Pictures that I like-Mike Perry

I tried to talk to as many people as possible at the Colours May Vary opening evening. I met an illustrator who lives and works in Sheffield who told me he really liked my work, and told me to check out Mike Perry, as he thought I would like his work.

I really do.

Shape and line work combined is great. Its something I want to work towards, and experiment with in my practice.

Another thing I like about this guy, is that his practice is so varied! There's at least 15 options on his website that lead to different areas of his artistic practice. I get worried that I will get stuck doing the same thing, but looking at his work has inspired me to experiment with a diverse range of techniques, and made me realise that it is possible to have more than one style.

Colours May Vary Exhibition

Colours May Vary was a really successful evening, and everyone who came to see it was so impressed. Im so proud to be part of such an incredible group of creatives, they inspire me everyday. Noticing this is making me think I would want to work in a busy studio environment in the future. I learn so much from my peers on a daily basis, and the talent in our class is so motivational and inspiring.

The night as a whole ran very smoothly, and we had quite a lot of visitors which was great. Charlotte and I took charge of the bar, and sorted out all of the drinks for the evening. We got a few funny looks when we got to the till with £100 worth of alcohol, but it turned out that was only just about enough!

Organising the bar and welcoming people as they arrived was definitely right up our street. I had such a great time, and I'm so so proud of everyone.

Becky and Andy were so great to work with, not just on the night but the whole time the exhibition was up. They were so supportive and helpful, and made the whole thing run smoothly. They were easy to talk to, helpful when we needed to transport the alcohol to the premises, and willing to do whatever they could to help. Massive thanks to them both.

Selling prints as far as the Falkland Islands

I have been selling a few prints via Facebook just to make a little money to survive, and a friend of mine who lives in the Falkland Islands purchased one! Ive also sold two to a friend who owns a hotel who is putting them up in one of the rooms. Facebook seems to be the best way for me to sell work, just while I'm getting started at least. 

Im actually really happy with these prints, and I'm going to keep my 4 finals for now, and see if I can exhibit them somewhere this summer. I have a friend with a coffee shop back home so I will contact them and see if this would be possible. 

Trying to get my work out there as much as possible at the moment and its really giving me the motivation to keep creating.

Colours May Vary Exhibition

Im actually really excited about this exhibition. I guess because its our first real exhibition outside the walls of the college. I managed to get a print done before christmas, whilst I was printing my finals. However the coda trace wasn't stuck to the bed properly, so none of my prints aligned as well as I had hoped. At the time I think id done so much printing I really didn't want to have to do it again. 

However, after the christmas break I realised this was a really bad way of looking at it. My work is about to be exhibited and sold at an amazing venue in Leeds, so I want it to be the best that it possibly can.

2 colour screen print on Somerset paper

I went back to the print room and tried again. Thankfully they all came out so much better. I was also aware that most people gravitated towards my yellow and blue print rather than the red, and after asking a few people it was apparent that everyone preferred these colours. So I went with the majority vote and now I'm really pleased with them. 

2 colour screen print on Blotting paper.

I made a run of 12 in total. Which turned out to be great because I may now be exhibiting and selling my work in the hyde park book club thats just opened up the road. I'm hopefully going to put one in there tomorrow. All very exciting. 

This is the first bit of work I've done that I'm officially proud of, so I'm happy to be getting it out there.

Presentation evaluation

I felt that our groups presentation as a whole went really well. Unfortunately I don't think we made it to ten minutes, however I still feel we managed to get in all of the necessary information we needed to get across. As a whole I was really pleased with our pitch, and I think our business could definitely work in the real world. I also think it has the potential to very successful. Promoting the creative industry is becoming more and more important to me after embarking on this course, and especially now that the government are planning on getting rid of creative subjects within schools.
I had this business idea before I came to university, I wasn't even going to come because I was so sure that that was what I wanted to do. Setting up my own business after working for numerous coffee shops and cafes over the years was really something I wanted to get into. However, studying illustration has given me so many more ideas, and given me a much clearer idea of what i'd like my business to be like in the future.
Working in a group was at times, extremely difficult. Absences and illnesses from sessions meant a lot of catching up to do at the end with certain members, but everyone really pulled their weight throughout the last weeks.
It was great to understand all of the ins and outs of what encompasses setting up a business, certain things I had never thought about before. I really enjoyed this section of PPP as I felt I could relate to it. When I leave University, I can't see myself being a free lance illustrator at this point in time, but life's a pitch has given me the option to think of other possible business outcomes, and other ventures and roads to take when I leave.