Elizabeth Creaghan's Art

Around a year ago I painted these for my friend Fay but never...

itiselizabeth — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:08:56 +0100

Around a year ago I painted these for my friend Fay but never gave them a good photoset.

Tonight’s work! Might get edited a bit before...

itiselizabeth — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:45:00 +0100

Tonight’s work!

Might get edited a bit before printing…

This is a t-shirt design for our society, we’ll only make 20 or so for current members. Every year they try to make one that relates to a big film of the year…

Apparently I’m going to be helping to design another SSAGO t-shirt tonight. This time I...

itiselizabeth — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:05:27 +0100

Apparently I’m going to be helping to design another SSAGO t-shirt tonight.

This time I won’t just be touching up previous drawings by tracing them (as with the Rally top) but instead drawing up my own design from Will’s ideas!

Yey for being the arty one out of a whole load of scientists (most Scouts are science people), and yey for p. much only having my dissertation to focus on now! :)

itiselizabeth: My Nerdfighteria Currency, “bytes”. It was my...

itiselizabeth — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:59:48 +0100

itiselizabeth:

My Nerdfighteria Currency, “bytes”.

It was my 2010 summer art project, shown in the video below.

Notes are 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100. The sizes increase by 1cm each denomination sometimes in width sometimes in height so there are 3 square and 3 rectangular notes. This was an attempt to aid blind people.
They are printed onto acetate and laminated as I thought this would differ them from existing currencies.

Each note will has (would have) a unique serial number and in my examples I have used “nerdy” numbers.

[Sharing again now tumblr has photosets.]

I got 4 whole new followers on this blog thanks to Alan/Alex so I thought I’d reblog this, my other favourite contribution to Nerdfighteria.

(OK, maybe I’m proud of Harry Moon too…)

(As if tumblr didn’t have photosets when I started using it!)

Alan Lastufka: This is the original quick mock-up I made for Alex Day’s Parrot...

itiselizabeth — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:52:09 +0100

Alan Lastufka: This is the original quick mock-up I made for Alex Day’s Parrot...:

alandistro:

This is the original quick mock-up I made for Alex Day’s Parrot Stories CD cover back in 2009. I found it while searching through some old emails trying to find something else for Alex.

Alex wasn’t too fond of it:

Alex: “Seems too mature. Any image of a parrot that doesn’t have glasses and…

Oh my gosh Alan, that was quite a lovely cover!

I can’t believe how amateur my art was back when I did the cover either…

My original idea was this:

but was also rejected due to lack of glasses and jacket :)

I haven’t made much art in a while because I’ve been doing a degree in Museology. I’d love to get back into illustrating things through eventually!

Learning about vector drawing on Photoshop.

itiselizabeth — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:07:42 +0100

Learning about vector drawing on Photoshop.

I also did some sketches of the children being super engaged in...

itiselizabeth — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:13:19 +0100

I also did some sketches of the children being super engaged in their artwork.

I miss drawing often.

Today I was observing the Family Art Group on the theme of...

itiselizabeth — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:09:19 +0100

Today I was observing the Family Art Group on the theme of Radical Figure Drawing, so I joined in a bit when they were being inspired in the gallery.

http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100223123608/http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/itiselizabeth

itiselizabeth — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:45:32 +0000

http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100223123608/http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/itiselizabeth:

For the sake of history and chronicling my artistic past.

Alyssa Monks

itiselizabeth — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:33:18 +0000

Alyssa Monks

So, this is the only thing I’ve done, artistically, in a...

itiselizabeth — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:13:00 +0000

So, this is the only thing I’ve done, artistically, in a while.

It’s the t-shirt design for the ManSSAGO rally coming up in Feb. I re-drew the mascots from images provided by another member.

(The final design needed extras adding and so the other guy added them in and it looks a bit weird now but I didn’t have time to do the edits and I’m not including a picture of the final version here because it’s not all my work :( Oh well!)

cantripgames: (Story War is a cool card game we’re making...

itiselizabeth — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:41:50 +0000

Wizard - He's the witch's rival

Witch - She's the wizard's rival

Fairy - She's a manic pixie dream girl

Red Dragon - He's the muscle of the Dragon Trio

Bone Dragon - It's the leader of the Dragon Trio

Blue Dragon - She's the brains of the Dragon Trio

cantripgames:

(Story War is a cool card game we’re making that’s like Apples to Apples combined with Dungeons and Dragons, read more about it here.)

Hey, so! Anybody who makes Story War fan art and posts fan art in the #Story War tag will get a Secret Code that can be used on our Kickstarter to get a special edition of the game at a discounted price! And our Kickstarter launches at the end of the month!

Fan art can be of any of the above characters or anything we’ve posted on our blog! Everything is fair game! (You can even feel free to mashup Story War characters with characters from other fandoms, that’s totally acceptable and kind of canon - our game is set in a world that exists between other fictional worlds, so random cameos aren’t totally out of place! You can draw characters fighting, hanging out, or just doing a cool dramatic pose!

Also: We might be including a sheet of some fan art in the game itself as an additional little zine thing packaged with the cards. So if you submit fan art to the Story War tag, we might message you and ask if we can include your art in the game itself!

What if you can’t draw, and still want a chance at the Secret Code?

That’s fine, by reblogging this post and following our blog you would be doing us a huge favor! So, we’ll go through the notes and pick 10 random people who reblogged this post and give them the Secret Code, in addition to anyone who submits fan art to the #Story War tag.

Alright? Cool! Go go go!

(PS: If you’re in NYC, you can come to our playtest on Saturday!)

Eeeeh! I have time off this approaching week and I haven’t done any proper art in aaaaaaaaaaages so I really hope I find a day to devote to doing this. Also, I can’t wait for this game.

msg: explore-blog: Chuck Close on creativity The rest of this...

itiselizabeth — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:01:45 +0000

msg:

explore-blog:

Chuck Close on creativity

The rest of this quote is glorious as well:

“Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will — through work — bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great ‘art idea.’ And the belief that process, in a sense, is liberating and that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every day. Today, you know what you’ll do, you could be doing what you were doing yesterday, and tomorrow you are gonna do what you did today, and at least for a certain period of time you can just work. If you hang in there, you will get somewhere.”

fishingboatproceeds: softpyramid: Francis AlÿsParadox of...

itiselizabeth — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:40:27 +0100

fishingboatproceeds:

softpyramid:

Francis Alÿs
Paradox of Praxis 1 (Sometimes doing something leads to nothing)
Mexico City, 1997

The is a photograph from a 9-hour performance by the artist Francis Alys in which he pushed a block of ice around Mexico City until it melted away to nothing.

Sometimes doing something leads to nothing.

Speed of Light - Arthur’s Seat - 9th August - Edinburgh...

itiselizabeth — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:23:16 +0100

Speed of Light - Arthur’s Seat - 9th August - Edinburgh 2012

200 runners and walkers took to the hill wearing light suits or holding a light walking staff.

The resulting photographs from this event are more impressive to me than the act of watching the people climb all over the Seat. However, I think the idea is pretty awesome; getting people to participate in art.

An elderly parishioner has stunned Spanish cultural officials...

itiselizabeth — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:12:38 +0100

An elderly parishioner has stunned Spanish cultural officials with an alarming and unauthorised attempt to restore a prized Jesus Christ fresco.

The woman, in her 80s, was reportedly upset at the way the fresco had deteriorated and took it on herself to “restore” the image.

BBC Europe correspondent Christian Fraser says the delicate brush strokes of Elias Garcia Martinez have been buried under a haphazard splattering of paint.

The once-dignified portrait now resembles a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic, he says.

Oh dear.

Another exhibition that I had a quick look around was the Talbot...

itiselizabeth — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:16:41 +0100

Another exhibition that I had a quick look around was the Talbot gallery and the “The Black Spot” show.

At first I was not too impressed by the work or the layout of the gallery. There was (it seemed to me) far too much empty space and some very basic works hung at strange heights. However, even though the work was simple, it had a level of engagement as one could try and find the link between the title, background (pages of text were used as a canvas) and content.

I only fully found myself appreciating the work once I watched an accompanying video that gave context to the work and its creators; the Kids of Survival. To me this is a reminder that not all work can be understood or appreciated unless you spend a little time learning about the artist(s) and their aims.

So, last week I was in Edinburgh and I had the chance to see...

itiselizabeth — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 13:54:40 +0100

So, last week I was in Edinburgh and I had the chance to see this exhibition: Van Gogh to Kandinsky.

There were some genuinely enchanting pieces and the quantity of information provided alongside each painting was brilliant. We went fairly early in the morning so it wasn’t too busy and we had a clear view of all the works.

The tree motif on the walls between gallery rooms was lovely and the colour choices for each room seemed perfectly suited to the works (though a bit gloomy after my recent experiences of so many white cube galleries!).

Also, frames are something that I have many mixed feelings about. The traditional fancy ones that are all gold and curly shapes are often very distracting. This exhibition carried such a wide range of work from many artists with many frames. It wasn’t messy but it also wasn’t cohesive.

Worth a visit, especially so see the Mondrian’s that are landscapes from before his De Stijl era!

contemporaryartdaily: Jenny Holzer at Sprüth Maegers I...

itiselizabeth — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 16:56:44 +0100

contemporaryartdaily:

Jenny Holzer at Sprüth Maegers

I remember seeing this (or at least a lot of other works by Holzer) at Baltic a few years ago and being struck by how you cannot merely glance at her work.

Art that makes you spend just that bit longer to take it in makes me very happy and these moving messages do just that.

itiselizabeth: My origami inflatable fish! #creationstation...

itiselizabeth — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 19:18:56 +0100

itiselizabeth:

My origami inflatable fish! #creationstation @7stories (Taken with Instagram)

So, on Friday I finished my five day work placement at the amazing Seven Stories gallery.
For those who are unaware, Seven Stories is a book museum/gallery aimed predominately at children but still plenty interesting to people of all ages. It is situated in Newcastle along the Ouseburn Valley in a Grade 2 listed refurbished factory. It covers 7 floors of a building but their name also refers to the idea that there are only 7 basic narratives possible to chose from when writing a factional story.

The top floor is an attic space with an array of books hanging from the rafters and filling the ceiling with a visually engaging collection of old novels. In the sprawling room are plenty of sofas and a small library of books from picture books for the very young through to Young Adult books such as His Dark Materials. In the centre of the back wall is a magnificent oak throne of a chair which, throughout each day, is inhabited by a storyteller who will engage visiting children in a short story or two.
This floor also contains a vast collection of dressing up clothes including a hugely intricate Gruffalo costume (from Julia Donaldson’s modern classic) and a small stage area for acting out all sorts of imaginings.

Down one floor are the offices and a small room for viewing originals from their huge collection, mounted into cases and sometimes to be handled in white gloves if a session is being run. I also helped run a session called “Story Party” in this room as it is suited to crafts and storytime for a small group of visitors.

Floor Five currently boasts a Jacqueline Wilson installation. The walls are expertly covered in Nick Sharratt illustrations, original drafts of certain passages of stories from Tracy Beaker to the Illustrated Mum, video clips of the author’s various interviews, explanations of authorial decisions and letters from editors. The room is also split into sections so that there can be a replica of Jackie’s bedroom, a living room where clips of Tracy Beaker play, tables for interactive worksheets and of course to provide even more wall space to display as much content as possible.

Floor Four is dedicated to a Julia Donaldson display as her children’s books have been hugely influential recently. Original illustrations by an array of contributing artists and sections of her manuscript plans adorn the walls between the dressing up clothes, dolls house, giant Gruffalo and further interactive tasks for the younger audience.

On the 3rd floor is the reception and a well stocked bookshop. A visit to floor two allows access to a most suitable cafe.

Down in the ‘basement’ on the 1st floor is the Creation Station. A place where every day children and adults alike have access to at least three craft activities. Cutting, sticking, drawing, folding, designing, writing are just a few that I experienced while working there.

Such a genuinely enthusiastic staff make the building a joy to visit and work in too.

I spent a lot of time in the Creation Station helping and guiding children through crafts, teaching them origami or scissor skills, discussing their lives, their favourite books, their summer holidays. I helped stock the bookshop, price items for the sale, and keep the displays tidy. In the exhibition rooms I restocked the activity sheets, hung up fancy dress and collected soft toys to return them to their rightful area. I also got to sit in on a few story sessions too. In the offices I helped to prepare for crafts at upcoming Birthday parties, search the local newspapers for mentions of the gallery for their archive and collect visitor information for questionnaires. I aided the running of “Cave Baby”, “Story Party” and “Story Explorer’s” as well as a “Clowning Around” session run by some professional clowns!

Overall the experience allowed me to reaffirm my belief that gallery experiences for children and teens are vital and they can be tailored to suit. That interactive sessions and exhibits are superb ways to engage younger children but that they definitely don’t have to be dumbed down. That fancy dress is a winner and that books are so so so important and that I love children’s literature immensely.

Thank-you Seven Stories, Liz Creaghan.