more Manchester and moving

Well, due to moving out, not having the internet for two weeks or so and trying to settle in it has been a while since my last post. I've now officially moved in to my first house, sharing with three lovely other students and lots of floor to make a mess out of. I’m afraid I didn’t get much art done while moving, and uni has just started up again so I have quite a bit of work to do. But this means I can also put sketches and things I’m doing for my course on here while I’m doing so. I shall not abandon you blogspot! It feels weird being a second year. :I

Myself and a group of other students went to go look around the Manchester Print Fair on Sunday, held in the Night & Day café on Oldham Street.

The train there was the busiest I’ve ever been on, and the hour’s journey was a bit squashed, although it just meant our freedom when we got to Piccadilly was more joyous than usual.

I’d never been to Night & Day before and it was a surprise how big it is inside, they’d made use of the space really well and little stalls had been set up on the floor in front of the stage.

I’d vowed not to spend too much money that day, since I’ve been completely irresponsible since moving out and appear to have no control over my ice cream and spring roll reflex. However I did buy two little books and a beer mat (I don’t actually drink beer, but it was pretty and had a tree on it). Here are my spoils from the day.

The stall nearest the doors on the left was where I bought my first little book called ‘Things I’ve Found’ by Katie Haegele, illustrated by Helen Entwisle (aka memo). Every few pages there would be a line drawing of a swivel chair or dollhouse, perfectly formed, and I loved the way it was written. If you flipped it over a different book would begin called ‘Things I’ve Lost’, in the same style.

I read it all while I was waiting for my soup in  the Common bar and thoroughly enjoyed it (the soup there was also delicious and highly lentilly, I recommend it).

When I bought the book she gave it to me in a little paper bag, and it was only after I'd left that when looking through I found lots of other things she’d put in for me too.

I felt so honoured! :D They now have pride of place on the wall above my desk, which I have decorated with tickets and photos and a giant Monty Python poster.

The stall itself was full of tiny quirky things like triangles with moustaches and ‘cube chaps’; I felt too shy to take photos of things memo was actually selling but you can find lots of examples on her website. She has a blog here and a twitter too.

Some business cards I picked up.

The one on the left is for Megan Price, who is a designer and screenprinter based in Manchester. She uses a lot of bright colours, typography and does all her printing by hand. Her work is very British!

Top right is the illustrator Jamie Mills, whose work in contrast is often based around black and white, nature, landscapes and pattern.

The bottom right card is Amy Tidmarsh’s, an all-round embroiderer, typographer and artist. You can see much more of her work here.

In one corner right against the stage there was a stall full of artists’ work from all over, such as Simon Lee! Simon Lee is an illustrator and graphic designer who specialises in background pattern, character design and lots of cats. I genuinely couldn’t help myself buying this book and the guy at the stall encouraged me so there. I bear no blame. -3-

Full of strange creatures surrounded by cats, as you can see. I was rather pleased with this purchase.

Some examples of Lee’s other work from his website. He’s a very talented artist and it’s well worth a look.

This was the beer mat.

I bought it at the same stall, by the illustrator David Ryan Robinson. He has done work all over Manchester for several bars, Nexus Art Café (which I believe I ambled past in my last update) and the BBC and Guardian. He has a blog and you can see lots of his sketchbook and development work on his website.

Here I confess I just saw the fruit and went for it; there was a tiny stall along the right hand wall filled with little cards and prints.

Emma Brown is a graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University and does a lot of minutely-detailed line art, often with soft colours. I would willingly have bought the entire collection of fruit, but I would have felt silly asking. My photo really doesn’t do the poor raspberry justice.

Some more of her work from her website. She draws animals quite often and is interested in children's book illustration. I love her pieces :) She has two blogs, one for illustration here and another personal one which you can find on her website as well.

While we were Manchestering we also found the most amazing café called Home Sweet Home, where they believe in cookies and kindness. I should have brought my camera but I completely forgot it, and regretted it all day. :( It was so homely and sweet in there, and they had an amazing menu. Sadly I was full of lentil soup at the time, and thus could not partake of any cookies.

I think that’s everything! Apologies for the rather long rambly post, but I’m more or less up to date now. I’ll post some bits and bobs left over from summer asap, along with work I get up to for uni. :3 Thank you much for visiting, and I’ll hopefully see you again soon! <3