thomas campbell

I was very excited to discover the wonderful colourful work of Thomas Campbell. There were several reasons that I was so excited - the colour, the use of free hand embroidery and the print - or so I thought. But watching the film on his website I discovered that marks I had thought were the result of printing with lino had actually been painstakingly (I can be rather impatient!) painted one line at a time. Turns out he is also a film maker and sculpture.

There is an interview with Thomas here and this along with his blog will tell you more about his influences and what he is up to. His creative life was as he puts it "spawned from skateboarding" and music is a big part of his life. Enjoy!

one little bird studio

I found another lovely blog today, one little bird studio. It is the blog of a Mum from the UK living in Greece who does really lovely prints which are available via her Etsy shop.

the owl and the pussy cat

The Owl and the Pussy Cat, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

I am working on some illustrations for the Poem The Owl and the Pussy Cat this week.

wo and wé

Lamp by wo and wé

I came across a website this morning, wo and wé, that is filled with fantastic images. Also it links to their collections site which is all about the "adjustable vintage restored lamp(s)" that they make from "re-assembled from industry components". Have a look!

final image

final image, a photo by only lucy on Flickr.

Have finally finished my Collections project. The folder is all tidy and the final image (preview above) will be printed off first thing. The images are a mixture of drawing, monoprint, lino, painting and photography. (With a little help from Photoshop!) Also, I love that I ended up with some mini collections as each technique produced a selection of images. I even did one image using machine embroidery just to see how it would look.


I am looking forward to seeing it framed and on the wall. It will be between A2 and A1 (the image was put together on an A1 background but will be trimmed. I am really happy too that this piece links aesthetically to my film.


I can't wait to see what everyone else has done too. The little glimpses and chats that I have had were really intriguing and exciting. Private view tomorrow, bringing my girlies along - should be fun! 

where line and colour meet - midwinter pottery

A Terance Conran Chequers plate from Midwinter

My tutor Jonny, very kindly pointed out that the Elizabeth David book cover I said I liked actually comes from a design that Terence Conran did for Midwinter Pottery called Chequers.

Midwinter stylecraft 'Savanna' coffee set, by Jessie Tait

After a bit of research I have discovered that I like Jessie Tait's more abstract and geometric patterns too. And also the amazing shade of yellow that reoccurs in work of the same era.

Hay Festival

Sorry I have not posted on here in a while. I have had the best (if slightly crazy) 10 days working at the Hay Festival, as well as having a fab time with family and friends and keeping my college work ticking over. I did manage to spend a bit of time in the college workshops, so will have some prints to show you soon.

But I just wanted to tell you about some of the amazing experiences I have had over the past 10 days.

First, I got to see the actual Oscar won by The Lost Thing which was based on the book by Shaun Tan, who I happened to write about for college. The Passion Pictures producer Andrew Ruhemann was discussing the 2011 Oscar-winning short The Lost Thing and talking about working with Alexander ‘Simples’ Orlov and the Gorillaz, amongst others. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the event, and was more excited about spotting The lost Thing dvd than the Oscar, but never mind!

One of Hannah's books

I would like to say a big thank you to the lovely author/illustrator Hannah Shaw, Hay Fever’s official illustrator for 2011, who met me for a cup of tea and a chat. She was so easy to talk to and gave me some really valuable tips and advice about how to make a living as an illustrator. Thank you Hannah!

Next was a talk by the wonderful Judith Kerr, who is possibly best known for Mog and The Tiger Who Came to Tea. She told us about her life, from her birth in Germany in 1923, through her influences and experiences, to her latest book My Henry. It felt like a real privilege to have the opportunity to listen to her and to here her read My Henry to us. 

Friday was Kate Wilson, the managing director of Nosy Crow. As described on their website - Nosy Crow are "a new, independent company, publishing children’s books and apps" who "publish high-quality, commercial fiction and non-fiction books for children aged from 0 to 14 from both well-known authors and illustrators and new talent". One of their illustrators is Axel Scheffler, and it was Kate Wilson who suggested him as the illustrator for Julia Donaldson’s first picture book text, A Squash and a Squeeze. This was the start of a hugely successful partnership: their bestselling modern classic, The Gruffalo, has sold over three-and-a-half million copies worldwide.

Nosy Crow also "make innovative, multimedia, highly interactive apps for tablets, smart phones and other touchscreen devices. These apps are not existing books squashed onto phones, but instead are specially created to take advantage of the devices to tell stories and provide information to children in new and engaging ways. The talk was about whether Appa are the new picture books. It was really worth going to, and Kate has been kind enough to summarise her opinions and put some useful links on their website if you want to find out more. 


I was attending as both a mother and an illustration student. As a mother it was really interesting to hear Kate's arguments for allowing children to interact with technology in a constructive way. Her argument that they will choose to engage anyway and the benefits of providing a constructive interface I found very compelling. As an illustration student, it has certainly given me food for thought about what I choose to investigate whilst at college, and potential future directions for my work.

We are just dashing out now as it is the last day of the Hay Festival  and we have tickets to see Viv Schwarz and Lynne Chapman. Can't wait!