London Fashion Week 2011 - Collection by Christopher Raeburn

Another illustration for Amelia's Magazine  & London Fashion Week 2011, this time for the new collection by fashion designer Christopher Raeburn.


© Alison Day Designs
Webshop

London Fashion Week 2011 - Collection by Tata Naka

Illustration for Amelia's Magazine  plus article about the new collection by fashion designer Tata Naka, for London Fashion Week 2011.


© Alison Day Designs

Natural Pavilion

Love this - A pavilion overlooking Snøhetta mountain 
at Dovrefjell National Park.  Via: FastCoDesign

Ferry Hinksey

"Beyond the ferry water that fast and silent flowed,

She turned, she gazed a moment, then took her onward road.

Between the winding willows to a city white with spires:

It seemed a path of pilgrims to the home of earth's desires.

Blue shade of golden branches spread for her journeying,

Till he that lingered lost her among the leaves of Spring."

 

- Laurence Binyon

 

© Alison Day Designs

Lily Glass

    © Alison Day Designs

The Red Lion Pub, Avebury in Wiltshire

If you visit the stones at Avebury in Wiltshire, why not take a pause afterwards at The Red Lion Pub and try some of the local beers and ciders? The building  dates back to the 1600's, and has been a licensed coaching inn since 1802. With a rich and varied  past, it is supposedly haunted by five different ghosts, as well as being the source of a large amount of paranormal activity.

The most famous ghost is that of Florrie, who is believed to have lived in the building during the 17 century Civil War. With her soldier husband absent off fighting in the war, Florrie decided to take lover. Upon his return the cheating pair were discovered and in his fury the husband shot his rival, stabbed his wife and then threw her body down the 86-foot well, sealing it with a boulder. 

This summer having viewed the magnificent stones at Avebury, on a day out with my brother, sister and all our kids, we decided to sit outside the quaintly thatched building of the Red Lion, and try some of the delicious local Aspal cider. My son, interested in the story of a ghost, went inside to see if he could find out more information from the bar staff about the ghost of Florrie. It seems that like many ghosts, she will appear at night emerging from or disappearing into the well, objects will move or disappear for days on end, and apparently she doesn't like men with beards! Situated inside the pub, the well is on view to the public, illuminated internally by lamps and covered with a protective sheet of glass, so that no one else will have the misfortune to fall in and join her in her watery grave.

More information about the pub and it's variety of ghosts look here.

The village well in The Red Lion Pub (Source)

© Alison Day Designs

End of an Era

Another inquisitive and beautiful mind, lost to the ether of time.
Like they took a piece of your heart, in your turn you too took a piece of mine into eternity.

Connect with me:
Alison Day Designss
Facebook and Facebook Page
Twitter
Instagram

Getting to know the Brits

Source via @Hellocreatives: here

Retail Therapy Fun - Alison Day Designs

In Need of Some Retail Therapy?

For fabulous designs on a selection of products...
why not visit my online shop: Alison Day Designs - Etsy  

Mosaic Fish Jewel

Re-cycle, Re-Use, Re-invent. Fish is made using papiermaché, glass, mirror pieces, and whatever comes to hand. 


For more: ©Alison Day Designs

Noorderzon Festival

The Noorderzon in my favourite annual Festival, in Groningen, The Netherlands. For more details: Noorderzon Festival

Zen-Art Sculptures & Carvings by Jacques Vesery

 Jacques Vesery: Artist/Sculptor


"Jacques’ vision begins with the way nature is repeated within the the “golden mean” or “divine proportions”. His inspiration comes from pattern and form more than actuality itself".


For more Zen-Art Sculptures & Carvings by Jacques Vesery: here

Poppy Mosaic Jewel

Poppy Mosaic Jewel (17cm x 15cm) made from papiermaché and re-cycling of bits and bobs.

©Alison Day Designs

Out to Lunch

9 Women Exhibition ~ Extended

The Exhibition of '9 Women' has been extended to 20 August.
If you've still not viewed them yet and find yourself in Groningen in
The Netherlands... details of where the exhibition can be viewed are: here

©AlisonDayDesigns

Passion

I love this...it speaks to everyone - Source: here

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…”

As to her inspiration, Lydia says she will often see an image in a newspaper or magazine, which sparks her interest. This she combines with symbolism taken from her religious affiliation, and the natural world. Even if the subject matter is of a depressing nature she attempts for a positive interpretation: “People need happy things,” she says.

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)

www.lydiajonkman.nl

First published in the Connections magazine #32 Summer 2011

Read & download issue here

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

Alison Day Designs

What's Hot, What's Not! - KATJEE Art Market

Isn’t it funny that sometimes when you actively pay more attention to certain areas of your life, it’s as if they come alive upon request. If you’re lucky, possibilities can offer themselves like locusts, and seemingly unlock like magical doors from an Alice in Wonderlandrian world, as they creak temptingly ajar. From this initial glimpse, it is your choice of follow-up action; do I push it open further and see what lies on the other side, or do I turn on my heel and choose again?

It is with this in mind, when my mobile phone went off recently, and whilst weighing up the pros and cons of picking up yet another unknown number in the display, that my intuition told me to “pick it up.” As a rule, I find being totally accessible to all and sundry by mobile exasperating, and the ensuing lottery as to whether I will pick up or not, is generally based on whether I feel like ‘playing the game’ that day with the over-motivated, opinionated, sales person or purveyor of nonsense at the other end. In this instance, I’m glad I did, as it turned out to be from one of the organizers, Martin Dölle, of the KATJEE Kunstmarkt (Art Market) in Groningen, asking me if I would like to take part in one or all of the five Art Markets, which run from May – September every year.

After a very interesting conversation, blind panic replaced euphoria; I had nothing I wanted to sell, no clue of what was required, or how much to charge, and May was far too early for me! Once I had regained my composure, I decided that it would be a smart idea to go to the May market, to answer my questions, and with a view to taking part in the September market.

Sunday 8th May turned out to be a gorgeous day for the Art Market, and I probably would have appreciated it more if I hadn’t been out dancing into the small hours the night before. Little stalls were lined up in rows like soldiers under the protective shadow of the Aa-Kerk, sporting the creations of the artists: brightly coloured canvases, creative jewellery, black and white line drawings as well as the currently hip, fused glass jewellery. Artists sat on little stools behind their stalls, or mingled with potential clientele. Prices from what I saw were reasonable, and the work would make great any occasion presents.

If you would be interested in going to one of these markets, the next Markets will be: 12 June, 10 July, 7 August and 4 September. (A little tip…I will be at the September one, as Alison Day Designs!)

For more info: www.katjee.nl  (Dutch). If you’d like more information contact, Martin Dölle.

First published in the Connections magazine #32 Summer 2011

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

©  Alison Day Designs

 

Connections Cover Summer issue #32, 2011

Cover for the Connections magazine with the theme of Passion

First published in the Connections magazine #32 Winter 2011, a publication of Connect International

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

©  Alison Day Designs

Mechanical Bride

Mechanical Bride first published in Amelia's Magazine July 2011
© Alison Day

Funky Upcycled Handbag

This handbag I found in a vintage store...A generic, black, ladies handbag, but still in good nick....It needed new life blasting into it...so that's what I did!

© Alison Day Designs

Boy Reading

© Alison Day Designs

9 Women Exhibition

Meet Scarlet from the '9 Women' Exhibition, which is still in full swing in Groningen... still not seen it them yet? More details: here

©Alison Day Designs

Graduate Fashion Week, London 2011 - Meg Cornwall

Illustration of an outfit from Meg Cornwall's collection for the Womenswear Print, at the Graduate Fashion Week, Gala Awards in London, GFW 2011 
First published in Amelia's Magazine June 2011

© Alison Day Designs

Graduate Fashion Week, London 2011 - Rory Longdon

Graduate Fashion Week, London: Rory Longdon, GFW 2011 
First published in Amelia's Magazine June 2011

© Alison Day Designs

Now and Forever

Ora E Sempre (Now and Forever) 

©Alison Day

Central Saint Martins London - BA Fashion Graduate Show 2011

Central Saint Martins, London: BA Fashion Graduate Show 2011 Review - Menswear. First published in Amelia's Magazine June 2010.

Alison Day Designs

Instagram

Magpie

Magpie:
One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, Three for a Girl, Four for a Boy, 
Five for Silver, Six for Gold, Seven for a Secret never to be told.


© Alison Day