Birmingham Zine Festival 

Here is the designs for my entries to the Birmingham zine festival, i decided to work with my wrong had illustrations, i did a few designs before hand and then picked my favourites for the postcards, what do you think. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .?

http://www.birminghamzinefestival.com/

I spent my last change on a strip of photos !

I was Stumbling the other day on stumbledupon, i try not to do it that often as it is so addictive, i don't normally post much that i find but this i just have to.


It is a website with an application to take traditional (well as much as they can be done digitally) photo booth photos, that makes the sounds and the flash and well i thought it was just wonderful had so much fun for all of half an hour until i realised that i was by myself and that it would be much more fun with others to do.


I sent it to my younger sisters to play with and take photos together, think they found it funny, it was good for them as all three of them are on summer holidays so time spent doing that was time not nagging my mum ;-)


so if you have a spear five minuets and you want to do something a bit fun cheek it out!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1TbgtG/laphotocabine.com/

Birmingham Zine Festival

Not long ago i found this mail art exhibition that asks for people from all over to take part and create a postcard to display at the exhibition which is part of a festival "The Birmingham Zine Festival".
I should have posted this sooner but have not had much time to blog. . . .  but that will change!!

"The Birmingham Zine Festival will feature a wide range of self-published books, comics and magazines. We'll also be showcasing a selection of artwork from artists connected to the alternative press. If you’d like any additional information about our events, get in contact!"

You are invited to take part in our exhibition of postcards, where each postcard will be a unique work of art. At the end of the exhibition, all of the postcards will be randomly ‘swapped’ and you’ll receive someone else’s original artwork in the mail – yours to keep!

To take part in the exhibition, send us a message with your name and address. When you receive your postcard, just follow these simple instructions:

• Create your own unique artwork on the blank side of the postcard. There’s no theme so feel free to submit whatever you like.
• Write a message on the reverse, leaving the address space blank (we’ll fill that in later!)
• Mail the postcard back to us in the envelope provided, along with your name, address and website details.

That’s it – we’ll do the rest! All of the postcards will be exhibited at The Framers Gallery in Birmingham as part of the Birmingham Zine Festival.

So today i am taking some time to come up with some ideas i want to send on my postcard for the exhibition so stay tuned for the finished piece which will need to be done soon to send off in time :-)



Exciting!!!!!

http://www.birminghamzinefestival.com/

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and stones
may break my bones
But words can
never hurt me.

Words! Words! I'm so sick of words!
I get words all day through;
First from him, now from you! Is that all you blighters can do?
Don't talk of stars Burning above; If you're in love,
Show me! Tell me no dreams
Filled with desire. If you're on fire,
Show me!

--Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady

A Beautiful Day at St Ives 

It was recently my birthday and i was taken to St Ives in cornwall for the day, i have lived in cornwall now for three years but it was my first time visiting.

I loved every minuet of it, we walked through the town, and went to the TATE gallery, took photos and had some beautiful food and wine in a wonderful seafood restaurant.

The cornish postcard stand "love it"

Seagulls! i find them so fascinating and funny birds but i really don't like it when i am trying to eat a cornish pasty and they sit and watch you, this one was posing.

The weather was really extreme it was real cornish weather turning from beautiful blue sky and fluffy clods to stormy and raining. but i love that. 

When the weather was good-IT was GOOD! look how beautiful the sea is looks tropical makes me want to jump in.

The TATE exhibition was brilliant, we went to see the "Lilt Van Der Stokker" "No Big Deal Thing" A bold, colourful works that are represented in a disarmingly unashamed and exuberant way, with ideas of beauty, love, relationships, family and the everyday. Playing on stereotypical femininity, she challenges and engages with legacies of feminism exploring ideas often thought of as forbidden in contemporary art.

Her demure medium: coloured-pencil drawings on A4 paper which she scales up and paints directly onto the walls of the gallery.

She challenges the idea the "grand" and the "serious" and in the process asks the question "just what is a fitting subject for a work of art"

http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/exhibitions/vanderstokker/default.shtm

http://www.galerievangelder.com/artists/stokker2.html

here are some examples of her work taken from the "Galerie Vangelder" website 

http://www.galerievangelder.com/artists/stokker2.html

Sisters & PhotoShoots

when I was back home I did some photo shoots with my sisters it was so much fun and got lots of amazing photos of my beautiful sisters here are some of the finished and edited photos from what i call the 

"DaisyBlue series" 

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

"How to be and Explorer of the World"

I had a train journey to go on so i stopped off at the hear and now gallery were i bought this book. I read it all and started a sketch book as i was so inspired by the prompts the book has. This book is just so refreshing i feel it just the best way to remind us how to reconnect with the world and be inspired and creative. I advise anyone to own it.

"Artists and scientists analyse the world around them in surprisingly similar ways - by observing, collecting, documenting, analysing and comparing. In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists. Smith sets the reader the mission of documenting and observing the world around them as if they've never seen it before - taking notes and collecting things they find on their travels. With a series of interactive prompts and a beautiful hand-illustrated two-colour package, readers will love exploring this gorgeous book."

Amy Goodwin 

My Friend Amy has made this wonderful website for her illustration and i think it is just beautiful, i think the use of flat bright colour is fun and constructed in a playful way that makes me feel happy.

http://www.amygoodwinillustration.com/Sketchbook.html

also check out her blog 

Amys Blog 

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5750254874438150133

Remember this!

 it is Important for us all to remember   

http://vi.sualize.us/

Polaroid 

My photos turned into Polaroid's

I had to put this up, i have turned my photos into Polaroid, i found this app for my mac and i love the effect it has have a look and see what you think !!

Painting Pebbles 

This is the images from the workshop i did with the children at the "Colourful women's Network" where i collected lots of different types of pebbles and took them along for the children to decorate.
The them of the pebbles was "Things" and "Creatures" with goggly eyes and funny faces this is what they created.

And they all did a fantastic job! so proud of them and love the out come. 

Walking down by the sea 

I went for a stroll along the beaches near where i live mainly to collect pebbles for a workshop i want to to do with the group that i work with called "The colourful women's network". . . . .

here are some of the photos that i took on that beautiful day.

Beautiful Losers 

I have posted items on this topic before and have always gone back to it, I own the book and the film and think that they are brilliant, inspireing and creative.

The Beautiful losers collective has had such an impact on the comunities and people that they work with I find this inspireing and warm.

 The Website and Blog

  http://www.beautifullosers.com

I have found that the workshops they were doing so inspiring, engaging with the community, children and people of all ages. . . . . .  

 

all images taken from the website. . . . http://www.beautifullosers.com/