circles and stripes

I was searching for inspiration in some old selvedge magazines and I came across this photo of a chinese skirt advertising a textile exhibition.

I thought it was really beautiful and I got slightly addicted to looking at it, hypnotised! 

I wanted to start a new project with no preconceptions - to just start on a path and see where it ends up.  So I started mark making.

I tried using all sorts of pens, pencils, paints, coffee and even nail varnish - there really isn't enough neon in the world for my liking!   

This is the sort of thing I came up with.  I quite liked the idea of eventually turning the circles into a skirt for a model or doll to wear.  I'm not too sure how far I'll get with that though as it's really time consuming and I'm really impatient.  I did play around with using the circles and stripes technique as part of a character design.  

I liked the fact that my circles weren't perfectly round - they had a much more organic feel to them.  I found the drawing process quite therapeutic which is always an added bonus.

I made a mock up of my 3d idea, it wasn't brilliantly executed but I was happy with the process and I worked out how I would do it better next time.

I've been thinking about what to enter for the inkygoodness beer mat competition - all you have to do is turn a beer mat into a character.  So I played around with my new techniques and came up with this.  I'm going to post it off tomorrow.  Exciting!! Fyi  it's a beer mat cat in a hat (just in case you couldn't tell).

paper scissors stone, bristol

my stitch-ink prints and products will be on sale at this amazing shop in cabot circus, bristol, along with lots of other brilliant designer makers.

It opens this thursday and will be open for 7 weeks, we'd love to see you there!

Paper Scissors Stone
Quakers Friars
Cabot Circus
Bristol
Bs1 3BU

I'll be at 11 birch road this weekend as part of the southbank arts trail with the lovely paula bowles, louise cunningham and other beauties - there will be live music and cakes!!! come and see us...

rice monster line up

this is the latest monster line up from which you can choose your favourite critter!

London Book Fair

the london book fair was lots of fun!

I got to meet lots of renowned chinese book illustrators and publishers and they gave me this amazing book.

there is an exhibition on at the british museum this week showcasing the best of chinese children's book illustrations - pop by if you get the chance, it's going to be ace!

colour pages from my book - the fox that couldn't skip

The fox is really cold with a drippy nose, alone in the woods and is trying to think of a way to warm up.

London Book Fair

I was at the Harbourside Market in Bristol at the weekend with my stall - selling my illustrations and other hand made delights and I was visited by a very lovely Chinese lady.  She invited me to the Chinese Forum at the London book fair as she said they are looking for people just like me!  So a few of us from Brillustration are going on a school trip to the London Book Fair!  I've never been before and I'm really excited.

Here are the two new prints I had on sale at the weekend.