Blue Suede Shoes Exhibition

Hello, firstly I would like to apologise for my lack of posts recently. It has been a busy few months and as I have now reached full-term in my pregnancy, it could be a while before I post anything on here in the near future, once my baby arrives...but I will try!

I would love to tell you about the new Gumbo Illustration show: 'Blue Suede Shoes'. It is in fact the second time this exhibition has been shown but this time we are hosting it in a central London location, at the wonderful Nancy Victor Gallery.

I couldn't make the private view (due to my pregnancy), held on 6th October but I hear it was a real corker with a fantastic turn-out. The show only runs for two weeks so if you are in the area and want to check out our collaborative project, please make sure to get there before 21st October. Booklets of our work, as well as limited edition prints from the show are available to purchase and I hear there has been a lot of interest so get in fast!

Sunday Express

Here is the latest illustration, created for the Sunday Express magazine. It accompanied a short story about a young woman who is moving out of her flat and looks through the bottom drawer of her grandmother's chest of drawers to find old slips of paper with past worries written on them. The idea is that you shut them away in a 'worry drawer' and forget about them...

New Work

Well, it's been a bit longer than I'd like since my last post but I have been a busy lady and what with it being summer and all, I've had a fair few short breaks around the country visiting friends and family. All very lovely of course and being nearly 7 months pregnant now, does make me slightly less productive but I have managed to squeeze in a few illustrations lately.

The first is one I did a little while ago for Reform magazine. It was quite a nice illustration to do as Sav (the teenage son in this monthly column) is thinking about his heritage, being a mixture of English and Jamaican and I put together a little sketchbook, which meant I could incorporate pictures from previous illustrations.



The Second piece I have done recently is another illustration for The Sunday Express magazine. I have just sent another one off today but this is the one from a couple of weeks ago:

Single Mum for Reform

Hello Folks, yet another illustration for Reform magazine. This is the one I was telling you about recently i.e. Lucy's account of mental illness and the difficulty this can bring if you want to adopt when fully recovered: "The whole decision became suddenly a paper one, about an illness which, for me, was finished; and for them was not. So Sav never had a sibling."

Lucy Berry's Single Mum Column

Hi Folks,

Here is the May illustration for Lucy Berry's 'Single Mum' column for Reform magazine. The focus of this short story was Lucy and Saville's beloved dog Janice, who has had such an integral role in their family lives.

"I remember the day Saville discovered that animals were not generally attributed with having souls. He simply couldn't believe it. His vehement argument proceeded along the lines that few people have human friends as good, reliable, loyal, entertaining or willing-to-do-what-you-want-to-do-yourself as their dog friends."

In next month's June edition of Reform, I illustrate Lucy's story on coping with mental illness and how this can effect your life way after the symptoms themselves have disappeared.

May Up-date

Hello Folks, sorry it's been a while! It was lovely to have a two week break and get away from it all visiting friends and family around the country recently but now I am back and raring to go again. One of the illustrations I produced just before the Easter break was for The Sunday Express, which accompanied a short story about one man's memories of his past and a lost love.

I am currently working on an illustration for Reform magazine which will accompany a short story by Lucy Berry about mental illness and how a breakdown can affect a person for life, even when fully recovered. Watch this space...!

Sunday Express

I am very lucky to also be a regular client of the Sunday Express magazine and the latest short story I illustrated was of a little girl, with bright blue eyes, blond hair and a pink dress so the brief was pretty descriptive! I had to have a kids softplay ball pit in the background, which I must admit, wasn't my most favourite thing to draw (too many ropes!) but it was enjoyable to do never-the-less.

New 'Single Mum' Illustration

Here is the latest illustration for the April edition of Reform magazine. This month's story was regarding Lucy's teenage son and how delighted she is by the North London school he attends;"Between them the kids speak more than 60 languages. Some of the girls wear skirts resembling curtain pelmets; some wear hijab. Some of the boys wear turbans; some have locks, some have chin-fluff, some have impressive, fully grown beards."

New Waitrose Yogurt Pots

It's been a while since I've up-dated this blog. I have been busy with the Gumbo Illustration show: 'Blue Suede shoes' but now have a little time to do my own thing. I thought I'd post the newer Waitrose Yogurt packaging which are updated versions of the previous ones I did before. They taste good too!

Single Mum Illustration

Hello! Sorry it's been a little while since my last blog post, I have lots to put up but very little free time at the moment. Anyway, here is an illustration I did recently for Reform magazine. It's for the 'Single Mum' piece by Lucy Berry and in this month's installment, Lucy remembers her father and their often strained relationship. Unlike the relationship between her son and his grandfather which was very strong.

Waitrose Packaging Projects

Hello, thought I'd share my Waitrose packaging projects with you as these haven't been put up on my blog yet...

These are just a selection of the packaging I illustrated for Waitrose.

Sunday Express

Hello and a Happy New Year to you! I'm looking forward to what this New Year has to offer in terms of creative jobs and opportunities...I'm raring to go! For my first post of 2011 I am putting up a Sunday Express illustration I did just before Christmas for their Sunday magazine. It was a project with a very quick turnaround. I had one night to produce the rough and one day (excluding the weekend) to finish the final artwork and a lot of detail was required! Great challenge though...certainly kept me on my toes!