Crystal Palace Overground Festival 2014

I was recently asked to help the Crystal Palace Overground Festival team out with some illustrations.

illustration of children with cameras

I really enjoyed the event last year (as a punter) and given that it has become a major local event for the 'CP' community I was happy to undertake the briefs.

Toddle in the City

The first event I tackled sounds like a great thing for kids. It's a treasure hunt but armed with robust digital cameras, run by an organisation called Toddle in the City. All the info for their Crystal Palace  activities can be found here. I created an image for their Facebook event page and also a square version for general use that I'm also pleased with.

Facebook page for Toddle in the City event

illustration of children with cameras

Pop Up and Sing Along

The other project was for some imagery for a poster promoting a series of workshops for older people. These have been set up for older people from local care homes and day centres run in collaboration with Dulwich Picture Gallery ‘s award-winning Good Times: Art for Older People programme.

poster promoting singing events

illustration of people singing

The Creatures That Keep on Giving

Dinosaur Wedding

Illustration of two dinosaurs

I was approached last year by a couple - Liam and Nasreen - who asked if they could use my 'Crystal Palace Monsters' image on their wedding invitations. A few email exchanges later (and a fee, of course), the were distributed and their wedding was a great success, I understand. They are both fans of the Crystal Palace area, the dinos and my work. Win Win Win!

New cards and packshots

greetings card on a brick wall

greeting card on a plinth

greetings card on grey stone

Some new cards arrived from the printers (available now from my website store or in person from Brave Girl Gifts if you live near Crystal Palace). I decided to take them out for a walk and take pictures of them. Residents of SE19 may be able to identify where I took them.

Brown and Green Café

I also popped into the Brown and Green Café with a mission. I decided to swap one of the prints featuring sphinxes with a nice new version of 'Change Here for Evolution'. I really like the image and I think it's much better than the one I removed. Also the 'story' behind the piece is set on one of the platforms nearby. If you are ever in the area, drop in for some lovely food. Here are some pictures to help you find where the new print is. He he.

interior of a cafe

framed pictures on a wall

Drawing For Life - 16

drawing of a nude woman

I haven't added much life drawing recently (partly because I've not been to many of the sessions at The Sparrowhawk) so here is a small sprinkle of pics.

Wake up and smell the...

The second piece in a slowly growing montage of meals and food fell off the artistic conveyor belt recently. I call it 'Coffee and Cake' and it does what it says on the barista-style tin, really. Next stop? Lunchtime!

I got the British Museum blues

Earlier this year (or was it last year?) I took a stroll around the outside of the British Museum. I know there are amazing artefacts to be found inside (one day I'd like to do some sketching there), but the pseudo Greco-Roman architecture outside was what I was concerned with. The building is surrounded by a large amount of space: something that would never happen now. This space almost feels like a European piazza in France or Hungary, and on the day I went it was a cold, windswept slab to negotiate on your way to the mummies.

This is piece is deliberately distorted and seemed to work well with a cold blue palette. All the carvings above are a lot less looming in real life, but I figured that this way you can't ignore them. Much more dramatic.

After tweeting the image a week or so go, I am now followed by the British Museum herself. Hopefully they're not expecting me to post future items written in cuneiform or Norse, though.