Pictures at an exhibition…
Postcard Original Project…
Remember the surprise and delight of receiving a postcard in your letterbox… addressed to YOU? Think of your excitement discovering the correspondent has illustrated that card with a drawing!
I used to send postcards every day, covered in drawings – meaningful or aimless – and then, as email and social media intervened, the regularity of my postcard-giving took a nosedive until I was standing one day in a post office trying to recall when I had last posted one. I couldn’t remember.
I love receiving postcards. Beyond the message written on it: the look of the postage stamp, the artefacts of the journey from letterbox to my door (a dog ear or thumbprint, a smudge or tear, the postal worker’s scribble in pencil), the immediacy of the communication is tangible. The card itself always played an indifferent part in the process, and was basically a surface to work on. I was only interested if it had an uncoated surface to the paper, so it would receive pencil, paint or whatever I had in my paint box.
Now that experience can be yours:
Send me your name and postal address, and for £25, I’ll take a random postcard from my collection, turn it over, and add an original drawing on that side. Then I’ll hand-letter your name and address, put a stamp on it and post it to you: anywhere in the world.
Visit the Postcard Original page to order.
(Postcard illustrations shown above are for example only).
Bottle and Flora Show…
Remembering Judith on her birthday…
Apologies to Judith Kerr’s cat.
On the fence…
Thanks to everyone who dropped by on Sunday afternoon to see the railings outside the studio as part of the Primrose Hill Art Trail. Anyone who bought a piece will receive it in the post asap.
Attention garbage collectors: this rubbish is not garbage.
Primrose Hill Art Trail 2021…
Lost? Walking aimlessly in London? I’m part of the Primrose Hill Art Trail on Sunday 13th June 2021 (2pm to 7pm). Wander around and visit neighbourhood artists and see what they do.
I will be selling my things for a song. Just ask.
#PHArtTrail
#PrimroseHill
#ArtTrail
#FreeArt
https://phca.cc/events/primrose-hill-art-trail-2021/
Instagram: @primrose_hill_community
Twitter: @PrimroseHill_CC
Facebook: @PrimroseHillCommunity
All recycled.
The Frank Show read by the author of The Frank Show…
If you have 9:52 minutes to spare, have a listen to my reading of The Frank Show in this short film complete with pictures from the book. And that’s it. Plain and simple.
The little film will be available for a short time only on the site. If you’d like to hear a terrific reading try the official audio book read by the actor/author Stephen Mangan.
By popular demand, storyboard video is only 3 minutes long…
You can see here a short video I made about making a storyboard for a book. It will only take 3 minutes, but making a storyboard can take much longer than that and that’s not a bad idea.
Before I storyboard something, I will probably have written the story down as words. But this isn’t always the case because I often find the story by working within the storyboard by drawing. It’s a chicken-and-egg situation and every book is different.
There’s an earlier film about how to make a book dummy, which would be the next step in the process for me once I have a storyboard and text layout I’m satisfied with.
I think I’ve seen a ghost…
The police have been involved.
Sira Stampe reads Marshall Armstrong in Sweden…
My picture book Marshall Armstrong is New To Our School was published in 2011, and this year Danish actor Sira Stampe did a very fine reading of it. She even dressed the part in a jumper reminiscent of the first edition’s dust jacket.
I first saw Sira acting in 1998 in a production of The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley, in the theatre above the Drayton Arms pub in South Kensington. Oddly, that play has similarities to Marshall Armstrong: a strange, outside influence effecting a status quo. I’m pleased to have her read this book all these years later. Personally, I don’t know how she can keep a straight face, but that’s what makes it a good performance I guess.
Sira illustrates books too, but she can also play the saw.
Thanks Sira!
Are you sitting comfortably? Sira Stampe reads Marshall Armstrong is New To Our School.
