I am really enjoying developing the Bird Girl theme, playing about with ideas, images and techniques. I particularly like these first two images which seem to have the folk art feel which appeals most to me. I scanned and coloured the images in Photoshop, but have also been hand colouring (have I mentioned I love colouring in?) This sleeping woman below worked best in black and white I think, but I have been exploring how I might use the gradient tool in photoshop in my illustrations. The gradiated colour adds to the 'Book of Kells' feel, which a couple of Irish relatives have commented on. The two below please me least. Both have more of a cartoon feel to them and I don't think I got the patterning or the colour right on them. Interestingly, the bottom image was drawn after I began looking at bird anatomy and markings and I found myself quite stifled as I attempted to get things right. I think my next step will be to continue with my observational drawings of birds, but not try to include them into a bird girl illustration at the moment.

Who is she? I think she is probably me.

 

I am bird girl, and bird girls can fly.

 

I realised I had neglected to post the outcome of my top secret art mission! During early July I worked with two small groups of year 9 pupils at Accrington Academy to design and create three circus posters for three special occasions - the head teacher's retirement, the school's contribution to the Schools of Creativity Exhibition at the Festival of Britain and the end of their six year partnership with Jez Dolan, their Creative Partnerships Creative Agent.

The staff held a secret farewell circus on the last day of term, hence the top secret nature and the circus theme (in case you were wondering).

The posters were initially inspired by the work of Ricardo Cavolo and his poster for Cirque du Soleil's Safe Walls project with additional inspiration from pupil research into the history and character of circus posters through the years and across the globe.

It is an unusual bargaining tool, but I did it - I painted Cedars Infant School a Storyteller's Chair. I don't think it will work. I think the end of the Creative Partnerships funding might be too big a barrier to overcome, but it's worth a try.

It's not quite finished yet, another hour should do it. Another hour of yr 2 pupils telling me that I am a brilliant artist and saying 'Wow, that is beeootiful Miss', 'That's like something you would buy in a market' and 'It's brilliant...... it's very symetrical'.

I might have a new passion. I reckon it must be a passion because I was up before 8 o'clock on a Bank Holiday Monday morning making it happen, and it's all down to the power of digital social media.

I would have been happy imagining that this photo was the album cover I would never have, but facebook friends requested insisted that the album become reality (sort of).

It took me ages to get to sleep last night. I was imagining the possibilities - the props, genres, costumes and album titles and, quite frankly, you only have yourselves to blame.

I have a concept album. Does that mean I am a conceptual artist?

 

Like many people I heard yesterday about jackdrawsanything.com, a fundraising site set up by a six year old boy (with help from his family) to raise money for the Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh. He is a boy who loves to draw and decided to use his passion and talent for drawing to raise money for the hospital where his little brother has spent a lot of time. If you donate to the hospital and make a request, he will draw ANYTHING for you.

There are so many things I love about this story

• The idea - what a way to raise money and how wonderful that the concept came from a six year old
• The love and care of a child who wants to do something positive for other children
• The support he has had from his family who have responded creatively and with equal love to their child's idea
• The way digital social media has helped to reach so many people - actually I mean how the people who use digital social media have engaged so positively with the idea and shared the links and, I suppose, the positive energy started by a six year old
• That Jack's initial estimate of raising £1,000,000 may still be a long, long way off, but they have repeatedly had to revise their targets having broken through each one this week. Currently they are at about £5,000 with a target of £10,000

I was going to ask Jack to draw a picture of our cat Ginge, sitting in the sunshine in a lovely garden, but remembered how difficult it can be when I have lots of drawings I have to do for other people. I love drawing and the fact that people are interested in my drawings, but somehow the pressure can become too much and I get stuck. Instead I decided to do a drawing for Jack of him and his imagination as he drew our cat, in the sunshine in a lovely garden. I'll still send them some money and it will be worth every penny. I had no intention of drawing yesterday, and had it not been for Jack I would have sat in front of the telly. Instead I had great fun drawing Jackdrawsanything and had a bit of a spring in my step after I had sent it to him yesterday. Thanks Jack!

The response he has had is huge and he is going to struggle to keep up with his orders, but his family are looking after him and have extended the estimated time from order to delivery to make sure he keeps happy, well and gets all the sleep he needs. Maybe he needs to set up a team of people to help him with his orders. I'm in. We artists have to stick together.

Every year.

Every year I spend ages making cards and writing them and then carry them around in my bag for the next few months.

Anyone who has received a letter from me this year may have noticed it had a Christmas stamp on it. Now you know why.

Thank God for digital communication.

Without it no-one would ever hear from me.

 

Update 16th December 2010 -

45 cards drawn, 2 cards hand delivered. As yet no stamps bought and we've missed the final post date for Ireland.

I suspect and hope that 'never' is the answer to that question.

I love working on my website. It's like re-arranging the living room shelves.

Very satisfying, frustrating, full of options and free.

Sometimes contrived and unbalanced, too much colour and slightly confused, other times enticing, joyful and full of expression.

In both cases I had a vision of stylish, contemporary calm until the unsophisticated reality of being me burst in and the random stuff appeared.

And I love it.

www.cathintheattic.com

A couple of weeks ago I spent a morning at a Creative Partnerships School of Creativity Hub meeting, practising my visual scribing techniques. Unfortunately a lot of people had to send their apologies, so the meeting followed a less structured yet still fascinating route and I ended up just sitting, listening, drawing and occasionally scribing. I really enjoyed the process though, learned a lot and will definitely do more, but next time - more usefulness and fewer twiddly bits.

I love sheds, huts, garages, shelters, cabins, kiosks, cricket huts, village halls, beach huts............

Whether it's a surviving wooden building in an urban environment or a cobbled together shed in a field I always get a moment of pleasure from them. 

My dream is to live in a wooden house with a porch.