As much as I would love to say I've been plugging away with my design and illustration work of late (and that's why my blog posts have been limited), I would sadly be lying.  I have, however secured a full time post with Creative Exchange and hope to become more involved in the future events programme.

In the mean time, here's something I've found particularly inspiring and would love to try my hand at in future.  Flip book art at its finest! : 

http://vimeo.com/58712190  

Creative Exchange: The Launch!

It's safe to say I've had an incredibly busy month!

Through my work with Creative Exchange I've been in a position to meet some really interesting people. since beginning my post the lovely folk of Voluntary Arts Scotland , Border Crossing Media and Iglu Studio have all moved into the Creative Exchange incubator.

Thursday the 11th of July marked the much anticipated official launch event, highlighting the endeavors of the project as Leith's creative business hub and 'A Place for Making'!  Fabulous visuals, lighting, sound, catering....and a lot of elbow grease made for a very successful event! 

Creative Exchange, Leith

So I start a new post with Creative Exchange this week. Beautiful building, creative people, new start-up! June and July will be a busy month!! Will need to put my digital media hat on! More posts to follow! X

First portrait of the year!!

A finished portrait. My first in quite some time but I'm pretty pleased with it! Lets hope you see more on the horizon!

A foray into portraiture.

Meet William. My 3 month old second cousin. I haven't attempted a portrait for quite some time and am feeling a bit rusty. However, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome so far. Watch this space for the finished Article!

I'm a winner!!

Woman's Weekly is now my favourite magazine as I join legions of ladies indulging in their online competitions. I've never bought it in my life (and that's not a fabrication of the truth, believe it or not!) but I entered a competition at some point and discovered a Royal Mail special delivery note in the house this week. I went to the post office to collect my mystery letter today and to my surprise had won £100 worth of vouchers to spend at Hobbycraft. The perfect prize for little old me! I predict a spending spree!! Yipee!! X

A wondrous website

Hip hip hooray!

It's new, it's fancy, it's, well, about time I finally got my own website! Official domain name and everything! I'd like to think it's a bit more professional than any of my previous attempts to achieve internet/illustration fame and fortune.  Hopefully I can now display my illustrated 'goods' in a more coherent way, and bring my work to a wider audience.  For a sneak peek, click on the link below:

www.gemmavalentine.net/

A little something I've been working on...:o)

Valentine's day is a silly celebration, but the need for Jammie Dodgers certainly is not! As your one and only Valentine, I hereby give you a stupendous illustration in honour of what I propose to be National Jammie Dodger day!!

So I decided to peruse the bookshelf and all the recipe books in the house, and what did I come across? A 'hand-knitted' recipe book I produced some illustrations for a couple of years ago.  Since I'd like to update this here blog a little more often, I thought the illustrations were worth a post.

Time for a story....

A long time ago, a group of school friends set off on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition to the Isle of Rum. Although the girls all completed the trek, they had one little project to complete before it was all over and they could finally meet Prince Philip himself.  Unfortunately, this was a time of transition in the girls lives. The month was April, and not long from then, the girls would soon be on their own adventures to universities all across the land. Before the expedition, each girl was assigned one little piece of a project to be joined together at the end.  One month passed, then another, but still the pieces of the project were not united. As the days, months and years went by, it looked ever more likely that the project would never come to completion.

Many years passed (7 in fact!) until one girl, Gemma, decided 'Enough is enough!! If I want to meet Prince Philip before he has another bladder infection, I'll complete this darn project on my own!!'.  So Gemma set to work. She scribbled and sketched, coloured and contemplated, until she produced a beautiful folio of pictures based on the Isle of Rum. Gemma wasn't happy with just a few sketches.  She decided to transform these pictures into beautiful postcards and bookmarks, which visitors of the island could send home to remark on this scenic land on the west coast of Scotland.

In the end, Gemma finished her project all on her own.  She finally completed her Gold Duke of Edinburgh award, and is now infamous for having one of the longest running project times of all the participants.  Despite this, Gemma is very proud and pleased to have completed the award progamme and is very much looking forward to meeting the Duke himself ...bladder infection permitting.

 

So I've not blogged for many many months... Sorry!!

I've been a very busy bee this past year, not only have I returned to university to train in occupational therapy, I've also spent a large chunk of my summer working as an au pair in Italy.  On  my return, I got a fabulous job as part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival!!

Here, I worked as a children's activity corner leader...coolest summer job ever!!! It was great to be part of such a unique festival event, where I could soak up the festival atmosphere from behind the scenes!  Each day, my colleague and I would brainstorm and produce arts and craft ideas for visiting children attending the Story Box tent.  I would often produce colouring sheets alongside other art projects for children to cut out and make. Here are a few examples, which I hope are appealing to the eye, especially if you know any children who enjoy the themes we tried to emulate!! 

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's a piece inspired by my time in Thailand. I took a fond liking to travelling by Tuk-Tuk where possible.  Since returning, I always had the inclination at the back of my mind to produce some Tuk-Tuk inspired art.

The RSW travel award competition was my excuse to get cracking on this piece. As I'm not too fond of using an old paintbrush, watercolour pencils were the next best thing. Anyway, I didn't feel this this piece was quite up to the standards of The Royal Scottish Watercolour society, perhaps because I come from an illustration background and well, frankly, it isn't one of my favourite pieces. I wanted to finish it anyway. So here's the result! I hope to crack on with more drawing over the next few weeks- ideally Valentine's cards, some commissions that have been on the back burner for a while around uni work, and to finally complete my Duke of Edinburgh project from many moons ago. Watch this space!!

Christmas cards now available at Blackhall Framing Gallery, Edinburgh! :o)

Fashion Africa, by Jacqueline Shaw. I finally got hold of the published article- complete with my illustrations! Yippee!!

As much as I hate the thought, Christmas is coming, and will here be before you know it! So here's a couple of card designs I've produced and hope to get printed in the run up to the festive season! Enjoy!

Pet portraits. Not my favourite area of illustration, nor am I pleased with the image quality here, but needs must! I guess it shows what else I can do...

Robert Laidler's Jockney Rhyming Slang.

OutSmart exhibition 2011.

I was privileged enough to have my work exhibited in a Smart Car showroom exhibition this year as part of OutSmart ,an initiative by Gemma Randall. I received some images of the exhibition yesterday, and was pleased to be offered the chance to exhibit the piece this Saturday at Mercedes Benz world.

Fashion Africa, by Jaqueline Shaw is now available to buy here. The book showcases over 45 of Africa's well known fashion designers, with emphasis on ethical and environmentally friendly design and manufacturing. My illustrations are featured in the book, amongst those of several other incredibly talented artists!


Image copyright Jacqueline Shaw.