Type Tasting at the V&A Museum, London

I like nothing better than to have the opportunity to get hands on and that's what Tasting Type is all about. Run as part of the London Design Festival at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Type Tasting exhibition and drop in workshops are open to everyone with a love of letterforms.

I submitted a piece of work for the exhibition, we had to choose a word that described London. I was drawn to the word 'expressive' as it reflects what I love most about London - its dynamic, ever-changing cultural scene. In addition, it's a term often used to describe the loose, gestural nature of much of my work. 

I like to experiment with mark making, tools can vary from the beautifully hand crafted ruling pen used here, to a piece of old stick from my mother's garden. Pens and brushes are the tools of my trade, I've been collecting them for years, I like the fact that each one has its own distinctive characteristics. 

Things can get messy with expressive mark making, the studio looked like an explosion in an ink factory after a morning working on the project. If you'd like to see me in action, I demonstrated with this pen at ScrapbookLive. Luckily, Sarah Hyndman, type enthusiast and work shop leader extraordinaire, isn't frightened of a bit of mess and I'll be helping out at the workshops on the 14th and 15th September. So if you like to get hands on too, then roll up your sleeves and come along.

Demonstrating at ScrapbookLive

A couple of weeks ago I demonstrated calligraphy at ScrapbookLive at the Griffin Gallery, London, an event organised by my agent, Illustration Ltd. The evening had a real buzz with a large gallery full of artist and clients, five of us demonstrating our various disciplines and art-savvy journalist, Garrick Webster interviewing illustrators throughout the evening. DJ Dirty Freud (aka musician/poet Danni Skerritt) kept us listening throughout the evening and added to the party atmosphere.

I exhibited some prints and a range of 3D letters created specifically for the event. You can see me here looking irrationally proud of my pink marker (although if you've never tried the new Liquitex paint markers you have a treat in store for you). The photographer for the evening was Deborah Lott, who captured the excitement of the evening beautifully through her lens. Below is a one of the larger letters I exhibited, it stands at 60cm and is decorated front and back to work with the Midsummer Night Dreams illustrations on the wall. I collaborated with the lovely Ruth at Infinite Group, who guided me through the laser cutting process and gave me invaluable advice on materials. 

On the night we heard from Ben Tallon about Xpress, an awareness campaign on behalf of CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) and the staggeringly high suicide rate amongst young British men. You can read more about his mission in this interview and if you would like to express your support - buy the album here via this link too (I can recommend it).

The evening was impressively organised by Vicky and the team at Illustration Ltd and curated by talented fashion illustrator, Montana Forbes - who also gets points for wearing the fiercest shoes of the evening. My agent is planning more of these evenings, so if you're London based or just happy to travel, follow them online on Twitter @Illustrationweb. They should also be posting video of the event - illustrator interviews as well as demonstrations (and if we're lucky the aforementioned shoes).

I'll be posting more close ups of the 3D letters on my sister site for personal work: A Word in Your Eye.

Scrapbook Live Event

On the 9th May I'll be showing work at the Scrapbook Live Event, Griffin Gallery, London, organised by my agent Illustration Ltd. I have my pens, brushes and inks primed for some pretty wild and loose demonstrating. Alongside the calligraphic work, I'll be showing some 3D letters created especially for the event, combining type with my own hand lettering in a variety of media.

It promises to be an exciting evening with illustrators Miss Led, Jacqueline Bissett, Sarah Beetson and Gail Armstrong all demonstrating alongside me. In total, twenty one artists will be showing work and the evening will be hosted by journalist and writer Garrick Webster with sounds by DJ Dirty Freud.

Hope to see you there on the evening or you can follow the event live on twitter at #ScrapbookLive.