This is how my brain works.

So, this is what happened in my brain: 

I was looking at this picture of Gaudi's cathedral.

And I was thinking how much I'd like my watercolour illustrations to glow as beautifuly as the stained glass.

I saw this image by Emma Harrison:

The colours in this illustration glow because of the contrast not only in tone but also vibrancy. I thought this would be good to try myself.

I'm also loving the work of Kate Baylay at the moment whose fabulously stylised work reminds me of Kay Nielsen.

And when I put it all together, it looked like this:

100th post!!!

For some reason reaching this significant milestone in my blogging..... life? Career? Journey? Why not supernatural adventure? Alice-in-wonderland romp? feels like an almighty achievement that should be acknowledged (if not by a party, cakes,teeeaaaa! and much singing and dancing, (Alice in Wonderland, definitely Alice in Wonderland! and, I realise, yes I have just managed brackets within brackets?!?!) then at least by a joyous WAAYHHHOOOOOO!!!! from me and maybe a slightly bewildered glance from you!). So, WAAAAAHOOOOOO!!!! HOOORAAAY for me! There it is, it had to be done! Now down to business.
As it happens the post I had planned to write (before getting marginally sidetracked by the realisiation of it being my 100th post! 100th POST!!! That's 100 things I've said and shared!) was quite appropriately celebratory. For I have actuallly etched my first copper plate in the studio and it did not, as I had feared, turn into a complete disaster! Another cheer!
Of course, printing will prove it's real success but it has come out better then I could have hoped on the plate. As we have yet to experiment with aquatint I wanted to create an image that would stand alone just as a line print without the opportunity of creating large areas of tone. I think this is achieved. Celebrations all round. And...with an image of a rabbit/hare as my parting shot, this is most decidedly the 100th post of my Alice-inWonderland-romp!

It's hard drawing food!

I've been illustrating some recipes for a project undertaken by Merton and Wandsworth Asylum Welcome. It's been fab to work on something that I feel can make a difference. But drawing food is hard! Here are my efforts. Enjoy the visual feast!

p.s

Here is my best attempt at kitchen litho so far. I'm hoping repeated practice will make, if not completely perfect, at least close enough. I would stress that this image was printed from tin foil which had been etched by coca cola! Bear that in mind and it looks a whole lot more impressive!

Printmaking again.

I have found a place to do printing closer to home with a local (very talented) artist who is in the process of devoting a part of her studio into a print space (with a little help from myself). We've been waiting for the arrival of a press (sooo exciting!! it should be arriving in the next few weeks!!!) and so in-between gathering up the many and various materials needed for etching, we've been experimenting with Kitchen Lithography (check out the video below....all I'll say is tin foil and Coka Cola!) and I've been re-introduced to Monoprinting.

After falling in love with etching, which is all about the process, the very long, slow and multi-layered process, I'd always thought the simplicity of monoprinting relegated it to more of a sketchbook partypiece. A cheaty way of printmaking really when you took into account the skill needed for most other forms of printing. However, after struggling with the temperamental and down right contrary nature of kitchen litho, it was exactly it's very ease that made me see it in a new light. Dare I even say (such an infuriating term as) the quality of line you can achieve from monoprinting, also recommended it to me when it hadn't before. The pieces below were really just experimental for me but I loved the results. 

   

I was going to enter a film poster competition for films directed by women, however, I struggled to draw a good likeness of Holly Hunter from The Piano and then subsequently ran out of time. I got some nice sketches for it to work out composition and shading though and I'd like to point out that the writing was done free hand and back-to-front while holding the pen strangely so as to prevent wresting my hand on the paper and in so doing transferring unwanted ink. Pretty good going I'd say!

The Waves, the Waves are green!

I took the metaphorical plunge and coloured the image I had only pencilled in in my last post about The Waves, the Waves. Here it is looking all glossy green!

Sketching for "The Waves, the Waves"

I have a twin sister who is an absolutely awe-inspiring writer! and I am totally unbiased, so no arguing please! You may be wondering what this seemingly random piece of information has to do with anything, apart from giving me an opportunity to boast about having a talented sister. Well, I'll admit I have an ulterior motive; namely, the excuse to say that I shall be illustrating a novella she is working on at the moment. From when I was very little I always wished that there was a job that both me and my sister could do together, and here is the perfect solution. Without wanting to give too much away, I'll say that it's a story about love, time travel (think The Time Traveller's Wife rather then anything overtly sci-fi), a house on the cliffs, selkie magic, 18th century tea smugglers, wartime austerity and the waves....in fact, the working title is The Waves, the Waves (it's kind of like a combination between Virginia Woolf's The Waves and Iris Murdoch's The Sea, the Sea thereby referencing two brilliant female writers in one fell swoop! Clever, huh?). It's a project we've wanted to work on together for a while now so it's exciting and also a little nerve-racking to start on it. I wanted to share the small start I've managed to make. One is only half started and one didn't go so well but in the spirit of documenting my progress, here they are.

" Coldness filled her glass-glinting self up to the brim and life poured gratefully out. She kept falling. Arms caught her and enclosed themselves about her, cradled her through the darkness. This, she thought, is what it feels like to surrender." 

Extract from The Waves, the Waves by Abra Hunt.

I had Daniela Drescher and Warwick Goble in mind when I started applying the watercolour to this drawing. I can confidently say that I was (if I'm honest more then) a little disheartened it all went slightly awry. It's something I may go back to but at the moment it's staying in the back of my watercolour pad where I can't see it.

"It took her nearly an hour to reach the main road and the toothy outline of the village roofs. At the junction she stopped and bent down to remove her sturdy walking boots, delving deep into the depths of her bag and coming out with a catch of tan leather heels."

Extract from The Waves, the Waves by Abra Hunt.

I'm planning on using watercolour again on this illustration. I will not be defeated by the watercolour!

Inspiration????

I have been struggling lately. It's hard to admit, and even harder to actually write down but it feels good to be honest and I think I'm not the only one. I'm talking, of course, about the seemingly herculean battle of creativity. The motivation to keep going. To keep pushing through the doubts, the endless rejections, the fear that what you put down on paper will not live up to the elusive perfection in your mind (am I just talking for myself on that one??) and, perhaps hardest of all, the brick wall. That brick wall. It comes at you from nowhere and then plants itself directly in your path that, up until then, had seemed blissfully clear. After banging your head on it for a while things can sometimes feel pretty hopeless. Am I right?

At the moment my brick wall is the fact that I seem to only be able to bring my illustrations up to a certain level of completion, then I get stuck and that's it. The images themselves look okay as they are and as I don't know what to do next I feel alright about leaving them, but they're missing the finishing touch; the thing that's going to get them noticed. They are unsatisfying. After a year of feeling that I've been improving and learning about, and understanding, the way I work, I've now reached a block in the road that seems unmovable and impossible to figure out. How do I take the next step? To make myself feel better and get a little inspiration I've been typing the names of illustrators I like into google and trawling through their pictures in the hope that I'll somehow soak in some of their pure awesomeness through osmosis. If some of you are reading this thinking, Merle, you are a GENIUS!! Why didn't I think of that before?!?! then let me warn you now and save you the time, that it rarely ever works! In fact, more often then not, I've come away feeling even worse about my own work then before. I have been told (although perhaps not in so many words) that pilfering ideas and storing them for later use is practically the art of an artist and I agree ("No man is an island" and all that) but if you've come to a dead end (I fear my metaphor-ising may be getting out of hand!) looking at the work of other artists who seem to have got it so right can be like eating that whole tub of ice cream in the freezer; it seems like a good idea at the beginning but by the time you've demolished the last spoonful you feel a teensy bit sick....and then possibly depressed after all the sugar burns out. The truth is, comparing your work with others is never going to help you feel better about your own (unless you're pretty darn sure you're the best artist out there and I'd like to think there are some of you who feel that way) and so should not be indulged in.

There doesn't seem to be a right answer to help solve such creative blocks (although there are clearly plenty of wrong ones!) and talks with family and friends often end up with me saying "that's not what I mean, no, that's not what I mean and that isn't what I mean either." I suppose, what I want them to say, what I want to say now, is: "It's okay." That's it. No golden thread to lead us out of the maze, no single sentence to sum it all up. Just the sure and uncomplicated knowledge that it will all be, no matter what "it" is, okay. We will all of us come across a wall or two (or three or four or.....) in our creativeness and it's okay. That's why I wrote this post. It's not meant to be depressing (really-truly-cross-my-heart-honestly not depressing!) or all poor mememe. It's for everyone who has felt the same. You are not alone (there's at least me here waving the creative block flag) and it's okay.

Mud at the Market.

With an abundance of cards to sell and a growing realisation that, if I really am going to make it as an illustrator (I clutch an imaginary tail and utter "I do believe in me, I do believe in me, I do, I do, I do, I do, I doooooo believe in ME!") I'm going to have to make it happen on my own, I very optomisticly booked myself a table at the Plawhatch Winter Market in December last year. Now, the operative word here, and it later became apparent, the one I should have heeded, was Winter!!!  I should really have been a little more conscious of what I was taking on when I said yes to an outside market in the middle of the coldest and wettest time of the year. And it should have come as no surprise that the 21st dawned not bright, cold and cheery, as I had gloriously pictured in my head, but dark, wet and windy. Infact, as predictions of the downpour clearing up by noon became a distant memory, the greatest miracle was that someone managed to keep a blazing fire going all day....that's right chaps...all day!!! But the real surprise came when, at the end of a seven hour stint standing under a marquee with the wind and rain buffeting myself and my stock from all directions and with the dubious feeling that, like a house with rising damp, the muddy puddle I was standing in was gradually seeping through the thick soles of my D.M's, through my socks (several layers of) and up my legs, I'd actually sold some stuff and enough to make a wee profit to boot! Now, I can't say I'll be jumping at the chance to do an outside market again in the middle of winter (who would really?!? I mean, really?!?!) but the whole experience was a welcome confidence boost.

Here you can see me with my table (which I shared with a talented chocolatier mmmmmmm.....). I think it's a shame you can't tell from the picture just how wet it actually was, although you can see how muddy! All in all though, it was a very successful day and I'm looking into doing more (inside) markets. Watch this space.

Etching at the Art Academy (part 2)

I finished the evening etching classes. I'm sad not to have a weekly trip to the print room any more (six weeks just wizzed by like a train not scheduled to stop at the station) and I'll miss not having that feeling of purpose on a thursday night, but I'm also a little bit "phew", a little relieved, to be able to go straight home after work. Isn't that silly?!?! I hope you know what I mean though. I'm going to stop talking now, as you might all be getting the wrong idea! Here's the end result: 

p.s I'm really pleased with this plate! It was so easy to print from........could I actually be getting the hang of this etching malarky?!

Durga and the Buffalo Deamon

I've been spending my dark November weekends submerged in the vibrance of hindu mythology. This image was done in response to After the Fairytale Collective's challenge to illustrate the tale of the Goddess Durga and her encounter with the Buffalo Deamon......I think you can gather from my drawing below that it didn't end well for the deamon! An abundance of awesome girl power and Indian patterns made this an extremely enjoyable challenge! If you wanna see the full colour version, then head over to the collective blog. 

Etching at The Art Academy

So, about four weeks ago, I started an evening etching class at The Art Academy in London. Four weeks ago, I also told myself that I would write this post.........oooops! I can verify with some relief that the etching class has been a lot more productive!
It's been over a year now that I last used the print room at Plymouth University, and while I had said I would try to find a print studio in London I could use to keep the etching going, I was worried that I would have forgotten how to use it by the time I got round to making good on the promise I had made to myself. I felt a refresher course was in order. Cue a quick search through Google and an halaluja moment when I found this fantastic six week evening course just round the corner from London Bridge at The Art Academy. Perfect for after work. I'll admit it's been tiring going straight from work to a three hour etching session but I've been enjoing the experience. It's also been good to be reminded of why I loved it before and to gain usefull tips on how to complete diferent stages of the process at home. Who knows, maybe I'll set up my own makeshift studio in the kitchen!
Last lesson I got to the stage of applying an aquatint and then etching for tone and shading. I find that the most nervracking stage because it really feels like guess work! I can't imagine getting to the stage when it won't! Next week will be the big test.....when I actually print. In the mean time, keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll leave you with the drawing of what I line etched. The tone is going on top. After spending a whole evening etching this image onto my plate, I then dreamed about foxes all night!

 

From Masks to Snow White

I started early on the After the Fairytale collective challenge for October and managed to get a bit of sketching in before committing to the final illustration! Well done to me! I don't usually manage to pull that off (cue smug pat on the back)! I thought I'd give you a taster with these images from my sketchbook in the hope that you'll be tempted to look at After the Fairytale Collective's blog to see all the work submitted for October's "mask" theme, including mine which illustrates the moment Snow White's evil step-mother disguises herself as an old crone/witch to trick her into eating a poisoned apple. You can see them here: http://afterthefairytalecollective.tumblr.com/

For Mabel

This image was a collaboration between a writer and an illustrator. That is, my sister, Abra, and me. She wrote the poem/story and I illustrated it...if you hadn't guessed that already I thought I should make it clear! I actually only ended up with a couple of hours to think of and execute the final image which made me feel like a stressed-artist-creature-person for a while but the end result of all that was something I feel reflects the tone and charm of the writing. We made it as a naming ceremony present for a darling baby girl, at the very beginning of her life and her adventures and her loves and passions. This was for Mabel.

New Arrivals!

I'm feeling pretty impressed with myself. You know how I (more than) hinted that I would be selling cards through my website? Well, it's actually happened! I now have a proper shop with a checkout basket and everything! You can see how excited I am just by the amount of exclamation marks I've used in this paragraph alone! If you like the look of any of the cards below then head on over to my website and make a purchase. Happy Shopping :)

COMING SOON.........

These arrived in the post the other day. Let me just take a moment to say...Wahoooooo!!! I was literally breathless when I got home from work and found the brown box waiting for me on the arm of the sofa. Such a treat after a long day. If you're thinking "that's great Merle but..err...what are they exactly?!?" then let me tell you that They are greeting cards which you will soon be able to buy from my website!!! There are seven different designs to choose from, each a Merle Hunt original. I'm just simply tooo excited to keep this one to myself until it is all set up. More then anything (or rather, apart from the anticipation of maybe making a little money from my illustration and this passion of mine finally starting to earn it's keep!) it's the satisfaction of seeing my work actually printed *sigh*.....it's the little things.

 Get those wallets ready and buy all your cards for next year! Then sit back and feel very smug with yourself!

The Start of New Beginnings.....hopefully!

I feel it is about time that I swept out the cobwebs and brushed away the dust from the long forgotten corners of this blog which have accumulated in the presence of such unforgivable inactivity. Has it really been .....5 months?!?! FIVE MONTHS!!!! since I last posted? I'm afraid to say it has. I feel I should apologise although I realise I'm not quite sure who to. Is there anyone out there reading this? More then anything I feel like a neglectful parent. Much work is needed now to make up for lost time.
The reason this blog has been left like an orphaned child on a doorstep for, I'll have to say it again, 5 months! is that the three month internship at Rooks Books which I last wrote about three weeks into it's commencement, has lead to a part-time job! It's great news but does mean my illustration has been put on the back-burner for the last few months while I got into the routine of becoming a Commuter for four days a week. However, I have a few personal projects bubbling on the horizon (hhherrm, may have mixed me metaphors up there but aah well) and so hopefully this post can signal the re-launch of all things blackbird and lemoncurd-y! And in the mean time don't forget that if you're in the mood for an illustrative treat, then there's always the collective which I post to once a month with fellow illustrators Diana Mazuru and Rachel Rawlings. August's offering was all about Jane Eyre and this September we're illustrating Blackberry Wine.
So, I thought I would kick off the start of new beginnings with a few pages from my sketchbook. For the Jane Eyre challenge I was really inspired by the brooding, Gothic atmosphere of the 1943 film adaptation and so I decided to keep my image black and white and use Parker ink. I've seen this medium be used a lot and to great effect, but I've not really used it before myself so it was a bit of an experiment. These pages show the process and if you'd like to see the finished result, click on the collective link above.