Cardboard Collage

My students in my adult class have been drawing cats, dogs and birds and so in a move towards three dimensions we have worked with Cardboard collage. Almost everyone choose cats as their subject and here are some of the results Top: Gregg Ritchie, Middle: James Cape, Bottom: Joan Cargill.

Sam Smith III

A last post for now on Sam Smith, and this time it is his wonderful hand illustrated boxes made to house those hand made toys and automata, quirky, strange and fun.

Sam Smith II

" As I get older I get less interested in the way a thing looks and more interested in the spirit that hides within it; so that the things I make are meant to be looked into, rather than looked at." Sam Smith

Kissing by Sam Smith

At the weekend I went to the Scottish Fisheries Museum at  Anstruther purposefully to see the exhibition of Sam Smith's work. The Scottish Fisheries Museum is just fantastic, a maze of wonderful machinery, boats and social history and well worth a visit at any time.

This is the first of a few posts dedicated to Sam Smith who struck me very much as being one of those exceptional eccentric creative figures like Ivor Cutler, Spike Miligan and George Wyllie an older generation of artists have gone. Sam Smith (1908-1983) made automata's and toys that were for adult enjoyment as much as children's. His work is rich with imagination and reminds me of ancient fair grounds populated by strange people, events and shows. The bottom image is of a gondolier kissing an imaginary woman and above that are his sketches for various kissing automata.

Kosuke Ajiro II

More ghosties, these are by Kosuke Ajiro who's surreal work continues to be a delight. 

Oak Leaf Ghosts

The silhouette of my oak leaves struck me last week as being very ghost like. That sounds strange 'my oak leaves', but as I planted the acorns that are now producing these leaves I do feel very maternal.
I pressed them and painted them and here they are OoooOoooOooooooooooooooing to you.
The Oak leaf ghosts and I wish you a very Happy Halloween.

Akira Kusaka

I choose this image for today because I think it is magical, the moon has a stone like quality and so ties in nicely with Beata's stone books and we are entering the time of the moon. By this I mean that here in Scotland the clocks change tonight and more and more it is moon light not sun light that we bathe in. 
As I write these posts for you the moon is my silent companion. That strange rock with its worried face has a pull and a power and because it is the light in a dark Scottish winter it needs contemplated. 
So here is Japanese illustrator Akira Kusaka's wonderful moon to celebrate the arrival of winter.

Beata Wehr

Beata Wehr's amazingly beautiful books of found stones. 

"I created two books "Carpe Diem" containing 12 pages each for 12 months. The first one was done in Poland, my native country out of granite stones from there. The second one is with stones from Catalina Mountains in Sonoran Desert where now I live." Beata Wehr

These books tell a story that most of us can relate to, one of relocation, transience and the vulnerability and loss that this causes, far from friends and loved ones. There is something magical about stones and how you only get certain types of stone in certain geographical areas. They hold a magic and so do Beata's  book

Ellen Heck II

Ellen Heck's colour wheels amazing collections of colour from different situations. A foggy morning in San Francisco and an antiques fair are amongst some of the colour events that have been painstakingly mapped and documented by Ellen. 
I really like the idea of producing colour wheels of particular locations and events I think this is something that I would like to introduce to my teaching as part of sketch making and initial research.

Ellen Heck I

Ellen Heck is a young printmaker from California. These are a selection from Ellen's series 'Forty Frida's'. 
"Forty Fridas is a portfolio of woodcut and drypoint prints depicting forty different women and girls dressed up as Frida Kahlo. Individually, each portrait focuses intimately on the task of pretending to be someone one isn’t – and in so doing, revealing oneself all the more. When viewed together, themes of identity and variation rise to the foreground." Ellen Heck

Scottish National Gallery Head to Toe

Sometimes playful things should not just be left for the kids. 
Last week we visited the Scottish National Gallery with a friend Sophie Orton and I picked up an activity trail for Freya as I looked through it while we waited for Sophie I thought we should all do it. Head to Toe was designed and illustrated by another friend of mine Sara Ogilvie and it is wonderful, really engaging and great fun, but so was the company.

Cooking Classes

Sunday was cooking class day. Cooking with Freya is an installation with endless painstaking arrangements of shapes and colour, borrowed as ingredients from a Melissa and Doug pattern blocks and board set,this toy has been an ever evolving companion to Freya for over 5 years.
Children at least mine always seem to have one toy that can be recreated by their imaginations into endless reincarnations,these are the best toys.
However the house is also strewn with pots, pans, plates, bowls and wooden spoons.

Ballet Cats

It is the last day of a very brief holiday, time to get ready for the very early and dark starts. There are many exciting things happening but lots of work still needed . . . so dancing on, here are Freya's Ballet cats from earlier in the week.

Gerald Rose, The Sorcerers Apprentice.

Another wonderful gem from Elizabeth and Gerald Rose this time The Sorcerers Apprentice from 1966. So many wonderful illustrations and details difficult to choose.

Valeria Valenza I

Beautiful jewels of illustrations by Italian illustrator Valeria Valenza, with delicate collages interwoven within the painting. 

Piu Sudo I

I have been running around the internet trying to find more information about Piu Sudo and more work by this wonderful illustrator and designer. For now I have to content myself with showing you her beautiful textile designs, but I hope by the end of the day to have more of her work to share with you.

Natasza Niedziolka II

I have shown Natasza Niedziolka's work in the art room before, but these are quite different. The paintings and sculptures that I showcased of Natasza's were bold and expressive, today I wanted to show her complex and delicate stitched abstract compositions. These have a similar content to her other work but the media used gives them have a completely different quality and visual language.

Sophie Jodoin

I have always loved Pierre Bonnard's paintings of his wife in the bath but now I know I just love paintings and drawings of people in the bath, there is always a wonderful calmness, contemplation and peace in this subject. These are wonderful evocative drawings by Montreal based artist Sophie Jodoin.

Elizabeth Jonkers II

I love the colour palette in this contemplative painting by Elizabeth Jonkers. The contrast between the orange and turquoise is just wonderful as is the models wry smile.

Tomoya Kato

 Tomoya Kato makes beautiful spacious pale illustrations often with balancing shapes and animals.