Round and Round and Round...

I quite fancy doing some work - paintings or collage maybe - that use circles as a central and key motif.
I have been looking at Ben Nicholson's paintings and reliefs.

from Christie's website






from my Pinterest page

To that end, I have been researching and collecting different circles - from Pinterest and from Polyvore...


And I made a simple collage of circles in a grid format - to start thinking about and reviewing the possibilities for representing a circle
So  - tomorrow - it's into the shed to make some work in the sketchbook..! And continue to sort the space out. I shall take a few more photos.

Big Shed Erection...

Well, small shed - big erection!
Phew, this week we made time to do some desperately needed major work in the garden and put up my shed...!
Yay - at last!
We had to put up a new fence - ten feet or so forward of the old one to make space for it... and be careful of a lovely clematis that was already in the garden, but - it is up and the roof is on.



Now all that's left to do before I move the stuff back in is replace the insulation and pin on the board that makes the inner walls...



There was just one little rotten bit near the door which we have removed and will replace over the next few days - you won't even notice it once I've given it a lick of paint!


I can't wait to get on with some artwork in there!
It has been nearly a year without a space to be creative - I have been mourning the loss I think!
And, the irony is it has been SOOO hot that we have really struggled! - After complaining about the rain!
A bonus - there is was a large area of hard standing all up one side of the garden - which makes the space feel much smaller. We want to increase the lawn whilst our youngest is still small.
We hired a skip and a hydraulic breaker - oh boy! That was heavy and HOT work... but underneath three to five inches of concrete we found a sweet area of old laid brick paving. This will be our seating area and we'll lawn up to there! Bargain!



Here's Mr Blue Plastic Tarp in the corner; taking a nap now we've exposed those bricks... Enjoy the Sun!

Rain Rain GO AWAY...

And here's a little quiz for you - the Alphabet is hidden in the shoe shop... but there's one letter MISSING - which is it?
Some of them are really subtle - but all twenty-six ARE all there - except one... Actually can I remember which letter it is!? Oh, er um - yep, that's it

A Birdie? Held Captive By A Bangle? Under A Blow Up Palm Tree?

Yes!! Seems that it is true - this charming image was created by borrowing a birdie from amazing illustrator Gustavo Aimar, as an homage to the Unicorn In Captivity... See the video below, with 'cutesy' narration to find out more about the delightful original





I like A Nice Big Droopy One Myself....

Well, I have a new pair of PJs which have two rabbits on, one of which is sporting a fetching moustache - so I thought it was time to celebrate the moustache in illustration or vice versa?
from Baubauhaus
from Image Spark
vintage dictionary page art LE MOUSTACHE print - vintage art book page print - mustache art print
from Etsy
OliverWendellHolmes-day1
from Shaw Nielsen
from Marc Johns
from Red Cheeks Factory

Next Step ~ Out Into The World...?

I visited the NUCA degree shows a couple of weeks ago.
Here are a few of my personal favourites from the Illustration, Graphic Design and Textiles shows.
Firstly BA Illustration and Gary Hunt:

Interesting mixes of imagery, contrasting flatness and depth of colour

Aristi Fournari:


Nice broken surfaces of what looks like mono print and/or screen print and collage...?


Harking back to the lino prints and colour sense of the 50s and 60s - Sophie Douglas:


Georgina Pape:

Lovely flat gouache paintings with an element of repeat through print

Some ex-students of mine graduating this year...
Shane Andrews:

Clean accurate well chosen text and nice layout


 Lauren Bulley:
Lauren has a knack of simplifying information and had a skill with photography when on my course
Lizzie Tuck:

 I like the fun play on tools and equipment to create flowers for a re-design of the Chelsea Flower Show logo; rendered skilful by assured placement

Adam Little:
Adam's work is mature and sophisticated, maybe he will be freelance - he has a good website

Katie Melton:
 Full of fun and colour, Katie's work is happy and accessible


From BA Surface Pattern and BA Textiles, starting with cut outs from Yijing Gao:

Stephen Goudie:

I taught Stephen when he was doing his First Diploma in 2006! It's really great to see how he has progressed from then, through the Textiles National Diploma and on to NUCA to create a bold graduation show.






Stephanie Rowland:

Lovely drawing sits well with a good sense of pattern and sensitivity to colour

Rebecca Soar:




Vicki Sturgeon:



From stencil cut outs that provide a refined delicate line to digital responses, Vicki can pull an accomplished variety of pattern repeats from simple classic subject matter, creating something new yet seemingly familiar.