Sunday 26 January 2014

Postcard design brief

Postcard and bookmark designs for a fictional poetry festival.
I decided to create two identities based on lines from the poem, "Of Mutability" by Jo Shapcott.

Most of the work was done by initially creating a load of collage and mixed media pieces in response to the poem then working out ways of creating a postcard and bookmark with them using all or part of the original artwork. I did a bit of both and came up with a few different design ideas and concepts, here are a few of the ones I have picked for the final presentation.

The Flying Fish:

I scanned an abstract painting done on a book page then blew it up and pixelated it for the background.





 And the Spring Chill:








this was another abstract book page painting I scanned then blew up and pixelated for the background


 I did these little paintings and then scanned and blew them up and used pixelated portions for some of the
postcards.

 there are some more here on my Coroflot page

Monday 20 January 2014

Wrong handed drawings

I have had an out of action right/drawing hand for a while now and today I had life drawing class so I thought I would try it with my wrong/other hand. I am pleasantly surprised with the results and think I will push it further and keep drawing with my left hand even when my right one is useable again, can't hurt! I am curious to see how well I can do with it.



Saturday 18 January 2014

Mixed media piece" St Sebastian Of Our Times"





These are some shots of a mixed media piece titled "St Sebastian of our Times" it is a commentary of sorts on the destructive nature of the world we live in, we wage war not only on each other but on ourselves. We are self destructive sometimes unknowingly in a quest to be perfect, to fit in, to matter and for this quest we torture ourselves and those around us.
I did this piece a couple of years ago in follow up to another similar piece called "what has become of the God of Love?" again, commenting on why we destroy that which we covet and claim to love.
black background, gold circle, red blood on body and from behind body, green army men.




Collages

This has been a tricky one really, having only the use of one arm since a shoulder operation all art is proving difficult and it is quite frustrating.. these are workshop pieces for a postcard design assignment, the red ones I am not happy with at all ( which is why I am only posting three) I did about 6 of these and they just show the frustration, pain and whatnot and are perhaps a little too harsh.. I don't know, I am just not happy with them anyway.



might redo this one alltogether
the black and white ones I made up at home. I also feel that not having the time constraints of class make it easier to work in a more relaxed way.. of course, and this is true for everyone I would think.
Anyway, here are a few collages, not my finest hour but, then again I am the one armed bandit and here they are.



Friday 10 January 2014

Life Drawing


I had never done life drawing before this year and am enjoying it very much, here are two of my drawings. Before starting this course I am sad to say that I have not drawn for too many years but it is coming back to me quite well I think, I am making decent progress and can only get better.

Monday 6 January 2014

More Photo Brief work

Here are some more final images from the recent photo brief where I was looking at the places I am daily, some of these are over the course of a day and some are over the course of a week or more. I have used no effects on these just layer property changes, some of them were harder than they look to get the blend right. There are 18 images in the series in total but here are just a few to have a look at. It is a really fun technique and I am playing around with it some more with different concepts, stay tuned.








Saturday 4 January 2014

Support real social change



It is true, education really is the most powerful tool for change. Please have a look and support artist, environmental educator and my lovely friend Sue as she takes on a project in the Sinai teaching the next generation about environmental stewardship, crafts and equality. Sue also makes excellent bunnies and is dedicated to teaching people about creativity and the environment, and rocks at it. Please support her if you can and help the next generation be able to take a more proactive role in protecting the planet.
See her statement on her go fund me page HERE:

My latest images for sale at Shutterstock: