Santa statistics!

Happy Christmas to all you lovely people who have supported my illustrations and art over the last year. To all you buyers, commissioners and promoters - THANK YOU!

Here's an illustration I created for Ampp3d that went live today, for those of you interested in some interesting statistics about the old man in red.

Santa in Numbers by Jhinuk Sarkar

Though I'm signing off for the next couple of days to concentrate on devouring much cheese, port and mince pies, I am available from Boxing Day to contact if you have any enquiries. Keep an eye out on my website for some new work appearing soon...


Until next time!


Jhinuk

Artist friends reunited...

In a prelude to the exhibition I will be a part of next year (with my very talented and dear old friends), I wanted to share our lovely little press release ready to be shared far and wide....and a piece of my work related from the archives of Paperfig (as I am in the midst of producing the work for the exhibition!). Thanks to lovely Panna Parmar for creating this enticing write-up. And I hope you will all put the private view date in your diaries now and pop along before you engage yourselves with your romantic affairs or avoiding it like the plague....We will be sure to make it worth your while! :

Hello? I Love you?

Forthcoming exhibition at House Gallery, Camberwell

Ten years after graduating from Norwich School of Art, five artists specialising in print making, painting and illustration have come together to give you their take on the L word. Hello? I love you? Is an exhibition of work by artists Stephen Hennessy, Matthew Gent, Panna Parmar, Jhinuk Sarkar and Samuel Potts at the House Gallery in South East London. Since graduating, illustrator Jhinuk Sarkar has exhibited and taken part in residencies around the world. Yorkshire born, Samuel Potts specialises in portraiture commissions and regularly exhibits in the UK. Printmaker Matthew Gent creates detailed limited edition woodcuts as one off gig posters and gallery commission pieces. Stephen Hennessy is a painter who transforms his observations from his travels into paintings and exhibits internationally. Panna Parmar has exhibited her colourful screen prints and etchings in London. Coming together, these very different artists will offer their take on what the Beatles may say is all you need; Love.

Heart of Glass by Jhinuk Sarkar

The exhibition starts on February 14^th 2014 for two weeks at the House Gallery in Camberwell.

Private View will be held at the gallery from 7pm on Thursday 14^th February 2014.

To find out more about each artist please visit their websites:

Samuel Potts www.sampotts.co.uk

Matthew Gent www.handmadeandheartless.co.uk www.handmadeandheartless.bigcartel.com

Jhinuk Sarkar cargocollective.com/paperfig

Stephen Hennessy www.stephen-hennessy.com

Panna Parmar www.pannaparmar.com

If you are lucky, I'll give you a sneak peak in the lead up to the show early next year....but I hope you will share and see you there! Thanks, Jhinuk.

Jhinuk

The Illustrated Type

I do love a good letter, handwritten, from a typewriter and even from my old mac.

Over the years I've developed a typeface of my own called 'Paperfig Alphabet' which creeps into my illustrations a lot:

You can see a snapshot of my other illustrated typographic work here but keep looking at this section over the coming weeks as I add more samples I have been working on, themed by the impending festive season and by my local borough of Waltham Forest's heritage....thanks!

Did I mention....?

.......that I also plan, create, organise and deliver illustration workshops? They are not strictly illustration in the sense of sitting people down and making them draw with pencil and paper, I like to get people involved and show off how versatile illustration can be!

Take a look at the illustration workshops page on my website to find out more.

And if you have an idea for a workshop or you'd like to get in touch and find out more about how I can work these into different creative settings, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks, Jhinuk

New website!

This week is a sneaky peek at my new-look, simple website...click here to see my work in one place! You'll find everything from buildings to food, people, masks ...and hats!

Keep looking on the website as a new section of one-off originals and screen-prints for sale will be added in the next two weeks - just in case you take part in shopping for the impending festive season...

In other news, a bunch of lovely creative friends and I will be organising a small exhibition next February at House Gallery in Camberwell. Stay tuned here for more news on the work that will be featured by me and my very very talented friends.

The Hot 5! logo

This week is a quick one with an illustration requested by Uk Indie Touring's 'The Hot 5!' new logo:

The Hot 5! blog is a regular feature on Rooms Magazine, so it was great to be asked to be involved in promoting the work of emerging, music-related creatives as of their #009 blog post!

Next week stay tuned for the next in the series of Imagination Vs Reality plus more exciting news on where you'll be able to see more of my illustration work soon......until then!

For this week, something different...

I told you it would not be a post of animal drawings this week! Instead, I'm shamelessly plugging a GOSH charity event I recently made some illustrations for.

 

And here are the details and poster! Please feel free to share!

It's a brilliantly worthy charity, one close to my family's heart, so do buy a ticket and go along if you live near Cambridge. And if you can't make 'Band Night' you can still be incredibly generous and donate some money to the larger event - the London Marathon which my brother is running in aid of GOSHCC. Here is his JustGiving page to donate.

Many thanks and until next week where I will post more news of forthcoming work armed with new illustrations to feast your eyes with! Thanks for looking.

Imagination Vs Reality #2

Inspired by the Beach House song stuck in my head yesterday: Pattern formations, head hair and tails of the zebra will never be forgotten now...

Vs

Which do you prefer? A non-animal theme will be in store for you next week.

Imagination Vs Reality #1

So here starts a series of sketchbook drawings I've thought about doing for a while....just as a fun exercise, and to see what results my brain produces.

Imagination comes first obviously, and knowing me I'll get competitive with reality as I do more...so here is #1. Which one do you prefer?

Watch this space for more next week!

A local commission...

Just framing up a recent commission this week of the Nag's Head in Walthamstow, it has a keen following in amongst the locals that enjoy a good watering hole!

The Nags Head Pub in E17

And now on to framing other prints and other creative projects, including illustrating an Italian scene! Feel free to email me with any requests, until next time.

My Exhibition at Vestry House Museum

The past two months I have been working on tying up a few projects and screen-printing my illustrations! You can see some of the results at the Vestry House Museum where I have an exhibition display. The work is a mixture of my original illustrations and limited edition screen-prints, all for sale and at a very reasonable price if I do say so myself!

Vestry House Museum is housing my first solo exhibition in my local area of London, Walthamstow! It's open from Wednesday to Sunday 10am-5pm, is free entry and has a beautiful, charming little garden - so you have no excuses but to pop along. My exhibition will be on display until 29th August 2013.

The Bell Corner E17

Walthamstow Dogs Stadium

I installed the exhibition last weekend, and whilst I was putting it up I managed to sell some work as well as gain another commission! Not a bad start.

Please spread the word, 'Like' my Facebook page (if you haven't done so already!) and Tweet about it to your heart's content tagging @paperfig and #awesomestow 

Workshops, print prep, and deadline to win one of my illustrations!

  

Like my friend old 'Turkey Neck' here, I have recently aged another year. As I get older, I am getting wiser and organising my work! So this week has been all about prep.

          




Roughs have been sent off to a client this morning,  and now I'm finalising plans for some upcoming workshops and getting illustrations ready to screen print in a couple of weeks' time.

Workshops are fun as they
re-focus my enthusiasm for illustrating.

Just by seeing young people get excited by image-making, I want to get back into the studio again!

I was reminded of this when House of Illustration sent me the above images of workshops I ran at the end of last year for their Picturing Poetry project. It gave me more ideas for the workshop plans I'm currently putting together! Thanks for the reminder HOI!

Lastly, you have until midnight tonight to win a giclée print of mine! Click here for more details on how you can win an illustration I created of Rosehill in Nuneaton, hometown of the writer George Eliot. Hurry up and sign up for your chance to win in this free prize draw!

The image was one of three, commissioned by Playwright Vanessa Oakes. Visit her blog Desperately Seeking George for further information about her work.

Have a great weekend all.

It's been a while, but I'm back and ready to Cycle!

Over the last two months I've been preparing my website, organising a forthcoming solo exhibition and spent some time visiting clients and galleries in Dubai and India!

Both were inspirational, and as a result I've been working on some illustrations inspired by the patterns, typography and architecture surrounding my journey to both countries. Watch them appear in the coming weeks on the blog.

Here's a little on-site renovating I did of my mum's house number, situated just outside of Kolkata. In Bengali the word reads my surname: 'Sarkar'

Masks intrigued me a few weeks ago, so I've been working on an image to screen-print here: What colours would you all like to see it in?

I'm thinking it would make a great t-shirt.

Which mask are you?

'Meandering Masks' by Jhinuk Sarkar

On another note, this weekend I'm preparing for my first training for the London to Brighton Bike Ride in September 2013 - I'm doing it for the Arts! Find out more here and see the illustration I made below for the cause!

'London to Brighton Bike ride' promotional image for Shape by Jhinuk Sarkar

I look forward to reading your comments! Until next week...

Black & White Town

Thanks to all you lovely buyers that purchased a print from me last week.

Digital prints will be available shortly if any are interested. Please contact me directly if you should wish.

Whilst gathering all portfolio images into groups and listening to The Doves in the studio, I discovered a bunch of black and white images I illustrated from my travels to New Zealand and Australia. Including the wonderfully strange Quokka, only found on Rottnest Island off the coast of Fremantle in Western Australia!

This has inspired more black and white illustrations to add to my new online portfolios and preparing me for what I might be inspired by in my upcoming travels planned to visit Dubai and India!

Here's a reminder of those illustrations, until next week,

Jhinuk

Kiwi Bird

Quokka

Tui Bird

Boxing Clever

Prints for sale and cheese!

The last few weeks I've been preparing images for screen printing more...so watch this space over the coming weeks. My first few 'Alright Treacle?' are ready to go to some of your lovely homes!

Alright Treacle? Screen printed image by Jhinuk Sarkar

Three limited edition screen prints are here for sale, sizes are approximately 25 x 25cm and at the bargain price of £40 + P&P. Contact me via email to make your purchase, but hurry, these are few and far between!

Also, you have the opportunity for a short time to WIN one of my prints of Griff House in Warwickshire! Linked to the forthcoming event 'A Ploughed Heart' by the fantastic Playwright Vanessa Oakes, Griff House is revamped using my fountain pen and richly coloured inks.

Griff House illustrated by Vanessa Oakes for 'The Ploughed Heart' event by Vanessa Oakes

If you would like this lovely giclée print on Hahnemuhle German Etching paper on your wall, visit Vanessa's blog here.

Vanessa kindly posted a little biography about me and my inspirations surrounding illustration, therefore, for the weekend, I thought I would remind you all how much I love cheese:

'Cheese, Glorious Cheese' illustrated in inks by by Jhinuk Sarkar

Please get in touch with any of your illustration needs (there is always a need for illustration), and in the mean time have a great weekend!

Jhinuk

Websites and Secrets

This week, apart from pulling together some imagery ready to  start screen-printing with I created three exclusive illustrations for the Royal College of Art's Secret Postcard exhibition coming up in March!

Always exciting to have my work featured alongside top artists! It is a secret, so I'm not going to reveal the illustrations until they have opened the exhibition....but this image I made on a trip to New York once might give you some clues as to the theme I used this year...

And also, slightly un-work related, I have signed myself up to a bike ride from London for the arts organisation I work for. It's definitely inspired me to draw more bicycles next week! You can find out more here and so I thought today this illustration might also be apt:

I saw a great band called Local Natives last night and they have also inspired me to create some illustrations of mask designs I'll be making over the next couple of weeks.

Aside from tying up a few commissions of design work I've started to get to grips with my own website design which is hopefully going to be a clean, smart place filled with illustrations made by me! More on this next week and in the mean time have a happy Friday!

Jhinuk x

Large update, studio move and George Eliot Illustrations

Since last October a big upheaval of my freelance work has occurred (in a good way!)

A few things since my duo show in Crouch End that ended in December:

• I gave an 'Artist's Talk' at Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery in November
• I delivered some illustration workshops to Canonbury School in Islington for House of Illustration
• My solo exhibition 'From Home to Homes Afar' at Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery finished in the first week of January
• I've been working on some projects involving more design work...more to follow soon!
• I was given a lovely little commission from a playwriter developing a new play and an accompanying series of events around Warwickshire. The play is based on the writer George Eliot...here's a sneak preview of one of the illustrations I created for the invites! Please visit the writer Vanessa Oakes' blog to find out more about the project.

Griff House in Warwickshire

Finally I moved in to Miller's Junction this month to hopefully start screen printing more images using the Print Club London facilities next door...watch this space and in the mean time, have a good week all!