Illustrations on the side of a building!

Wow! this has to be a little dream of mine come true -to have my artwork printed big and hung on the side of a building! -surely every artist’s (and illustrator’s!) ultimate canvas! -This was a commission through the lovely people at Eye Candy Festival and Southside along with my excellent fellow illustrators, Michelle Turton and Louise Brangwin. It was great to be able to work with the girls before having previously collaborated on projects with Inkygoodness and House of Aces in the past.

The building is Unity House (134 Bromsgove Street) and has had a long and colourful past, and to celebrate this each artist took a period in time from the building’s history to inspire a series of 4 large scale panel illustrations. My period was the Victorian Era and I wanted to tell the story as if from a Victorian fairy tale.

Eye Candy festival was packed with treats for the eyes, and it was great to be able to take part alongside artists such as Jeremyville, Jon Burgerman and Miss Led. -Thanks to all involved!

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Inkygoodness Beermat Exhibition

My hipster fox was part of the Inkygoodness Beermat illustration exhibition held at the Coningsby Gallery off Tottenham Court Road in April this year! It was a great exhibition to be part of along with some exiting other illustrators and designers and the kids behind Ammo magazine and sponsored by Sailor Jerry! The show was grand! (take a look at a behind the scenes film of the exhibition here.. http://inkygoodness.com/blog/news/beermat-characters-the-poop-deck-launch-film/) and the show was indeed jam packed of inky-goodness! It was great to be able to get back to gouache and paint my fox horn-rimmed glasses and all! …some more shots from the show…

…there was also another character that didn’t get his paint finished in time! (and sadly still remains un-finished!) ahh I might just post him as a halloween special!

All I want for Xmas Craft Fair

I will be doing the Truman Brewery Christmas craft market Saturday 22nd December …come down and say hi! if you are in the area and fancy browsing some fine and dandy illustration related goodies!

 

12 Prints of Christmas

Come on down on the 12th to this excellent exhibition! I am one of 12 artists who have donated screen prints as part of the 12 Prints of Christmas Exhibition with all money raised going to an excellent cause! Everything raised from the show will go towards “Supporting Sam” -read his story here http://supportingsam.co.uk/sams-story/

…Below is the finished print!

Pick Me Up Somerset House 2012 Review!

I took a visit with one half of the Inkygoodness girls to the always excellent illustration, design and screen printing exhibition Pick Me Up at Somerset House in London. As always the exhibition was packed to the rafters with the interesting, quirky, odd-ball, hilarious, and just down right good pieces of art! I would certainly recommend a visit (and in this lovely weather a walk along the river) the show is on until 1st April.

Here are a couple of stand out pieces of artwork that I particularly enjoyed!

This beautiful collage piece by Kristjana S Williams -certainly appeals to the magpie in me as the background is created with gold leaf. (something I have always loved using in the past with my work as I just love the eye-catching quality if it!) Creating pieces with a modern vintage feel.

Paul X Johnson’s work has a stillness to the illustration that I really like, it is as if he has captured a moment in time or a still from a film, each artwork has a depth of detail paused containing a wealth of information. (I particularly liked this piece with the Blade Runner inspiration.)

This caged humming bird created by Zim & Zou with the creature made entirely out of paper did pull in quite a crowd! -The intricacy and colour use were the elements that stole my heart, with all the pieces being so full of life.

Tom Frost from SOMA created wonderful pieces inspired by vintage screen prints and products from the 1940s/50s and even had a few of his designs made up into wooden pull-a-long toys packaged in bespoke boxes -the perfect gift for the most discerning toddler (or perhaps artistic parents!)

The wonderful gallery Nelly Duff (from Columbia Road) had a room of wonders, I loved their neon sign and the work of Jessica Albarn who creates detailed pencil drawings.

-The drawings are somehow very fluid and expressive and filled with movement. I would love to have one on my wall!

Finally this urban fox relief print wall paper characterises the confidence and cunning shown by London’s growing fox population created by Luke Best. Perhaps one for the wall of the skyscraper dwelling of this fellow!

Frieze Art Fair Review

I took some time out to take a visit through the Frieze Art Fair in London yesterday, -some excellent works on the whole but quite a few that would fit handily into the categories The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! -here is a selection of some of the pieces that were highlights for me…

Grayson Perry’s stunning tapestry, -a really beautiful piece of work with his characteristic illustrative style of blended folk art, nostalgia and personal histories woven into an epic wall sized fairy tale.

I loved this bold installation piece by Doug Aitken, a multifaceted mirrored ‘Now’ which entices the viewer into its depths, staring into its reflected, distorted view of reality.

The beautifully illustrated works of Charles Avery, I love the economy of line and how he creates emotions in his drawings with his characters hunched against the outside with the weight of the world on their shoulders. Although the figures are often exaggerated and elegant in line, they can sum up the entire range of human nature in a couple of swift brush and pen strokes.

This Tara Donovan sculpture really caught my eye as it is really beautiful and reminds me of  something other-worldly or perhaps evolved in the unexplored depths under the sea. It feels alive and almost half a creature. Beautiful, ethereal  and catching the light as well as the eye!

Illustration at the London Design Festival!

The London Design Festival is looking grand! I took some time out to explore some of the excellent illustration related exhibitions and had to marvel at the wonderful Outline Editions Gallery showcasing the King of Negative Space -Mr Noma Bar. His work is minimalistic and clean and often with a sense of humour or even a political slant and using his wonderful dog-shapped hole punch you can even create one of your very own! (showing until 30th September)

Fifi’s Market

Louise Brangwin and myself of House of Aces (http://www.houseofaces.net) will be selling a selection of screen prints, cards, badges, and other illustrated goodness at Fifi’s Market at the Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks this Saturday 17th September. (http://www.fifismarkets.com/#!17th-sept-2011) Come down and say hello!

Untitled Space Exhibition

Some of my screen prints will be part of Untitled Space pop up exhibition “Under Construction” held at 3-5 Whitechapel Road, yeses! come along on the opening night this Thursday 14th April from 6.30pm for a Dutch Auction of awesome artworks, live music and ping pong -the perfect set of ingredients for any good Thursday evening and bag yourself some tasty art goodies! More info here http://untitledspace.co.uk/

Falmouth Alumni Illustration Exhibition!

My work is going to be on show at The Illustration Cupboard in London from this week as part of an exhibition of Falmouth Illustration Alumni (Falmouth Illustration: The Retrospective) showing from 3rd – 12th February. Works were selected from commercially commissioned pieces with mine featuring the illustrations I created for “Wherever Nina Lies” published by Scholastic. Come along and check it out y’all-there should be a real mix of styles on show!