The Greatest Show on Earth!

One of the things I've been up to recently was a show with The Drawn Chorus Collective.

The Greatest show on Earth featured the illustrative imaginings of all the greatest circuses, freak shows and fairs in literature have to offer. 
The circus has been delighting and enthralling audiences for centuries, and with Angela Carter through to Dr. Seuss, Drawn Chorus drew excited crowds into a world of enchantment and wonder. 

“The Greatest Show on Earth” was a collaborative exhibition between seasoned illustrators and new illustrative talent. Displayed at The Gallery on the Corner, the show ran from the 18th to the 23rd of September 2013!

(The show is also now on tour- to see the works for yourself come on down to the Mills Centre! For more info check out our facebook event.)

Invite

The gang

The pop up shop

                    Lino lion toy (more photos coming soon!) and Dynamo dog lino print and temporary tattoo                                            

Window display and my acrobat for the display

Sir Bopps, Sir Hawkins, Sir Jawks and Sir Hector- Collage

Based on Seuss's "If I ran the circus".

If I ran the circus- through horn jumping deer, whole pic (which I'll update once I can get a better photo...) and closeup.

Among the Wonderful- The Whale propelled them both with long slow vertical sweeps of its tail

Lino print

Among the Wonderful- A single night buoyed by some charged current.

Lino print

For more images of the other fab works at the show check out our album!

Selfie.

A self portrait done for the upcoming 'Drawn Chorus' website. 

Yes I know I am not a horse, I don't even look like one (at least I don't think I do?!?) but as you must know by now I do have the tendency to imagine people I meet as animals. 

I am a shetland pony, short, round, opinionated and stubborn but also gentle, loyal and loving!

P.S Sorry for the severe lack of posts. General real life has got in the way of my online self. I also have a new job (or I guess not so new now...) as a TA... more to come on that soon along with the huge backlog of work I also have to post up here. Hopefully I will get onto that next week!

Happy Father's Day!

For all the dads out there and especially my very special dad! 

Thank you for everything you do for us. xxx

Spring clean.

As you might have noticed my blog has had a bit of a re-vamp as of late. I thought it was time for a new banner and a bit of tidying.
Getting Html and CSS to do what I wanted was a bit of a pain (technology and I aren't the best of friends) but here it is in all it's glory! Enjoy!

Mr Postal pigeon is very excited to be here!

Mad Gardener's song.

He thought he saw an Elephant,

That practised on a fife:

He looked again, and found it was

A letter from his wife.

'At length I realise,' he said,

'The bitterness of Life!'

He thought he saw a Buffalo
Upon the chimney-piece:
He looked again, and found it was
His Sister's Husband's Niece.
'Unless you leave this house,' he said,
'I'll send for the Police!'

He thought he saw a Rattlesnake
That questioned him in Greek:
He looked again, and found it was
The Middle of Next Week.
'The one thing I regret,' he said,
'Is that it cannot speak!'

He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk

Descending from the bus:

He looked again, and found it was

A Hippopotamus.

'If this should stay to dine,' he said,

'There won't be much for us!'

He thought he saw a Kangaroo

That worked a coffee-mill:

He looked again, and found it was

A Vegetable-Pill.

'Were I to swallow this,' he said,

'I should be very ill!'

He thought he saw a Coach-and-Four

That stood beside his bed:

He looked again, and found it was

A Bear without a Head.

'Poor thing,' he said, 'poor silly thing!

It's waiting to be fed!'

He thought he saw an Albatross

That fluttered round the lamp:

He looked again, and found it was

A Penny-Postage Stamp.

'You'd best be getting home,' he said:

'The nights are very damp!'

He thought he saw a Garden-Door

That opened with a key:

He looked again, and found it was

A Double Rule of Three:

'And all its mystery,' he said,

'Is clear as day to me!'

He thought he saw a Argument

That proved he was the Pope:

He looked again, and found it was

A Bar of Mottled Soap.

'A fact so dread,' he faintly said,

'Extinguishes all hope!'

................................................

`Oh, I've had such a curious dream!' said Alice, and she told her sister, as well as she could remember them, all these strange Adventures of hers that you have just been reading about; and when she had finished, her sister kissed her, and said, `It was a curious dream, dear, certainly: but now run in to your tea; it's getting late.' So Alice got up and ran off, thinking while she ran, as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been.

Curiouser and Curiouser is over and went very well. Thanks to everyone who visited (or featured us on their sites/blogs), it was very much appreciated, and hopefully see you all at the next show we put together (it's already in the works)!

If you missed the actual show, and would like to see photos, please feel free to take a look on our event page: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.196875427121914.50668.150609878415136&type=1&comment_id=695681&notif_t=photo_album_comment

We will also soon be setting up a Facebook page for our collective.

Thank you once again for all your support.

If you'd like to buy any of the works from the show please take a look at the artwork page of the website.

Only a week to go! Curiouser and Curiouser at the Curious Duke.

Time has flown by and it's only a week until the start of the exhibition I'm in. It's very exciting and, based on all the work of the other artists that I've seen, it looks like it's going to be wonderful!

Here are two images I've done (one you've already seen before...) based on "Sylvie and Bruno go to Dogland" and modelled on the beautiful Alfie and Billy! 

 If you would like to visit the exhibition (and I really hope you do!) it runs from the 24th of January until the 30th. It is on at the Curious Duke Gallery and there is a private view on the evening of the 24th, with Mad Hatter's tea party and talk from Mark Richards from the lovely Lewis Carroll society.

For more details on the exhibition you can look at the website or RSVP at the Facebook event page.

More artwork previews to come over the week...

Sneak peak at laser cut christmas decorations.

Some decorations I designed for christmas of a reindeer in a christmas jumper... the laser cutter didn't really work on the red felt I'm using so a lot of this is hand cut. They still have a bit of work to do on them...

(Pics are from my friends mobile so aren't that great. Will update with some camera pics soon!)

Lewis Carroll show... dates for your diary.

I promised you more info so here it! The official invitation for the show. A combined effort of Eileen, Alex and I, with beautiful front artwork courtesy of Maj Abrahamsson. The back artwork show a variety of artists images (can you spot my dodo?) which are also going to be in the gallery window. O yes, it's all coming together!

The show runs from the 24th of January until the 30th at the Curious Duke Gallery. We are also having a private view on the evening of the 24th, complete with Mad Hatter's tea party. I really hope to see you all there (but don't worry I'll be dropping plenty of reminders before the big event.)
For more information you can check out the website or the Facebook event page.

Two birds with one stone...

I really should be holding off posting this... for one thing it's actually part of a set of two. However, I was pleased as punch the other day when I finally finished it and just couldn't hold off! It's unusual for me (in other words once in a blue moon) to be happy with my artwork or feel it looks how I imagined it. This was one of those rare occasions! (Although annoyingly my scanner was still playing up and made the colours slightly off... Updated! It's better but still not perfect!)

This is my dad's girlfriend's dog, Billy. It was a birthday present for her but also came out of an idea of something I wanted to do for the Lewis Carroll show (based on a incident in "Sylvie and Bruno" where the pair visit dogland). It is also a development of the images I did way back here, where I took animals and combined them with portraits from the fab National portrait gallery (this was based on a portrait of Henry Pelham by John Shackleton). 

I'll probably post it again with its pairing nearer to the show but for now you can enjoy it as a single image in all its glory!

Costumes in the jungle.

My plan now I'm back is to attempt to keep up a weekly update of this blog... we'll see how it goes!
While I was away it was one of the girl's in my group's birthday, the lovely Juliet! We decided to throw here a surprise 'jungle themed' fancy dress party. We all made costumes and arranged food (I made a chocolate birthday cake... with a microwave! But that's another story...). I set out to make Juliet her costume as well, without her knowing.

I paper cut some butterfly wings and then filled the gaps with sweet wrappers to give the wing effect.

And this was the result!

Here they are before the wrappers were added...

And once the wrappers were added!

Here a very dark pic of everyone in their costumes!

My costume was a bit of a disappointment. Not up to my usual standard at all... I just didn't leave enough time to make it after Juliet's (although I suppose it was ok for being made in the middle of the jungle!). I was a crocodile, and here is a picture of my mini-group, Miriam the leech and Nat the firefly!

The end... or the beginning....

It's all over. The degree show has been and gone and now all there is to do is wait and see what happens!
It went pretty well and there seems to be some interest in my work, which is always lovely! I had my two walls and a little plinths and after a bit of hassle with how and what I was going to put up it ended up looking quite good... if I do say so myself! I also made some little temporary tattoos (of the birds from christmas and of the battersea dogs) which I gave out with my business card and they all disappeared really quickly. I have a few more around so feel free to contact me for one if you missed out!
The Truman looked great and there was tonnes of fab work up from the other Middlesex illustrators (to check a few out take a look here: http://www.boxsetmdx.com/)

I also found out after that I'd been featured here:

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/?NewsID=3362918

and also here,

http://emmablock.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/middlesex-degree-show-illustration/
and finally here,
http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/art/free-range-graduate-shows-2012-middlesex-university-illustration-ba-hons-review/2012/06/30/#.T_QsOFE9Xdk

which is really flattering! Thanks guys!

Lastly, I just wanted to add, at the risk of being ridiculously slushy and sentimental, how much I've enjoyed the last few years. I'll miss the course and the tutors, particularly Martin and Andrew who have really influenced me over the years. The other illustrators on the course are all really talented individuals and I hope they all get the success they so truly deserve! They are lovely people and I couldn't imagine these past three years without them.