Heart gallery

Many illustrators including lots of those involved in the 7th International meeting were asked to contribute an image with a heart theme to a new gallery - 'Heart gallery' opening in São João da Madeira tomorrow. Here is my contribution!

A Letter in mind exhibition

I recently took part in 'A Letter in Mind' exhibition at the Oxo tower gallery in London. Artists were invited to create their piece using only a simple white envelope and the title 'A letter in mind' as a starting point. There was a huge variety of responses, and some well known names involved, including Grayson Perry and Chris Haughton. Works were exhibited anonomously and then auctioned off in aid of the National Brain appeal, with the name of the artist only revealed once a purchase had been made. For my piece I used the address of the National Brain appeal which I broke down and fully illustrated on the front - I then sent the piece directly through the mail, hoping it arrived unscathed - luckily it did! You can see the full range of artworks on this link.

Visit to Ilustrarte

I recently spent a lovely few days in Lisbon, eating custard tarts, admiring beautiful tiled buildings, travelling on trams and visiting the Ilustrarte exhibition where my work is on show. The exhibition is on at the museum of Electricity, and is wonderful mix of many beautiful images and books. As last time, the display is unusual, and illustrations are shown in glass cases lit up from inside and set within large, different coloured foam blocks, stencilled with artists' names. It is coming to an end in Lisbon (this weekend), but will then move on to Ghent and Madrid.  

Ilustrarte exhibition

Last week the children's book illustration biennial 'Ilustrarte' opened in Lisbon at the museum of electricity. Three of my pieces from 'Drawing in the Sea' published by Edizioni Corraini were chosen for the show - 'Large and small', 'The Bermuda triangle', and 'Deep sea divers'. I am grateful to fellow illustrator and exhibitor Gaia Stella for taking these pictures, as I haven't been able to visit yet but am hoping to do so soon! The exhibition is on in Lisbon until April 13th, after which it moves to Madrid and Ghent. More information is available on the Ilustrarte website.

East London Design Show

I am very excited to be exhibiting and selling my work at East London Design Show, opening next week. Come and find me at Stand 47 selling a range of prints, books, stationery, cards, tote bags and more. The show is held at the Old Truman Brewery off Brick Lane and opening hours are as follows:

Open to everyone Thursday 5th December	12pm - 6pm
Open to everyone with late shopping Friday 6th December	12pm - 9pm
Open to everyone Saturday 7th December	10am - 6pm
Open to everyone Sunday 8th December	10am - 6pm

It's a great event with loads of brilliant designers all under one roof and a perfect place for Christmas shopping. Entry is £5 for adults and £3 concs. Would love to see you there!

Drawing tomorrow at the Museum of Childhood

In the future there will be dinosaur proof hovercars, everyone will eat sugary foods all of the time (even the dinosaurs), buildings will be made of gold, and spiders are huge and elephants tiny! This is what the future holds according to my 8 year old art director, Joe - and what a fun brief it was too!

Several weeks ago teams from my agency CIA and ad agency AMV BBDO met at the museum of Childhood to run workshops with children aged from 4-11 to find out their ideas of what our future world will be like. Some amazing ideas were born and then given to us illustrators to interpret. The artworks were on display at the museum on Saturday as part of the The Big Draw. It was a fantastic event with live drawing from fellow illustrators including Sarah Coleman, Jill Calder, Jessie Ford, Brian Grimwood, Stan Chow and Rose Blake.

Here is my piece and a few pics from the day. Incidentally there were some great bits from the brief that I didn't manage to include - people have no teeth (because of eating all those sweets), Australia is cold and rainy and Iceland is the hottest place in the world. Santa has moved to Australia. Great ideas, thanks Joe!

Drawing in the Sea launch party!

Last week I was in Milan for the 'Grande festa del mare', an exhibition, launch and party for my new book 'Drawing in the sea'. It was a great night, organised by Corraini and held at 121 bookshop. Visitors could get involved by adding their own drawings to huge posters of pages blown up from the book, there was food, drink, a great band and a discount on all books for one night only! Here are some photographs of the event.

Grafici Mobili exhibition

I was recently asked by Corraini studio and 121 bookshop to take part in an exhibition as part of design week in Milan. Grafici Mobili is a poster exhibition in which Graphic designers and artists re-interpret designer objects or pieces of furniture graphically. My chosen object was the 'ball clock', designed by George Nelson in 1948. I chose to re-invent it as a solar system, with the sun in the middle and the planets surrounding it. I had to include several dwarf planets as well to get the number up to 12! Here is the inspirational clock and finished poster.

The exhibition opened yesterday and runs until May 5th.

Denbies show

If you haven't made it to our show at Denbies, there is still time! We're open this weekend, 9.30 - 5.00 both days (although we will be taking it down towards the end of the afternoon on Sunday). I was there yesterday, we had lots of people in the gallery and lots of nice comments. Here are a few cold and frosty early morning pics, plus a few of the inside of the gallery.

Winter Song exhibition

I've been busy this week preparing for a group show at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, opening on Monday. I'm looking forward to exhibiting in this unusual venue! The show will also include work by Lisa Metcalfe, Helen Locke, Sandra Howgate, Alison Orchard, Frankie George, Marion Deacon, Lindsay Beaton and Susan Czoper, comprising printmaking, painting and ceramics. Show open: Monday 3rd December - Saturday 8th 9.30 - 5.00; Sunday 9th 10 - 5. At Denbies Wine Estate, London Road, Dorking RH5 6AA. There will also be a Christmas craft fair and late opening on Monday night until 9pm. www.denbies.co.uk

Draw the Line

I currently have work on show at Bar Lane Studios in York in their gallery/shop, just relaunched and opened as 'Draw the Line'. The space showcases the work of several great artists and illustrators including beautiful prints by Jane Orme, Amanda Colville and Cat O'Neil. If you're in the area have a look - great for Christmas presents!

Images 36 exhibition

 

Last week I went to the opening and awards night of Images 36, the best of British Illustration. The exhibition is on in the Terrace Rooms at Somerset house, and includes the selected work of over 50 artists from all over the UK, plus Gold, silver and bronze award winners in each of 8 categories.

I have two pieces in the show - 'Blue escapes painting' and 'Ice cream on fire and Leopard'. The show is on until 28th October and is free - well worth a look so catch it if you can!

The Best Piece of Advice Ever

Last week I went to the launch of an amazing new book 'The Best Piece of Advice Ever'. The book is a collaboration between Creative Social and Bernstein & Andriulli, and features advice given to top creative people in the industry, brought to life by many brilliant illustrators: Brian Grimwood, Sarah Coleman, Andrew Rae, and Olaf Hajek to name a few. It was an inspiring night, with talks given by many of the socials, and a panel discussion chaired by Louisa St Pierre. 

My quote was 'Trust your instincts', advice given to Mariota Essery of TBWA Chiat by Neil Dawson, ECD of DDB London. I struggled with this for a while and eventually came up with the idea to base it around instinctive animal behaviour - birds flying South for the winter and bears going into hibernation. The book is available from Bernstein & Andriulli.