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I seem to spend all my time apologizing on this blog, but I've sorry these are so over due. This is what I exhibited for the last project a couple of weeks. Again, you can see the rest of the photos here.

If anyone would like any of the original paintings, get in touch coz there's tonnes and I have no space in my flat. Cheap cheap cheap.

So Far Exhibition

Apologies for the awful photos, reflections and blurs and crappy colours etc. This what I exhibited. You can see the rest of the photos (of equally terrible quality) here.

Framing bits up

I think I'm finished. This is a cut out section of a bigger painting I did earlier today, in a frame I forgot I had. I'm planning to exhibit this, a smaller version of it and one of the landscapes I've done, under some pretentious title I'm yet to decide upon. I love putting things in frames, everything looks so much nicer in a frame. Especially when the frames cost 50p and are a bit battered.

The show opens on Friday and will be running for a week. So if anyone is in Edinburgh do try to pop along to the gallery and have a look. Should be dead dead dead good.

Splodge

I'm thinking of exhibiting the landscape I posted about last, along two sections of a more abstract painting, like the one above. I've been toying with some more narrative based paintings but I don't think what I'm trying to paint is figurative at all and they've not been having the same impact as the stranger ones.

Three Weeks

This is something I've been working on today. I've been having a good think about what it is I want to say and I've decided that it's less about making the viewer feel uncomfortable and awkward and more just about putting them in a thoughtful kind of reflective, mellow place (which is at the same time a little unnerving.)

I noticed around the three week mark of last project and what was for most people their third week of living in a new place and not knowing anyone, that everyone kind of got a touch less enthusiastic and a bit quieter. I was no exception. I think it was the excitement wearing off and I was faced with the fact that as nice as all these new things and new people were, I kind of missed the comfort of home. I'm going to carry on working around that idea I think.

So Far

I have been slacking majorly with this blog recently. I've done a whole project, doing new work every day, an exhibition and not one sign of a blog post. I'm very sorry and I'm going to say I'm going to try to update a bit more regularly.

I'm currently working on a new project titled 'So Far', the end result of which will be exhibited along with all the other first year's work at a gallery in Edinburgh on the 12th of November. It's going to dead good.

I'm focusing my work on how awkward and kind of lost I've felt at various points over the past couple of months. University has been a lot more difficult than I had anticipated and I think being put in an unexpected and sort of uncomfortable position is really interesting place to be. So I'm trying to do a painting of that, which turns out is really difficult to get down on paper.

My motive for the landscapes is sort of about feeling lost and overwhelmed, not in terms of being in a bustling crowd; It's felt much more thoughtful and reflective than that. I think it's been a bit like a misty bleak moor. The shapeless dark shapes in the corner are intended to make you feel slightly uncomfortable - this unrecognizable form that you can't say what it is. But I'm not sure it's getting that across too well really.

Vogelkop

We were given our first uni project last week and I have been pretty busy with it over the past few days. I'm trying to get across the story of the Vogelkop Bowerbird, something I was toying with ages ago but never really finished. These are just a couple of experiments.

Hello England my old friend

Hello! I am very glad to be back on English shores once more. Many apologies for the long absence, I did plan to post a few bits and bobs whilst I was away but I never found the time or the scanners.

I didn't draw anywhere near as much as I'd have liked to, but here are a few of the few scrappy sketches I did. I am looking forward to settling into a new painting tomorrow and getting back into my familiar drawing routines.

In other news, I'm moving to Edinburgh on Saturday to study at the Edinburgh College of Art. I must admit, I'm very excited. I've missed having proper projects set for me and art teachers and other students and free paint so it'll be lovely to get back to.

Above are some drawings of 2 elderly women from the villages around Sapa, North Vietnam. They had proper gnarled skin. The palm leaf bits are creations of our boat driver and the glasses are just there because they're really cool.

Pipe Smoke

Here is a quick drawing I've just finished. It's based on a film trailer I've been asked to do some paintings for. I'd like to be cool and mysterious and say I can't tell you too much about it, but in reality you know as much as I do. Nearly.

I'll try to do some more tomorrow in between packing for my imminent adventure to Vietnam and Cambodia, which I'm super excited about.

In other news, this song is brilliant.

Minor Man

Here are the paintings I promised. I thoroughly enjoyed working with such a strong narrative and mood, it made my job pretty easy and I'd like to think that these have a bit more depth to them than usual.

You can hear the music here. We recorded it all in my bedroom, very lo-tech with the help from another friend. Alex wrote and performed all of the songs and we just added the extra instrumentation. She also has a facebook page.

Frosty Discipline

I always think it's really interesting when people post up photos of where they work and of their sketchbooks. Unfortunately this isn't really where I'd usually work and it's not my sketchbook. So it wouldn't be fair to judge. Potentially interesting all the same?

I've been working on some possible covers for my friend Alex's E.P which I have just helped her to record. I will post proper scans and a link to the music when I get home later this week. I'm sure you will love it. The music that is.

In other news, the weather is perfect at the moment and I'm hoping that the weekend will be spent by the rivers and lakes and filled with barbecues and beer gardens.

Rust House

Buildings are a bugger. Straight lines and perspective and logic don't like me I think. Jenny Smith nails buildings beautifully, as is the same with everything else she draws.

Sam Bosma

Sam Bosma is bloody marvelous. I love everything about his work at the moment. He's got such a knack for full environments and scenes, the detail is immense. He works digitally, which isn't usually something I'm all that into, but he manages to pull it off so well and give it a really organic, natural finish. His recent Hobbit stuff for the Picture Book Report is really excellent. Look out for the posts about his process, they're fascinating.

Walthamstow Marshes

Not to say that I'm tired of drawing people, I just think I spend too much time doing it, so I've decided to work on some landscapes for a change. I worked from a screen shot of a Temper Trap video. I'm not really a fan of the band, but the video (aside from the awful CGI crow) is excellent.

I think I might go for a drive next time the sky is gloomy to do some drawings of the moors round my way. They're much more interesting than these marshes in London. Very Wuthering Heights, I promise.

Workshop for Children

Atelier pour enfants is a blog I've been meaning to talk about for a while. I can't remember where I found it, but I'm extremely glad I did. It's full of the most amazing children's book illustrations in the world. Like these by Leonard Weisgard.

It's very much in french and I don't understand a word of what's going on, or anything about who runs it etc.. But nevertheless it is a constant source of inspiration. 

 

"The Dead Bird" by Remy Charlip.