When in Spain
Well, it’s almost the end of 2018 and I am in Spain! We arrived last night to an already dark Granada and woke this morning to this most incredible view from our home for the next month - a rooftop turret literally 10m from the Cathedral (I think I could actually touch it if I climbed out onto our tiles). The first glimpses this morn have left me very impatient to get out the pen and colours and start drawing our amazing rooftop views.
It’s just getting light here… so while I wait for it to be a bit easier to see, I thought I’d send you just a few snippets of my highlights for the last couple of months.
First, a little bit of screenprinting
I’ve not tried this before, but have been looking for a way for a long time of translating my sketches to prints - in a handmade kind of way. When we were in Edinburgh in May in a beautiful little gallery - Dovecot Studios - I saw an image that at first glance I thought was a drawing, and then realised that it was actually a screen print. I got inspired and determined to give this a go… It only took 7 months, but finally I have had a first go at it. Studio Antic did the first step for me, exposing my drawing onto a screen - and then Dave and I printed. Below (and the puffin above) are the finished result of our first go. I hand coloured these ones, mostly because I had a deadline (a group show at Falkner Gallery early next year) and didn’t have time to master the many layers required to make such colour on the screens… but I’m super happy with these results, and actually enjoy hand colouring.
Children’s book illustration
Another highlight for me was my first foray into the world of children’s book illustration. I did a five week online course that proved to be quite amazing - I blogged about it all here. I also discovered that I love this kind of work. I was blown away by how much I enjoyed escaping into my imagination and creating a character, and then a world. I am hoping 2019 is going to be filled with children’s illustrations… as well as my normal pen and ink work.
I’ve just started working also on another character… unlike Lotta, she doesn’t yet have a name. She is still pretty sketchy but I am liking her so far…Below are some drafts of her, some friends and a little scene that I can imagine her living in. Unlike Lotta, where I mixed pen and ink and paper and watercolour and gouache and pencil, for these I have worked entirely digitally, so am experimenting with refining my style here. Not sure I’ve yet nailed a digital style that I love, but it is very fun trying.
That will do me for now… as it is getting properly light here in Granada, and it is time to set out to explore! Stay tuned on my instagram account and watch out for new posts on my blog, to keep updated with all my sketches of my life for the next 10 weeks in Europe - first here in Granada, then Cambridge and then Tallinn!