Hiya, I watched quite a lot of X-factor (for me) this year, it's a bit mental isn't it. The Sunday shows make me pretty angry so i try and just watch the Saturday ones, although sometimes it's easier to just watch it. Television is my friend.

Also, I actually voted for rebecca in the final because matt cardigan has a boring voice and didn't deserve to win. but tch Politics what can you do. First time i put money into reality TV since i voted for Jade Goody the first time round. And I love big brother. Anyway I'm only talking about it because I wanted to show you this drawing I did about how Louis is a loser, it is here with some other X-themed illos on Amelia's

School is nearly over for Christmas (joys) so I may have time to procrastinate some next week and bring you more art gifts. The exhaustion of confussion at being a student and a teacher at the same time has been keeping me busy in the manner of several bees, possibly a whole hive. As a generally softcore person it has mostly made me softer than softcore. je suis le pathetic. but is all good.

The facebook project has been progressing a little in betweentimes, I drew a picture of my friend Cleveland (that's him above) and he drew me back! (i was ver touched) here it is.

this is like a snapshot of my life 3 years ago when I worked with him in the cinema, and used to chill out and doodle on receipts a lot when it was quiet, and go dancing on weeknights like a student. *sigh* simpler times. It is super awesome tho and I defintely encourage other drawees to redraw.

competition winner and more gift ideas

To select the winner of the christmas card competition I used the entirely non-scientific method of alocating the enterers numbers and asking my boyfriend to pick one of them.

the winner is Abby Wright! she does drawings to, check them out.

congratulations.

I very enjoyed the answers everyone gave, mostly concerning lovingly handmade personalised gifts, and much big up of the hand-made in general. What this says about my er, online networking demographic, is that they are awesome obviously. but also arty. And there were some purchasing suggestions for the less endowed with craftiness or time.

this man shaped sleeping bag snug item is a joyfull pick, altho on the pricey lovers and very close relitives side of the spectrum.

Clare Bear cannily suggested her own handmade jewelery which is of course allways to be encouraged. The amount of awesome handmade accessories now available on the net ought to be able to fulfil any rellies tastes.
Illustrated calendars is another brilliant way to support your creatives in a christmas gift mode, this example is a delight suggested by it's maker Obara
I also wanted to post this although it is not for sale which Alice used as her example of personal handmade gift, it is a papercut based on a postcard i think, super beautiful. she should really be encouraged to make more things given how speedily her lovely fox purses sold.

(it's the most wonderful time of the year)

OK yes.
stuff and things.

scroll to the bottom of entry for competition

Once again you may purchase my beautific text based christmas cards from last year, i have plenty left, they are in packs of 8 on etsy but feel free to make a specific order of quantity and type and i will quote you happy.


I wanted to write a big ranty blog about how i hate christmas gift recommendation emails but i can't really be bothered. They annoy me in magazines and stuff too although they are usually a bit better. It's just ugh, you know, no, if i had someone in my life who wanted a digital camera or a newly released dvd, or an insulated jacket for christmas, i'm sure i would already be aware. Or for that matter a £500 teapot. no.

wait did i say i was not going to rant?

anyway my point was more that i am a big believer in supporting small businesses and charities and creatives with your christmas spends. (not just like me i mean). Rather than getting something mass produced that looks kind of unique and quirky but actually isn't.

So here are a few of my suggestions for christmas gifts that i think you should buy for other people.
for friend who enjoys hot drinks and is not a raging bull; fetching mug, helps MAG disarm unexploded ordinances. and is red.
for friend who is or is not able to speak, you can get a speach bubble felt broach by Ellie Cryer.


For any friends that like science, or have a sense of humour get Martyn Warren's new book about weird fish.
For friends who enjoy to have pretty things in front of their eyes. or who may have a passing interest in beautiful garments and where they come from, i recomend Amelia's compendium of fashion illustration. Because i am in it. obviously. but also. because you should get it. because horay for fashion illustration. And there is a pre-order offer.
for all of your friends and aquaintances you should also get a copy of Tokyo Godfathers, the greatest christmas movie ever made. It is cheap. I GUARANTEEEEEE it will give you oodles of christmas cheer.

other products are available.

actually, you know what? i'm going to have a little competition.

please post your alternative or just generally awesome christmas gift ideas bellow for a chance to win a pack of my 8 beautiful illustrated christmas cards.

you can also be entered by tweeting a link to this blog and making your gift suggestion,
use #robinsgiftcomp so i can find your entry

you have until the end of Sunday 5th December midnight GMT

illustration of Vessels, for Amelia's - don't think it's posted yet, it has shiny collage and ink. yum.

I want to talk a bit about some cool stuff.

one of the good things about the PGCE (the bad things include it being super exhausting and confusing - but there's more good than bad) is that it's making me expose myself to a load more art than usual. This should continue when I'm teaching which is super cool.

Most of the big galleries have special private views for teachers where you can see paying exhibitions for free, yes please.

Also, I'm like, burrowing into the internets looking for hot examples of tonal graduation or reductive lino or aztec patterns or whatever that I can show to the kids and be like, check out this awesome use of tonal graduation. do that. I am happy that I know about awesome art blogs like brown paper bag, Ballad Of featured, Illustration Rally, to name but a few.

I've seen awesome new inspirationstuff like Liesl Pfeffer's awesome photo collages
Lulu Allison's slightly creepy but beautiful papercuts
Anna See's lovely bird lino prints (i loves the birds you know)

I also went to the National Gallery yesterday on an inset thing, and fell in love with Van Gogh's Two Crabs. Little bit more famous. Check out those colours and tonal definitions tho. hot.


While I was there I saw the temporary free instalation of Clive Head's London paintings - if you like London I thoroughly recomend it. super awesome. Makes the point properly that painting wins over photography really, and that London is awesome also.

the lovely and talented Stacie Swift tagged me in this "meme" a while ago.

so now i have time to procrastinate a little. i will do it. They are mostly un-answerable questions for me, so i have given several answers.

Sorry is long. I have put in some videos to keep you engaged. but not over-stimulated. (that's a teaching joke)

1. What is your earliest memory?

I don't know obviously. I remember having a huge fire guard like a child cage and playing in that in the house i lived in till i was about 6. I remember going to a nursery with a giant teddy bear and a cool climbing frame and crying and crying because i wasn't the centre of attention. I remember singing I should be so lucky, without knowing what it was, at Jill's house the night my sister was born. probably.



2. What is your favourite meal to eat and also to cook?

I love eating out, but I am a disaster at ordering food in restaurants, it stresses me out and i get food envy. So my favourite meal to eat is one where i am amazed that i have actually managed to order something I really like. Certain tuna steaks spring to mind. And malasian food. And almost anything with chocolate. Or something cooked for me by someone I love.

My favourite food to cook is food for friends and family and sharing new things i have discovered with them. Or experimenting with mushrooms when Alex is out.

Sometimes when i am cooking I like to pretend I am Matt Prston off of Masterchef Australia.



3. Where is your favourite place in the world?

In bed, when i know i don't have to get up yet.
Brighton's North Laines on Christmas Eve.
Luang Probang walking in the market in the evening, enjoying a Watermellon Shake.
London, generally.
In a cinema, watching a film.

4. Who do you admire and why?

People who go through shit, and come out the other side smiling, not because they are strong, but because they are positive. And kind people. And people who are able to see the big picture and the small picture at the same time. People who make Art that is wise, and true, and pretty.

Dave McKean, Stephin Merritt, Josie Long, Los Bros Hernandez




5. What inspires you?

Walking around London, nice boots and nice bicycles, birds - allways.

6. Where would you take a visitor to your home town? Any hidden gems?

In Henfield, my actual home town, I would take them on a nice country walk, to a jumble sale, to a pub, or 10. That would be all of them.
In London, where I live, right now I would take them to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Show, probably take them for some Ping Pong, go to St James' Park to see the birds, walk around a bit, see some cool buildings. I would show them Exchange Square on the way to Shoreditch.

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?


Liz Lemon.

Or a bintarung.

And so to carry on the meme here are my questions:

1.Who was your favourite toy when you were little, and are you still in touch?
2.Who is your favourite celebrity chef? and why?
3.How old do you really feel, on the inside?
4.What celebrity do you find really unnatractive, other than Sarah Jessica Parker?
5.What magazines and newspapers do you habitually read?
6.If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, what would you have?
7.What is your favourite song to secretly dance round the room to on your own?

they are different. you have to make up your own.

My questions are directed at:

JuneSees, Paul Shinn, Alice, Ellie Cryer

I done a recipe illustration for They Draw and Cook it prob won't be up there for a while as I assume they will have been inundated with the old submissions since they announced a little bit of a book deadline, but i am going to share it with you here anywho

it's a bit mini, so obviously in the actual full size piece you can read the words.

mwah

Claire.

project update alert

ok I have been a bit slow with the facebook project recently, due to being massively busy in the manner of a bee. I am getting back on track tho having now completed my first 50 drawings!

miniature celebration: woo!

Claire (above) is the first of my friends to participate in the project actively as invited by requesting both which photo and what style she wanted to be drawn in. I hope more people do as it adds an extra dimension to the work, being a little bit more about what we give to each other as friends in the world and how we interact on the internet, plus i have to think less, obviously.

lalala tralala trooloo lala

I forgot to post this image when i did it for the Biba preview before Fashion Week Amelia's Magazine


I like it a lot actually, sometimes you know you're not going to be able to do something justice if you try and be too accurate, so creating an impression is the way to go, which is this case paid off.

I wrote an essay at the weekend. go me. And i ate an enormous almond croissant. In the Rain.

It was all about my art education to date, formal and informal, so here are a few blasts from my past to remind you i was allways awesome, not just now.

Heylow.

I want to talk a bit about some awesome stuff that i have seen and done recently.

I went to the Cicus Bookazine blog slam with Amelia ('s magazine) which was a somewhat unique experience. Can something be somewhat unique? yes. I wrote all about it and posted my sketchings here.

this is Bangs and a Bun - one of the contributing readers.

Then on the PeeGeeCeeEee I've been doing some arty project work with kids like this awesome London cityscape they made.
I am not very good at being a teacher yet, but it's early days.

Then on Thursday I attended the Make Space Studios open studios to help launch a design company I'm, i think the best word is affiliated, with Splash Graphic Design.

I love open studio events, (tho I have no desire to go to all of them - you can have too much of a good thing) you get all the different types of creatives hanging out together and you get exposed to things you wouldn't have seen otherwise. They're better than degree shows I think, although the standard of work is just as variable, because everyone that's there is really determined, or at least successful.

Some fun illustrators like Katie Leamon who does, you know, like birds and swirls and pretty stuff. I don't know whether Tom Leamon is her lover or her brother, I could find out but I prefer not to, but I super love his big eye prints check this out


hot eh?

I also got talking to some nice film makers at Unthank who are super aces. here is one of their videos.

Toy Cars & Grave Yards - an unthank ident from unthank on Vimeo.

I get a bit confused when i start putting other people's who are not me work up here, so here is something wot i made to finish off.

it is of celebrities.

alright Chickens?
feeling friendly? feeling comfy? feeling flat?

this is still my all time favourite song to stop what your doing for a few minutes and recharge your batteries by jumping manicly around the bedsit



can't wait to see what he does for this year.

Here are 2 pictures I did when I was feeling naughty enough to enter a competition, it's to coincide with the comics of my favourite ever book (and film ) the Last Unicorn and the winners will be in the actual comic so I could be reaching many whimsical geeks like me worldwide. so fingers crossed for that.

I am thinking about a realatively major website overhaul. In my copius free time of course, but watch the space that is here.

London Fashion Week Illustration of Carmen Secareanu for Amelia's

I need to work on my Work/Life balance.

I need to stop having so much of a life.

Honestly it's an issue but i'm in massive denial at the moment, 3 weeks into my year long intensive Art and Design PGCE I'm still acting pretty much the same as when I was a dirty freelancer, I need to choose aspects of my lifestyle to cut back on or i will probably break down or fail the course. fun times.

Basically, I may have to not actually watch the entirety of the second season of Australia's Masterchef that's on Watch at the moment. Also I may have to actually learn to say the word no when I'm asked to do work, especially unpaid work. And I suppose I could spend less time looking at pictures of birds and shoes on the internet. maybe. And not go out at all.

I'm not sure which of these would be harder.

I'm not sure I can do it.

hi hi hi, busy busy times,
I've been doing some sketches and reviews for London Fashion week tho pretending I'm on Fashion TV, aces, you can see them here and here.backstage sketch from the Truimph International Awards - i got some free pants. i am wearing them now. bit small.

Pierre Garroudi illustration

Pierre Garroudi catwalk sketches

Here is a drawing of the Arcade Fire for Amelia's magazine
Here is the drawings i did when we went to see a Prom.

This train terminates at Highbury and Islington, all change I repeat All Change. I moved house again, yes kids, I moved NORTH OF THE RIVER

As I assumed I have instantly become 17% cooler. (and 12% more arrogant). I’ve quit the day job and soon I will be embarking on a full time Art and Design PGCE course at the Institute of education.

So I have to stop swearing.

Blerg.

But it’s the thing again with the waiting for the internets to come in. A month ago I was in Spain for 10 days and internetless proper, it was hard for the first few days but I got into it. Now is not so bad as I have blackberry access and there’s always the option of lugging my novelty oversized laptop to a wifi pub or cafe l’internet. But still. Adds up to a poor online presence and little or no of the blogging.

Here is a painting I did of the house I was staying at in Espagna, it was roughly a million miles from everywhere. Poifect relaxy days and family time.

But just cos I’ve not been around much don’t think I haven’t been, you know, doing stuff. Before I left the South London massive I went to see my old friend Rokhsan at Tracked in Tooting, which was pretty Ace. Because I’ve been meaning to draw her for ages and I know her and stuff the self imposed sub conscious pressure of it all made my drawings a bit crap, this is the best one, I wanted to draw her full length to get in her awesome shoes

You honest to goodness owe it to yourself to check out her music. It’s super catchy and life affirming. I refuse to use any musicy adjectives to describe it because I’ll probably get it wrong, so you just have to listen to it yourselves.

Before she played this band Alms from Bristol were also on. I really liked their song Simply which you can hear on their myspace. They kind of reminded me of Kimya Dawson but I couldn’t tell you why.

Chris

I’ve been pressing on with the facebook project and have now drawn all the Chrises. Although I’m still a way off the end of the Cs. The project was featured by Balled Of Magazine last week as well, they always say the nicest things. It would be enough to make me blush if I were the blushing type and not the alabaster tanless type. I bought some half price Nicola Roberts fake eyelashes, but I havn’t worn them yet.

Forthcoming expect lots of nice fashion stuff as London Fashion Week rolls round again. And some more political stuff should be on the horizon too.

In recent journalising I did a (mostly) nice write up of the Cycling in London Exhibition and I also did an interview of Tigz Rice about her new book Bitten.

Last week I went to the Comica Comiket thing in Battersea Park, I met Paul Shinn and Cliodhna again, made pathetic fangirly conversation with Philippa Rice and oblique zine conversation with Mark Pawson. And I saw Paul Gravett, although I did not speak to him. I only took £10 on purpose so I didn’t buy much.

I had the same issue as with the Zine fairs I’ve been to – trying to judge books by their covers basically, as the likelihood of the actual writing in these things being super cynical and depressing is very high. Because, you know, it’s quite depressing being a massive geek and social outcast I imagine. Ha. But then there are really cool people who do this kind of thing as well, but trying to tell the difference with a quick flick through on a table is hard.

The actual hyper comics exhibition in the Pumphouse Gallery is really good though. I think the idea is all about taking Comics into new directions, literally, like different story strands. You can’t really do this in the book format without the old turn to page 156 if you think Joey should slay the monster, turn to page 178 if you think Joey should have a nice cup of tea format (although that is awesome obviously).

So the comics were all over the walls. Warren Pleece’s Montague Terrace has joyfully unlikely simultaneous timestreams, and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey has big complex multistrand puzzle type stories on big squares that take up the whole wall. There are 3 pieces about 3 aspects of The Archivist’s life, all aspects of which pretty much reflect a trippy yet compartmentalized view of life. Very fitting for the format, very very geeky, most definitely addictive reading in a way which again sort of reflects the total focus that these activities encourage. I think, well, maybe that’s not what he meant by it. I’m going to be an Ace art teacher eh?

The awesome awesome one was Dave McKean’s The Rut though. Well, I was expecting it to be super awesome, so maybe that affected my judgement a bit, but nah. Just Awesome. Really haunting, and evocative, looking at how stories branch in different ways and a moment can effect someone’s whole life, whichever way it pans out. Also. There is a bright red stags head mounted on the wall. You can’t get much better than that.

here is a collage with fish.

I haven't had much time for watching Big Brother these last few weeks

my boss had me on 9 to 5s at Dayjob#1 - how do normal people do it? guess i'm not normal people tho. who is? oh wait. dolly parton. right.

here's a picture of people, me on the left in the boots, Ali and Anna of TwoMagpiesFind are in the middle, at the launch thing for Fragments. I wrote two journalisms about it, one for Windsor local Beat magazine, which was a bit serious, and about my art and stuff, and another one for Amelia's Magazine which was a bit less serious, and about birds and Windsor and stuff.

this is a super budget phone photo of one of the paintings i did for the show - it has puffins!
Puffins are mental, how have they not died out yet! it's not survival of the cutest!


Also, what has been happening is I have been working on my ethical fashiony stuff for that Amelia's Compendium open brief. its too late you missed it.

I went to The Big Swish (it's where you swap your clothes but not with any naked) last week, (it was very fun, although there was Primark related controversy) anyway, I almost brought home a playsuit. almost. i didn't actually. probably for the best.

I forgot to write in my bit about me for the submission how much I love drawing pitcures of people taking photos of themselves, and of groups posing for photos. They are so ace. I love how you can go out one time, and on facebook there's this photo of you looking well chummy with all these people you didn't even properly meet. And I love everyone pulling thier photo faces, almost as much as i love catching people so not making their photo faces.



anyway everything is ok because i have drawn Nelson Mandelephant
please do not hink there is any kind of political meaning to him, it's purest wordplay. He came up in conversation at a grown up cocktail party come geeky sleepover I attended at the home of my cousin in Coventry. (see i told you I has had exotic adventures) which was awesome.

other adventures I have had recently include going to see some sshhhhhhhhakespeare at the globe theatre which i had not done before. That was Ace. there were lots of fat jokes.

Also I went to see Inception FOR FREE (due to my genius of being the most geeky out of 4 people!) it is super good, i recommend it a lot. love the ending - so cheeky!

Also i made a cheesecake. that was a while ago now but still a first. oh, before that i went strawberry picking as well! that's where the cheesecake had its genesis.

And I went to a pub quiz.

And i went to THE GYM.

that might be all of the adventures.

I am up to the Chrises in the facebook project. there are 8 of them. beaten by Daves with 10 tho.

I also did this interview with the amoresome Tigz for the magazine d'Amelia.

Oh ALSO. I am moving house again soon. NORTH OF THE RIVER. saints preserve us. i shall become trendy automatically i assume.