A Winter painting in Summer

Recently when I was painting a portrait commission, 

I remembered to take all of these in progress photos.

That is all. 

Horay for Love

It's almost Valentimes ladies and gentlemen (and anyone who does not identify as a lady or gentleman), I did this reworking of a collage card but with bonus classical romance shtick piece above. There is also a really cool (if somewhat cheesy) love themed comic that I made that I'm not allowed to show you yet, but hopefully will be able to give you all that as a Valentines gift. 

Do NOT be forgetting to head along to my Etsy Shop if you are interested in one of the alternative Valentines cards or Love Zines for one of your loved ones, or to encourage your loved ones to buy them for you.

 If you are not in a state of loved bliss per say, or that is to say, a singleton by chance or design. I am sharing this story for you which I stole from Invisibilia. I don't believe in it at all, the idea of soul mates that is, or this particular creation story. But I enjoyed it anyway.  

The story is by Simon Rich and it's called "The Children Of The Dirt." from the book The Last Girlfriend on Earth

 According to Aristophanes, there were originally three sexes - the children of the moon who were half-male and half-female, the children of the sun who were fully male, and the children of the earth, who were fully female. Everyone had four legs, four arms and two heads, and spent their days in blissful contentment. Zeus became jealous of the humans' joy so he decided to split them all in two. Aristophanes called this punishment the origin of love because ever since, the children of the earth, moon and sun have been searching the globe in a desperate bid to find their other halves. Aristophanes' story though is incomplete because there was also a fourth sex - the children of the dirt. Unlike the other three sexes, the children of the dirt consisted of just one half. Some were male and some were female and each had just two arms, two legs and one head. The children of the dirt found the children of the earth, moon and sun to be completely insufferable. Whenever they saw a two-headed creature walking by, talking to itself in baby-talk voices, it made them want to vomit. They hated going to parties and when there was no way to get out of one, they sat in the corner, too bitter and depressed to talk to anybody. The children of the dirt were so miserable that they invented wine and art to dull their pain. It helped a little, but not really. When Zeus went on his rampage he decided to leave the children of the dirt alone. They're already f*cked, he explained.

Happy gay couples descend from the children of the sun. Happy lesbian couples descend from the children of the earth. And happy straight couples descend from the children of the moon. But the vast majority of humans are descendants of the children of the dirt. And no matter how long they search the earth, they'll never find what they're looking for because there's nobody for them, not anybody in the world.

In other news here are some new Facebook Project drawings for you to see. This is Jerson with a spoon on his nose. And Jess radiating peace and love. Both the photos they were adapted from were from weddings. So it's kind of on theme.

Horay for LOVE

Magpies

Back in 2007 when I did this ink drawing of magpies (or more accurately magpie as it's technically the same magpie from different moments in a video), I didn't know it was going to become the best thing I ever did and an inspiration to a series of other black and white bird paintings over the years. Of all the pictures I've made before and since this is the most consistently complimented, and the style I've been most often commissioned to reproduce. 

I've never really been able to put my finger on it's appeal, the looseness and liveliness of the drawing are not the only factors, it's something basically pleasing about the repetition I think, and the sort of half-rhyme rhythm of that repetition. Maybe. And it reminds people of the song that inspired it, you know, one for sorrow and all that. 

Back when this piece was featured in the AOI images exhibition and book in 2008, I made an edition of 20 digital prints at a nice print shop in Brighton. They've been trickling out of my portfolio over the intervening years via etsy and artfinder and at fairs and exhibitions. 

And I posted one today and I realised there are only 2 left. 

If I understand artistic integrity correctly, it would be inappropriate for me to reprint them in the same size as that would invalidate the limitedness of the original 20 printed. So if you want one, act now. Or forever hold your peace. 

cowboy walrus painting

Ok, I normally forget to take WIP (work in progress) pictures, but when Ben Bale commissioned me to do this epic surreal portrait, I knew it was likely to be a bit of a one off chance to do something this big and weird and fun, and I wanted to record it for posterity, or something. So I made a point to take photos, which I am now getting around to sharing with you. The order I did things in is not actually very logical, and the pictures are not massively clear, but well, here you go.

first, sketch out design of walrus, mountains and people, not sure what I was watching on TV here - seems to be someone eating a juicy apple.

collage of ripped up print texture papers made while at Uni from leftover printing ink, adds texture and depth to painting (although I painted over most of it) and also a pretentious historical element, as both the people in the picture where at the same University at the time.

ink in figures, told you it wasn't in a logical order.

under-painting on walrus, acrylic. paint is mixed on soup lid.

 

 under-painting on ground and sky

add colour to figures using combination of watercolour, ink and acryllic

add ink detail to foreground and walrus

add moody clouds

add lightening and adjust colours with ink washes. 

there you go. Isn't it these glimpses into the artistic process that just bring artworks to life? 

shameless promotion: have a weird idea for a surreal, portrait of you or a loved one you'd like to make a reality? I can do more of these.