Final illustration assignment: Lumberjack, from Make Art That Sells Bootcamp, 2016
© Alison Day
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Tuesday 26 April 2016
Saturday 14 November 2015
Tuesday 2 June 2015
Sam and the Adventure
Please support my Kickstarter campaign—Help me turn the story behind the mural into: Sam & the Adventure—the book! :
Hello everyone,
Some of you may be aware that for the last I year or so, I’ve been busily—writing, illustrating and designing a children’s story book entitled: Sam & the Adventure.
Sam & the Adventure is based on a mural that I painted many years ago for my then 2-year old son, Sam. This 88-page book, filled with 43 full colour illustrations is the story about a small boy, who sets off in a blue, ten carriage train, in search of an adventure and the story ends with a light-hearted twist.
***
The Plan:
I have finally reached the point where my next step is publication. In order to be able to do this—printing costs and publishing in general being an expensive business—I have set up a Kickstarter campaign. This is where you come in...
How you can support me:
If you visit my Kickstarter campaign you will find a video outlining the whole project and a selection of rewards to pledge for. As you can see there is something to suit every budget.
By choosing one of the rewards, you’ll not only help me towards my goal, but for or a modest pledge you already have secured your very own, signed copy of Sam & the Adventure.
Please Share the campaign:
Another way to help me reach my goal is to share the Kickstarter campaign with family, friends and anyone else you think might be interested.
Also, if you don’t have children, or know of any you can delight with a copy of Sam & the Adventure, maybe there’s a school who’d be pleased to receive a copy or one of the packs!
Please share the Kickstarter campaign—via social media, email, word of mouth—every little action will help me get closer to my goal, being completely funded and ultimately enable me to publish the story.
The hashtag I will be using is: #SamandtheAdventure
Many thanks, Alison Day
Tuesday 22 July 2014
Fruit &Veg
Take a look at Vicki Sawyer's wonderful website filled with animals. Portrayed with technical realism and with and with a personal sense of humour.
As a child, family members taught her the different species of plants and animals, which ultimately led to art college.
Work as a graphic artist has meant she has created hundreds of murals containing the beloved birds, insects, grasses, and wildflowers seen in her childhood.
Her animals with hats series popped up one day as a thought, when she was on a walk: "If birds could build nests, then they could make hats."
For more about Alison Day Designs:
Friday 7 February 2014
Blue Train Mural
Below is a short (amateur) film of a hand-painted mural (1 x 1 metre), I created for the wall of a young boy's bedroom. When asked what he wanted, he said: a blue train, with ten carriages, filled with animals and him driving the engine.
Although the mural no longer exists, I’ve written and published the story to the mural accompanied by a series of illustrations, which will soon be self-published as a children's storybook.
Webshop
Tuesday 30 April 2013
Wild Wild Wood
Amber Jean, has been declared one of America's 'Woodworking Greats' by WOOD magazine. Having taught herself to use a chainsaw in her early 20's, she makes the most amazing creations in wood, whilst other ideas are destined to become cast in bronze.
The wild horses bed has a lovely feel to it - the combination of galloping horses, and the more subtle flow of the wood - still recognizable as trunk and branch. They are both the antithesis and complimentary of each other; the bed comes alive, but seems a peaceful enough place to slumber away the hours.
The same flowing movement can be see in her bronzes sculptures, which are beautifully detailed and original castings; rendering shows an obvious love for animals.
Friday 8 February 2013
Runway Reversal
Some rather disturbing images at the end, but thought provoking nonetheless!
Created by: Ogilvy & Mather Beijing
Via: DesignTaxi
Friday 5 October 2012
Frogs etc. - Jasper Oostland
It is a series of brightly
coloured cards depicting a variety of animals, which have been attracting my
attention for a while. Each has its own story, and is illustrated to
incorporate realism, in the accuracy of their detailed rendering, plus a hint
of the world of cartoon in their personification. Although frogs seem to be in
the majority, it is the card with a bird wearing a top hat tilted at a rakish
angle, that becomes the deciding factor in my contacting the artist; beady
eyes, long pointy beak and an intense stare invite the viewer to choose one of
the three upturned cups on the table in front of the bird, in a gamble, to
reveal what’s hiding underneath.
These are the creations of artist Jasper
Oostland who lives and works in Groningen. I arrive at his house on a rare
sunny day in June; a house filled with large windows, which results in an
overall bright, airy feel, and is the perfect residence for an artist. With his
studio situated in the attic, we head upstairs. White walls, windows on two
sides, jars filled with brushes awaiting action, and enormous pots of acrylic
paint stand resolutely on a table. Nearby, is an easel with his latest work in
progress; there’s a lot of bright pink happening in this work, and from the
outlines I can just make out a car and a flamingo. The easel has an ingenious
feature - the addition of a rotary centre. This allows the current work to be
turned a full 360 degrees, allowing complete ease of access to the entire
picture whilst it is worked upon.
A former student of the art school,
Minerva, in Groningen, Jasper studied illustration with an emphasis on
technique. Studying the use of light, its source and application, is an
important part in creating the 3-D realism of the animals. To my question about
his colour usage, he says it is something that he uses intuitively. Each work
starts with a wash of background colour upon which the animals are brought to
life through a series of painted layers progressing from dark to light. As he talks
he passes me an amazingly detailed picture of a large grey rhino, standing
wistfully next to a delicate pink rose in a glass vase. The equally bright pink
background is one of his experiments; in this case how to make pink work on
pink. Other little tricks and details he puts in his work are expressly done to
leave something for the viewer to discover.
The abundance of frogs in his work, often
in everyday situations, leads me to ask firstly, if he is the frog, and
secondly, if the variety of situations the frog finds himself in, is maybe a
tongue in cheek social comment. To the former he says he is not as far as he is
aware the frog, although sometimes according to his girlfriend, he can have a particular
stance or expression that reminds her of a frog. As for a deep and meaningful
message or social comment, he says there isn’t one, he likes frogs, and in
particular tree frogs because they have a lot of character; they have great
hands with padded fingers that can hold things and expressive eyes.
When it comes to inspiration he researches
photos in books or images from the Internet, for the accurate depiction he
needs. As for what comes first, it is more or less spontaneous - sometimes it’s
the animal and sometimes the object. Ideas also come from association or a
particular pose, and these are worked out further in a sketchbook.
These days it is very important for artists
to be active with self-promotion if they want public attention. Jasper seems to
have this under control: he has an up to date website; makes use of social
media (find him on Facebook); exhibits regularly; sells work online – both
originals and giclées; uses Chat Roulette, a website where you can watch
him paint live. Also, by every exhibition he places a large pile of cards
depicting one of his works and including his contact details. As he says:
“People keep them and pin them up.” This continual visibility has led to 20% of
his work being commission based, and, as a result he finds himself in the
enviable position of having enough work for a year.
When asked if he has any dreams for the
future, he says that at the moment he is quite happy with the status quo, but
maybe a book, a little more structured organization of his business as a whole,
and, as the father of two young daughters under five, a little more sleep
wouldn’t go amiss.
If you would like to see Jasper’s work, why
not visit the library in Groningen, where he is currently exhibiting a
selection of works. It runs from 5th September
2012 to 4th January 2013.
© Alison Day
First published in the Connections magazine #37 Autumn 2012
Read & download issue here
Alison Day Designs
Webshop
© Alison Day
First published in the Connections magazine #37 Autumn 2012
Read & download issue here
Alison Day Designs
Webshop
Thursday 15 March 2012
Child's Play
Sunday 26 February 2012
Shattered
Amazing animal sculptures made from re-cycled CD fragments to represent animal and bird fur and feathers. Created by Australian artist Sean Avery
See more on DevianART Also: Laughing Squid and This is Colossal
Monday 18 July 2011
Lydia Jonkman - Artist Interview
Converging on the neighbourhood centre in Vinkhuizen at the same time, Lydia was instantly recognizable from her website photo; short blond hair tied up in pigtails framing an enthusiastic and friendly face. She led me inside and upstairs to her tiny studio, small, but with perfect light throughout from the large windows at either end. Long white curtains hung from each window and each sported a large knot, as if a reminder of some future task.
Whilst Lydia made coffee I had time to look around. A large white horse galloped full force towards me in her current work, which stood pride of place on an easel in the centre of the room. The walls were lined with canvases and prints, while those just back from being lent out, rested against each other waiting to be freed from their protective bubble wrap. The subjects were an eclectic mix of Mediterranean scenes, people, Vespa’s and animals, particularly enormous depictions of cows. As with her website, an obvious love of colour was plain to see. The large Ikea bookcase intrigued me, as it was not only filled with the obvious, but with paintbrushes in pots, pencils in a wicker basket, egg boxes nestled inside each other and magazines, all neatly organized and knowing their place; an artist’s paradise. A large green cactus and an orchid, sitting proudly side by side, topped this all off.
Lydia returns with not only coffee and water, but the tray has two delicious looking muffins filled with chocolate chips. We settle down to chat, and she tells me that after her initial artistic study, she came to be in Italy through a scholarship for a year studying at the academy in Genoa. After the year she stayed on and found herself involved in the twice-yearly children’s art projects held by the museum. All the while she was busy with her own work, which a gallery kindly exhibited and sold for her. She resided in a small vacation spot called Drentino, where she lived with her then Italian boyfriend, and although she decided to return to Groningen permanently in 2003, she still divides her time between the two countries, remaining involved with the museum in Italy and being inspired by the landscape and the people for her work. She finds it important, in her words, “You must do what you’re good in…”
An ongoing experiment is with colour, as well as how the canvas is used for the subject matter. The former, colour, is something she has actually studied, and I asked her how she came upon such a creative diversity of colours, often using colours for objects that aren’t realistic, but somehow work in her paintings. She says that by using a colour wheel she experiments with how colours, complimentary colours and their opposing colours relate to each other and hereby reaches her desired effect. For example, when what we know as a blue sky is painted orange: “…then you come into a new world,” she says. The dividing up of the canvas, can sometimes cause quite a mental block in artists, but Lydia uses a combination of the Golden Ratio, plus lines that cut up the landscape or emanate from it and are stretched from the central subject, for example a Vespa, when it is added to the landscape.
Although a realist, she will often, add something quirky to her main subject, like a small coloured diamante stone in the centre of an animal’s eye, or a bee will be painted into the corner of the picture. In another, the bubbles of flying fish mutate into balloons as they float across the painting, but this alchemy doesn’t look out of place, it fits!
I then ask her, if money was no object, if she had a dream or if there were anything she would like to realize. A refreshingly original reply comes back that she is already doing it, hopes to be able to continue for a long time; all she needs is, time.
If you would like to follow a painting course given by Lydia, she gives regular classes at the Kunstcentrum in Groningen. She also has a new venture: Lydia’s Children’s Studio, starting up 7 September 2011, as well as doing rather fantastic pet portraits! (See flyer)
First published in the Connections magazine #32 Summer 2011
Read & download issue here
Saturday 8 May 2010
Suzanne Postel – Murals, Frescos & Portraits
My meeting
with Suzanne Postel came out of my curiosity to find out who the artist was of
a rather imposing mural covering the entire side of a building contractor’s
office, along the Korreweg in Groningen
I met
Suzanne at her studio along the Eendrachtskade, which is spacious enough to
serve as both work and exhibition space. The studio is filled with marvelous
paintings at every turn and the area in the back, where we sat and drank
coffee, has a wall that is a collage of small paintings, images, and photos of
friends and family. I asked her how it came about that one of her murals was on
the side of a building contractor’s office. She told me that living nearby
meant that everyday she had looked out upon the building and a set of filled in
windows that had been painted a rather unimaginative white. This made her
fingers itch to do something about it, so much so that she approached them and
offered to paint the offending building with a mural. The result is a set of
very impressive classically robed women, each standing in a niche bearing a
tool or implement relevant to the building trade.
Although
always an artist at heart, after her student days and completion of her studies
at the art school Minerva in Groningen ,
she decided to leave Holland for France Groningen Groningen
Before
starting a piece of work, she does a lot of sketching, takes photographs (in
the case of a commissioned portrait) and adds to a scrapbook. A book full of
ideas this scrapbook is filled with images, material samples, and text, often
poignant lines from poems. A particular favourite is the poet Jean Pierre
Rawie. From this process arises a series of puzzle pieces that when put
together become the basis design for a mural or portrait. Then turning to
canvas or masomite (a specially treated art board) the initial idea is laid
down very quickly as an acrylic base. After that she will work further on the
idea in oils until its logical conclusion is reached and she is happy with it.
Other strong
influences in her work can be seen to come from paintings from the Renaissance
and Impressionist movements and from the world of dreams. According to the
Chinese one should live out ones dreams in order to move on. One particular
dream that she has turned into a painting is a self-portrait of herself, angry
and with a dripping paintbrush in her mouth. What it means she is not sure, but
it needed to be painted.
With regular
commissions and exhibitions, as well as doing all her own public relations, and
giving painting lessons to students with an age range of twenty to sixty.
Suzanne is not only able to follow her passion but has been able to make it
into a successful business.
The opening
of her current exhibition entitled ‘De Hoge Lucht’ (The Light from Above), took
place on 24 June 2007. The event was opened by Jacque D’Ancona (a renown Dutch
journalist, amongst other things).
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