When I read myth, I thought of their mythical folk music, "The books that I keep by my bag are full of your stories.. That I drew up from a little dream of mine, a little nightmare of yours."
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Myth.
I have been listening to a lot of Of Monsters and Men lately and they have been perfect to listen to whilst illustrating this piece.
When I read myth, I thought of their mythical folk music, "The books that I keep by my bag are full of your stories.. That I drew up from a little dream of mine, a little nightmare of yours."
When I read myth, I thought of their mythical folk music, "The books that I keep by my bag are full of your stories.. That I drew up from a little dream of mine, a little nightmare of yours."
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Bonjour Belgium!
A New Years Resolution of mine is to travel and visit more places. Its going very well so far! I just got back from a lovely break in Belgium last week. Its a very interesting place to visit with lots to do and see (and drink and eat).
The Grand-Place was top of the list and since our hotel was right across the road, I got to see it everyday. Each building as exquisite as the next, one of the buildings tipped with gold.. like something from a painting.
The city is steeped in history and tradition. It is also the birthplace of surrealist painter René Magritte, whose museum we visited. Waffles (Gaufres) are a speciality there and they are so good, the smell of waffles is the first thing that hits you the minute you arrive in Brussels with people eating waffles on the street and drinking champagne, as you do. Chocolatiers, patisseries and friteries are everywhere as well as churros, a sweet strip of fried dough dusted with sugar or cinnamon.
They also do a huge selection of beers a local speciality is "Lapin à la Kriek" which is rabbit marinated in kriek, a cherry beer. There was no way I could eat a rabbit but i did try the cherry Kriek which was particularly delicious.
I could chat about Belgium all day so I'll let the photos do the talking ;)
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| View from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium |
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| The Grand Place |
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| Grand Place |
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| A man selling his paintings in the centre of the Grand Place |
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| A Christmas crib, luckily we arrived just before they started taking down Christmas decorations and lights |
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| Mannekin Pis (small weeing boy) statue, much smaller then you think but quite the famous statue in Brussels |
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| In the centre of Brussels |
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| One thing that struck me about Belgium was the amazing window displays, lots of thought and detail in each one. This is a famous Belgian chocolate shop. |
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| Belgium also famous for its intricate lace |
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| Atomium, a must see. Nine 'atoms' of Belgian design |
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| Elizabeth Taylor with a model of the Atomium in 1958 |
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| Mini Europe in BruPark, such a fun time. A park with models of some of the major landmarks and cities in Europe |
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| A model of Venice at Mini Europe |
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| Clogs of Holland |
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| Grand Place at night, there was a light show every night with thousands of people coming together watching the changing colours and lights of the buildings it really is amazing to watch! |
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| Typical Souvenir shop in Brussels just down the road |
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| Tea and Belgian chocolate at Le Roy D'Espagne |
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| On a Sightseeing tour |
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| Bruges one of the most beautiful cities I have seen, we had to get a train to Knokke-Blankenberge to get there (This was fun to say haha!) |
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| Bruges canal |
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| Basilica of the Holy Blood, this was a bit special as we got blessed and placed our hand on the Relic of the Precious Blood (the basilica is best known as the repository of a venerated phial said to contain a cloth with blood of Jesus Christ, brought to the city by Thierry of Alsace after the 12th century Second Crusade) |
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| A beautiful church in Bruges |
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| Belgian chocolate |
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| Belgian tapestry window display |
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| The Museum of the City of Brussels, a model of the country of Belgium, in the background a painting of the Grand-Place when it burned down, and was then rebuilt |
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| The many costumes that the Mannekin Pis was sent by different countries, displayed in the Brussels City Museum. |
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| A stain glass window at the museum |
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Monument of Albert I King of Belgium at Kunstberg (just before the Fine Arts Museums)
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| At Rene Magritte Museum, I wasn't allowed take photos in here and the security guys were bigger then me so I didnt chance it. The museum displays a collection of his painting and personal photos and stories about himself collected and put together by his friend Camille Goemans. |
So have you ever been to Belgium? Would you like to visit there? Any interesting new years resolutions?
xoxo
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Ocean!
Tsimtsum is the ship from Life of Pi where the boy Pi finds himself shipwrecked along with an orangutan, a spotted hyena and the Bengal tiger, Richard Parker and a lame zebra.
Still have to go and see the film. Looks amazing.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Review of the year!
Here's a quick review of my 2012. Happy New Year you lovely lot!
In January. I won ad space on Illustration rally as part of their fashion rally, the Red Rock competition. I also did an illustration for Secret 7" in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. My submission for Secret 7'' Florence and the Machine's "Only if for a Night" inspired. I started a new job. My friend came to visit and we did lots of fun, touristy things around Dublin including drinking Guinness, visiting the oldest pub in Ireland, live music sessions, shopping in Grafton street, visiting Temple Bar. Yes! A very busy month!
Pretty much a workaholic March, nothing too exciting going on. Much of this month was spent working, lusting over clothes I can't afford and dreaming of Summer.
April gave me the chance to do some illustration in my spare time. My work was published in Peculiar Bliss magazine. I even had time to do an illo for Amelia's magazine, a Cate Le Bon review.
I went to a few gigs in May, one of them being Keep Shelly in Athens gig, an electronica-downtempo band from Athens. I did an illustration you can see here inspired by the song Our Own Dream. With this illustration I experimented using outline and shadows. I did some illos for illustration friday, like this 'Hitched' one above. There's a theme set out every Friday and you have a week to do it, its really quite fun.
In June my illustration was published in New Empress magazine. I was commissioned by the editor Helen to illustrate an image to accompany a review of the film Angst, a 1983 horror film. Bit out of my comfort zone, the theme was so different from what I usually do which was a challenge but great fun to do. I tried to incorporate flashbacks from the film, plus elements and little details while still keeping with my own style. I do love a challenge! You can read about it here.
For July, I was commissioned by a new mag, Commas&Colons to do a series of illustrations for their first issue. Julys' illustration for the first issue accompanied a short story by Sara Hirsch called Rubber Dust.. about a girl who works in a stationary shop.
August. My illustration accompanying The New Animal by Scott Morris was published for Comma & colons magazine. I was published in JAPAN! Exciting was not the word. I was contacted by an art publishing company in Tokyo a few months previously to see if I'd like to have my illustrations published in their new book. It was a great honour to be asked and to have my work featured in this book. One of the highlights of the year. See more of my work is Art Box here.
Then I also took a little trip to Bristol. Such a beautiful city. The buildings are beautiful and there are random pieces of street art around every corner. We also sampled some local cider... as you do. Busy excellent sunny weekend. I booked a Summer holiday when I got back. My final illo for Commas & Colons "The Bird Stretches Out Its Wings And Becomes Beautiful" was published online.
September - was like woah it's September. Meet Kit! When not drawing crazy cat ladies I was working on a family portrait commission which took most my time. And it was my birthday month. My illustration was used on the Commas & Colons contribution page for illustrators.
October was holiday month. When not enjoying the sun, reading books and general holiday-ness, I spent time on a gift commission.
In November gift commission unveiled. Painting, illustrating, printing, running around like a headless chicken and getting card stockists. Yes!! I have stockists for my illustration (...to be continued in the new year :)
December - end of the year! Seen the XX live, amazing did this little illo of them. Lots of social occasions you know, the circus and the likes, winning competitions, going to crafts fairs, raiding a food fair and getting inked up (nice way to end the year).
Wishing you all the very best for 2013. Hope it's a great one for you all xoxo
In January. I won ad space on Illustration rally as part of their fashion rally, the Red Rock competition. I also did an illustration for Secret 7" in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. My submission for Secret 7'' Florence and the Machine's "Only if for a Night" inspired. I started a new job. My friend came to visit and we did lots of fun, touristy things around Dublin including drinking Guinness, visiting the oldest pub in Ireland, live music sessions, shopping in Grafton street, visiting Temple Bar. Yes! A very busy month!
My ad space on Illustration rally went live in February. Did some valentine card designs for Tigerprint competition and they were featured over at Illustration rally.
Pretty much a workaholic March, nothing too exciting going on. Much of this month was spent working, lusting over clothes I can't afford and dreaming of Summer.
April gave me the chance to do some illustration in my spare time. My work was published in Peculiar Bliss magazine. I even had time to do an illo for Amelia's magazine, a Cate Le Bon review.
I went to a few gigs in May, one of them being Keep Shelly in Athens gig, an electronica-downtempo band from Athens. I did an illustration you can see here inspired by the song Our Own Dream. With this illustration I experimented using outline and shadows. I did some illos for illustration friday, like this 'Hitched' one above. There's a theme set out every Friday and you have a week to do it, its really quite fun.
In June my illustration was published in New Empress magazine. I was commissioned by the editor Helen to illustrate an image to accompany a review of the film Angst, a 1983 horror film. Bit out of my comfort zone, the theme was so different from what I usually do which was a challenge but great fun to do. I tried to incorporate flashbacks from the film, plus elements and little details while still keeping with my own style. I do love a challenge! You can read about it here.
For July, I was commissioned by a new mag, Commas&Colons to do a series of illustrations for their first issue. Julys' illustration for the first issue accompanied a short story by Sara Hirsch called Rubber Dust.. about a girl who works in a stationary shop.
August. My illustration accompanying The New Animal by Scott Morris was published for Comma & colons magazine. I was published in JAPAN! Exciting was not the word. I was contacted by an art publishing company in Tokyo a few months previously to see if I'd like to have my illustrations published in their new book. It was a great honour to be asked and to have my work featured in this book. One of the highlights of the year. See more of my work is Art Box here.
Then I also took a little trip to Bristol. Such a beautiful city. The buildings are beautiful and there are random pieces of street art around every corner. We also sampled some local cider... as you do. Busy excellent sunny weekend. I booked a Summer holiday when I got back. My final illo for Commas & Colons "The Bird Stretches Out Its Wings And Becomes Beautiful" was published online.
September - was like woah it's September. Meet Kit! When not drawing crazy cat ladies I was working on a family portrait commission which took most my time. And it was my birthday month. My illustration was used on the Commas & Colons contribution page for illustrators.
October was holiday month. When not enjoying the sun, reading books and general holiday-ness, I spent time on a gift commission.
In November gift commission unveiled. Painting, illustrating, printing, running around like a headless chicken and getting card stockists. Yes!! I have stockists for my illustration (...to be continued in the new year :)
December - end of the year! Seen the XX live, amazing did this little illo of them. Lots of social occasions you know, the circus and the likes, winning competitions, going to crafts fairs, raiding a food fair and getting inked up (nice way to end the year).
Wishing you all the very best for 2013. Hope it's a great one for you all xoxo
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Stretch...
Illustrated using collage and photo montage.
From a series of illustrations for the book 'The Life of Pi' by Yann Martel. You can see the series here (if you scroll to the 7th project down).
xoxo
Edit: See project below :)
From a series of illustrations for the book 'The Life of Pi' by Yann Martel. You can see the series here (if you scroll to the 7th project down).
Edit: See project below :)
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