The result of hardwork!

So my project at Madeley High School came to an end last week. It feels strange that I won't be going back there once a week, as I have done for the last 3 months. The project accumalated in the children making and installing their own artwork, it was a hectic but successful day. Below are images of their work in situ

The whole class contributed to this flower pot, places in the reception area

This one was partly inspired by the wool installation the children did with me, but here they took it a step further. It had a real sense of dynamism, and the group were very committed; putting the work out in horrible weather!

This group put their 'Mario' inspired installation in the library. They placed boxes around the library that released balloons with viewer interaction; ingenious!

This group were inspired to create this musical creation! It was placed on the hall stage and looked fantastic!

This group were also inspired by music, to create these 'music trees' from an interesting array of materials, they were placed in discrete places around the school, so students sort of stumbled across them

Meet Tin-man Trevor!

I have gotten in some bad habits of late. I spend far too much time on the internet, thinking I'm doing things that are useful and need doing, but in fact really don't! It's so easy to see your time disappear down a black hole! I am vowing to set aside 'internet-free days"

I had one of these days recently, and found I was much more productive! I managed to produce these three sketches within about an hour

Meet Tin-man Trevor, Mushnoo's newest friend

Tin-man Trevor sliding down a rainbow!

Mushnoo and friends take a ballon ride

It's amazing how quickly you can get ideas down with the good old method of pencil and paper! Sometimes the old fashioned methods are the best. Now these babies are ready to be painted and/ or vectorised  :D, lots of fun ahead!

Motion City Soundtrack gig

Sunday night was a great night; me and my husband went to the Birmingham 02 academy to see Motion City Soundtrack play. If you haven't heard of them, they really are a fantastic band; pop punk at it's very best. Fantastic poetic, witty lyrics and great melodies, sung and played with a passion that is obvious.

This is their current album artwork done by the talented Joe Ledbetter http://www.joeledbetter.com/

I had been very excited about going to see them live, and was happily not disappointed at all. Their performance was awesome! The crowd was great too, we nearly raised the roof. I think Justin Pierre could have gotten away without singing at all if he'd wanted!

Only disappointment...... no girls t-shirts in my size :(

Now I'm super excited, as I have bought tickets for Saturday at the Leeds festival......BLINK 182! Here we come!

Nearing the end......

On Tuesday I led the 8th session in the creative partnership project I am working on with Madeley High School. Only one whole session left now, and it makes me feel a bit sad!
It's been a fantastic learning experience for me, and hopefully the children have gotten a lot out of it too.
The children were mainly working on creating work for their own installations which they will finish off and install next week. They really are doing a fantastic job. I can't wait to see the finished result. The main challenge for us is finding where they can put their work, as obviously there are restrictions due to being in a school.

We also had a go at bringing spring early, by making and attaching flowers to the bare branches of the trees, just though I'd share some photos with you. It looked really great, and the other students not involved had some great reactions to it.

A look into the surreal!

I stumbled across the work of rose skinner the other day, check out her website at www.roseskinner.com.

It just really pops! Her installations seem to exist in a surreal, Alice in Wonderland type world. Initially they may seem very appealing, with their bright colours and playful elements. However, there is something definitely disturbing about them. It's partly due to the overload of information and the skewed angles. Also as you look closer, there are vacantly staring dolls heads, unattached from their bodys, mutated toys (think Toy Story and the toys at Sid's house!), limp hanging mannequins ......

I would absolutely love to experience one of these pieces in real life!

What I have been doing recently

Here is my latest illustration. 

I feel that Mushnoo will be a regular feature in my work, and for a while now I have been wanting to write/illustrate a children's book featuring him and his friends. The character was first conceived about 2 years ago, so I'm taking my time! I must put the objective in a list, because then I will probably actually do it! I have a thing about lists! Again I'm still experimenting with styles, but must say I'm pretty pleased with this one! I have also created a pattern using Mushnoo and his main friends.

Again I'm really stoked with this especially as it is the first pattern I have created.




I have also been working on my crocheting skills! I'm getting there slowly! My aim is to be able to make an amigurumi creature by the end of the year! A long way to go yet! Still only learnt slip stitch and double crochet.


Oh and here is my first ever origami crane

only 999 more to make to get all my wishes granted!






Finally had another great day at Madeley High school this week getting the children to come up with their own installations. It took a while for them to grasp the idea, but now they're doing brilliantly. I can't wait to see their final pieces! Will post the pics up on here when they are done!

Wooly installation and easter illustration

So I've been pretty busy the last week or so, which is good, but feel like I need a day just to do nothing!

I had a fantastic time at the school I'm doing a creative partnerships project at on Monday. I was introducing the idea of installations to the group, and hopefully over the next few weeks the group will be making their own.
As a spring board for the children I began by wrapping ribbons round the schools outdoor classroom, and got the children to come and react to it. Admittedly it didn't look like much as that point, and as you can imagine I got a lot of funny looks off other pupils while I was doing it! Though that was cool.
Then i gave the children a ball of wool between small groups and asked them to finish my work off.
The result was fantastic, and the children all had a fantastic time. I got some pretty awesome photos of it too, below are just a couple.

Also just thought I'd share with you a little illustration I created for easter. Slowly feel like I'm getting to the point I want to be at with my imagery, still not quite there yet.