illo.. climb

moon-hare thaumotrope, originally uploaded by Champignons.

I was thinking of a song for this topic, It's by the eels and called 'climbing to the moon'. I'm on a bit of a bender at the moment, a thaumatrope bender, in fact, i have pretty much decided to become a thaumatrope artist, and make my millions becoming a leader in a very, very limited field**

Sadly I have been thwarted by a complete lack of interest in thaumatrope-related artwork in the rest of the world; still anything I draw must be twissleable (which is a special word I have made up pertaining to thaumatrope).

So climbing to to moon took me to hares because hares are luntics and we all know that they live in the moon so it was an obvious choice. So I made this little thaumatrope. I hope you like it.

*A thaumatrope is a Victorian toy that had an image painted on each side which combines to produce one image when twissled due to an optical illusion called the persistence of vision. And if that isn't cool enough, Johnny Depp had one in 'Sleepy hollow' and I love him.

**This worked well in my Dphil, where I rapidly because a world expert in measuring radium on ICP-MS, if not only because no one else wanted to do that.

illo pale.

owlfolk , originally uploaded by Champignons.

Floating through the night.. like a ghost..
though I think that is probably barn owls, not great owls. Then again, his face is pretty pale, which might mean I am ok and not due a illo friday lynching. This is the (hand drawn!) final version of the sketch from 2 weeks ago (here; which goes to show how long it's taking me to get things done these days) opps

Anyway, I hope you like it, and it is sufficinently pale.

Illo contained

New for valentines- set love free, originally uploaded by Champignons.

I'm so happy I got this done in time for illo friday, it nearly killed me. I know it's printed onto a notebook so some of you won't think it is an illo, but I do, and I hand cut the stencils because I can't use diazo at the moment (the birdcage is an existing photostencil) the quote, from Hamlet, is a rubber stamp I love. Don't keep yourself contained; set love free.

Available in my etsy store for Valentines, also available in black.

I think this week has been a record for blogging. So I've run out of things to say. No, actually I would like to say I have occasion to go into Boots pharmacy and every time they have been appallingly rude, unhelpful and incompetent. Not one person, the whole staff. I urge you to support your local pharmacy, or Lloyds, who were very nice to me.

So, celebrating the return to normality yet sort of sad at taking down my favourite decorations - including the most awesome card ever from my friend julia and little bells that jingled delightfully thus making tripping over the tree fun. They also have the advantage of being made of metal, which is good if you happen to send the beloved up into the attic to find your baubles and half an hour later, popping upstairs to find youself uttering 'um, you can stop looking now, they are actually in this box you hurled down earlier. Which now rattles. like shattered glass'


It remains to be said that my neighbour, who spent the duration of advent stapling every plastic monstrously ugly decoration to the outside of their house, does not share the belief that the time for christmas decorations is over. It's like living next to a neon insideout poundland, though by midjuly it has usually eroded to just onestring of lights.

Expect more screen printing from me shortly.

illo resolve

owlfolk , originally uploaded by Champignons.

I normally start the year filled with resolve, but that is mostly because Resolve is a pretty good hangover cure, and, not being able to drink this year, it wasn't really necessary.

The closest I have to a resolution is my determination to learn how to use both photoshop elements (or, elephants, as I prefer) and my new wacom tablet I bought as my christmas treat. I have got a book out of the library. I have suffered through 7 very boring lessons as I attempt to work through it chronologically, and have learnt nothing I really want to because all the good lessons are at the back. Still, I persevere.

This is the best I can do so far- just a sketch for a drawing I intend to do, saves on paper anyhow. I'm sure that the owl is a bird full of resolve, in fact, I saw a barn owl floating about ghost-like in the twilight on the day after I drew this.