The Six Swans - pt 2

Hooray! This side project is finally finished and copies are now available.  Here are some of the great new promo photos taken last weekend - 

The Six Swans is a laser-cut paper sculpture, made from a single sheet of folded black paper.  It's inspired by a Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name (and a story that scared me as a kid).  The fairy tale tells of the plight of six princes, who are turned in to swans by their wicked stepmother.  Their only hope for the curse being lifted is if their sister can produce six shirts for them sewn from nettles.  She must also keep a vow of silence for seven years, or else her brothers must remain swans forever.

This piece of work is a bit of a departure from the laser cut work that I usually do, but it was great to try out this idea.  I wanted to create more of a 3D effect with the cut-outs, so the action is less confined and can jump out of the folds, but still wanted to continue using only one single sheet of paper as the basis for the work.

The Six Swans are in an edition of fifty and are available to purchase online now at http://joannarobsonillustration.bigcartel.com/

New greetings cards

A georgian hen night

In light of the surprise success of these cards, replacements have been ordered and will be available to purchase online soon.  The original Valentine's Day inspired illustrations have been given a bit of colour and another design has been added too - 

inside: '...costly and unmanageable.'

City illustration for Techne

Above is my finished piece for the fourth edition of Techne for Pitville Press, which will be screenprinted later this summer.  I had a lot of fun with this image and it was a welcome break from the line drawing that I usually do!

The Six Swans

Here's the prototype of a new laser cut piece I've been working on recently:

height - 28cm; width - approx. 25cm

Even as I was designing it, I knew that there were going to be problems ahead with the structure, and it took many revisions on the laser cutter before finally it looked like it was strong enough to be folded up and to stand by itself.

There's only the packaging to finish, and then a small edition of them will be available to purchase very soon!

Watch this space....

Online portfolio

This task was long overdue, but I've now set up a portfolio of some of my art work that can be accessed here - it can also be accessed via the tab along the top of the blog, under the main banner.

The artwork is a combination of commissions, self-initiated artwork and book art.  Editing is still underway, but for now all I think that's the bulk of it done!

New work on the way...

This tiny sketch is a little taster of a big project I'm doing for next year.  It makes for a welcome change from all the black, laser-cut gothic stories I've done previously, however this time the challenge is even more massive...  More photos and images later on will reveal why.

The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde: Part II

As promised, here are a few production photos from Lung Ha's The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde. The combination of stage smoke and coloured lighting really added to the atmosphere and much use was made of the shadows and lighting, which looked incredible on a large set like this:

(this felt like being shrunk and then walking around in your own work!)

"Lung Ha Theatre Company and Drake Music Scotland have together pulled off an atmospheric reworking of RL Stevenson’s, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde."  **** Edinburgh Guide

"The thematic assists from composer Greg Sinclair and the musicians of Drake Music work extremely well...a fleet and surprising adaptation of a famous story that really belongs to Edinburgh and which Lung Ha Theatre make their own."  **** Edinburgh49

"Together with a team of musicians and an ensemble cast bursting with spirit and passion, Lung Ha present a revitalised and genuinely enthralling tale."

***1/2 The Public Reviews

"Pearson has constructed a fascinating feminist reimagining of Stevenson's story which resets it in Victorian Edinburgh, the original city where politesse becomes a facade for a far darker Old Town underbelly. This leaves plenty of scope for light and shade in Caitlin Skinner's production, which navigates Lung Ha's regular ensemble of some seventeen performers through the big city bustle."  **** Sunday Herald

"This production, directed by Caitlin Skinner, proves that art has no boundaries, not even for the disabled: it is an exemplary piece of theatre" **** TV Bomb

"...featuring an outstanding, lyrical and pensive musical score by Greg Sinclair, played live by a six-piece band. Yet there’s even more than this, in Caitlin Skinner’s fine production." **** The Scotsman

The production goes on to Dundee this Wednesday (25th March) for one night at Dundee Rep.

The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde

I'm delighted to announce that Lung Ha's Theatre Company's new production of 'The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde' will feature a set design inspired by my laser-cut book.

The show opens this Thursday at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh before going on to the Dundee Rep laster this month.

Photos to follow later!

February Fourteenth

Two of the four cartoon cards about to go to print in time for Valentine's Day next weekend...  Message me if you are interested in having one - 

new logo

Find me on Twitter here at...

https://twitter.com/JoannaKRobson

Occasionally if I have images and photos of work in progress, or have any nice news about my work, I'll share it here on Twitter.  

Hopefully I'll manage to keep it more updated this year!

Meanwhile...

...away from all the book art and laser cutting, here are some other things I've been working on over the last little while.  Apart from a couple of images, they're all sketchbook drawings, drawn either from life or from memory.

Souper Saturday postcard auction

departure lounge

departing loungers

The Tempest revisited

Here are some new promotional photos of an etched concertina book I made back in 2011.  This was a difficult piece of work to photograph, because it's such a wide book!

The book is in an edition of twenty and is a wordless, panoramic etching of The Tempest.