Wednesday 30 September 2009

38 - doves

GRA doves A-Z

It's been a sad week, after the wonderful NEOS event, we heard that artist, Jen Beattie, sadly passed away. We were invited by her very close friends (Susie Hunt and Lindsay Stewart) to paint Jen's coffin.

We arrived at Jen's on Sunday morning to see lots of Jen's friends and fellow artists painting the cardboard coffin in the studio, a rather sobering sight. A mixture of sadness, collective spirit and joy - we all worked together to create an amazing work of art for Jen.

Jen's family were very moved by the work, and very grateful for all our contributions...

Gabi was taking some time out with Poppy, taking a stroll through Jen & Jim's amazing garden, watching their white doves... inspiration for Gabi's tribute typeface to Jen. Rest in Peace Jen.

Jen Beattie doves

This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk. If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

Thursday 24 September 2009

37 - NEOS @ Mill farm



To celebrate the end of NEOS, Gabi and I asked all the artists showing with us at Mill Farm, Kemnay to design a few characters to create a mash up typeface showcasing everyone's individual styles & ideas.

It was fun to see how everyone coped with the "brief" and interesting to see how asking people to write / draw / represent "letters" throws up real challenges… “what sort of shape do you want this?” “how do I draw this letter?”. It’s fascinating to see that the “rules” of known letters really can cause blocks to creative thinking…

We think everyone really produced interesting characters, reflecting their personalities and styles. It makes for a very personal typeface for us – as we had such an ace time with everyone during NEOS’09. So, we doubt our blog readers will “use” this typeface, but hope you can see that this is one of the strongest typefaces representing the “spirit” of this project! Inspired to create a typeface and join in?…





This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk. If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

Tuesday 15 September 2009

36 - NEOS Lino



We're "doing NEOS" this week (the North East Open Studios). It's Scotland's largest Open Studios with 222 artists, makers and galleries in this years catalogue (Which I (Phil) designed & set up for print)...


Being "slightly busy" at the weekend (with over 350+ visitors to our shared space in Kemnay) - we didn't have time to sort out a #TFAW entry on Sunday.

We're sharing a space with Anne Thomas, a print maker / designer who's come up from England to "go for her first open studios" (She's also our host, Susie Hunt's neice).

She's really cool and up for demoing her printmaking, giving away lino to kids and adults like they were sweeties - very interactive.

We'd headed to the studio today and talked about having missed the Sunday deadline for uploading this week's Typeface... and she then said "I can print my A-Z for you!"...

It's what we love, instant - expressive, sharing and collaborative. So! We thank Anne for her contribution, we're so happy when someone wants to contribute and use their skills to add to our project...

This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk. If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!

Sunday 6 September 2009

35 - ThrowUP!


Gabi and Phil are working really hard on getting ready for NEOS2009 - the North East Open Studios (Scotland's largest Open Studios event, don'tchaknow!)...so we've got a guest appearance From Mark Goss again! (yay!)

Mark Goss (Curious Fiend) has produced "Throw UP" as part of his 2009 degree show - and has been kind enough to share it with us...

The Graffiti inspired typeface is a doozie, check out Mark's poster for it! (also available for purchase on his website : http://curiousfiend.bigcartel.com/ )



We'd like to thank Mark for taking the time to send us his work, and for sharing it with us, we hope that you put his typeface to good use, and if you do use it, please send us (or Mark) and email.

This typeface is now unavailable for download - but will be included in the limited edition CD Rom of all 52 Typefaces at the beginning of 2010. To secure a CD Rom, please email us (Phil & Gabi) at info@g-r-a.co.uk. If you would like to get involved in making a typeface for the project, please email us at : info@g-r-a.co.uk or leave a comment below!