quick brown fox

The fox
Last night I doodled a fox. He will most likely go through many permutations to become more stylised in readiness for my linocutting debut (oh, oh! With trees!!!). But ordering the materials has put me in a mild creative panic working through some permutations of my own. I'm swerving between excitement (yay! new ways of working, tactile, textures, strong, bold, linear!) and self-doubt (I won't know what I'm doing, have terrible ideas and make a hideous mess of them anyway!) then back to excitement (I get to try printmaking again!). Ah, the joy.

The cat
Shortly after, a rare midnight moment when crazy, fierce, independent Wilson allowed himself, in a momentary lapse of his psychotic personality, to be picked up and snuggled on my lap. Normally content only to sit near me or follow me around, dog-like (but don't touch!) he went into a sort of reverie, staring off into space with his big, green eyes and staying perfectly still while I stroked the soft fur under his chin. 

This blissful state lasted for oooh, at least five minutes, before he snapped out of it, looked up and tried to bite me quite viciously on the nose.

More art, more cats, and a lot less whinging at my latest fabulous blog discovery here.

historical

A blast from the past, really and truly, found amongst my old sketches during a blitz this afternoon. It's Dunnottar Castle, just outside my hometown and famous for all sorts of worthy historical reasons, but also as the setting for Mel Gibson's Hamlet - my sister served Franco Zeffirelli at a local restaurant during filming. I can remember doing this one as part of a project in eeek! - 1995! I can't decide if I like it or not. There's something slightly unnerving about looking at your work years later, as if it might possibly have been done by someone else entirely. Which in a way I guess it was. I remember doing another version of the castle too, in watercolour only... I must try and rake it out.

8th Feb Update: Ahem, as proof I am absolutely NOT the best judge of my own work - I just sold my first print on Etsy (whoop!) and it was this one!

monochromatic

"On the 3rd of December 2010, Aberdeen City Council will meet to discuss proposals which will see music tuition in Aberdeen either privatised or terminated. Both options would be hugely damaging to music education in the city. Pupils who have Council instruments will be forced to return them and those wishing to carry on learning an instrument will have to pay for private tuition and the costs of purchasing their own instrument – an option not available to many. In addition the bands and orchestras run in schools and by the Council Music Centre will cease to exist."

And so it begins. The truly scary part is the philistines at Aberdeen City Council are not alone. They're not the first local authority to view the arts as a soft target nor will they be the last. Neither are the cuts to the arts restricted to tuition in schools (despite the fact that my guess is that while these cuts might save a ridiculously paltry amount of money in the short term, long term they'll cost - unemployed teachers, the widening gap in educational attainment between those from different economic backgrounds and all that comes along with it for starters), these come on top of the cuts to culture in general. Yup, let's ignore the fact the cultural industries are of enormous value to the economy and play a vital role in regenerating communities, while wholeheartedly rejecting the importance of culture in a civilised society.

I sketched my wee boy the other day as he drew a complex picture 'game' of pirates, complete with treasure map - totally lost in concentration as he added details of palm trees, sharks, treasure chests, erupting volcanoes and men overboard. His imagination is amazing and I'd like to think that's a positive talent his school would love to be able to recognise, nurture and encourage. But depressingly it appears we're now living in a society that not only doesn't value creativity and the arts, but in fact actively sabotages them and/or is intent on retaining culture only for the elite, so perhaps not. As someone fabulously said - the arts add colour to our lives. It really is that black and white and that's why these cuts are so totally, utterly tragic.

But enough with the enforced drabness, leave me a comment with your views, sign the petition http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40692.html or protest any other way you see fit.

And purely as an exercise in adding colour I'll be putting all posters' names in a hat and giving away a mounted Echo the Bat print come the festivities/revolution.

howling snarling prowling snapping

Ha, can you tell what kind of mood I am in today?!

This friendly little chap has been prowling in my head for weeks and tonight he finally got let loose...

These are the rough sketches, the final work will be... well, probably a little more disturbing. I have an idea to use a quote I am in love with, it starts "just around the corner...". But I will see how it develops.

lettuce start...

And so, work has begun on my current project - sketches and visuals above. I won't reveal much about the plot for now - mainly because I'm still trying to pin down the idea that's in my head... At the moment I have the whole book finished (in my mind!), but when I try to catch it and see it in more detail it kind of flits away from me. Still, I'm persevering; listening to Beirut and attempting to bring it to life.