Goodness gracious me! Here comes another sporadic blog post all the way from my dining room. I have been updating my website of late and so I thought that I would write a little note saying so. Since my first www.offthewallcreative.co.uk site built back in 2008 on good old Dreamweaver, my graphic design portfolio (and website) has developed beyond all recognition, and my skills and confidence have sky rocketed! With my portfolio not only covering offline print projects, but designing for web on desktop, tablet and mobile responsive sites - but even apps! The projects on show within this portfolio are predominantly print based, with a few web ideas thrown in for good measure. I've learned a lot along the way from my first steps at Curly Kale to my slightly larger ones in my current role, and have branched into the world of marketing too. It's all contributing to the tapestry of my artistic life... Have a look through the updated portfolio - and see what you think!

Christmas, christmas, christmas! With less than a month to go - are you ready for the big day?! In amongst the inevitable christmas shopping(!) I've been busily putting my crafting skills to good use and contributing to a stall at the Helmshore Mill Christmas Fair this coming Sunday 2nd December, marking the end of the season for the museum. Nestling quietly alongside my friends fantastic felt embroidered tree decorations, look out for a selection of hand crafted christmas cards created by yours truly. With a further 49 stalls to browse through, a choir and brass band as well as a visit from Santa it looks set to be well worth a visit and a relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon, opening at 10.30am until 4.30pm. For more info about this fantastic event contact: helmshore.museum@lancashire.gov.uk or call 01706 226459  

David Hull is a musician extraordinaire. With over 20 years of experience within the world of music, currently a bandleader on HAL cruises he aspires to be a singer/songwriter - and I promised to help him get there. Problem is, I haven't got a clue where to start.... Firstly I'll provide a link to one of my favourite tunes - 1,2,3,4 - a cool little dance number, written and recorded by David himself. His personal favourite is a song about an Unhappy Clown inspired by a particularly bad day at the office. Lastly I'll show you a bass production that literally took the world by storm the Mozart's Turkish Rondo arranged by David, and played purely on a bass guitar.... awesome!! See what you think - if you like what you see, why not check out the rest of his YouTube channel? With over 900 subscribers you won't be on your own! Look out for deha music co. You saw it here first... A selection of his work is also available on iTunes. Here's my favourite album (or should I say EP?) it's called Miles Away From Home, very apt for the world traveller that he is!

Admittedly I haven't written anything for a while, this is mainly down to the fact that I was involved in a traffic accident and so haven't had the ability to think straight or operate heavy machinery for a while. I'm on the mend though now and although the left hand side of me is somewhat incapacitated it is the right side I use the most! The upshot of this accident is that I was able to watch rather more of the Olympics than I initially thought I would be able to - that avid viewer adding to the viewer count of the BBC, although for a large part of it I wasn't totally compus mentus (probably spelled horribly wrong) as they say.... I did however manage to catch the opening ceremony a few days later, and although some opinions are divided - I thought it was awesome! A great audio and visual treat to the senses, a job well done on Danny Boyle's part. A ten out of ten for creativity I would say, and a fantastic transition for the stadium itself from green and pleasant lands, to industrial metropolis a walk through history in less than 3 hours. The flame lighting (something that my dad had already billed as I watched a few days later as the best lighting of the olympic torch ever...) was a work of art in itself, the joining together of the nations in light. The opening ceremony launched the party and as many have already claimed, London 2012 for the few weeks it was in town certainly was the greatest show on earth. Bring on the paralympics I say! As an artist of sorts, I do love it when people embrace the arts, be it music or face painting, or theatre or just being impressed by the posters on the walls of the venues, or saving the ticket you had for an event just because you like the purple. Art brings interest to anything, and everything starts as an idea - the Olympics has shown that anything can be achieved if you have the passion - so go on, give in to your inner artist, try something new. Me, I've got thousands of ideas thanks to the olympics, I may just give them a go...  

I'm sure that the majority of you have probably seen the BBC promo for the Olympics by now, but if not CLICK HERE. A fantastic piece of 3D animation by all accounts, although dare I admit it, but I have to say I prefer the 2008 Olympic video starring the hand drawn, oriental flavoured character Monkey: SEE HERE. See what you think...

A highlight of the Diamond Jubilee for me, apart from the extra bank holiday of course, was the concert featuring musicians and artists spanning generations. And if I had to choose an absolute highlight - it had to be the animation projected onto Buckingham Palace that accompanied the Madness classic "Our House." Having studied animation, I do like to see a good example every now and then... I thought the creativity behind it was impressive and definitely fun! What particularly caught my eye was the fluidity and narrative of the animation and the how well it synched with the stories within the music. The imagination of how each scene literally folded into the next, or how the double decker bus drove along to unveil a row of terraces with animated scenes within the internal rooms was well constructed and a great advert for the animation industry within the UK. Anyway, the company responsible for this great piece of artistry are a studio based in London, Trunk Animation Ltd. Check out the rest of their work here: http://trunk.me.uk/

Hi folks! Whoa it's been a long time since I last posted a blog, you may've thought I 'd disappeared off the face of the earth, but for those concerned I have not. I am here. I'm debating whether or not to plunge myself into the world of Twitter having managed a few accounts at work. Incidentally I was working on one and tweeted about an office sweepstake on the Eurovision song contest - to which Graham Norton responded to!! It sent me all of a quiver... Anyway, my news and views will hopefully be on the rise, but will always remain slightly off the wall. Can you handle that?