Saint Mary's Church, Stafford

Further photographing opportunities with my grandmother in Stafford. Inspired me enough to FINISH MY COMIC ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF TIME AND SPACE. Yep, that's right, I finished it! and the portfolio is looking great. Just need to wait for boots to stop pissing around with my photographs and print them already, and then the work I've been doing since I stopped going to uni will be all finished and beautifully presented.

These are from a little photography adventure I've began to take with my grandmother. She's been submitting photos to competitions for as long as I can remember so it's nice to have the chance to learn from her experiences and strengthen family ties through art. She reckons the top two are my best ones, but I still can't help but like all the others. Think I might crop the top one and then have it printed out really big.

Landscape is bloody gorgeous up north.

Here is my inadequate doodle response. The two squiggles are cows from a very long distance, and I got distracted while drawing the wall bit.

Comic update post

Been thinking and working on ideas for comic project, this is its most recent incarnation. part of me feels like I need to make it into several pages instead of just one canvas. Considering making a long wall-hanging. The blank triangles are where I've stared placing my glass pieces to work them into the composition. 

I kinda have visions of black netting and hand-stitched writing and squares and glass, hand-generated typography that becomes part of the story instead of just telling the story. 

Starting to wonder if I even need to create an angel narrator. I might use the research I've got so far into angels as motifs and collage instead.

I feel really inspired by the people I've met and the techniques I've learned during my year away from university, and I feel like I should bring these feelings and ideas together. I started out months and months ago reading up on cosmology and visiting observatories, drawing churches and researching the stories and language I was brought up with.

When I started experimenting with materials in the beginning of January this year I stepped away from the ideologies and started creating my own visual language. Now I know how this piece is going to feel. Gothic, arts and crafts, cute with serious undertones.

Recently went back to the Cultural Sisters to make some more flat glass pieces. When I saw the glass from before, they looked like test pieces and I just wanted to make more and experiment with shapes and colours. Because of how much glass can change in firing, I'm not totally sure what to expect yet but I'm looking forward to seeing the finished results. They look bigger than the last few things I've made and use more bluey purpley colours with a hint of green, moving away from red completely. 

Also this is the dog I've been looking after this week, because this post has far too much writing in it and needs more pictures!

...oatcakes

Best graffiti I've seen in stoke for ages

First Firing

My grandfather's kiln is now up and loaded and ready for the first test firing tomorrow. It was built in 1987 by Potterycrafts, and I have no idea if it still works properly. I'm excited because it could be the start of something amazing. I'm scared that I'm going to burn the garage down.

It only fires to one temperature (about 1020°C) and the temperature is controlled by a dial that reads 0-100 (percentage of power input).

First firing schedule is going to be: 

• around a minimum of 6 hours at 6%

• 2 hours increasing to 24%

• 2 hours increasing to 54%

• as long as it takes to reach peak temperature (100% cut-off)

Should hopefully be your bog-standard bisque firing with any luck. See how it goes.

Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2012

Scary farm we stayed at, and yes, that barn was full of bats

issa bird!

Drew this bad boy off and on during a night where I may have imbibed three beers, tequila, vodka and orange juice, two glasses of cava, two rum and cokes, and more glasses of sangria than I could remember to count. Coloured it in while hungover. Was probably thinking of a combination of these two birdies from Amerton:

Roosting, and other roostery activities

Looking through some old photos of birds I took at Amerton Farm for another canvas idea. Have a look at this little guy though, if I was ever going to attempt to hug a chicken, I think it'd be this one. <3

OH MY GOD LOOK AT THIS GIANT MOTH!

I have an unreasonable phobia of moths...AND THIS MOTHERFUCKER HAS A WINGSPAN OF 20CM AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Easily the worst thing I have seen all week. Thanks internet

Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way

Made me happy to open my curtains.

Hard hitting daffodil facts that I did not know until I read about them on the almightly truth that is Wikipedia:

1. They are poisonous
2. They are used to make drugs to combat alzheimers
3. They symbollise wealth and good fortune in some eastern cultures and are associated with Chinese New Year.
4. They symbollise vanity in the west. Or Easter. Or Wales. Or Unrequited Love. I'm not entirely sure.

Based on the academic assumption that wikipedia is made up of horrible unfounded rumours and baby seal clubbers I'm just going to stick with "they made me happy this morning"

This sofa is revolting

It used to be a normal sofa that died of old age. Now it has come back from the dead to haunt my house. It has the ability to give you lice, steal your personal belongings and get your clothes dirty by sitting on it. If anybody has any advice on how to kill zombie furniture, it would be greatly appreciated.

English Are Bastards

I have no idea who wrote this terribly spelt graffiti that I found in a train station in the south of France, but I was charmed enough to make it my desktop background for a number of months.

Normally I am not the patriotic sort, but for some self-depricating reason, this graffiti makes me proud to be English? Hooray for being a bastard!

It's an armpit!

Possibly the most intimate-looking picture I've ever taken. People look so different up close.

EAT ME

Was planning to upload some lovely old doodles but mein scanner ist kaput for now. Here's some lovely drugs instead. The top ones are my dad's and the bottom ones are mostly mine apart from the cocodamol =) I'm jealous because my dad's are more colourful than mine.

Look at this lil guy! He's all rainbow and poofy!