a-b via z of creative ideas
A bit of house-keeping here; I actually made this about 6 weeks ago…
This mobile was a commission. It’s the same style as the one I made for Simon, but as Ben’s name is short, I made little animals to balance out it all out. They’re removable too, with wee bells inside to jangle-jangle if it tickles someone’s fancy to actually remove them…
*check out the ever-so-cool Dr. Seuss fabric on the letter N… One Fish, Two Fish I believe:-)
Looking forward to seeing this band at No Direction Home Festival in June. Actually, just looking forward to the festival in general! Expect mucho photos posted after. In the meantime, a lovely song.
Just a few Holga photos from the past few months, most taken from areas on my doorstep, in both Dublin and Wexford, that I’d never taken the time to visit before. Boxes now ticked!
All the above from a walk on Bull Wall- I’d NEVER been there before- how’d that happen? 
Wexford, up Forth Mountain, we stumbled upon a mass rock on top of a hill. Who knew? 
A regular visitor to the Phoenix Park, yet I’d never bothered to wander close to the Papal Cross. Tisk.
Check out the Hegarty sign- this building suffered a fire and had to be demolished for safety, and the demolition crew put their advertising board ON TOP of a painting which was still hanging on the wall of what was once somebody’s living room… I came back the next morning with my decent camera to get a better pic (the Holga was all I had on me the day before) and this whole wall was gone. Short lived.
Ok, the bottom one isn’t Holga, but figured it made a nice team-mate to the photo above (which was taken from a moving car). It was the loveliest rainbow I’d seen in a long time, so full and vivid. And so big that there was no hope of capturing it all in one photo. Made me very happy.
My idea for The Sketchbook Project Limited Edition morphed quite considerably as I put off working on it (procrastination queen, me). I began with something I knew I didn’t have time for, a mixed-media idea that I am now working on in a whole other format (I’ll blog about that all in good time). I decided to stick to a simple book of drawings, and wanted every page to have a maze on it. Essentially I wanted to create a puzzle book I suppose. BUT. It felt wrong. It needed a narrative. And so Bo and his ball of string was born; inspiration born from a crossword that had a clue about Theseus, Ariadne and the Labyrinth.
I made a little video of the whole storybook. It’s dead simple and silent, but I hope you like it.
I know I seemed to drop of the planet for a while there, but like Tricia, I took up Amy’s challenge and added the Sketchbook Project Limited Edition to an already interminable to-do list. If you want something done, ask a busy person, I guess…
I’ve been wanting to get back into drawing for a while (remember the pop-up shop back before Christmas?). I’ve had a notion for a while to do a series of portraits of snapshots of ordinary people in my ordinary life doing..well..whatever it is they do. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to let loose and try it out without worrying too much about making something perfect and polished.
I allowed myself to start with some found images of interesting people I don’t know, since it’s wa-a-ay easier to self-criticise when you’re not getting a likeness of a face you’ve know and loved for years.
A few got ditched along the way (one shot of my mother with my as a baby kept making her look Asian and/or psychopathic) (my mother is neither), a few took for-EVER and I thought I might never make the deadline.
Creeping back to my comfort zone, I interspersed the drawings with fabrics which I plan to combine somehow with the digital offspring of these ones to make proper, finished mixed media illustrations. So much for letting loose with gay abandon…!
In my last post I mentioned I’d finished my notebook for the Limited Edition Sketchbook project. Here’s a few photographs of the result.
I chose The Science of the Story as my theme for the notebook. As some of you will know I’ve been scribbling away on something for quite a while now. The notebook depicts part of a scene from the story and a map of the area the main character has found themself in so far.
In between the pages I typed part of the first chapter onto tracing paper and cut out wee windows so you can see part of the story. I layered the tracing paper and, as a result, the writing is quite blurry. I deliberately left in mistakes as its a work in progress and sure mistakes are far more interesting than perfection.
Way back in January Amy posted about the Art House Co-Op’s Limited Edition Sketchbook project and begged someone to take part in it with her. I signed up. Slightly against my better judgement as I was already over stretching myself with various projects. Sure what did I only go and do a few months later but sign up for their Photo Response Project. Time is only a concept, right? Well, both projects are deadlined for Monday and I’m pleased to report I am finished them both and will be popping them in the post on Friday. Yes, yes, cutting it fine- but not as fine as some, hey Amy?
Loving this song at the moment; it’s really worth checking out…
I’ve had quite a few tunes on heavy rotation in the past few weeks. As a result of a few long bus journeys with only music and slight feeling of nausea for company, I needed (aural and physical) comfort; and so I become reacquainted with some oldies I always loved and a few oldies that only crossed my radar in the last year or so.
I then realised that there may be a theme here.
See the theme yet? Home. That Peter Broderick song is from his album Home.
Listen, and enjoy the comforts of home…
I found this dapper gentleman in a vintage shop in London a few years ago. I’ve a few old postcards- this one is definitely my favourite. Of course, it was his mighty fine moustache that drew me in, I am that predictable;-)
When I buy an old postcard, what’s written on the back is as important as what’s on the front. But they always throw up so many questions. In this case- who is Mrs W and what does she have that Miss L H and Jerry need to see?
The postmark is a little obscured, but this card was originally sent between 1900 and 1909- I’d hazard a guess with 1904. But it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that this postcard has survived for over 100 years. How did this happen? What has he seen on his travels from London to Shawbury, back to London and then to Dublin to my mirror where he currently resides?
Anyway, to the question of why I’m writing about this postcard. Well, I signed up for the 4×6 exchange with Art House Co-op a few weeks ago. I send them a piece of art that measures 4x6inches with an SAE and they send me back something by someone else. When I read 4×6, my immediate thought was “postcard”; I’ve made quite a few postcards in my time (I like to utilise the postal service as much as possible and I’ve been known to make myself postcards while travelling and send them to myself… yup!) So, I decided that Herbert (he looks like a Herbert, right? Or Horatio. Or Harold. Nah, definitely Herbert.) was going to travel again, this time to the USA.
I used Dylon image-maker to transfer a copy of the postcard to fabric, then machine-embroidered over it. Unfortunately, I’m a lazy thread-buyer; I tend to make-do too much. I used a black thread from Ikea here. It’s a tad on the bulky side. Bah. I used a quality beige thread for the writing up the centre, it gives much better, cleaner line and my wonky sewn handwriting is less geriatric looking. Live and learn.
Hope you enjoy your journey, Herbert! Godspeed!
Thom Superhero is a courageous chap. Daily, he dons his two pairs of underpants and his special cape, and fearlessly wanders the streets of Dublin, ensuring that it’s citizens (and his friends) are safe from all that may threaten them.
Each day…
...Thom peers...
..he creeps..
...he watches...
...he squeezes...
...he travels...
..he assesses...
..and he appraises.
When on the case, Thom wears…
...big boy underpants...
...another pair on his head to maintain his secret identity...
...and a pretty awesome cape.
Sometimes Thom has an easy day.
And sometimes, it’s not quite so easy.
Sometimes the bad guys are just behind him.
But usually, as Thom’s presence is enough to keep Dublin safe for all, he can relax…
…and sleep well each night.
