New Paintings

I got these back from the framers yesterday. They are going into a show at 57 Arts on Loampit Hill, Lewisham this week. The show is called 'Not The Royal Academy' and will have work from lots of local artists and crafty people.

The Castle

I've been making some book covers to add to my portfolio. I'm currently reading The Castle by Franz Kafka so thought that it might be a good place to start. This cover was made semi digitally - I added the dark blue wash and text in Photoshop. I'm in two minds about it in that I needed a dark and moody looking image but also don't want to sacrifice the detail in the castle drawing.

Chris Killip & Co.

Various photos I found yesterday whilst researching the Manx photographer Chris Killip. I ended up going on a bit of an amazon spree and ordered two of his books as well as John Bulmer's 'The North'

Simon Roberts - We English

Just stumbled across these fantastic photographs of English beaches by Simon Roberts. I can tell his blog is going to be a gold mine of future inspiration.

The Detroit Hitters

This is a painting I finished yesterday. The loose idea is to try and link the industrial history of Detroit (and its current state of disrepair) with that of the Cairnsbruck Islands. Its also a sketch for a larger piece I'd like to try out.

Rocky Beach

An imagined beach I'd like to visit.

Grubster

Here's a painting I finished yesterday. I've been working on some new pictures for a show with the RSW in January. This lad is another Cairnsbruck inhabitant with a mucky face.

Girl on the beach

Here's a new painting I just finished a couple of days ago. I've been making a conscious effort to paint more pictures of women recently. I thought I'd include some photographs of my working process too.

Website

I've now got myself a proper website with a CV and a sensible email address and everything! You can have a look by going to www.samcaldwell.co.uk

There is a bunch of new work which I haven't posted anywhere else online and a link to an online shop where you can buy prints and drawings.

If you want to get in touch, drop me an email at - samcaldwell91@gmail.com

Degree Show

So I have been really rubbish at keeping this blog updated. I think it's been over a year now since my last post, and a lot has happened in that time! I've been kept busy with dissertation writing, degree show construction and generally trying to make sure that I graduate with a decent mark. All of that is done and finished with now though and it's time to get back to working from home and keeping this blog regularly updated.

The photographs above are of the installation I created for my degree show in June. Over the past year I have been working on a new project which is centered on a fictional group of islands which I call the Cairnsbruck Islands. The shack (pictured above) is supposed to be the study/work place of an anthropologist who lives on the islands in order to study their inhabitants, histories and landscapes.
Viewers were invited to enter the structure and rummage through its contents to uncover the story of the islands.

The Idea of North - Peter Davidson

- Some images I have collected whilst reading 'The Idea of North' by Peter Davidson. 

Its full of some really interesting histories of Northernly places as well as lots of artists and writers who I have never come across but find really exciting at the moment.

Eric Ravilious being one of them -

Industrial Photos of Bolton

I recently bought a little 35mm point and shoot off a friend and took some research photos of some industrial areas of Bolton while I was there a couple of weeks ago. 

I'm hoping to use them to base some works on soon.

Stac Lee & Stone Circles

More bits inspired by St Kilda and remote islands.

Alfred & Ben

This piece was inspired by a recent visit to the Ingelby Gallery in Edinburgh who a few weeks back had a show of works by Alfred Wallis, Forrest Bess and Frank Walter. I've been a big fan of Wallis' naive paintings of boats and harbours for a couple of years now but going to the show was the first time I'd seen this famous photograph of Ben Nicholson talking to Alfred, most probably about getting him to come to London.

Ladies in Pubs

I'm working on a series of commissions at the moment based on images of people in pubs, a topic I could quite happily work with forever. The bottom portrait is a revisited version of a painting which I did a couple of years ago. I like to go back to works every now and again and try to update them, it always proves to be an interesting insight into how my techniques have developed. I'm pretty sure that the original painting is on here somewhere if you want to compare the two.