Open Sesame

Open sesame. You may be pleased to know that you can now buy selected prints of my work from my store and if you'd like something thats not on the store give me a shout (or email if you're not in shouting distance) and I'll see what I can do. Check it out.

http://gracerussell.bigcartel.com

Santa...I know him

Promise fulfilled. Exciting new Christmas cards commissioned by the V&A museum to send out to their high profiled clients. It was a pretty quick turn around with less than a week between the first email and the submission of final pieces but it was fairly exciting actually, plus it gave me another excuse to visit the V&A (like I need one). 

I'm really happy with the finished piece, the idea was to have the Chandelier symbolise a christmas tree. I tried to capture the essence of the museum with the grandeur of the vast dome entrance and sum up its wonderful collection with the Rotunda Chandelier, and marry it with a quietness, peacefulness and almost spiritualness, much like midnight mass on Christmas eve. 

This was the chosen piece

However I do love the snowman in this one

4 tribal headdresses, 3 ghost stories, 2 bears who makes my heart melt and a partridge in a pear tree.

My face right now...

Things are going swimmingly, working on some really exciting new stuff that I'm trying to push the boundaries with little. Fun both to create and to look at.  Pre-warning of some new work to be up next week too. 

On the third day of Christmas Grace gave to me...

... the promise of more work updates. I've been/I am snowed under at the moment with lots of new work and commissions so this promise shall be fulfilled in the near future. I've had the wonderful opportunity of working with a very high profiled client on an extra special Christmas card commission recently, and excuse me while I blow my own trumpet, but the client has since come back to me and said that it is the best they have ever produced! Christmas has definitely come early. That will be up on the website *fingers crossed* just before christmas. I'm also involved in another project at the moment along with an amazing group of illustrators (most of whom intimidate the crap out of me) working on perhaps an illustrators dream brief really. Its so cool and should be all ready to show in the new year with the promise of an exhibition at some point. And finally I have a super top secret project (it literally hurts to not be able to tell anyone about this) on the go, its amazing and fantastic and I could go on but I won't and I again don't know when this will be shared but it will be amazing. So yeah, end the year on a bang lets hope. To be continued. 

For now though I'll leave you with an illustration to accompany Joelle Taylor's poem 'No Man's Land' as part of SLAMbassadors poetry anthology. I't also on the website: http://www.gracerussell.co.uk

Cold Mountain

I have a set of new illustrations up on my website. 

Robert Macfarlane's 'Mountains of the Mind'

Some really exciting things will be posted soon-ish. But for now there's a new piece of work up on the website; a cover design for Robert Macfarlane's 'Mountains of the Mind'. Its an amazing book, my head was permanently in it for the duration of my trip. More to follow!

And so I have returned.

I'm backkkkk. Yup Canada was pretty amazing. I have so many photos its crazy. Some of the workshops and activities I did were so awesome I cannot believe how much control and scope I got to pretty much do what I wanted in terms of programming, I got to completely redesign the whole Arts and Crafts program which was great. Travelling across the country was unbelievable too, the mountains oh the mountains, I love the Rockies so much. 

Ok so reading that back it appears as though I have verbal diarrhoea therefore I will stop typing and leave you with a few pages from one of my sketchbooks. 

Creative Review

Just a little write up on the winning entries on Creative Review 

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/june/va-illustration-awards

Winner of the V&A Illustration Awards 2014

I am very happy to announce that I have won the Student Category for the V&A Illustration Awards 2014! I'm soo so happy, the judges had some really lovely comments about my work, saying they had a strong compositional sense and created very evocative imagery. The awards ceremony and private view on monday night was unreal, there was even a string quartet and my award is the weight of a small child. The rest of the work on display is truly breathtaking, Helen Musselwhite's work especially; the intricacy of her paper cut outs are really something to be marvelled at, a deserved winner and overall winner. Please go and have a look at the work if you get a chance, its on display until the 2nd of July and you can follow the link here.

V&A Illustration Awards 2014 Shortlist

I didn't know that I could reveal this yet but it's up on the website now so I have been shortlisted for the V&A Illustration Awards with my illustrations for 'The Wild Places'. Lord only knows how I have kept this quiet for so long, honestly I've been busting at the seems. The awards ceremony takes place at the private view at the V&A on monday and this is when it will be announced if I have won or not, so stay tuned! (If I win) my work will be exhibited in the V&A museum and across the country, which will be amazing. Hurry up monday. You can see my entry and the other shortlisted work here.

Orca

Just a quick illustration I did after watching Blackfish. 

Type

I had ago at developing some type, so here it is 'Terrain'. Honestly I'm pretty happy with it, the 'R' especially. The 'T' I'm not 100% with, I was trying not to be so obvious but I feel it may throw the letter off balance a little... Hmm. I just need to work on the lower case now. 

"And then I was drowning again"

Oh paint.

Canada

I can finally reveal that very soon I will be flying out to Canada where I will be head of arts and crafts in Algonquin Provincial Park. Words cannot express how excited I am. That's the first part of my secret news revealed but I'm afraid I am sworn to secrecy on the rest for a couple of months. It'll be worth the wait I promise. 

Cabin!!!

Work in progress. I love trees.

I see a boy, walking from the wilderness

Here's a little teaser of some work in progress. I really love this little man, he just looks so cool.  Anyway, I've had quite a lot of good news lately so I've got a few very hectic weeks ahead, after which my blog will be bombarded with work and posts. 

Digging like you can bury something that cannot die

Ok so major crush alert on HVASS&HANNIBAL really love their work, its like a perfect balance of graphic design and illustration.

Sometimes you're further than the moon.

I'm trying to create a steady stream of work to my blog now. This is one out of a set of image created for a Facilities Management company; the illustrations are used in tender documents under the relevant policy headings, the above is for 'environment'. I'm fairly happy with this actually, its pretty different from a lot of my work in that theres not really a lot of emotion or atmosphere to it, but still I felt comfortable in making it and I'm satisfied with the result, more importantly so is the client. P.s. Why is blogger turning it grey? Its white honest, ffffff white!

Every night I ask myself am I giving enough.

Haha just found this amazing recipe pamphlet that I picked up in the states at the Spam Museum (yes that's right, the Spam museum). Chez Spam has some rather interesting ideas on how to cook with spam including spam sushi. Although from my time in the USA I have found the only way to eat Spam is roasted over a camp fire annnd is must be black pepper Spam or jalapeño Spam. Any other way, especially raw is just vile I'm afraid. But roast it it will change your life! 

Cold Cereal and TV

Just a quick page from the book I'm working on, I've become a bit obsessed with newspaper print my desk looks like a hoarder threw up on it, but I find that the gesso doesn't take too well to it, it just kind of soaks it up like a sponge and becomes all soggy. Guess its trial and error for a solutions though. 

Walk around till 3am,

So I'm trying some new things out, or rather trying to be diplomatic in a bit of an obstacle that I've come up against. Finger's crossed this is the solution. I also have two bits of major news...although I cannot speak a word of either, so sorry to tease. I'll try to update more to make up for it though. 

I forgot

I was trying to clean up my mac a little and came across 

this poster I did for the cycle marathon a while back.