A Painted Nat

This is my new painting. It's of my flatmate, the lovely and talented actress and musician Natalia Tena, and the slightly slutty, constantly pregnant cat who also lurks about our house, Teabag. It's acrylic/oil on canvas, and it's 18"x24".

It will be exhibited as part of a portraiture exhibition at the The Arch Gallery in London opening 20 June. Do come! :]

Secret 7" Exhibition

Recently, several of my illustrations were exhibited and sold on Record Store Day as part of the Secret 7" Exhibition at Idea Generation Gallery in London. The exhibition displayed and sold one-of-a-kind 7" single record sleeves, with all proceeds going to support the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The exhibition...

 

My sleeve designs...

For Bombay Bicycle Club's 'Lights Out, Words Gone'

For Noah and the Whale's 'Old Joy'

For Florence and the Machine's 'Only If For A Night'

Fashion156 Blog Feature

Stoked to have my art featured on the Fashion156 blog. Click HERE to check it out.

London City Farms Illustration

This is an illustration I just finished about one of my favourite parts of London-- its city farms. London boasts around a dozen farms within the M25. These farms are home to a variety of animals, plants, and gardens, and provide welcome respite from their urban surroundings. I try to visit my local farm (Hackney City Farm) as often as possible, as I find visits there offer peaceful moments within a sometimes slightly mad city. My illustration refers not only to the farms' animals, but also to the their pseudo-hidden nature-- thus, the animals 'pop' up from behind buildings. London farms are not particularly advertised, and are tucked quietly away amongst their city environments, community residents often unaware of their presence. I truly hope city farms always remain a part of London life. Support your local farm!

The first two images below show the full final illustration in different colour variants, and the subsequent images depict zoomed views of detail in the illustration. Spot the various bits of London hidden in there!

Birth Announcement Illustration & Design

I was recently privately commissioned to create a bespoke birth announcement, to be printed and sent out to the couple's family and friends. I worked from several photographs to create a portrait of the couple and their new baby, using a combination of traditional and digital methods, and hand-drew the text. Here is the final product.

The idea for the piece was Hannah Bullivant's, a crafty lady whose rad blog you can check out here: seedsandstitches.blogspot.co.uk

Illustration/Design for The Lines Single

Recently, the lovely UK band The Lines asked me to illustrate and design the packaging and CD artwork for their new single, 'No Illusions, No Cheap Tricks,' available soon through iTunes and HMV stores. Visit their website, their Facebook, listen to their music, because they are quite good lads. 

Artwork/design for the front cover:

 

Artwork/design for the back cover:

Artwork/design for the CD itself:

When creating designs for this sort of thing, I like to send clients a variety of final options, so that they can decide what will work best for them. I sent The Lines about twenty options for them to choose from. Here are some examples of alternate front-cover designs the band didn't use:

Some Slightly Sinister Sams and a Flencil

I drew some American-type-doodles a little while ago. Here are some. There are some slightly sinister Sams, and there is a Flencil (why, a flag-pencil hybrid, of course!), which is spewing a load of rubbish.

Morbid Tourism Illustration for AU Magazine

New illustration for the last issue of AU Magazine about how the tourist industry in Northern Ireland tends to center around rather dark subjects, such as The Troubles, and The Titanic. Unfortunately also, the last illustration I will ever do for AU, as the magazine has now closed shop. Sad days! I've worked for them for over two years, and it's been an absolute pleasure. A new swirling star has lit up the Northern Irish sky in honour of AU. xo

Quick People Sketches

Messing around in the sketchbook, I made some super-quick, loose, silly people sketches today. These were all drawn in six minutes or less. Here they be:

'Lion Of The Rocks' Painting

This is a painting I just completed of an African lion. It is 18" x 24" and is acrylic and oil on canvas.

BLOGGED.

Check out these two blogs where my art is featured!
Seeds & Stitches
and Illustration Rally.
Noice.

Some Recent Exposure 'n Stuff.

I'm stoked to say that my art can be seen in a few places round the interweb right now. Check 'em out:

HERE is an article from the Amelia's Magazine website about funky Valentine's Day gift ideas, in which my prints are featured.

And HERE is another article, also from the Amelia's Magazine site about things to do on Valentine's Day in which another of my prints is displayed. This article is happily the front page of the website right now! Many, many thanks to Amelia's Magazine for all of that.

HERE is a lovely article from the Grazia Daily website, written by Hannah Bullivant about crafty Valentine's Day gift ideas, in which my art features, as well. Hoorah!

And as ever, prints of all this art and more are available in my website art-shop: http://www.rebeccahendin.com/#!shop

Happy Valentine's Day, you romantic beasts. Hope it's a good one.

Valentines Day 2012 Illustration Series

I'm not a huge fan of Valentines Day. It's not that I'm not some sort of dour singleton-- I don't hate the holiday or anything. Rather, I'd say that my attitude regardless of being single or taken is best summed up as being 'generally apathetic to its existence.' That said, I'm always happy when there is a reason to make art, be it holiday-that-I-don't-observe-based or otherwise. I mean, really, how many of us who make Christmassy art actually believe Jesus arose and walked on water? So without further ado (except to say that if you are interested in prints or cards of this art, GO TO MY SHOP HERE) here is what I made in honour of this week's upcoming Hallmark Holiday:

Dog-Heavy Illustration for AU Magazine

Oh, look! The wonderful AU Magazine, just put out their 80th issue! Hurrah for them!

My personal favourite part of this issue is, of course, the page with a sneaky walrus on it.  But there are also some fantastic articles (check out the cover story by John Freeman) AND I  have a new illustration inside, accompanying Steven Rainey's article about what Scottish independence could mean for Northern Ireland.

I've represented the involved countries through dogs (English bulldog, Scottish terrier, and Irish wolfhound), as well as through outright stereotypes. Here's to hoping no one is too offended by them. (I mean, everyone in England IS a Morris Dancer, riiight??) 

...Actually, on second thought, I hope it offends as many people as possible. CHEERS!

Secret 7" Submissions

I just finished designing a bunch of 7" vinyl single art as part of a competition run by Secret 7" and Talenthouse, in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust charity.  There is a public vote for winners, as well as winners chosen by the musicians themselves. If you fancy voting for me by any chance, I do suppose you shouldn't fight what you fancy, ey? ;-) Click any of the images below to be linked to their page on the Talenthouse website, where you can vote for each in one click through your Facebook account. Big cheers! Here are my designs:

'Lights Out, Words Gone' (Rub-a-Dub Mix) by Bombay Bicycle Club:

'Come On Riding (Through The Cosmos)' by DJ Shadow:'City Grrrl' By CSS:'Old Joy' by Noah and the Whale:
'Only If For A Night' by Florence and the Machine:'Friday I'm In Love' by The Cure:

PJ Harvey Illustration for AU Magazine

Here's my recent illustration of PJ Harvey for a pullout poster in the new issue of AU Magazine corresponding to the mag choosing her album 'Let England Shake' as the best album of 2011. The first image is the full piece, and the second is a zoomed, cropped view. Click to see images larger.

Words Illustration for AU Magazine

Here is my recent illustration for AU Magazine, to accompany Ross Thompson's article about the power of words, specifically of their harmful power.

Spaceman Snowboards, with Tray.

A new painting. Acrylic on board. A3. The first image is the full painting, and the second is a zoomed, cropped view. Click either to see larger versions.

 

Also, my website, www.rebeccahendin.com, has been featured on the CAMBS.EU blog about inspirational websites. Check it out HERE.