Preparing the Drawing Room

The Drawing Room is an interactive art installation taking place at 24 Mill Street in Bedford on Saturday 15th September between 10am - 4pm. It's free and open to the public.

The Circus of Illustration have been busy in our evenings and weekends preparing the room. We've collected old furniture and trinkets to create a pure white room shop front, which will act as a canvas for people to doodle on throughout the Saturday. We want people to scribble on the papered walls, floor and furniture.

It looks very clean and snowy, but it won't stay unpigmented for long! Andrew Foster took all these superb photos after our last night of prep. We ran out of white duck tape during this last papering session, but thankfully Rachel rushed to the DIY shop before it closed to restock. David struggled to cover the armchair without making it look like a puffer mushroom, but he managed to maintain it's shape after a few swears! 

Here's a photo of Rachel Lovatt and myself (on the right) enjoying the chessboard that Andrew brought in. A chess set where all the pieces are white is rather curious! (And check out that cool lamp stand that Scarlett managed to salvage for our project. I think it looks lovely.)

Medieval Fair Part 1

During the May bank holiday the Bedford members of The Circus of Illustrators are putting together a little exhibition. Over the Easter break I have been working on a couple of themed pieces for the gallery wall and I've just finished the first character. I'm working on a princess to go with him so they can hang together side by side. I drew him in pen, scanned in my sketch book and coloured him up using photoshop and painter.

Drawing with stitches

As a full time digital illustrator, drawing at a computer for around 9 hours a day makes you sick of staring at a screen. In the evening and weekends, I try not to switch on the mac.
My day job as a cute greeting cards artist is fun, but I want to start creating artworks in my free time without the burden of using a computer. I decided to use a sewing machine to doodle. I've tried painting in the past, but time and space is sparse and I can't be doing with all that clearing and cleaning nonsense with messy brushes.