blog blog blog blog blog

obviously I am a bad person and have not blogged recently. I could post-date and fake it now and be all like, oh you have not read my blog? well it was here, full of stuff. But because I have respect for you, and myself, and because such a rouse (sp?) would require some planning to hang together, I'm not going to do that. However. stuff has happened. so prepare for epic stuff. And probably I will forget something so will have to post again anyway.

firstlymost here is a recent TheyDrawAndCook.com design I did, I am particularly proud of the fig leaves, although why I decided to include the rhino I honestly couldn't tell you. It must have been due to some tacit knowledge (that's a pedagogical theory joke, well, not really).

In February I went to visit my darling sister Hazel in Lisbon where we were blessed with optimal tourism weather. I recommend it. Here are some drawings I did of some Fado we went to see in a restaurant in the old part of the city, where these sorts of things traditionally take place. It is a cultural thing where everyone is very depressed and grumpy and moved to sing about it.

Before this, I had some London Fashion Week fun, which I wrote up in some more depth on Amelia's Magazine here. I drew pretty things and met fashiony people. Below are some of my favourite illustrations and sketches from my A/W 2011 haul. For the non-fashionistatastic among you, that means clothes what they invented last year for next year that you can't buy yet but should be the only thing you are thinking about apparently. All for Amelia's Magazine.

Bora Aksu also featured the above illustration on their facebook page

I got to see the Jasper Conran show where I sketched at lightening speed - see my write up and sketches here, my favourite works in the show were def. these sturdy jumpsuit sort of things.

I'm pleased with the atmosphere in this Clements Ribeiro piece

Live sketches of Edward Finney and Nicole Murray with their dresses.

This is Eun Jeong, elegant innit?

In Facebook Project news, I did this manga style portrait of Danni, because she just looks like an Oh My Goddess character, and everyone is all over it. Which is nice. But, not to sound whingy, I am not a manga artist. This is not my thing. Do not expect more. Unless specifically requested. They warned me about this at illustrator school. Why it's not good to be flexible. Which really begs the question why I am posting about it if I don't want people to notice. Um. well I've written it now.

A while ago I promised to draw a free commission for my 750th twitter follower. probably a little prematurely tbh, as the flurry wasn't really going to happen till I was pretty close. Although I plan to do something similar for my 1000th follower, watch the space of hereness. The lucky winner was Acronia Lyubov (not her real name, apparently) - I lucked out here as she is stunning! (see below) and wanted me to draw her in my favourite style, so this was a joyful undertaking.

In other news, my illustration will be included in the amazing memories project, an art book about the experiences of poetic cancer survivors (when I got the story to draw from through I proper cried, this will definitely be a worthwhile purchase when it comes out - chock full of beautiful art and heart rending true stories) to raise money for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.

Poppy Cleopatra has featured my live portrait of her in her blog banner, looking lovely.

Also, I have been dieting. Which I have a lot of complex feelings about so I might write a blog post about that when I have finished. I'm not sure how I'll know when I've finished. I might not last past Easter. Or maybe I will just stop when i am a size zero. ha.

lalala tralala trooloo lala

I forgot to post this image when i did it for the Biba preview before Fashion Week Amelia's Magazine


I like it a lot actually, sometimes you know you're not going to be able to do something justice if you try and be too accurate, so creating an impression is the way to go, which is this case paid off.

I wrote an essay at the weekend. go me. And i ate an enormous almond croissant. In the Rain.

It was all about my art education to date, formal and informal, so here are a few blasts from my past to remind you i was allways awesome, not just now.

alright kids? some bad news recently, we got burgled and my laptop was stolen, luckily i had most stuff backed up like a good little girl, and since i re-invested most of my profits from the alternative press fair (it was super awesome) into lots of zines at least they didn't get their grubby mits on so much cash. But all the same need all the pennies for a new laptop so need to step up the attack. Still very much available for illustrating!

They didn't take any of the zines, don't know why.

here's me at APF, sporting the famous dissapointed sparrow t-shirt still available for one more week from tinyrun get them while they're hot.

(I also have a few left in the UK if your here and don't fancy the postage, especially if you are of the larger persuasion, as its mostly Ls and XLs, ifyou know what i mean as i'm sure you do)

the stuff on the right is Zarina's her stuff is crazy lovely!

other news on the horizon, not only did i do this fab illustration for Amelia (yes, that Amelia) of exciting band Man Like Me last week, but I also am lined up to do some fashion based illustrations this week as part of an awesome project she's doing as part of a blogy, illustrated, inovative coverage of London Fashion Week.

coming soon: curious owls.