Lifeline A / Space Baby

 The first in a set of 2 paintings with the title 'Lifeline.' Completed today after a week or so struggling to get it to look halfway decent. Big thanks to twitpeeps @Jewelots_, @wutheringhugs, @therealped and @stulinfield for your super advice during the last few stages of it, and to everyone else who gave kind words of encouragement. I will put this up for sale at some point - possibly when the other Lifeline painting is finished.

Close ups!:

There's A Hole In My Chest books now available.

My hit internet comic There’s A Hole In My Chest is now available in tiny handmade book format. It is super cute and super funny and would be a great gift for a sad friend or to keep for yourself to remind you that it’s okay to feel down sometimes but not to let it get the better of you.

Pick one up here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/110947957/theres-a-hole-in-my-chest If this run is successful I will make a second batch.

There's A Hole In My Chest

I made a comic. It is about living with depression. It's fairly long and Blogger's being entirely unhelpful so the best way to view it is to right-click (or ctrl+click) and select "view image" (or whatever)

Please share it with anyone else you know who has a hole in their chest or a scribbled-out face so they know that they're not alone.

butt zine

So the fine folks at this completely not work-safe tumblr are putting together a zine dedicated to all things butts. A more noble endeavor you'd be hard-pressed to come across, so naturally I wanted in. I came up with two things. This is they:

As of this writing I have no idea if these are going to actually be featured in the zine. But I like them. So maybe you also will like them? Hmm?

short term diary now available

The Short-Term Diary project is over! It is done and dusted. Thank you so much to everybody who participated and submitted feedback. You are all The Best. Without your help I would not be able to offer - for the stupid-low price of £1 apiece (+p&p) at least until I come to my senses - the finished versions of the Short Term Diary. Now available in the Shop.

There are THREE volumes of the Short Term Diary to collect. That’s three lovingly-hand-made 14-page diaries for those times when your head’s full of rubbish and you need to make sense of it all. I can almost sort of guarantee that after a fortnight with one of these things you will feel at least 120% more focused, refreshed, creative, happy and beautiful.

If there is enough demand for these I will make even more! Oh yes. You heard me. Volume 4? Volume 5??? Who knows what the future will hold.

I invested in some super-duper-expensive-and-fancy zine-making equipment to make these things the absolute best they can be, and they look just great.

Here’s a sneaky peek at what volume 1 looks like:

Volume 2 looks like this:

And this is volume 3!:

Each one is labelled and numbered on the inside-cover. If you want me to I will also sign it and/or draw something in it. Because why not.

So what the heck are you waiting for? Get over there and buy one! (Or buy all three, because you'll save on shipping.)

Short Term Diary prototype experiment part 2 what

Hello! A couple of months ago I posted this: http://lloydjonesalloneword.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/short-term-diary-prototype-experiment.html and asked for your participation. Well, now I’m doing it again. I’ve developed a couple new prototypes to try out, and I need your help. Participation is free and easy and super fun. You just need to send me an email at HowWasYourDay@Live.com with your address, I will post you one of these diaries, you fill it out, then answer a feedback questionnaire that I will send later. I don’t need the diary back, that’s yours to keep and cherish forever! 
If you don’t want to give your address to an internet stranger (understandable) I can just work up a PDF to send you instead for you to print yourself at home.

You will receive one of two different prototypes. You can let me know which you would prefer, or I can choose for you. Whichever.

The first, with the brown cover, contains two weeks’ worth of content. The inside look like this:

All of the pages adhere to the same template, but with a different activity or question in the centre space for each day. You fill out one page per day, as with a standard diary.

The second, with the white cover, lasts only for one week, is more varied, but is much more intensive.

You fill out two pages (one full double-page spread) per day. One page about the day you’ve had, the other page is a more general question about you or your life which is designed to provoke introspection and paint a picture of you, as a person. I would recommend this version for a week when you have a little more free time.

If you already participated in the first round of this thing, you are more than welcome to participate again. However, be warned that a lot of the content from the previous prototype has been recycled. Because of this I will limit you to the brown cover version, as it contains a relatively lower amount of reused content than the white, and I don’t want you to get bored.

Hit me up at HowWasYourDay@Live.com for further information or to get involved. Let’s do this!

thieves zine, bill

Pages for an upcoming zine on the theme of Thieves that my uni-mates are working on putting together. These will be printed in black and white only, unfortunately.

A second submission for that theatre exhibition that's coming up next month, simply titled 'Bill'. The piece itself is about A5 in size.

victorian theatre poster

My submission for an upcoming exhibition at The King's Theatre, Portsmouth. Took just over two days to make. Yeah I guess I'm still obsessed with Victorians for some reason.

The text was set up digitally, printed, cut into stencils, filled in with a sponge and acrylic paint, carefully tidied and then outlined with ink for extra legibility. I would've liked to have crammed even more text in there but I sadly ran out of room. Maybe a bigger canvas would've been better but I've never really worked with text in this way before so it was already a bit of a risk.
It is on A3 paper and card. The incredibly anachronistic frame puts it at 17x21".

Short Term Diary prototype experiment

I am conducting an experiment, and your assistance would be most appreciated.

For my MA I’m currently working on putting together a series of alternative diaries. They’re intended for diary-keepers and non-diary-keepers alike and draw upon art therapy techniques to deliver a therapeutic and fun experience that also sparks creative thinking. Unlike traditional diaries, they also only contain about one month’s worth of entries to keep them from being too daunting for non-diary-keepers, and to keep them from outstaying their welcome.

I’ve printed up a bunch of these prototype copies. That’s where you come in.

It is so simple. All you have to do is fill in one of these diaries I have made, and then I’ll get you to answer a quick questionnaire about it when you’re done! Dead easy. I won’t need the diary back when you’re done with it. It’s yours to keep. The completed questionnaire is all I’m after.

If you tell me your address, I will even post the diary to you for free! How great is that? (If you’re not comfortable giving your address to a stranger on the internet I can also send you a PDF for you to print out or whatever at home.)

If you want to get involved, send me an email at HowWasYourDay@Live.com

free art exhibition - success!

Sunday was a HUGE success. Who would have thought giving away stuff for free would be so rewarding, right? Massive props to My Dog Sighs for sparking the whole barmy idea, and to everyone who donated art, helped run the show and everyone who came to see it and take stuff.
Some photos, courtesy of Los Dave, m-one Art and Leila Kemp:

Here's my goofy mug with the piece I took, which was made by Emma Alice Goodwin:

And lastly, here's a lovely little writeup of the event over at teamlocals.co.uk: http://teamlocals.co.uk/free-art-friday-exhibition-with-love-southsea-portsmouth-creative-movement/