A page from my sketchbook…Jill brought me a new year present of a bag of doll limbs she found strewn all over the road. I’ll definitely make them into something one day.
Doll limbs and forks
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Time for tea
This is a card design (painted with real tea!) by me for the charity Contact the Elderly. Volunteers host tea parties for isolated older people and several designers were invited to produce thankyou cards for the volunteers. They have now been printed and will be on sale through the charity later in the year.
Reigate residency
I’ve just finished a residency at Reigate Sixth Form College, working with a group of BTEC students on an animal-inspired theme. I was really pleased with the work they produced – one student even got a commission from the local natural history museum we visited for observational drawing at the start of the project.
Here are some of the end results, ranging from a set of cards to an installation of giant owl eyes.
Multicultural mural in New Malden
This week I’ve been working on a four panel mural with three classes of Year 4 children at Burlington Junior School in New Malden. Each child painted a bird or leaf then I wrote welcome in seven different languages. The panels will be put up outside the main entrance to the school.
Sutton House show opens
My new show with my sister Alison, ‘Printed Matter’, is now open at Sutton House, Hackney – the oldest house in East London & very interesting to visit.
‘Printed Matter’ runs from now until 21st December and then from 4th Feb – 1st March 2009. Opening hours are Thurs-Sun, 12.30-4pm.
Printed Matter at Sutton House, Hackney
I have been getting work ready for a new show at Sutton House in Hackney, opening at the end of the week.
Wandle Lantern Festival
Nearly 100 lanterns floated down the Wandle at dusk in Morden Hall Park as a celebration of the term’s work with the School Arts Partntership between Wimbledon Chase Primary, Cricket Green School in Mitcham and the National Trust. The weather was perfect, cold and clear, and in the end the filming of the new Stephen Poliakoff drama at the Snuff Mill didn’t interfere too much, though it was funny to see actors in 1940s clothing wandering about. Delicious pumpkin soup made by the students at Cricket Green warmed everyone up afterwards. Thanks to Erica, John and Zigi for their invaluable help getting the lanterns out of the water again at the end, and to Nick for these photos, and especially to all the children who took part for making such beautiful lanterns.
Collage at the Snuff Mill
This week I have been with Y8 and 9 children from Cricket Green School in Mitcham and Y4 classes from Wimbledon Chase Primary. This is the first stage of the lanterns project – the children made wax rubbings from features of the Snuff Mill and the park – from fencing, manhole covers, leaves, the grind stones – even the back of a TV set and each other’s shoes. Then they tore and cut up the paper to make images inspired by the park – the bridges, waterwheel, minibeasts and all the other things they have seen on their visits. The results look very impressive and will inform the children’s designs for their lanterns next week. I love the 3-D collage, with a walk-though entrance to the park and stand-up buildings and signage, and the beautiful detailed brickwork in the second one.
Winsor and Newton factory tour
I have just been on a tour of the marvellous Winsor and Newton factory in Harrow. Wearing a white coat and ear protectors, you get to see most of the processes involved in making paint, from the big vats of pigment and the huge rollers that process it until it is the right consistency, to the various methods used to test for viscosity, the machine that extrudes great lengths of solid watercolour. The highlight is the Rose Madder room, where they make pigment the same way they have been using for 200 years – the madder roots are crushed and mixed with some secret substances, left to mature in a jumbo oak barrel, then the mixture is left in a linen hammock for several weeks – the sight of rows of pink tinged hammocks with a very slow quiet dripping beneath them is very beautiful. Finally visitors can try out the paints – transparent yellow and blood-like perylene marroon are my favourites.
Floating lantern project
On a dark and drizzly bonfire night I tested the prototype floating lanterns in the river Wandle at Morden Hall Park – it was a very strange feeling wading in the river at night without being able to see my legs. The lanterns floated beautifully and drifted downstream at a stately pace, to be caught by Melati at the White Bridge.
