DESK

So because of the awful weather I have set up a smaller desk at home…Yes, It's a table under a table- the lower one acts as an extremely useful shelf and a nice seat. It helps with my posture since I sit cross-legged on it. Just thought I'd share that little bit of info with y'all.

I know it's messy- but my work place always is. It's quite interesting working in my room- usually I keep the two areas separate but I actually don't mind it- I get engrossed enough in my work not ignore the comfy bed calling my name. The only thing is I need more light here.

Elf-ant cards

I should try to stop making ridiculously lousy puns with the post titles... But sadly, it's too difficult. It's who I am, deal with it. Anyway, I've been in an elephant mood. Been doodling them everywhere for a couple of weeks- and tonight I sat down to come up with some xmas card ideas…

Just some rough ideas. I'm really boring and love working in black and white. I think the final designs will probably be monochromatic as well. At the moment, I want to do some lino cutting.. but I may decide to do some collage in the end. We'll see how quick/effective each way is :)

Feedback welcome, as always x


P.S. apologies for awful photo quality- my phone is abysmal- but it's really easy to send photos to computer. Must invest in a phone with a better camera.. or be less lazy and use my fancy camera to document shizz.

Pick-me-up Pachyderm

So recently, a dear little friend wasn't feeling too well... I decided to take matters into my own (clay-manipulating) hands and make her something to cheer her up. It's the best thing to receive something in the post, I think, and since I couldn't travel to Dundee just to deliver the gift, it was good to make use of the local post office...

The contents of the box were larger than life so I required a "Package Securing Device"*. And as I am nothing if not resourceful, I managed to create one in record time...

*Awaiting Patent (Nur's Clever Things LTD)

A pair of fluffy socks never go amiss ;)

Close-up of Elephant- as many of you know,I've made a few of these in the past.However, this lucky specimen was the first one to ever be made with an accessory... Making the feather for the hat was my favourite part.

I must make more of these!

I understand the package was received graciously and am sure the pachyderm shall be loved for ever more :)

Thanks to Hana for providing the title of this post. Hope you feel better soon! x

River of Light.. Continued

Once again in the barn.. the Ghost Train- finito!

My hands at the end of a hard days work- chicken wire, metal, willow, needles...wish I could have captured the pain.. they don't look too bad here, actually!

The Fantastic Four

Here are the lovely artists I had the pleasure of working with on this project- over the 6 weeks we did an amazing job and had loads of laughs :D

From the left: Katerina Louvari, Sarah Wakeford, Jance McInally and yours truly, Ameena Nur

River of Light

So here are some more pictures of what went on behind the scenes of the lantern festival.

The 24 foot high sculpture- the structure was welded together by local artist, David Powell, who was running the project. We sewed on the pieces of cloth, in a checkered fashion to replicate the look of a Helter Sketler

something like the one above- ah the pretty colours! but we were going to burn the one made for the lantern festival...

this is the rest of the Helter Skelter- the base. And lovely Katerina sewing cloth quite lovingly onto the structure..
This happened all in the afore mentioned barn- the weather was decidedly unfriendly and the elements were against us for sure. Cold, weary, numb and at 12.30am, I called it a night. But the rest of the crew kept at it for another hour or so...
The plan was to burn these sculptures on the beach on the night of the lantern festival but because of the awful wind and rain, the burning was cancelled...Just as the fuse was lit for the Helter Skelter, the wind picked up, sweeping the 24foot high structure off the sand and onto its side- it rolled towards the audience and we all ran towards it to push it back towards the sea.
My leg got tangled in one of the ropes (soaked in petroleum) attached to the structure and i almost got pulled along with the entire thing- luckily the rope snapped off and I remained unscathed :P

Dad showed up to see what we were doing and wanted to pose...

And here we are making the 8 foot high fire sculptures- which were supposed to be lit, arranged around the Helter Skelter... and once again because of the awful weather on the night they never were. So soul destroying to do all this work and never getting to see the end result! The meta cuboids were covered with chiken wire and secured with sack ties- and that potato sack tying thing- AMAZING (man, i'm such a nerd to get excited about things like this but it was a useful tool) We made partitions in the cuboids and filled them with hay- the partition in the middle prevented the hay to settle at the bottom, therefore, giving a more even burn...in theory...

The last 35 days...

Hello all you lovely people! Granted, there has been no activity on this page since September, but let me insure you I have been extremely active!

I was hired as a Project Assistant for a local Arts Group to help out on their annual lantern festival.
I have been running workshops over the past five weeks in schools and local community centres for children and adults of all ages. The theme this year is "Carnivals and Carousels" and we have been creating lanterns based on imagery such as fairground rides/ side show tents/ things found at shows etc. Here are some of the photographs from the project.

We are using a local barn to construct the giant sculptures- some of them are a whopping 24foot high! this is a ghost train being made out of willow. the willow is covered in wet-strength tissue paper soaked with latex, which dries tight on the frame. It's surprisingly robust and gives a lovely finish. It will be quite a sight when it's all lit up from inside!

some details of the ghost train

Here is the Carousel horse I have been making. I have lovingly named him "The Hulk" since he is quite the huge horse. He is looking forward to having some legs soon and being covered in tissue and latex.

Here is another horse, constructed by Jane Mcinally- another artist in residence working on the project. Her horse naps on the floor, waiting patiently to be completely covered..

Fancy Bird

Just a little doodle:) must do this more often!

Dinosaur Egg

A birthday present for a friend who loves dinosaurs...and appreciates my love for boiled eggs.

For all those knitting vegetarians out there...

I drew this a while back, a little present for an amazing friend- who amongst many other things is a great vegetarian and a greater knitter. Unfortunately for her, I come up with some awful nicknames... I love Cabbage, she's awesome.

Window Sill Cat

NEVER MEAT AGAIN

by Mark Grossi


It angers me to think
Your skin clogged up my sink






Initial drawing





Finito!

RHYMES FOR SWINES

So I said a few months back that I was working on a project with Messers Mark Grossi and Tom Paxton- visit the blog at:

rhymesforswines.blogspot.co.uk

I did a couple of illustrations for some swiney rhymes... here is one of them-



LOVE IN THE FAST LANE
by Tom Paxton



A pair of pliers
All it takes
To cut the cables
To your brakes
Live fast die young
You used to say
I merely helped you
On your way

Snow Day- Dog Delivery Service

Last time it snowed, I promised a friend to send her a dog on skis, carrying a backpack filled with delicious curry. Today's snow day has seen this drawing finished.

just a random drawing.. started working on it when i was on the train to london-land...

YEES

So, we all have friends. I have the most amazing ones who let me make fun of them continuously. Here's a drawing I did for one of my most loveliest friends.

I made this a couple of months ago and have been meaning to put it up here since. Enjoy! x

Forgiveness is next to awesome-ness

It's been said so I won't say it again- just deal with it. Been studying and am now qualified to teach English as a foreign language- joy! Anyway, to clear the air, here's some new* work :)

*kind of