Front cloth is finished and borders just need glitter!

Front cloth and legs progress

Front cloth and legs are nearly finished, lots of glitter and stars to add!

Assisted by Victoria wells and Tashi Gregorska.

Lake cloth painting

Painting the lake cloth.

Ply wood moon

Moon Cloth painting

Painting the moon cloth, each cloth is 4.5m x 5m.

Assisted by: Victoria Wells, Chloe Dunscombe.

Panto cloth designs

To create the designs I used a combination of hand drawing on a light box, and photoshop to create flat bold shapes. The scale images have black outlines but the painted cloths won't.

Panto design

Puss in Boots Set and cloths design

The design is influenced by 1950s fabric prints, illustration and adverts, particularly travel posters. 

I have used block colours with sharp edges and no black outlines.

Link to The Georgian Thetare Royal Website

Panto set and props sketches

Here are some sketches for a few bits from the Panto design for this year's 'Puss in Boots'

Roseville costume design

I have been commissioned to create a wedding dress costume made from carpet for a piece called Roseville, set on Roseville road in Leeds.

Research images

Initial design ideas

Puppet swans for 'Stick Man'

I made these two hand puppet swans for Jagrops, for the show 'Stick Man' designed by Katie Sykes.

They are constructed from plastizote, fleece, plastic, lycra, felt, cotton and buttons for eyes.

The Great Fete

The Great fete!

For this event I designed the dressing of the tents and made props, backdrops and signage for the site, and sourced all materials and props. 

The Peepshow opens!

The Peepshow opened in September, these pictures are from Tony performing the Raree Man in Saltaire.

Finished puppets

Peepshow

This week I am finishing off the props for the peepshow, including painting the barrel organ and making the costumes for the puppets.

The Great Fete

I am currently working on the design for an Event in Exeter in August called:

'The Great Fete'

Which is based around a world war one recruitment fair.

Here is the first visual graphics for signage, posters and an identity card.

Pleasance Edinburgh

I've just got back from a week in Edinburgh working with Paul Garner, painting some of his lovely illustrations for the Pleasance.

Here is a link to Pauls website:

http://www.paulgarnerart.com/

Peepshow cart is nearly finished!

The Raree Man Peepshow cart is almost finished, I've painted all the text on the cart and finished all the signage, even the Royal peep is ready!

It's now in Dawlish ready for the rehearsals.

39 Days for Rosa costumes are finished and making their way around Europe!

Here are some pics of the finished chicken costumes for '39 Days for Rosa'

Made for Jag props by me and Jill, with help from Debbie, Emma and Maddy.

Here is a few videos of Rosa in action: 

Production photos from The World Cup Final 1966

Here's a few production shots of the floor fro The World Cup Final 1966 at 

The Bristol Old Vic.

Chicken costume prototype

I'm currently woking with Jagprops on two chicken costumes for a project called '39 Days of Rosa'

The brief is to create two costumes that will pack down easily for travelling through 21 countries, they also need to be light weight and as cool as possible in hot weather.

'The Raree Man' Peepshow props

I'm currently working my way through the vast list of props for the Peepshow. 

I adapted a new foot pump with some laser cut wood, varnish, paint and spraying.

The bell is also adapted form a recent antiques fair find.

Beetlegeuse signage and decor

 I've recently been working with the 'Food and Theatre Company' on a 'Beetlegeuse' themed event. 

I designed and made the decor for the main hall, and made a few other bits and pieces for the show.

The 'Raree man' Puppets

I am making two marionettes for a puppet scene in the 'Raree man' peepshow.

I had an existing head that I thought would be great for the puppets so used that to create a mould for two new heads.

Tony Lidington, plays both the devil and the Raree man, as well as all the other characters in the show. The puppets also reflect this, by being the same puppet but dressed differently as the two characters. 

I cast the original head using silicone rubber, then made a plaster outer to hold the mould securely. I cast the heads in fast cast, and painted with a range of materials, including a crackle finish to age them.

Next I will tackle the bodies, which will be a lot less work!

Tony happens to look very similar to the original Pelham puppet!

Fat suit for 'Fat Man'

I'm currently working with Jagprops on a fat suit for the show "Fat Man'.

About the show:

Orpheus is doing stand up for the gods. A sharp new take on a classic Greek myth, this is a bitterly funny story of love, loss and eating your way out of grief. As the audience are transformed into the gods of legend, will Orpheus ever escape his past?

Here is a link to the Fat Man website: http://www.ovalhouse.com/whatson/detail/fat-man

Another 100 profiteroles!

Another 100 profiteroles for a children's t.v program.

The Bristol Old Vic 'World Cup Final 1966'

Scenic floor cloth for the Bristol Old Vic World Cup Final 1966. 

I took this job on after it had already been started, the base coat and square pattern had already been painted.

TheTiger and the Moustache production shot

The Tiger and the Moustache floor cloth

I've just finished this floor cloth for 'The Tiger and the Moustache' By Saikat Ahamed.

To create the detailed design I laser cut stencil out of polypropylene to help with marking up the pattern.

Design by Emma Cairns, based on an indian carpet.

A bit about the show:

Born on the very first day of a new nation, Hashi grew up surrounded by tigers in the Sunderban jungles and ended up keeping chickens in the bath in a Glasgow housing estate. In this brand new solo show, Saikat Ahamed traces the journey of his mother from Bangladesh to the UK alongside the painful birth of his motherland through bloodshed, trains, planes and a million bicycles.

The show is both semi-autobiographical and historical, flitting between moments in Saikat’s own life and the events between 1947 and 1971. These historical snapshots look specifically at the creation of Pakistan (East and West), the tensions therein, leading to protests and bloodshed at then eventually the formation of Bangladesh. At the heart of the story is the relationship between Saikat’s mother and her uncle, Cocon Mama, the fisherman. Underpinning the narrative is also an ancient folk tale of Gopal Bhar who caught the tiger in his moustache.

More information on the show can be found here:

The Tiger and the Moustache

Peepshow R and D session

Last weekend the 'Raree Man' Peepshow team met for a two day R and D.

I made a mock up of the Peepshow box for us to work with and we tested out projection, puppetry, foot pump balloon inflating and lots of other mechanics and elements from the show.

The Leeds Labyrinth - Open Now!

 The Leeds Labyrinth is now open!

This is the entrance to the Leeds Labyrinth this is where your journey begins. 

The golden owl watches over are as you enter. Like it does on so many buildings in Leeds. You must knock the lion door knocker before entry, and MUST close the door behind you.

The Leeds library has some amazing tile work through its corridors and on it's the walls, I was trying to mirror this and create the Labyrinth entrance thats looks like an original part of the building.

The tiles fragment and begin to breakdown and turn into the stone walls of the Labyrinth.

The red thread begins here, tied to a pair of golden owls, the red thread helps you to native your way through the Labyrinth. You are invited to help yourself to a piece of paper and a pencil to take with you on your journey.

There are 365 stories tied to the red thread which leads through the Labyrinth to the centre. These are written by Mathew Bellwood, he wrote a story a day for a year.

Leeds owls inhabit the Labyrinth and have service route holes to allow them easy passage through the space. They also guard the stories stored in the centre, the heart of Leeds.

Throughout the Labyrinth you can find listening posts, here you can listen to music written and stories told about Leeds. Spend some time in someone else's shoes.

In the ladies room there are embroidered cushions made by Hayley Mills-Styles. The cushions are cerated from embroidered maps sewn by the local WI ladies. In this area there are two sets of headphones which play the ladies voices re telling stories and sharing memories from their lives in Leeds. This is a space for you to relax and listen to stories, bring some knitting or sewing if you like.

  

The paper boats have been made by school children in Leeds, they travelled on a canal boat down the river and thought about their hopes and wishes for their futures in Leeds.

They wrote these on the boat's flags.You can sail origami boats in the water basin, a pump creates a water flow and the boats sail from one side to the other. They can then be pegged up to dry, before being sailed again. People are also invited to fold their own origami boats to sail, from maps of Leeds.

The centre of the Labyrinth is the last space you travel through. When the door is closed the room consists of 8 identical walls with tiles, shelves and doors. 

You are invited to write your own story and place it into the well. At the end of each year the stories are collected and stored in the dated boxes on the shelf above. 

The last question to ask yourself is: Which door is the way out? 

Construction by Gideon Woods. Tiling by Kelly Jago, assisted by Vicki Smith. 

Scenic painting by Kelly Jago, assisted by Josephine Far.

Prop profiteroles

Finished! 
300 Prop profiteroles.

Bristol Blues Exchange graphic design

Poster, flyer, website banner and t-shirt design for the first Bristol Blues Exchange in July.

Finished design for 365 Leeds Stories

Between Autumn 2013 and Summer 2014, Alison Andrews and Matthew Bellwood will be working with people from all over Leeds to create a series of maps of the city. These will be produced in collaboration with a range of other artists. Maps will be sung, embroidered, floated down rivers, fixed on to buses and rendered as shadows. Each map will show the city from a different perspective.

In May 2014, the maps and the stories they tell will be presented in Leeds Central Library where they will take the form of a labyrinth, an interactive maze of maps through which new routes and journeys may be imagined.

 Finished design for the Labyrinth, for 365 Leeds Stories. 

This is the centre of the Labyrinth, with a well in the centre. People who travel through the labyrinth have the chance to leave a story in the well.

Click here for more info