What little summer is over and now I am looking forward to a cold, crisp winter.

Air Balloon Graveyard

Edinburgh sketches over the fringe festival 2012

Festival time! the Fringe is underway

I have been on leave from work this week so have taken the opportunity to enjoy the festival (that should be festivals, plural). I love Edinburgh where else do you get different festivals overlapping. I went to see 'Cheer Up! It's not the the end of the world...' an exhibition at the Edinburgh Printmakers (part of the Edinburgh Art Festival). It is a very small exhibition but the work is fantastic, a great range of print work of very evocative subjects.

Here is a piece that is in progress inspired by some of the work.

And some Fringe photos - it is actually sunny for once in Edinburgh!

Digital art.

I recently read Nimbus: A Steampunk Novel (Part One) which along with the Mortal Engines series of books has inspired me to draw yet another air balloon at an empty air port.

This second image is of a city ruin after the planet has been abandoned. I don't really know where this idea came from, maybe I have watched too many disaster movies. I was researching etching hence why it is more of a sketch than a finished drawing.

I went to a printing course at the Botanic Gardens yesterday run by a great print artist, Hugh Bryden (http://www.hughbryden.com/). Here are a few examples of what I created. I plan to create more ink prints, photograph and manipulate them in ArtRage.

Ok, so when I started this blog I was hoping to keep it neat and tidy with themed pieces showing the progression of my work but it has turned out so far to be a bit of a mish-mash.

Here is a tin can mosaic I created at school (many many years ago) that my parents found in the loft, only a few bits have fallen off! The amount of time and cut fingers that went into make this piece makes me quite fond of it and reminds me of the creativity that has slowly disappeared over the years that I am trying to claw back now.

I have started trying my hand at digital art and the image below is my first attempt. The image is of the Jenny Haniver from the amazing book series 'Mortal Engines'.

Sketches in the rain

I have spent some time in the rain over the past week sketching. I went to the 'Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh' where a very inquisitive squirrel joined me...

 

 ...and then the 'No Direction Home' festival where I recieved a letter from a stranger.

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Some new work. I have been watching a lot of films recently (mainly SF) and have taken inspiration from them.