Print Thinking

In my last post I mentioned I was thinking about getting some prints for my etsy shop, well I've been having a look around and getting a few quotes through and I think I am going to get a small batch made of a few designs in sizes A6, A5 and A4. I've been creating some new work lately with prints in mind and been experimenting with adding new animals and creatures along with my little ladies.

I think having some prints in my shop could be a huge help for me. I'd like to find some popular prints then spend a bit more of my time on experimental work and also I've not submitted any work anywhere for a while- either through projects, zines or exhibitions- this is something I'd like to turn my attention to again.

One of the things you might see appearing in my work here and there are swallows. At work at the weekend we had two swallows get into the roof of the castle and as you went up to the top you could see them so clearly - they were so beautiful together, I've been sketching a few in my sketchbook. I hope they managed to get them out okay as there were about six people trying to chase them when I left for the day!

This is a page from my sketchbook but I have started to experiment with painting them as well. I'll let you know how things progress very soon.

1999 Sketchbook - Francis Bacon/animals/my own style

In my last post I shared with you an interview I took part in over at Joyful Roots. One of the questions at the interview was what piece of work or project that I'd taken part in, was I most proud of - my answer to this was a project back in 1999 where I created a book that combined my own personal style with the influence of Francis Bacon and the theme of animals. Some of you asked me to share some of the work from the book so that's what this post is all about. My style of work is always changing and developing and although some of these images are a little more gruesome than my usual work, I hope you can still see 'me' in them all.

Have a very Merry Christmas

Just wanted to pop into blogger land for what will probably be the last time this year to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I've had some great support through my blog over the last year and wanted to say a big thank you, it means a lot to me. I think I said in my last post that not too much drawing and painting would be going on over December - this is true but I have done a little work in my sketchbook so there are some new pics up over on flickr if you fancy a peek - see you all in the new year! x

Emotion and Expression

I have been playing around in my sketchbook lately with trying to capture emotion through expression. I want my characters to have feeling behind them, like they have a story to tell.

I have been finding inspiration from some previous work, work that has been quite spontaneous and true to my mood at the time. I think these pieces link nicely to my current exploration into emotion. I think beauty is supposed to lie in a symmetric face but I've been trying to create ugly cute creatures by keeping the eyes a little bit different from each other.