This is what's going on outside my office right NOW...

I know this is a terrible drawing, but it's done in MS Paint with a mouse because that's literally all I have on this computer (I'm at work.  Shhh, don't tell anybody)

MS Paint and dodgy mouse

It's been humid and muggy for three days and finally the weather breaks and I get my thunderstorm.  Right outside my window.  YES!!!

Also that that tower block on the left is new.  It's such a eyesore, we all hate it.

Why the Bible is awesome

I've had more speed-doodling challenges (so much fun to do but with technically abysmal results so I don't know why I'm sharing them with you! ;D ) which is where someone reads a story aloud and I have about 5 seconds to draw it as it happens, standing sideways, on an A-frame.  It's not easy, but it has proven one thing: the Bible is awesome fun!  Just one chapter, in this case Acts ch12, covers all your major TV soap genres...

Murder...

June Update: Arts, Parks and High Hills

As usual I've been bombing it round like a mad thing, mainly trying to get my drawing deadlines done before I move house this Friday.  I like to be occupied which is good as this June there are boxes to be packed and cleaning to be done, and life going on in the meantime.  Things to do, people to see, opportunities not to be missed.  I just want to take a post to stop and get my ducks in a row.

End of Year Show

So, another academic year is over, and I may be a two-year graduate but in a town like Loughborough and with so many student friends thanks to church it's hard not to notice.  I almost feel sorry for next year's students - they've missed out on some great people.

The main milestone here is of course for the students, but one of the ways the town gets involved is through the annual Art and Design show, where each graduating class must orchestrate a display of their best work.  They're great for the upcoming students, the leavers and their friends and family, and potential employers and stakeholders in the university to get an overview of the kind of work the course produces.  My particular interest is for Visual Communication (Illustration, my old course, and Graphic Design), Printed and Woven Textiles, and Fine Art so my friend and I did the rounds.  All art students are encouraged to leave business cards so if I see something I particularly like and there are some lying around I'll scoop one up.

Zoe Marshall - www.zoemarshall.co.uk    Emily Creative - www.emilycreative.tumblr.com    Anya Raczka - www.anyaraczka.com    Sarah Lynn - www.sarahelizabethlynn.tumblr.com    Josephine Munsey    Sophie Hargrave - www.hargrave.blogspot.com    Heather Lee Durrant    Tamara Webster - www.tamarawebster.co.uk    Anniestration - www.annabrown.moonfruit.com    Abigail M. Cooper    Jessica Griffith - http://www.jessicagriffith.co.uk/

Movie roundup - June 2012

The Woman in Black, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Snow White and the Huntsman.  Warning: Here be Spoilers

The Birds! The Birds!

I feel like I've not posted any drawings up here for ages... mainly because I've been too busy doing drawings.  So while I finish those other drawings, here are some other other drawings just to prove I have been.  Drawing, that is.

I did these at work when I got bored.  Two magpies, one thrush, a gull and what I think was originally a raven but now appears to be some gigantic species of grey duck!  I love the slightly dense expression on the magpies' faces, but my favourite is that seagull.  Just look at him - pure evil.  He's clearly eyeing up some poor innocent's hotdog.

Warning: contains dead thing

Hmm, a very dramatic title.  I don't know if I'm just a bit weird (no, actually I do know that) but I've never had a squeamish nature for dead things.  Which is handy, considering what I'm about to show you...

This is a badger.  This badger is dead.
Still with me?  Good.
You can see he's (she's?) next to a road, so I'm going to assume it got hit while crossing.  No blood in this instance.  There was a couple of weeks in April where I kept seeing roadkill badgers - probably they had just come out of hibernation and were a bit groggy and sleepy so not properly obeying the green cross code.  It wasn't gross or disgusting, just dead.  I suppose that besides my Christian perspective of death, I take the view of Hogarth in The Iron Giant; "It's bad to kill, but it's not bad to die" so I don't have the aversion some people might have.  A couple of days later I passed the spot again and it was gone, removed by the council and thrown away.  Obviously I didn't touch it, but it was still pretty cool to be able to inspect such a reclusive and rarely-seen animal up close.  They really are beautiful creatures.

Here's something else beautiful (and not dead).

Foxgloves.  These ones are growing in our drive,  So lovely, so iconic... and so very very poisonous.  Don't eat them, they are quite capable of killing you.  I'm not sure why you would try to eat them, but don't.  Nevertheless, I'm not going to pull them up, I like them.  I think it's good to have something to keep a weather eye on.  Gives you a healthy sense of respect and perspective.

Death is always something sad, something we know in our inner beings isn't quite right, isn't supposed to happen, but at the same time it's very much a part of the world we're in.  Death is a part of everyone's journey, and whether or not you choose to worry about it, try to delay it, or attempt to dodge it altogether, there it is still.  Part of the paradox, part of the dichotomy, part of life.

June Jubilee

Ah Britain.  Any excuse for a party.  I suppose I am a royalist, though not a die-hard one, but who could complain about a four day weekend to celebrate our queen's 60th year on the throne?  Surely the holiday alone is enough reason to support the monarchy!  As well as a much needed break and time to get some personal work done, the Jubilee has awakened in Loughborough that community spirit I enjoy so much.

My Jubilee biscuit