Treats

I've been enjoying a bit of time off lately...a rare treat! It's a little strange at first to have all this free time after being chased by deadlines for so long, so I'm trying to keep myself busy and stimulated by feeding my mind and eyes with lots of treats :)

I watched a couple of great films recently at the London Film Festival:

The Wind Journeys

Milk of Sorrow

Both films were full of beautiful imagery, landscapes, music and colour, really really inspiring!

Another film I watched recently full of beautiful imagery is Beau Travail by Claire Denis.

I also LOVE this animation by Jonathan Klassen and Daniel Rodrigues, called "An eye for Annai".

With all this inspiration and free time, it's the perfect chance to start creating some personal pieces of work, and think about what to do for my exhibition in Japan next Spring.

I missed the Bologna Illustrators' exhibition this year as it coincided with a big deadline (I was really disappointed with myself, as I try to enter something every year), but I'm entering these 3 pieces for Ilustrarte 2009 instead, an exhibition of children's book illustrations which takes place every 2 years in Lisbon, Portugal.

Even more outfits

Here's a couple of new pieces for Gemma's Flickr group.

With my latest project completed, I suddenly have lots of time on my hands. It's amazing how quickly the hours and days disappear doing nothing much in particular. As much as I love this free time watching films and mooching about, I now need to be really disciplined, resist the comfy sofa and TV, and get on with some personal work I've been meaning to do for ages!

I've been invited by a gallery in Osaka, Japan to exhibit some work for next Spring, so am starting to think of pieces for that. I'm very very excited!! (and a little bit nervous too).

Rubbish, rejects and bits

I find leftovers and rejects quite interesting. I once gathered some bits of paper from the floor, and instead of throwing them away in the bin, I stuck them down and this is what happened (above).

Here are some bits I found going through the mess on my desk.

I can cut really tiny circles! I'm sure it will be much easier to draw or paint eyes for my characters, but no, I have to do it the ridiculously fiddly way.

There are also some glasses, boy's hair, a ponytail and a bird's leg.

With each project, there are always lots of bits that don't make the picture. I sometimes use these rejects to create a totally new picture.

One of my Bologna pieces from last year evolved from all the rejected paper mice heads from a previous picture book project. Can you spot them?

Palette and papers

At last, the light at the end of a very long tunnel! I'm free!! I feel like a mole stepping out into the world - everything is so bright and colourful! It feels good to walk, and be part of the outside world :)

After a good 10 days or so of locking myself in the studio and working non-stop, I've finally finished the artworks for the Lion Hudson book.

I can't show the finished spreads yet, so here are pictures of the mess left behind...

Things get very messy during projects - there's bits of paper all over the desk and floor, which get stuck to my socks and travel all around the house. Sometimes I find miniature paper trousers in the bathroom and tree branches in the kitchen.

More outfits

I've done another piece for What I wore today. As you can see, my outfits don't vary that much when I am at home...

I've been at home a lot, working on the pieces for the Lion Hudson book. I've roughly finished around 16 spreads out of 28 - I'm getting there!!!

It takes a long time deciding the outfits for all the little children, but it's good fun :)

I will post pictures of the finished spreads soon.

Brrr

Seems like summer is over :( Today was a very wet cold grey day.

Oh well...perfect for staying indoors, drinking cups of tea and locking myself in my studio. Still got lots to do but I'm getting there slowly.

Here's another new piece for Gemma's Flickr group.

Outfits

Here's another piece I did for Gemma's Flickr group What I wore today, in between working on the picture book spreads.

I've finished one spread - just 27 to go, hurrah!

I will post the spreads from the book soon.

For my picture book work, I realised I spend a LOT of time trying to decide what the characters will wear. Hours, sometimes days disappear just trying out different outfits for all the children. I can be really indecisive sometimes...

In real life, I spend much less time deciding what I will wear as I am mostly at home. I am a bit of a slob. So yesterday was pretty exciting as I wore 3 different outfits in 1 day! I left the flat for the first time in 5 days to go to my part-time job. Yes, I still have a crappy part-time job. The pay is poo, it's not particularly demanding and there are lots of silly rules that annoy and frustrate me, but it gets me out the house, I get to see lots of lovely people and films for free :) I can't be a hermit all the time. It also makes me appreciate the freedom I have in being a self employed illustrator. No uniforms, no rules, no one to answer to and cups of tea, coffee and treats whenever I like :)))