AWARD WINNING ILLUSTRATOR

So thanks to a map illustration that I completed for Baltimore magazine i have now been awarded a Honorable mention by the Society of Professional Journalists in the USA( Maryland Professional Chapter). I am not sure how to respond to receiving this award as i can't ever remember getting anything like it before but it is great that someone out there appreciates the work that i am doing, which in the end makes it more worth while doing it!! I will have to look out the image so you can see but in the meantime here is the certificate with stick on gold star!!

Holiday pics

Just so that you can see who is behind the keyboard here is a pic of me and my daughter Maddie on holiday in France.

more time off

had a call the other day from an online media company based in the very trendy Hoxton square (Is it still trendy?) they wanted to see about linking up our services on certain projects with me producing the front end visual stuff (Maps in other words- sure i did spend all that time at art college to produce -Stuff) while they produce the back-end gubbins. Anyway it sounded interesting but I suppose we will have to wait til the right project arrives.
Also waiting to hear about book on ' go slow England' but that doesn't sound so promising at the moment.

As a distraction i have been back on ebay-a bit like drink i know it is fun but i also know it is no good for me or my bank balance but did buy a nice book for a fiver (inc P&P) about london lets hope it arrives soon???

Quiet questioning??

Illustration wise things have been quiet this last week. Why no phone calls or e-mails i have to ask you, please why not? I did get an enquiry earlier this week for a publishing company to do a series of maps of Uk regions for a travel/ accommodation guide still waiting to hear more about this, but then i think!! i have enough work to keep me going for a month why do i need new distractions??. I should just be happy that i have work going on at the moment and i look outside and the sun is shining what more could one ask for??.

Long Time No Blog!

It has been a long time since I last updated my blog but luckily I have been away on holiday for the last three weeks and so been missing the oppurtunity to blog. So three weeks in France two in Brittany and one in the Charente.The weather wasn't brilliant and it was very tiring but it was so nice to get away on our own for a few days.

I enjoyed my first visit to the Cote Sauvage and maybe find ourselves going again next year. But for now it is back to work again. I have a book I am working for Cico Books 520 illustrations and have a few editorial jobs that may or may not happen but I am busy now until september starts.

Finally at home

At last I have settled at my wooden desk again, pens and paints at the ready, and work to be getting on with or at least I think I have. My studio is taking shape, maybe not the shape that I would like but at least some sort of shape. I will post some pics of the new house when i get settled and maybe when the sunshines again.
Having moved has probably made me more unsettled because again we are putting down roots while for the last 7 years we have been moving and intending to move so I have always felt transiant(is it spelt like that?). But now we have settled i feel concerned and have been feeling nostalgic for the days gone past. Maybe unpacking boxes from 7 years ago also makes me feel a little strange as life has changed so much since then and the emphasis on things is so different, what with a family and getting older. I would so much love to capture some of those feeling and passion for life and art I had as a student, the willingness to learn and try new things, the inspiration you took from the most simplest of things.
So if you are feeling the same way too let me know maybe we can have a beer and wander down memory lane.(if only I could put that on a map)

lost in cyber space or not!

Sorry to all you readers of my blog but things have not been running smoothly with my internet access and so havent been able to catch up on my blog. I have been promised broadband again by the end of this week so maybe i will be able to fill you all ib then, so sorry until I get back on line properly. Michaelxx