Doing Birthdays Correc-e-tolly Part I

Posted on August 22, 2012August 26, 2012 Posted in Book Binding, Events, MusingsTagged alice in wonderland, birthday, book, book binding, creations, doormouse, little sister, nonsense, present, tea party, tiny book4 Comments

I like birthdays. Not really my own, I’ve grown a little tired of that one over the past 22 years. It’s always on the same day, SOOOoo unoriginal. But I like the birthdays of those nearest and dearest because it’s one of those occasions where it’s acceptable for me to force my work, baked good and other forms of general handmade nonsense on people and they HAVE to pretend to be grateful. This year has been no exception to this rule, and I dread to think of the amount of hours I’ve clocked up in the past eight months crafting nonsensical felt characters, photoshopping bizarre and often totally inappropriate cards and drawing and printing over ambitious comic books.

Yes the number of people on this earth who have been subjected to some kind of Bagley-Original has risen quite dramatically over the past few months, and with the onset of my kid sisters birthday recently, I decided that there was no call to stop now!
It’s always a little frightening when the people you remember being small enough to fit in the kitchen sink like it was yesterday, suddenly turn around and announce they’ve decided to be fifteen now. I actually find it disturbing to the point that it’s a little bit rude, but she decided to do it anyway. And luckily for me, Rhianna (yes, yes, like the singer except she actually manages to spell it right) is in possession of a similarly questionable take on the idea of “being grown up” to my own. In that you shouldn’t really do it because it’s boring.

So in the spirit of our shared view on the legitimacy of adulthood, and the fact that this is the first time I’ve been home for her, rather inconsiderately placed summer birthday, for quite some years, I decided to make a bit of a fuss and theme it like an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party.

Considering it was only really me taking care of the birthday business, as my parents had to work on the day, it turned into a comparatively elaborate affair, and as such the retelling will be done in two parts. For now we’ll just have a little chat about the present I made her: The Doormouse’s Hints and Tips for Life; A tiny, leather-bound charm on a necklace containing numerous questionable facts and general helpful nonsense for life.

The Pendant — Key and Lock Necklace found in a Charity Shop.

I gave it to her by tying helpful, directional luggage tags (“Follow Me”, “This Way”, “Just a Little Further” etc) to a long length of string that ran all around the house, in and out of doorways, along banisters and finally into the kitchen where the tea party was arranged, and finally into the sugar bowl where it was hidden.

Wrapped Side II — This was then placed in the sugar pot for her to find.

The Pendant II — Made from handmade paper, faux leather, a gold marker, left over cogs from Tick and a lot of glue.

Happy Birthday Nan! May this little gift serve you well throughout the adventure you’re about to embark on. Next stop Sixteen, when the tips for life start taking a bit of a different bent.

But for now, just enjoy the fun of nonsense and all the creativity that comes with it. And don’t forget to clean behind your ears.

Love from your Big Sister.

A Slap on the Wrist and a Bunch of Stuff for Sale

Posted on August 19, 2012August 26, 2012 Posted in Events, Fun and Textiles, Illustration, PrintmakingTagged books, convention, felties, International Alternative Press Festival, sock creature, stall, zines2 Comments

Yeah alright, so it’s been an age since my last post. And I have actually been busy too, which is doubly annoying because I’ve actually had bloggables to share with you, and simply haven’t done it due to extreme laziness/business/general heat-envoked fatigue.

So let’s go back an age or two when I was a good blogger and pick up from there shall we?

So, I was lucky enough to get myself a spot at the International Alternative Press Festival on Sunday 5th and have to say, it was a bit of a blast.

As usual for these little graphic gatherings, I met some truly awesome people, had some bat-shit mad conversations and generally flogged a whole load of my stuff.

It wasn’t as manic as Comiket, but given that it was a Sunday and during that mad thing that was the ‘Lympiks (sorry but did you SEE the boxing?? It was frickin’ AWESOME) that was only to be expected.

The Free Zine is Back — Once more, the free zine Tele was back on display and finding it’s way into the pockets of just about everyone!

Prints galore!

I was selling the usual: Tick, Rumble and all the zines as well as a selection of limited edition linocut and screen prints. The Sock Creatures once more made an appearance and did so well, I’m sorry to say I don’t even have photos of most of them! They were flying off the stall like mad. Only three remain with me so I’ll have to get sewing in anticipation of the next one!

And they weren’t the only addition to my ever-growing repertoire of textiles. Due to the success of the sock animals at previous events, I’ve recently been knocking up a new line of fuzzy cute things: The Felties. They made their debut on the stall at the IAPF and did pretty well too!

The Felties were met with just as much popularity so will definitely be making appearances at future conventions. Each one is entirely unique, but there’s enough madness in my noggin to sustain a good few designs I reckon!

So, surrounded by incredible examples of storytelling, I had a pretty ace time, met some totally weird and wonderful people and made a little money while I was at it. It’s at these things that I tend to be reminded how great my life can be!

If you have never been to an independent/small press comiket I suggest you get on the internet and find out when your nearest one is. They really are a brilliant laugh and I can guarantee you’ll find some kind of gem hidden in one of the stalls.

Plus then you can buy a sock animal. Don’t pretend you’re not tempted.

Rumble! Reviewed On Broken Frontier!!

Posted on August 2, 2012August 2, 2012 Posted in Events, IllustrationTagged boxing animals, Broken Frontier, comics, review, Rumble, zines1 Comment

For those of you that don’t know it, Broken Frontier is a comics and community site that offers some ace interviews, reviews and general info on the world of comics, be it the big stuff or the indie kids like me. It’s an awesome hub of comics information and a great place to discover anything and everything graphic. It is, as you may have gathered, really pretty great.

This fact (because that’s what it is. Indisputable.) is not soley based on the fact that they gave me a kick ass review (see here) a few months back, BUT IT SURE DOES HELP! And they have, once more, upped their position in my self indulgence related “websites I think are ace” stakes by ONLY BLOODY DOING IT AGAIN!

The oh-so-very complimentary fellas over at BF have been having a flick throught the pages of Rumble and, as a result, have decided to go all-out anthropomorphism-lovin’ in Andy Oliver’s small press column here.

I’m literally stunned at the extent of their praise, and so dang happy, I’ve only gone and blogged about this twice. Once on the website, and again now for you blog-lovers.

Seriously, give that website a big ol’ browse. I can guarantee you’ll find something enjoyable if you’re, even remotely, excited by cool artwork and wicked narratives.

And if you’re not, just read my review BECAUSE IT’S SO DAMN COOL 😀

International Alternative Press Festival are GOOOOOO!

Posted on July 28, 2012July 28, 2012 Posted in Events, IllustrationTagged comic book, convention, fanzine, International Alternative Press Festival, London, Olympics, zine, zines2 Comments

So yes, the Olympics are happening and yes, this does mean you could be sitting at home on your bums watching a myriad of attractively sweaty examples of humanity perform exceptionally impressive feats of athletic discipline and skill while you revel in their glory without the hassle of all that physical exhaustion.

Or, if you’re luckily enough to be fighting with the Tubes in London this summer, you could even see said examples of sweaty, muscular perfection in the comfort of a multi million pound stadium where they will perform infront of your own very eyes and you sit, content with your popcorn without the hassle of all that physical exhaustion. And with Air conditioning.

Sugar Ray Leopard v Roberto Du Ram — Snippet from my zine, Rumble! The closest thing I have to anything Olympics related. It will be on sale at the IAPF along with my other books, zines, prints and sock animals!

OR, you could COME HANG OUT WITH ME AND OTHER SMALL PRESS NERDS in a crowded, hot and totally awesome room in Conway Hall bursting with alternative talent from all over the world of illustrative narrative!

Yes, the weekend of August 4th-5th is going to be a total blast in London as the Second EVER International Alternative Press Festival is taking place. Spanning over 2 days there’s going to be a fantatsic line up of workshops, talks from all kinds of graphical talents and zine fairs from all over the UK and Europe.

It’s going to be a real display of anything and everything visual and I can assure you, without a doubt that there will be something for everyone. For a start, I’LL BE THERE! Selling my wares, books, zines, prints, sock creatures, the lot! And you know you don’t want to miss that.

So take a break from all that exhausting looking at sport and come look at beautiful things with us!

Two of the Best Stores in London: And I’m WELL IN THERE

Posted on July 19, 2012July 19, 2012 Posted in Events, Illustration, MusingsTagged comic, comics shops, Leicester Square, London store, my work, shop, store, tick, zinesLeave a comment

Calling all you London Dwellers!

Be it because you live there, be it for funsies, be it for the Olympics or just because you couldn’t escape in time for the Olympics, if you’re kicking you heels anywhere near Leicester Square sometime soon, pop into Orbital on Great Newport St or Gosh!, found on the corner of Berwick St.

Seriously, do it. They’re two of the best examples of comic and zine stores in this country, crammed full of awesome and, as of this week, my work’s also apart of it.

HellzYeah! I’m stocked in London. Boom. Baby.

For a full analysis of this story, kindly refer your little internet hungry eyes here, where the News section of my Website will tell you all you need to know, with a few more bright and shiny photos for good measure.

…

Oh alright, you can have one more here too.

So yellow.

Things I make for People I Like

Posted on July 18, 2012August 26, 2012 Posted in Fun and Textiles, Illustration, MusingsTagged badge, felt, felt creatures, felties, fox, lizard, robochef, robot1 Comment

Very quickly, while we’ve been discussing how very, excellently generous I am (I AM.) I thought I’d throw up a few creations of mine that have landed themselves in the laps of others at various present giving occassions.

Little Felties for Caroline — A little Sleepy Fox and a Lizard Majig. Because a drink is just SO cliche on your 21st.

The two tiny felties were lifted from the rather lovely book, Felties by Nelly Pailloux as a little gift for an old housemate of mine a year or so ago.

RoboChef in his card — The perfect Servant for a foodie on his birthday. With the added twist of a robot-fanatic.

The Chef, however, is all the work of my own little noodle and came about as a red herring gift for Matthews 25th before the presentation of his comic.

RoboChef Living on a curtain — He lives here now. On the curtain above Matt’s workspace. Doing Robot and Chef stuff

Although there is a safety pin on the back, I hadn’t intended for Robo Chef to be a birthday badge, more just a silly gift to make Matty smile. That didn’t stop him from wearing him proudly on his shirt for the entirety of his birthday weekend though, including into the rather posh restaurant we went to for dinner, something the waiting staff seemed a little bamboozled by.

Bless the boy, I find it a little warming on the inside that, in the name of supporting my work and encouraging my odd excuse for creativity, he is more than happy to walk around looking like a bit of a twat. Long may it continue, embarrassment is for total suckers.

Speed Graphics: Why the combination of Ambition and Birthdays will one day kill me.

Posted on July 12, 2012July 12, 2012 Posted in Events, IllustrationTagged ambition, birthday, comic book, graphic novel, matthew, photoshop, pokemon metaphor, sleepless, XXV5 Comments

Okay, it’s confession time. My recent disappearance from the blogosphere has not been simply down to preparation for the 1912 exhibition. You may have guessed that by the lack of work I’ve been able to produce in connection with it. That was a bit of a (rather lousy) cover up. The real reason I’ve been a bit slow with the updates, is that I was working on a super-secret mission of great importance alongside the whole 1912 thing. Seriously, secret agent for the CIA kind of deal.

Okay no, not really. I have morals.

Alright so, if you’re at all familiar with the Bagley collection of zines and books, you might have noticed that on…well, pretty much all of them there’s a recurring name that keeps popping up in the little dedications. A certain Matthew to be precise whose involvement in both my career and my life has been of the up most importance for the past 3 years now.

Basically, he’s a bit spesh and has recently evolved to his next level. His 25th level to be exact. After years of training, he’s defeated the gym trainer of…quarter…century Town and has….gained more XP…oh bugger the pokemon metaphor. It wasn’t that funny anyway and we all know that Ash would have got a lot further a lot quicker if he’d just gone “actually, screw these creatures. Their best moves are to throw leaves at their opponent and from what I know of basic combat, that’s probably not that effective. I think I’m going to use my initiative, utilise my size advantage and hit this little rat with a big stick.”

But I digress, so Matthew hit the quarter century mark, which I kind of see as a bit of a big deal. I mean that’s like, MID twenties. That’s like…grown up. Your quadranscentennial year on this planet! Your first quarter of a century!

And so I wanted to present him something special on his birthday, something that really meant something to him, both on an emotional level and would, hopefully, be a gift he could really use in some manner in his life. A gift that might inspire him to push forward and ensure he achieves all the wonderful goals and dreams that have, over the years, grown from his incomprehensible passion for learning and people and all the other things he deems so important.

So Comic Book it is then yeah?

And thus I started the planning stages for Matthew’s very own graphic novel. An amalgamation of this own thoughts and dreams, presented in my words and images in a way that would evoke pro-activity from the fires of his own passions that I see in him everyday. An inspiring piece that may help him tick off those frustrating plans that have a habit of falling into the depths of “I wanted to do that, but…”

Oh yeah, I also only had three weeks to go before the big day, and a week of that had to be set aside to getting the artwork to the printer, printing and then returning. Oh and, did I mention I had to move house in amongst all this?

Thus began my SECOND completely-over-ambitious-oh-why-the-balls-have-you-decided-to-do-this-with-so-little-time-left-until-deadline-don’t-you-remember-how-important-sleep-actually-is-project of the past few months.

Pretty much inspired by the first really, and how much I realised I could achieve in just one night. I mean two pages in one night, imaging what you could do in 2 weeks! Well, turns out, you can write, edit, script, storyboard, draw, redraw, ink (redrawing blind A LOT of the pencil drawings), scan, photoshop and print a 22 page narrative WHILE working on a frustrating screen printing based exhibit for Uni. I mean yeah, you do have to make some compromises with your lifestyle, cut out a few things, you know, like sleep or cooking or socialising or really doing anything that isn’t any of the above, but you can definitely do it.

As it’s quite a personal kind of story, I’ll only put a few examples on here to show you how it went, but I am very pleased to say that he really did appreciate the result.

I feel like he saw the effort I put in and – not to get soppy, but – the faith in him and love that had been responsible for the growth of it. And also just the sheer amazement at how much had been achieved.

Which was exactly the intention. I wanted him to see what people can do when they really want to, and I hope that that fact, coupled with the realisation that 25 is something of a milestone in a young persons life, is going to push him to make his mark on the world the way he’s always talked about. He has an incredible mind and phenomenal potential that far outweigh a simple graphic novel, but my belief in him is just as strong and I hope, when he reads this, as I know he will, he takes his copy of XXV, either physically or metaphorically and really makes it count.

So one last time, Happy birthday Matt.

And just so you know, I will not be able to beat this one next year, so don’t even ask.

xxxx

Enough Grumbling, it’s time for Elation! It’s the 1912 Celebration!

Posted on July 6, 2012July 8, 2012 Posted in EventsTagged 1912, Bram Stoker, exhibition, Macs, printmaking, prints, publications, textiles, uni work, Year OneLeave a comment

So, having had a good ol’ rant at the state of my print that was my exhibition piece, let’s now focus on how great our Exhibition actually was.

A gigantic congratulations to everyone who just completed Year One of Graphic Communication at Bathspa University! As the exhibition wasn’t graded, not everyone felt it was necessary to submit any work, but for those of us that did I think it was a brilliant compendium of different approaches that boasted, not only a lot of talent, but a lot of ideas and conceptual wealth.

As the brief was SO very open (1912…that’s it) there was naturally a very large selection of works on display. Everything from publications to prints to animations to textiles. And the varying ways in which people chose to take the brief was also wonderfully broad. I’ll document here now some of my favourite works as well as some of the less crap photos I managed to take with my very limited photography skills. This is far from everything that was on show, but I’ll try to use what I’ve got to communicate quite what an enormous range of work was on display.

Prints

Print1 — Arthur Webb: ScreenPrint about the Piltdown Man Hoax

Obviously, a lot of people chose to make use of the print rooms once the third year rush had ended. But to my surprise this didn’t just manifest itself in screen printing, which tends to be the most popular. There was a whole lot of linocuts too, all on different topics and with different strengths. It made for a really great display of variation, as well as assuring me that I’m not the only one with a fondess for printmaking!

I’m also relieved to say that, while it definitely wasn’t up to my standard, people still seemed interested in my Bram Stoker print. It received very nice comments from one or two onlookers too, and while I still was disappointed by the result, hearing nice words did pick me up a lot I must confess!

Print3 — Kirsty Stanley: Linocut Prints about the first parachute jump by Albert Berry.

Print4 — David Gordon: One event from each of the 100 years between 1912 and now.

There was also a lot to be said for the ways in which people were using the printmaking. David’s piece was a real stroke of time-consuming ingenuity, in which he screen printed his photographic images in CYMK. This produced a full spectrum of colour, in the same way it does through your inkjet printer, but done via screen printing. It’s turned out looking completely amazing, although I will say, he nearly killed himself doing it. The boy has real dedication to his art and I can’t express my respect for him highly enough. He never would have stood for a shitty print like mine, let me tell you!

Print5 — David Gordon: Screen Print using CYMK colours!

Digital Prints

Ah the digital print, or Giclee as they’re known to those who want lots of money for it, but don’t want to have to put in the same level of effort required of you in direct contact printmaking. Don’t let that sound like a put down though, there were some beautiful images made and printed in the exhibition, and I and many others would be proud to own them, and would be even prouder to have done them!

Digital Print2 — Elhora Powell: Illustrated narrative of the 1912 collapse of the Quing Dynasty.
Bea Baranowska: Handmade Scout badge board

Textiles

There’s a common misconception that in order to be considered graphics, something must have been made via the computer. Allow my classmates to put this one to rest.

Textile1 — Bea Baranowska: The Scouts began in 1912.

Textile2 — Emily Hunter: Screenprint onto canvass documenting the 1912 introduction of the chilli heat scale.

Publications

My favourite. The books and zines. This is only the tiniest example of what was on show, they ranged from professionally printed newspapers and information packs about pig racing, to hand bound print collections, narratives about personal responses to the brief and themed dot to dot books. It was quite an impressive array!

Books1 — Thomas Goldsworthy: Olympic Games 1912 Newspaper

Books2 — Thomas Goldsworthy: Olympic Games 1912 Newspaper

Books4 — Matt Stewart -Tribe: Scotts Expedition LinoPrint book

Books5 — Lucy Harper: Hand drawn story of her Great Grandparents

Books6 — Lucy Harper: Hand drawn story of her Great Grandparents

Animations

And Macs. All Art schools have them, and like a pair of perky boobs on spring break, they love getting them out. This exhibition was no exception, it was Macs galore, and all bursting with newly created animations, films and videos.

…

Nipples.

Animations1 — Macs set up with all the animations people made. Because it’s just not an art-uni without Macs.

Animation 3 — Rhianne Farrell: Handmade stop-start animation about key events of 1912

Animation2 — Carl Godfrey: Animation about the Japanese gift of 1000 Cherry Blossom Trees to America

Flogging Stuff!

Well you know me, I love a good stall. And I made sure I wheedled one into this exhibition too! Luckily, everyone else got involved too and brought along prints and books and anything else they’d made in the year. All together, it made for a pretty impressive display of work. Well done us!

Stall1 — Selling work from the past year.

So yeah, all in all a great event really that received some really complimentary comments from those that went. I would like to say a huge thank you to three people in particular: Tom Goldsworthy, Carl Godfrey and Ciara Caldwell-Cleave who were in charge of all the publicity and organising of the event. They completely made it what it was, went out of their way to make display animations, organise free beer, made cakes and 1912 ice cubes (made sense at the time) as well as compiling little free compilations of all of the work on display for us to take home, which really was a lovely little touch. Yeah okay, their cheekiness may have got us in trouble with the second years a little bit, but hey, what’s a bit of casual rivalry amongst years eh? Antics like that is totally what this institutionalised education is all about, and the long and short of it is that they made the event.

Publicity1 — Free catalogues of everyone’s work!

Cheers guys, I hope since then you’ve had a good old relax, put your feet up and cracked open a cold one.

Better Late than Never: When Ambition bites you in the Bum

Posted on July 6, 2012July 12, 2012 Posted in Illustration, Musings, PrintmakingTagged 1912, bad print, Bram Stoker, Dracula, exhibition, fail, green, illustration, printmaking, screen print, uni work7 Comments

I’m back with a new post! Yes I know it’s terribly late, I am oh-so-sorry, but you see, there was a dragon.

No?

Not buying it?

Yeah well that’s because it’s a lie. There was no dragon, I’ve just been rubbish (again) and have failed at bringing you any kind of news in favour of sleeping. However, those lazy days are now gone! Banished! And I hereby solemnly swear to be much, much better at this blog fandango. Frealz.

So here it goes. Last time I did a post, I was just about to embark on a big old silly printing experiment that did, in the true nature of experimentation, fail horrendously. Yes, you heard, printing finally turned on me. Screen Printing as well, that dirty dog. After all the nice things I said about it. Needless to say, it put me a little bit (a lot) down in the dumps, I don’t like doing bad work. Especially not bad prints.

But such is the nature of trying new things and not leaving yourself enough time to properly get to grips with it.

Basically what happened, was that I wanted to do a print for the End of Year Show, and my tutor talked me into doing it GIANT (A1), as opposed to the comfort zone of A6-A3 size range I tend to aim for, less than a week before the exhibition was due to open. Actually, now that I think about it, this is the same tutor who was to blame for the up-all-night-due-to-lack-of-preparation-2-page-comic shebang. Must investigate the possibility of a single-handed conspiracy against me there.

But I digress, “a big print…ha!” you may claim, “doesn’t sound like such a big deal to me!”

Well, metaphorical voice of imaginary rhetoric reader, you’re right, you wouldn’t think a big print WOULD be such a nightmare, however this one decided it would be due to the following limitations.

I only had one screen. This meant that, in order to achieve the 3 colour print I was aiming for, I had to only expose ONE layer onto the screen (due to time limitations) – the most complex one was naturally the best choice, but this meant the starting two had to be hand cut newsprint cut outs which I would have to use as stencils with the blank screen, then expose the 3rd layer on afterwards. I hate cutting newsprint. It’s delicate and awkward and a pain in the arse to transport. I especially hate cutting newsprint when the newsprint itself is bigger than A1 and I only have an A3 cutting mat and, due to the end-of-year-run-down-of-materials, comparatively blunt utensils.
I also couldn’t afford, due to the end-of-year-run-down-of-funds, to digitally scan and print my exposable design onto a giant acetate in order to expose it, so it had to be hand traced from the original sketch, using special ink (FROM A POT WITH A BRUSH! Not even pens) onto a cheaper, transparent, special-ink-from-a-pot friendly material. This ate one full day of my already very tight schedule.
Due to the size of the print and, by comparison, the size of me, I was encouraged not to print the organic way; hand+squeegie=lovely print, but instead to use THE ARM. Now this was really where my downfall lay. In theory, THE ARM is a great idea. It’s a bit mechanical arm that holds the big squeegees and spreads the ink over large surface areas my own little limbs would struggle to cover. All I had to do was push the handle of THE ARM along with the correct pressure to get a nice, flat, even coverage.

Unfortunately, as I only had, in the end, one day in which I could print, I didn’t really get the time necessary to be able to master the art of THE ARM. In fact, I think it’s fair to say I was actually pretty shit at it. I’m not sure if it was due to my size and weight (or lack thereof) but I just couldn’t seem to put enough pressure on the damn thing to get an even coverage of ink. I tried thousands of variants of amounts of ink, I tried adjusting the bed, adjusting the screen, the suction, I tried more paint in the mix, more solution, harder squeegees, softer squeegees, literally everything I could in the very limited timescale I had.

But in the end, with time ticking by, I had to just go for it. And 3 colours, 5 prints, about 60 newsprint tests and a grump to end all grumps later, was left with a pretty damn substandard print as a result.

Muchos Disappointingos.

As you can see, the colour is not at all flat and the black’s not come through at all clearly. I think had the lines been printed perfectly, it may have tied any issues with the stenciled colour together. Might even have looked better, given the grimy nature of the subject matter. But unfortunately the lines are just as problematic as the other two colours. Which really meant the image lost out in areas of detail like these.

The brief for the exhibition was 1912: Go make something! So I chose to focus on the death of Bram Stoker; author of Dracula, theatre owner and all-round pretty clever guy. From here, I subsequently, invented an “alternative reality” in which Dracula‘s success above all his other works was attributed to the fact that it was not from Stoker’s imagination, but based on true events. I wanted to suggest that his death in 1912, officially regarded as “a series of strokes” was actually caused via the paranormal attack of a vampire.

I chose to do it in the form of a single image narrative. This was actually a bit of a leap for me who is, as you may be aware from my other work (and if you’re not I think you’d better have a look in the shop don’t you?) predominantly a sequential art sort of gal. This whole, summarising in one image was quite the challenge, which is why it was so disappointing to have overcome one hurdle to fail at another.

Anyway, It’s big, it’s a print and you can see what it is, so in many ways, I achieved what I set out to. It’s just a shame the craft is so poor. But we live, we learn and sometimes, we screw up screen printing.

I think that’s definitely what Sinatra was singing about in That’s Life: Screen printing giant images of deceased writers.

What an epiphany.

Hands of death! — Poor Ink coverage could have looked ghostly and haunting, had the black been a little crisper.

All Quiet on the Western Blog

Posted on June 18, 2012July 6, 2012 Posted in Illustration, MusingsTagged 1912, bat, drawingLeave a comment

This blog’s been a little sleepy recently, I’ll admit. And this post isn’t likely to be a particularly spectacular explosion back into the swing of things, just a quick one to apologise to anyone who might worry. So this one is for you, EVERYTHING IS OKAY. I am NOT sick, dead or in the throes of coping with the sudden, awkward degeneration and/or loss of my fingers or any other limb. I have not been kidnapped, abused or oppressed in any way and, most importantly, I haven’t lost my internet connection or stopped producing work. Oh no.

No, actually I’ve been working my little bum off in the build up to the end of year show. You’ll all be pleased to hear that I’m now finished with my graded work (I’ve officially passed my first year with a First! Which would be incredible…if the first year was at all graded…which it’s not) and have been sinking my time and efforts into our exhibition project.

As it’s late, I won’t go into to too much detail, but just though I’d pop by and throw up a picture for you to contemplate before I call it a night. The Project is “1912” and if you can work out what’s going on based on this, fairly obscure, image, I’ll take my hat off to you and give you a prize. Suggestions are welcome.

More is coming, I promise, including some more of that lovely printmaking I just won’t shut up about. Until then, here’s a Bat.

Over and Out

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Prints

Digital Prints

Textiles

Publications

Animations

Flogging Stuff!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: