Christmas Trees at Cocoa Amore.

 
It’s such hard work, drawing to the smell of liquid chocolate and constantly being offered hot chocolate, sweet things ‘to see what I think of them’ and nice strong coffee. But you know what they say, somebody’s got to do it.

Christmas at Cocoa Amore is of course a stupidly busy time, and as this was Pete’s first one in the new building, its big Victorian windows needed something extravagant to announce the arrival of the biggest sales season of the year, so were created a little bit at a time in an anticipatory fashion. Hallowe’en was well and truly over, and the windows clean again ready for the next season.

Cocoa Amore is a chocolate boutique for grown-ups, I fancied no Santas nor presents but a winter forest, where the chocolate things dangle tantalisingly from frozen branches in a deafeningly-quiet clearing; all you would be able to hear, were you actually there, is the crunching of fresh snow underfoot and the occasional creak of branch as someone reaches for a chocolate bauble. The stars (if we could look up) would be clear and plentiful. And perhaps there were some things hiding inside the trees that may or may not look out occasionally to serve you chocolate!

Just as Leicester was setting up its Christmas ferris wheel and accompanying city celebrations, I began working on the two trees. With a previous piece of work in mind - Snowtrees, from a story written by Ed Garland - the Cocoa Amore committee - Pete, Alun, Leigh and Me) decided that it should start snowing first, so that the design developed over the weeks from the top:

followed by the toppermost branches of the trees:

and went back a few days later to work downwards…

On successive visits the trees were hung with be-ribboned chocolate ornaments, some painted with gold:

and other baubles were painted on:

Late night working of course requires sustenance, this being the richest source of carbs and fat to be foraged in the immediate environment:

And after three weeks of as many night shifts as I could fit in, the window is complete!

And this is Podrick, named by the owner and hanging proudly in the centre of the window above the logo in his Christmas ribbon:

Pete went on to add three strings of fairy lights (that’s Pete on the right in the grey jumper) which really brought the final twinkling magic, and lit up the forest floor!

I will be back there soon to begin the Valentine process.

http://www.cocoa-amore.co.uk

Hallowe’en Signwriting at Cocoa Amore.

I went back to Cocoa Amore last week to add the sign writing to his new shop in Silver Street, in the medieval part of Leicester. The job was to paint a permanent logo in the centre of the huge windows, add opening times, a building number and bullet points, and then make a right old Hallowe’en spectacle in the windows - those to last only a few days, to give way not long after to Christmas.

Here’s the shop in all its glory, and how it got there!

Shop pictures courtesy of Andy Baker at The Leicester Mercury.
This was my first experience with proper sign writing materials, and it was a bugger to get used to. I used an ivory enamel to match Pete the owner’s existing colours, and built up layers to make solid letters:

 - never work with children or animals:

Then, the split cocoa pod at the top was added, and a shout line. Kneeling on two bags worth of dried cocoa beans, the crunching and constant chocolate smell made for a bittersweet agony/ecstacy environment (Pete wasn’t shy of keeping the hot chocolate coming either):

A freestyle building number now nestles under the Victorian gold swags:

And then the job was to add some opening hours too:

- remember everything is painted in reverse, on the inside of the glass!

Of course I made sure I was appropriately attired. Yes, yes, overalls - but more importantly the chocolate brown lip colour (mixed from two different shades) and brown and copper eyeshade. (Question: why can’t you get brown mascara anymore eh?)

Once the main sign writing was in, it was all about getting the temporary Hallowe’en painting up for the opening night. On this I could unclench a bit and relax into painting familiar shapes with a series of non-permanent Posca inks applied with a brush - the sign writing took four times as long as the Hallowe’en work, due to the concentration required of an amateur combined with sticky, enamel-based paint!

All was now ready for the pre-Hallowe’en Grand Opening, by invitation only, to the shop which sits just in front of Leicester Cathedral where King Richard. As far as I know, he was invited, but no-one saw him. OR DID THEY...

Stories & Hot Cocoa.

As you might be able to tell from time to time, running a very full-time illustration business is hard work and occupies the majority of my hours.

However, there is and always has been a constant urge to do things which fall slightly outside the description of ‘illustration’ - making things, putting on club nights, doing radio, giving talks, designing and hosting shows and events. These things come under the banner of Factoryroad. Doing these things is extra hard work of course and occupies the rest of whatever hours we might have free for things like telly and reading…but when they happen, they are magical and worth every sleepless night.

With my partner Leigh we hosted a Buddy Wakefield show a couple of years ago (which you can read about here) which was received with glowing - nay throbbing - feedback; warmth, tears, surprise and emotion (as one of the artists participating, below is my piece made in response to one of his poems, ‘Battle Magnet’.). We are happy to say we’re having Buddy back on December 1st for a special gig at The Silver Arcade in Leicester – one of only two original four-storey Victorian arcades in the country – as he stops off in Leicester on his ‘Riled Up And Wasted On Light’ tour.

In this beautiful setting Buddy will be performing his distinctive and very universal brand of poetry live with two support acts from the local area, and on the night freshly made hot cocoa will be supplied to every guest – dairy or non-dairy – courtesy of Silver Arcade resident and manufacturer of very fine chocolates Cocoa Amore. After you’ve watched the gig, you can mooch around the Arcade’s shops looking for ways to spend the £5 voucher that’s also included in the ticket price, in the Arcade’s very Christmassy surroundings. All for the disctinctly un-princely sum of £10.

Nice eh?

If you never came to our first Buddy Wakefield show and want to know more about him, well, we find these words taken from his biography are a good place to start:

“Buddy Wakefield, who is unconcerned with what poetry is or is not, delivers raw, rounded, disarming performances of humor and heart.”
A quick YouTube search for his name will yield an abundance of his live performances – sometimes moving, sometimes heart-rending, almost always funny – to give you an idea of what to expect.

You’ll be able to buy his books, recordings, T-shirts and other goodies at the event, which starts at 7pm.

This is the first ever event we’ve put on as Factoryroad where we have had to charge entry, in order to cover the associated costs, so please do support us and the local scene by coming along!

Book tickets here
https://factoryroad.net/shop/products/buddy-wakefield-ticket/

The Silver Arcade
Silver Street
Leicester
LE1 5FA

buddywakefield.com
thesilverarcade.com
cocoa-amore.co.uk