Objects of desire

Started taking photographs of some of the objects I plan to feature in my illustrations for the Maker's Palette project. It was pretty difficult narrowing down my collection of weird and wonderful things but these are some that made the cut. Included are a russian doll, wooden puppet, giant peg, vintage tea cup and saucer and my beloved yellow glass horsey.

The Maker's Palette

Recently I got the rare opportunity to spend a couple of solid hours at uni doing my own work. I spent the time working on my Maker's Palette sketchbook which is coming along nicely. I have decided that for the project I am going to concentrate on the idea of found objects and my tendency to gather and collect the random curios and ephemera that clutters my house something rotten. The plan is to take photos of my favourite finds then turn them into monoprints and collages.

I ♥ monoprinting

Made some monoprints today using found images from magazines. Rather like the first one but less keen on the other two. Unfortunately I don't have the patience to make really beautiful detailed monoprints so they remain quite graphic in style. Not sure whether I'm going to use them for anything yet.

Bored on a Sunday

Thought it was the start of something then quickly realised it wasn't, oh well they only took a couple of hours to knock up. Haven't lost my ability to work super quick it seems. Maybe I should slow down?

Found

Skipping ahead and after a drought of approximately 7 years during which I produced very little art work (why? - working crappy jobs, doing a PGCE, getting my head around being a teacher? or just lazy & uninspired? who knows), anyway suddenly I started making again. Invited by my PGCE tutor Keith to submit work into an exhibition at MMU I made the collages and illustrations below. Now that I am well and truly into my Masters I have no excuse to slack off so I plan to make time and do some creative work every weekend from now on. That's the plan anyway.

A Woman's Place

Phew, finally made it to the last of my degree posts. It's been rather nerve wracking revisiting work that is almost a decade old as I can't help but see the dozens of details that I would change if I was to do it all over again. Still, I suppose it's been quite useful too. I remember leaving the course wondering whether Graphics had been the right choice especially as it seemed almost impossible to find work in the industry but considering I still choose to work with image and text now, well I guess it was.
This project was in response to a brief I wrote myself which once again tackled issues that concerned women. The interior of the doll's house which was specially built was filled with political feminist graphics, furniture and cut outs of Barbie and Ken dolls from the 50s. I then photographed the piece and made them into a set of postcards. This is definitely one of those pieces that I see now and cringe a little as it all feels a bit clichéd and naive. Anyhoo, you live and learn.

Graphics for Grrrls

Another project from my Graphic Arts degree (1999-2002). At the time I was really into digging up graphics produced by women during the Women's Liberation movement of the 60s and 70s and had amassed quite a collection. My favourite finds were those that used humour to tackle a serious, complex issue like feminism (like in the excellent examples seen below). The work following (last 4 images) was my response to a publication design brief which required us to produce illustrations for a magazine article which documented a political issue or cause of our choice. I came up with the name 'Graphics for Grrrls' and then presented a selection of the posters and cartoons onto swatches of retro fabric from the same era. Most of the work was produced by hand although this was also one of the first times I flirted with Photoshop.