Hurdy Gurdy Project: One Day, One Event, One Illustration

Hey Guys!

Hurdy Gurdy have a new online project - every Monday one of us will do an image about an event in history that happened on that day. 

Mine is today so I present to you the story of Elm Farm Ollie; the first cow to fly in an aircraft on the 18th February 1930! 
They milked her mid flight and parachuted cartons of fresh dairy goodness to the spectators below - no word of a lie.
In homage to Elm Farm Ollie (otherwise known as Sky Queen) here is my very own flying cow. 
I thought after the recent UK horse-instead-of-cow supermarket scandal it was only fair that cows have a bash at the 'mystical flying creature' niche market.

For more images and more about Hurdy Gurdy nip on over to our blog.

Christmas tomorrow!

First of all MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Secondly, I'm glad to say my event at the Apple Store went very well, but unfortunately not long after I got rather atrociously ill, and have been ever since. So I've been taking some time off from everything (including posting!) to get some much needed rest and relaxation and slowly claw myself back to the realms of the living.

It's going slowly, but it is going, so hooray! I'm sure soon I shall be annoying the hell out of you with post after post.

And thirdly - I hope you enjoy my array of Christmassy imagery for you! Me and the Hurdy Gurdy group have not only designed a set of Christmas cards (mine's the boy with the presents), but also done an amazing Christmas Countdown, with an advent calendar full of lovely pictures.

You can see the whole countdown, along with our latest workshop at the Museum of London (making gladiator sandals) at hurdygurdygroup.blogspot.co.uk

Aaand if you want to see more about our Polish exploits then pop on over to iwilltellyouastory-project.blogspot.co.uk.

See you soon! And have fun eating more than your own bodyweight in extremely rich and wonderful foods!

H

Exciting upcoming event!

Well, as you've probably realised from the title of this post and the picture above I've got something very exciting coming up in the next week. 

I'm going to the Apple Store in Covent Garden and I'm spending about an hour going over my work and my art process with the general public! Get me and my bad self.

It's on Thursday 18th October, at 7pm, so hopefully I'll see you all there :)

H

p.s. Poland went INCREDIBLY WELL, so watch this space for info and pictures on Wroclaw/Hurdy Gurdy fun times.

Whatever next?! Hurdy Gurdy!

Hello all!

So the show went really well! And all of us passed our degrees so HOORAAAAAYYY! 

It's not really a shock as everyone was super-fantastic, but I always have the distinct (if a little unrealistic) worry that everyone else will pass with flying colours but my work will burst into flames before it can get marked and I will fail miserably. But I didn't! I passed with Merit. So that's extraordinarily pleasing :)

Naturally now I'm faced with a stream of questions from everyone I know, all boiling down to one thing... What are you going to do now??

It's okay people! I have a plan! In fact, I have several. 

Firstly, I'm going to try and get the 'Alphabet of (In)Humanity' published. I'm not sure which publishers would be a good match as yet but I'm going to get my research going and see what happens. If not, I can always go down the self-publishing route. Let me know if you're interested in getting your hands on one and I will keep you updated.

I also have a few commission deadlines lined up which is lovely, so fingers crossed they'll all go well. I'll also be able to take on new commissions now, which I couldn't before without risking physical exhaustion and severe mental trauma, so maybe I'll get some nice new projects as well as my nice current ones.

And finally! Introducing a new group running art events and illustration workshops that me and some of my fellow illustrators have created... Hurdy Gurdy!

We've just launched our website, and we're of to Poland at the beginning of October to hold an exhibition in Wroclaw and run a week of workshops in partnership with the Edith Stein Society! We're also going with a couple of ace illustrators from Camberwell as well. It's all very exciting. 

To find out more go to... www.hurdygurdygroup.com

Speak to you soon!

H

Finished book!!

After a few trials and tribulations, I finally have... A FINISHED ALPHABET BOOK!

Of course I keep seeing things I could change or improve but I think after nearly two years of working on this project, it's finally time to let it go, and give it in.
That's not how I was feeling this time last week when I received the printed books I had ordered and they were... just really bad.
The printing itself was fine, but the binding was just god awful, and after a panic and quite a few tears I decided to suck it up, and bind the book myself.
And... I'm actually pretty pleased with it. I'm sure there are actual bookbinders who will be like - what on earth was she thinking?? But, meh, if I had received this from my original printers then I would have been perfectly happy.
And in a way it could be seen as a good thing, as it gave me a chance to add/change a few things that I wouldn't have otherwise.

I'd just like to take this little chance (even though they're unlikely to see it) to mention a few people that kept me calm through the last couple of weeks of my printing/binding nightmare.
My London printers, Orange, over at Covent Garden, were absolutely incredible, giving me advice about papers and binders and laminations.
Plus the guys up at Shepherd's Faulkners gave me great materials and binding advice so I felt a little less like I was going to balls it up entirely.
And last, but most definitely not least, all the family and friends who made sure I didn't have a complete meltdown and end up rocking in a corner muttering about the merits of case binding over perfect binding.

Anyway, enough of the mush, our show is fast approaching and I'd love to see you all there!
The show is open to the public from the 6th September all the way until 8pm on the 13th! So there's plenty of time for you to nip down to Camberwell to see it. The hours are 10am-8pm on weekdays, 11am-5pm on the Saturday, and the show is closed on the Sunday.
For more details and a little look at some of the outrageous talent on display, head to camberwellillustration.co.uk

So here's a little sneaky peak at my brand-spanking new book, hand-bound by yours truly. I won't be giving you a look at the whole thing (not even on my website), because if you want to see it... well, you know where to go ;)

H

Nearly there (cover sneaky peak)

Well hello again!

I'm actually pretty amazed I've found the time to post anything because my workload has reached critical levels now. I'm really lucky I know so many great people that manage to keep me (reasonably) sane while I attempt to do my MA project, commission work, work part time and look for a house. And most importantly...
I'm nearly there! The MA's nearly done! The hand in is in a month and I'm just finishing the last spread and tweaking a few I'm not completely happy with.

On that note here is a look at the completed cover. I've tried to keep it relatively simple (in comparison the rather complicated and random book), but hopefully intriguing. Any feedback at this point is much appreciated, even though I'm pretty happy with it.

I'll doubtless have more details in the run up to the show, but just so you know, it'll be at Camberwell College of Arts from the 6th to the 12th of September, with the private view on the 5th. I'm both terrified and super excited. I've got a lot of interesting projects coming which should be fantastic, but mostly I'm just ready to sleep for a week!

Anyway! Speak to (and hopefully see) you soon!


H

Sneaky Peek: R is for Royalty

Hello again!

So here's a little look into one of the pieces I've been working on for my MA project: R is for Royalty. But instead of our Dear Old Queenie it's a rather intense look at a pearly king's jacket. With cockney rhyming slang hidden in some of the buttons. You really have to look for them, but that's my favourite part.
I actually already did one version of this piece using card and a etching needle to make a printable plate a little while back (experimentation on an MA = very important), but since I've decided the whole book is going to be done with my more usual pen-ink-and-digital mix it means I have to redo it. Not surprisingly I left it a while before tackling all those buttons again.

The whole book is starting to take shape now so hopefully I'll have more parts to show you soon. It won't be finished pieces though, or at least not whole ones. I'm saving that for the grand unveiling nearer my MA show in September :)

For those of you who don't already know, I've also updated my website now, so my portfolio is all up to date and you can browse to your hearts content.

See you soon!

H