USURP Gallery zine fair, London

Have a look at these photos I took today at Usurp Gallery's zine fair in Harrow, London. Great people, fabulous zines, cute location and terrific food made by volunteers.

This is the back view of the gallery, I was outside at the bottom of the 'garden' in a large, brightly lit summerhouse type building. It was well attended, with about twelve tables in all, and the variety of zines available was excellent. I had a happy browse and bought postcards, zines, badges and art work. Occasionally I ran back to my own table to sell the odd colouring book or issue of Any Old Iron.

These guys are The Gym: check out their twitter and tumblr. They do beautiful posters (On 200 GSM! Whoa! You kind of had to be there), as well as zines, a hand stamp, and other lovely print based products. I bought one of their notebooks, and had a great chat with them. Thanks GYM for good conversation and great zines.

My table: messy as usual. You can see, if you squint, my new wordsearch  promotion postcards, my brown Thinking Notebook for zine ideas (I just love notebooks) and my join the dots sheets.

Such a great day, thank you Rachel and Rose for organising and for stocking my zines. I will definitely be going back, and it has inspired me in my tentative goal to organise something similar in Peterborough. Watch this space. As ever, if you want to swap zines with me then contact me for info, or visit my shop to contribute to my teabag fund.

Silence is boring...

But it's been down to a busy, busy life. I've got a sore throat at the moment which luckily doesn't affect my ability to type, so here we go.

This year has started really well for me, with a number of exciting jobs headed my way. I completed some project branding for a local competition called How Morland Court Got Its Name, it was great fun to do, and on top of the flyer I illustrated, I also got to deliver a workshop to local children and help them prepare entries for the competition. I really love talking to people and creating art with them so this was a golden opportunity.
I've also been making adjustments to my website, it's almost there. Next month I'll be running some more workshops in Peterborough in conjunction with Vivacity, and getting involved in a hugely exciting artists' project tied up with the Olympics. More of that when I know more.

Unfortunately this blog has suffered a bit, what with full time work, illustration commissions, swapping zines and trying to have a life. I want to get back into blogging and also featuring people on here again, so get in touch if you'd like to be on here.

This is some of the stuff I've been up to lately.

Illustration Friday– 'Intention'

His intentions become clear as I prepare to lose another game. Why oh why can't I grasp the art of strategy? This is a sneak peak of an illustration that will appear in issue #2 of the zine Any Old Iron. You can buy issue #1 here.

Time to plan my dinner party

Know any good recipes?

Thank you postman

Boo, my camera memory card is mislaid, which means I can't take decent photos of the THREE envelopes waiting for me when I got home today. Hurrah for laptop cameras, although I'm sorry I can't do these proper justice. Here is a rundown of the zines I have happily devoured tonight.

Pixelated, issue #3, by Brandy
I answered a call on etsy to contribute to this zine, the theme is My Favourite Thing. It's thread bound, zig-zag format (probably a proper name for that), the cover is a sturdy, chocolate brown card. Inside are contributions in the form of poems, drawings, an encrypted message (love it!) typography, collage... a beautiful and whimisical addition to the zine box by the bed. Thanks Brandy, and it's great to see my work in someone else's zine . That's one of my new year resolutions fuflfilled by February. Please go here to get yourself a copy.

Deafula, issues #1 and #2, by Deafula
This is a lovely zine. It's written by a young deaf woman in Philidelphia, USA. I've finished issue 1 and am working through issue 2. The inside is a mix of type, drawings and collage, and I learnt a lot about being deaf, it was friendly and so informative. My Grandfather has gone deaf recently and as a family we have had to adapt to that- the chief priority, I think, has been making sure that he feels included at family gatherings, and remembering to speak up. Anyway, it really got me thinking about a lot of other things - Grandad, our health service, attitudes to deaf people and how I will behave when I next meet a deaf person. Thanks Deafula for your brilliant zine! She sells her stuff here.


The Ken Chronicles
This is a perzine from Ken in Philidelphia, and it kind of reads like a journal. There's plenty of content, he puts my zines to shame. I was really interested to see that he mentioned an album I have, Mumford and Sons, I think I bought it in 2009, and I agree with him it's a small dose album. He also mentions Just My Type, a book a work collegue lent me recently. Small world sometimes. Photos, quotes, reviews... my natural nosiness is satisfied in this zine, I love glimpses into other people's lives. It was great to read something by someone who is so obviously experienced in making zines, especially for a newbie like me.

In other news: I was so excited to be reviewed here by Carlos Palacios Hidalgo on his brilliant blog. He's a really nice guy and it felt wonderful to have feedback on the web. Please visit his blog, I love his reviews and because of him have been exposed to some great new music and other jumbly bits. Thank you Carlos!

Latest new stuff

I've been busy lately with a handful of commissions, as well as getting my new zine, Any Old Iron, out into the world. I've had some terrific,, encouraging feedback which has really put a smile on my face, and issue #2 is already underway. In the meantime here are some of the things I've been working on.

Preliminary sketch for a new colouring book for The Green Backyard, Peterborough

I was very fortunate to be asked to do the branding and overall 'look' for the Fenland Poet Laureate. The awards are this Friday night. This flyer is one that I developed alongside Atelier East. They wanted a definite 'fenland' look, so I used the huge skies as a background. I also developed the title font, great fun.

This is a little sneak peek of an unfinished flyer for a local competition. I'm having tons of fun along the way working with a new client. I'll post the final image when it's done.

I'm also going through the first steps in supplying some of my cards to a shop, very exciting, although I don't have a clue what I'm doing, so it should be interesting!

Hooray!

It's out! My new zine, Any Old Iron, issue #1! (Champagne cork popping sound)