F is for Fagin ...

I haven't stopped my A-Z  Literary Project but Fagin has been giving me no end of trouble! I'm still not sure how I feel about this piece but here he is anyway, pocketing a trifle from his latest thieving spree, in the dark slums of London.

Holiday!

Going to France to relax and soak some rays! See you all when I get back :-)

Drink and Draw - July 2013

There have been Drink and Draw nights in Peterborough before now, in various locations. I first heard about the concept about a year ago, and thought it sounded brilliant. Arty people sketching round a table in a pub, with drinks. What's not to like?

With the event of Find me Keep Me in Peterborough this May, I met loads of people in the arts community, and the idea for a drink and draw was tossed about then. People seemed keen. I was keen. So when the dust had settled in my new home, I decided to take tentative steps towards organising it.

I've never organised anything before. Well, not strictly true, but I had never organised anything completely on my own, where I stood what felt like a very real chance of no one turning up. 

Firstly I put out feelers on the Creative Peterborough Facebook page. After just 24 hours I had some encouraging 'likes' and the offer of a pub to host it. Following a Friday night drink there with a friend and a chat with the landlord, Ian, I had myself a venue. Nice. Now for getting people to come.

I shouted out on Facebook and a couple of other sites, and Ian also did his bit of promoting. But in typical fashion, I felt I'd left it a bit late to spread the word, and when Wednesday night came, I sat down in the pub, heart pounding, and waited.

If only one or two people turn up, then that's fine, I told myself as I sat there, still beetroot red from the bike ride. Better than nothing. Slow grow, etc. Besides, it's your own fault for being so shoddy with promotion. Then the first person turned up!

In the end, 11 people came. Some left early and others came later on. I had advertised it as a laid back, do-your-own-thing kind of night, but I'd also made up miniature projects on little slips of paper, which people could pick up if they wanted. These turned out to be well received - one obvious danger is that Drink and Draw can easily become Drink and Talk, with very little drawing being done, but people said the mini projects were good procrastination-busters, and I tried to cater for the doodler as well as the more experienced artist -  we had both types last night, which was so lovely.

Ruth from Metal came along and interviewed me about the night for the website with a camcorder. I squirmed my way through a little explanation about what Drink and Draw is about, smiling fixedly and making far too many hand gestures. I met some great people and really enjoyed chatting and drawing, getting to know people and seeing different styles (or 'visual languages', as my old lecturer used to insist). Cycled home with a huge smile on my face and already looking forward to the next one - after the success of last night, hopefully it can become a monthly thing. 

Peterborough Drink and Draw, every first Wednesday, The Palmerston Arms, Oundle Rd, Pboro. Facebook page coming soon. :-) 

Moar stuff?!?

I have finally got round to listing new products in my NOTHS shop - my weeks-in-the-making Colouring Book for Grown Ups, a new sympathy card, a congratulations on passing your driving test card, and some lovely black and white illustrated postcards.

I have been delayed somewhat in my entry for F in the literary alphabet I am doing, but here is a preliminary sketch. Can you guess which character it is?

E is for Esther...

Esther Greenwood, sinking into bleak depression in New York, in Sylvia Plath's the Bell Jar.

D is for Dark Lord...

...Trapped in the body of a teenage boy and sent to our world, having to endure indignities such as school, homework and detention. He befriends his complete opposite: a sweet, innocent boy named Christopher who tries to help him regain his terrifying form and return home. I’m a couple of decades out of the target reading age for this book but it didn’t stop me enjoying it. I think what I loved best is how much the two main characters seem to truly care about each other (deep deep down) and rely on each other. Like Harry Potter, this book appears at first glance to be about magic and fantasy, but to me it was equally about friendship. Dark Lord: The Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson

 

C is for Cat

This week’s illustration is of The Cat That Walked By Himself, by Rudyard Kipling. So far this project has made me look around and read new material, or re-read old books I used to love. You’d think that not having a TV would leave me more time to read, but actually I seem to spend a lot of time up in my studio doing art! Which is still great.

I absolutely love cats and it’s surprising they don’t find their way into more of my illustrations. Now that I have a garden I’ve been enjoying the birds visiting, so when I see a cat, my feelings are mixed. But I’ll always be a cat girl...

B is for Bilbo

As part of my A-Z literary alphabet, here is poor Bilbo, running away from Smaug's deadly flames!

A is for Anne

Myself and my good friend and awesome illustrator buddy Carlydraws are currently doing a literary alphabet, with each letter connected to something in literature. My first letter is dedicated to Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I think my alphabet will be largely character based, but we will wait and see.

Harry Potter and the Graphic Design Awe

I went to the Warner Brothers studio tour yesterday with some friends from university. As a big HP fan, I walked in with a huge smile on my face which stayed on all day, and was even still there this morning when I woke up. 

I was with friends from my university days, who all studied Illustration or Graphic design with me, and one of the highlights for us was the display of all the design used in the film. I was so glad they included this. 

These displays show copies of the Quibbler magazine, the Daily Prophet, Quidditch World Cup programmes, train tickets, letters... it is amazing when you consider these things were only on screen for a second at a time. 

I bought myself a copy of The Quibbler in the shop at the end of the tour, I was really pleased you can buy this. I also bought a book which includes fun pull-outs, such as Umbridge’s decrees, Honeydukes packaging and a mini marauder’s map. If you’re not into Harry Potter, sorry if that just made no sense!

New studio!

Here’s my new workspace, the stuff of my dreams now made reality. Big thanks to Karen for coming over and sitting on the carpet keeping me company whilst I built the tables, and helping me make the big inspiration collage over the desk!

Find Me Keep Me - Peterborough 2013

What a buzzy Easter weekend. I was involved with an Arts Council funded project last week: Find Me Keep Me. It was a month in the making, and involved hiding art in the centre of Peterborough, UK, for members of the public to find. It was inspired by Free Art Friday in London, which you can educate yourself about on Youtube, should the mood take you.
There were 52 artists involved, and we were divided into teams according to our discipline - I was put into the 2D art team. We met each week in the pub to discuss potential themes for our art, promotion and how we would hide our art on the special day. Do I even need to say that there was much more laughter and messing around than proper discussion?

But we DID manage to come up with a nifty promtion idea - a folding zine that showcased all our work, to be given out and hidden on the day. Here’s us with scalpels and stuff, showing off our folding skills.

Our theme was ’treasure’, and I produced this illustration of various keys.

On the day I hid it on the steps of the Guildhall in the square... turned my back for 30 seconds, and it had gone. Excited shiver...

On the day we alternated between hiding the art, and telling the pubic about  Find Me Keep Me. We had all leafleted beforehand, as well as facebooking and tweeting about the project, but I was still amazed at the level of response. People had come into town especially to take part in the hunt, and I saw people running across the square with a map when they thought they’d found something! The whole thing was amazing, and I was lucky enough to see some delighted people discovering some art. 

So, so cool. Thanks to the organisers of this, I want to keep meeting up with all the people I met on this project, and hopefully organise some other stuff off the back of it! I hope it happens next year!

5 Books / Publications I find inspiring

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Literary A-Z: C is for Chronicle

I’m taking part in a liteary A-Z project with my fellow illustrator and friend Carly Allen Fletcher, a very prolific and talented artist. I won’t be posting every entry here as I’m hoping people visit the PirateUnicorn blog to see for themselves. In true Hannah style I’ve had to submit some of mine rather late, but this is C - Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

This Thursday I’ll be attending a meeting in a pub (where better?) to discuss the next stage of the Find Me Keep Me project I’m glad to be part of with Creative Peterborough and Arts Council England. More to follow! Hope you all had a good weekend. :-)

Cool stuff is going to happen

Tonight I went to a meeting with a bunch of other artists, poets, performers and sculptors, about a great new project that's launching next month in Peterborough: Find Me, Keep Me, organised in conjunction with Creative Peterborough, and with funding from the Arts Council England. The idea is we all create a piece of art and leave it somewhere in the city for people to find. Tonight we divided into groups and discussed what we would do, and how we would promote it. Very exciting and I can't wait to get started! If you follow my other blog, you'll see I love to hide bits of art in places for people to find already. At university I used to hide drawings or poetry in parks, fastened in jars, hidden in trees or under benches. It's going to be so great to do this with a group of other creative lovely people. Only 4 weeks to create, promote and hide, so I'd better get planning. :-)

It's about time I shared some of my 365 day project on here as well, seeing as it's nearly March!

This has been an excellent project so far, even though some days I've fallen off the wagon and had to play catch-up. It's worked like a journal, so when I flick back I can remember what I was up to at the time. The first few days were hard whilst I struggled to get over the 'mustn't ruin the new sketchbook' hang-up, now I love it. Some sketches are rubbish but other days I produce something I'd really love to take further, so it's completely worth it. :-)

Lastly, if you're intrigued by the concept of found things, you might find this book interesting: