Being Alone

Detail from ‘Night Sounds’

  I'm feeling quiet and reflective tonight

‘Quiet Sea’ Detail

 In a positive way though

The Tree by the Edge of the Campsite, detail

 

Taking stock, looking forward, making plans

The Botanical, Gardens, Ventnor

 

It's good to be alone sometimes, don't you think?

 

Ed Boxall's new wood-carved prints are all about solitude

They are on show at a joint exhibition called Once Upon a Time, shared with Kevin Maddison

At the Craft Centre and Design Gallery in Leeds (runs till 25th June).

I love Ed's work

Perfect for tonight

 

Snow day's end

The faraway forest of sleep

Do you remember me showing you these beautiful books by British illustrator Ed Boxall? Well, Ed is currently exhibiting some of his new bedtime prints for children and a selection of lino prints based on summer camping in a joint exhibition with book artist Lorna Crabbe in Hastings (daily throughout Dec. at Eat@, Hastings town centre).

Reading by tent light

Lorna Crabbe's work is interesting. In her own words she " addresses collecting, hoarding, family history, the homemade, women's craft history, found objects, repetitive, obsessive action in drawing and needlework, and clothing and objects as memory".

Paper cut book, based on her father's butterfly collection which has now disintegrated.

Lorna has background in fine arts and book arts and worked for four years as the administrator of Photography & the Archive Research Centre in London.

Cheque book originally belonging to her grandfather, containing traced drawings (this from a perfume bottle box) slipped between the pages.

Hand-drawn and bound concertina book, two metres long. Designed to be housed in a suitcase.

Nancy the Little Nurse

Hand-printed lino book, single page adhesive binding.

In this latest exhibition, Snow day's end, she has been inspired by found photographs, accidental collections and ornithology.

Simply beautiful

I found two lovely sets of children's books recently. Both are unusual and delightfully illustrated.

The first little collection comes from a small Polish company called Pan Tu Nie Stal (You were not standing here), created by sociologist Justyna Burzyńska and graphic designer Maciej Lebiedowicz. I found their interesting blog and shop via Grainedit a while ago.

Pan Tu Nie Stal have started selling a series of folk books illustrated by Kasia Bogucka. Two books are available at present:

"Grandpa and Grandma lived in harmony" and a poem called "An old lady was sowing poppy seeds".




Both are in Polish, but who cares if you can't read them when they're this beautiful?
The books cost 2 EUR each but the shipping given on their website is expensive (negotiable?). Pan Tu Nie Stal also sell cards, prints, clothes, accessories (great badges) and home ware.

The second small collection of children's books is written and illustrated by Ed Boxall. The four Storm Tree Stories are visual story books 'for anyone, of any age who daydreams'. In each story a seemingly ordinary hobby leads the heroes to extraordinary experiences in the heart of enchanted rural Britain.

The Shell Collector climbs into a shell and climbs to a ’sky full of places to go’.

The Gardener transforms a derelict churchyard into a place of spiritual renewal.


The Birdwatchers fall in love and glide away on the back of a swan.
The Railway Enthusiast travels back to a time ‘when many gods had still not awoken’

Books cost £5 each + PP and are available here.

I love Ed Boxall's illustrations, please take a peek at his website to see more of his wonderful work.