Some things I've been playing with....

I like playing with photographs and chopped up bits of paper and seeing what happens by suggesting other things by manipulating them. It starts telling a weird little story of it's own. This is what has happened so far....

Sketches in Nepal

Some sketches from Nepal, nicknamed 'Roof of the World'. One of my journal entries just reads 'I WENT PARAGLIDING!!!'- which makes me smile a lot because I remember how unbelievably-shitting-myself-terrified I was and how i was certain this would be certain death. If there is anywhere to do something this much out of your comfort zone, in front of the Annapurna mountain range would be a good place. It was my first proper glimpse of the Himalayas and after reading so much and anticipating them it was overwhelming to see them. I'd wanted to visit Nepal for years for some unknown reason, I think it's the idea of sherpas and Buddhist monks and stuff and then I read this 'Sky Burial', by Xinran just by chance and it was one of those insane burst-into-tears-on-the-train books which fixated it into my head to JUST GO. Seriously, read it. It's a true story about Nepal and it is......amazing! I also listened to Michael Palin's 'Himalaya' and started reading 'The Snow Leopard' by Peter Matthiessen but still haven't finished it... I'm not much of a fan of travel guides, this was a much better insight. Anyway, the Annapurna were awesome. I kept trying to imagine being on one of the untouched snowy peaks 8 and a bit miles up in the air and what it would be like. The mountains are sacred, so you're not allowed to, but they're also too dangerous to climb so you couldn't, but they're so blue and steep and clean it's hard not to stare at them all day. So there's some context about Nepal and here are some sketches.....

Cows and palm trees in Chitwan (jungle)

Boats on Lake Pokhara

Helicopter flying past temple on top of a hill by Lake Pokhara

Sketches from India

These are from the first few days in India, in Jaipur at the Amer Fort and on the train from Agra to Orchha.

Some people looking over the balcony into the river to feed the fish.

Ladies in sariis looking at the Amer Fort

At the top of the fort is a room entirely mosaiced in mirror

Man asleep on the train from Agra to Orchha - trying not to get caught drawing!

grrr perfectionism...

I'm trying to create a logo which I feel is true to me and representative of what I stand for - 'i like trees'. I have got so far and now I'm stuck. I could just leave it and call it finished but I will forever resent it as a reflection of my own inferiority and lack of commitment. I know what will happen. I will spend hours trying to work and make sense of it from every angle, finally, painstakingly come up with an immense, complicated solution, and once its perfected and ready, a perfect, simple solution will become glaringly obvious and the only possible answer. And if I don't go through this ridiculous process, I'll never get there. WHYYY!!?! There's got to be a better way. It's only the letter 'e' I'm stuck on. The concept is of the relationship of man and nature, of the balance of the natural and man made. I'm thinking systems, label, units, computer, prisms, patterns, triangles, cubes, origami and still got a scribbly mess on my page. Oh joy. I'm semi happy with the rest of it, but the 'e' is stumping me! Please see below and feel free to suggest things which might make it work or what I'm missing....

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2013 so far

It would appear that I wrote a post with the intention of updating it while I was travelling....that definitely didn't happen. But I did keep a sketch book and diary etc, which is useful when you have no internet/electricity/computer/sanity. I've just found my sketchbooks from when I was in India and Nepal (and Thailand in the end!) and I will upload some of the sketches I did, which looking back I do quite like and hold a lot of memories to me. They're not all fantastic but they do what a travel journal should do, which is capture the travelling. There are a lot of entries which begin, 'oh dear god, what did I get myself into?!' so I know I had a good time and an excuse to not be blogging. I don't need my sketchbook to tell me I had a good time, my daily daydreams of mountains and snorkelling are escapist enough to remind me. So it is no coincidence that I've just fired up this blog again. I can use it as catharsis for my frustrations. Just as art is catharsis for life. For various reasons which have become apparent, it's time to make life into one big 'oh dear god', I'm not sure how but Woohoo! Below are some small explorations of some ideas I've had...

not bad for continuity

Ok, so it's been.......2 and a half years since I last updated this, so not bad really. But my reason for firing up my literary brain cells again is because I'm off to India and Nepal on Saturday, and I thought it might be good to record what happens there. As people who know me may know by now, this is something I've wanted to do for a loooooong time, so it's quite exciting! In theory, as the day gets closer and the reality dawns on me I'm getting the vomity/shitting myself sensation of terror and the stress of HOW MANY last minute things I need to do. For example, NOWHERE sells an bloody Indian plug converter thing. Helpful. And I forgot the pin number for my credit card. And the thought of needing suntan lotion when the frost hasn't even melted this morning is hurting my head. Oh yeah, and I HATE packing. Procrastination, procrastination, procrastination....babysitting, yep I can do that, Christmas party, yep I can go. More xmas decorations, DEFINITELY. Hmmm successful. But it will be fine once it's done. So I don't know how much I can/will update this while I'm off galavanting in the subcontinent but I will try. I have a more traditional pen and paper, which when I'm stuck up a mountain in Nepal, may prove to come more in handy. Just in case anyone doesn't hear from me for a while, this is the organisation I'm volunteering with in Nepal: Wishing you all a jolly christmas of stockings and E.T. And that X Factor isn't number 1!

Third Year Update

Well, it's been a while but I have my excuses. Third year. busy times...and i had another blog for EMP so i have been neglecting this one. But it's nearly over, which is mental....it's been a long and at the same time short year.
Anyway here's some work from Negotiated Practice, the first unit of the year. Originally I was using the D&AD brief for Illustration as a starting point but the momentum of the project got away with itself and became something more. The brief was to explore the idea of resistance, in any way we wished, pushing our comfort zone.
These were my intentions:
For Negotiated Practise I am combining the D&AD illustration brief and my own professional interests for illustration in the future. The D&AD brief asks the illustrator to create a poster on the theme of resistance, taken anyway they see fit, the only requirement is to challenge the way they usually work.
My way of approaching the project comes from my desire to make people see the ordinary in a different, extraordinary way. The idea of this is to make people see the things in their lives in another light, to consider things outside of their lives
The way this fits into the idea of resistance is to resist apathy, going through life without questioning what you are doing. This approach reflects my own experience in that I have been brought up in privileged circumstances without fear of any sort of persecution and so I feel is an honest way to explore the theme of resistance.