working side by side with my boy :)

Sometimes, work I thought was finished the night before looks different in the morning. It must be something to do with the light, or looking through fresh-ish (let's face, it, they're never fresh these days...) eyes.
So in a bit of a panic, I had to make some last minute tweaks - nothing unusual here, except this time round, I had to do it whilst keeping my little boy amused enough to give me some time and space...HA! What a challenge!

I decided it was best to keep him strapped in his highchair, and gave him some stickers and pencils, showing him how to make trains and he was off! Just long enough for me to apply a few blobs of paint and cut and paste like crazy. For a few minutes it felt really nice to be sitting side by side, making things together :) Until Oki got bored/frustrated/lazy and demanded "Mummy do it". It was good while it lasted...any more tips anyone?

linger

I've been invited to take part in a fantastic group exhibition at the 14th Moon Gallery in Osaka, Japan, called 「手から手へ」"from Hand to Hand". It will be on from Monday 17th June - Tuesday 25th June (closed on Sunday). 

Following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, a group of Japanese illustrators decided to organise this exhibition, asking the question: "What will our future be after the tsunami catastrophe and nuclear disaster?". Numerous galleries across Europe and Japan have been taking part, each gallery with its own theme. 

Our theme is "Standing", and here is my piece for it, titled "Linger".

Below is the postcard for the 14th Moon Gallery.

You can find more information about the whole exhibition here.

beep beep

I reworked this painting to hang in Oki's room. Just in case he didn't have enough wheels to look at!

more sewing!

Here's another bag I sewed recently for another special birthday girl. I hope they have many adventures together!

sewing

I did a 2 day embroidery class for beginners recently, at the lovely sewing shop Ray Stitch in Islington. 

I learned a bit of sewing a looooog time ago when I was at primary school in Japan, and then at secondary school in London, and that's about the only teaching I've received. Most of the time I'm making it up as I go along.

I've been wanting to merge sewing with my illustrations work, so was very happy to find this class, run by the lovely Richard McVetis. I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped for in the class, but I'm excited to think of all the possibilities that lie ahead, drawing and making different kinds of marks with stitching and thread. 

distance

Sometimes it's good to lay everything out and have a little distance, to see things differently.