Latest Posts by jen-collins - Page 3
i've barely seen my favourite person over the last week or so & i miss him, so i guess i'll just look at this mediocre portrait of him instead.
we went walking around some forests looking for birds & waterfalls today. clambered around pathways, listened to rushing rivers, saw nesting peregrine falcons. it finally feels like spring. this image is from 2009, but it rings true once a year.
the concept of flying, through the sky, to the furtherest possible country on earth is a strange thing when you start to think about it. the first weekend of this month saw me travel for over a day to get to new zealand (losing several hours of my birthday in the process, wah), & it's a long journey to mostly stay in one place for. towards the end of our second flight, all i could think of was how glorious it would be to lie down. i sketched haggard self-portraits, a woman embracing a cloud. as someone with only the options of sitting down & occasionally standing up on a crowded plane, the next best thing to freely frolicking around that i could do was draw it. in short, that's where the above ladies came from. flailing around, naked, carefree. drawn at a way higher altitude that almost all of my work. & now they're one big romping dance party that you can use (in two colours: one, two) to decorate your desktops. enjoy. (for personal use only, please. remember to download rather than hotlink).
currently waiting on a flight in christchurch so thought i'd share this; i've got a couple of things in issue two of sad girls. much thanks to lovely leah goren for having me.
Jen Collins in Sad Girls Issue 2
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!
another little something i made at my ceramics class - a raku vase that i gave to my lovely mama as an early mother's day gift. full disclosure: i found out that the vase doesn't hold water well after taking this photo; the clay absorbs it & then it slowly comes out the vase's base. you live & learn!
i'm pretty pleased to now have this print in my shop. i created this image last autumn (the message "hang out with some plants" can be found on the prints that will be given out by the project) for advice to sink in slowly, & i've been planning to create a poster of it as a way of offering a piece of larger art for a small cost ever since. finally, it's on sale, costing £5/$7.50. if you've been looking to fill up some space on your walls with a lady wandering through some plants, then today's your lucky day.
i'm in the middle of editing some photos i took of my screen-printing process - it's kind of difficult to be the one doing the printing whilst using the camera! anyway, the above is one of the better images i got. it's just as well i was only using black ink, as i am the worst at deciding on colours to use; ALL OF THEM is often a bad decision in hindsight.
i've been doing a ceramics class since the start of the year & it is so good. as someone who has always found working on things that aren't two dimensional quite daunting, i've wanted to try ceramics for a little while; being able to add & remove clay at will is a reassuring process. i've found that i sometimes spend less time on individual pieces when it comes to drawing - partially due to practice & intention, but at times as a result of impatience. i wanted to approach working with clay with more willingness to deliberate over what i'm doing, to not rushing things & to embrace spending time on a piece (as well as embracing mistakes - i consciously do this with drawing, & things that have obviously been made by hand are the best). perhaps i'll even transfer this process back to illustration. anyway, for now, here are a few pieces made with some techniques i've learned. it's been fun to focus on the methods & on learning something, as well as making tangible objects (& a mess at times). i'm excited to see what comes next.
as mentioned a few posts ago, i took part in this year's fun a day dundee, where participants are encouraged to do something creative every day for the month of january, culminating in an exhibition full of everyone's work. i opted for drawing a dancing lady as my daily task, throwing a variety of shapes to a song you can't hear (i like to think it might be this). i've included a selection of my favourites above, but you can see the whole thing here.
a little something i put together for the nice folks over at creative dundee for their next pecha kucha night. i'd been wanting to try something like this visually for a little while, & overlapping plants with pencils growing from the ground ended up being the perfect chance to experiment. after working on a giant mural for the couple of days prior to making this, it was super nice to sit down at my desk, draw tiny plants & take advantage of the "undo" button in photoshop whenever anything didn't quite work out.
i'd been hoping to sit down & write about this last weekend but the end of january/start of february have been so busy that this is my first "day off" for a few weeks - the main reason being a mural i've been working on for the UK restaurant chain zizzi. after submitting roughs at the end of last year, buying up materials & then spending a good few hours transferring those original ideas from paper to the walls of a corridor, it felt good to step back & see everything completed. the restaurant, found in the building behind GoMA in royal exchange square in glasgow, used to house a bank & telephone exchange; two of the inspirations behind the interior design as well as my wall space. i've posted a few little sneaky snaps on instagram, but if you want to see the whole thing you'll just have to head down there once it opens next weekend.
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.
have decided to take part in fun a day dundee this year - i'm going to draw a girl throwing shapes every day in january. here are the first three.
time for a new year sale! this year, alongside 15% percent off your order (just enter code "HELLO2013" when you checkout) i've also sprinkled a few extra discounts around the shop. so if there's something you've had your eye on for a while, now's the time to snap it up - sale ends mon 7 january. GO!
one last drawing for 2012. happy new year, friends. may you see it in with the people you like the most & with your beverage of choice in hand.
makin' some thank you cards. i have some available here should you need some too.
i've been pretty lazy with my camera this year. flickr has become merely an image host, & i've not adorned my new facebook account with photographic documentation of all my adventures. however, i'm still using instagram for capturing & sharing day-to-day things. above are some niceties from december (i promise i do more than food & shoegazing).
season's greetings
december! where did you go? this month ended up being busy in the best way possible: a successful craft fair at the start of the month, an exciting & large scale opportunity to plan for, little adventures & seeing friends in edinburgh, dundee & london plus, of course, getting ready to hang with my family over christmas & tie up a bunch of loose ends before the new year hits.
have a lovely holiday season, whatever, wherever & however you celebrate.
last posting dates
oh man, i can't quite believe how close we are to the end of the year already. i feel reasonably organised (so far...) regarding the festive season for a change, so figured i'd help you, dear reader, feel the same (maybe) by letting you know the last posting dates for my shop:
tue 4 december: anywhere not listed below mon 10 december: canada, eastern europe & usa tue 11 december: western europe mon 17 december: uk
you'll need to order by 4pm GMT on these days to ensure i can hit the post office before it closes. if you order before these dates & need things posted out asap then just let me know & i'll do what i can. okay? okay. GO.
more bones
hey, remember that new postcard set i mentioned? well, this is it. you can snap one up here.
bones
we took a short trip to paris in october & while we were there we visited les galerie de paléontologie. this place was amazing, & certainly one of my favourite museums i've ever visited. the first floor (the best) was just row after row & case after case of animal skeletons, with some organs & oddities in jars thrown in for good measure. it was so good, & it was a rad way to spend hallowe'en.
i've come away from some cultural experiences like this feeling a bit disappointed of late. whilst i think museums ought to do what they can to grab the interest of young minds, it drives me nuts when wonderful buildings full of extraordinary things turn into one big interactive & somewhat patronising exhibit for children. that doesn't mean i'm not a sucker for a well designed & relevant learning game every so often, but this place was stripped back to its bare bones (PUN!) yet there was a ten minute queue to get in, & it was full of families (i think i saw one other couple there without kids). i would have queued for longer & it'd have been worth the wait. i hate to sound complainy, especially when pulling in audiences on a crappy budget is already a challenge that cultural organisations face, but that's how i feel.
anyway, in short, if you ever visit paris you've got to go to this place. also, i was originally blogging so i could tell you about the new postcard set (i'll post about it another time, but it's for sale here) i illustrated that was inspired by the museum, but then i got distracted.
new blue
rather pleased with my new bags! black cats on a blue cotton tote; snap one up here.
moon face
if there had been an award for most impractical costume at the halloween party i went to, i'd undoubtably have won.
what i wore today / something a little different
tried something a little different today, technique-wise (largely inspired by miss emma trithart, check out her shiny new website). i really like the textures & the results of haphazardly piecing together individual components. the outcome doesn't feel quite right though, possibly because it's so different to my usual & not entirely what i had in my head beforehand (& i'm not used to not using more black/outlines in my work), but it was fun all the same.
you can see the full image here.
35mm
i finally got around to adding photos from my trip to flickr. i took my old 35mm practika that used to belong my my dad; i hadn't actually used it for a couple of years, which certainly shows. it was so nice to get some images developed after so long however (despite the price), & these are my only real physical souvenir from the trip so i'm grateful that they came out. you can see the rest of them here (towards the bottom).
as a side note, i'm surprised by how much i genuinely miss toronto. i'd never been so sad to leave somewhere before in my life.