What I Wore Today / Something A Little Different

providing i've not completely misjudged time-zones, this queued post should be appearing in your blog-roll whilst i celebrate the wedding of two friends in new zealand. i created a small edition of lino prints that they could give out to guests, created just a few days before we had to leave to catch our flight. it's been a few years since i've made a successful lino-cut so i'm pretty pleased that it worked out. happy wedding times, dave & jenni!

a week off of sorts. we're journeying to the end of a peninsula on the very west coast tomorrow, to celebrate my favourite person's birthday with campfires, marshmallows, walks & trees. as much as i like normality, i'm excited to get away from it for a bit.

travels

this lil' fox i spied at my local train station is living life on the tracks, & i feel like i have been this month too. we got back from our trip to brighton/london on saturday morning, & i've been enjoying a few days at home (nipping outside occasionally to soak up the BEAUTIFUL weather) before i go off adventuring again.

i just started packing my bag for the most spontaneous trip i've ever decided to take; a few days in maastrict in the netherlands, visiting my sister who's working there for a few weeks. having never flown/travelled out of the country by myself before, i'm feeling nervous as well as excited, but i'm glad there'll be a friendly face at the end of it, & my time away will also provide the content for the third & final installment of the silly trilogy of zines i've been working on this month. said zines will be finished within the next few weeks, & i can get started on some new things (as well as enjoy staying in one place again for a little while).

experimenting with gouache in the least experimental way possible.

shades of grey

one of the items on my list of things to do this year was experiment with colour pallets; specifically, to exercise a little more restraint when it comes to how i work with colour. i always feel a small degree of awe when i visit the websites of people who constantly work with the same limited pallet. when i'm working, i'm more like a child in a sweet shop, grabbing whatever treat feels right/is closest.

i found this beautiful image by adrienne adams via pinterest the other day. i found myself coming up with a snapshot of a narrative in my head, following the torch light through the bushes to that tiny, hidden snake on the ground. lately, i've wanted to spend some time illustrating some sort of narrative, something more than just a snapshot. adams' image reminded me of a short story i wrote when i was twelve (which, due to an overwhelming and elaborate use of adjectives in an attempt to set the scene, i'll spare you of), where i was lost in the huge public park in my hometown at night, afraid of every rustle of bushes & strange shadow (fear not, i found my way out). after spending today wandering around the forest of our new-to-us local country park, & feeling reminded of reading wildwood earlier this year, i came up with this image.

it might not seem much of an experiment, but there were a few changes in direction for me (using only one colour! drawing the outlines last! a hint of a background!). it feels good to try something new.

spent the afternoon binding some new mini-notebooks & listening to podcasts. a pile of these things is a pretty satisfying thing to hold.

this post is slightly different for me, as i've deviated from writing about things that aren't work-related over the last couple of years. however, the image above is related to what follows, so there's a connection to my usual blogging.

christmas 2011 was simultaneously my best & worst christmas (in fact, i think christmas 2012 has trumped it as best as nothing bad happened). alongside all the good stuff on the day, my left ear randomly started ringing later in the evening & it continued to do so as i lay in bed that night. dealing with the unknown when the unknown is something i can't control is quite the catalyst for my becoming an anxious wreck, so when i woke up on boxing day & the sound in my ear was still there, i began my decent into a week or so of fretting, not eating & basically solely looking forward to going to sleep, which was the only time i didn't have to listen to the constant noise.

i could go on about the situation (the doctor's predictively dismissive tone; on how i found comfort in sounds that aren't usually enjoyable, such as the washing machine, the extractor fan in the bathroom and the humming of my computer at work), but after a while i realised that the best way to deal with the noise was to keep busy & listen to lots of music & podcasts. i'm not sure whether i simply got used to it or if the ringing did actually get quieter, but for the greater part of the year i thankfully didn't really notice my tinnitus. in fact, it was mostly only audible when i was stressed out about something unrelated, & it usually quietened down again once i'd chilled out. i feel like i've been pretty lucky with the whole thing.

so why has it come to the forefront of my thoughts again? well, the last couple of days have seen the sound of the ringing being dialled up & the noise is also now available in surround-sound - joy! alongside the original ringing in my left ear, my right ear is now emitting a variation between two tones that are less likeable than the original (& i didn't even like the old ringing to begin with). however, the increased ringing has coincided with (what i think is) mild tonsillitis that i've had since mid-last-week, & i'm hopeful that the sounds will fade along with my other symptoms.

anyway, since the start of last year i've wanted to illustrate my tinnitus somehow, but i've not been sure of how to approach it without just doing a drawing of me feeling sorry for myself. then, earlier today, i listened to the latest episode of this american life, entitled mapping, that had a story about mapping ambient sounds (the kind of sounds that i originally found some solace in when my ear started ringing). you can listen to the segment here.

throughout the piece, a keyboard is used to demonstrate the notes that are emitted from objects. & i realised that the noise in my head sounds a bit like a little keyboard, constantly playing the same note. & so, the above image formed.

the concept of the story - that sounds can affect the mood of a person - is a little disturbing to someone who has no control over the noise they're subjected to. however, i'm focussing on enjoying the piece as an interesting story, rather than something to worry about. plus, i got a drawing out of it, so it's not all bad.

magazines

sharing a couple of recent pieces of editorial work i've done. i picked up a copy of bust whilst i was in toronto so i could see my illustration - for an article about building your own sound-system - in print. it was nice to be asked to do another image for them. the second image is a larger illo for time out chicago, which was a lot of fun to work on. this one originally had a deadline that was a week away, but as i was going to be heading off on holiday three days later i told them i could turn it in in a couple of evenings (after commuting to-&-from & being at my day-job). a little bit of pressure is fun! this was the end result, & i was kindly sent a couple of copies of the magazine too.

much thanks to lan truong & ian dingman for having me.

tree

sketchin'.

today, for me, as illustrated by my friend ian.

rainy day today