Highland Cattle (from my location sketchbook)

Our new neighbours: a small herd of highland cattle have moved into the conservation area close to where we live, and I've been spending some time drawing them.

It's so fine and yet so terrible to stand in front of a blank canvas - Paul Cezanne

A comic about the fear of the blank canvas. How ideas hide in the blank page like albino animals in snow. How ideas are predatory; the bigger, quicker, more beautiful ideas quickly taking out the slower, smaller ideas.

Bright Eyes...

Last week, Dan, Beth, Helen and I went to see Conor Oberst play the Barbican. It was a wonderful gig, and totally reaffirmed what a uniquely talented musician, poet and performer he is.
Before the gig, Dan and I got talking about meeting our heroes and decided it is best never to meet them. But later on, we really regretted being too shy to say hello when we spied him in the pub under a hoard of hares's heads.

sweet-wrapper blue...

reprising my interest in sami culture and gouache...

Animal Masks

I'm trying to use more colour in my work. These are some animal masks which will feature in my comic book.

Ceci n'est pas une petit chien

Emma Ridgway (c) Copyright 2010

I am more of a cat person than a dog person, but lately I really like dachshunds. 

I'm still experimenting, but I think I will probably work in this style for my comic, I'm much happier working loosely with paint than neatly with pen and ink.

(I have realised that for me, trying to be controlled = fear of making mistakes = creative block.)

The Cats Mother

This my mothers day card. Its from a phrase which my mum quite likes: "Who's "She"? the cats mother?"

Its also my first attempt at screen-printing in about 7 years...I think I still have a lot to learn, but it is really about using the right kind of paper, the right paper for stencilling, and getting the amount and consistency of paint right. But I quite like the looseness of the patchy areas.

(Perhaps also inspired by the frustrated tom cat who has taken to visiting our back garden every night wailing loudly for a lady companion.)