Let Me Be Your {paper} Fantasy...

Art and design is continuously inspired and influenced by past events, personal, social and geographical history. Events that happen to us - personally or that effect us form afar, and maybe not even in the same period of time as our existence.

I even preach this to my students. It's a key element of creativity. As humans we have the internal need to contextualise the situations we face each day. We create narratives and stories to help us make sense of the world.

In a strange and coincidental moment of serendipity tonight, just before I was leaving work, I attempted to file away some papers {the mountain had started to block out sunlight} and I came across my own personal archive of...me, basically. Me the artist. An aspect of me that had been stored away as I embraced and celebrated family life.

Years ago in the midst of my degree I formed a good cognitive habit of documenting and filing evidence of all my work, so flicking through the slides was magical, I went back in time, it brought back a lot of thoughts and creative questions, that even though as artists we ask ourselves if they have been resolved and laid to rest or  have they simply stopped at interesting places.

One of the series' of works I came across was from the last year of my degree, my Paper Fantasy series... This series of work began with the concept of a labour of love, the paper corsets were an ironic statement of fragility and liberation intertwined.
The most seductive element of the pieces for me was the readily available and constant supply of the banal paper, lined paper, sugar paper, for years I have harboured a secret love of quite simply... paper {I still do now} As you can see in these images of the work, there are strong connotations towards performance...who know's maybe it will catch on and become a trend...until then, I think I will keep it as one of my guilty pleasures...

Craft fairs and new additions to Polka Dot Cloud

Here are a few images of the more recent craft fairs I've been at and with a few more new members to the family too.....

The Little loveable monsters, small enough to fit into your pocket, but big enough to give a lot of love to!

Cecil the Story telling Cat (Finger puppet, and gateway to the hugest of imaginations)

Cecil likes to keep everyone company, he has a huge imagination, and lots of little cat friends as you can see. his imagination is huge, and he just loves to listen to your stories...and best of all, he's small enough to fit in your pocket and go with your everywhere!

The little Lollipop heads, and how cute are these little guys and gals? Obviously their favourite food is....lollipops - any flavour will do these little mischievous little things.

The Fairytale fair in Patcham methodist Church, Brighton, Feb 2013 

Art Junky 11, March 2013

Sole Searching

Sole Searching: The Point of Possession

The non-essential objects of desire we decorate our every day live with, pay homage to the experiences we have had more often than not. The souvenirs from holidays, trinkets from loved ones, they all hold a value, whether it be sentimental or monetary.

There is an art to being a consumer. The psychological interaction with the things we buy, is more in depth or enlightening than we first might think.

For example our individual psychographics, and our attitudes towards the point of possession. Emotional shopping.  A very dangerous territory, you can get it so right and you can get it so wrong. I have made some of the worst...no courageous, actually no; deluded decisions of my life in sales departments.

 I’m a bit of a magpie, anything that sparkles get my full undivided attention, and I have a lot of collections… of lots of different things, and most of the collections at points have spiralled out of control. Or been left when the burning desire resided, then reignited upon a trip to the loft on a rainy day...

This series of mono prints is a celebration of the shoe collection I own to date. At the point of beginning the series there were 50 pairs.  They have helped to illustrate some of the most interesting and thought provoking times in my adult life. Happy, sad, amusing or hair raising each pair has a tale or two to tell.  My work is narrative and the use of mono print for this series helps to encapsulate and immortalise the essence of the sentiments behind the shoes. They act as an aide memoire, almost like a photo album, with the process of mono print, they have been extracted from reality somewhat and into an whimsical world of their own.

They always say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach…

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach…thank goodness I can bake a cake…not much else mind, but my baking is passable, so there is hope for me yet.
A hotel made of cake?? What a quirky idea, and where better placed than in Soho, originally home to Cox, Cookies and Cakes, one of the sexiest cake shop that ever was with its neon signage and black shiny perspex stands covered in edible treasure, a very sassy, sexy cake shop created none other than Patrick Cox and master Patissier Eric Lanlard, and believe me these little beauties tasted equally as good as they looked, I tried and tested quite a few…

So a hotel made form cake with edible books, and why not? Its just the same as the novelty shaped chocolate that we find in souvenir shops…only on a much larger scale, so big in fact it could engulf you.

How very ergonomic. Imagine a room that was edible, the connotations it could conjure up. How would your perspective on reality be distorted, and what would your relationship be like with food after if you over indulged. [I only question that, after being stuck on the A27 in a freak snow blizzard last week for 7 and a half hours, with only a packet of strawberry bonbons for company, once my favorite sweet treat…now? Now I can’t even bear to look at them.]

On that note long gone are the days when food was a mere a necessity to survive; now it has sex appeal and lots of it…

For example the delights held with in the sumptuous Choccywoccydoodah give perfect example of this….mmmm. From voluptuous mini chocolate burlesque dancers to oversized cascading cakes topped with Sailor Jerry inspired text, and not forgetting the kitsch white chocolate Persian kitties! Although a few cuddles with one of them and things really could get quite messy!

Photo credits: 

http://www.choccywoccydoodah.com

http://metro.co.uk/2013/03/19/cake-hotel-opens-up-for-sweet-dreams-in-soho-for-one-night-only-3549331/

http://metro.co.uk

This week I discovered Fifi lapin…{yes I’m a late starter in life}

Fifi fantastique! What a cute little bunny and a stylish one at that. So there I was flicking through my {now out of control} collection of fashion and art magazines, I have a soft spot for Stylist and Love, when I came across an article from a while back in Elle Magazine. It was about collaboration with Fifi Lapin and Juicy Couture. My love of all things kitsch instantly drew me to the much loved label of Juicy Couture… l u s t  at first sight, and lo an behold on this stunning silk scarf skipped THE MOST ADORABLE BUNNY I HAD EVER SEEN!

Where have I been you might ask, well usually under a mountain of marking, teaching, daydreaming or with my head in a book. I could not believe I had been missing out on this!

So who is Fifi Lapin, well she is a furry fashionista, with extensive knowledge of fashion and style, you can’t help but fall in love with her.

How cute. How Kitsch. How exciting…then as I researched more into Fifi Lapin, a whole world opened up and as it did my perspective on life suddenly became a little lighter, rosier…until I saw Fifi wearing the same Topshop Faux fur coat I have and carrying it off much better than I do.

Needless to say- see for yourself...http://fifi-lapin.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

J'Adore Fifi Lapin!

The Artist Book that went to the Saatchi Gallery