tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41014741701446346202024-03-04T23:26:46.454-08:00Lucy Farfort IllustratorTo keep you updated with Lucy Farfort's latest adventures in illustration and making.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.comBlogger273125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-78922316818148893982014-10-28T04:16:00.001-07:002014-10-28T04:18:48.442-07:00Not long now!By the end of this week i'm expecting delivery of 400 beautiful illustrated calendars.<br />
I've mentioned a couple of times how in June 2013 I got together a group of other illustrators to discuss collaborating on an art project. It was an idea i've had for ages but never quite seemed to have time to get if off the ground. <br />
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Finally this year the Bait collaboration has come into being. <br />
Its been a LOT of work but after seeing the proofs its definitely worth it.<br />
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Here is a sample page i've put together for your delectation!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYeALJRmNWNEXah4pudgWBdKNgkBp6zEnd8coxZhNoiklMDZT48KiLrn6DfB3-sn6oZrE-nh2Dd9MzzfAK__o7Ij_yhD74TID88ty5PVkzUeDYbnKZ2ZxcjcH-AdkM0Q_R-N5CysyA_tY/s1600/Bait+for+fbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYeALJRmNWNEXah4pudgWBdKNgkBp6zEnd8coxZhNoiklMDZT48KiLrn6DfB3-sn6oZrE-nh2Dd9MzzfAK__o7Ij_yhD74TID88ty5PVkzUeDYbnKZ2ZxcjcH-AdkM0Q_R-N5CysyA_tY/s1600/Bait+for+fbook.jpg" height="225" width="320" /></a></div>
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T<span id="goog_369064500">here will be an exhibition on at <a href="http://quilliambrothers.com/">Quilliam Brothers' Tea House</a> from 3rd November and if you're in the area we're having an official preview on Friday 7th Nov from 7pm, so please pop along for a lovely cuppa and meet the artists.<br /><br />If you'd like to have your very own</span><span id="goog_369064501"></span> calendar by the end of the week (or at least by Sun) you'll be able to purchase one from the blog - <a href="http://baitcalendar.blogspot.co.uk/">http://baitcalendar.blogspot.co.uk/</a> (which has been distracting me somewhat from this one).Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-15834483600381559282014-10-18T07:00:00.000-07:002014-10-19T08:43:00.104-07:00Malawi trip #2 - The Safari<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">On the good advice of Tom and Janey from
Mabuya Camp we pre-booked a safari in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park
with Kiboko one of the more upmarket Lilongwe establishments.<br />
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Arriving in good time and thinking we were all sorted, we boarded the bus along
with another 16 safari-ers (is that a word?). </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">Before heading off the driver
addressed everyone to make sure we had all the necessary documents for the
Malawi-Zambia border. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">Passport, check! $50 for the visa, check! Yellow fever
certificate…….uh oh!<br />
The one thing we didn’t have. After the driver consulted briefly with the booking
agent, in true Malawian style we decided to try our luck and hope it would
be overlooked. In fact what they said was – just have some additional
cash ready. <br />Ah yes, the good ol’ bribe. If in doubt – bribe your way out, a take home message from the holiday. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">At this point we’d only been in Africa two
days and the views from the bus were a real eye opener into what life is like
for the average Malawian.<br />
Here are a few photos captured from the bus, including some impressive hand painted adverts:</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">At border control we lined up to have
our temperature taken before going on to the office for the admin bit. ‘Sshhh,
don’t mention the yellow fever certificate’. Luckily they didn’t ask
anyone for this, so got away with it.<br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Finally arriving at the camp, a
guide showed us around. There we were thinking we’d be roughing it on roll mats
& sleeping bags (which we’d brought along), and this place was uber plush -
swimming pool, swanky bar overlooking a hippo inhabited river, a library, plus a
gym and a spa no less!</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Definitely more glamping than camping and a
far cry from the Zambia we’d travelled through, just yards down the road. The
tents had electricity and actual beds. Just take a look at their <a href="http://www.trackandtrailrivercamp.com/">website (checkout that pool)</a> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The lodging was situated in the National
Park itself so there were monkeys and baboons roaming around before we even
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<span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_M26eA-_obgrEt8sRUlVcypf4bvxm2gJJb9bH0AtERmNfx0e_istN36oqddnqj-fXDJv_ksIYfiwkcFFgJ7VV-r3_XIS9DGqyHbU7hW2TH-2Y3XiSqud5fnRHx5ARSMXatfWmYZYEq8/s1600/monkeys+on+camp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_M26eA-_obgrEt8sRUlVcypf4bvxm2gJJb9bH0AtERmNfx0e_istN36oqddnqj-fXDJv_ksIYfiwkcFFgJ7VV-r3_XIS9DGqyHbU7hW2TH-2Y3XiSqud5fnRHx5ARSMXatfWmYZYEq8/s1600/monkeys+on+camp.jpg" height="288" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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In a serious voice the guide then told us to make sure we had no food
especially apples in our tents as</div>
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elephants can smell them and will try and get
in. </div>
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For some reason though I didn’t twig from this pep talk that wild elephants
would be strolling round the campsite. And it was only at 3 in the morning
after being woken up by some distinctly un-human snuffling from behind the tent
followed by the hulk of a giant bull elephant striding a mere five feet from
Dave’s head past the canvas, that I caught on. Needless to say I lie there
bricking it!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I was just grateful that our campsite
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Elephants on camp:</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">The safari consisted of four drives, which
we did with Fred, our very knowledgeable guide and two other Brit couples –
Jack and Heather from Edinburgh and Tom and Lyndsey from London.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWOv63kj9TE-_b4-Nc01FT8yT1UdVT_-iCY-mAKK-5LroOkjKzyaVGVJW06uypEKrojRxk9rX3S2G84cpIv7xmShKa-eahhW4pIdjJJyevIeoSTtfooU5tEN_Z6yNbDq-Vi2diMTVxyfY/s1600/kiboko+group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWOv63kj9TE-_b4-Nc01FT8yT1UdVT_-iCY-mAKK-5LroOkjKzyaVGVJW06uypEKrojRxk9rX3S2G84cpIv7xmShKa-eahhW4pIdjJJyevIeoSTtfooU5tEN_Z6yNbDq-Vi2diMTVxyfY/s1600/kiboko+group.jpg" height="281" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We were there for two days and on each there was a morning drive and an evening
one. The downside was that the morning one entailed a 5am rise, ready to ride
out for 6. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Still it was worth it. </span><br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-64270900735018360462014-10-12T03:40:00.002-07:002014-10-12T03:40:31.244-07:00Introduction – A mzungu (foreigner) in Malawi
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<span lang="EN-US">I knew going to Malawi would inspire some blog posts and it was my intention to
start writing last weekend, but I instead spent it perfecting a proposal to
<a href="http://www.brassfestival.co.uk/pitch/">Brass:Pitch</a> which involved writing an educational kid’s story about the
Industrial Revolution. I’m not convinced it will lead anywhere, as my idea
is quite different to anything else they’ve commissioned, but I thought it was
worth a go. </span><span lang="EN-US">Anyway I digress. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Its difficult to know
where to start with documenting the holiday, as so much seemed to happen over
what was a very short period of time - just 2 & ½ weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never had a holiday where time seemed to
pass so slowly – and I mean that in a good way, but what was just over two weeks
felt like a month.<br />
I guess the best place to start from is the beginning. So why Malawi?<br />
Two reasons: 1) because we wanted the honeymoon to involve some kind of
festival, in tribute to how we originally met (at Glastonbury), and 2) because
Dave’s friend from school - Tom & his wife Janey, own <a href="http://www.mabuyacamp.com/">MabuyaCamp</a> in Lilongwe so we wanted to visit, plus knowing someone in a foreign land
has obvious advantages. Huge thanks to Tom
and Janey for all their help and advice.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Now this is going to sound naïve and weird, but
as someone who has never been to Africa and whose only knowledge comes from the
news, I was really struck by how Malawi is exactly like the images you see of
Africa on T.V.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women carrying water
buckets on their head, children pumping wells, bikes laden with sugar cane, thatched mud huts etc. I know its crazy, but when watching it on
television, being so distant from it, I think a big part of me unconsciously felt like
it was probably a bit set up to capture a clichéd image. So I was actually a bit shocked
to see that things are exactly as depicted. Yeah I know that sounds totally
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<span lang="EN-US"> I really knew very little about Malawi before going and having never visited a
developing country before it was a real education. It was only during the visit
that I found out it is one of the poorest countries in the world with 40% of
its budget relying on foreign aid. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"> Despite a tough existence though almost all the people we met (and not just the touts
looking to sell their wares) were really friendly and helpful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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The holiday turned out to be split into three parts. I say turned out because
there was a big part of it that we deliberately hadn’t planned, so we could get
a feeling when we arrived of what might be best to see & do. So there was the safari, which was in Zambia not Malawi, then the road
trip, and the ‘Lake of Stars’ festival at
the end.<br />
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Its impossible to condense our trip into a single post so I’m going to do three
(or four) to reflect the different parts of the holiday. And rather than start
here I’ll post the first one about the safari next week. <br />
In the meantime if you’d like to take a gander, I’ve uploaded all the photos
from the holiday onto <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lucy.farfort/media_set?set=a.10152433744231593.1073741826.516111592&type=3">Facebook</a>, and below is one of my favourite pics as
it sums up the people and the attitude pretty well -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘resourceful’ and ‘hakuna matata (no
worries), it’ll be fine!’<br />
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Captured through the back window on the drive to Cape Maclear – a small pickup carrying a
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-41955224040468464242014-09-09T04:28:00.003-07:002014-09-09T11:39:19.461-07:00A tasty new project and a catch upI'm back with my tail between my legs and apologies for going AWOL for a couple of weeks.<br />
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The good news i'm back with some interesting news! <br />
Last year I did a post about my involvement in a calendar collaboration with 11 other artists. Unfortunately having left it a bit late last year there wasn't enough time to actually get the project going. This year however its 'Bait' is back and everything is good to go.<br />
So to recap the project is to join forces with 11 North East based illustrators to produce a 2015 recipe calendar and accompanying exhibition. <br />
I've just finished creating a blog from which all the collab related news will be shared. Please take a look and find out about the other illustrators involved -<br />
<a href="http://baitcalendar.blogspot.co.uk/">http://baitcalendar.blogspot.co.uk/</a><br />
Keeping with the Geordie food theme, this project is going to be 'Epic' as the Hairy Bikers would say.<br />
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On a separate foodie note, now that the summer is drawing to a close the work Dave put into the vertical veg project is paying off big time with a bumper harvest of runner beans and Trombone Squash (which are more like courgets than squash really).<br />
Heres the obligatory Trombone pose with said squash - <br />
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Plus a small sample of the beans.<br />
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This is around about a fifth of the beans harvested so far. Theres now a bulk load of runners bagged up in the freezer.<br />
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In two days time we'll be jetting off to Malawi for over 2 weeks on a belated honeymoon.<br />
WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!! Yep i'm just a little bit excited.<br />
The next time I post i'm hoping to have lots of lovely photos to share and tales of our adventures. Check back at the beginning of Oct for the latest. Byeeeee!!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-28040453848482402132014-08-22T01:19:00.005-07:002014-08-22T01:20:21.447-07:00A Catty CommissionHave you heard of Will Rafuse? He's a fine artist that now paints very bold lush hyper-realistic images, but his earlier work includes numerous paintings of irregular looking cats in interiors and (rather oddly) chefs in restaurants. Go check out his work <a href="http://willrafuse.com/file/home.html">here</a>.<br />
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One of my good friends loves the cat paintings and being unable to afford a Will Rafuse original he instead commissioned me to do a melancholy quirky cat illustration, in a bold Rafuse style.<br />
Very sadly whilst working on this piece his cat 'Astro' was knocked over by a car and killed, so in tribute I was asked if i could change the colours to make the cat look similar to Astro.<br />
So here is the final image 'Moon Gazing With Astro':<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANVqzmS06AaJtrcYOI6TFPcReFDv6PKuL2advUsi459IZrakCAsOEQESRNr8nD3l4ZSp4p9roIm1cBjl2EiTOqRvWDQYzvijrAv0vK6ORCEy2ETEyLustrbJEoKoQGTpGdjv3RE0raeU/s1600/Moon+gazing+with+Astro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANVqzmS06AaJtrcYOI6TFPcReFDv6PKuL2advUsi459IZrakCAsOEQESRNr8nD3l4ZSp4p9roIm1cBjl2EiTOqRvWDQYzvijrAv0vK6ORCEy2ETEyLustrbJEoKoQGTpGdjv3RE0raeU/s1600/Moon+gazing+with+Astro.jpg" height="400" width="277" /></a></div>
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<span id="goog_1076990378"><br /><br />It was created with gouache and finished in PhotoShop</span><span id="goog_1076990379"></span>. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and like how its different to my other work but still has elements of my own style.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-36503951562699167062014-08-19T01:47:00.000-07:002014-08-19T01:54:01.717-07:00Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search competitionA couple of months ago I was given the heads up about <a href="http://lillarogers.com/global-talent-search/">this competition</a> with Lilla Rogers agency and although I know they will get thousands of entries and it is highly unlikely that my work will get to the shortlist stage, i thought what the hell i may as well go for it. Besides it sounded fun and would give me an opportunity to do some different work.<br />
The deadline for the first stage entry was yesterday so i think its now safe to tell people that the the first stage assignment was to produce wall art with the theme of 'Little Terrarium'. There are three stages and from this first one 50 are selected and go through to the next round.<br />
So wish me luck!<br />
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I started off by gathering together lots of different images of terrariums. Before this competition I had never even heard of a terrarium before. <br />
After lots of pencil and paint sketches and a number of different thumbnail design ideas I spotted a beautiful terrarium bonsai on a blog. In a moment of inspiration and after producing a little thumbnail version of the idea i decided to work it up into a full size sketch -<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ZXn6wNn60DllG4ubadsQDyMPyTdNKPmhUicFevuArOQ1OJ6rShysu06AUNjAO1Z9HfImUpfslKzsTWeXGv2D01VvjgKG5dkWtePA7Z23xX5T1cmWniMOe4lFDG2iwaerzGEPcN0Q72Y/s1600/IMG_2748.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ZXn6wNn60DllG4ubadsQDyMPyTdNKPmhUicFevuArOQ1OJ6rShysu06AUNjAO1Z9HfImUpfslKzsTWeXGv2D01VvjgKG5dkWtePA7Z23xX5T1cmWniMOe4lFDG2iwaerzGEPcN0Q72Y/s1600/IMG_2748.jpg" height="400" width="328" /></a></div>
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I liked it so much that I decided to go with this and here is the final illustration, which i've titled 'Sanctuary': <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7fNn3EuQNfDgEuY1yyOL7jOOGkFfeyPwJVZr1x437YzIKySMHCC-cz7WQ4Dmiog6SMUOJHPD2Hxm-12FsW-CsSnhsVmwUnPBeo7WE-lh59jnmdsOoSwpMJ6cWWSZlo7b1nbIRiUyIwI/s1600/Terrarium+final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7fNn3EuQNfDgEuY1yyOL7jOOGkFfeyPwJVZr1x437YzIKySMHCC-cz7WQ4Dmiog6SMUOJHPD2Hxm-12FsW-CsSnhsVmwUnPBeo7WE-lh59jnmdsOoSwpMJ6cWWSZlo7b1nbIRiUyIwI/s1600/Terrarium+final.jpg" height="640" width="496" /></a></div>
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<span id="goog_383025602">Its created using watercolours, gouache and </span><span id="goog_383025603"></span>PhotoShop.<br />
I really like the way it turned out, but i have my doubts that it will get selected amongst the 50 as i don't think its really what the judges are looking for - not sure its commercial enough. However if by some miracle it does get through then i'll be sure to post an update on here.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-26775987936694528792014-08-08T01:49:00.005-07:002014-08-08T01:49:52.584-07:00A furry guestToday there is a bit of a deviation from the usual illustration related posts in the form of Seaweed; a guest Guinea Pig whom we're looking after for five weeks while two of our friends are in China.<br />She LOVES spinach and just the sound of the rustling salad bag is enough to get her going. A series of high pitch squeaks (or more like wheeks) can be heard whenever the possibility of food is imminent. In fact its pretty much the only thing that she gets enthused about.<br />
<br />I've taken, rather embarrassingly, to calling for her to come out of her hutch in a high pitch voice. I don't think she really pays any attention but i'm hoping that after a couple of weeks just calling out SEEEAWEEEED, in "the voice" will set her off wheeking in the hope of grub.<br />
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Tonight is going to have to be hutch cleaning night i think, judging by the state of her abode. Oh and no, that stuff in her bowl is NOT droppings (despite it looking very much like it), it is in fact special GP food...although shes far more keen on salad leaves and carrots.<br />
<br />I've gone to the length of making a video for your viewing pleasure. You'll notice the special "Seaweed voice" part way through, oh and my husband sabotaging the movie shoot by the asking if i want a coffee - so please just ignore these bits :)<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-57521396876704745882014-07-29T01:53:00.000-07:002014-07-29T01:53:26.173-07:00Sock it to me!Ever made a sock monkey before? I haven't and i'm totally clueless as to how you can make something quite so cute from a pair of old socks. But never fear there will soon be guidance in the form of Cheeky Monkey Workshops; a new indie biz started by the lovely Jo Sullivan a former <a href="http://www.lucyfarfort.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/packed-to-rafters.html">Made In Newcastle</a> contributor, and guess whose done their logo - yep yours truly.<br />
I'm honored that Jo thought of me for this, and i had a lot of fun doing it -<br />
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Hope you like him. Once the workshops are up and running i'll be sure to point you in their direction so you learn how to craft your very own sock monkey.<br />
<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-83054291212273351152014-07-18T01:51:00.001-07:002014-07-18T01:51:44.989-07:00BearsBlimey i'm so busy at the mo I don't have time to think. So i'm simply going to share this new illy with you -<br />
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Hopefully next week i'll get a chance to do a more full post, but for now i'll say farewell.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-74987167544792831712014-07-11T03:09:00.003-07:002014-07-11T08:03:02.350-07:00Deer FriendsThis new illustration has taken far longer than I wanted it too. Sometimes when i'm developing a piece of work it can be a real battle, especially when things don't quite work out the way I expect them to & have to make more alterations and additions than originally intended. This was one of those pieces.<br />
When an illustration starts taking shape I always have a vision for what the final result will look like, but particularly with my more recent style of working i'm never quite sure where its going to take me & theres often a self doubt period of 'oh shit this isn't going to work'. Perhaps i shouldn't really be sharing this admission, but on the plus side so far though it has worked out and the result is often better than i expected.<br />
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Anyway i'm dedicating this piece to my sister Jennifer, whose been going through & has gone through some very tough times. Its just a token to express how I'll always be there and to say thanks to her for being a wonderful role model and influence over the years. Without her I may never have got through my New Kids on The Block phase, and would now probably be listening to James Blunt or something, hahaha. I wish I could make a positive difference to her life as much as she has to mine, and somehow erase all the crap that shes had to contend with, but I can't. <br />
All I can do is say i'm here for you my dear sister and friend -<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-27449998874312597542014-07-08T02:36:00.002-07:002014-07-08T02:42:08.112-07:00MmmmmmMy husband & I were married for one year on Sunday (just gone) and to celebrate rather than go out, seeing as we had a couple of nights in the Lakes the weekend before to celebrate being together for 10 years (now thats a landmark), we made a posh meal at home.<br />
We managed to bag ourselves 2 lobsters for the bargain price of 10 quid.<br />
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And made a lobster paella (possibly a little sacrilegious to use lobster like this)...<br />
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but it was bloody lovely. This was followed up with the richest chocolate mousse known to man, made from a Nigella Lawson recipe. Look at that selection of healthy ingredients:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvBkhmKlJG4-eI1Z6BYaWyHkI-dFeA6Lo8-0hRzpPHN39HOKuG5I9aBPnaCWVX-9CdBX4AlnDFI_y7JX8u4WgTsETNUoPyEumDKfkX23RBtWxLfng1tYnIFwHJVbyV-cRJvr7FwbA_4CQ/s1600/IMG_2716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvBkhmKlJG4-eI1Z6BYaWyHkI-dFeA6Lo8-0hRzpPHN39HOKuG5I9aBPnaCWVX-9CdBX4AlnDFI_y7JX8u4WgTsETNUoPyEumDKfkX23RBtWxLfng1tYnIFwHJVbyV-cRJvr7FwbA_4CQ/s1600/IMG_2716.jpg" height="290" width="400" /></a></div>
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Its was amazing but so rich we could only eat half, although you'll notice below that we did have a huge glass full of the stuff as i didn't have anything else to put it in -<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ssT3k4OXD6jZ8nN7O0a0ksUQfaRqakT30d6QJ8sD2BWb8uq9vH1KMp66q4rQ5NrsDGjJNgH45IoXlWg_QYp_Nortq6ztrlU0xt3KoJ5JVw8fRbk3FvRCCVvraX9n_gPgGi538fON_D4/s1600/IMG_2725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ssT3k4OXD6jZ8nN7O0a0ksUQfaRqakT30d6QJ8sD2BWb8uq9vH1KMp66q4rQ5NrsDGjJNgH45IoXlWg_QYp_Nortq6ztrlU0xt3KoJ5JVw8fRbk3FvRCCVvraX9n_gPgGi538fON_D4/s1600/IMG_2725.jpg" height="278" width="400" /></a></div>
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We ate the rest last night, and it was even better having been in the fridge overnight - it sort of became like ice cream. Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-21980008007026895762014-07-04T02:35:00.001-07:002014-07-04T02:55:00.236-07:00New designs updateSo last Friday I blogged about a new image which is going to form one of a series of new greetings cards to replace the current designs in my <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/LucysHappyPlace">Etsy</a> & <a href="https://folksy.com/shops/lucyfarfort">Folksy</a> shops.<br />
The aim is to create cards that are character led, fun and different.<br />
I'm continuing to work on these so this is just a super quick update. First off here is one i've just finished:<br />
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And heres one i'm working on. This ones a bit special as i'm dedicating it to someone who means a lot to me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Unk6H3YwhhOuFsGUB3qDq9qSxyJHv1UFXwlvBzUPZOCNksAVM-MuXMaji06mcPSA7lNpwD_duOiUZ3IO-KNVQ1q2vEirMGcy0JQUfXRcKceDK0c4fuaBQfs2nU-LZEpV7L5fER9-gOc/s1600/sketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Unk6H3YwhhOuFsGUB3qDq9qSxyJHv1UFXwlvBzUPZOCNksAVM-MuXMaji06mcPSA7lNpwD_duOiUZ3IO-KNVQ1q2vEirMGcy0JQUfXRcKceDK0c4fuaBQfs2nU-LZEpV7L5fER9-gOc/s1600/sketch.jpg" height="395" width="400" /></a></div>
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In addition to new designs I'm also going to rework a couple i did last year and add to the collection.<br />
<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-41633849218805834252014-06-27T00:50:00.003-07:002014-06-27T00:52:17.107-07:00High TeaRecently our friend Andy gave my husband (I still hate saying that word) a book for his birthday - Nicey and Wifey's 'A Cup of Tea and a Nice Sit Down'. I was intrigued by this particularly the biscuits section in the later half, being a fan of biscuits...well lets face it who isn't? Its an amusing read, and it kind of inspired a new tea based illustration.<br />
I wanted to do a series of new greetings cards/ prints for my online shop but also with a view to submitting designs to Phoenix Trading and some other card companies. I'm aiming to have six in total to replace the current designs I have online.<br />
So 'Tea with Moon' is one i've just finished & i also intend to have it for sale as a print very soon.<br />
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I'm half way through the next planned design & here it is in it's pencil drawing phase:<br />
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I'm hoping to finish the painting today, but i'm taking 1/2 a day off to go on a weekend trip to the Lake District to celebrate mine & the other half's 10th (YES 10th!) year since meeting.<br />
Yes as all those lucky folks wake up at Glastonbury Festival, i remember 10 years ago waking up in a semi-muddy field to find someone had hijacking half of my tent pegs by pitching their ten right next to mine. Little did i know that would be my future husband (ahh i hate that word).<br />
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Byeee!<br />
<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-24595967252361312632014-06-24T09:33:00.002-07:002014-06-24T09:33:35.782-07:00Spot the differenceI'm really excited as today my shiny new website produced by the lovely folks at <a href="http://sitely.co.uk/">http://sitely.co.uk/</a> is live on the cyber waves. I'm now a .co.uk rather than a .com and you can take a look around at all the swish new features <a href="http://www.lucyshappyplace.co.uk/">here</a>.<br />
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I created the old version along quite some time ago and with some help here and there improvements have been made but it had some major issue like <b>a)</b> not being compatible with those new fangled devices - tablets, phones & such like, and <b>b)</b> it being virtually invisible to Google due to a lack of SEO thingy-me-jig stuff....yep you can tell i'm really hot on all this interweb malarky.<br />
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Now though the site can be viewed on phones and other people's computers as well as just my own lowly Mac - wow! So what are you waiting for hop over and have a gander -<br />
<a href="http://www.lucyshappyplace.co.uk/"><b>http://www.lucyshappyplace.co.uk/</b></a>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-38330115733202322962014-06-18T02:02:00.003-07:002014-06-18T02:04:26.981-07:00Veg UpdateNow we're well into summer I thought it was time to bring you some vegetable growing news. Remember my <a href="http://www.lucyfarfort.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/growing-community.html">post back in April</a> about the Greening Wingrove Vertical Veg project we're taking part in? Well following on the plants are now in production mode and the first signs of edible greenery are now sprouting, so heres some highlights in pictures.<br />
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Back yard salad -<br />
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Indoor beans -<br />
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Front yard gooseberries, beans and squash (possible a little over zealous with the front yard planter) -<br />
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Its a veritable green feast!Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-575327155528961122014-06-10T03:25:00.001-07:002014-06-10T03:25:37.933-07:00Finished product and character sketchesIt all went a bit quiet on here last week as I had several things on the go that needed completing. One of the two major things was the illustration spoken about in the previous post done to accompany a picture book text which an overseas publisher has shown interest in.<br />
I managed to complete the piece yesterday along with some character sketches which i've now sent off to the publisher and here they are:<br />
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Who knows if this will lead to anything but I couldn't miss the opportunity and I had fun doing it, although painting all those little fish in the shoal was a total pain in the behind! <br />
Anyway we'll see what happens, and perhaps you may see more fish action on here in future.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-77235785169267214632014-05-30T01:35:00.000-07:002014-05-30T01:35:53.414-07:00Fishy businessIt was my intention today to do a post about a show and tell illustration session I did with a lovely group of kids at a local library yesterday morning as part of a half term project. I was meant to take pictures of all their fab work and character drawings, but unfortunately in all the excitement I completely forgot to take a single photo so that post has kind of gone out the window. <br />
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Instead I thought I would share a work in progress in its sketch stage.<br />
A little while back I mentioned that the writing bug had bitten me, at which point there were 3 complete picture book stories. Now however there are five and this image is for one of the newest. I wasn't actually going to do any images for this but I have had a bit of interest from a publisher and they wanted to see some artwork for it so this is mainly for them:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjelgTMelgByofg5I7G_l7m78-aLrn3Xz61wjkjNr0jzgo-QjP95paej-Wot5BCrB1N9RZWztF8-ruQnKKjNYSuPI28o8eU6tUSqcTt3x3pZQ_UPWybhvXv2sY_bMlxTI-3JgQSHKcn_ic/s1600/Pug+&+the+pearl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjelgTMelgByofg5I7G_l7m78-aLrn3Xz61wjkjNr0jzgo-QjP95paej-Wot5BCrB1N9RZWztF8-ruQnKKjNYSuPI28o8eU6tUSqcTt3x3pZQ_UPWybhvXv2sY_bMlxTI-3JgQSHKcn_ic/s1600/Pug+&+the+pearl.jpg" height="341" width="400" /></a></div>
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Will update you if anything exciting comes out of it, fingers crossed.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-46425616372599752972014-05-23T05:45:00.001-07:002014-05-24T07:54:43.018-07:00New broochesYippee i'm pleased to say I have finally two new items for my shop which have been in the pipe for what feels like ages now.<br />
A while ago i had some ideas for new brooches and its taken me about four months for me to finally realise them as a) it took a LOT of searching to find local company to laser cut my designs, and b) as per normal i've had several other projects on the go at the same time.<br />
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But now finally three prototypes later, I can share the two new finished pieces with you which i originally sneakily posted the designs for <a href="http://www.lucyfarfort.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/whats-all-this-then.html">here</a>.<br />
Before I reveal all I must thank Jonathan at <a href="http://www.thelasercuthut.com/">Laser Cut Hut</a> for being so incredibly helpful and creating the wooden brooches from my designs and here they are in their original unpainted state:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUYR7l92mZFyDDQkyG21_tejhUdKki0kUcqEHv4dIdOO5_caHB6UFnESniz0MQAYsrSiHEn5QSlDHJwXVY71nhr_y33TNQ8pkX0VmUADixNDDHMYRCbXhBdDISzWKbqUpUJ_HjrzAc3c/s1600/Photo+1+for+MAGnificent+post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUYR7l92mZFyDDQkyG21_tejhUdKki0kUcqEHv4dIdOO5_caHB6UFnESniz0MQAYsrSiHEn5QSlDHJwXVY71nhr_y33TNQ8pkX0VmUADixNDDHMYRCbXhBdDISzWKbqUpUJ_HjrzAc3c/s1600/Photo+1+for+MAGnificent+post.jpg" height="135" width="400" /></a></div>
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They're cut from oak and made from two component layers.<br />
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I then hand-painted them which is a bit of a fiddly process, but in a moment of serendipitous timing I was asked out of the blue by the <a href="http://uk.daylightcompany.com/">daylight lighting company</a> if I would like to test out their new <a href="http://uk.daylightcompany.com/product/25050/">MAGnificent lamp</a> in exchange for a guest post on their blog. Of course i practically bit their hand off, particularly as i'd been thinking about getting a lamp anyway.<br />
The light has a built in magnifying glass, created with artists and designers in mind and I used it to make the painting process for these brooches a LOT easier.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwKPYNCxd9hJZhx7-aiBIT7sJZ6GtlnhFk9c66OcH_WwEkFOIFuidwBJhrUKmLCMiWgPd28I-1To3dl4E7vPvMVx1tw5PxpCOjJ2mirp7BEkcSqPMAgDF7H9GakCs7pD0dKBgeExpU4l8/s1600/Photo+2+for+MAGnificent+post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwKPYNCxd9hJZhx7-aiBIT7sJZ6GtlnhFk9c66OcH_WwEkFOIFuidwBJhrUKmLCMiWgPd28I-1To3dl4E7vPvMVx1tw5PxpCOjJ2mirp7BEkcSqPMAgDF7H9GakCs7pD0dKBgeExpU4l8/s1600/Photo+2+for+MAGnificent+post.jpg" height="302" width="400" /></a></div>
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I actually don't know how i would have managed without this lamp.<br />
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Anyway the brooches are now complete and are available on <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/LucysHappyPlace">Etsy</a> and <a href="https://beta.folksy.com/shops/lucyfarfort">Folksy</a>. Here they are:<br />
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<a href="http://folksy.com/items/6192531-Song-of-the-Narwhal-wooden-brooch" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="http://folksy.com/items/6192471-Milo-the-Sleeping-Red-Panda-wooden-brooch" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY55meQ2B0VEYCuMY9OWp4TnHW8EASJonBoOzhPZ3wkTU-a4ndV_DW3rywHx59uly3YQkjil9V_i1K6bjWIXrTotcAW8BtUJzmtf4HEQS3xKyFD0rj6hIlk3Fk_Vp70NrACkqQX2Eh4so/s1600/large+narwhal+brooch.jpg" height="288" width="400" /></a></div>
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Hope you like them. I've got another couple of ideas for designs so depending on how successful these are you might see more in the not too distant future.<br />
I only just realised it was a bank holiday Monday, not that it really makes any difference to me anymore; what with paying myself it will be a typical working day, but I hope you all have a good one.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-10075988553355857232014-05-16T00:59:00.001-07:002014-05-16T01:01:54.068-07:00Doodle bugFor no other reason than I couldn't really think of anything to post about and as I didn't have time to spend more than about 10 minutes on writing something, I opted for a doodle. Which ironically took about 20 mins to finish. However it also gave me a good excuse to try out some recently acquired Tombow brush pens.<br />
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So here is a Doodle for <a href="http://illustrationfriday.com/">Illustration Friday</a> whose drawing theme up until this morning was 'Voyage', and I did this last night whilst watching Man vs Weird on catch up. Can't beat a bit of trashy t.v. every now and then.<br />
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Actually there sort of is another reason for this non post. I have a project nearly finished which is going to be making an appearance in my shop soon, but as its not yet ready to show off, rather than blog 'radio silence' instead I thought a doodle would do(ddle). <br />
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*Note to self: This needs more mountains*<br />
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Fin.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-66356897100984095732014-05-09T01:26:00.001-07:002014-05-09T01:27:12.493-07:00Done!As i've now written 3 picture book texts, i'm trying to get a few illustrations together for each to send to potential publishers. This illustration is for the second manuscript I wrote called 'Come out and play' a kind of tongue-in-cheek, humorous story poking fun at modern society, in a child frienly way of course.<br />
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This illustration is a double page spread for the last part of the story. It started life as a pencil drawing:<br />
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<br />Then it was worked up into a painting. I had to split it into two separate sections, as a) I didn't have any suitable paper big enough, and b) my scanner only takes up to A4 size paper. I think i may have to invest in a larger pad.<br />
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<br />Lastly it was finished in PhotoShop. Ta da! Heres the final thing -<br />
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<br />Hope you like the cheeky egg on head detail which came to me in a moment of sillyness whilst was working up the original sketch :^)<br />
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<span id="goog_396483091"></span><span id="goog_396483092"></span><br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-47287070172070032932014-05-07T01:43:00.004-07:002014-05-07T01:51:53.604-07:00A party fit for a KingThe weekend before last we went to Amsterdam. We booked the trip a while back to coincide with the King's Day festival on 26th April. This annual festival is in honor of the monarch's birthday; now <span class="article">Willem-Alexander who was inaugurated last year when he took over from his mum. So this year's festival was the first King's day as previously its been Queen's day. <br /><a href="http://www.iamsterdam.com/en-GB/experience/kings-day/all-about-kings-day-in-amsterdam">http://www.iamsterdam.com/en-GB/experience/kings-day/all-about-kings-day-in-amsterdam</a><br /><br />Now in England when we think of celebrations for a monarch's birthday the imagery that comes to mind would be the sort of canons blasting, trumpet sounding, </span><span class="article">busb</span><span class="article">y donning </span><span class="article">marching </span><span class="article">guards</span><span class="article"> and such. The usual po-faced pomp and regalia you associate with the English royalty.<br />Well my friends in the Netherlands (well in Amsterdam at least) his majesty's birthday is celebrated with a city wide techno rave, where everyone gets dressed up in as much orange garb as possible and wonders round from street party to street party.<br /></span><br />
We got into the city at about 9.30 on Friday night when the festivities had already began so we had to get into the spirit pretty quick. As various forms of dance music (i'm not complaining) seemed to be the staple, our first outing on the Friday night was a King's Night drum and bass event at a club not too far from where we were staying. <br /><br />
Having got back late from the club or should I say early, and given that neither of us are spring chickens anymore, we foolishly considered skipping a good chunk of the Saturday daytime celebrations to have a long lie in. But still bleary eyed after breakfast we decided to venture out.<br />
And blimey....were greeted with a sea of unexpected orange madness!!<br />
We swiftly dived on a nearby stall for a much needed orange accessory, this was mine (pretty tame i know):<br />
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Then went on an adventure. All the streets are closed as are most of the shops which are instead replaced by LOTS of random stalls dotted around between numerous street parties, most seemingly playing techno. <br />
The general order of the day is to wonder around by foot (or bike if you dare) stumbling from one crazy event to the next. There are ticketed official, pay-for events where you can while away the hours but you don't really need to bother with these as there are loads of free stages set up about the city. Once such was the 'Pacha' stage (complete with bar and many an orange reveler) which we found at around 1pm. Guess what...they were playing techno. <span id="goog_1713211580"></span><span id="goog_1713211581"></span><br />
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Unfortunately we'd made the mistake earlier of not bringing a proper camera with us, so only managed to catch the action on a mobile phone. I desperately wanted to take a pic of a guy sitting, bopping in the window of his apartment overlooking the crowd. You might just be able to make him out in the middle pic above.<br />
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Then we moved on and found a massive parade on the canal. The boats just kept on coming.<br />
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Some were moored up and holding private parties. Most of the boats were playing music, can you guess what kind of music? Yes you got it techno! Lucky that Dave loves a bit of techno haha:<br />
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Like everyone else we spent the rest of the day ambling around being totally bemused. By 7pm it was carnage as you can imagine and I couldn't help but have sympathy for the poor buggers who would have to clean the mess up.<br />
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Still it was one of the most surreal and bonkers experiences i've had for a long while.<br />
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So who's up for King's Day 2015?Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-43385133959061486372014-04-28T02:58:00.002-07:002014-04-28T02:59:17.953-07:00The time has come<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last Thursday I bid goodbye to the day i've been in for the last seven and a bit years, to make a break as a full time freelance illustrator. <br />
Its so weird to think i won't be going back again and i don't think its quite sunk in yet, especially as we were away this weekend in Amsterdam for a short break and to see the Kingsday festivities, which was an amazing experience & i'll blog about next week. So i haven't really had time to fully digest the fact that i'm now going it alone. Although given i've been preparing for this moment for a long time now i feel as ready as i'll ever be.<br />
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Heres to the end of an era and the start of a new chapter!<br />
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<span id="goog_1756617042"></span><span id="goog_1756617043"></span><br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-61448200445536517432014-04-15T00:16:00.000-07:002014-04-15T00:16:59.440-07:00Lovely EggiesYou may not have noticed, but Easter is upon us. You wouldn't have guessed, would you? Ahem...Ok so i'm being sarcastic, but seeing as you can't move for hot cross buns, bunnies (not hot cross bunnies, that would be odd) Easter eggs and such, and not wanting to be left out of the Easter hype machine - here comes my contribution:<br />
A downloadable freebie* adapted from a card design I did a couple of years back, to use (or not) for/on whatever you see fit - screensavers, cards and the such like.<br />
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I'm gonna make this really easy for you, so that if for some reason you can't just drag the image straight from this blog then drop me a message (lucy@lucyshappyplace.com) and i'll email it to you.<br />
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Like many of you I imagine, this weekend will involve a trip to visit family (in-laws actually), so as i won't be here to post on Friday, this is me signing off till next Tuesday. <br />
Hope you have a happy Easter folks, and don't eat to much of the sweet stuff - you'll make yourself sick like i did last year on a enormous great white chocolate egg.<br />
Byeeeee! <br />
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*<i>for personal use only please, but of course you're all lovely so i know that won't be an issue</i><br />
<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-79493781165393457642014-04-11T01:43:00.001-07:002014-04-11T01:56:04.736-07:00Growing the community<div class="MsoNormal">
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Today’s post as its not about illustration or anything vaguely arty, instead its about the community where I live with my husband in Newcastle and why I love being part of it. <br />
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I knew before moving to Newcastle in 2006 that the area known as Arthur’s Hill (or more widely Fenham) where my then boyfriend owned his house was considered to be an undesirable part of the city to live. I never really fully understood why, but that’s probably because by the time I arrived on the scene the days where practically every house in the locality had bars on the windows were gone. This past Fenham is now long gone, yet despite huge improvements it still carries a stigma. The perception of the place was perfectly illustrated recently by two of my husband’s students, who don’t live in Fenham, but made great assumptions in a presentation that backed up the standard view - painting it as ‘rough’.<br />
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I suppose having lived previously for many years in fairly dodgy parts of Manchester (Levenshulme, Rusholme), Arthur’s Hill didn’t feel particularly unsafe - it was exactly the kind of place that I was used to. I’ve never had any bad experiences here (touch wood that I never do). Ok so you get the odd group of kids hanging outside the local shop, but really where doesn’t? And I’ll admit it has a big litter problem which badly needs addressing, but all in all I consider it to be a safe and vibrant place to live.<br />
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Last year we decided to put our house on the market, mainly because we wanted a change of scene and something which Arthur’s Hill definitely does not have - a nice local pub. Yup it appears I have reached ‘local pub’ age – yikes!<br />
Also there was speculation in the rumour mill that due to all the government cuts and the impact this was having on the North East, Arthur’s Hill may slip back into it’s former bars on the windows self. So I’m ashamed to say there was an element of jumping ship.<br />
However we were in two minds as to whether or not we definitely wanted to leave, and the more we looked at potential new areas to live in the more we noticed there were very few places we wanted to move to. Added to this was the realisation that nowhere else would be nearly as convenient; as it’s around a 15 to 20 min walk from town (so both Dave & I can walk to work), its close to a park, and a major bonus – it has the largest, cheapest & best quality green grocers i’ve ever known (Hutchinsons).<br />
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We had a lot of viewers who already lived in the community. A number of them had moved to Newcastle from other regions and were now renting in Fenham, but decided to buy because they liked the area so much. The praises for Arthur’s Hill and the house were sung over and over, which all the more made us want to stay. A few offers came in and we saw a couple of places we quite liked, but after a few months of looking couldn’t think of anywhere else we’d rather be; and in the knowledge that I would soon be embarking on a mission to make a living from freelance illustration, being somewhere with a low mortgage made sense.<br />
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So in January the house came off the market, and instead we decided to try and make a positive difference to the place we lived in by joining a community partnership project called ‘Greening Wingrove’- http://greeningwingrove.org.uk/</div>
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Wingrove’ is to help and inspire people within the community to work towards improving the area in all kinds of ways as well as to bring the community together.<br />
The ward is by far and away the most diverse in Newcastle and I really love this about it. I strongly believe this is something that should be valued rather than looked down upon (which I think it is by some). Living amongst so many different people makes me feel part of something good and genuine.<br />
Unfortunately people do tend to keep themselves to themselves and there is an element of different groups sticking together, which is only natural. So ‘the project is also trying to encourage greater interaction between the different cultures and engage the community in it’s entirety. It’s a noble project with admirable ambitions.<br />
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Recently as part of the lottery funded Greening Wingrove project a growing in small spaces initiative has been launched which we decided to get involved with, especially because Dave is quite green fingered already. The initiative is trying to encourage as many people as possible to grow veg in their front yard space, with the long term goal of transforming street fronts into lush green and partly edible spaces. It will also act as a talking point, so a means to get neighbours to engage with one another and grow the community spirit.<br />
To get us going a workshop was hosted by Mark Ridsdill Smith from Vertical Veg <a href="http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/">http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/</a> with tips and advice about growing in containers.<br /><br />
So Dave has made a start by installing this enormous planter at the front of the house:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFi9pKNXXcIJigv036gim27i_6YfqUG4__0XF1NDU2XYFkxD0SjRR6SgowR7jlBSMdL0Tq3o7pHddxzxP7s-x6gsVVuot0WettH4XTEJNU6vKLnaifZR5u-e4v-TtPcCxytaDX4bjzVo0/s1600/IMG_2481.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFi9pKNXXcIJigv036gim27i_6YfqUG4__0XF1NDU2XYFkxD0SjRR6SgowR7jlBSMdL0Tq3o7pHddxzxP7s-x6gsVVuot0WettH4XTEJNU6vKLnaifZR5u-e4v-TtPcCxytaDX4bjzVo0/s1600/IMG_2481.jpg" height="330" width="400" /></a></div>
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While he was putting it in a number of passers-by and neighbours got talking to
him about it. A real testament to the initiative considering we’ve barely only
ever exchanged ‘hellos’ with most of our neighbours! <br />
Now we’ve started potting various types of runner beans and herbs.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqiMfVA5kH0qpKumwREazbLfZrBdU1ryjCAcU_5kjRXbB_EgiFdmd9Cvqr9_HRhRcbzkkMPlevWdiBUhchnqVQon59QqVuyJeAl4QVK5_U3ZpwGiwW9QZvflNZACTDRbndC4ITPXuRv_4/s1600/IMG_2484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqiMfVA5kH0qpKumwREazbLfZrBdU1ryjCAcU_5kjRXbB_EgiFdmd9Cvqr9_HRhRcbzkkMPlevWdiBUhchnqVQon59QqVuyJeAl4QVK5_U3ZpwGiwW9QZvflNZACTDRbndC4ITPXuRv_4/s1600/IMG_2484.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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I have a good feeling about it and I’m hoping that being able to concentrate
fully on the illustration will maybe free up some actual spare time so that I
can contribute to this more.<br />
As the stuff grows I’ll post some more pics and hopefully later in the year
we’ll be able to see and eventually harvest some of the fruits (or veg) of our
labour. Watch this space.</div>
Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4101474170144634620.post-13428543690508414502014-04-08T01:09:00.001-07:002014-04-08T01:09:38.209-07:00A finished image, perfect for this sunny dayFriday's invisible (non existent) blog post was down to a desperate bid to finish this piece off so that I could submit it in time to <a href="http://www.hallmark-creative.co.uk/reminder-kool-for-kids-design-competition-running-until-th-april/">Hallmark Creative Design Studio's Kool for Kids competition.</a><br />
I knew there wouldn't be much of a chance to work on over the weekend as we were going kayaking on the Border Esk for a good chunk of it (which was pretty flipping scary & fast as the water levels were quite high), so something had to give and it was the usual Friday post.<br />
Really pleased that I managed to finished it off, and even if it doesn't get anywhere in the comp i'm planning on using it as a card design and maybe selling it as a print in the shop at some point down the line:<br />
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Since posting the <a href="http://www.lucyfarfort.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/tune.html">sketch last Tuesday</a>, you'll notice I altered the border so it now encases the characters and brings the whole design together. <br />
Hope you like it. I don't yet have a title for the illustration so if you can think of something fitting then i would love to hear it.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06985645005253316071noreply@blogger.com0