Linocuts. Linocats

This is our tabby cat, Clyde. We adopted him two years ago as his previous owners couldn't take him abroad with them when they had to move from England back to the United States. He used to be a house cat. Now we've given him his shots and he has learnt to love the outdoors.

Sleepy Clyde.

He has gorgeous markings. I've wanted to do a lino cut of him for a long time. Lots of printers have been inspired by their pet cats in the past.

Edward Bawden's linocut of a tabby cat with a ball of wool

Richard Bawden's kit

Eileen Mayo's woodcut cats are too adorable!

Ok, so the first thing I did was take some snaps of Clyde. This one looked okay as a starting point. Animals can be a proper pain to photograph. They never stay still.

Hey boy!

Then I decided to add a load of contrast to the image in Photoshop using the 'threshold' tool. This was to help me see the image clearly in monochrome. I want to do a lino cut in one colour only.

I've doodled some plants around him too.

If I was lazy I could have just printed this image and traced it onto my piece of lino to cut, but I consider myself an illustrator and I wanted to capture his personality and add my own drawing style to the print too. So I used this digital image as a reference to do a new sketch.

My sketched lino cut design of Clyde

Clyde has a huge nose and muzzle for a kitty and he has these markings above his eyes that look like eyebrows, so I emphasised these. Next I traced it onto my lino and started to cut out the design.

Awww. I love his cheeky face.

   Almost there...

It's so messy. There are lino shards everywhere.

And then I made some prints

They take a few days to dry in my living room. 

Here is the finished print. I used a Japanese Sumi-e paper because it's acid-free, environmentally friendly and it's really thin. The ink soaks into the paper really quickly and it has a nice texture.

Clyde

Doodle Press

I've been a full time greeting cards illustrator for a while now, working in-house for various studios over the years. I've been at Doodle Press since the studio opened and I've loved every minute of it. It's a brilliant company to illustrate for as I get to work in an eclectic range of styles such as cute characters, florals and watercolors. Here are some samples of my designs taken from our new website. The full website shows off all the great work that myself and my talented colleagues do: www.doodle-press.com

 

1950s Illustration Exhibition at Bedpop

At the Diner 

At the Cafe

The Circus of Illustration have been given the opportunity to curate an exhibition in the Bedpop pop up shop on Bedford High Street. The opening date is on Saturday 17th May 2014.

We're predominantly looking for works of a mid-century flavour... Think 1950s fashion, diners, drive-thrus and juke boxes! We are looking for general work too, but the key focus of the exhibition will be on this vintage theme. The only criteria for acceptance is that we think it’s good! 

I've done a series especially for the new exhibition: 'At the Diner' and 'At the Cafe'. I am seriously contemplating a third piece called 'At the Drive-Thru' (in honour of one of my favourite bands ever), but I think I'm running out of time!

This exhibition will coincide with an amazing vintage 'Dress-up Drawing' evening workshop with 50's styled models in an extra special life-drawing event, as well as music and drawing games in the BedPop shop. There will also be a kid friendly 'Dress-Up Drawing' event that afternoon too with a fancy dress box and face painting for the little ones to get involved in. 

All the info on how to book is on the BedPop Art School  facebook page

If you have work you’d like to showcase, please send us images and descriptions of your work by email to bedfordshireillustrators@gmail.com.

The installation date is 11th May 2014, and therefore the CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS is MONDAY 5th MAY.

There is no charge for submissions, however you will be required to drop off and collect your work or cover cost of postage (both ways). We're really looking forward to hearing from you!

What To Make for Guests You Hate

A new page from my sketchbook.
I used a reference from 'Country Life' magazine and a photo of Lucille Ball. Recently I read 'The Stepford Wives' and even though the story is well known and I knew the ending, I still found it frightening. With all this peculating in my brain I ended up drawing a trapped housewife preparing cakes for a party. The last party. Mwah ha ha!

Two pages from the sketchbook

Here's a couple of pages from my sketchbook. I'm going through a another phase of messing around with the dip pens and ink.

Drink And Draw With The Ouse Muse Poets

Last night The Circus of illustration joined forces with Ouse Muse Poetry for their open mic spoken word night. We gathered in the über-cool cellar bar at Hapurs with it's pretty vaulted ceiling. Being illustrators, we were a bit shy, so we sat at the back, trying to look inconspicuous, but the poetry regulars made us feel really welcome.

Each performer had approximately a 3 or 4 minute slot each. I decided to speed draw any imagery that was evoked from the performances straight into my sketchbook, but other illustrators took different approaches. Here's what I drew. I wasn't sure if I properly captured the sentiment of the poems.

The first performance was designed to loosen up the audience's inhibitions! Everyone was encouraged to join in with making some crazy traffic noises. Then I think there was a poem about an old painting of a woodland track, and I caught a phrase from another poem about a man with a burning back, but I couldn't be sure. I think I missed information whilst I was colouring the trees and looking for pencils!

Next up was a funny poem likening busy toddlers to little piggies in a sty. Then a poem about the rise of the worker's unions. I got distracted with it's details though, as I was doodling a toff's profile. 

I decided to quickly draw a lady who was in the audience, followed by a poem about the Norfolk landscape at night, a gardener who loved his plants but suffered from ill health, and a poem about yesterday's weather, which was incredibly windy for Bedford. 

We had a poem about a seaside pier, a poem about working in a shop (it's not that boring), and a poem about the warm nostalgia of T.V. adverts from your childhood. There was a piece about wanting to telephone someone you really like, but your stomach gets so knotted you can't go through with it. One of my favourites was a poem called "Catechism", depicted here by the Pope eating a Yorkie bar!

Kristina from the Circus even took to the stage to perform some poetry from our new fanzine, which was really brave of her! My favourite sketch came about from a poem about Amy Winehouse. There was poetry inspired by Cyprus (or was it Greece?) It was like a verbal postcard. There were musings about meeting up with a girl you fancied (she sounded cute, even with her moustache) and a poem about how being a bit fat was preferable to being dependent on some worthless bloke. Oh, and someone had a brilliant rant about Margaret Thatcher. Nice to know that there are some socialists in Bedford!

On the left is a quick sketch of Sarah, one of the readers. Her poem was so short I didn't have much time to draw her! There's Hitler and Hitler's pet, called Hitler and the final poem was a very cheeky trap. It was about the vajazzle. I didn't really want to draw that, but "give your muff a buff" was one of my favourite lines of the night.

Ouse Muse poetry night was brilliant fun! There was a great mix of spoken word styles and deliveries. There was a lot of humour and heart in all the performances. I can't wait to go to the next one. I think some of these very loose, quick sketches I've made from the night could have the potential to be worked up and finished into some interesting paintings or embroideries, so it was a good exercise for me. I never seem to get enough time to do some personal development these days.

In A Flap

Work in progress for Bunnycup

This weekend has been a good opportunity to catch up with some new doodles for Ashlea at Bunnycup. It's been ages since I've last done something. I'm working on a set of cute 1920s inspired flapper girls, which should look really sweet once they're stitched out. Pinterest has been a great source of reference as always. 

Source: host.pappapak8.com via Marisa on Pinterest

Source: theblackapple.typepad.com via Marisa on Pinterest

Source: cassieloo.polyvore.com via Marisa on Pinterest

The Circus of illustration: In the Woods

The Circus of Illustration  is a collective of local illustrators form Bedfordshire. This month we've released our first 'zine featuring illustrations from 13 Bedfordshire illustrators who have worked or exhibited with the Circus. We were working with the theme ‘In the Woods.’ Each illustrator chose a piece of text, be it a song, poem, comic or excerpt from a book and illustrated it in their own varied styles. I chose a traditional English poem about a Cuckoo. I'm not very happy with my submission, as always I was pressed for time, but at least I produced something new for the first issue.

There are limited edition copies available at out next Drink & Draw. It's on Thursday 18th April at Harpur's Wine Bar in Bedford.

For this month's D&D we're collaborating with 'Ouse Muse', a local collective of poets who host their open mic nights there. They'll be reciting poetry based on our work and we'll be live drawing during their performances.

April Bedford Clanger

April 2013 Edition of The Bedford Clanger

Close up #1

close up #2

The Bedford Clanger is a monthly local arts and culture newspaper that I do the layout and artwork for. I don't really get paid for it, so it's my way of contributing to the community using my modest skills as a designer. We promote as many art, music and community events in the area as possible.

This month, I did the the illustration for the front cover. The issue focuses on 'Bedford's DNA'. Bedfordians talk about how the local people, along with the river, the historic buildings, and our markets are one of the many things that give Bedford it's unique character.

Sea-horses for Bunnycup

Here are a few sea-horse designs I have done for Ashlea at Bunnycup. She will digitize my black and white illustrations ready for embroidery projects. These would look cute embroidered on bath-towels, swimming bags, children's summer holiday clothes and bath-robes!

Great Bedfordians

In the February 2013 issue of the Bedford Clanger my second illustration for Great Bedfordian, James Wyatt was published. You can read the article online here. (It's on page 9).

Knitting update

I managed to knit the front and back panels of my jumper. It's coming along, but after doing the neckline I have discovered that although my gauge is perfect I should have followed the pattern for a medium sweater. I'm quite short and small chested and I usually buy 'small' in UK shops, but as it's an American pattern I'm following, it's shaping up to be like a UK size 6. Argh! I think I can tweak it into a tank top which will still look super cute. Next time I'll get it just right!

Remember my knitting illustration? Well I was wondering about other illustrations inspired by knitting. Here are a few that caught my eye...

Izziyana Suhaimi

How cute is this?! Izziyana's work combines colourful textured embroidery with soft grey pencil fashion illustration. Her work is very elegant and feminine.

Sarah Andreacchio

The rabbit is knitting a scarf like the raccoon's tail! Too cute! Sarah's an illustrator from France and all her work is bright and busy with lots of flat colour and pattern. She's smitten with the 1950's and her work has elements of folksy nordic florals too.

Finally, here are some genuine vintage knitting posters:

I like the painted texture on the balls of yarn

1968 travel poster

French knitting poster

Finland Illustration

I have a friend called Tiia who comes from Finland and last summer she took us on holiday to her parent's lake-side cabin in Porrisaari, just outside the Arctic Circle. Her dad is a carpenter and he built it himself. I think Porrisaari means reindeer island and we saw loads of them along with red squirrels, owls, snow geese, siberian jays and moose!

 This Christmas she went back to visit her folks and she's been posting loads of snowy photos on Facebook and I feel like going back there! To top it all,  BBC4 screened a documentary on Boxing Day on the life of the incredible Tove Jansson. Sadly, when I was in Finland the only moomin I saw was at Helsinki airport and he was made of plastic.

Photos of my holiday to Finland: Summer 2011.