Bit Forward

Embarking on a short-term collaborative project with artist Laurie Ramsell, above you can see our physical recreation the City of Birmingham crest, dedicating its representation of the arts and trade industries to the creative sector. It depicts creativity as a personal expression and philosophy (a way to explore the world more deeply) but also a trade and a craft, something that we think resonates with Birmingham's industrious values and history as a city, as well as us both as individual artists. 

This particular creation was all in aid of designing a poster for glug birmingham, and whilst the crest was something that had interested us since returning to the city, in this instance the research and the brief just fit together in harmony making it the right time to realise and share the idea. We built the crest out of cardboard at 'life size' and assembled it for a tableau-style photograph at our old college in Stourbridge, putting ourselves in the picture. Thanks to the supportive staff and our own lack of fear for paper cuts or splinters, this image was born a few hours later, applying a colour palette specific to the brief digitally to tie the whole thing together, a mock-up for which can seen on the original crest here:

 I would urge you all to play around with your craft and let other people shape it, because through this little project I've learned that as well as being a delicate balance between multiple viewpoints, it can be very very fun, and it will feed back into your own ideas in a positive way if you let it.

To close, here is a picture of us larking about on set.

Precious Flower Feathers

As many of you will know Amelia's Magazine is currently going full pelt to make a magical special edition book laced with gold, centred around the theme of That Which We Do Not Understand.

Forming my submission to her open call out, this image is my take on Xochiquetzel, a goddess in Aztec mythology associated with concepts of fertility, beauty, and female sexual power. Serving as a protector of young mothers and a patroness of pregnancy and childbirth, the name Xochiquetzal is a compound of xochiti (“flower”) and quetzalli (“precious feather”) and she is always depicted as a youthful woman, richly attired and symbolically associated with vegetation and in particular flowers. Upon reading about this character I became interested in the parallels she holds with ideals of modern womanhood, and the mystery that continues to surround what it means to be feminine and how beauty & female sexuality is perceived. I love the fact she is engulfed by nature and surrounded by so much wondrous flora, and I see this as a exemplifying the natural beauty of womankind; radiant and sweet-swelling, with an effortless allure and grace.

It's been something very different for me that I've really enjoyed making, retaining a roughness of pencil but working harder to create intense detail and depth of colour alongside looser marks.

Inktober

Upon first hearing about Inktober I didn't know if it was for me. I don't own any of the fancy pens listed as Tools, plus my tentative approach to drawing can feel closed in by the permanence and strength of ink, more comfortable with a stubby smudgy 5B.

Yet part of me wanted to become a part of it anyway. Inspired by the inky artists posting drawings made of smooth lines and yummy shading, I dug under my bed for a pot of black ink and an old paintbrush and had a go at using ink in my own way. It was loads of fun to shake up my practice, and make a ruddy mess that no eraser could fix. Any community that encourages creative people to keep on creating and share their work is okay by me, as this creates a momentum that working in isolation simply can't always maintain.


Whilst my own efforts will not be sustained throughout the month, I wish everyone a very happy & productive Inktober indeed. To check out featured ink as part of the project visit www.facebook.com/inktober

Spring Greens

I was asked by Birmingham-based chum Meghan Allbright to contribute to her forthcoming zine Dovetail. This illustration was lovingly crafted in the middle of the night, based on an image from an old cookbook, and is to accompany a reworked recipe by a local artist, annotating text about food to comment on art and ideas.

The zesty colours may be more suited to seasons gone and to come, but I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing come together this Autumn, bringing many players in Birmingham's art crowd together in one printed volume. Watch out for it in midlands-based fun places and spaces where people gather and art happens - and in a future post, naturally.

Let's Talk About Tax

This week I tuned in for an IdeasTap webinar about the mysterious "Big T", aka the tax man. Listening avidly from the bus on the way home from work, Tax Talk For Freelancers was delivered by Alistair of Bambridge Accountants and was packed with useful nuggets of golden info for independent creative business folk.

All this bookkeeping financial stuff is definitely a topic which makes more sense to me when somebody vocalises it, as letting myself pour over guidelines and terms can create more questions that answers. After just over a year as a sole-trader and having submitted one fairly straightforward initial tax return, things had naturally gone up a notch and I wanted to get more savvy about record keeping and good financial practice; something that can be hard to come by as a free resource and even harder to digest.

The session was incredibly useful, and tied up some loose ends for me in terms of things that may or may not be expenses, how really to calculate the use of your bedroom as an office, and whether some of the more enjoyable parts of the illustration lifestyle can be considered work.

Here are the top 5 things that I learned:

We Are The Loft

The lovely Loft Bham, hosts of my previous life drawing post, are having a wee party to celebrate everything they have started, stimulated, and orchestrated over the last 6 month as Birmingham's pop-up creative haven. Bringing together visual artists, performers and all manner of creative party people, they are leaving their current space at Priory Walk for pastures new. The future for them may not be certain, but one thing's for sure, their final event We Are The Loft is not to be missed. I drew up some jazzy typography for them as a fond farewell. You've gotta pick your pencils up to get down.

Life Lessons

Life drawing at The Loft this week was just the excuse I needed to get my pencils out. My first trip to the fledgling space tucked in Birmingham's city centre, it was a very creative, welcoming environment from the moment I entered. Already full of lovely people on my arrival (some studio holders and others newbies like myself) I was offered fruit juice and sweets and took a seat ready to get set up.

Well-organised and fast-paced, the session flew by, with the experienced life model's seemingly endless plait capturing my interest in every drawing. Unlike sessions I have attended elsewhere, there was a supportive and open sensibility amongst attending artists, everybody bravely bringing their favourite drawings together to share before the session came to a close.

Yinka and The Loft team have created something really special here; a simple but important vessel by which to bring together local artists to work - and potentially exhibit - together who may otherwise work alone. In-so-doing this creates a safe zone for creative people to do what they do best whilst contributing to the working of the city; a self-led creative nucleus. It's always nice to feel a part of something, and I can guarantee that to make contact with The Loft is to be part of something good.

High Five for My5

This month saw the launch of my5, a project I've been working on with Youthspace to promote dialogue surrounding mental wellbeing. Driven by Youthspace Youth Board - a amazing group of young people passionate about raising awareness of youth mental health and wellbeing issues - the operative word here is definitely with rather than for as they were keen to discuss their project, the 5 key steps they had come up with, and how we were going to turn them into something to share with others. Postcards for people to keep close and refer back to; colour was important, something that would make young people want to pick them up in the first place; symbols for ease of use and to make the steps memorable; clear communication of the message held within each step.

I loved the concept right away and found the campaign incredibly well laid out. Discover - Recognise - Energise - Socialise - Share. Simple. My visual ideas centred around different parts of the body, considering the attention we tend to give their physical health in order to convey the importance of doing the same with our minds. The descriptions of each step were also incredibly sensory, take time to listen, look around you, share a smile; all of these things are at our fingertips each day and don't require anything more from us than what we already have. It was this idea of connections between thinking and doing that fed into the illustration process, seeking to prompt action as well as self-reflection.

It was not only rewarding to work with the youthboard to realise their creative aspirations for the campaign, but also very inspiring personally to be around young people with such a clear vision and a universally empowering message. This is just the beginning for my5 but you can keep up to date with the project, including reading about the launch party in full, over on the Youthspace blog.

Agenda Bender

I've been working with mac birmingham's Cannon Hill Collective since October and it's almost time to showcase what they've been up to! Investigating when art becomes a political act and united by a desire to impart positive social change, this wonderful bunch have put together What's The Agenda; an eclectic festival of creative activity which asks the audience to engage as well as committing to some form of pledge for change; big or small; private or public.

Lord knows I'm already planning my launch party outfit, but for now check out the flyer I created for 'em. After much shredder fun what I've created seems suspiciously like Girls HBO combined with Klimt's The Kiss...

No? Just me then.

Something Fishy Going On

After a bit of an undesirable creative hiatus, waving goodbye to January felt ruddy marvelous and has brought with it a startling wave of productivity. Much has happened in the last few weeks leading to the launch of a new collaborative venture with artist chum SJI. That venture is Illustrated Brum; a platform for us to document the creative, cultural and social goings on we encounter to create an illustrated guide to Birmingham life. It's all very exciting, and if you want to find out the significance of this fish then have a root around: