Drunkeys, barracudas and other creatures.

Cut.- The Sequential Image

Click on the image to link to the video I made as a module project. 

sKetchBooking

Illustrarte Entry 2011

To Greener Pastures- my entry for Searle Award

Whether the reason for migrating is survival, the search for economic opportunities or desire for change, migration is an enriching experience, both for migrants and for the societies they bridge.

Despite the hardships, the painful separations and the risks involved there is the underlying belief that there is a place where life can be better.

I wanted to express that hope which drives a small minority of people to migrate, through animal characterisation and the use of symbols.  Our successful migrant finds herself surrounded by opportunities missing from her homeland.  

Her risk taking and open-mindedness reward her., while others may not have been so lucky in this endeavour. 

Profiting from opportunity she feeds from the new abundant source, she produces plenty of milk, from which the locals drink and which moistens the earth producing a flower which does not grow anywhere else, to represent the unforeseen positive outcomes that come to those societies open to migrants.

She has not forgotten her origin, and looks to the herd, where she is greeted with mixed emotions. Through the experience of migrants, new opportunities arise in their homeland, which is what I wanted to say by giving the calf wings. 

Crit!

This was during Sequential Image Module. Now on the second year we have a more rounded table approach to group presentations. Back in the old room it did have more of a sitting duck feel to it.

Searle Award 2012

And the judges verdict was:

2021: Looking back at this post I can see I was a much more fragile artist. I was not as used to rejection and it was important to develop the thick skin to overcome it. And to get over myself and not to take it personally! 

My work did not fit with what the curators wanted to say on the subject. I clearly didn't see it that way but I do nw. 

Sometimes there is no method, only Madness

Tidying up my ideas for the new book. It's based on the experience of migration and it will be a double book (one next to each other sharing covers but separated down the middle). 

If making a coherent sequence on a single book wasn't hard enough, this one is really pushing my brain in all ways. 

COLOUR! The right and wrong order

I've had these for ages. And as anything that involves more than three colours I obsessively have to tidy them into "the correct" sequence when I'm putting them away.  This is still unsatisfactory. 

Growth: Allotments 2: a step up



Night Vision, inspired by Sarah's. Quite a challenge to draw without seeing the end of your tools.



Failing to capture a previous bonfire, I was delighted to find this one as I stepped into my drawing day.

Wall of smoke eating up the middle ground in acrylic ink.





October 31st, in the middle of the bushes with the perfect angle for this, in the semi-dark, and I still managed to get interrupted.



Two further attempts at the same technical approach, but both times failed to get on with the dip pen, with a less successful outcome on the top one with that universal treatment: saying too much, not really saying anything.

Reminder to focus.

 

Breakthrough at the left.  After the previous picture it started raining and I took refuge on a greenhouse. The previous picture had been very intense and I was a bit fed up with obeying what I saw, so I just scribbled the shapes of this background with the water brush wash, and worked forwards with dip pens.

Time devouring exercise with great feedback.



I felt so incompetent after my last review, that I had to put all that self directed anger to good use. 

Pam said she wished she'd drawn this one, well, she certainly drew it out of me.





















Growth: Allotments 1

A selection of some of the first drawings of the module. Most recent pictures first:

I tried to follow the suggestion of a broader tip for the format and to get more context.  At early afternoon the sun was casting this amazing shade under the apple and pear orchard, and while trying to get the perspective I got a bit lost and ended up disregarding the initial idea. Major dressing down by Pam, about the failure to convey the "feeling of the place". She was right of course, but my eyesight was on the orange range. 

Jane managed to see some good points on this one and suggested trying a water brush wash, as the blue marker had been too loud for the purpose intended.



Observation and Experimentation: Long, Medium, Short, None

     On the first week we introduced ourselves to each other with a 10 minute PowerPoint presentation.  We were all slightly terrified. Probably none of us slept very well the night before, putting together our snapshots of work and life, condensing out past into 10 images.   I was on the afternoon batch and sat through a lot of presentations of people who clearly deserved to be there far more than myself.  I felt privileged to be amongst such a talented, diverse and friendly group, for which I have high hopes.


     The second challenge of the MA after surviving this ordeal, was to choose a subject of study for the module. Even given some examples of last year's themes, I was very anxious, because I did not have a subject.  Generally in my work this is the core, and it comes naturally. After a long period of leave due to both maternity and bereavement, I was completely empty, and was beginning to get into a panic, about what to pursue.  I ended up going for what was practical, what I had access to, rather than "a subject close to my heart".  And since there had to be a strong element of humanity in it, I chose to study the G. Allotments, which are located next door to my garden, and Hair Dressing.  My logic was that the weather would turn and I would not want my entire project to be based outdoors; and that a hair salon would always have people in it, at close range. Alexis asked me to find the common theme between these very different environments, so through the next week it took form as "Growth Management".

     The third challenge (for me) was to write the project brief on an A4. Condensing down the ideas into a coherent form took several goes.  At the end of this module we must write a review of the outcome and a 1500word essay based on some given questions.  This is going to require some major dusting off of brain crevices.

Summer School 2010

     This summer I took an introductory course on Illustrating Picture Books.  A very diverse crowd with the same brief (just comming up with a story, creating storyboards, roughs and a dummy book, in one week, mind) produced an amazing array of funny, moving, beautiful, exciting books.  Guided by Pam and Paula, two very talented, humorous, and inspired tutors, we all had a great week. However for me, this was confirmation that Children's Illustration is the new avenue in my creative career. 

The week's output.

     All that I had to overcome was the little administrative issue of the interview, the last minute application processs, and erm, o yes, the fee.