Ceramic Memories

For one of my recent university projects I have been working on creating a number of delicate ceramic objects that have personal significance and links to memories of my childhood. I don't want to show them all fully finished just yet but here is a little peek into the working process and development that has been going on (this selection are all pre-glazed).

And here is also a beautiful album I have recently discovered which I just CAN'T get enough of:
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Weatherman. Perfect for all the late night painting/researching/drawing I seem to be doing so much of at the moment!

Patterning

Now that my university course has started again for the last time I am swamped with projects and dissertation work which means it's hard to make time for blogging. But I really want to keep it up and use this blog as a little outlet for fun/random/artwork unrelated to my course! So, here are some pattern doodles I made recently with a tribal/mosaic feel to them:

                   

African Patterns

Time flies, it's printing Thursday again! Today I was creating some tribal patterns, simple but (hopefully) effective. As well as this, I was updating my new website/online portfolio, which can be found by clicking on the 'WEBSITE' link just to the right of this post. It's exciting to now have a website as well as a blog!

Masana!

I came across these forgotten prints today and thought I would share them. I entitled the prints 'Masana' which means 'morning' in Chichewa, the local language spoken in Malawi, Africa. The scene of the goat, huge boabab tree and hut reminds me of the sun rising across an African landscape, cool before the blazing sun arrives at noon, and quiet, with only a cockerel crowing and the occasional chirping of a cricket before the bustle of the day begins.
I'll be honest and say that I did actually forget that the image appears in reverse when printed (rookie mistake) but THANKFULLY not before I wrote the title underneath; that would have been unfortunate!

Heart of Darkness

Our latest project brief was to create a front cover and 3 internal illustrations for the classic novel 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad.
Set around 1980's, the main character Marlow recalls his 'african adventure' as a captain aboard a Belgian steamboat travelling up and down the Congo river, and the encounters he and several other crew had with different characters along the way.
The book explores the issues surrounding imperialism, as well as the oppression, power and brutality of many white company managers who traded in Africa at this particular time. It's an interesting and worthwhile read (as well as easy to get through - there are only about 90 pages in the whole novel).

Here is a front cover I came up with, and an internal illustration for a scene near the beginning.