Christmas.....Already?!!!

I would usually groan at an early mention of the festive season, and I must admit it is far too early to be thinking about it.... However recently I have been thinking about ideas for the Tigerprint Gifted? Competition. And of course the designing of any products relating to the occasion, have to be thought about prior to the event (commonly and unfortunately summer!!).  It is very challenging on the sunny days (like today), to think about concepts for the polar opposite. Oh well...just thought I'd share that with you, wish me luck! 

Thanks for reading (although you probably didn't want to be reminded...) x

Back to Barcelona and Book covers!

I seem to have skipped past the book cover project that I completed... But I wanted to share the research I gained in the latest module and to maintain my posting to the blog. Following my Sagrada Familia woodcut, produced in the earlier stages of the book cover project, I came up with various ideas for my book cover, based on the book A Weird and Wonderful Guide to Barcelona by Le Cool (mainly because the title appealed to me). In the end I settled for an idea based around a tourist style postcard, with a painted   city view on the front and the reverse with a postage stamp and handwritten blurb. Here is the development of my painting.

Initially I started to paint with famous landmarks enlarged amongst the city buildings, but decided that it was too busy and drew the attention away from the areas I wanted to highlight (a less obvious and cliche postcard view of the city). Here I started to build up the mosaic effect, using rubber stamps I had made to  give the impression of the work of Gaudi, in Parc Guell.

Below is the painting close to completion, with much of the painstaking mosaic pattern completed. . .

I think the time spent on the mosaic pattern was definitely worth it and the results are better than I expected I could achieve, which is great, pretty happy with my first attempt at rubber stamping.

Thanks for reading x

Self promotion and Creativity (Original post dated 15/05/11)

​Recently after spending most of my time in the print room exploring new ways of producing artwork relating to my last project, I have been thinking about self promotion. I have been trying to find an outlet for my prints and experiments, that could be used in order to gain exposure. After a lot of thought and consideration an idea has begun to develop, but it needs more time. I have been looking for further inspiration in the field and read two interesting articles in Computer Arts. 


The first article is an interview with a London based strategist who works for Mother, an international creative agency. It is interesting because it talks about big ideas and alternative ways of finding inspiration, from which to spark ideas. 

The second article​ is about Joe Duffy, who has built up a company dealing with brand identity and design. But he talks about needing a combination of illustrative skills and business sensibility to formulate strong concepts, which I think is very true. He makes some good points about the advantages of collaboration also.

Tape art (Original post dated 14/05/11)

Converse and Footlocker produced an advert for their footwear, which caught my attention. The subject of music directly relates to my current project. It is great setting for the advert, taking full advantage of the outdoor space, considering how the artwork could be placed within a three-dimensional context (especially the headphones in the tunnel - great idea!). Simple but effective! Very cool..... :)

Ian Wright - not the footballer (Original post dated: 14/05/11)

I love the work of Ian Wright. His use of materials is ingenious and very wide ranging, including rubber stamps, mascara brushes, hama beads and badges to name but a few. One of my favourite pieces is his Jimi Hendrix portrait, created from Hama beads. I love the colours and composition of the beads, which all add up to create a very cool portrait. As seen on his website here: http://www.mrianwright.co.uk/ as well as many other amazing pieces of artwork!

Music to my ears! (Original post dated: 08/05/11)

Christian Marclay is an American artist, he composes art (and music) by using LP records. He is interested in the juxtaposition of sound and art and combines the two to produce some interesting, eyecatching results. As well as using LPs, he has used cassette tapes and record covers to create artwork. He has been influenced by artists of the Fluxus movement including Marcel Duchamp, who manipulated readymade and found objects, turning them into art. I love his cyanotype of tapes seen here, it is similar to the result I want to achieve in the print room.

His Record cover collage's, which can be seen on this link, are very aptly and effectively composed, as well as humorous. His vinyl record installation in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, is awesome and I want this type of "vinyl" flooring (below)!!

Printmaking (Original post dated: 07/05/11)

Last weekend I visited a printmaker Sue Stewart, through a local Arts Week (Somerset). She creates collagraphs in her own little studio, using all sorts of methods and ideas, which she seemed keen to share with me. She even gave a demonstration of her printing technique, which was very interesting. She forms collagraphs using all sorts of materials including tile adhesive, sand mixed into glue, as well as more natural materials such as feathers and plants. By rubbing colour into the surface of the plate, she achieves much more detail and depth in her prints, rolling on a final colour at the end of the inking process. She gave me a lot of advice and tips for printing collagraphs, which I can’t wait to experiment with in the print room! She even gave me a free print and offered me the use of her press if need it, which is very kind of her. Here is the free print I was given ...........

The selective placement of the hand mixed colour on the collagraph plate, accentuates the texture of the embossed paper.