New Year New Birds

The Christmas/New Year period has been a bit hectic for me, with commissions to finish, commissions to start and work to get ready for exhibitions, so somehow this is my first post in a while.

With all this new work to create it was time to find some new birds.  I found this book tucked away on one of my shelves that I had totally forgotten about.

 It was published in 1965 and is full of beautiful paintings of British native birds.  So expect a lot of work inspired by this over the next few months.  I was wondering about cutting some of my favourite pictures out of the book and framing them up.

Here are some of my favourites today.

Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Whitethroat

Jay - I had a pair of these in my garden when it was snowy

Kingfisher

lapwing

Mexican Bird

I didn't buy so much when I was in Mexico, but I did by this chap from the flea market, I just couldn't resist and it was only 50 pesos (about £2.50).  I am getting him framed up along with my other bird prints and start a wall of birds, not that I am obsessed or anything!

Settle

I recently went to this lovely pop up shop Settle, its open until 7 December (should have blogged about this earlier).  I discovered the work of Helen Minns there.

Here are some cards I bought from her. I love her use of texture, pattern and colour and she uses birds, so what's not to like!

Sketch books

I was tidying out one of my cupboards recently and came across some old sketch books. 

They were from my last year at college.  Looking at them takes me straight back to that time, they are very raw and full of passion and energy and very full of angst. I'm not sure how I found the time to be so full of angst, it must have been very tiring. 

I do like the sense of freedom within the sketch books, it makes me want to get my paint brushes and glue out and make some collages.  I'll post them when I have had a chance to do some, it will be interesting to compare them with the pieces I used to make.

Artists who inspire me - louise Bourgeois

I went to see the Louise Bourgeois fabric drawing exhibition at the new Hauser and Wirth space in London.  If you have an opportunity to go, do it, it was the most inspiring show that I have seen in a long time, the works were so beautiful.  The works were made between 2002 - 2008, I hope that I am able to be so creative at that time in my life, to still have the hunger to make work and to continue to experiment.

The pieces are all untitled.  You can find further information on the Hauser & Wirth  website (the images come from there).  There is also a book that is definitely on my Christmas wish list.

Mexican Inspiration 2

I guess I have a thing about markets as the 2 places I got most excited about whilst in Mexico where the flea market, see previous post, and La Merced (the main market in Mexico City).  It was a warren of a place easy to get lost in, I could have spent hours there just wandering soaking in the atmosphere.

Mexican Inspiration

Its been a long time coming but I am finally getting round to a blog post.

My trip to Mexico was amazing (though feels like an age ago now).  Here are some photos I took at the flea market.  The way stall holders arranged their goods was so beautiful and must have taken some time, it seemed a shame to buy something and spoil the arrangement.

You can see more of my Mexican pictures here.