Joan Miro at YSP
Yet another reason to head quickly to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, apart of course from the wonderful Mark Hearld Exhibition I’ve blogged about recently, is the Joan Miro collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures.
This is the first major UK survey of sculpture by Joan Miró (1893-1983) in collaboration with the artist’s foundations and family. With key works sited in the Yorkshire landscape, the exhibition will fulfil the artist’s belief that “sculpture must stand in the open air, in the middle of nature”, as well as providing a rare opportunity to experience the repertoire of this iconic Catalan artist, demonstrating his continued relevance to sculpture. Miró produced around 400 sculptures and a similar number of ceramic works, the majority concentrated within the later part of his career. The artist viewed sculpture as equally important to his practice as painting although it was generally less known and critically examined. From his initial exploration of collage and assembled sculpture around 1930, sculpture became increasingly central, most notably from the 1960s to his death in 1983.
The Park’s purpose-built Underground Gallery hosts Miró’s “phantasmagoric world of living monsters”, tracing the evolution of sculpture as an element of Miró’s practice from 1946 through to 1982. The works relate to the sculptures for the open air shown in the gardens beyond the gallery’s impressive glass concourse. In total there’s about 90 sculptures on show.
A wonderful time of year to visit the park for the wealth of colour too.
Below are some examples of Miro’s paintings (not necessarily works that are featured in this show).
The exhibition is only available now until January 6th 2013 so hurry if you don’t want to miss out !
Riccardo Guasco is a talented Italian creative who works in many different forms. Watercolour portraits.
Mid century jazz inspired elements here.
And a contemporary ‘nod’ to Picasso, Henry Moore, Russian Avant-Garde and more.
These simplistic illustrations have a beautiful chalky feel to them.
Beautiful colourations and shapes.
Riccardo is also a graphic designer.
He can turn his hand, or rather ‘brush’ to some fine Japanese calligraphy.
Create some amazing images showing how people connect.
Even his sketchbooks are works of art ! Wow this guy has such control over his line.
He says ” I always attended art schools and the passion for drawing has been with me almost since I was born. When a purple marker contested as a cooking spoon, drew a large circle on a sheet of paper. That day I realized that inside that circle could hide a world, and I was excited to get it out and make it visible to myself and to others. Initially it was a discovery, a gift. I think I have developed over time a special taste and pleasure in communicating with the images. This gift is a pressing need, which led me to “prove” any form of narration through the signs and colour comics, illustration, art, artwork, all ways to bring elements of that silent world made only of signs, but maybe hiding great potential.”
Some more sketchbook pages here or you can pick up a print here.
Fishink Hand-made Christmas Cards
For 2012, I’ve created a mixed bag of Robins designs and you can get hold of 10 of them for just £12.50 per pack (inc postage) if you’re in the UK or £14.50 for Europe and overseas customers. It’s simple to order, you can make a payment through paypal for the amount you wish to purchase, i.e 1 pack is £12.50 in the UK , 2 packs £25.00 etc and just make sure to include your name and address.
Send your paypal payment to fisher_one@hotmail.com and I’ll send you an email to say I’ve received it. You’ll get a mixture of different designs (as featured below) on white and coloured card with 10 quality envelopes. All of the cards are made by hand and printed by myself (ie not by a machine). They are black and white with red robin breasts.
Please feel free to pass this onto your friends too, or just send them this link, by copying and pasting it into an email.
http://wp.me/pY4YW-26J Fishink Hand-made Christmas Cards
Yo ho ho, many thanks.
Mark Hearld Exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Saturday was such a great day. Illustrator Mark Hearld and Yorkshire Sculpture Park have come together to present a new exhibition all about ‘Birds and Beasts’.
It is on now until February 17th 2013, so you have a fair chance to go and see it, and it’s well worth the trip. There’s examples of mark’s sculptures…
including some stunning pigeons in flight .
The YSP Shop have pulled out all the stops with an amazing display of Mark’s work, featuring some new items, scarves, mugs, prints, bags and cards that have been commissioned solely for the exhibition and are only available through the Gift Shop.
I had to treat myself to a new mug.
Then there’s a whole exhibition of Mark’s work, including the original prints for his new ‘Workbook’, ceramics, book covers and a number of display cases filled with a vast array of Mark’s beautiful Illustrations.
Mark was there to also sign copies of his ‘Workbook’ published by Merrell Publishers, you can find out more about this book here.
A few weeks ago I was delighted to discover that Mark had named my site to be among his favourite blogs, you can see the feature here. So it was great to get to chat with him for a while and to get my own book signed too. He suggested that we could up next spring when he open’s his home up for public viewings and create something personal for Fishink Blog, hopefully with Emily too. If you have any questions for me to ask him then let me know.
Something else arrived in the post today …. how exciting !
Fishink Colourwatch
I’m still captivated by the wonderful colours in the hazy autumnal world around me at the moment. From brilliantly blue skies to more dappled and frosty sunlit afternoons, the colours are shining out.
A sun-drenched collection of trees down the road from my home.
The huge array of tones and hues of the Hydrangea flowers, sometimes on the same plant.
Breathtaking if you have the time to take it in. Take a local walk in the sun and see for yourself.
In the evening, the colours just move up into the skies.
Fishink Reminders Mark Hearld, Angie Lewin, Emily Sutton, Mary Fedden and David Weidman
There is so much happening right now featuring my favourite artists that I must just tell you about a few events that are either going on now, or coming up, before the end of the year. Initially I want to say a late congratulation to Mark Hearld who was one of the award winners for the British Design Awards earlier this month presented by the Telegraph Magazine incollaboration with Elle Decoration. The award was for his Wallpaper design ‘Harvest Hare’ available from St Judes Gallery and ironically, I had chosen it to paper my living room a week before it won, I hope there will be some left !
There’s some lovely co-ordinated fabrics in the same design coming out soon to accompany the wallpaper. Both available from St Judes at the link above.
Mark is also featured in an exhibition “Birds and Beasts ” starting this saturday at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The exhibition opens at Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield on 17 November 2012 and runs until 17 February 2013. You can meet Mark on Saturday at 2pm as he signs copies of new monograph Mark Hearld’s Work Book (priced £30) published by Merrell Publishers and showcasing Mark’s unstoppable creativity with delightful images and revealing insights into the techniques behind them. There will be hand painted pigeons, illustrations and prints galore, well worth a visit.
Secondly there is a Christmas Exhibition featuring the work of Angie Lewin, Emily Sutton and John Maltby at Godfrey and Watt in Harrogate. The exhibition will be open each day from Saturday 24th November until Sunday 2nd December 12 – 4pm and you can join Angie and Emily for Mince Pies and Mulled Wine there on Friday 23rd Nov between 7 – 9pm. Angie will be featuring some of her new watercolours and prints as seen below.
Emily will also have some new work to show and sell.
In December (4 Dec 2012 – 21 Dec 2012), London’s Portland Gallery has an exhibition organised as a tribute to Mary Fedden (1915-2012). Mary brought joy to so many through her art and this exhibition will celebrate her life and work. Over 60 paintings that span six decades of her career will be on view.
And last but not least …
American artist David Weidman has released two sets of Note cards.
They’re not yet available on the website but are available for sale at $9.95 per box (that’s for 10 cards and envelopes). Pictured below is a sampling of the cards available in both sets, which are entitled “Bird Calls” and “Flower Power”.
Please contact at d_weidman@juno.com to purchase and for more information. How lovely that you can now send David’s stylish images everywhere. You can read more about David’s work from previous blogs here, and here. It has even been spotted recently on the hit series Mad Men, check out the two wall prints behind Peggy.
Also available to buy here. Hopefully that should give you a few new dates for your diaries lol.
Manchester Graffiti
Just noticed a few new bits and pieces of Manchester Graffiti appearing, I’d think most of these will be commissioned pieces. There are some talented artists around.
I liked the reflections of these in the Font cafe bar opposite too.
Older posts on this subject can be found here, here and here. Enjoy!
James Shedden is an all round creative bod. From a B.A in Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, he went on to work for himself. Aside from his involvement with music, web design, animation and graphics, he also likes to create illustrations from cardboard sets. Although on first glance you wouldn’t always know.
He lets the privileged few into the secrets behind his creations on his blog, with photographs cataloging the stages before the completed image is seen. I love his use of colour.
His quirky view on life’s situations also covers situations like making porridge or noodles !
He also likes creating images for other bands like ‘The Raincoats‘, ‘I Break Horses‘ and ‘Little Dragon‘. You can find a link to James’s own band ‘Hoshal Patrick’ here.
What a creative mind, I bet he loves it when a cardboard box arrives too ! James very kindly answered some questions especially for Fishink Blog.
You’re obviously very creative, do you have a background which echoes this? What would be your earliest memories of creating things?
Vintage Cook Book Covers
A couple of months ago I blogged about Vintage Children’s Book Covers and whilst I was creating that post, I came across the idea for this one.
I’ve previously talked a little about the work of Tom Funk and Joseph Pearson who both illustrated beautiful books for Betty Crocker. Here’s more from the 1950’s and 60’s. Enjoy.
I like this image of the bear patiently waiting in line for his BBQ share.
At this chilly time of year the illustration below for Bennett’s Vitamin Enriched Soup is perfect.
Recipes fit for a king or at least the Fox family !
If you have any similar images from Joseph Pearson or Tom Funk or someone else I’ve not mentioned and you’d like to share them, post me a few and I’ll assemble them.
All this thought of food is making me hungry !
Mei Matsuoka Children’s Illustrator
Mei Matsuoka already has a wealth of illustrated books in her portfolio.
She organises interactive days with different schools and talks about them on her blog. She also creates fun sketches.
I think she’s in love with Monsters and the Moon ! lol
She also likes tortoises, wearing toe socks and collecting hats. They presumably come in handy as she also likes snowboarding !
Mei agreed to kindly answer a few questions for us.
How did you initially get interested in illustrating children’s books ?
I kind of fell into the Children’s book area. I have always loved drawing and knew that I wanted to do something arty (Or to work with animals – which didn’t/hasn’t happened so far!) I realised that this ‘something arty’ was Illustration, while I was at college in Bletchley. After graduating with a BA in Illustration/Animation at Kingston University, I was keen to get into any area of either of these disciplines. Children’s book publishers were the first to approach me and it just went from there. I am still keen to work in Animation, Editorial, packaging; just anything really! It is the process of image making and conveying of messages that interests me and as an illustrator I want to challenge myself in all sorts of ways. Children’s books are brilliant though, as you get 15 full spreads to work with and I love the playfulness that you can inject into it.
What are some of your earliest memories of your own children’s book collection. Any favourites ?
I grew up in Japan until the age of 11, so many of my books were Japanese – although around 50% of the Children’s books in shops and libraries were translated publications from abroad. So I had a rich diet of books from all over the world, as well as Japanese specialities such as Manga books. Also, my grandmother used to send us books like ‘Dogger’, ‘Super Ted’ and Roald Dahl so that we could practise our English. I spent hours in the library and often favoured scary, quite dark books. I liked mysterious and dark East European stories, Stylised French/European picture books and quite sad and melancholy Japanese ones. This makes me sound like a troubled child! (lol) But I wasn’t – I just enjoyed stories and images that had a strong emotional impact and stayed in my mind long after reading it. I loved ‘A Lion in the Meadow’ by Margaret Mahy, which I always found quite scary – I felt that the illustrations were very moody, they really left an impression on me.
Which book that you’ve worked on did you enjoy the most ?
I enjoyed working on ‘Footprints in the Snow’ the most. Mainly because it is my own story and I had more freedom to visualise it as I wanted.
Can you explain the process you would typically go through when you first get approached to illustrate a book. Would the work come through your agent and do they suggest any ideas for images or do they all come from yourself ?
Now a days, I usually first get approached to do a book directly by publishers that I have worked with in the past. I have an agent who sometimes finds me jobs with somebody that I have never worked with before, but it is usually a commission to illustrate a new text that has arrived at a publisher that is known to me. It’s nice to work on many projects with the same Editor and team as you build up a strong relationship and a good understanding of what makes eachother tick. When I was first starting, I built up a portfolio of ideas, drawings, sketchbooks, etc and together with my agent we approached publishers that were interested in seeing something that could potentially be put together with a good story.
You mention on your site that you work with animation, can you tell us a little more about this ?
Unfortunately, I haven’t worked on an animation for a while now… I used to make a lot at Kingston. It’s difficult without easy access to the facilities, as I enjoy making 3D model animations. (Although now a days it’s much easier to do it on your laptop isn’t it? – I’m not very techsavvy!) I would love to have the time and opportunity to do some more. Some of my books have been animated by others (Such as ‘Burger Boy’ on Bookaboo, which was read by Jonny Vegas) which is always great fun to see!
Any future aims, desires or want – to – do’s ?
I currently have a story on hold which I initially wrote around 4, 5 years ago now. I’ve been desperately trying to find the time to illustrate it, but unfortunately, so far other things have been taking precedence. As I have had a lot of time to reflect on the content and re-work it, I am quite happy with the roughs and storyline and am planning to start the actual artwork from the beginning of next year. I am REALLY excited about this! I will just tell you that it’s about a boy called Henry, but as soon as it is completed (If you are interested) it will be nice if you can be one of the first to see it.
Thanks Mei, that would be great. I love the little guy below carefully balancing his newspaper brolly in the rain. And the girl with a pocketful of hearts ! Lovely ideas.
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