While he sleeps....I do alot of stuff

While Kieran sleeps during the day (he is on night shift), I get up to alot of things. This week I have been lino printing alot of robots, but drawings and finding little tags and cards while out shopping is also a little activity I have done alot lately.

Here you can see my wall is getting abit full...I may just have to start filling some more walls.....

Together at Last

I am sure many peopes lives are exactly like Mine and Kierans.....you work work work, have different scheduales, don't spend alot of time together, and some days, you feel like you don't even have a partner.

Moving over to Ireland has given Kieran and I a better chance to get to know each other, and travel and see new things.

Kieran has been working nights, so at 7:30 in the morning, we play tag team, he walks in, I walk out, and at 7:30 to 8 at night, I walk in, and he walks out at 9:30. I didn't know how much it meant to actaully wake up to someone you loved beside you every morning, or be able to debrief at the end of the day to someone. Us not having the same scheduale, made me wake up and realise how much he does actaully mean to me, and how the little things in your relationship mean alot more that what you thought!! Why and I telling you all this? Its a year of adventure, I never thought it would also be a year of self discovery! Alas, it has been both. Soppy soppy, I know, so last weekend, we finally got a night together, and went out to

dinner. We started out at this cool bar called market bar, that was once an old market in the city of Dublin. My friend becc introduced me to this bar, so I thought I would take kieran there.

We also saw this cool cool thing in the mall. A guy was walking around with a tv screen on his head. It was built into a mask, and had a tiny camera at the side of it, so you were on the tv screen.

We ended up at this italian restaurant that served some of the most delicious italian I have had.

Here are a couple of photos

Sorry, the photo jut wont turn up the right way. But this was the cool guy with the tv screen

Market bar.

Offset Design conference

While Kieran was away in Germany, I went to a 3 day Design conference in Dublin.

I adored it. I want to go back again and again.

There were alot of illustrators there, mixed in with graphic design, photographers, and alot of other creative talent. It went from 10pm till 7pm for 3 days, and I lapped up as much as I could.

One of my Favourite speakers was an illustrator from London, Emily Forgot. She reminded me alot of myself. She wanted to do things, just because she loved what it looked like. There wasn't alot of concept to the beginnings in her work, though it evolved and changed into a concept.

She hated clients limiting her, which is my pet hate. But without Clients, there would be no industry.

She taught me to put your personality into your work. If we didn't put our personalities into our work, we wouldn't have grpahic designers. All design would be the same. I may have been doing this, but realised I could be doing it alot more. Let youself evolve and change, don't think you are just one thing, and you should stick to it. A good designer/artist/illustrator explores as much as they can.

She talked about being stuck in a commercial rut. You do things because you need the money, but the work really isn't what you love. Which means you really need to go and find youself in other work, maybe art classes maybe just your own art diary, but make sure you have that outlet.

She was up on stage, flicking through slides, and up popped some slides that she could not explain. Her reason for it "I put it in there because I liked it". FINALLY, I realise, its ok to do that. Art school, along with the 4 art teachers that I had, taught me I have to have a concept for everything, I need to find the meaning behind it all. I can't just 'like something' . Well sorry art school, but your wrong.

Some of her work, I loved, some of her work, I didn't. I loved her as a person, more than her work. Alot of people come into our unit, and look at my little art/office space (this consists of a table, a chair, and 2 bits of wall covered with things I love) and ask why do I have things like robots on the table, and drawings up on the wall. Simple answer, because I like them. My boss asked a couple of months ago, why do I draw pictures........I know her mind is not one bit creative, (I discovered this after she told me she didn't like toy story 3, and thought the short movie at the start of it was rubbish.....which is totally ridiculous) so I knew I wouldn't get anywhere with explaining anything to her, so I answered, "because i like to". Emily forgot made me feel its ok not have try and have a concept behind everything. The 3 words "I like it" are ok to use.

Here is a link to her site

http://www.emilyforgot.co.uk/

Nate Williams was also another illustrator I loved. He lives in Remote Argentina, where he has to drive 1 hour to trasnfer a file to a client, then drive back again. His work is very much inspired by his sourroundings. and he has a distinct style. He is also colour blind, and has dyslexia......he inspired because, because even though he was 2 HUGE things against him as an illustrator, his work is awesome. He taught me the best way to come up with ideas is to create experiences. Get out there and do things. Take you camera every step of the way.

Here is a link to his site

http://www.n8w.com

I could go on forever about the speakers, but here are a couple of photos from the conference.

Emily forgot and some illustrations she did on some plates
The stage

An Irish Affair

A couple of weeks ago, We jumped into the car early morning, and headed to our first Irish wedding! We didn't know what to expect.......but we knew it would be alot of fun!

The wedding was in a little town called Bridgetown, 1 church, 1 pub, and a couple of cottages make up the town. The Reception was just 10 minutes up the road in Killaloe, a little quaint town set on the River Shannon.

And whose wedding was it? NORMAS!! Norma is Kierans cousin, and she married a nice young fellow by the name of John. They live in a tiny old irish cottage, they have a well, a tractor, a fire, and a bed that they always put 8 blankets on whenever we stay there. We love going down for a quiet weekend, and staying in their little cottage. But this was no quiet weekend! This was HUGE!!!

The wedding started at 1:30pm, and both Bride and groom looked stunning. We saw all of Normas extended family, and all of Kierans other cousins. We met a couple of new ones, and everyone made us feel very welcome!

After the wedding, and, I mean, straight after, we started drinking at the reception place. Guiness, cider, shots, punch, you name it, it was there. And everyone was having a marvelous time. Poeple bring along their instruments to irish weddings, and have a music session in the middle of the wedding. Its great, very laid back, and as the irish say, good craic!

We ate dinner, we danced, we sung, we chatted, 3am we fell into bed. 3AM!!! that was 12 hours of straight drinking! We were out of practice, the only times we had done that was once in Singapore with Kierans Aunty, who is incredibly talented at showing you a good time, and a couple of times at race-day in Brisbane! Now 3am was an early finish, everyone else left at 5:30am.

Now not only does an irish wedding involve alot of drinking, it also involves another session after the reception. So, the next morning we woke up, cured ourselves of our hangovers, went on a tiny 1 hour roadtrip, and went back to the hotel for a sleep. We then went back to the pub at 5. That night ended at 2:30.

Big weekend, good laughs, and something we will never forget. Thanks Norma and John for such a good time, and thankyou to the rest of the family for making us feel so welcome!!

One of my close friends in Australia, Erry, also got married on this weekend, and all weekend I was thinking about her! So a big shoutout to Erry, and her Husband Dan. We wish you every bit of happiness!!

S0rry guys, this one won't go up the right way. These are Kierans relatives, and the old lady in the front is Kierans Grandmas sister. She was so cute with the Bow in her hair!
Some more of Kierans cousins.

Me and one of kierans cousins, Mary. Sorry about the clevage
These are kierans cousins children. Our favourite is Courtney, the girl on the far right. We love going and staying with her mum Collette, and having a chat to Courtney.

And last, but not least, Norma and Kieran!