Daily Sketch 09/04/2013 Me Again

Daily Sketch 31/03/2013 Easter Sunday

Daily Sketch 26/02/2013 Groyne

Daily Sketch 24/02/2013 Starfish

Daily Sketch 21/02/2013 Stove

Daily Sketch 20/02/2013 Chimneys & Branches

Daily Sketch 17/02/2013 Utensils

Daily Sketch 23/01/2013 A-Z of Design

A real lucky find in Waterstones the other day was this little book 'The A to Z of Design' by Stephen Bayley & Terence Conran.

Daily Sketch 19/01/2013 - Tea Towel

Just a pattern today, more or less. We use one of these everyday but rarely appreciate the design.

Steal Like An Artist

I have been the lucky recipient of a marvellous little book entitled 'Steal Like an Artist' by Austin Kleon, a gift from my good friend and erstwhile fellow musician/artist/blogger Peter and have been itching to share some of the brilliant ideas and advice contained within. If you're a creative type (and maybe if even not ) I think you will do well to get hold of a copy, as this is the type of 'dip in and out' reference book that could become a very firm friend. Why? Well here are the ten titles of each chapter...
1) Steal like an artist. 2) Don't wait until you know who you are to get started. 3) Write the book you want to read. 4) Use your hands. 5) Side projects and hobbies are important 6) The secret: do good work and share it with people. 7) Geography is no longer our master. 8) Be nice. (the world is a small town.) 9) Be boring. (it's the only way to get work done.) 10) Creativity is subtraction.
That surely must have your appetite whetted. This little book is full of wisdom gathered from creative people from all walks of life ie:- "Be regularand orderly in your life so that you can be violent and original in your work" - Gustave Flaubert "We don't know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we do not get them from our laptops." - John Cleese and this one I love; "In the digital age, don't forget to use your digits!" - Lynda Barry. You get the flavour, I'm finding it very inspiring already and I strongly recommend it to you if like me you often find yourself in a creative cul-de-sac, or worse still up a certain creek... it may just unlock your creativity. Thanks again banksyboy for introducing me to this little gem.

A Woodcut Print For St Valentines'

Here's a very simple two colour design woodblock print I made a couple of years ago for the tartist for St. Valentines' Day. It's actually an MDF print to be precise which I find quite easy to carve but unfortunately MDF being a really soft material doesn't tolerate too many impressions before it breaks up. I used a block for each colour with this one, rather than my preferred reduction method and was kind of taken with the loose registration between the two colours.

In Praise of 'Dymo' Tape

Would you believe it, human interface design at the Artcafé ?!. An interesting and pithy piece on theartist's brother & sister in law's blog 'You May Also Like' Who'd would have thought that 'Dymo' tape could be so fascinating?