christmas shop

There are only 14 shopping days until Christmas. That's right - only 14!!! If you're anything like me you'll still have quite a lot of gifts still to buy. Why not make things easy for yourselves and visit my online shop. If you live in the UK and you place an order with me before Dec 19 I can guarantee your item will be in the post by the Royal Mail's latest recommended posting date for Christmas deliveries. I'll even throw in a gift tag or two! What are you waiting for?

illustration friday: pattern

christmas markets

I had a very festive day at Craftaganza yesterday - my first mulled wine and mince pie of the season! Oh and I also had a pretty successful day, with my new sumo wrestler tea towels proving popular. So, now I'm looking forward to two Christmas markets next weekend. On Saturday it's Art Junky at Phoenix (Waterloo Place, Brighton - at the bottom of Lewes Road) and then on Sunday I'm at the Big Brighton Christmas Fair (Sallis Benney Theatre, University of Brighton's Grand Parade campus).

craftaganza

I've been super busy preparing for the Christmas fairs I'm selling at in the next few weeks. The first one is at the end of the month. I'll be at Craftaganza in Fabrica Galletry (Duke St/ Ship St, Brighton) on Saturday 30th November, where I'll be selling Christmas cards, wrapping paper and tags, tea towels, posters and more. It's free entry and there's homemade food and drinks - go on, you know you want to!

halloween

lake district

I just got back from a week in the Lake District. I climbed to the top of Scafell Pike....and came down the wrong way (it was very cloudy & I may have failed to check the map...ahem), extending what was already a nearly 10-mile hike by about 4 or 5 miles. Boy did I ache the next day!

I had every intention of doing some nice drawings of mountains while I was there but, what with all the mountain climbing, fell walking and cake eating, there just didn't seem to be a spare moment. Instead, here's a little mountain climber by the marvellous Spencer Wilson.

the paper cinema

The first time I saw The Paper Cinema was at in 2008 Toynbee Studios in East London where they performed East with live music played by Roger Eno - I'd never seen anything like it before. Founders Nicholas Rawling and Imogen Charleston manipulate cut out, intricate and beautiful illustrations in front of cameras creating a live animation that is projected onto a screen.

Last might I went to see The Odyssey, their new show currently playing at The Old Market in Hove. It's incredible and it feels more developed. They now use two cameras to create a multi-layered effect and employ clever techniques to create a sense of movement, speed, and distance, not to mention an incredibly effective atom bomb-like explosion. It's impossible to watch what is happening on screen without taking sneaky looks at what Nicholas and Imogen are doing in front of the camera to achieve the effects.

I can't conclude without mentioning the wonderfully inventive soundtrack performed live by musical director Christopher Reed along with Hazel Mills and Quinta. A violin cleverly mimics the sound of an outboard motor, a drill is a motorbike and gravel in a tray is the sound of walking. All alongside music beautifully composed specifically for The Odyssey. You can listen to some of the music here, and scroll down for a video clip.

shoreditch street art tour

I spent a day in London with my mum last week. We do a London day together every year and, aside from a bit of shopping, we're always looking for something new and different to do with our day. This year we went on a street art tour around Shoreditch. It was epic! It was brilliant! We spent 3 hours pounding the streets and alleyways of Spitalfields, Bricklane and Shoreditch. Our tour guide Dave recently set up Shoreditch Street Art Tours but has been into the scene for ten years (he is also a world renowned street art photographer), so he was super knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. We saw work in hidden corners as well as prominent pieces. What's really surprising is the amount of work that is in plain view but seen by so few people - we don't spend enough time looking up or looking down to the ground! I took a plenty of photographs - here are some of my favourite ones:

illustration friday: hidden

ale giorgini's movie posters

I can't get enough of these awesome movie posters by Italian illustrator Ale Giorgini. I love this style - simple lines but incredibly clever composition and the films are captured beautifully in a single image. Below are some of my favourites. Now, please excuse me while I go and have a look around his online shop. What's this? A credit card in my hand already?!.....