Food makes Art good !

Hello and Happy New Year!

This winter seems requiring quite a bit of color to cheer us up! 

I have been experimenting recently with some illustrations on the food theme.

I found a great website that showcase this type of work, 

They draw and cook, 

where you can submit your illustration with no selection, 

and the hosts give you also the possibility to choose to get good royalties in case your displayed work is requested. 

Here is my Atlantic Eggplant Boats

I really enjoyed exploring recipes and looking at real food, often so perfect and beautiful!

Another thing I have done and I can't recommend it enough , 

is to become a member of the AOI, Association of Illustrators, which is an invaluable source of advice and professional guidance about all that concern an artist in his/her practice, including contracts, pricing based on real works, legal advice... 

They also have a great newsletter where they update with all awards, international events, connected to this job.

The membership fee starts from £160 for a year, with the option to add your portfolio on their platform for another £40. 

HERE is mine!

They are connected with the major industries and agencies, so it was for me a great discovery, worthy to share. And you don't have to live in the Uk, to be part of this friendly group.

I am also carrying on learning

pattern design, and I just has so much fun 

incorporating in photoshop

a sketch with a background

pattern I was creating

Favorite podcasts of the month:

Arrest all mimics, a weekly podcast about all the aspects of illustration,UK
All the wonders, a choice of 4 programs about book illustration for young age, USA
Sleeping at last, this music band made by one great person mainly, about the creation of his songs ( I know, this is not strictly about visual arts, but such an interesting door on creative process!

Favorite books of the month:

Children's picture books, by Martin Salisbury
The Artist's way , by Julia Cameron, the greatest book about creativity I've ever read!

New materials and art stuffs I recently discovered:

illustration board, a very thick support that gives the possibility to paint with water based colors on paper, you can choose the texture like for watercolor paper, between cold press or smooth finish, I used it for this illustration with acrylics (Liquitex) and colored pencils (Faber Castell Polycromos).
Matt medium, a transparent medium that dries very matt, so you don't loose the work done underneath and can draw or paint on top.You can also use it as a glue for collage!
I used it for the butterflies on my eggplant boats illustration..

I hope you find this blogpost interesting, 

and I can't wait to share more news with you soon!

And the winner is...

And the giveaway winner 

( choosen with random number generator)

is...

MAGGIE MCKINNEY!

My 2018 calendar will be with you soon! 

thank you for participating!

GIVEAWAY !

GIVEAWAY! 

To celebrate my gratitude to all my lovely  followers, 

I host a giveaway, which means a GIFT of... one of my colourful 2018 calendars! 

To win this prize just 

SHARE this post between all your friends on social media
Which you can do at the bottom of this post)

and ENTER a comment below saying which is your favourite month and why! 

I 'll ship this gift worldwide! 

Please spread the voice ...

winner will be announced on Saturday 4th November!

New doors...

Hello Everyone!

The new season brings new colors, 

and with them new ideas and insights...

( a walk in the woods can generate a color palette!) 

 I recently took some on line courses after the very intense and inspirational Childrens book Illustration summer school at Cambridge ( which I described here ).

The one I'm enjoying the most is The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design, with Rachael Taylor and Beth Kempton, who founded the Make it in Design Company. 

I have been always drawn to pattern and wondered how I could create my own designs to use in my illustrations... 

(creating a new illustration with a fab pattern as background)

With this amazing course, and this generous, knowledgeable and enthusiastic teacher  I'm learning some simple ways to make this  happen, and having fun at the same time, with lots of creative exercises !

(one of my first pattern exercises)

Through this time of learning, I can see how Art is not just painting, but an entire approach to life,  expressing one self in our own way. 

It 's taking care of ourselves and what matters for us.

In fact, Art is about giving form -in a imaginative way-  to what matters for us.

( Love for nature is something I always try to encourage, through my work)

Learning new skills reminded me 

that we can't expect to start from the end, where we see our favorite artists already are. We can't expect to skip all the learning steps! 

(my first basic physical box repeat pattern)

I'm learning that the best Art happens when our heart warms up, looking at something, thinking at something, or doing something.

That is not which materials we use, but what we want to say with them, that make it happen.

(visiting the House of Illustration, in London)

I also wanted to share with you what inspired me most during this month:

listening to All the wonders podcasts

discovering new favourite illustrators like Catia Chien

using Adobe Capture app for mobile phones ( to create color schemes)

visiting Quentin Blake exhibition at The House of Illustration

and

visiting my native Country: Italy!

( a view over Valmarecchia, Emilia Romagna)

What have been inspiring you recently?

My Exhibition at The Garlic Farm

Hello folks!

It has been a busy summer working on the

Calendar 2018

and preparing the exhibition at

The Garlic Farm (Isle of Wight)

Finally the day arrived
and

we did an open event inviting

everybody to join us in this very 

unique place.

The restaurant space is open all the year round, and it's a lovely 

and welcoming area where exhibitions are always on.

The waiting list is about a year,

and they take a reasonable commission on artwork .

We agreed to keep the prices under £100,

so I decided to present a variety of 20 framed prints of my best work

from the last 7 years...

This choice made

my art affordable to many more people,

and I feel happy about this.

My calendars and stationery have been much appreciated 

too...

     It looks like a very colorful place!
The exhibition goes on until the 15th of October,
from 9 to 5 pm everyday ,
so still plenty of time to see if you 're around !

Now is time to rest and open a new door to my 

artistic path...

which has started with the Children's Book Illustration summer school in Cambridge 

at the Anglia Ruskin University this past july 2017 

(here a little post about it).

Time

 to grow, to reinvent, to learn, 

....

to dream even more!

My calendar is ready for pre-order!

Such an exciting moment 

after so much work...!

Finally my 

WALL CALENDAR 2018 is ready 

to buy on my
Etsy shop !

And to reward your enthusiasm, 

you can buy it with 10% off

until the 31 august

just entering the coupon code

BRIGHT2018

at the checkout!

The releasing date

is 3rd of September!

HOORAY!

Children's Book Illustration Summer School 2017, Anglia Ruskin University

And so it happened!

I had as a gift this course in Cambridge,

and I really recommend it,

the teaching was great!

This is the Ruskin Gallery, where we had our week of lectures

and studio time...we were basically living in there!

The campus was very near, maybe two minutes walk,

and I'm afraid the staying was awful as the room and shared kitchen 

were very dirty , and building works on site

made it extra uncomfortable ..

All together, it was an unforgettable experience!

I discovered that even Syd Barrett,founder of Pink Floyd band, studied here!

This is a view of the studio, a great space that the teachers filled up

with children's book, for sale

and for reference...

So if you felt stuck you could go round seeing other people's desk,

or finding inspiration in the books..

We had to bring our own story,

that during the week has been constantly

changing according from what we learned 

step by step,

and each day tutors were visiting our desk and

helped us... we were more than 60 people,

so we only had the chance to see one tutor a day,

and this was maybe too less for my wish..

but at the end of the day,we met for questions time,

so any doubt could be clarified ..

I tryed to have my daily review with the tutors

as soon as possible in the mornings,

so that the imprint of the daily task could be

good from beginning...

The course started on Monday and on Friday at 2pm

we had to present our book to the class,

we were divided in groups with a tutor each and with did

a critic of our work,

and everybody could give his/her constructive

feedback!

On Friday evening we went to

Heffers Bookshop to celebrate and 

immerse ourselves in a sea of books

( but at that time we were so warn out that

our eyes could barely stay open !)

On Saturday we could attend to a public symposium

full of enthusiastic speakers,

agents like Helen Mackenzie Smith, makers like Helen Musselwhite, 

curators like Olivia Ahmad, 

and social media experts like Tom Bransby!

I was sad to leave it just before the end as I had to catch my bus 

to come home..

But I'm very proud of my story

and most of all,

of what I learned,

and I'll treasure it for sure!

Here the link to the school,

they organize  a MA 

in Childrens' illustration Book!

(full time 18 month, and part time 2,5 years duration)

Now I'm happy to be

home in my little green island!