Superquick sketches

Some superquick watercolor sketches I did the other day. Click to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dead Man Working

It's not in my usual line of work, but still worth a mention: the cover photography I did for the book Dead Man Working by Carl Cederström and Peter Fleming. I had to make fake blood and then create puddles and splatter it around, which was heaps of fun! It has been published by Zero Books, a 'radical' publisher, whose catalogue will be much of interest to those of you who are into philosophy, political theory and cultural studies.

"What does the worker tell us today? "I feel drained, empty... dead." This book follows the dead man working from the daily tedium of the office, to the humiliating mandatory team building exercise, to awkward encounters with the funky boss who pretends to hate capitalism and tells you to be authentic. When the corporation has colonized life itself, even our dreams, the question of escape becomes ever more pressing, ever more desperate..."

Despite the fact I don't have to go on humiliating team building exercises, I am my own funky boss and I love my new-found daily tedium of the office, this does sound like an interesting read!

Order it from Amazon here.

An animated invitation

(click to enlarge)  
 

For a private client I recently made an invitation for their wedding party on a rooftop terrace in Madrid. As the invitation was going to be send out electronically I suggested turning it into an animated GIF. I have an absolute soft spot for animated GIFs, so I was very excited about finally having an excuse for making one myself!

ZELF again

Today kids museum Villa Zebra sent me some really nice pictures of their semi-permanent exhibition ZELF! The exhibition consists of six interactive art installations that are tucked away in a big box. By opening one or more doors these installations are revealed and 3-6 year olds can get their hands dirty (metaphorically speaking). Together with Renée Reijnders and Geeske de Graaff I created a hospital where kids can construct new human beings with the fabric body parts. 

The only time I've seen the exhibition was when it was heaving with kids. Which is how it should be of course. But it is nice to see it in a serene setting - it will probably never be as peaceful again as in this photo shoot...

 

 ∧ The installation next to us is by famous children's book illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing. I'm absolutely thrilled my work is exhibited next to his; he is one of my heroes!! 

Photos by Hester Blankenstijn and Mike Bink.

The gallery-part of the Jazz Gallery

I've got a little group exhibition coming up over at  A Shot in the Dark - one of Cardiff's nicest coffee cafes. The exhibition is part of the Jazz Gallery, a weekly jazz night that aims to provide a platform for local jazz musicians and artists. The other two participants are Dan Hamilton and Nicole Miles, with whom I share a studio at the Morgan Arcade Studios.

The opening is Sunday May 13th at 20.00 and there will live music by the Dino Plasmati/Carlo Fraccalvieri Open Quartet. It would be lovely to see you there, but don't worry if you can't make it, the exhibition is on till August 4th.

Bare Naked Beer poster

(click to enlarge)

Fresh from the press: the poster I designed for Cardiff based microbrewery Artisan Brewing to promote their monthly BAR OPEN event!

Somewhere hidden away in the leafy neighborhood of Pontcanna is a garage is filled with an impressive array of kettles, pumps, pipes and hoses. This is where Simon brews his fine beers according to traditional recipes from all over the world. He doesn't use any additives and the beers are vegan friendly (you might not know this, but some beers are filtered using fish swim bladder). To quote Simon it's "beer like nature intended".

Every first Saturday of the month the brewery invites people to come together in their courtyard and drink the Bare Naked Beers. You should come, it's always good fun.  The next BAR OPEN is on Saturday May 5th. There will be a barbecue and on tap are Helles Lager, Bavarian Wheat, Chocolate Wheat and their latest American IPA (which I sampled straight from the keg on on my last visit and I can tell you it's excellent!).  

Find the Facebook event here.

Jazz Gallery Cardiff

In collaboration with studio mate Daniel Hamilton I've created a logo and poster for the soon to launch Jazz Gallery Cardiff.  

The Jazz Gallery is "a new jazz club that has been set up by musicians, for musicians, to help expand the ever-growing Cardiff jazz scene. Based at A Shot in the Dark café, we are providing a platform for musicians in and around South Wales to perform their original music to a new audience. In association with contemporary music group SN Jazz and in addition to weekly jazz gigs and a monthly jam session, we are offering an opportunity for local artists to exhibit their work on the walls of this venue".

So stay tuned for an exhibition at A Shot in the Dark soon! Join their Facebook group to stay informed on upcoming gigs and exhibitions.

Can Your Monkey Do The Dog

Who would have thought a book fair could be so much fun! Over 60 lovely artists sold their (handmade) books and zines at the Ffotogallery in Penarth last Saturday. Lots of people came down, the place was heaving all day! I played records on my portable record player (the Fidelity), which went down really well I think. And I had the pleasure of ending the already brilliant day with a packed dance floor at the afterparty at 10ft Tall!

Especially for this fair I made sort of mini-zine titled Can Your Monkey Do The Dog, based on the song by Rufus Thomas. Besides monkeys dancing The Dog there are monkeys Footstompin', Vogueing  and Shaking A Tail Feather.

I've got a few left that I'm selling through my website (click here), where you can pay  the  £2/€2,50 (that includes postage!) using PayPal or your creditcard. Or simply send me message and we'll sort it out. Download the soundtrack below (right click/CTRL+click and "save as") and get your hips shaking too!

 

Rufus Thomas - Can Your Monkey Do The Dog. Download it here.
 

Jackie Lee - The Duck. Download it here.

 
Dee Dee Sharp - Do The Bird. Download it here.

The Five Du-Tones - Shake A Tail Feather. Download it here.

 
Madonna - Vogue. Download it here.

The Flares - Footstompin'. Download it here.

Pre-order 'What I Wore Today'!

You can now pre-order the book What I Wore Today - Doodle Yourself into a Style Icon by illustrator Gemma Correll on Amazon!

The book is based on Gemma's What I Wore Today blog and Flickr group, where people upload their drawings of, well, what they wore that day. The book is a sketchbook, journal, manual on how to draw and fashion guide all in one, that will let you "scribble, sketch and doodle your way through a year's worth of your best outfits, or biggest fashion mistakes". To provide some inspiration and examples they've picked a couple of drawings from the (5000+ items!) Flickr group, and one of those is me in what I call my 'straight laced' outfit!!

 I now realize I look rather chubby in this drawing hahaha.

It's off to Brooklyn

It's off! To Brooklyn! My submission for The Sketchbook Project. I suffered from the 'blank canvas syndrome' for a long time, but when I had finally decided what to do with my theme ("the grey side of life") I did enjoy it a lot, experimenting with different techniques and just making silly portraits. Instead of using the ultrathin paper of the sketchbook I used paper made from recycled elephant poo (!!), which I then hand bound together using a saddle stitch. I'm not super pleased with it and next year I'm going to do everything differently  (of course :-), but it definitely got the creative juices flowing. And I guess that's what it's all about. Here are some sneak peeks..

The sketchbooks will go on an exhibition tour in April, starting in New York. Then my sketchbook will travel, along with a staggering 5000 other books, to Chicago, Portland OR, Vancouver, LA, San Fransisco, Boston, Portland ME, Toronto, Philly, Atlanta, Austin, Melbourne and last stop London.

Book Arts Fayre

Another date to save: 25 February, the 6th Book Arts Fayre at the Ffotogallery in Penarth, Cardiff!

"Ffotogallery's Book Arts Fayre's celebrate the ‘artist book’ in all its forms, from hand printed zines to hardback monographs, giving visitors the chance to explore and engage in self-publishing and a wealth of contemporary book arts practice from Wales and beyond".

I'll be selling bookplates and hopefully a new zine, and I'll be playing records on my newly acquired vintage portable record player!

Warmest wishes

Warmest Wishes and Happy Holidays my dear readers!

This year I made a card inspired by vintage Christmas cards featuring pets, more specifically cats. I found a lot of these and they are just bizarre...

∧ The cats look either extremely sad, or sinister

∧ or mean

∧ cats and champagne, of course!

∧ those were the days that Christmas Wishes were still sincere.

Dogs on show

Totally forgot to mention it here on my blog, but in their quest for new sub-urban owners my dyed show dogs have traveled to Almere and Lelystad this December! They'll be for sale during the Kerst & Carry exhibitions, where you can buy perfect Christmas gifts from young designers and artists. Everything is hand picked by curator Renée Reijnders, so you know there'll be quality stuff. For more information on directions and opening hours visit the Corrosia! website.

 

If you haven't seen any pictures of this dyeing dog craze, have look here or here or here (I tried drawing the Chow Chow that looks like a panda, but it just looked like a panda!).

Do It Yourzelf!

Tomorrow the semi-permanent exhibition ZELF! opens in Villa Zebra, Rotterdam!! The exhibition consists of six art installations that have been created specifically for 3-6 year olds. One of the installations is a little hospital where kids can create new human beings with the (fabric) body parts I made together with Renée Reijnders and Geeske de Graaff. The way the exhibition space is designed is a work of art in itself, so you should really go and take a look! You can either go to the opening at 10.00 and have coffee and cake, or at 17.00 if you fancy a drink and a snack.

Bear necessities

My hair has never been this long. I desperately need a haircut. Because now that it's getting colder outside it's getting all frizzy and out of control. I look like a lion! So last night I was complaining to my boyfriend about this and to make my argument more convincing I let my hair down (in all its frizzy glory) and made some scratching movements with my 'paws' while saying wroaw wroaw. It reminded him of the animation I made him for Valentines day this year. And it still cracked him up! This pleases me immensely because the animation is so crappy. It's really just the bare necessity (pardon the pun) of an animation: moving images. But it did the trick. And apparently still does, even after so many months.

 ("You're so sweet, I could eat you alive!")

The big and bold and beautiful

It's here and I'm in it! Together 365 other artists, photographers, fashion-, product- and graphic designers, illustrators and architects... De Grote Rotterdamse Kunstkalender 2012. It's a big and bold and beautiful thing: A3 sized and nearly 3 kilo's! 

∧ My page! 

I'm happy and proud be featured alongside good  friends: Gees Voorhees ∨

and people I went to school with: like David Elshout ∨

and Pim Palsgraaf ∨

and other people whose work I admire: like Koen Taselaar ∨

and Rufus Ketting aka Homey Universalis ∨ 

 and true heroes: Co Westerik ∨

Just to name a few! So €27.50 will get you 366 pieces of art, which I call a pretty good deal. Order it online here.

I fixed Michael Jackson's nose

Yesss, I have finished sewing and mending the 'body parts' for the exhibition at Villa Zebra! One of my last tasks was to fix Michael Jackson's nose... 

It turned out to be a bit of a MJ-themed day, since I also came across a cover of his Baby Be Mine by Quadron - a blue-eyed R&B duo from Denmark. Their super groovy song Slippin' is on high rotation here at the moment.

 

Quadron - Baby Be Mine. Download it here. 

Quadron - Slippin'. Download it here.

Big Feet

I spent this weekend answering a call for submissions by Pictoplasma - the world's leading festival of contemporary character design. They called for views on Bigfoot/Yeti: "one of the last mysterious entities without a clear depiction in our culture of visual overdose and instant google-search gratification". Great thing is that some of the entries will be presented at an exhibition in Paris in December! I'm not into character design big time, so I do feel out of my league here. But even though I know my chances are slim, I thought I'd give it a shot and I don't care what happens with it because I had a ball doing it anyway!

∧ So Bigfoot is somewhere between man and ape. And bear?
And Chriet Titulaer??

∧ I imagined Bigfoot being very self-conscious about his big, ugly feet. A bit like myself, I  despise my feet. When bare-footed in public I tend to scrunch up my toes, as to hide them..

∧ Or maybe he's very vain when it comes to his big feet and he spends many hours pedicuring them.

∧ Or maybe worse: he has a bit of a foot fetish!

 

∧ Then I thought about how difficult it would be for him to do yoga... 

 

∧ I also played around using different materials. This one is done with pastels. I thought I had some fake fur lying around which I could use, but alas. I wondered what else I could use to create a hairy texture... So I emptied my hairbrush and tried felting it (I even looked online into the iffy world of felting human hair..) and shaping it using some wax and an iron (a tip I picked up from a felting-human-hair-forum). Not unexpectedly this one turned out pretty grosse! ∨

In the end I concluded Bigfoot is most likely to be a very shy creature; that's why we don't see him that often. But luckily for him he can sneak off quickly thanks to his big feet! ∨