Picture Frame

IF: Liquid

My take on this week's Illustration Friday topic. Nothing like a friendly cup of tea or two, cheers!

The Print Exchange: The Drive Home

The Print Exchange is another project by the Art House Co-op that asks entrants to produce 12 editions of a print which are sent back and then 10 are swapped so at the end everyone gets the work of 10 different artists back.

This years theme is 'The Drive Home...' and it took me a few ideas to get to this image. I had planned to do screen printing and had a different design planned out but my lack of experience meant it was a disaster so a last minute back-up plan was needed! I decided to combine two interests  by taking a photo of a road and drawing over the top and came up with this, a little red car just trying to get home but being chased by an angry cloud. I hope who ever gets a copy likes it and I look forward to see what arrives in the post for me!

New Studio Space

Every artist needs a proper work space and I've been lucky enough to be given the garden shed to use so now I don't need to worry about spreading my paper and paints over the dining room table and getting in the way! So it started out as a brown box:

Then my dad kindly insulated, boarded and painted it:

I've started moving in all my bits and am making myself at home but I now realise how much art equipment I have so will have a lot of organising to do to get it all in! But being down the end of the garden at least I'll be away from distractions so I can get on with lots of work!

50 Things: no.36

I'm a big fan of the projects run by the Art House Co-op, the variety gives me lots of inspiration to keep me busy when I don't always know what to do! I'd already signed up for two this year, one of which was the 50 Things To Do list exchange. You wrote a list of things to do within the year, mailed it back and received someone else's in return. Now I've had mine through I can start using it for those days where inspiration is lacking. As I'm getting over a horrible cold I chose an easy one to start by splurging on two more projects including the next sketchbook project so I can keep myself busy and inspired for the rest of the year!

Limited Edition books

I finally received my copies of the books that accompany the limited edition sketchbooks and really enjoyed seeing everyone's work. They have filled 5 books, each with two of the themes and feature 1 page or spread from every contributors book. Seeing how everyone interpreted the themes differently was really interesting but seeing I had a whole spread to myself was even better!

Lining Up The Projects

So far this year I've only completed one project, my 2013 sketchbook but I've since been really busy making wedding invitations for friends. I've been at them for a couple of weeks now and it's turned into a bit of a mission to get them done before the RSVP date but I think that's because I want to do a really good job so am taking my time trying to make each one 'perfect'! Luckily the bride and groom are very happy with what I've done so far but I am looking forward to having them finished so they can be written and sent and I can move on the something new, I've already got a few exciting things lined up which I'll share as I do them.

The Sketchbook Project 2013: Spread 9-Spread 11

These are the last pages of my entry to this years Sketchbook Project, sorry for the poor quality but after sticking in all the benches the pages didn't open flat! Now on to the next project, wedding invites for friends.

The Sketchbook Project 2013: Spread 6-Spread 8

The Sketchbook Project 2013: Spread 3-Spread 5

The Sketchbook Project 2013: Cover-Spread 2

I've finished my entry to the Sketchbook Project for another year and it should be well on it's way over the Atlantic for join the collection in Brooklyn. I chose the theme strangers and decided to base my book in a park looking at all the different people who visit this one bench over a year. Unfortunately the pages didn't scan perfectly but here's the first few with the rest to follow!