbook - so no train sketches to put on this week.

Then at my studio yesterday I spent the day trying to storyboard my book which is definitely not fit to be seen here yet!

I've been thinking about picture books, as I have done a lot over the years, and in particular, the characters in them. I got to thinking about children with disabilities, and how it must feel to be so un-represented in picture books and literature; to feel different to any of the characters they read about or see in illustrations. When I worked in a children's book shop, the only picture books featuring any disabled people were books designed to "inform" children about the disabilities. Like "Emma has Cochlear Implants" or "My Mommy has a Wheelchair" (Not actual titles but you get my drift). The story, if there was one, was about the disability. Some were OK, but quite a lot were dreadful.

Anyway I looked around the good old internet on the subject and it turns out there is an organisation dedicated to this very matter. There are examples of work by lots of illustrators including Quentin Blake and Jane Ray (who is a passionate believer of inclusion in children's books and has written widely on the subject). There seem to be more books published now where disabled children feature, especially in books for the very young. The publisher Childs Play certainly seems to be the most inclusive at the moment.

I don't know yet if any of the characters in the book I am working on now will have disabilities. But it's certainly something I will always think about if I ever have a "career".

By the way the lecture was great - Fabian Negrin - absolutely stunning work and a lovely man to boot. (What a strange saying "to boot" is)!

Blimey.

2010-10-19T12:13:00.001-07:00

Well, that all took longer than I hoped. What a faff. In short, I got huffy, Sky got dumped and I'm now online courtesy of BT. So, normal service has been resumed and there's some drawing to be caught up on. Not much, admittedly...but here's a few from the last couple of weeks. Alexis Deacon in a lecture...

And later that day a hideous journey home which didn't end til after ten and involved torrential rain...

Last week's train journey to Cambridge...
No drawing on the way home last week.

Back at the studio today, and I am still at the early stages of my new project. Wrestling with the story, and meanwhile learning the printmaking technique. Here's my character again only printed with oil based ink (as advised by the wonderful John Lawrence who I was lucky enough to talk to last week) on nice paper. And with added colour at no extra charge.

I love printmaking but I always seem to be in need of something crucial yet really expensive in order to carry on. I would so love a press...it would make my life so much easier and so much more enjoyable! And it wouldn't make my hand joints hurt so much and I could do etching as well as relief....sigh.

For someone who is proud to be non-materialistic I sure do want a lot of things.

In other news, I had cleared up three piles of poo before 8 am this morning (one cat, two dog.) The glamour.

Commence the Dancing...commence the prancing!

2010-09-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well I will be off t'interweb for a few days (thanks, Sky!) So meanwhile, here's something brilliant to look at.

Back to Uni! Hurrah!

2010-09-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well it was my first day back at uni today and we're now second years...how scary! I came away feeling daunted, but inspired. So-o-o-o pleased to see my friends, and of course all their fab ideas for this semester. (Which of course all seem so much better than my ideas!)

Anyway, here are my train sketches.

I was going to crop out the song lyrics I doodled, but then changed my mind...Florence was part of my journey after all!

On the way back...much harder to draw pretty people with no wrinkles/glasses/double chins! And I think no matter how many years I travel by train it will never, ever become interesting to draw the seats.

Another Go

2010-09-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

So after faffing about with resolutions, fonts and all that malarkey, here's a better version of the spoof ad for BANG's White Night comic. Hey! You can even click on this baby to make it bigger!

Trying Out Tools!

2010-09-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well I didn't let the lack of a press or any proper paper thwart my efforts at trying out the engraving tools! Printed on brown paper with a spoon (which really does hurt my hands!) .

May not be much to show for a few hours' work but I enjoyed doing it and learnt a bit too! (Like why John Lawrence suggested darkening the surface with ink - it would have been much easier to see where I had scraped away!)

In other news, we have fleas. Fleas which I must get rid of before moving. It's all glamour, glamour glamour in my life, I tell you.

It's a Start! Jeez!

2010-09-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

Well I had a good time at my studio - mainly cleaning the thick layer of dust that had accumulated since my last visit, and mourning my mangle press which someone has recently rendered unusable. (Grr!)

But I did settle on a story for my next project - it's an idea I first thought of years ago but never developed. It's for a picture book. So I will be writing a draft of the text in the next couple of days and meanwhile starting to develop the character, Bea. She's going to be about 2/3 and a bit feisty. Just started doodling an idea of what she might look like.

As I like to work on two things at once (so I can send one to Coventry when it misbehaves) I shall also be doing an animation with this character I think.

I really want to do some more printmaking before I go back, too. The engraving tools I was kindly loaned over the summer keep glaring accusingly at me. So tonight I shall remind myself how to prepare an engraving block and draw out a little design.

Also I have been thinking about opening an Etsy shop, so have also been thinking about things I could make - as well as things for my new beautiful and trendy home (which I will have one day).

So although it may appear that not much is occurring, in my tired desperate mind, it is! (It's competing with day job hunting and moving, but it's there and I am trying to keep it going!)

2010-09-12T23:09:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to the studio so watch this space! (Well, not THIS one, onviously, but the next one.)

2010-09-09T23:23:00.000-07:00

Don't say I don't keep my promises! Just managed this little spoof ad (well a first draft of it anyway) for BANG (Brighton Animators Networking Group) who are planning a fantastic event of animation, comics and theatrical delights at Marlborough House, Brighton in October - details here. Can't wait to join this creative bunch - once I can really call myself an animator, which I am going to tackle this semester!

A frustrating couple of days...I seem to have lost a printer and also a printing press, which is a real setback. But I am trying not to let it get me down!

I'm Alive!!

2010-09-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog,

I am so sorry to have ignored you this Summer. You know when you suddenly have a massive personal crisis, get ill, get side effects to medication, get a destructive dog, get a seriously ill loved one, have work problems, money problems and family problems all at once? No? Well lucky you then. But all these things have happened to me during this summer of doom, and therefore Fluffycloud Studios remained empty and neglected.

However! Things are getting better I hope. A new uni semester looms, and two things happened today.

1) An email from my tutor arrived, gently reminding me that we are expected to arrive with ideas for the new module.

2) I met my lovely friend for coffee (who is herself a creative whirlwind) and she has inspired me to put pencil to paper again.

So due to the combination of these factors I hereby declare that I WILL post some artwork here in the next few days. And it'll be as if we've never been apart.

Liza x

Studio

2010-06-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

I managed a couple of hours at the studio today. Finished the sketchbook I have been making from another recycled hardback. Here it is with its innards stripped out and the new signatures cut and folded.

Here are the signatures after the holes have been made...(thrilling, eh?)

And then after I sewed them together. It's really easy and actually relaxing.

Finally an abysmal attempt to do some drawing...I really need some inspiration.

Still

2010-06-28T01:59:00.000-07:00

Still not really working creatively, so meanwhile, some extreme hattage.

Sketchbook

2010-06-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

Some sketches of Charlie from my recent stay in Cambridge and just a page of doodles in my new sketchbook...bit meaningless really, as I can't seem to get stuck into anything. I did make the signatures for another sketchbook though ready to sew together next time.

Good Luck England

2010-06-18T05:20:00.001-07:00

Get yourselves Englanded up and hope for the best. x

Having a break

2010-06-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you know that I'm having a break from blogging (and normal life in general) at the moment, because my mum's seriously ill in hospital.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to my wonderful, wonderful friends who are helping me through this, and the other difficulties I have recently faced...you know who you are and I love you.

Hope to be drawing and posting again soon. x

2010-06-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

Sketchbook!

2010-05-27T05:07:00.001-07:00

Here's my finished sketchbook. I refilled an old hardback that was going to be thrown away, and sort of followed these instructions, which are for reloading a moleskine.

I chose this one because of the handy size and also because I thought it would confuse the rail staff when I am working on the train.

I used some of the original pages for endpapers, and also kept the title page.

The pages are a bit wibbly wobbly, but that doesn't matter for a sketchbook. Well not to me, anyway!

And I end today's broadcast with a quick ink sketch of Poppy, done at my studio with a brush pen and quink. (No pencil, Ladies and Gentlemen! No rubber! No safety net!)

Ooh! An exciting parcel has just arrived from Amazon! I shall resist opening it til my birthday!

Beach time!

2010-05-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well it was my first day back at the studio today since The Big Hand In. Poppy came with me, and was brilliant. She met the dog of my studio neighbour who did have a quick attempt at raping her...but she forgave him.

It was really strange not to have my speed dating book to do! Anyway I did one of the first things on my list of things to do...I made myself a sketch book! With signatures and everything. Just gotta attach the cover and I'm all ready to fill it up! I took my camera to prove it but forgot the memory card. So instead here is a picture of Poppy's first trip to the beach (that I know of!)

She absolutely loved it and ran for miles and miles - she even paddled in the sea!

Introducing Poppy!

2010-05-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

Look who's come to live with us! It's Poppy, an approx 8-month old Bassett cross (they think crossed with a Collie). She came from this rescue centre and was rescued on her last day at the pound before the chop!

She is absolutely adorable and loves people - when you stroke her, she just slides to the floor!

It was a real eye opener looking at the rescue websites. I work for an animal charity and even I had no idea of the sheer number of unwanted dogs in this country. Lots of the dogs from this place are ex-breeders - after seeing all this I'd never buy a puppy. There's just no need to.

Anyway I'm sure I'll do some drawings of her soon.

Wowzer

2010-05-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

Well here is it, what you've all been waiting for...and it's even better than we could have hoped.

THE KNITTED BIKINI!!!

And men, guess what, you don't have to feel left out in this fashion bonanza! These two hunks are probably pointing at the sad fools who don't have their genitals cradled with lovingly knitted trunks.

In case the pic won't enlarge, the text says "these trim fitting trunks for a teen-age boy and his elder brother will make a welcome gift." Well I have two teen-age boys....hmm....I wonder, what with summer coming up....

Well all the uni work's been handed in! I can't believe the first year has gone already...it's flown by. Feeling a bit flat now actually. Oh well...if all goes to plan I could have some fab news to tell you on Sunday.

Proper book

2010-05-13T01:53:00.000-07:00

Yay! Look what arrived from Blurb this morning...my book, all proper!

I'm really pleased with it. The cover turned out a bit strange but hey - a small price to pay for having to do next to nothing in order to get a nice book.

Under the table in the top picture, you can see our family's World Cup sticker album. I suspect there will also be a wall chart in due course. (There won't be flags, though...what do you think we are - losers or something?)

Oh, and if you have a spare tenner (or any amount of money) and are up for being incandescent with rage, look at this. (Isn't it funny how rage is the only emotion you can be incandescent with?)

Interlude

2010-05-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

While I am busy writing an essay, a reflection on my work and a proposal for the next module, I'll leave you to enjoy these high fashion hats.
I hope my friends would put me straight if I were ever tempted to wear anything looking like a cottage loaf on my head.

Belated Response

2010-05-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

...to the election result. Brighton - WOOP! WOOP! Rest of the Country - eh?

PS...two of the eggs have hatched!

Did You Know

2010-05-06T07:31:00.001-07:00

...that you are allowed to go and cast your vote dressed as a pirate, or wearing your pyjamas - but you are not allowed to wear a giant rosette?

I thought I would tell you now and catch you before you go to the polling station.

2010-05-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

No matter how I drew this woman on the way to Cambridge this week, it always looked as though her head was on back to front. I came to the conclusion that it really was, and thought about pointing it out to her, but decided against it.

It was the Big Crit this week so an intense day - but great to see the diversity of everyone's work. Very inspiring. Also got to see John Lawrence! I showed him my new Spitsticker and he tried it out and said it was really good...I am extremely pleased that the first person to use my Spitsticker was the one and only John Lawrence and am now hoping it is enchanted with a bit of his magic!

My scanner and computer apparently fell out with each other in my absence. The computer insisted there was no scanner installed and the scanner said it now worked for someone else. But I turned them both off and on again a few times and they have at least made friends for long enough to scan this woman who had a lovely little dog with her on the way home - who resolutely faced the other way for the whole journey!

Ooh, it's voting day...how exciting. I very much hope I am not going to be extremely disappointed, scared and depressed by this time tomorrow. But I rather think I am just going to be confused.

(It really is voting day, even though the computer says it's Wednesday!)

Sulking

2010-05-03T10:54:00.001-07:00

I am sulking. You are the only person I am currently communicating with.

There are, today, three able bodied - in fact, some would say, strapping - young men in my house. There are, in my garden, three broken fence panels and one trellis which has been smashed to smithereens by the wind and my neighbour's kids. I really want the fences and trellises secured. I don't even care too much what they look like and I have offered the deposit on a Bestival ticket (which let's face it will probably end up being the whole ticket) in return for even a bodge job. But the response has been less than enthusiastic. One is watching cricket, one is on his i-phone and the other on is on his PSP. All activities which left unattended can go on for hours, if not days. The consensus is, the fence can't be repaired. Why can't it? I'm too old and tired and busy to mend the fence. I'm not interested in it, I don't want to go and buy things for it. I just want it to be whole. Most people have fences...why is it so hard for me to have one? WHY?

Anyway here are a couple of the photos Charlie helped me take yesterday, of Ophelia. I couldn't borrow a decent camera so I had to use our awful one which shows the tones in reverse and no colours at all.
They turned out pretty well I suppose, considering the taking of them was so awful and involved me barking instructions and screaming.

I have recently been having a bit of a health worry, which is exacerbated by stress. I've been trying not to get stressed about things. Can you tell?

By the way, in all the time it has taken me to write this, no-one has noticed that I am sulking. I think I will go and finish my sulk upstairs. Until Coronation Street starts anyway.

Busy-ness

2010-04-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well another action-packed visit to Cambridge, including much cutting and sticking, which I am not very good at at all. But my little dummy book is now as ready as it's ever going to be for its cover which has been letterpressed (above!) and I will attempt to put on the book tomorrow!

No train drawings to show today because the person I started drawing on the way there got off almost immediately, and on the way back I just didn't feel like it!

In other news, I walked to John Lewis in my lunch break, somewhere I have never been. They didn't have what I wanted (tape for bookbinding), and somehow, I left the shop from a different door to the one I entered, and ended up in a weird arcade/shoppping mall where I most certainly didn't belong. Disorientated and late, I floundered around amid lots of posh people for a while and did seriously consider crying. But instead I adopted my "calm, capable woman" persona and searched for natural light. From there I guessed which way back to uni and was right! Never again will I venture to John Lewis.

Cheer yourself up

2010-04-26T22:52:00.000-07:00

...and look at this! In previous years you have been able to look at pictures from the Peregrine Falcons' nest on the Brighton tower block. Well this year there's a live webcam and it's fab! Will all the eggs hatch? It's so exciting!

Arty Fun

2010-04-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

A happily busy time in Cambridge this week, watching Photoshop demos, scanning in my Speed-dating images and starting to print them, and even going down to lovely Letterpress to make my front cover. (At least, I set the letters ready for printing next time).
Here are the usual train sketches - above on the way there and below on the way home. The man above's companion took photos on her phone the whole time, making really loud "shutter" noises. Every time he dropped off to sleep she did it again and woke him up. He never said anything though!

I was just thinking as I was drawing this man's hair how awkward it was to draw, when I happened to look at the piece of paper he was reading. It said "Firstly please accept my apologies for my atrocious hair." (At least that's what I thought it said until he moved his thumb revealing the word "handwriting." But I like my version better.)

Another common exchange in my life:-

SOMEONE: So, what are you doing at university?

ME: An MA in Children's Book Illustration.

SOMEONE: Oh! So you're arty then, are you?

Sigh.

Later...

2010-04-20T13:31:00.001-07:00

...I think these two are going to be creating a LOT of static.

No new work to show - I made a tentative visit to the studio (no illness today thank goodness - the very nice man next door has agreed to leave the heater off for a while to see if it makes a difference) - and played around with a shadow puppet tree for Ophelia to drown beneath. Just a mini version, until I make the real thing.

An unrelated point...the following is a very common exchange in my life:

SOMEONE: So, what are you doing at university?

ME: An MA in Children's Book Illustration.

SOMEONE: Oh. So, what do you want to do at the end of that, then?

Er...I think the course title gives quite a big hint, don't you? It makes me feel silly answering. I think I'll start varying my answers, perhaps saying, "Well I thought I'd start off as a quantity surveyor and if that doesn't work out, I'll have a go at cage fighting."

Without Delay

2010-04-17T05:52:00.000-07:00

...go and have a look at m'good friend Matt Robertson's new work. He's busy creating a stash of marvels for the forthcoming Brighton Festival, where he's taking part in this Open Studio. You'd be a darn fool to miss it.

Woop! Woop!

2010-04-14T10:14:00.001-07:00

Today I finished the bulk of my speed dating project. Will just be tweaking, and the cover from now on. Unless my tutors tell me to re-do it all that is! (In which case I won't have time to post here for a very long time!) Anyway here's a little peak.

Life's been pretty normal and boring really. Here are the dramatic highspots:-

My cat had a huge fight and Charlie had to throw water over them.

I have been avoiding someone, because they have been reminding me to do something which costs me money. Charlie's suggestion was to clothesline the person concerned and then squat over her. That's a wrestling move. I couldn't do that, so today I couldn't avoid doing the thing anymore and am now, unbelievably, even poorer.

I realised that my studio neighbour's gas heater is making me feel ill.
I realised I don't know how to get rid of bullet points, or the huge spaces in between some of them.
Goodbye.

Hair Today

2010-04-01T13:02:00.001-07:00

I went to the studio bright and early today - before 8am - and didn't leave til 7 tonight apart from a brief foray to the bank. Consequently, I am now a hunchback. But at least I finished Ophelia! I also did another image from my speed dating book. Seven down, six to go! Two days at work now and then it's Easter so no more studio lark til Wednesay.

I really really hate Easter. There, I said it. But that's not to say I don't wish you all a very happy one.

Studio Fun

2010-03-30T09:57:00.001-07:00

I haven't had time to scan all my sequential project images in yet so I thought I would just snap them at my studio where I had them all taped on the wall for reference. You should be able to click for hugeness. Six pics down, seven to go! I also made progress with Ophelia, in fact I am really looking forward to carrying on with it. I just love working at my studio...if only I could make money and support my family by doing it. Still, one day...

I Know, I know...

2010-03-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

...it's annoying looking at cat photos, especially when you're expecting illustrations or puppets.

But look, it's Oscar, my mum's newly adopted cat! So deal with it.

Thank Goodness

2010-03-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

Been working today and wishing I could be in my studio getting on with my uni work. During frustrating moments like these I often find it helpful to remind myself that no matter how bad things are, at least I no longer have to try and get my fringe to look like this:-
Thank goodness. (The seventies and eighties were hard for me, with my style-rejecting hair. By the time the nineties arrived I didn't care any more!)

You need arms

2010-03-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

Well I had a productive day at my studio while Charlie was at school - as you can see Ophelia has gained a pair of arms at last. Normally I make art dolls just for display, so it's been interesting to make a puppet which needs to move and not fall to bits. I jointed the elbows using beads and the shoulders using wire and buttons. I draped my entire fabric collection over her but couldn't decide what to make her dress out of...will think it over tonight.

I also did another panel from my mini book - I'll post them in due course. I'm really happy working in my studio with all my heaters pointing at me and radio four on. It's like a little satellite from my home.

The only minor down point of the day was going to the dentist who directed a minuscule jet of cold water into a tooth she'd just carved a big hole in. I jumped about a foot into the air and then in a typical British way, apologised to her. Of course I did - it was clearly my fault...

Extreme Knitting

2010-03-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

Have a look at this. Blimey. Click on "Fetisch" if you dare! You don't get patterns like that from C & H Fabrics.

Great day at the studio making the first image from my speed-dating mini book. I'll show you when I've got more than one, to give you an idea of the sequence.

A Treat!

2010-03-17T13:49:00.001-07:00

No, not my train sketches (although I was pleased to get the chance to draw such an impressive chin).

The treat was spending a couple of hours in the company of the lovely, lovely illustrator and master engraver John Lawrence, who showed us his beautiful work and even did some demonstrations. All of us were so inspired and I wouldn't be at all surprised if one or two sequential projects are done with this technique! I'm going to have a go myself as soon as I can get hold of some vinyl. And I'll need a spitsticker of course. Who doesn't? (I think one of the reasons I like printmaking so much is the old fashioned names things have).

When I got home I found that my hot water wasn't working. Did I freak out? Did I cry? Well I admit, yes, a bit. But then I looked in my DIY book and worked out, calmly, that it was a pressure problem, which I solved with the turn of two taps. See, I'm a capable adult. Tomorrow I am going to replace the toilet seat, which I hurled out of the back door this evening because I slid onto the floor while sitting on it. I'm a calm, capable adult. Really.

Just the beginning...

2010-03-12T06:22:00.000-08:00

...of the end of the nice view from Charlie's bedroom window, as the incinerator goes up. And according to Friends of the Earth it'll be the beginning of the end of good health for a lot of people within a 15-mile radius of it once it starts burning. But the Conservative council, who approved it, say it's really safe. Friends of the Earth...Conservative Councillors...who to believe..? I wonder.

Speed Dating

2010-03-11T11:49:00.001-08:00

Here's something I have been working on today - it's part of a mini-book about a speed dating evening I'm doing for my sequence project. I don't know if it'll end up done this way, and also most of the washes don't show up on the scan. But at least you can see I've done something! Jeez!

(I've also made patterns for, and cut out, Ophelia's arms ready to stuff in front of the telly tonight. But that's too boring for you to see.)

Tomorrow I am working. But if I remember I will show you a picture of the massive incinerator which is being built behind my house. I bet you can hardly wait!

Lecture - and this Season''s "Must-Have"

2010-03-04T09:53:00.001-08:00

Well not much to show this week - the train was absolutely packed on the way to uni so not even any chance of a train sketch. It was too late on the way home as we had a late lecture at Proper Cambridge and I was so tired!

The lecture was really interesting actually - comparing different adaptations of Hamlet - specially interesting for me of course because of my project. I did my usual thing of starting off taking notes and ending up doodling, and sketching the lecturer...

It does seem as if Spring has started to make an appearance. Yet, it's not quite warm enough for Spring clothes. What is a girl to do in weather like this?

Wear her crocheted shorts of course! (In an oh-so-flattering length). And if you are as trendy as this gal, team them with a crocheted bra, top, yellow tights and a contrasting patent loafer/arm bangle combo. At uni this week we discussed the tantalising possibility of there being a knitting pattern for swimwear. Surely it's out there somewhere?!

Bald Ophelia

2010-03-01T07:26:00.001-08:00

Today, Ophelia, the puppet I am making for my Sequential Image project, gained a body, including boobs, and a rod to make her move.

Tonight, I hope, she will have her scene scripted and kinda storyboarded. That way she's a bona fide part of a Sequence and not just any old bald naked woman.

And while we're at my studio - here is my very own printing press!

Converted from an old mangle, it still has a few teething problems but I am really hoping this is the baby that's going to save me a fortune in open access fees. This week I am going to try and squeeze from my ridiculous budget a proper etching blanket. I tried a normal old blanket but the weave showed on the print.

I'll think of something to sacrifice so I can buy the blanket. I've always thought protein in kids' diet was over-rated anyway.

What I've Been Doing 'n' That

2010-02-25T07:50:00.001-08:00

It's been a frustrating few days. To explain how would be a very long, complicated and boring post. So here are the highs and lows instead.

A high - I spent some time at my tidy and organised studio and started a new section of my Sequential Image project. It's going to be a puppet show scene from Hamlet. What will Ophelia's head look like before the hair is put on? Funny you should ask!

A low - my cold/sinus infection either came back or I got a new one. Put a bit of a dampener on my trip to Cambridge. Train sketch...

A low...I realised that academics can needlessly turn something simple and obvious into something very complicated. Also they can turn something very beautiful and interesting into something dry and lifeless. A high...I thanked my lucky stars I am studying from a creative and not so academic angle.

Two lows - life is treating a couple of my friends harshly. I didn't enjoy something I usually love. A high - I stayed with my lovely friends and was given this gem...

Isn't it great! Now if I was in a cool Indie band (a career possibility for me of course, if my illustration career should flop) I would so have this as an album cover. The kid in the white hat at the bottom looks like someone has a gun pointed at him and has threatened to shoot if he doesn't smile! The patterns are available in age 6-8 and 8-10. Pam, Dave and I mused about what would happen if you put one on a 10-year old and sent them out in my local town centre...

More knitting pattern hilarity and art antics soon.

If Only...

2010-02-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

...I could be as glamorous as these foxy chicks, spotted on a crochet pattern at work today...

However I have carried out a risk assessment and decided against crocheting these outfits, because of the dangerous length of the scarf. She's actually treading on it. I broke my toe in a similar way (although it was actually a "flouncing-while-wearing-a-bath-towel" incident. These can happen very easily, as I am sure you know).

No artwork to show at the moment due to working in the shop...but hope to have something to show tomorrow.

Sketches and Arctic Antics

2010-02-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

First things first, here are the obligatory train sketches from my trip to Cambridge this week. Both done on the homeward journey - no opportunity to draw on the way there.

I had a great time as usual and finally got my hands on that lovely printroom. I knew there was something very different from Brighton Independent Printmakers (other than the hugeness and hospital-neatness) and as we had our induction I realised what it was...no smell! They use hardly any toxic chemicals and no naked flames (so no smoking of the hard ground or blowtorching aquatints...two of my favourite bits!). It's so strange to be in an odourless printroom! Good-strange, I suppose, although I'm actually fond of the smell of BIP (despite the raw lungs...). They use aluminium with copper sulphate, and zinc and steel with Edinburgh Etch. The processes are very similar to those I have done before so I am really looking forward to taking advantage of the open access facility.

I came home to a letter from hell giving me news I really didn't want. (Boring money stuff as usual). The panic it has induced has given me a burst of energy (not to mention a blinding headache and going off food and sleep) and today I totally cleaned, sorted and rearranged my studio. I have got a mangle which I've had adapted to make a small press, and I wanted to make room for it and varnish the wood bits. I worked really hard all day in the arctic temperature* of the studio and feel frustrated that I won't be able to work in there for ages as I'm doing extra days in the shop next week.

Tonight, sketching for my project. I will work through the pain of the headache and the panic of the letter!

* (I wore - knickers, bra, tights, legwarmers, bedsocks, trainers, jeans, vest, pyjama top, hoody, scarf, painting overall, bodywarmer, hat and gloves).

Schmokin!

2010-02-08T00:28:00.000-08:00

Here for your pleasure is a knitting pattern I got from work for the princely sum of 25p. I only wish my knitting skills were up to making this "neat 4-ply lumber jacket". Sadly they are not, so my groovy male friends must for now find inferior, shop-bought items to smoke in. (We also have a great pattern featuring a family of pipe smokers!)

Here's a taster of my new project - just some character sketches at this stage. I don't know why the scan looks so dreadful and I haven't got the energy to find out.

I'm waiting for a plumber to arrive and replace my hob and hopefully give me a less erratic hot water supply. I hate things like that, I just find it all awkward and embarrassing...I've never become a proper adult in that respect.

Proper Cambridge

2010-02-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

Here are a few train sketches from my journey to Cambridge.

The man in pencil was bragging about his new axe. He sounded so excited I was starting to feel concerned about what plans he had for it!

Anyway, today we had a class with the lovely Paula Metcalf, who's going to be with us all this semester - good news.

This afternoon, we actually went to Proper Cambridge University, for the first of this semester's lectures. I was really excited about it, because I'd read the speaker's work before, and it being at Proper Cambridge and all that. But in a whingeing British type of way, I must report that the auditorium was freezing. Also it was not at all "borderline agoraphobic" friendly (something I don't expect you normal people to understand!).

The speaker spoke really quickly, whizzing through foreign names he obviously thought we would know and I soon gave up trying to take notes. The lecture was about the "Disneyfication" of fairytales - films, in particular. (We saw some non-Disney adaptations). He said that the homogenised, sexist, patriarchal, formulaic Disney films wreck children's view of fairytales and ruin their appreciation of other art. Now to a certain extent, I agree - but, I remember going to see a Disney film at the cinema as a child and coming home, getting in bed and quickly shutting my eyes, trying to dream the whole magical thing over again. I hardly think I would have done that if I had just watched a jerky, blurred black-and-white film featuring rape.

I enjoyed Disney films as a child and still do, and recognise them as fun, family films, as I think I always did. But, I also absolutely love the original fairy and folktales in all their gory detail. So Disney didn't ruin my perception of traditional folk tales at all. (On the other hand, I think the world would be a better place without all the Disney merchandising and of course the truly terrible books!)

That concludes my probably wildly inaccurate recap of the lecture. Here's a train sketch from the journey home. Thank you and goodnight.

I Spoke Too Soon...

2010-01-28T08:10:00.000-08:00

...when I said in my last post that I wasn't exactly ill! Afterwards I went down with an awful fluey-type bug which has left me with a sinus infection. I had bad financial news too and loooads of other problems I won't bore you with, which all added to the general pooness of my week from hell.

Anyway at least it was back to uni this week, even if I wasn't well enough to stay all day. It was lovely to see everyone and get lots of inspiration for our new projects. This time it's the Sequential Image, and I think I shall stick with the couples/relationship theme and see what stories develop!

Just to prove I've tried to carry on sketching, here is a quick pen & ink sketch of Brad watching the football recently!

Sleeping for Victory

2010-01-19T04:58:00.000-08:00

Uncharacteristically, I have given up the ghost for a while. I'm in bed, in the middle of the day, with a glass of co-codamol and The 19th Wife (a book - I'm not behaving that uncharacteristically!). I don't feel particularly ill, except for a major headache, but all of a sudden the stresses and strains of life have rendered me deeply fed up and exhausted. Nothing a holiday wouldn't cure - but no chance of that at the moment so sleep it shall be! I did the same yesterday and no-one suffered unduly because of it so I am doing it again today! So there.

2010-01-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

Save the Children Haiti Appeal. Donate Now.

Harmony

2010-01-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

A bit of drawing as promised. I got a lovely book for Christmas which had a disc with beautiful 1950s patterns on, which I wanted to use for this - but since my computer went wrong, Photoshop has gone all weird. I don't understand Photoshop very well when it's not being weird. So instead this was painted with very unsuitably sized and shaped brushes, because all mine are either lost or ruined. The theme came from a prompt on Inspire Me Thursday - "I don't think there is enough______in this world." I chose harmony, and the fox from yesterday made a guest appearance.

NB - The woman in the picture happens to be suffering from "ear". An ex-girlfriend of my son told me about this condition, which basically means your ear sticks out of your hair. Just in case you need to use this phrase in the future, and want to sound modern and young, you might word it like this: "OMG, you've got full-on ear!" Even if both ears are affected, the condition is still known as simply "ear".

Enough, already!

2010-01-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

Today was the final day to hand in my uni work. So imagine how I whooped and punched the air with joy when I looked out of the window this morning to ANOTHER surprise day of snow?

I mean, the kids have been out sledging and made snowmen, the countryside looks pretty, most people have had at least one day off work. There's no further use for the snow! Jeez!

Anyway I made it OK, and genuinely did feel like punching the air once it was handed over. I feel so sorry for those who haven't made it yet - especially my poor friend whose work has been sent on a UK tour by Parcelforce.

When I got home, Charlie showed me these photos he took today from our very window:-

As someone who has always lived in towns (albeit small boring ones) I do get very excited at real live wildlife. And he or she is so beautiful! He must be very hungry to come out in the day. (Needless to say, tonight I will be leaving him a nice dish of treats).

I know there was something else I wanted to tell you but I just can't remember what it was. Maybe it was just this - I do promise to post some sort of artwork tomorrow.

Pesky snow and lovely books

2010-01-08T10:13:00.001-08:00

Still no images to show you I'm afraid. My computer has recovered, but all I have been doing (like most people) is battling through snow and ice to get to work etc, or sitting indoors watching telly. I have not watched as much telly in one go since the days of Champion the Wonder Horse, Why Don't You and Multicoloured Swap Shop. Only yesterday I watched The Gruffalo, Superbad, the two Christmas episodes of Dr Who, and three of the BBC Ten-Minute Tales. All good, I might add, although it did feel a bit sinful.

Anyway onto much more important and exciting matters. Two lovely friends of mine have books available to pre-order. See how I hob-nob with genuine authors and illustrators? They are "Lob" by Linda Newbury, wonderfully illustrated by Pam Smy, and "Good Dog, Bad Dog" by Dave Shelton, a fantastic comic strip you might recognise from the Guardian and the much missed DFC. Order them both, quick!

(NB - Both books will of course be available from your local independent bookshop, if you want to be all ethical about it. Which I hope you do.)

Technical Fault

2009-12-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year!

Unfortunately, just before Christmas, several of my household items decided to form a suicide pact. They included my telly (which actually ended up being tied up with string at one point), my mobile phone and most distressingly, my computer. Joe was doing something with i-tunes one minute, and the next, tons of messages popped up saying it had 38 viruses and it felt there was really no point carrying on. So I sent a message (very slowly on my borrowed phone) asking my friendly local geek for help, and my computer has been in intensive care ever since. I have to hand in an essay and reflection on my work on 6th Jan. (You can add your own "hysterical, manic laughter" sound effect at this point).

Anyway, I just wanted to explain that I can't post any images at the moment. But stick with me...normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Let It Snow!

2009-12-17T13:58:00.001-08:00

Misery guts that I am when it comes to snow, even I am a little bit excited at the prospect of a white Christmas! I did this at home today straight into my sketchbook - how brave am I!?

Then it was yet more Christmas shopping in the hellish dome of torture that is Churchill Square. At one point I had so many carrier bags hanging from me it was like a sick, twisted game of Buckaroo. I was also dressed a bit like the woman in the above picture, (with very similar posture too I might add), forgetting that Churchill Square is heated to the point just before everyone bursts into flames. In fact I think I've got a tropical disease.

Tenth time lucky!

2009-12-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

I waited at the bus stop for half an hour intending to go to Brighton to do some shopping and drawing, and when the bus finally came, the driver wouldn't let anyone on because it was too full. Oh, how I laughed! Anyway, I went to my studio but it was too cold to work up there (ice on the inside of the window), so I packed a case of stuff and did this lino print at home. It took ten attempts to get anywhere near a decent print (I use a spoon as I don't have a press) and my hand is like a stiff claw now.

Other news, we went to see Where The Wild Things Are yesterday. I'd heard lots of posh people on Radio 4 saying it was boring, and long, and not at all like the book, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy it...but I actually loved it! I don't know what all the complaining is about! I loved Max, I loved the Wild Things, I loved the soundtrack, I loved the direction. I liked the interpretation of the book - admittedly it's more suitable for older kids and adults who had the book as kids. But it was great. Gorgeous to look at and weird and just like being a child. What's not to like? (Well I suppose I didn't like the thimble of ice cream for a fiver.)

Studio antics

2009-12-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

We had our final group crit this week, and the groups were mixed up so that we got to see some of the second years' work. It was great and so inspiring!

Anyway Martin suggested I add some more printing to my work and/or some work from memory, so I didn't feel guilty about spending the morning in my studio listening to Radio 4 drinking peppermint tea instead of traipsing round a freezing town centre looking for couples to draw! As much as I have come to love sketching it is a bit draining having to commit to doing it for long periods every week.

So I did this little monoprint and also started something in colour which I'll post when it's done. Got a really busy few days ahead starting with a 12 hour working day tomorrow (it's late night shopping...yawn...).

Oh, and we got our Christmas tree! Usually it takes hours and involves shortlists and standing back and twirling them to check for bald bits. But this one was chosen randomly, without even opening the net - how daring am I!? It's smaller than usual because I get fed up with clearing up the needles after dragging them through my narrow hall. And it's lovely! I'd actually feel Christmassy if I had time.

Chickienobs, anyone?

2009-12-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned, I've been reading Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake". It was one of the most chilling books I have ever read and I still feel weird a couple of days after finishing it. In this bit, Jimmy and Crake are talking about genetically modified chickens, bred for food...

"This is the latest," said Crake.
What they were looking at was a large bulblike object that seemed to be covered with stippled whitish-yellow skin. Out of it came twenty thick fleshy tubes, and at the end of each tube another bulb was growing.
"What the hell is it?" said Jimmy.
"Those are chickens," said Crake. "Chicken parts. Just the breasts, on this one. They've got ones that specialize in drumsticks too, twelve to a growth unit.
"But there aren't any heads..."
"That's the head in the middle," said the woman. "There's a mouth opening at the top, they dump nutrients in there. No eyes or beak or anything, they don't need those."

Now, if you dare, read this article from the Times. Is it just me, or is that hideous and terrifying? I mean, I know the ethical points against eating meat, I don't eat meat. But I survive, can't we just ...go without it? Why do we have to make it? Ooh I feel sick.

Sorry to anyone who has come here hoping to see some nice children's book illustration, by the way. I won't talk about Chickienobs anymore. Here's a hilarious knitting pattern to take your minds off it.
Isn't it great? I'm thinking of knitting it actually, and wearing it to university. I need to get with the groove, and knitting is officially the new Rock'n'Roll. In my uni class there's much clicking of needles and flashing around of swanky woollens - it's great! Look here and here for more hot knitting action.

Irrelevant

2009-12-03T14:26:00.000-08:00

Today I only did some scrappy (and indeed crappy) drawings - no time to go out and do anything major. I had to go and pay my studio rent, and while I was up there I finished making this pincushion, which I started last week...
And here it is on my bookcase so you can see the scale of it.

I know it's irrelevant to everything I should be working on but sometimes I just feel like making things just for the hell of it.

This evening I was supposed to go and see Woodrow Phoenix talking about his book, but for various reasons I just couldn't make it to Brighton in time. Too scared to go in once it had started, I just went Christmas shopping, marvelling at the notion that we are all broke, yet once a year we suddenly have to spend loads of money buying things for people. Strange, isn't it?

Slow, slow train

2009-12-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

Can't believe the first term (and therefore the observational drawing project) is nearly over. (Only a load more drawings, a reflective piece of writing about the drawing, and an essay to go!)
It was an absolute nightmare getting home today. It took 5 hours. Loads of trains were delayed or cancelled, and those that did run seemed to travel at walking pace. Still, I did get time to do a drawing on the Cambridge- Kings Cross...

Sorry about the crappy scan - I had to try and do it in two halves, which I'm not very good at! I am still quite scared about using tone, although I am enjoying it.

Darkness suits my mood at the moment - especially as I am reading "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood. It's one of the few of her books I hadn't read, and I thought I should, as she has now written a sequel. It's so chilling - a kind of post-apocalyptic story in which a disaster has wiped out the people and genetically spliced creatures roam the earth after initially being bred for organ transplants. It goes back and forth pre and post disaster, through the eyes of Jimmy, a survivor - later called "Snowman". I haven't finished it yet but it's brilliant. Can't wait to read the sequel.

Cambridge, Cheese and Crackers.

2009-11-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

The crackers part is me...for a number reasons (with which I shall not bore you), I went to Cambridge a day later than normal. So, for a few days, I will suffer from "poor-woman's jet-lag", where I put the rubbish out on the wrong day and don't quite understand why the Archers Omnibus is on on a schoolday. It's just the same when there is a bank holiday, or anything different in my regimented, rut-like routine.

Anyway, uni was great as usual although I was tired (as usual). Today I got to try letterpress, which is something I have wanted to do for years! It was such fun, and I am forgetting the fact that it took me four hours to print three words, which I could have done on the computer in three seconds. No, I was learning. Learning I tell you!

The Cheese? I'm glad you asked. I got to see the lovely work and meet the lovely person that is Chloe Cheese. I wanted one of her books. Very much indeed.

Pam advised me to try and use tone in my work, and I started by doing this on the train home. I did it till my pen ran out. It is in my note book though, not my real sketchbook, because it's not a couple. (I'm not precious about my sketchbook, really!)

Good, and Not-Quite-So-Good.

2009-11-23T08:52:00.001-08:00

What was really good recently was that I recently spent a lovely evening in the gorgeous new house of my friends Becky and Jeremy, along with Matt and Amy, reminiscing about Bags of Books days and generally having a fab time.

Not so good was going out to a pub in Newhaven in the hope of finding some young couples to draw, and instead only finding the most boring meeting in the world.

It really was so utterly boring, and they were the only people in the pub! In my defence, there was a couple in the middle. But they had their backs to me!

Today it was raining really hard and once I had been shopping there wasn't time to go out drawing. I felt the urge to spend an hour at my studio so I did just that, and did a little bit of sewing. I do like my studio. And it was cold enough to get out my trusty heater, which I really like because it looks like a chimney...

But what wasn't so good was that I found a lot of mould there. A postcard had fallen off the wall and was covered in mould. It made me worry about all my fabrics and papers that I leave there. I don't know what to do about mould. I think I will just hope it goes away.

Oh and to my friends who know the situation...the cat poo stand off still continues.

Untidiness and Reading

2009-11-18T01:08:00.000-08:00

My house is NEVER tidy. I don't know how other people manage to keep their houses tidy and have jobs, children, do courses, live life. If I were to keep my house tidy, and my washing and ironing all done, I would be working ALL the time. The thing is though, it feels like I DO work all the time, so where am I going wrong?? The best I ever manage is "not-filthy" (and I'm pretty sure there are areas in my house which don't even reach that status). It really gets me down. Not counting things like a printmaking studio or a house, the best gift anyone could get me would be to clean and organise my house. Just once, not all the time - I'm not that greedy!

Anyway onto my next, not totally unrelated topic. I read. a lot. I used to read more than I do now, because I tend to be so exhausted that my reading pattern often goes "read one line, fall asleep, drop book," repeat next night (with same line). But the past month or so I have read quite a bit of fiction - particularly some books that everyone else on the planet had read and I hadn't. (The best of these was The Kite Runner. If you can start the Kite Runner and not be totally gripped, and moved, you are seriously weird.)

I try to give a book to charity when I buy a new one (for space reasons) but when it comes to non fiction I can't, because they are research. I had a small overflow bookcase in my dining area, just for the books I had borrowed from my studio or brought downstairs to dip into. This is the state it got into.

So one day recently, responsible parent that I am, I persuaded Joe to jam a far too big bookcase halfway into his car, tie it not-very-securely with a fraying bungee rope and drive dangerously through the town.
And it was worth it.

And by the way, anyone thinking if I didn't read so much I would have more time to keep things tidy - I only read in bed or on the train. So there.

For Ann

2009-11-14T14:20:00.001-08:00

I was talking to the fantastic Ann D'Arcy-Hughes at BIP the other day - and we decided that this is just how we feel - like hamsters on a wheel. Always rushing, never stopping, but never getting anywhere. Here's hoping we can both have a break from the wheel soon Ann!

Saturday - still Friday 13th in my opinion.

2009-11-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

What a total arse of a day. I have condensed the day's events down to easy-to-follow bullet points. You can fill in the details for yourself.

Up. Holiday. Prepare to draw!
Purse. PURSE?
Panic.
Scream.
Cry.
Ransack.
Automated phone calls.
Hours.
Prepare again, drawing AND shopping. Penny jar.
Walk.
Rain.
RAIN AND WIND.
Shopping heavy. Mood heavy. NO drawing.
Walk home. Decide big painting from window at home.
Home. Paints? PAINTS?
See bullet point 6.
Dejectedly do drawing below.

Bad light stops drawing.

Etching

2009-11-13T13:35:00.000-08:00

So I'd asked for the next available week off work (I usually work Fridays and Saturdays), so I could spend two whole days drawing and maybe catch up a bit. My boss said this week would be OK. It just didn't work out though...a whole lot of Friday 13th style problems plus the torrential rain meant that I just went to BIP and did this etching , and then went home exhausted after no sleep the previous night. Better luck tomorrow I hope.

Anyway it's hard and soft ground on steel with some aquatint. Next week I'm having an induction to etching at uni which will be great (and save me a fortune too) - they use ferric chloride though which I don't have any experience of - BIP uses nitric acid.

2009-11-12T01:45:00.000-08:00

I'd forgotten all about Ray Lamontagne. I am very glad to have remembered about him and am playing the CD right now as I get ready for a day at BIP.

2009-11-09T14:30:00.000-08:00

This evening Beed and Gemma kindly allowed me to attempt to draw them while they watched Corrie...they said I can go back again some time soon too - what heroes! (I think they could see I needed the practice!) I did swoosh some colour on before deciding I'd had enough.

I came home to find Charlie sulking because he couldn't find where he had saved something on the computer. I'm now re-downloading it, and have been for over an hour...don't be surprised if I disappear from the web for some time!

Love Is Better Than a Warm Trombone

2009-11-09T06:47:00.001-08:00

I had a shortened drawing day today and couldn't go to Brighton so had to make do with Sainsbury's instead. This couple were bucking the trend by being quite happy and contented...but sadly didn't stay long enough for me to draw their legs. (The title is the Gomez song I had on my mind at the time, and still do! I don't mind - it's a great song.)

I've been really busy since last week, including going to BIP where I prepared a new plate to start etching again...despite being poor, I just can't wait for the etching facilities to be up and running at uni!

Talking of uni, we now have a group blog, Comfort Zone, where we'll be sharing work and info on stuff of interest.

Not much else to report, except that my parenting skills hit a new low this week when I failed to find a single firework to watch with Charlie and then the next day sent him to school on an inset day. Sigh. Now to tackle a kitchen way beneath the levels of safe hygiene standards.

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street!

2009-11-05T23:47:00.000-08:00

"When I find I can't remember what comes after A and before C, my mother always whispers, 'Letter B'"...genius.

I Love Autumn!

2009-11-01T01:09:00.001-07:00

All Hallows' Eve: a magical time; a time of secrets and of mysteries; of sachets to be sewn in red silk and hung around the house to ward off evil; of scattered salt and spiced wine and honey-cakes left on the sill; of pumpkin, apples, firecrackers and the scent of pine and woodsmoke as autumn turns old and winter takes the stage.
(Joanna Harris - Lollipop Shoes)

I hope you all enjoyed your Halloween last night. I usually do a proper window display for the local kids to enjoy but I had to downscale it this year because I was at work! But we did have the usual cauldron of trick or treat goodies to give out, and then we went to a party. Here's Charlie in his costume - Rorschach from the Watchmen comic.

Mushroom Face

2009-10-29T00:55:00.001-07:00

Blimey. I feel really terrible today and have woken up with a face the colour of a mushroom. I'll keep this brief I think before I go off in search of some kind of drug. Great day at uni yesterday...I lost the lino print I did (see last post) and was worried about not having enough new work to show. But drew this couple in the park before travelling to Cambridge..

And also went to the pub Tuesday night and did a bit more drawing there. (Much more fun with friends than trying to draw alone!) Had great tutorial at uni and then went into Cambridge Market to draw with the lovely (but sickeningly talented) Jo and Mary. We found a great spot to draw but when I reached into my bag for my sketchbook It Wasn't There. (Cue dramatic music). Although I kind of believed Mary when she insisted I had left it in the studio, I got so anxious I actually got chest pains! On top of this I was forced to draw in my newly trimmed other sketch book (oh, the trauma!).

After returning to uni (and being reunited with my sketchbook!) we had a lecture (which I will talk about later...feel too rough). Did this on train home in between puffs on inhaler.

Time

2009-10-23T01:50:00.000-07:00

I never seem to have enough time. Every second is accounted for. I've been asked to work extra days next week and it's part of my job to do this, so the little time I have a) to draw and b) to spend some of half term with Charlie, has been cruelly snatched away. Feel REALLY fed up. Don't know how other people fit everything in, and I am worried about my project. Couldn't get out to draw yesterday for various reasons, so I took a small part of one of the scribbles I did in Churchill Square the other week...

...and made this rather crude linocut from it which I cut last night and have just printed now before going to work. Not too pleased with it, but I've done something, anyway!

I did it with a spoon which after all the cutting is really hard on my hands - I have arthritis in them anyway. That's why I don't do as much lino printing as I would like!

As if things couldn't get any worse I've got to go to the Jobcentre this morning. They have asked for proof of my income for the ooh, about 16 millionth time, and because of the postal strikes I am taking my payslips into our local branch in person instead of sending them to Southampton. I wonder if they will accept this? Oh, I can hardly wait to find out!

Hey! Guess What!

2009-10-19T13:42:00.001-07:00

Yes! I drew some couples today...are you shocked? To vary things a little, and really bring the scene to life, here's a taster of how the conversation went with my lucky companion Brad as I was drawing.

Me: This is just ridiculous, I mean we might as well go home, it's like I'm drawing the same people over and over again, my sketchbook is going to get repetitive, and I don't just mean for the people looking at it, I mean me as well, God, how am I supposed to get tone in as well, tone as well as draw people in two seconds? It's just bloody impossible! Oh yes, that's right, just get up and move while I'm drawing you, you bastards, I mean don't mind me, it's just my career going out the bloody window. Honestly this is just pointless, we might as well go home, look, I mean look it's just a mess!

Brad: ...I hope you're not going to be like this for two and a half years...

Anyway...I find it inspirational to look at other people's sketchbooks (one of the many reasons why I enjoy uni so much!) and here are a few of my favourite sketchblogs. Sketch for the Day, Urban Sketchers and Nina Johansson. Go and enjoy more sketches and less complaining!

Mood Map

2009-10-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

So last week on the train home from uni, I read an article about something called Mood Mapping. Apparently you make an appointment with yourself 3-4 times a day and note down your mood, to discover what triggers downward swings and when you're at your best. Great idea, I thought. So the next day I tried it.

Morning - Charlie lacing up his Converse at the speed of a reluctant tortoise without full use of limbs meant yet again late for school despite me screaming til hoarse. Mood - Bad.

Lunchtime - Got on bus to Seaford, found no one to draw, livid, (time wastage is pet hate), got bus back from Seaford to draw in Sainsbury's Newhaven, and messed up sketchbook attempting to use tone. Mood - Dangerously Bad.

Dinnertime - Spent afternoon waiting outside Brad's flat for delivery (he had lost spare key) which was late. Came home to tackle hurried tidying up due to visitor, mountain of washing up and much loathed cooking of dinner. Mood - Understandably Bad.

Night time - having broken record for exhaustion, pushed aside mountains of clothes and books and fell into bed for usual broken sleep and bad dream. Mood - Bad.

Conclusion of Mood Map Experiment - am miserable old bag.

Anyway, here is the least awful of the sketches I did during my day from hell.

Actually I've seen this man around Newhaven quite a lot. He always reminds me of Yoffy from Fingerbobs. Remember Fingerbobs? I always felt a failure because I couldn't make any of the puppets to my satisfaction.

Oh, and

2009-10-15T03:03:00.001-07:00

I forgot about this one - I did it yesterday on the train as a first attempt at trying a bit more tone. (In the smaller one anyway). What a great set of chins he had - I do like to draw larger people.

Obviously I couldn't do it in my proper sketchbook, because it's not a couple. Not that I'm obsessive or anything.

Yet more!

2009-10-15T02:11:00.001-07:00

Just another page from my sketchbook. I did this last week actually, but have had a terrible cold so blogging slid down to 199th on my list of things to do. (Complaining and feeling sorry for myself went to 1st).

Anyway yesterday at uni I had a tutorial and Pam suggested I use more tone to represent the figures, and start to give more of a suggestion of context ( I knew that was coming!). So I'm looking forward to giving both those things a go! Then we had a talk from the wonderful, wonderful John Lawrence. I need this book. You need it. Everyone needs it. Go and get it while it's still in hardback. (But preferably from your local independent bookshop rather than Amazon). And go and see the illustrations when they are shown at The Illustration Cupboard. What are you waiting for? It won't be around forever! Don't say I didn't warn you!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

2009-10-08T23:55:00.000-07:00

My youngest son's now a teenager! How did that happen?

And just in case you thought the world had gone mad...here's a couple.

I thought...

2009-10-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

...that uni was supposed to be the stressful part of life and home the easy, relaxing, fun bit. I'm annoyed with everyone in my house at the moment and I can safely say that they're annoyed with me too. Even the cat's just given me a dirty look.

I suppose I may have been just slightly irritable when I came in. I suppose it's no-one's fault that the shoulder strap of my lovely vintage leather case snapped at the station and I had to carry it for three hours in the same hand as a heavy carrier bag whose handle had transformed into piano wire, and have under my arm a folder (which never did fit in lovely bloody vintage leather case). I suppose it's not their fault someone sneezed in my face on the Victoria Line and now I feel as if the inside of my head and throat has been sandpapered. But jeez, surely a woman can expect to come home to a sea of welcoming smiles, a perfectly clean and tidy house and a hot dinner ready... can't she? Anyway. Here's my attempt from yesterday at drawing the lovely Pam and Dave spending a happy evening with some pens, some sketchbooks, and Basil Rathbone. And me of course!