Picasso in Paris - reworking

(larger view)

I decided to rework my Picasso in Paris poster today - the big beige expanses had been niggling at me for a while. Most commissions I finish and move on without a backwards glance, but with this one I kept hearing a little voice saying "perhaps just a little bit of confetti?".

Original poster: 

(I think working on the collages has made me a bit more adventurous with colour and composition)

Art prints available from Society6 - click here.

Unfold

 This is for the new issue of Unfold - its out today, so if you're in Amsterdam, grab a copy! 

Its a wonderful poster publication featuring work by some very talented writers, designers and artists, covering  "what's on. where. when. why" in Amsterdam. 

(Here are some of the magical places where you can find a copy).

My illustration is for an article on Amsterdam's International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA), the biggest documentary festival in the world (the little building reflected on the fly's body and wings is the Pathé Tuschinski, where the opening night and awards ceremony will be held.)

Thanks to my art director Russell Joyce at Unfold!

Tuschinski

I've just finished drawing Pathé Tuschinski.

(More about the building itself here)

I've been trying to design the main character's house for my comic book. I want it to have an art nouveau appearance, to reflect the theme of nature throughout the story. This is one of the houses I've drawn in my sketchbook. It still needs some developing. The script is coming along nicely, so hopefully I'll be putting up a few more images soon!

View from Wertheimpark

Emma Ridgway (c) Copyright 2010

Dorororororororororo

I'm back from Amsterdam again...as always it is painful to leave it behind. 

We saw Joanna Newsom and Roy Harper play at Melkweg, which was incredible! We also spent lots of time reading Dororo by Osamu Tezuka, Mercury by Hope Larson and Prosopopus by Nicolas de Crécy on the bank of the canal in Wertheimpark, as well as a wonderful day spent cycling around the Amsterdamse Bos (a huge forest where we saw some goats and chickens). And we watched a lot of Ken Loach films, and the new Todd Solondz! It was blissful.


(And...rather geekily...I was very excited to try de Koninck beer [which the Quay Brothers named their studio after] for the first time, in Gollum)

I did a couple of little drawings in my sketchbook, but at the moment my computer is off for repairs so it might be a little while before I can scan them. 

I am still working on my comic book, developing ideas slowly, writing the script and planning it with more of a focus on images than text. Maybe it will be wordless? I love how this little world is slowly coming together in my mind.

comic book front cover

Emma Ridgway (c) Copyright 2010

Front cover design for my comic book. I'm tempted to change the background colour to something more textured (although I don't want to make it too busy) and I still need to decide on the name, but I have written most of the script now and I am planning the pages in my sketchbook.

Magpie Wow!

I am back from Amsterdam! It is so hard to come home again. I want to live there so much. 

Anyway, I have just finished a petite book about a unicorn, which I will post on here once it has reached its intended owner. 

I had a lovely time with Dan, we watched some Godard (Une Femme est une Femme):

(this has to be my favourite scene...apart from the one where Anna's husband tells Jean-Paul Belmondo "hurry up, Breathless is on the telly and I don't want to miss it")

and the studio Ghibli film, Grave of the Fireflies, which was so relentlessly sad.

Dan also introduced me to a couple of incredibly beautiful films at the Filmmuseum:

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno (L'Enfer):

(As you can see, Romy Schneider has the most wonderfully open expressive face, which lights up completely when she smiles)

and Gustave Deutsch's Film Ist a Girl & a Gun:

which was a beautiful assemblage of short silent films, many of which were from the film-museum (or "Eye" as it is now known) archive itself, with a soundtrack added.

We both especially adored this scene with its beautiful music:

The music is by Soap&Skin, taken from their album Lovetune for Vacuum. She reminds me of Chan Marshall crossed with Azure Ray. This is another song from the same album, called Thanatos:

On the last day we sat in the afternoon sun in the park by the edge of the canal, drinking Trappist beer, eating strawberry laces, watching the ducks...and we saw a bright green parrot fly up into the high branches of a tree. And then another parrot called to it. And they were joined by another. 

I have returned from Amsterdam with a fractured arm, so unfortunately I won't be drawing for a little while. It is all the fault of an impatient man in a Land Rover, and slightly my fault for thinking the heavy dutch bike I'd borrowed might agree with going up curbs as part of an escape plan. Luckily I have been really well looked after by my wonderful man. We've had two glorious weeks of cultural exploration:

De Kattenkabinet (Cat Cabinet), a museum dedicated to cats, curated by 3 tabbies and a tortoiseshell

FOAM photography gallery, which had an expansive and very interesting exhibition of Alexander Rodchenko's work, (which is very inspiring in the handling of tone and composition)

The Outsider Art Gallery, which made us both eager to get drawing

The Filmmuseum, where we saw Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending and Shanghai Blues by Tsui Hark

The Rotterdam International Film Festival...

where we saw two very unforgettable Chinese films: Spring Fever by Lou Ye and Oxhide II by Liu Jiayin.

The Marionette Theatre which put on a production of The Magic Flute

Filmage - Jia Zhangke's Still Life, Ozu's An Autumn Afternoon, Almodovar's Live Flesh and a rather melancholy anime called nieA under 7.

Bedtime stories - Will Eisner's A contract with God and Joe Sacco's Safe Area Gorazde 

and the best lasagne ever made

I wish I'd never had to leave. Coming home is the hardest thing when somewhere else has become your home.

Ho ho ho

(example from a handmade book I've been working on)

No blog posts lately...I have just finished watercolour portraits of two delightful little boys called Oliver and Fin, which has been commissioned as a Christmas present for their mummy. I spent so much time working on these paintings, and its been a great opportunity for me to get to grips with using watercolour as well as capturing character.

I'm also making a set of books which are post-Christmas presents for some of my friends (Thats how organised I am) I think they're going to take some time to make. But I've had some lovely things in the post lately and I want to repay the excitement! 

Artist books are probably my favourite form of illustration - I love Henrik Drescher's books especially...I am constantly amazed by his work. I have some examples of his stuff on my wall and I look at it every day with the same sense of wonder. Its just dazzling. 

When me and Line were in Paris we found a great artist bookshop called L'Art de Rien which was full of handmade books...I wish I had bought one! There is also Boekie Woekie in Amsterdam which I hope to return to in January. 

I love how personal handmade books are. Theres so much love in them. I especially like rough edges and collage and layering.

Anyway that is what I'm up to at the moment. I will be kept busy for now, but I will post when I can!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Emma

PS: A warning to any illustrators drawing snowflakes this Christmas (don't go upsetting those pedantic scientists)

snippets from my Amsterdam sketchbook

I have just returned from visiting Dan in Amsterdam...and it was so hard to leave. I want to live there. It is so beautiful. Me and my little bicycle would be so happy there.


While I was there we visited the Van Gogh Museum, and were particularly surprised by his Japanese influenced paintings (which we hadn't really seen before), but not so impressed with the layout of the gallery which meant you had to skip anything near the corners because they got so crowded. I suppose that is always an issue with galleries housing very famous works though. Van Gogh's letters can now be viewed online here.

We also popped into FOAM (the Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam) which had a really interesting exhibition of Leonie Purchas's work "In the Shadow of Things" exploring very honestly and intimately her mother Bron's OCD and its effect on her family. There was a huge range of work involved, from christmas family photographs from Leonie's childhood, as well as handwritten lists from family members and a film of around 12 minutes made up of stills of their home life. Slides were projected in a dark room, along with headsets to listen to family members talking about their experiences. It was really fascinating.
There was also an exhibition of Charlotte Dumas' photographs of animals, particularly dogs (entitled "Paradis") which had eyes so human and expressive.

I had a wander to a little artist bookshop called Boekie Woekie which was full of a large variety of handmade books. However, there weren't that many illustrated books, which is what I was hoping for (I suspect there were lots I overlooked, there are bookcases crammed full of little books) They were mostly text-based and in Dutch. There was one set of books which really stood out for me - 3 little concertina books, of around A6 size, with wooden covers and screenprinted illustrations inside. They were utterly lovely.

I also went to Huis Marseille which was showing a retrospective of Fazal Sheik's photographs, particularly focused on his portraits of refugees. I particularly liked this photograph which followed on from a whole wall of portraits of women dressed in pattered materials and headscarves - the various patterned markings on the doves seemed to mimic their clothes.