Saturday, July 16, 2016

Helen.





I have been more upset than I've let on about the news of Helen Bailey, the children's author, who has been found dead after three months of being missing. I have been thinking about her a lot since a colleague alerted me to her disappearance, wondering where she is.

I didn't know Helen, we never met, but I created her logo and her early Electra Brown book covers, published by Hodder, in 2007. She had a lovely smiling face and her books are delightful. She had received a catastrophic blow in life, but had channelled her grief into creativity via her blog Planet Grief, and gave hope and comfort to countless similarly-bereaved humans.

I just wanted to acknowledge her today. I read some terrible news stories this week; the obvious ones, but also some slightly more under-the-radar stories of women being killed by partners and family members around the world. It sickens me that this still happens, and for a moment I had to shut off the news altogether, as I was boiling with rage that breathtakingly medieval belief systems still exist which allow women to be terminated for daring to live less traditional lives, lives which challenge or are simply different from the traditional paths they were expected to follow. We don't yet know why Helen was killed, we may never, but her death was reported as one of three stories in one day of women killed by men they loved.

Helen's partner has been arrested for her murder. Time will tell if this is the truth, but I am shocked and sad that this should happen, and I am thinking today of women and girls everywhere who have lost their lives at the hands of people they loved and trusted.









Monday, July 04, 2016

Fireworks at Macy's

Happy 4th July!

I was reminded today of my own Macy's poster for their annual pyrotechnic extravaganza, which was created in 2009 and inspired by the 1958 poster. It was also the 400th anniversary of 'Henry Hudson's Discovery'.

The art director Gregory and I worked really hard on this, and having just dug deep into the job file I've found all the pencil sketches and development. I still like them, and you can see the excitement in my work, I think!

It was a fantastic job to do.


You can see it in the collection of other historic posters here. My favourite is 1977!

http://social.macys.com/fireworks/anniversary/














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