Paper wings & old camera film

If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be? I would definitely be a bird. 

Last year I made a paper bird as part of my MA summer project, and I wrote all the things I loved on its feathers - like paper, apples, etc. Recently I found a roll of very old camera film that needed using up. Again the film has been over-exposed, but has turned it into even more of a rainbow bird. 

I also took some photographs of a page from one of my sketchbooks - although she is crying, to me the girl looks happier now - maybe it's the effect of the colours again.

Filters and floods

My first attempt at using a Diana camera was a bit ham-fisted.

That's my brother! With his super fancy digital SLR

I loaded the film wrong and probably over-exposed it too, though the colours in the pictures were beautiful. Good collage material. Here are some illustrations from the photos I salvaged. 

I cut some of the photographs up and arranged them in slide pockets. 

Then I scanned the pockets and messed around with them from there. 

I got the slide-pocket idea from a textiles project designed for A-level students. I think it's a really good way to generate a lot of imagery from one source. 

These house ones make me think of electrical storms....maybe the hurricane in 'The Wizard of Oz'. 

Or a real-life hurricane - maybe that's what it would feel like to have your home wrecked by bad weather, with bits of the house fragmented everywhere. 

I've been thinking about this a bit recently anyway - my Granddad's house was ruined by floods in Towyn in the 90's, and I've been writing about it for my MA project. 

Arts and Crafts

I just want to share something a bit different; it's a project by ceramicist Beccy Ridsdel, entitled 'Art/Craft'. Click on the photo for a full overview on Beccy's website. It's basically taking the mick out of the perceived gap between 'high art' and craft.

I think it's so clever, articulate, and funny, too - I wonder quite a bit about the differences between calling someone an artist or a craftsperson, and this sums up the conundrum really neatly. Plus I like the way it has a bit of a story behind it, and the mental image of a beardy ceramic-surgeon looking utterly puzzled over his findings...

The best sketchbook in the world...Ever

I've finally found it. The best format for spilling ideas I could ever imagine - today I got a concertina sketchbook from the art shop at university! 
I've never seen one in a shop before...I had imagined such things, and considered making one, but like many crazy ideas, it never happened...and suddenly, today, there it was. Perfect. A bargain at 6 quid.

Don't roll your eyes! There are so many great things about this. A concertina means you don't have to wait for one page to dry before you start a new one, so you can work really quickly. It makes drawing more fluid, because each page flows from one to the next, so everything connects up better...it's the perfect way to make a never-ending story, a full-on, rolling, stream of consciousness picture...argh I'm going into colossal geek-meltdown, but I don't care, stuff like this makes me so happy! 

I've spent the whole afternoon filling it up. It's not finished yet but here are a few quick pics (taken by my housemate Amyas, on his super-clever iphone that makes montage photos...the fun never ends!).  

The only thing that could trump this would be a massive roll of blank wallpaper - that's going to be my next purchase. 
What can I say, I'm a cheap date.

The full length feature film spectacle! Look how long my arms are

Apple Pip George

I'm currently doing an MA in Illustration. This week we completed a group project, and invent a modern-day cautionary tale. It was silly and lots of fun - my group made up a story about a little boy who ignores his Grandad's advice to 'never eat apple pips or you will turn into a tree!'. We wrote a very quick story, divided it up between us and made 2 illustrations each per section. We used the same image of the little boy in each illustration to keep it consistent.  
My first picture introduces George, and my second shows him ignoring his Grandad. The story ends with him trying to prove his Grandad wrong, by putting apple pips in his food, and turning him into a tree. The illustrations by other members of the group, not shown here (though I'll try and get their permission!) were really lovely...though unfortunately our presentation was a bit of a technical disaster!