What I've Been Doing 'n' That

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...

...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

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!

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

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...

...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

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.

Save the Children Haiti Appeal. Donate Now.

Harmony

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.