Oddly Amazing Animals
I am immensely proud to have been involved in the book Oddly Amazing Animals, released this week. Back in 2009, Cindy Li and Juliette Melton started making an A-Z childrens’ book together, and it had been an ongoing project ever since. Tragically, they never managed to finish, when Cindy died last October. Her loss was felt globally, and Juliette organised help from Cindy’s many friends, determined to finish the book for her. I submitted illustrations for Dart Frog, Vaux Swift and Xenops.
All proceeds from book will go to Cindy and Matt’s sons, Apollo and Orion.
Work Experience
One of my best ever ‘jobs’ was the year I spent at The Lake District National Park as work placement from college. I loved it, and it gave me a sense that I should give something back in the same way. The difficulty is I’m not really geared up for taking on placement students as it’s just not practical. Our co-working space lacks the physical space for someone to sit, work is often under NDA, and it’s hard to schedule it around workload.
Having said that, on Monday I finally managed to make it work. Our neighbours daughter, who is studying illustration at college, came into our co-working space for work for a day. She clearly has great talent, and I hope I managed to convince her that ‘digital isn’t cheating’ ;)
Jack Whitehall
On Monday evening I took my son Dan to the New Theatre in Oxford to see Jack Whitehall. Not my normal cup of tea, but I know Dan likes him, and he was entertaining. I do wonder how much material he would have if it wasn’t for his Dad though…
Ride
Back into Oxford again on Tuesday night, this time to see Ride play at the Oxford Town Hall, a lovely venue that has previously hosted Smashing Conf. We could only get balcony tickets, which wasn’t the best view, and were denied drinks up there! Anyway, the music was wonderful. Supporting were The Soft Cavalry, a new band from Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, and her husband Steve Clarke. I’d seen them only a few weeks before at the Mirrors Festival at Camden’s Roundhouse, but this was a much larger venue and all the better for it.
Ride then played a blinder for a solid two hours, although missing out one of my favourite tracks of 2019, “Clouds of Saint Marie”. It’s a song that screams of summer, so maybe they thought it wasn’t appropriate, but I was a bit miffed.
Hicks Made pottery sale
Leigh’s pottery skills have come so far this year, and our house is starting to overflow with the fruits of her labours. On Thursday she held a sale, ranging from the early learning pieces, right up to her work of ‘now’ which I love. I bought a lovely pot for my desk to keep my Apple Pencil close at hand, and I love how the design reminds me of a rolling landscape.
