Rubbish Portraits

I've tried something new this week. It was 'im indoors birthday and seeing as hand made cards are generally the way to go in our house, was seeking inspiration... and what better inspiration than the rubbish pile that is sat in the corner of my office, threatening to topple at any moment and overwhelm half of Hampshire. So. I decided to try my hand at a rubbish portrait. Theres got to be a first time for everything! As for the result - I'm not sure Jonathan Yeo needs to quake in his boots unduly about his position in the circles of high art, but for a first attempt it's not all that..... rubbish?! And spookily, it does actually look just like him.... well a version of him after hitching a lift in the back of the recycling lorry to a skin grafts appointment....maybe ;-)

Today's rubbish picture is made of junk mail leaflets, the local swimming pools' Spring timetable, a Saturday supplement magazine and last years habitat catalogue.

Everyone loves a giraffe...

Today is a giraffe day. No particular reason. I just like 'em. They make me laugh. Laughing at a giraffe is reason enough to blog in my books.

Today's rubbish picture consists of herbal tea bags wrappings, food packaging, an old Junior magazine, Sunday's Observer, and a holiday brochure which was quickly ripped up before I could drool all over it thereby ruining perfectly good bits of blue....

Day of the Triffids

I have a giant triffid growing in my garden. It looks like innocent rhubarb (but of the enormously massive freaky sized variety) and I swear it grows an inch every time you turn your back on it.
This winter it disappeared completely and since it's re emergence from the depths (The vigorous stamping on the spot where it had been last autumn didn't get rid of it for good as I'd thought....) it's grown to a whopping shoulder height already.... in just a matter of weeks!
I'm ever so slightly concerned it may well turn out to be carnivorous, the kids are looking particularly healthy and outdoorsey at the moment - am I tempting fate by leaving it be within striking distance of the sandpit?!

Anyone who knows Alan Titchmarsh or indeed anyone who knows anything about freaky giant potentially carnivorous rhubarb please feel free to get in touch with some tips n' tricks.

I swear it growled at the dog this morning....

Today's blog rubbish picture is a hastily put together watchdog-esque look a like Triffid consisting rather appropriately of a garden centre catalogue and various scraps of recycled food packaging and fabric.

Spring views...

Another day, another Rubbish picture. Todays is inspired by Spring and the view out of my window.... the leaves are finally on the trees, the sky is blue and as my apprentice loves to point out, the bunnies are so happy they just can't stop cuddling each other...

Not just me and the Wombles...

I used to think it was just me and the Wombles who made stuff out of rubbish, but I went to see Mark Watson doing a show the other night. He's a very amusing fella so I brought his book and lo and behold, it turns out he's not only very amusing but also may well also be a link to a whole load of other womble-esque characters out there in the big wide world.
Mark Watson is crap at the environment. Official.

He even runs 'CATE'. The project started with the intention of 'saving the world, despite not being very good at it'. It aims to promote amateur environmentalism. I thought Rubbish Pictures was a pretty obscure way of being eco friendly but it seems there are a few more of us out there than first thought, trying to do our bit in our own little, slightly odd, way.... CATE encourages ordinary folk to small challenges, little things to change in your everyday life that will result in some environmental benefit. So if you want to know how to pimp your plant pot or create a bubble wrap dress - or just want to nose at slightly odd people doing amazing things in the name of saving the world. Go check out CATE.

Teapots, bunnys, mermaids... what next?

Todays ponderings have come about through cabin fever mostly... My young apprentice is centre of attention again this week after a day in hospital on Monday having her adenoids removed. She was such a brave girl and has well deserved her entire week off school being pampered and cossetted. But, maaaaan a week is a long time when you're 7 with a sore throat and it's an even longer time when you're the one kept firmly inside away from germs and sources of infection with a boooored 7 year old. (actually.... on reflection, with 2 siblings in the house there's probably more chance of infection inside these walls than out.... but hey, I'm sticking to what it says in the leaflet!)

So.... to spare my sanity after the first 7 loops of High School Musical 3, (plus obligatory bloopers and behind the scenes hilarity), I've snuck into my den and have been creating away like a crazy lady, making the most of this enforced at home time to fulfil a new order of rubbish pictures for next week. But then here comes the dilema...
What exactly to create? An 'open order' is a wondrous thing. A customer who would like 'some pictures', similar to the last batch, but the subject can be 'whatever I fancy'. Wow. After years as 'Wallop' - illustrating for children's publishing in it's various forms, I have become very used to being dictated to exactly what is required. In this pc world we live in, each project generally requires a child of each gender, colour, height, weight, you name it and so artwork briefs are notoriously precise. When they're not, it inevitably means a reworking and so it's become ingrained to try to understand exactly the clients requirements first before ever setting pen to paper or mouse to...erm.... table.
So now I'm all of a wobble. Teetering on the edge of an 'artists block'? Dithering over the possibilities.... So far the Rubbish pictures portfolio has been pretty diverse featuring mermaids, dragons, dogs, cats all sorts... but how to know what will be a best seller? What should I do next, now that I can do....anything? I'd love to know - suggestions on a postcard please.... (or just in a comment would do and would save a stamp :-) )
In the meantime - I'm trying hard not to be distracted by the warblings of the delectable Troy Bolton and concentrating on a few more pre easter bunnys and pre mothers day teacups. Just to be safe.

What a load of Rubbish!

Second post... and quite enjoying this blogging malarky. It's the same feeling as I got as a kid every year when I got a new diary for Christmas and would long for the 1st of January to arrive so I could start writing all about my exhilarating life. I was 6 or 7 or maybe 8 and life wasn't hugely exhilarating to be truthful so the feeling generally wore off by about.... February. Still. I remember it well and this is it. Hopefully it won't wear off quite so quickly now I'm a grown up.

So today I'm working on my latest set of creations. I have recently started to try to be more eco friendly as and when I can, and this led to 'Rubbish Pictures' being born.

Rubbish Pictures are collages, of varying sizes ranging from A4 right up to big imposing poster sizes, made entirely of recycled household waste. Mostly food packaging and junk mail, but also old magazines and newspapers, all the irritating bits that fall out of your sunday papers into your corn flakes.... anything really that would otherwise go directly to the recycling bin or landfill.

I started with a picture or our dog Ned, created out of cheesy wotsits bags and moved on to a mermaid with a tail made of pink fruitella wrappers.... the mermaid led to another mermaid, which became a birthday gift. One birthday present led to a few more and before I knew it I was up to my elbows in glue and old stamps making an enormous ... peacock.

Now believe me, I have at several times stopped and wondered whether that 6 years of arts training, really should have led to this.... I may be turning slightly bonkers, eyeing up that 3 kilo tin of quality Street even before Christmas... not for the delights of a green triangle within, but the wonderful crinkly green foil it was clothed in and yes, I admit here I am, dishing out pink fruitellas till my kids teeth go furry all for the sake of finishing off just ....one more mermaids tail.

Its a strange life indeed.