The Sketchbook Project 2011

 

The Sketchbook Project Tour 2011
'Face in the Crowd' by Alison Day Designs

It’s like a concert tour… but with sketchbooks 

Starting in Brooklyn NY in February 2011, 10,000 sketchbooks take to the 

road and travel around the USA for a period of five months visiting a total 

of 8 states, stopping at various galleries and museums for public viewing.

Alison Day Designs: www.alisondaydesign.com

I received my moleskin in May this year, with the idea that I fill it however I want according to a theme chosen from a long list thought up by Art House Co-op  - 'Face in the Crowd' appealed. Now in September I'm pretty much finished, just last minute touches and I want to scan it in for my records.

Shortly, I will be sending off my completed moleskin to New York, USA to join the throng of other sketchbooks for the 2011 tour around the United States. The books can be seen and borrowed (like a library book) in various pre-selected galleries and museums before finally ending up in the Brooklyn Art Library for posterity.

UPDATE: July 24, 2012

The finished sketchbook 'Face in the crowd,' can also be seen here: Behance account.

 

© Alison Day 2011
Alison Day Design 

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The Kiss

This summer, on holiday in England, I was party to what I can only describe as the best kiss ever! 

In the words of INXS…two worlds collided...’ and boy did they, as it was a kiss of total abandonment, insatiable in it’s duration, hot and familiar, but in its action uncanny, as we had literally just met.

Upon reflection, I will admit that the cause of this was probably partially due to a night on the town with my sister-in-law and the predetermined pub-crawl with ‘a half in every pub’ along. Poison of choice was cider, and, several pubs later with ample amounts of the golden beverage inside us, the wheels of the lack of inhibition had been well oiled. 

Our tour of the pubs ended at a club, as by this time it was well after midnight, belting out good music, and a heaving dance floor, plus. It served cocktails as well - fatal mistake, but a very tasty one. The cider was traded in for a funkily named Woo Woo cocktail and we joined throng on the dance floor, which seemed to be just about anywhere you wanted it to be in the club.

How to make a Woo Woo:

1 ½ oz Peach Schnapps

1 ½ oz Vodka

3 ½ ox Cranberry Juice

Pour all ingredients into a highball glass over ice cubes, stir and serve.

Well, one Woo Woo, of course led to another and after a while I was definitely feeling no pain. All of a sudden, a tall, dark and very fit, handsome stranger appeared at my side and asked me if I knew of anything to do around here.  Much to my amusement, during our conversation I found out that he was Dutch and on a couple of days visit from Amsterdam. Laughing, I replied that although this was my hometown, I lived abroad and had done so for many years, co-incidentally in the northern Netherlands, and wasn’t up to date on what there was to do in Oxford except the obvious: visits to museums, bars and restaurants; discovering the colleges and a bit of punting along the river. After that the Woo Woo’s were replaced by Sex on the Beach cocktails, the taste of which I have absolutely no recollection!

Well, one thing led to another, and by the time the club closed we were kissing passionately on the street, outside the club with my sister-in-law and his entourage standing by staring at us in bemusement. It was obvious that this was a kiss with a mission and it wasn’t going to let up for a while. When I finally did come up for air, I made a Cinderella-like dash for a black-cab (which oddly enough had white paintwork), we’d manage to hail, leaving behind my website address scrawled on a piece of paper, for if future contact was desired. Whatever happened to a simple phone number, I hear you ask? Yes, I did kick myself several times the next day, but let’s not forget I was totally Woo Woo’d at the time and it seemed a less threatening option with possible potential in the long run - who am I trying to kid!

So, why do we kiss? Putting one’s lips to those of a stranger is not only very intimate, but a total invasion of body space not to mention the potential exchange of a vast array of bugs on both sides. Also, hanging onto someone with the sucker-like tendencies of an octopus tentacle and at such a close proximity too does tend to obscure one’s vision of the other person. I managed to clear up the last point by demanding that my sister-in-law describe him to me the next day.

Quick surf on the Internet and I find an article where kissing is said to have possibly stemmed from the pre chewing and passing of food by mothers to their offspring. It’s also equated with social bonding, and the exchange of pheromones during such an interaction can become a prelude to courtship and even sexual encounters!

Back to my pheromone encounter, although I won’t see Mr tall, dark and handsome again, maybe he’d like a re-match one day. Until that time, it goes on record as a kiss to remember – ‘Ow Zat !

 

The Kiss - Auguste Rodin

Are you up to scratch on kissing, try: Kissing Quiz

© Alison Day
Alison Day Design 

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Lola - Portrait

Lola by Alison Day

Meet Lola... my submission for the 2010 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2010 in London, England. 

Yes, I was actually mad enough to send her, packed in kilometres of bubble wrap and cardboard, from The Netherlands to my sister (Caroline) in London. Using UPS, which was a story in itself, as during tracking she got stuck in the depo for 24 hours, went round and round in circles on their carousel for no apparent reason, until they finally decided to send her on her way. Shortly after that I flew over end of March and together with my sister and niece, Carina, took her to the RA. The whole project was incredibly exciting from start to finish and even though this year my work wasn't chosen to take part in the exhibition, my interest has been awakened...and there's always next year!

On another visit to England in July, we of course had to make a trip to the RA to see what did finally get into the exhibition...we saw a lot of great work and some monumental crap too, from so-called 'eminent' artists. I won't mention names, as I don't want to give them extra publicity, but also don't want to be sued for slander! That said, I still think Lola would have fitted nicely into the exhibition, but of course I am biased and it probably was very difficult choosing 1267 pieces out of 10,000 submissions!

A word of criticism, however, directed @ the RA...I do think that prominent artists should be limited to a maximum of two pieces of artwork, seeing as space is at a premium. Also, to the misguided person who decided that it would be better to space out the artworks and not 'paper' the walls from floor to ceiling,  as has been tradition since 1769, resulting in less artists' work being exhibited...'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' I'd say!

Lola is one of my papiermaché-mosaics. So far, my subject matter has the re-occurring theme of portraits of women. In my eyes, I choose the fairer sex, because of their chameleon-like diversity as well as their unequaled adaptability and creativity. As a result womankind has provided me (and still continues to do so) with an endless supply of studies for completed as well as future projects.

© Alison Day
Alison Day Design 

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Make the world your oyster...

Street art by Eddie Colla

A good philosophy to live by!

© Alison Day
Alison Day Design 

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So, there you have it...

Phew! As publications editor and designer of Connections magazine, those are all the articles I have written and just a few of the pages and covers I have designed to date over the last 5 years.The magazine is a publication distributed by Connect International. 

A fair amount of material and the joy continues, in the Autumn issue... so watch this space for more.

Feel free to share my articles on social media, but please keep the credits intact.

So, until the next post, meet ~ Scuba Cat - (Sabotage Times) 

View all issues of Connections HERE (editor, designer, illustrator: 2006-2013)

©  Alison Day Designs