Totterdown Exhibition, Bristol

    
   

               

 

 


I've just got back from a wonderful weekend in Bristol where I was solo exhibiting as part of the Totterdown Arts Trail. The theme this year was 'Superstition' which I loosely interpreted with my flying bird, magpie, black rabbit and magical symbol installation, as well as the black 'Dancing Cat Party' print and a few other bits.. It was so magical, thanks to everyone who came up the hill to say hello - I really appreciate all your support and kind words! Also big thanks to my wonderful host Dot who made it all possible :)

2013 // Dot-to-Dot Gallery

So it is a brand new year, and a new start... 2013 - I feel like I'm in a sci-fi film!

It has been a few months now since I returned from my 3 year traveling adventure, it's been much harder than I expected re-adjusting to the 'real world' but I'm gradually getting my head around it! I'm really enjoying the chance to focus on my art and start elaborating more on all the ideas and themes that have been developing over the last couple of years on the road.

In other news, I'm very excited to be the 'January Artist' at Dot-to-Dot Gallery in Letchworth, there's lots planned including an interactive live wall, or 'living evolving mural,' workshops for kids and adults and a chance to get my paints out in a wonderful studio space, have creative fun and drink yummy coffee!

It's also a really cool project, the gallery is being run as a fundraiser for Rhapsode, an organization that looks to create ways of connecting artists with the public through festivals, workshops, schools etc - making art more accessible to everyone and spreading and inspiring creativity. It's right up my street :)

Hopitty-Hop down to the Shopitty-Shop!

Happy Sunday everyone! I have been busy trying to get my Etsy shop up and running again, and am doing mammoth listing of new work including christmas cards, prints of all shapes and sizes, and some other nick-nacks. I had an exhibition in Bristol last weekend (photos coming soon) and I worked nonstop for at least a month making things for it, so now I have HEAPS of new work for sale. So far just prints in the shop but little by little there will be some originals too so keep an eye out for those..

Indian Elephant - Cox & Kings

Well after hours and hours and hours of drawing, my piece for the Cox & Kings "Inspiring India" Challenge is finally finished. I decided to use the silhouette of a very beautiful Indian animal; the Indian Elephant, and then I incorporated images into that of things that I saw and remember from my 6 months of traveling around India, from the top to the bottom and back around and around.. My hand and my trusty black pen are both happy to have a well-deserved rest!

I was so inspired by my time there, and have been traveling a lot since then so this has been the first time I've had the chance to really start making some artwork specifically drawn from my travels in India, it's been great! Plus I also got to look through all my two thousand or so photos that I took there :)

So the drawing will be on show TONIGHT at The Royal Geographical Society, as part of a special "India" themed evening hosted by Cox & Kings - a luxury travel company specializing in luxury holidays and escorted tours to amazing places like India! There's going to be a talk by Mark Tully and lots of things to see, so it should be a fun evening x

Shahid Parvez

While I was walking around Udaipur a few days ago I stumbled across a lovely little gallery run by the artist Shahid Parvez. His work just blew me away! I sat with him and drank tea and he was so lovely, answering my questions about his process and techniques in depth (lots of artists get secretive at this point!) His characters are great and the colours are amazing in real life, he also has some really great etchings. Anyway one day when I'm a bit richer I'm going to come back and buy some of his work! He doesn't have a website but can be contacted at gallerypristine@yahoo.com :)

Mutate Britain

Probably best described as an 'art experiment' rather than an exhibition, this is "Mutate Britain" by The Mutoid Waste Company (it's under the Westway near Ladbroke Grove). I think what I liked about it most was the raw messiness that you never see in galleries, most of the work was painted directly on the walls (which were anything but white!) and there were also some pretty amazing robots. Some of it was quite weird, but in my opinion weird is usually good..
(p.s. i love the kid in the 4th photo down, so oblivious!)

Papernstitch

Just 8 days to go for the Papernstitch exhibition so if you haven't checked it out yet then get your skates on! I am celebrating the last week with an amazing buy-one-get-one-free offer on EVERYTHING in my store, just click the picture to have a look :D

Showtime!!

Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a brilliant night!!! :)

The Show

Wooo it's the private view of my graduation degree show tonight! If you live in london do come along, lots of free drinks for everyone! I am very excited now that most of the hard work is done, the venue is amazing (it's a massive basement space underneath baker street that used to be an airplane hanger during the war)!! Anyway the link with directions is here and I will post lots of photos asap for those of you that live very far away :)
xxxx

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it! I just got a phone call from Macmillan Children's Books telling me that my storybook 'Strange' has been given a highly commended award in their competition! Yippee, i just had to tell you all straight away!!

(you can read more about this amazing competition here)
P.s. these are some of the spreads from my book :)