New Abstracts

Five little things ....

I have been tagged by Rob Ryan who in turn has been tagged and asked to provide five facts about myself. I'm also going to ask five people to continue the tagging. I'm going to pick five artists who inspire me. Rob would be one but he has already done his, will need to think of another! Now I'm thinking that each person needs a blog so it maybe even harder than i thought. How many other bloggers do I know? Anyway, here are my facts ....

1. When I was nine I entered a colouring competition at our local Wimpy bar, in Hemel Hempstead. I knew I would win before I'd started my picture. Three weeks after handing in my drawing I went back to the Wimpy for my usual burger & chips meal. My picture was pinned to the wall with a 'first prize' sticker next to it. I haven't won a competition since. My prize was a Mr Wimpy watch in a box, it never worked but I still have it.

2. When I was seven I met a magician, he was the entertainer in our holiday hotel in Cornwall. He gave me a magic wand. I was so disappointed when it didn't work I immediately put it over my knee, snapped it in two and threw it on the floor.

3. When I silk screen I am still surprised by what I see on the paper when I lift the screen up. This feeling of aniticipation and wonder is what makes me do what I do. It still feels great.

4. When I feel frustrated, in a bad mood, pissed off etc, I put on 'Annie Hall'. It never fails to make me feel good, it's a given.

5. I made a mental 'note to self' that if I started a blog, it would be predominantly about silkscreen printing. I guess I've blown it ....

Reggie Pedro

I have just found out that Reggie is no longer with us. I was a huge fan of his paintings before I had the pleasure of meeting him .... then I was a big fan of him too. I will miss you Reggie.

Open Studio Weekend, Dec 1st & 2nd

Come on over ... it could be the last one..

Pentagram 2003

I had my first and only show at the gallery at Pentagram, in September 2003. I hand printed the invites, including their envelopes. This is a photograph of them all drying off ready to be posted ....

The bottom of the planchest

We have our Open Studio weekend on December 1st & 2nd, so I decided to have a tidy and found these. Its great to re-discover old work, I often prefer a print having not seen it for a year or so.

Second class ....

Just found out my bid for the Darwin Stamp test was unsuccessful, what a shame. I really enjoyed the project though and below is my finished 'Origin of the Species' silkscreen pitch.

Royal Mail

I was put forward by Art Director 'Howard Brown' to make two Stamp Tests for Royal Mail. The theme was Charles Darwin and in particular his journals 'The Origin of the Species' and 'The Voyage of the Beagle'. The comps shown below are Howards original proposal to Royal Mail to introduce my work.

Some new drawings ....

Magic Badges

"Can't Stop Moving"

"Can't Stop Moving", is Sonny J's debut single .... It's brillaint.

'Sonny J' Album preview

Here is a 'detail' of the album artwork for 'Sonny J'. Look out for the poster inside the album. Its a hand built collage by Patrick Duffy (No Days Off) with Silk Screened elements on top, really nice.

Salmon Dance

I had the pleasure of seeing The chemical Brothers play in Trafalgar Square last Sunday .... they were brillaint with some amazing visuals. I especially liked the dancing police men, if that's what they were?! Their new single 'Salmon Dance' was released last Monday, check out their video it's hilarious .....

The Magic Numbers

Earlier this year I worked with pop band 'The Magic Numbers' to create a campaign for their most recent album, "Those the Brokes". After working on their album and their first two singles, they decided they wanted to move into a new direction for their latest EP. What I hadn't realised is that the band were actually going to do it themselves. And why not, I'm sure they know best. Their 'Undecided' EP is pictured above.

No Days Off

I have been working with Patrick Duffy from 'No Days Off' on a new music campaign. We have been making some great silkscreens and are due to finish the album artwork this week. Here is a sneak preview ....

Free Press??

A friend noticed I was featured in The London Paper yesterday, apparently I'm their Hot Tip!

Birthday Poster

A friend asked me to make a poster for her brother's 50th birthday .... she supplied me with some old photos and phrases. Here's how it turned out...

Kids Zine

I was asked by Ed at Sleeper Studio (www.vaeditions.com) to contribute to a childrens colouring book he's putting together .....

"I have two kids and they are consantley being bombarded with horrible commercial imagery from barbie to pokemon.
I just want to make something for kids that has thought gone into the content and presents itself in a non commercial way.
It's going to be a seriously low tech, anti slick operation to inspire kids, instead of turning them into consumers before their time."

My brief was 'Psychic Powers', here's what I came up with...

New Brain

Graphs

'We Are The Night'

Not satisfied with Billboards, there is now a Chemical Brothers shopfront in Hoxton Square.
How cool is that?!

The Chems 'Do It Again'

I was very excited to see our first piece of Chemical Brothers sleeve artwork this weekend, on a billboard in Tufnell Park.

'H G Wells' Prints

I have chosen three (out of the seventeen) 'H G Wells' covers I have illustrated for the Penguin Classic series, to produce my first set of Limited Edition Silkscreens for sale. All the prints are hand printed and are editions of just five, currently only available on the Product of God webiste. My usual working method means I mainly produce 'one off' images which are often un-repeatable. In the future, I hope to be producing lots of different, limited edition prints that you can buy online, receive by post and pin straight on your wall.

Product Of God

My agents 'Big Active' now have an online shop selling limited edition prints and silk screens. Take a peek .... www.productofgod.net

I made this image for a project with Ad Agency JWT. As you may be able to tell its origins lie in The Chemical Brothers artwork for 'Star Guitar' in 2001.

Ruby

Adam Withington has just curated an exhibition at our studios .... 'A History of Great Western Studios'.

Whilst looking at Rob Ryans blog (amazing ... http://rob-ryan.blogspot.com/) I love that he had posted some great work he'd made that was never used. I can't tell you how many jobs I've 'nearly' had in the past 18 months, things have definitely changed. Here is a test I made with Seb & Tom @ Village Green for musicians 'The Rapture'. It didn't get picked.

I'm always trying to develop new techniques. I started to play with paper stencils and then found an old silk screen manual, read a few pages and made this. It's all silkscreened. Its nice for things to look a bit different, have a new quality.

Paper Stencil

This print is so simple, just reptition of paper cut stencils. I think it makes for a strong image though.

Paper collage, made by accident really ...

Here is a new style of drawing I have been working on which formed part of the artwork for the Chems album cover 'We Are The Night'. It is a one colour silkscreen.

New Chemicals Brothers

I was very pleased to be working with Mark & Simon from 'TappinGofton' again for the latest Chemical Brothers album 'We Are The Night'. Creatively, there is quite a process in developing images to form each sleeve. Often our original thoughts and the finished artwork are quite different. Here is my initial visual for their first single 'Do It Again', out on June 18th.

I thought the natural way to begin my Blog was to show some pics of my studio. Great Western Studios inhabits what was originally a Lost Goods Building for British Rail.