books – Page 8 – Daisy Hirst

Sneakery peekery

Here is first smidgen of the screenprints for my second book for Walker: it’s about some monsters called Natalie and Alphonse, and will hopefully be published in 2015.

Natalie won’t always look this concerned, but, like The Girl with the Parrot on her Head, this book does sort-of feature an angry little girl – and a cardboard box. Hum. So, next book: cheerful little boy and the gelatinous dessert. Or, peaceable giant squid and the macrame lampshade.

Natalie and Alphonse grew out of these red and blue monsters, or shrank out of them in fact as they have got quite a bit younger. I am only just beginning to make the pictures and there is an awful lot to work out. When I last made a lot of simple monster-on-white prints, I found I was getting quite obsessed with their few bits of furniture or fruit: now it’s the same with Alphonse’s pushchair – he’s got five upholstery options. Oh but, I do very much like to draw monsters. NYAHAHA!

Monsters again

Eeshk, because I finished a book, I now have to make a new one – this is like actual work with my brain, or should be. It is quite scary to be back in the early development stages again, after over a year, although (with a lot of help from most excellent people at Walker) it is just beginning to feel like it might possibly be possible in the end.

These monsters were originally invented for our MA show catalogue, but now they need another book to live in. For one thing, a brand new mountain of amazing graduates is about to take over the world: their London show is at Candid Arts, Islington, from 11th-15th February.

COMING not very SOON: a book!

Apparently I am delivering my first book to its publisher tomorrow, so I thought it might be time to say I have a publisher. Walker will publish The Girl with the Parrot on her Head in 2015, which is just grand and the luckiest thing. It does not make me feel like this:
I haven’t written on here about this story since January 12th, 2012 when I handed its first incarnation in for marking as part of my MA. I re-started work on it with Walker last February and it has been dead innerestin turning it into an Actual Book. It even has endpapers – though they are of course inferior to John Burningham’s Avocado Baby masterpieces, which are my favourite ever. I am going to miss Parrot Head, especially this colour parrot red:

Mail Art exhibition

My birds envelope, and C5 envelopes by a person or two that I know, will be part of the Mail Me Art Short & Sweet show in London this week (30th of July to 3rd of August). There’s a book of the project too (shown below), with some mighty strange post in – I like this one and this one today. Tis a very various thing, and the pricing is fairly arbitrary, but I do like a decorated envelope yessir.

Pictures from the show

Publishers are grand, obviously, and I wouldn’t be without my auntorage – or, indeed, the other lovely family and friends who came to our MA show – but you can’t really beat the kind of visitors who properly test your toys and write things like this in your comments book:
It was amazing how many people came to see – I honestly do value the over-tens very much too. Below are a few pictures in case you couldn’t make it, although the show will be up again in Cambridge from February 27th until March 14th.