The London Illustration Fair

Over the weekend The London Illustration Fair held their 'Summer Festival: Tropicana' at the Hoxton Arches, and since I was free on Saturday I made a last minute decision to visit (with my mum accompanying me) and I'm so glad we made the effort to go! The atmosphere was fantastic; the artist-led event was full of like-minded people of all ages, not to mention some incredibly talented creatives from selected illustration agencies, collectives, and print studios such as Handsome Frank, Brothers of the Stripe, and East London Printmakers.

The venue was alive with creativity! We were totally immersed in a vast array of gorgeous contemporary artwork and prints displayed at the exhibitor stands, but in addition there were 1-2-1 portfolio reviews, live mural painting, and screen printing. The energy was infectious and really inspiring!

The Summer Festival also saw the addition of a new print shop located at the back of the venue. I spent a lot of time (and could have easily spent an awful lot of money) thumbing through signed prints, greetings cards, and printed t-shirts available, as well as admiring the framed prints displayed on the walls. It's just unfortunate that I couldn't afford all the pieces of artwork I had my eye on! But I was lucky enough to come away with a greetings card and signed A3 print from the wonderful Sandra Dieckmann, an illustrator I've admired for a while now.

The LIF are holding another event in December, which I'm already looking forward to attending, and I recommend anyone with an interest in illustration to check it out. It's a unique opportunity to chat with artists and discover new talent from the contemporary illustration scene, and it has further fuelled my passion to pursue a career in this fast-paced, thrilling industry!

'There Is Only Time'

I've admired Rob Ryan's work for a while now and the other month I was fortunate enough to visit his exhibition 'There Is Only Time', which was timed to coincide with the launch of the British artist's new children's book 'The Invisible Kingdom'.

Displayed in the Sims Reed gallery, the exhibition featured some of Ryan's largest papercuts to date alongside some smaller scale pieces and limited edition screen prints of selected designs. His entire new body of artwork was aesthetically captivating, filling the open-plan space with an aura of peace, warmth, and contemplation.

Silhouetted within the paper and print works were beautifully crafted words, as is typical of Rob Ryan, which were incorporated into the lace-like designs contemplating themes of love, life, the universe, and our place in it. The poetic text pondered the enormity of life and how liberating it is to consider our significance in the world; the impact we make on others' lives, and the main thing that we all strive to experience during our short time on this earth is to simply love and be loved -which in itself is a remarkable thing.

It was breath-taking to see his intricate silhouetted designs up close and since viewing Ryan's collection of artwork I have been inspired to pursue my fondness and admiration for papercut art further as well as explore the possibilities of screen printing, a technique I have wanted to try and experiment with for some time now.

After viewing the exhibit, my mum and I also managed to squeeze in some Christmas shopping on (a very festive looking) Oxford Street and was the perfect way to end a great day!

Sneak peak...

Here's a sneak peak at some of my work being displayed at our end of year degree show. These designs were for a competition by UK Greetings and were created with collage, lino print, acrylic, rubber stamp lettering, and photoshop - I finally feel relatively confident at using photoshop now, it's only taken me 3 years!

Ill upload the rest of my work and photos of my degree show space after my assessment on Tuesday afternoon. Wish me luck!