competition winner and more gift ideas

To select the winner of the christmas card competition I used the entirely non-scientific method of alocating the enterers numbers and asking my boyfriend to pick one of them.

the winner is Abby Wright! she does drawings to, check them out.

congratulations.

I very enjoyed the answers everyone gave, mostly concerning lovingly handmade personalised gifts, and much big up of the hand-made in general. What this says about my er, online networking demographic, is that they are awesome obviously. but also arty. And there were some purchasing suggestions for the less endowed with craftiness or time.

this man shaped sleeping bag snug item is a joyfull pick, altho on the pricey lovers and very close relitives side of the spectrum.

Clare Bear cannily suggested her own handmade jewelery which is of course allways to be encouraged. The amount of awesome handmade accessories now available on the net ought to be able to fulfil any rellies tastes.
Illustrated calendars is another brilliant way to support your creatives in a christmas gift mode, this example is a delight suggested by it's maker Obara
I also wanted to post this although it is not for sale which Alice used as her example of personal handmade gift, it is a papercut based on a postcard i think, super beautiful. she should really be encouraged to make more things given how speedily her lovely fox purses sold.

(it's the most wonderful time of the year)

OK yes.
stuff and things.

scroll to the bottom of entry for competition

Once again you may purchase my beautific text based christmas cards from last year, i have plenty left, they are in packs of 8 on etsy but feel free to make a specific order of quantity and type and i will quote you happy.


I wanted to write a big ranty blog about how i hate christmas gift recommendation emails but i can't really be bothered. They annoy me in magazines and stuff too although they are usually a bit better. It's just ugh, you know, no, if i had someone in my life who wanted a digital camera or a newly released dvd, or an insulated jacket for christmas, i'm sure i would already be aware. Or for that matter a £500 teapot. no.

wait did i say i was not going to rant?

anyway my point was more that i am a big believer in supporting small businesses and charities and creatives with your christmas spends. (not just like me i mean). Rather than getting something mass produced that looks kind of unique and quirky but actually isn't.

So here are a few of my suggestions for christmas gifts that i think you should buy for other people.
for friend who enjoys hot drinks and is not a raging bull; fetching mug, helps MAG disarm unexploded ordinances. and is red.
for friend who is or is not able to speak, you can get a speach bubble felt broach by Ellie Cryer.


For any friends that like science, or have a sense of humour get Martyn Warren's new book about weird fish.
For friends who enjoy to have pretty things in front of their eyes. or who may have a passing interest in beautiful garments and where they come from, i recomend Amelia's compendium of fashion illustration. Because i am in it. obviously. but also. because you should get it. because horay for fashion illustration. And there is a pre-order offer.
for all of your friends and aquaintances you should also get a copy of Tokyo Godfathers, the greatest christmas movie ever made. It is cheap. I GUARANTEEEEEE it will give you oodles of christmas cheer.

other products are available.

actually, you know what? i'm going to have a little competition.

please post your alternative or just generally awesome christmas gift ideas bellow for a chance to win a pack of my 8 beautiful illustrated christmas cards.

you can also be entered by tweeting a link to this blog and making your gift suggestion,
use #robinsgiftcomp so i can find your entry

you have until the end of Sunday 5th December midnight GMT

illustration of Vessels, for Amelia's - don't think it's posted yet, it has shiny collage and ink. yum.

I want to talk a bit about some cool stuff.

one of the good things about the PGCE (the bad things include it being super exhausting and confusing - but there's more good than bad) is that it's making me expose myself to a load more art than usual. This should continue when I'm teaching which is super cool.

Most of the big galleries have special private views for teachers where you can see paying exhibitions for free, yes please.

Also, I'm like, burrowing into the internets looking for hot examples of tonal graduation or reductive lino or aztec patterns or whatever that I can show to the kids and be like, check out this awesome use of tonal graduation. do that. I am happy that I know about awesome art blogs like brown paper bag, Ballad Of featured, Illustration Rally, to name but a few.

I've seen awesome new inspirationstuff like Liesl Pfeffer's awesome photo collages
Lulu Allison's slightly creepy but beautiful papercuts
Anna See's lovely bird lino prints (i loves the birds you know)

I also went to the National Gallery yesterday on an inset thing, and fell in love with Van Gogh's Two Crabs. Little bit more famous. Check out those colours and tonal definitions tho. hot.


While I was there I saw the temporary free instalation of Clive Head's London paintings - if you like London I thoroughly recomend it. super awesome. Makes the point properly that painting wins over photography really, and that London is awesome also.

the lovely and talented Stacie Swift tagged me in this "meme" a while ago.

so now i have time to procrastinate a little. i will do it. They are mostly un-answerable questions for me, so i have given several answers.

Sorry is long. I have put in some videos to keep you engaged. but not over-stimulated. (that's a teaching joke)

1. What is your earliest memory?

I don't know obviously. I remember having a huge fire guard like a child cage and playing in that in the house i lived in till i was about 6. I remember going to a nursery with a giant teddy bear and a cool climbing frame and crying and crying because i wasn't the centre of attention. I remember singing I should be so lucky, without knowing what it was, at Jill's house the night my sister was born. probably.



2. What is your favourite meal to eat and also to cook?

I love eating out, but I am a disaster at ordering food in restaurants, it stresses me out and i get food envy. So my favourite meal to eat is one where i am amazed that i have actually managed to order something I really like. Certain tuna steaks spring to mind. And malasian food. And almost anything with chocolate. Or something cooked for me by someone I love.

My favourite food to cook is food for friends and family and sharing new things i have discovered with them. Or experimenting with mushrooms when Alex is out.

Sometimes when i am cooking I like to pretend I am Matt Prston off of Masterchef Australia.



3. Where is your favourite place in the world?

In bed, when i know i don't have to get up yet.
Brighton's North Laines on Christmas Eve.
Luang Probang walking in the market in the evening, enjoying a Watermellon Shake.
London, generally.
In a cinema, watching a film.

4. Who do you admire and why?

People who go through shit, and come out the other side smiling, not because they are strong, but because they are positive. And kind people. And people who are able to see the big picture and the small picture at the same time. People who make Art that is wise, and true, and pretty.

Dave McKean, Stephin Merritt, Josie Long, Los Bros Hernandez




5. What inspires you?

Walking around London, nice boots and nice bicycles, birds - allways.

6. Where would you take a visitor to your home town? Any hidden gems?

In Henfield, my actual home town, I would take them on a nice country walk, to a jumble sale, to a pub, or 10. That would be all of them.
In London, where I live, right now I would take them to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Show, probably take them for some Ping Pong, go to St James' Park to see the birds, walk around a bit, see some cool buildings. I would show them Exchange Square on the way to Shoreditch.

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?


Liz Lemon.

Or a bintarung.

And so to carry on the meme here are my questions:

1.Who was your favourite toy when you were little, and are you still in touch?
2.Who is your favourite celebrity chef? and why?
3.How old do you really feel, on the inside?
4.What celebrity do you find really unnatractive, other than Sarah Jessica Parker?
5.What magazines and newspapers do you habitually read?
6.If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, what would you have?
7.What is your favourite song to secretly dance round the room to on your own?

they are different. you have to make up your own.

My questions are directed at:

JuneSees, Paul Shinn, Alice, Ellie Cryer

I done a recipe illustration for They Draw and Cook it prob won't be up there for a while as I assume they will have been inundated with the old submissions since they announced a little bit of a book deadline, but i am going to share it with you here anywho

it's a bit mini, so obviously in the actual full size piece you can read the words.

mwah

Claire.

project update alert

ok I have been a bit slow with the facebook project recently, due to being massively busy in the manner of a bee. I am getting back on track tho having now completed my first 50 drawings!

miniature celebration: woo!

Claire (above) is the first of my friends to participate in the project actively as invited by requesting both which photo and what style she wanted to be drawn in. I hope more people do as it adds an extra dimension to the work, being a little bit more about what we give to each other as friends in the world and how we interact on the internet, plus i have to think less, obviously.