Illustration Friday w/e 30/12/2011 - Messenger

This week's submission for Illustration Friday on the theme of "Messenger". A bit rushed this week - this is the first draft, no time to redraw and tweak - but I'm reasonably happy with it. As ever I'd be happy to hear any thoughts or feedback.

Illustration Friday w/e 20/12/2011 - Sink

I've been too busy to manage a drawing for Illustration Friday the past 2 or 3 weeks, but today I've been able to find the time to produce an entry. This week's word/theme is "Sink", which I found a tricky one, particularly as I wanted to get away from the obvious imagery. Let me know what you think.

Shelf's pop-up xmas shop II

So I spent the weekend down at Shelf's Christmas Pop Up Shop where I was "guest shopkeeper" touting my wares. Despite a weird semi-powercut on Saturday afternoon which plunged much of the street into darkness, there was a steady stream of shoppers throughout Saturday and Sunday - along with various friends and acquaintances - and I sold a few prints and my work received many positive comments. Which was nice. A big thanks to all those who dropped by, either to shop or just to chat.

If you've not been down there yet, the shop will be open for just two more days - that's Thursday (22nd) and Friday (23rd) of this week. Loads of great Shelf goodies at a wide range of prices, along with lovely surface design from Hazel Stark and prints from Paul Bommer, Beyond Thrilled and various other printmakers.

McKnight Kauffer - The Poster King

Finally managed to make it to the Edward McKnight Kauffer exhibition at the Estorick Collection in Canonbury Square. I'd been looking forward to it for ages but only today found the time - on the exhibition's final day. (It's a great place, and I can't believe I didn't know of it previously. It also has a decent-looking café serving simple Italian dishes and salads, so I'll definitely be going back).

The exhibition has a wide range of his ground-breaking poster work - both gouache preparatory paintings and final posters - for clients such as London Underground and Shell in the period 1915-1940, and showed clearly how his style was strongly influenced by the art movements of the early 20th century: Fauvism, Constructivism, Vorticism and Art Deco. There's so much strong work that it's hard to argue with the exhibition's title.



It ends on rather a poignant note though, with a single poster illustrating his later career. McKnight Kauffer and his wife returned to his native US during the Second World War, but by all accounts they were absolute Anglophiles and he spent the rest of his life bitterly regretting having left England.

Shelf's pop-up Xmas shop

I'm very chuffed to have been invited to participate in Shelf's pop-up Xmas shop as a featured artist, particularly as I'm in the company of the great Paul Bommer, whose work I've long admired, and designer of lovely knitwear Jo Gordon.

The shop will be in the fantastic studio space of Bold Creative at 13A Boundary Street, London E2, and open between 11am and 7pm on the following dates:

Saturdays 3rd, 10th and 17th
Sundays 4th, 11th and 18th
plus Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd

My work will be available to buy throughout, but I will be "guest artist" (and hence there in person) on 17th and 18th.

Come along, say hello, peruse, admire and buy from Shelf's Noted Gifts and Fineries!

(Further details - and probably some photos - to come...)

Illustration Friday w/e 25/11/2011 - Vanity

This is the first of my (hopefully many) illustrations for IllustrationFriday's weekly illustration challenge. (A topic is posted every Friday and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation). I'm hoping to produce a drawing most weeks in an attempt to polish my rather rusty drawing skillz.

This week's illustration is on the theme of Vanity, natch.

Occupy the wallspace!

The global Occupy movement is inspiring many designers and illustrators to create posters promoting their cause. Printmag has a great selection in their article here, including the fantastic poster above designed by Favianna Rodriguez. I so wish I knew someone in NYC to procure me that copy of The Occupied Wall Street Journal. There's also a great gallery here on the International Business Times site. (Irony much?)

Those two selections are far more illustrative than many of the others I've seen online, which seem to be largely typographic. The Occupy Together website has a range of posters to download, and the Occupy Britain site also has its own downloadable selection.

Visit Crouch End & Hornsey screenprint

Screen print - Visit Crouch End & Hornsey by regular railway and motor-bus services. No Underground. Get over it.

Yes, it's the third in an ongoing series of screen prints in the style of London Transport's glorious posters of years past, featuring a few of London's off-underground and oft-overlooked neighbourhoods.

An open edition, hand printed on white Fabriano 5 "Liscia" paper. Paper size 300x400mm, image size approx. 250x360mm

CLICK HERE TO BUY FROM THE BEYOND THRILLED ONLINE SHOP

Bikes bikes bikes

Maybe it's the current trend for all things hipster, but everywhere I look I'm seeing screenprints (or giclee prints) of bicycles. The Little Friends of Printmaking have great prints here and here for sale on Etsy, as does Strawberry Luna whose print is below. Then there's Dan Funderbergh's "New Hope Assembly of God" print, and this great series of photo screenprints by Ralph Stollenwerk. And then there's this fun project from Rob Matthews, who created a life-size screen-print of his bike which he chained up and left in different locations around Minneapolis.

I'd best get on my bike and join in.

"People Who Died" series by Tim Gough

I imagine it's been an unusually busy month for illustrator Tim Gough, whose series of "People Who Died" drawings caught my eye recently. Recent weeks have seen the demises(?) of so many international figures - Gaddafi, Steve Jobs, Smokin' Joe Frazier, Heavy D etc. Sadly there's no drawing of the late Sir Jimmy Saville - but I guess he wasn't that well known in Philadelphia.

They're a great series of drawings anyway, I love the marks he makes - remind me a little of Ben Shahn's drawings. Tim also puts out some very tasty screenprints. This one below seems particularly appropriate right now.

A little bit of inspiration - part 1

Sometimes I find things by the most circuitous route. I wasn't aware of Kristyna Baczynski's Etsy shop despite spending hours browsing similar shops. But I came across her via the InkyGoodness blog plugging Test Space in Leeds and seeing the poster she designed for their Dead Good Halloween show. Then I tracked down her blog and only then noticed her shop. Glad I did though - I really like her work and particularly love this "Malaise" image.

A broadening...

Okay, so as I post here so rarely - well actually I've only been producing a new screenprint every few weeks and that's all I've been posting about until now - I've decided to broaden the scope of this blog/website to include all manner of nicely printed goodness. Prints I like, prints I want, prints I stumble across, prints on the web, prints in shops - all that kind of thing. Here's hoping the items I find will appeal to others as much as they appeal to me!