Website Update - November 2014

I've just been updating my website 'Ali Limentani Illustration'. If you haven't already seen it, you can find it at: alisonlimentani.wix.com. Please check it out!

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PrintmadeZoo is open for business! Opened a new etsy shop November 2014

People are always asking me about acquiring some of my artwork, so I’ve decided to set up a new Etsy shop called ‘PrintmadeZoo’ to sell limited edition prints and greetings cards. At the moment only the larger prints are listed, but I’m hoping to produce some smaller prints for smaller budgets later in the year. Click the link on the top right hand side to visit my Etsy shop or follow this link; https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PrintmadeZoo

The Big Draw at ZSL London Zoo / 'Boo at the Zoo' - October 2014

During the October half term I was lucky enough to be invited to stay in the Black Widows Lair at London Zoo. While I was there, the Zoo allowed me to curate a very large, amazingly bugtastic collage in the B.U.G.S. house as part of ‘the Big Draw’. The collage was made using artwork created by the thousands of children who visited the Widows Lair to take part in the ‘Boo at the Zoo’ activities. We had everything from millipedes and fen raft spiders, to honey bees and scorpions. There are even three tiny frogs, a rat, and a couple of praying mantises to look out for! I was delighted to see so many children take up the challenge of drawing from life in the B.U.G.S house, it was wonderful to see them really looking at the animals and engaging with them. I was also amazed by the creativity of the children (and adults!) drawing in the Black Widows Layer. I enjoyed meeting you all and seeing your wonderful works of art. We were very lucky that so many children were happy to donate their artwork to our B.U.G.S collage, but it did mean there was a tremendous amount of cutting and sticking to do. Luckily I had help from some of the Zoo’s volunteers and staff, particularly Jen, who helped me in the Widows Lair for the entire week. I’m really proud of the finished collage and hope it will inspire others to take a closer look at all the wonderful animals inside B.U.G.S. This month I’ve also started using my Twitter account. I have to admit, I’m not overly convinced, but it does seem to be quite a good way of keeping in touch with that other artists and organisations are up to! Follow me at @ali_limentani.

Children's Art Classes at ZSL London and Whipsnade Zoo - August 2014

Over the summer holidays I’ve been teaching some children’s art classes at London and Whipsnade Zoo. I’ve designed the art classes to have an educational twist by encouraging the children to look at elements such as conservation, environment and zoo signage, as well as taking them round the zoo to draw from life. We started the classes by spending the mornings out in the zoo sketching and fact finding. In the afternoons we returned to our wonderful studio in the Rainforest exhibit for some Monoprinting to continue the development their line drawings. Monoprinting is very forgiving and all of the children were able to make some fantastic prints. The most popular class by far was the Penguin Poster design class. During this class we took the opportunity to look at some of the fantastic signage around the zoo to see how we could make our designs eye catching and informative, before visiting the penguins to find out more about them and make some sketches to use in the studio. There were some truly imaginative posters, complete with facts, jokes, and lift up flaps for questions an answers.

Zoo Signage for Hamerton Zoo Park - April 2014

This month I have been finishing off the designs for some new signage at Hamerton Zoo Park. I’ve revamping the visitor map and logo, as well as printing a very large tiger as a motif for their new tiger exhibit ‘Land of the Tiger’, which will open to the public very soon. The map was a particularly challenging task as it was very different to anything I had ever done before. I required a lot of input from the Zoo to get things absolutely right, but finally it’s ready and everyone seems very pleased with it. I’ve really enjoyed working on the project, particularly as I’m so fond of the Zoo, having helped out as a volunteer there for a few years in the past.

Play Bow Collograph

This is for a page about how dogs love to play. It shows a play soliciting posture called the play bow. I'm not 100% sure if I'm finished on this one. I was hoping the legs would come out a bit paler so that she looks like a dog with white legs, belly and face with tan markings. May have to reprint it paler with a new tan print on top and the definition for the eyes and ears over that.

This is what the print looked like before I added the 2nd layer. I felt there was not enough definition around the ear and decided it was a good opportunity to add more detail to the face. I espescially like his whisker spots around his nose.

This is how the face collograph printed first time round. I really like the furry texture, but it was too much so I cleaned most of the colour of the collograph before printing it after this.

Collograph Alphabet

I decided it was time to print an upper case alphabet to go with the lower case alphabet I designed for my Masters project. I might revise a few of the letters, but on the whole I'm quite pleased. I could use the letter press, but I would prefer to echo the textures of the collograph prints in the type face.

This is the original lower case alphabet. Each letter is individually placed onto each spread... sometimes I wonder if it would be easier just to pick a computerized text, but I think its worth using the printed one.