A Fantastic Break

We’ve just got back from a family holiday with staying with friends in France (brave and generous taking in all 9 of us at once).

Big skies and beautiful views.

Markets (Bricolage for books!)

Textures of old wood and stone

Not much drawing this year but Mary, who is a sculptor and glass artist, got me a rock and I’ve been doodling in 3D. Its mostly carved, now I need to file and refine it 

We had a fantastic time. It was fun having time to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.

Then when I got back I found this waiting for me from Alison (My pen, brush and pencil) as part of ‘pay it forward’. 

A handmade sketchbook with a cover using her own marbled papers and containing her own screen prints. I can’t wait to start using it. I’m still dithering over what to produce for this swop but getting this book through the post has made me think that I need to focus

Finally finished

I now have an edition of 4 and an Artists Proof copy of "Was she the one who...?".

It needs photographing properly but today it is grey and dull. I’ll wait for sunshine.

I’ve also been working on the next set of letters for ALAW. These have to give a sense of  ‘place’.

When I was small I had several books that had fancy capital letters. They fascinated me. I want to draw on this and create a book that will have the feel of a fairy tale both in the text (creating a fantasy place) and in the presentation. Something unashamedly pretty I think, with gold (or at least gold paint).

So far I've only got experiments and an outline text. I'll need to do 2 letters a week to catch up

I’m not a writer but I’ve found that the constraint of having to use the letters of the alphabet in order and having to produce text that fits into the space has helped.