Financial Times 10/3/12

I illustrated an article for this weekend's Financial Times, Life and Arts section.  The piece was commissioned to accompany a diary piece by Gideon Rachman; an account of his time spent in China recently and, among other things his experiences of the technological restrictions and censorship there.

The piece can be viewed online here 

Spellbound (1945)

Flora

Continued development of two screen printed patterns. As mentioned before these are very much inspired by 1950s colours. I'm experimenting with combining simple shapes, created using roughly cut out paper, or thick stripes of ink with more detailed collage elements.

Patterns 2

Here are some initial designs screen printed last week- I am working towards creating a repeating pattern with them.  I have chosen quite a 50s set of colours-the pale pinks and blues remind me of Formica table tops and Bakelite. 

I'm also experimenting with over-printing to create depth- using pale, heavily diluted inks to create translucent layers which can be printed on top of the darker colours.

Pattern inspiration

From top:

Tom Wagener (Museum of Everything)/Lips, 2010

John Cage (with Calvin Sumsion)/Not Wanting to Say Anything about Marcel, 1969

Alfred Wallis/ White House and Cottages, 1930

Alfred Wallis/ Sailing ships and Two Steamers, 1932

Alfred Wallis/ White Houses, 1930-32

 I have recently been doing quite a lot of research into print and patterns. I find myself drawn to patterns which are fairly random and accidental. The pieces above I think are wonderful examples of 'accidental' patterns- though they perhaps were not intended to be so.
Alfred Wallis is one of my favourite painters for many reasons: the simple naivety of his pictures and the beautiful subdued colour palette he used. In these examples,the repetition of houses and fishing boats creates a beautiful,simple pattern.

In Progress/Patterns

Screen printed simple patterns I'm working on

In Progress

 A peek at a magazine commission in progress which I have just finished- I'll post the full story when it's released.  I've been experimenting recently using screen printing to create coloured blocks and shapes which can be used as backgrounds for mixed-media collages

Also visible, my brand new acquisition -a bright red Anglepoise type 75 Mini. I'm very proud of it.  It's been making night time working a lot more jolly.

London Winter

Snow is by far my favourite weather type. Plus an excuse to wear a variety of knitwear, what could be better

Inspiration

Yayoi Kusama's work is diverse, obsessive, full of mystery.  I love it.   Having seen this exhibition earlier in the summer at Madrid's Reina Sofia gallery, I am ridiculously excited that it will begin next month at Tate.

Card Designs

On a warm (er) day a little while ago I spent an afternoon at my local park in South London drawing people.  I like that this sort of task means drawings must stay quick, simple and loose to adapt to the constantly moving subject matter.
I plan to develop some of these into a set of screen printed card designs, so here is the first

Sirius

I've recently been developing some ideas from a project I started earlier in the year into screen prints - here is the first print (edition of 6) in what's planned to be a series of 5.

The (loose) inspiration for the project came from drawings of Star Constellations. I often find I am a bit of a colour-phobe- so this will also be an opportunity to explore colour a little

Hobbs House Bakery

Last week I was commissioned by the lovely Hobbs House Bakery to screen print 250 of my navy Christmas cards for their xmas customer mailout.

I created 5 designs for the card, and each was hand printed- more photos of the final designs up soon.

These cards are also available to buy at the wonderful Nothing But Navy online shop

Patty & Bun

Myself and good pal HOAGY spent a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon on Friday working on a collaborative project- creating a set of blackboards for the PATTY & BUN Pop up, a night of Burgers and Cocktails in West London.

Here are some pictures of our creations- I worked on some of the signage while Hoagy created a psychedelic chalkboard mural masterpiece, and we worked together on 35 mini chalkboards featuring burger-related quotes and quips.

I also designed the flyer for the event, seen at the bottom here.

Naturally I had to put up a picture of the Patty & Bun burger, it was ridiculously tasty.

PS I thoroughly recommend a peruse around Hoagy's website, his work is mysterious and magical, rather like him.

Tonight NOTHING BUT NAVY opening

The NOTHING BUT NAVY Christmas Pop Up in Stroud opens this evening. If you happen to be around Stroud tonight or any night until Christmas eve, go and have a peruse, the shop is crammed full of lovely things, all made with love in shades of Navy blue.

I am selling navy screen printed cards seen above, in packs of 3, each with a snippet of a different Christmas carol. There is also screen printed wrapping paper and some original screen prints. PLUS lots of other things for sale from many many clever people. A selection of the products will also be available to buy online, more information on the lovely Navy website.

www.nothingbutnavyshop.com

Wrap

More Christmas products, this time wrapping paper, which I'm in the process of Screen printing. My products will also be on sale at the LAZERIAN Christmas Pop Up shop in Manchester, again more info and photos soon

Cards

Some work in progress, christmas cards I am currently screenprinting. These cards and other things including screen printed wrapping paper will be sold as part of the NOTHING BUT NAVY pop up Christmas shop, a shop of entirely Navy Blue. The shop opens December 1st, More information very soon

Details

Some beautifully crafted kneelers I discovered hidden away in a countryside church recently. I particularly like the details and pattern of the Poppy tapestry

Jan Švankmajer - Jabberwocky

Inspiration

Polish and Czech film posters from 1960s.