#365creatives day 13-14 Stamps and Honesty

Two very quick sketches, I have issues with both of these, but they will get posted no matter what I think, they is the rules! 

A very very quick sketch of some 'honesty' that I keep by my computer in the studio. I've always loved it dried. My Nan used to have some in her house and I was always drawn to it, without knowing why, other than it looked interesting. I now love it because of its name. I feel honesty is my best and worst trait all in one. I hate hiding things and believe honesty to be one of the most important things for happiness. It can also hurt others which is an unwelcome byproduct!

 

#365creatives day 11-12 David Bowie died today

It was an immense day of everything David Bowie on Monday. I have always realised how much of an influence Bowie has been on our culture, in world, not only in the UK, but until you see it and feel it and hear about it, you'll never really understand. Grown men crying over childhood loss. Maybe even a small part of their inner teenager had died that day.

So I had no other choice but to draw the first image I felt compelled to draw of the man himself. I loved him for being a game changer. For sticking out of the crowd, so I chose this outfit. Satisfyingly dynamic.

The next day I was at work and there's lots of great little things hanging out on the shelves in the office. So after a rather profound event yesterday, I wanted to lighten the mood with this fella... Ben's handmade elephant!

#365creatives day 10

...and the next two. 

Day 9 - This is my beloved leather bag from Paris. I love it but it's too small to fit everything I need. So a new bag on the horizon. This was a 40th bday pressie. It's hard when you are attached to something that doesn't serve you anymore. Time to size up. : /

Day 10 - I wear my wellies everyday during the Winter and Autumn. Where I walk the dog is so so muddy. The woods are knee deep and all the paths are slippery and so wet. Wading through the mud reminds me to accept and just wade on through. Embracing the unbalanced nature of the whole affair, to hold my stomach muscles and steady myself until I reach firm ground. This makes it feel ok. : )

Logo go!

Just playing around with some book re-issue designs and thought it best I had my own logo for the back of the books, so I've made this and ordered a stamp : ). Is it sad that I'm really excited to get it and try it out. 

#365creatives Everyday Challenge

I've set upon a challenge of doing a sketch everyday for 356 days /a year. I feel the need to find that energy and compulsion and discipline to carry on and through the tough bits and out the other side to results and rewards of having finished something worthwhile.

So here are the results so far. I actually haven't enjoyed it for the reason it feels scattered, in-cohesive and sloppy. I am learning already though. Especially that I feel uncomfortable posting images that I don't particularly like the look of, how I've painted it etc. This resonates especially as the work I do commercially doesn't have that attentiveness about it either, as the characters / stories are not mine and it's a style born from working with one company, so I see it as their style, not necessarily mine, so I'm not attached to it's output as much as with my own personal work. So this project is already uncomfortable. I will do the whole year, I am determined and also enjoy the project as an idea and as a discipline, so let's see how it pans out and how the content changes along the way, and see whether I can make some good work along the way.

It is only the very start, so maybe I should chill out and see what the rides brings and hope I can turn it around into something interesting. Please do check in again and even pop back in next week to see more, or follow me on my Instragram feed under cpedlerpics.

Magazine articles and teaching and a visit to london town.

I have the great pleasure of having an article about little ole me in the Artists and Illustrators Magazine in September! How exciting. I have just seen the proof and amazed at how good it is. In that the writer Jenny, really captured what I was saying to her in our interview months ago, and how the images work well together in the piece they have crafted. Really pleased as this was a magazine I used to buy as a yung aspiring artist and illustrator. The only magazine that follows illustration and the practice behind it (there's a niche there and if I had the time I would get in there). So a great interview and a lovely piece for my records and social media accounts! You can read the whole interview over on my main blog here.

I was also lucky enough to get some time in London, when we were there with our students for New Designers. My brother and I traipsed the streets of London looking for inspiring art, and found loads! Here are some. The Joseph Cornell at the RA was just lovely, and the summer show very interesting and something for everyone.

Sunday Sessions

Just grabbed an hour on Sunday when my plans changed and I was waiting for my frustratingly slow computer to do its thing. So here are a few bits I made from some collage pages in my Sunday Session!

Connections

April 24th, 2015 

Today I have had a wonderful day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. I got up early and walked the dog, took my car to the garage for two new tyres and then home for a shower, breakfast and a sort out. I sorted some paintings out in order to take them down to St Ives, for the Affordable fair in Hampstead in July. The work is going with Paul Fry of Badcocks, Penzance. I had a great chat, as always with Paul, briefly met some one new and then popped off with Bobo to St Ives to see Sam Bassetts show at the Millennium. We then parked at Porthmeor and went for a quick, misty and damp walk towards St Just, then back again, off to the Penwith gallery quickly to see the NSA group show. So all was nice, damp but just wonderful.

The weather was damp and getting worse as I travelled nearer to Trewidden studios where Paul's studio is. I parked up and launched immediately into a wonderful chat about art, process, confidence, audience, the importance or unimportance of all of the above and then I left. Chatted to another artist who was seeking the warmth of someone else's studio while also taking a break from the aroma of oils in her studio. I said my goodbyes and headed off towards St Ives. I parked up and headed to the Millennium. Briefly said hi to Joe and headed upstairs. I have bought a few of Sam's work before, so I am a huge fan but oddly had no expectations. Walking into the first room I felt at home...it felt like this work was made especially for that moment, that space in time and for that part of Sam's life. It came across as a reflection, a reaction, illustration of his life over the past 12 months or so. The curation was spot on, and the work grew in confidence as I walked round. It was almost like if I turned round or blinked the work wouldn't be there, because it was that moment that it was meant for only... and the oddest feeling in retrospect. A punctuation of his life, something to move forward from. I felt emotional leaving the gallery, which added to my feeling of 'wonderful' while walking through town and into the Vintage store for a coffee. A quick pause, assessment of my experience and a luxury of time and space away from the day to day. I then rushed back to the car with two minutes to spare on my ticket, moved the car to Porthmeor where the sea was calm, a small wave with one surfer enjoying the schmizzle and perfect longboard waves. We headed up the coast path into the mist. Bo off the lead, me enjoying the freedom of a new head space and a visual sorbet. It was like the world was opening up and my previously dulled senses had cleared and I could see ahead, further than before.

Connection, the honest connection I feel with the world around me, in my immediate environment. The journey is as important, and it would seem more enjoyable than, the destination. The faces you meet along the way, the textures and colours you experience in transit, it's all part of the whole picture of how we live life, and I have missed the contrast of other worlds teaching me this. Just facing a different way, walking the other way round is all it takes. I have enjoyed the connections today and feel deeply fulfilled for the first time in what seems a lifetime and with such simple happenings. Where will I be next time?