Papery poppets

Emma Ridgway (c) Copyright 2010

Meet my new assistant, le typewriter. As a child I used to draw pictures with a typewriter (I remember using @ signs for eyes and creating wavy hair with rows of alternating brackets) so it was very exciting to find this beauty hidden in the loft. It is mysteriously without a "1" key, an exclamation mark, or any sign of an asterisk, but that's not really an issue when its primary function now is to create patterns and textures for illustrations (and love letters to a certain boy in Amsterdam)

The split pin puppet reclining on this marvellous contraption is none other than Cap'n Quote Man, who was dreampt up by Pip Chorley and I in our first year at Falmouth and grew into a graphic novel called The Paper Shredder Person which we continue to work on.

Pip and I have recently joined forces with Line Lorna Grytvik Tessem and Beth Hague to form The Little Egg Collective - do have a peek at some of our combined efforts on the Little Egg blog: http://thelittleegg.blogspot.com/ 

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.

Today is my birthday, I've had some lovely presents from my Mum, who seemed to get me all the little things I kept meaning to buy - including some nice cosy over-the-knee socks - and Dan surprised me with a screen printing set! It was so exciting! (My cats were especially excited about the huge box, which a wide-eyed Hebe proceeded to use as a den, upturned against the coffee table, and was all claws for any approaching bare feet.) I can't wait to try some ideas out with it and post them on the blog! I have dreamed for years of a screen and squeegee! 

I have nearly finished one of my little books, so once it has reached its intended owner I will post some pages from it here.

And now I am going on a trek through the snow!

You can now visit http://www.brokensoundmusic.com/moth.htm to see the wonderful variety of covers created for Rachael Dadd's new EP Moth in the Motor. 

Many of the artworks involved will go into an exhibition at Cafe Oto (London) on the 26th of February.

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)

Moth in the Motor

my cover design for Rachael Dadd's Moth in the Motor EP

Visit Broken Sound Music for more information

so... instead of printing the group photo of all the hardworking Back 2 Bikes volunteers standing beneath my banner, this week the Express and Star printed a picture of local MP David Kidney riding a bike.

(NOTE: David Kidney just happened to be visiting Back2Bikes)

It makes me so mad!!! Everyone there works so hard - my little brother has worked there for free for 3 years now! Its time they got some recognition.

We're hiding like elephants when they're happy

(Jean Seberg always reminds me of my friend Pip Chorley)

Back 2 Bikes

a few reference pictures taken at Back 2 Bikes this morning

Let's get up early now, dive clear into the day.

At the moment I am working on a cover for Rachael Dadd's forthcoming Moth in The Motor EP.

I've made a little sketchbook for my experiments...at the moment they are all very Tinguely-inspired, and I've been experimenting with masking fluid too...but I intend to develop it more into my own thing!



I'm also making a large poster for Back 2 Bikes, a local charity selling second hand bikes. My little brother is a volunteer there, and my own little bike was born there, and Dan's bike travelled all the way from there to Amsterdam. And now they are giving me a large sheet of paper and some spray paint, so I am very excited, as you can imagine!



And today I have been asked to exhibit some of my work at The Just So Festival next August. The festival is set in 65 acres of woodland and will have lots of fun activities for children and their families, ranging from trapeze artists to storytelling around the campfire to children's theatre. It sounds lovely, so I am really excited about this and can't wait to get started on some new ideas!

So it's grey, well so are my favourite cities

Yesterday I went to Tate Liverpool to see Joyous Machines: Michael Landy and Jean Tinguely. It was such an engaging exhibition, I don't think anyone could fail to be fascinated by Tinguely's work. Although most of his pieces were created from scrap objects, he manages to bring so much beauty to them:

Michael Landy with Jean Tinguely's Automatic Drawing Machine: Méta-matic No.17, 1959 (Painted iron wood, paper)

Michael Landy created his own responses to Tinguely's famous self-destructive sculpture "Homage to New York" (a rambling beast which destroyed itself in 1960 in MOMA's sculpture garden) by creating images which were made by drawing in masking fluid on black paper, before scratching into the masking fluid. It was a technique I had never really considered and which I definitely want to try. Some of his drawings were very beautiful. Some of his drawings I thought were a bit too busy, but I think that is probably the point when drawing a rambling machine like Homage to New York:

Aspects of the documentary he made about Homage were amusing; a list took us through the chronology of the sculpture - it played 3 ominous notes of a piano over and over, it turned on a radio before sawing the playing radio in half, it blew up balloons, it was connected together with 80 spinning bicycle wheels, it had a "child" (called The Suicide Buggy) which banged a drum of paint and ran away half way through, attempting to drown itself in the pond of the sculpture garden, and when Homage reached a certain point the whole thing exploded coins, gunpowder and bad smells (and the smell of a roasting joint of lamb thought to be inside the piano). So this was an artwork that catered to all the senses!

The suicide buggy, one of the few things to survive from the wreckage of Homage, due to its failed suicide attempt

I really enjoyed this exhibition. It had less of the formality of a lot of exhibitions. Movement is so engaging because it really captures the imagination of the viewer. There is an aspect of "what happens next?" or "how is it connected together?" or just a fascination with how something so appealing was all put together using objects that are so familiar to us.