The Story

My UAL Foundation Art group were doing a project titled "Grids, Layers and Reflections" and for my teaching practice, I decided to do a little sketchbook to demonstrate what I would do. I discarded grids (dislike geometry) and went with layers (collage) and reflections (memories). Collage makes your sketchbook look like this:



For my degree work I used my memories and emotions to reflect on my relationships with people around me and my relationship with myself, so I sort of carried it on. My best friends' dad died in June, and it broke us. How could I document anything else? I'm going to ask them to read it this week, it's pretty personal, and maybe then I'll show you. The sketchbook is a beautiful, tactile object and I wish people could hold it and touch it and not just read it on a screen. It has a cloth cover and there's the shiny textures of the photos, the slightly sticky surface of gloss paint, rough emulsion on sugar paper... It also doesn't close, as the photograph shows. Many layers.

Source materials used thus far: Photographs (burned and scratched), poured paint surfaces rescued from my classroom, found words (magazines, catalogues, a book on Queen Victoria), photocopies. I'm sure other things will be added.

 It was cathartic, but I feel art needs to be seen. As yet, I don't know if it will be but I hope when it is, people will be able to relate to it.

Weird Creatures

"Switzerland"

When I started doing my PGCE I didn't have time to paint (and still don't!) so I started doing these weird little drawings. They're black ink (usually an archival fineliner) in a Seawhite 8"x8" sketchbook. I do them a bit at a time, unplanned, so they're brilliant for doodling in class *ahem* or for winding down at the end of the day. They're full of monsters that I am in love wth - especially the reindeer monsters. I need to draw more monsters, they are the most fun.

Incidentally, I would highly reccomend Seawhite paper - loose or in sketchbooks. We even get our A1 paper supply from them for college! It's high quality, very affordable and actually quite resilient if you like to throw water at it then scrub it with sandpaper. As I do. You can find them in my friend's art shop The Art Palette, along with the Faber Castell PITT pens that I use to draw with. Cheap as chips but brilliant quality - exactly the kind of art supplies I like!

Whoops

Lordy, it's been nearly a YEAR since I updated! Scandalous! In my defense I have been rather busy doing my PGCE, but I've also been doing many silly things that need blogging! Have some rather wonderful doodles that I did for a sketchjam over on deviantART - five minute doodles on paper with a copic sketch brush pen. If you have a DA account and wish to have fun in the future, make sure you're watching #ComicsandCartoons!

Theme: "Sexy Batman"

Theme: "Unicorn Soup"

Theme: "Sheep eating Noodles"