All Virgo's are mad

So the message posted yesterday as a test did what it should, which is jolly exciting! Being new to this whole blogging thing, I was pleased to see my efforts of clicking through boxes (fairly randomly I have to admit!), looked quite smart, with pictures and everything! The illustration on the left, by way of introduction today, was based on a Holiday a couple of years ago to the beautiful town of Lindos on the Greek Island of Rhodes. The cube structures were based heavily on the white cubed buildings surrounding the impressive Acropolis. The circular elements represent the glowing lights of the town as you look down from the hill leading up to the Acropolis. The grey shape in the very background represents the turreted profile of the Acropolis itself. The illustration on the right shows one of the famous Lindos Donkeys, which act a bit like a 4 legged taxi taking tourists up and down to the Acropolis. My illustration style has remained pretty much unchanged over the last 8 to 10 years, characterised by the one big eye (usually with a dark circle round it), one small eye approach to creating character. Bright colour has always been a key part of my work, so the illustrations employ cheerful, usually colour-pencil blended tones. Line is another important quality in my illustration work. I like to play around with quality of line and the use of continuous line. Shapes and features are often irregular, angular and a bit disjointed. I'm not consciously influenced by existing illustrations, although I like Quentin Blake's work and the work of E.H Shepherd. The nearest link I guess could be Picasso, with my characters having a slightly Guernica-esque quality to them, probably influenced through use of the image and Picasso's style through this image within my teaching. The illustration work allows the colourful, more child-like aspects of my artistic temperament to have a bit of freedom, a contrast to the ordered, structured and serious concerns of my mixed media work. Anyrate, recent work, influenced by the contemporary practice course, has taken new and exciting turns. More of which another time...

So what's it all about, Alfie

So, I finally got firefox sorted on my computer out and now this blog malarky can get off the ground. I'm currently undergoing the first year of what will hopefully become an M.A in education. This year the focus is on contemporary art in education and on re-engaging in my own art practice. Handed in my first module of work at the weekend, which was a big weight off, and can now start to focus on developing my art practice in new and exciting ways. There's an example on the left here of some of my older work, predominately collage / mixed media based with influences including Asian / Indian / Arabic culture (I'm intrigued by the graphic qualities of the typography from these countries). The course so far has been a big creative re-engagement in my own work and it's been great to explore different ways of working. More another time, this is a bit of a test of how this whole blogging thing works.