Finds on Feriado

Back from 10 days of holiday/family-ing in Portugal. Spied a few things along the way that I'm sharing for future inspiration. Apologies for the poor photography - Had hoped to be able to find better images of the artworks online but I've failed, likely due to my poor ability to search effectively in Portuguese.

At an seemingly pencil-themed exhibition in Guimarães, I found Ana Pérez-Quiroga's delicate acorn bobbins... 

I also enjoyed this calmingly confident use of white space from Ana Guedes. (Ignore the reflection if you can).

And then these clever interlinking hands by Julião Sarmento.

At MAAT in Lisboa, I loved the palette and anonymity of João Gabriel's work. 

There's also an installation here by the afore-mentioned Pérez-Quiroga.

And at the Museu Nacoinal Do Azelejo, I lusted over these beautiful coloured tiles, which form part of a bigger composition by Querubim Lapa. #getinmykitchen

Thought Bubble

I went to the 10th Leeds Comic Art Festival last weekend. This was a fairly spontaneous decision, on the background of a teeny bonfire related hangover.. But it did my eyes good, and like last time, I was impressed with the breadth and quality of exhibitors. 
Highlights this year include Maria Stoian,

.. Emmeline Pidgen who illustrated both the cover of the festival guide and this delightful chap..

.. Emily Rose and particularly her four days in Budapest Zine..

.. Tor Freeman..

.. and Anja Urhen.

My total favourite find was WarwickJC, from whom I acquired the following excellent dinosaur themed ice cream van.

Brilliance.  

Inspiration

I've been running a little short on time and energy for drawing lately due to full time OT-ing. But ideas for illustration projects are accumulating, in part helped by visiting various exhibitions such as Paula Rego and Honore Daumier at the House of Illustration where there were some incredibly powerful illustrations. I particularly liked a Rego pencil drawing entitled 'envy' which shows a woman loaded with emotion, fists and jaw clenched looking sideways toward an unknown trigger... Here's a sneaky snap I took, which doesn't do it justice but at least gives an impression...

I've also been looking through old scrapbooks, which have become a little redundant since I started using Pinterest, but nothing beats leafing through a physical collection of things I love visually... 

Hoping to go to this print exhibition next week too -> http://maa.cam.ac.uk/maa/power-of-paper/

And then I promise to get on some drawing. Promise.