Sketchbook

An alphabet doodled while watching tv. I really like Victorian type, and if I had the time I would do some more sign painting with this kind of thing. Something to put on the back burner I think... 

Zinc Plate Lithography

I was lucky enough to get to do zinc plate litho at Uni last year as part of my extension studies. Although I 'didn't quite master the art', according to my teacher, I enjoyed it a lot and would love to do it again if time and money were no object. I can't believe that images used to be reproduced like this before photo litho, almost as mind boggling as letterpress! I showed some of my work to my dad, and it turns out that my family has a long history of print makers. My Grandmother's side of the family had a printing press in Belarus before they left and my Grandfather's side of the family in South Africa set up a Lithography press that used to print childrens' books among other things, and it is still going today. Pretty cool eh? 

This, by the way, is a pretty poor rendition of a pigeon. My teacher didn't like the scuff marks but I liked them a lot, so they stayed. 

Brighton Shop Signs

These are just a couple of things I've seen around Brighton in the last few days. I've always loved hand painted signs, but I've only recently started to appreciate the hand rendered signs outside restaurants and cafes, that sort of 'Sale!' writing you also used to get in shops. We've just been giving an exciting project by the University to produce a typographic sculpture to go on the side of Grand Parade campus, so I've been racking my brains for days over it. It's a shame the brief doesn't really allow me to use the kind of type above though. 

Alex & Will

The transatlantic design project is not forgotten about, although it has all been a bit quiet of late while we all catch up with our transcribing. But in the name of research we travelled to London on Friday to meet the lovely Alex Bec and Will Hudson of It's nice that for a chat and an interview. And then a few pints... and then a brief trip for Will and friend Angus down to Brighton for a few drinks in old haunts. A thoroughly fun evening all in all, despite the awful experience of being on the London Underground with 2 pints in my belly! If all our London interviews are like this then I will be very happy indeed. 

Back to school blues...

So I'm a bit down today, I've been stressing about this new project no end. I think I'm feeling the pressure of it being third year, and I was also hoping of repeating the success of my summer project, which went down rather well. I think I've just been researching too much and I need to take a step back and think about it. I'm thinking of doing something about communities and conducting a small experiment with the people on my street, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I don't think people will respond all that well to someone turning up on their doorstep asking questions, even if I am their neighbour. I think I'm going to have to get some baked goods involved as a way of coaxing them out of their houses!