Latest Posts by jen-collins - Page 4
prints on sale
just a note to say that my new prints were delivered early & are now on sale: botanic I, botanic II, the botanic package & the bison.
print pre-orders
i'm pretty excited to finally have these two prints up for pre-order in my shop! after a bit of a delay, botanic I & botanic II are now on sale. these images are two of my favourite things i've done in recent times - i don't often put my own work up in my flat, but i'd rather like to get these two framed & on the wall. you can buy each print individually or buy both for a discounted price.
alongside these two brand new prints, i'm also bringing back a print from a long-sold-out edition in digital form. i often get reprint requests for a few items i've run out of, but i don't have much interest in bringing many of them back, mostly due to feeling that the image doesn't reflect my current work/style/thoughts/feelings. however, i've always had a soft-spot for this little bison, & am pleased to offer a new version of it.
today, for me, as illustrated by my friend ian.
rainy day today
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.
TO/NY + others in between
we just returned from what ended up being the best trip i've ever taken. a week in toronto & a week in new york, which also included visits to haliburton, new haven, salem & boston. despite a bout of jet-lag that feels more like a two day hangover, i'm going to attempt to summarise the trip before my terrible memory forgets some of the things that i want to remember.
TO: pre-travel nerves & crappy BA service at edinburgh airport · good films & no sleep thanks to a group of brummies on the flight from london to toronto · meeting our wonderful transatlantic friend at pearson · fighting 22 hours of no sleep/humidity & still triumphing (with beginners luck) at blokus · witnessing alan drive an automatic car on the other side of the road, both for the first time · heading north in a fiat 500 to "halibut town" according to alan's auto correct · CORN (it's awesome) · WE SAW A BEAR · ian's lovely family, a gang of dogs & late evening lake swims · beers & chat around the fire · bugs like biting alan, apparently · canoeing up kennisis river · more swims, grilled corn & beer · paddling back to the cabin down the river & across the lake · jalapeño poppers with fake bacon · beers & board games · back to toronto with naomi behind the wheel · a slow wander around kensington market, with stops at wanda's pie in the sky, last temptation & good egg · ICED CAPP · baseball, soccer baseball & beers in the park · home for some drinks on the deck until the small hours · a caesar = gross, sorry ian · inferior frisbee syndrome (ours didn't light up) · beers, illustration chat & alan falling asleep in the park · delicious french toast for breakfast at the rustic owl · hanlan's point is a nudist beach you guys · spot the scottish person in the sun *wilt* · ferry to toronto island · frisbee & swimming in lake ontario · visiting the church of hockey or something? · a pitcher too many with alan, ian & john · an early morning & a hangover · one last visit to tim hortons · bye TO, hi NY
NY: tiniest plane · OH GOD WHY IS IT SO HOT · finally finding our cute little airbnb apartment in park slope, brooklyn · accidentally trying to get into the upstairs neighbour's place · sampling poutine at last · beer & board-games at skylark · a much needed lie-in · wander through prospect park to get to the brooklyn museum · hanging out with leah, dylan & baby moses · too many beers. just too many · filming alan asleep on the subway & not remembering much of the journey home · hungover. the worst · practically crawling to grand central to get the train to new haven · hello conneticut · hanging with tuesday, yelena, pete & lil' mischka in their beautiful new apartment · first night with no beers, thank goodness · mischka stealing pillow space & kneading alan's face in the night · road trip to massachusetts! · bunghole liquors. oh yes · meeting the lovely elise (& yoshimi the bunny) · life alive & its semi-erotic dish names (anyone for a hot & healthy bachelor?) · train to boston · boston is rainy · seeeeals · elise & tuesday's floating heads · finding out salem has not one but two bunghole liquors · impromptu sleepover at the snow residence · driving back to new haven accompanied by 90's pop music · time to return to ny · checking into our cute little hotel, offloading the bags & heading out into the city · visiting the 9/11 memorial site, which has changed so much throughout all my visits to ny · early night, long sleep · delicious brunch at good enough to eat · wandering around the museum of natural history, learning about forests · oh hey they have tim hortons here too · shopping for comics & graphic novels at jim hanley's universe (have done so on every visit) · vegan korean food at franchia · rooftop bar beers · last minute city wandering on our final day · quick walk across central park in the ridiculous heat · home time. sad face.
so that was pretty long. i'm not expecting anyone to spend their time deciphering the details, but i do want to highlight the people who made our trip way better than we could have by ourselves: ian turner (i love & miss toronto way more than i thought i could thanks to this guy); leah goren & dylan ousley (super talented & lovely people who i'm so happy we got to meet); tuesday bassen, yelena bryksenkova & pete gamlen (new haven got lucky with this bunch); & elise towle snow (rad lady who i've wanted to hang out with for so long! yes!).
i'm picking up a few rolls of film from our trip tomorrow & will share more once i've got them uploaded.
meanwhile
bit of silence here as i work on some images for other people. currently in the midst of getting some new prints done, which is taking a little time as i try to fine-tune the final outcome in terms of colour & size. slowly getting there. will also be bringing back an oft-requested image that i sold out of some time ago, once it looks right in digitally-printed format.
in other news, i'm up to day eighty over on girl faces. you can read a nice little post on the project over on the fox is black.
botanic
after a slight break from drawing, i started inking this morning with a bit of a shaky hand. turns out this was in my favour however, & i took the opportunity to loosen up a bit. we visited glasgow's botanic gardens yesterday & now i just want to draw a whole lot of plants.
in other news, my website got a bit of an update last week. there are a couple of new things still to be added already, but this'll do for now.
new cards in the shop
got a whole bunch of new cards in the shop today. subjects covered include birthdays, babies & bikes. it's been a while since i've made any cards but i wanted to illustrate a range of occasions with more than just the usual text approach i take. i'm pretty happy with how they turned out & hope you like them too.
today's girl face is girl face #50! i don't know how long i'll end up doing the project for but fifty feels like some sort of milestone. above is one from just over a week ago - i have my favourites & she's one of them.
dribbblin'
contrary to what this blog might portray, i've been pretty busy recently, but since everything is mid-way to complete there's not been much to share over here. thankfully there's a little site called dribbble, which lets you share snippets of what you're working on. a pretty neat way to let people know what you're up to without giving the game away.
summer sale!
havin' a little summer sale over in my shop until friday. hoping that the coupon code name might coax the sun out from wherever it's hiding. enter HELLOSUMMER at checkout & get 15% off, hurrah.
umbrella objective
a couple of months ago i was invited to draw on an umbrella for umbrella objective, which was part of gibson street gala's art fusion in the west end of glasgow. although i missed the final parade, you can see some images that photographer erika stevenson took on the day.
perpetual bicycle
new in the shop: perpetual bicycle notebooks, screen-printed & bound by yours truly. i like them so much i'm even keeping one for myself.
earthly delights
if you're anywhere near minneapolis then you should probably do yourself a favour & visit light grey art lab; as well as it sounding like a pretty great place, they've got an exhibition on at the moment featuring a ridiculously good selection of artists & illustrators, including some of my favourites (somehow i snuck in there).
the garden of earthly delights is curated by ms tuesday bassen & mr pete gamlen. it just opened on friday & runs until 13 july. as someone who currently spends twelve hours a week commuting through the scottish countryside on a train, my piece (above) is inspired by about how much i'd prefer to be out in the forests and fields rather that headed towards an office at 70 miles per hour.
i'll post my piece for this soon.
The Garden of Earthly Delights
An exhibition of original work by 20 illustrators and artists from across the globe, showing at the Light Grey Art Lab in Minneapolis, MN, USA.
The show is curated by fellow illustrators Tuesday Bassen and Pete Gamlen.
The show opens Friday June 15th and is open to the public until July 13th.
Links to the 20 Illustrators and Artists participating in the show below…
Brittany Burton, Gemma Correll, Giulia Sagramola, Hattie Newman, Jean De Wet, Jen Collins, Jing Wei, Kaye Blegvad, Laurie Rollitt, Leah Reena Goren, Lizzy Stewart, Mary Kate McDevitt, Olimpia Zagnoli, Paul Layzell, Peter Gamlen, Sarah McNeil, Stacey Rozich, Tim Lahan, Tuesday Bassen, Umberto Mischi and Yeji Yeti Yun
studio
something new
started a new blog. i recently decided to exercise my portrait skills (mainly as any ladies i draw somehow end up looking like me) & as a result, girl faces was born.
re-carve
if at first you don't succeed, carve another stamp.
sister
everything i've been working on for the past few months has been in black & white, so i thought i'd add just a little colour to one of my sleeping on the sleeper images.
(thank you to anyone who purchased some! if you have no idea what i'm talking about, head here.)
sleeping on the sleeper
after three trips, two months & lots of drawing, my sleeping on the sleeper trilogy of zines are now on sale! so happy & pleased to finally have these all printed & bound. apart from a couple of images, none of these illustrations can be found anywhere else. so if you fancy reading about my various trips to london, brighton & maastrict, head on over to the shop. you can either buy them individually or get all three for the price of two. what a steal!
sacrilege
we took some time out over the past couple of days to take advantage of this year's glasgow international festival of visual art. as you'd expect i've seen some things i've like & some i haven't, but jeremy deller's sacrilege - a huge, blow-up replica of stonehenge - was an unadulterated, no-frills source of FUN. just like the druids wanted.
hello bedroom
lately this blog has mostly been about drawing & galavanting around (both good things!), so here's a post about something different; home.
as previously mentioned, we've had a bit of an unplanned but much needed spring clean recently. as a result, our dwellings are clutter-free in a way they've never been before. lots of things were thrown out or donated to charity shops, our total number of art school portfolios lying around went from five to one (finally! so much recycling!) & we bought some new furniture. our bedroom is pretty much "finished" (apart from the fact that the contents of our wardrobe/drawers are currently piled up on the dining room table), so i thought i'd capture it during yesterday's fine spring afternoon.
i've long been meaning to adhere to the william morris quote 'have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful' &, for once, i feel like we're kind of there.
zine #2
after an unexpected & wholly unappreciated hiatus, part two of sleeping on the sleeper is finished! now i just need to complete part three, send to print & bind bind bind. above is the tiniest of snippets from zine #2.
spring clean
things that april has taught me so far:
clutter is detrimental to your bank balance
clothes moths are rude & do not wait for an invite into your home
my mother was right all along; hoovering is important
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).