Natsko Seki

I have often passed the image above as I 'escalate' out of Brixton station.  I like it.  Finally today I searched the name of the artist, Natsko Seki, and found the website.  I like that too.  I like the sense of collage and magazine and watercolour, and digital reworking too.  So far, I've found three differences below ...

Mouse Mischief

A little bit of silliness may have snuck into this blog ...

As Liam believes he sees mice in our kitchen about once a week, I thought I'd bring some 'real' mice into the house as a birthday surprise ...

A couple carved from soap, one stitched from
jersey fabric, a gathering of origami mice and a few suar and chocolate mice for good measure.

He said he'd never felt so pleased to see mice.

Since then, I saw my first mouse.

Orleans House Gallery Art Clubs Colouring Book

Last term I realised a project with the Orleans House Art Clubs that had been in my mind for some time. I asked all five art clubs, 75 children aged between 5 and 15, to contribute line drawings of the Gallery and its surrounds, along with the creatures real and imagined who might live there.

I compiled elements of all their work into a 16 page colouring book which they took home for Christmas.

Here, you see a page from the animals spread and another from the Gallery buildings and features spread.  Equally appealing was to spend a few hours when I'd finished, colouring it in on photoshop!

Kusadama Ball

I spent December making Kusadama balls from old envelopes and maps.  Very time consuming.  Very, in my opinion, effective!

Toilet Rolls, Casette Tape, Knitting Needles, Plaster

Some time ago I shared an early stage in my experiments with toilet roll tubes and plaster. Here follows a development. I found myself knitting from cassette tape, an intriguing material to work with - it feels incredibly expensive in texture and polish!

Toilet Roll Diary

One week's visual diary ... drawn onto toilet roll tubes.

Collograph Prints

November brought the arrival of Scissors Paper Cloth, my new art group for adults, and we began with an exploration of collograph printing techniques.
I was blown away by some of the outcomes, and by the enthusiasm and commitment of the participants, as they braved the risks of experimenting with materials.


And almost every time, the risks paid off!Sadly, I can't find photos of all the work, but everybody had something I would have loved to share here.These prints, top to bottom, are by Ann, Carole, Anita and Christine.

Wendy Horler

As I finished writing my last entry and came to putting in the links, I made the joyful discovery that my friend Wendy has a new website.

And as I looked through images of lots of familiar work, I realised again how brilliantly her experimental, playful approach are infused all the way through with her sense of humour.  A few of my favourites ...

I love this picture, even more so because it's simply called 'Weird Flower'!

Wendy is, in my opinion, a 3d artist at heart.  It's tricky to choose a favourite, but we really overlap when it comes to our love of playing with ways to use the things we stumble across, whether scraps of metal or leaves from the garden.

This came from a dream, I think, one of the two paintings on display at Discerning Eye.