Hills and Stomping

It's been another busy month so I haven't updated this for a while, I'm sorry! I'm currently in Wales getting a much needed injection of fresh air. I've been plotting an exciting workshop scheme for WOMAD festival with my friend Sara (more on that in the coming weeks...), editing the student films for the RCA in Conwy, creating a proper new workspace at home, and finishing the logo design for Stomping Ground theatre company.

I'm also starting work on an animated music video for Nick E Harris, and have been busy gathering ideas, so there'll be more on that soon...

Last month saw the end of my second term teaching the Illustration for Picture Books course at Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge. We weren't able to hold the 10th and final session at the college, so one of the students on the course very kindly offered the use of her studio at home. We held a mini-exhibition, with the students displaying their work and discussing it. 

Setting up the work in Rosina's studio

To make it a bit more involving, students were asked to choose a few key words in response to the pieces which they felt particularly struck a chord. These were written on post-its and stuck next to the artworks. They were asked to avoid certain 'non' words...

Some of the students' work...

Anna Shelton

Penny Speirs

Lily Cobbold

Rosina Dorelli

Denis Marchant

Rosina Dorelli

Sally Walker

After a two week break this was a good opportunity for everyone to share their ideas, discuss what they wanted to go on to do and to give each other some constructive feedback.

I've enjoyed running this course and working with these students so much. Unfortunately the course is not going ahead for the Summer term, however, I'll be running a summer school at the college from the 22nd- 25th of July. It'll be a slightly more intense version of the 10-week course. Details on how to enrol can be found here.

'Marwnad Y Fam' is live!

The animated film I made for 'Hiraeth' is now officially up online as the music video for 'Marwnad Y Fam' (Mother (nature)'s Swansong/Lament) by Afal Drwg Efa.


For those who are new to it, the video was originally made as part of a collaboration between myself and dancer Alys Hughes for Blinc festival. Our project 'Hiraeth' is about the longing that comes when we are separated from nature, our culture and from each other. The song features the voice of Casi Wyn, who performed it live for us at Rich Mix back in January.

Please watch and spread the word. Diolch! 

March gales

Finding my feet in London, working on the Hiraeth project, waiting tables and teaching a new group on the Illustration for Picture Books course at Hills Road have kept me busy, so I haven't written in a while. I've loved teaching this term again; the group are lovely and we've covered all sorts of topics, from sock puppets to bookbinding to paper construction. It's gone by too quickly! Keep an eye on here for some pictures soon.

In February I ran some animation workshops at the Royal Cambrian Academy in Conwy. I worked with students from Coleg Llandrillo, and helped them to create animated films based on the current exhibition by sculptor Diane Lawrenson. The students were so enthusiastic - I'm excited by the work they made, which will be shown at a follow up exhibition in July.

I'm starting work on a short animation inspired by Lawrenson's beautiful bronze resin sculptures of the Bronte sisters. It's blowing a gale outside at the moment, and my windows are constantly shaking, so it seems highly appropriate to show you the puppet I've been making - of Emily Bronte (who wrote Wuthering Heights. But you knew that!). 

Most recently I've been working on some logo designs for my friend Sian's theatre company, 'Stomping Ground'. Here are a few sneaky pictures...still a work in progress. 

I love lino printing. I never get bored of it. I'd been working on different bits this week and when I'd finished all my Important Things, lino printing is what I did. These'll be cards when they're finished - I'm going to add some kind of pop-up bit to them. Just for fun.

Hmm...eyes closed. That face is making me sleepy, so I'll bow out for now. More soon. 

HIRAETH at Rich Mix tonight!

I'm very excited and a little nervous about our performance of Hiraeth at Rich Mix, tonight at 7.30pm. It's a fantastic venue and the Night of Cultural Defiance looks set to be full of interesting, challenging and beautiful work. Hope to see you down there!

Hiraeth animation still

Alys performing at BLINC

TAMASHA: A Night of Cultural Defiance

My Blinc collaborator, Alys Hughes, and I are very excited to announce that this Friday (18/01/2013) HIRAETH will be performed in front of its first live London audience!

We are taking our dance / animation piece to Rich Mix on Bethnal Green road, as part of A Night Of Cultural Defiance, hosted by Tamasha theatre company.

We hope to see you at the event - and thank you to all at Tamasha for giving us this exciting opportunity!

November Part 2

Onto the second half of the month, which involved less travelling but was no less busy, and I had to do quite a bit of plate-spinning (not literally).

3: November 20th & 27th: a feast of illustration

Over the past 10 weeks I've been travelling to Cambridge every Tuesday, to teach the Illustration for Picture Books course at Hills Road Sixth form college. Our final session for the term was last week; it has been great fun. 

A few examples of the students' work

Everyone said a bit about their work, and I was bowled over by the quality and range of what they had made, from hand-made books, to CD sleeves and artwork, to finished stories and experimental pop-up cards. A seriously industrious and creative bunch of people. I'm looking forward to running the next one (if you are in the Cambridge area and interested in joining the course, details can be found here).

Custom-made bunting by the students on the Illustration for Picture Books course!

4. November 20 - 29th: Pigs flying and fluttering paper

I was asked by JaneJaney and the Drama Centre London to create a series of short animations for their production of Bertolt Brecht's 'The Good Soul of Szechuan'. Here's one of them - a troupe of flying pigs, to accompany one of the songs;

It was played out in a disused library, so the set was deliberately ramshackle, built up from heaps of old discarded books and scaffolding, and the animations were projected onto a slipshod screen at the back of the stage.

I'd never heard of this play before, so other than what had been conveyed to me in the brief, I had little idea of what to expect when I went to see it. It was a real melting pot, with comedy, music, dancing and projection; and had a very contemporary feel, particularly in the library set, partly a reference to current funding cuts to the arts. It was all done in an original, funny and beautiful way.

The lead character, the 'Good Soul', Shen Teh, receives a tobacco shop as a reward from the gods. But people quickly start to take advantage of her, so she disguises herself as a man, Shui Ta, in order to keep her business  alive. I had to create a short animation of her transformation. 

November is always cold and dark, but this seems to have been an especially cold month to me. In a way, that makes it the perfect time to be creative. It has been good to work at my desk by the window, daydreaming, drawing and moving bits of paper around under the rostrum camera, watching the rain hammer down on the other side of the glass. Now we're in December, the sun's a bit brighter but I'm happy to say there's no sign of things slowing down.

A lot can happen in a month

I've been doing lots of exciting things since I finished the MA and BLINC, but sometimes when people ask you what you've been up to, the pressure of gathering up all the information into a quick synopsis is just too much and I just end up spitting out the same old 'ah, well, you know, this and that, ticking over etc...'; that's when eyes start to glaze over, attention drifts, or you get caught on another subject entirely (not always such a bad thing). 

So, for the record, and courtesy of my diary*, here are a few snapshots of my life over the past month.

1: November 8 - 11th: To Manchester, for the Universal Ear...

Almost straight after BLINC, I went to Manchester to build props and sets and general 'things' for Graeme Cole, creator of/evil genius behind the UNIVERSAL EAR, at the Nexus Art Cafe.

The Universal Ear is a serial, filmed entirely on a Super 8 camera, following postman-hero Harley Byrne as he travels through space and time attempting to capture all the world's music ever. For 'Banned Insubstance', he travels to Greece in the distant future, and takes part in the Olympid games.

Evil Genius

Paper grass

A V.I.P (very important prop)

I made a bed of grass, Olympic medals, a barbell and lots more out of paper, tin foil and cardboard, drank a lot of tea and ate biscuits. It was tough, but luckily I had some kindly volunteers and the aforementioned evil genius on hand to offer help.

2. November 12 - 18th: Diving Belles and Christmas cards...

I helped my friend Sara Fernee on a very exciting scheme that she has been brewing for a long time, involving swimming pools, projectors and divers. Four of us spent an evening being photographed and filmed, diving and swimming underwater in a pool in Brighton. That's as much as I can reveal now, but it's sure to be exciting as Sara's head is forever turning over and forming wonderful ideas. 

Next I was asked by my dear Padre to design some Christmas cards. Here are a couple. 

Rudolph breaks down

Mostyn in Llandudno are also selling my Christmas cards and wrapping paper at the moment. And if you'd like to buy any wrapping paper directly from me, please get in touch. 

Wrapping paper

I think that's enough for now, that's one half of November on record and just about digestible. There's the whole second half to talk about next so I don't want to peak too soon...stick with one course etc...(insert jokes about being full up, squeezing more in, loosening belt buckle etc here)! 

*Thank you, dear diary; without you, my life would be as clear as an exploded pizza.

BLINC! Blinc-ing brilliant!

I've just come back from a fantastically hectic weekend at home for Blinc digital arts festival in Conwy, North Wales. Blinc happens alongside Gwledd Conwy Feast, a food festival that has built up a strong reputation over the past few years; it's a melting pot of food, the arts and welsh culture.  

This is 'Hiraeth', the finished animation I made for our project. The quality isn't especially good here but you can get an idea. This film formed part of a collaborative performance between myself and dancer Alys Hughes. The music is 'Marwnad Y Fam' by Afal Drwg Efa. I think it fits the film beautifully. 

The whole piece in total was about 10minutes long; the first part focused on a dance and highly atmospheric sound piece, created by Alys, and performed against a backdrop of found footage that I put together. As soon as I have footage of the full performance I will post it up here. Over the weekend our performance was shown at the Royal British Legion, projected onto the side of a bus  - and on the final night of the festival it was projected onto the walls of Conwy castle! 

Our piece on Conwy Castle - that's Alys on the left. The 50ft woman!

Alys very bravely performed her dance outside in the freezing cold but it was worth it to see it on such a huge and vivid scale. I was more than a wee bit overwhelmed! Bring on next year...

Ceramic Hand letterpress book

These are some more detailed pictures of a book I made on the MA, 'Ceramic Hand'. It's a short story about a girl who's trying to sleep, but she can't help reflecting on a shaky relationship; she's reminded of it by the tacky candle holder on her bedside table, given to her by her ex-boyfriend.

I designed and printed it in letterpress, and bound it by hand. The type is set in Walbaum font, the illustrations are linocuts and the paper is Redeem 160gsm. The colours running throughout the type and illustrations are meant to echo the text, describing the girl's mood, the shadows cast by the candle and the changing sky.

I made five copies of the book and have two left and I made a limited number of lino prints of each illustration. All are for sale! Digital prints of the book and of individual illustrations are also available on request, so if you're interested, please get in touch.