There’s a fab shop in Brighton called Blackout, which sells all manner of brightly-coloured stuff from around the world. Don’t visit if you’re a minimalist! They’ve been running workshops over Easter and my daughter and I popped in with a friend to do their Marimekko-inspired bird collage session (possibly a string of words you wouldContinue reading “Bonus birdies”
Category Archives: Collage
What happens when your New Year’s resolution is “Draw More”?
My new year’s resolution for 2014 was a fairly complex one, but in essence it boiled down to two words: draw more. …and it has felt like I’ve drawn a lot this year. Not as much as someone who doesn’t have a day-job and a child, of course, but a steady stream of stuff nonetheless.Continue reading “What happens when your New Year’s resolution is “Draw More”?”
Fly Across London
I’m not normally the type to squeak deadlines – you might have noticed that I had my Cape/Comica/Observer entry in weeks before the closing date. And then what happened? I started talking to friends about how little chance I felt I had of winning, and one of them suggested hedging my bets a bit byContinue reading “Fly Across London”
Crows flying over the island. In vibrant technicolour.
All things colour are killing me at the moment. This looks much more muted in real life, but on my monitor right now, it’s looking almost garish. Oh well, I’m just trying to concentrate on those birds, and whether they distract too much from the landscape – which I’m still perfectly happy with… IN REALContinue reading “Crows flying over the island. In vibrant technicolour.”
Commission via Facebook: illustration the virtual way
A couple of months ago, I was asked to make a portrait that a friend could give her husband for their wedding anniversary. It’s been a secret ever since then, but the anniversary was today and I have been given explicit permission to blog about it. Phew! Virtual friends Leo is a little boy. I’ve followedContinue reading “Commission via Facebook: illustration the virtual way”
Work in progress – more aerial views
It’s such a funny thing. Or perhaps I should call it a highly irritating, baffling thing. You can plug away for weeks on a picture, and not be sure that it’s working at all. Then one day, you can start a new one, and feel absolutely confident that it’s heading in the right direction fromContinue reading “Work in progress – more aerial views”
Over egging the pudding, flogging a dead horse, etc
I haven’t shared any collages with you recently. There’s a reason for that, and it isn’t that I haven’t been making any. No, I’m kind of stuck on one theme that keeps going down dead ends. With my previous collages, the stamp paddyfields, forest and valley, I had an excited feeling almost right away –Continue reading “Over egging the pudding, flogging a dead horse, etc”
Stamp forest
This is another of my aerial view collages – click the image to see it bigger. Birds fly over a forest at twilight, taking messages to a loved one. Between the trees are little houses and lakes; on some of the lakes are boats. This one is almost entirely composed of stamps; the sea andContinue reading “Stamp forest”
Green Shield stamps paddyfields
In the last few days, I’ve put the finishing touches to a complex collage of paddy fields. It’s made of tickets and postage stamps (many contributed by kind friends) and maps (including one I used to navigate around Japan, before the advent of smartphones in my life). These elements symbolise travelling over great distances. IContinue reading “Green Shield stamps paddyfields”
Airmail bird
Here’s a little collage bird I made while I was at my illustration class last night. Next week is the last session. We’re going to the pub, so I guess my learning has come to an end. At least, the kind of learning you do in a class. One of the tutor’s maxims was thatContinue reading “Airmail bird”
Trying things out
Here is a small bird I made from some Brighton bus tickets. We’re all switching to pre-loaded cards and mobile phone tickets these days, so it’s not as easy as it used to be to get hold of paper bus tickets. It’s funny to think that maybe in a couple of years’ time, this pictureContinue reading “Trying things out”
Birds of tickets and stamps
Birdy on the left is a bit too unkempt, but I like the Green Shield stamps fella. Remember Green Shield stamps? (You really do need to click to see this one bigger). This one’s feathers are made of (scans of) old bus tickets.
More magpies
My next task is to try and make my magpie more appealing. I’m going to try giving him a few more human characteristics… let’s see how that goes, eh. Wish me luck.
Landscape with stamps
I am having *SO MUCH FUN* drawing birds’ eye view landscapes and playing about with ideas. Above (click to see larger) is as far as I’ve got with the latest one, actually physically on paper. The plan is to collage some stamps onto it – the insomniac eBay shopping I mentioned in my last postContinue reading “Landscape with stamps”
Birds
After the first week of the course, I went away and started thinking and drawing and thinking some more. I’ve had this one idea for a children’s picture book for ages (along with many others), and now seems like a really good time to explore it. It’s a funny thing: the course itself? It’s justContinue reading “Birds”
Myfanwy Tristram 