I can’t quite get the colour reproduction right on the photo of this work, for which my apologies. I take pictures for my Blog on my IPad and the colours don’t seem to have the definition of my IPhone. I have an Instagram account for which I use my IPhone, so please go there later today for a better resolution. Enough of the technicalities. This painting is a homage to Amy Winehouse and I am grateful to @Pegasusart for permission to use the wonderfully inspirational street art image of Amy. I had the idea of reversing my woman to mirror Amy’s pose, as I felt this made the composition ‘sing’. I also specifically went for a blonde to compliment Amy’s dark tresses. I think it works. Please see previous week’s blog for more details about this piece. I am exhibiting at Roy’s People Art Fair (@royspeopleartfair on Instagram) at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower, London 1-4 November and am excited about meeting the other artists and talking to visitors to the Fair about my work. My theme will be Amy Winehouse based and I have her mother’s permission to use titles of Amy’s music as titles for this series of my paintings.…
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This is the next painting in the series I am devoting to Amy Winehouse inspiration (see previous Blog for more info). At the moment it is early days, hence the small detail, but my idea behind the concept for the piece is as follows: I am a big admirer of @pegasus street art which I see on Instagram. I did not take my own photo of this particular Pegasus work, but loved it and obtained his permission to incorporate it into my own work. I intend to paint my own version of it and am then going to paint my own trademark woman standing in front of the streetart in a reverse image of Amy’s own stance, ie. backview. I think this composition will work well. I am using a blonde woman as a contrast to Amy’s dark and beautiful hair. The title for this painting will again be taken from music titles to Amy’s own music. As stated in the last Blog, I have her mother Janis’ permission to do this. So the title will be ‘Back To Black’. These works, plus a selection of my other paintings will be shown at Roy’s People Art Fair 1-4 November at…
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I am taking part in an Art Fair in London at the beginning of November and am putting together a series of London street art based paintings specifically for this event. Roy’s People Art Fair (@ROYSPEOPLEAF on Twitter, @royspeopleartfair on Instagram) are hosting this Fair at the Oxo Tower from 1-4 November so please come along, have a look at my work and introduce yourself to me. I would love to meet you. Amy Winehouse is one of my all time heroines and I am incorporating some street art with her image into my compositions and will be using titles from tracks of her music for these pieces. I am in touch with Amy’s lovely mother Janis and she has given me her permission to do this, thank you Janis. This particular painting is based on a fabulous street art I saw last year in Camden, Amy’s stamping ground. I took a photo then and there, not knowing what my composition would be then, but knowing I would use it one day. It is by the street artist @whoamirony and I love the colours in it. I came up with the idea of the blonde turning around as if the…
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So this is the second part of a painting I started recently. Last week’s Blog explains the first part. There is still work to do on this part of the painting. I need to get my straight lines straighter, the ground knocked back more, highlights on the dress and hair, etc, etc. Being an artist is difficult for me sometimes as I am so impatient. I have the idea and enthusiasm to start a new piece, I get completely in to the painting, but then I want the painting finished so I can move on to the next idea. However, the details in the finish are essential to complete the work and ‘make it sing’ as an art tutor told me a long time ago. So next week, the fluorescent oil paints will come into play to lift the painting (found online as they are impossible to buy in the UK for some reason, acrylics no problem, oils impossible). I am now on a deadline to produce work for RoysPeopleArtFair to be held in London at The Oxo Tower 1-4 November. I am very excited about this, but my problem always is that oil paint takes a while to…
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I am now busy preparing new work for an Art Fair this November in London, which will be at the Oxo Tower (http://royspeopleartfair.com). More details in future blogs. I am hugely excited. I want the theme of my work to be based on Amy Winehouse, a singer of immense talent, gone too soon. I have been in touch with her mother about this, as we are known to each other on Twitter, to ask if it would be ok for me to use titles from Amy’s records as titles to my artworks for this London Fair. I do not want to upset anyone here, Janis Winehouse has given me her blessing, but if any of you Twitterarti out there think differently, could you let me know who I should approach? Cheers. I painted a portrait of Amy some years back, and this will feature in the exhibition as well. As regards this piece, the detail is a small part of a much larger work and I am inspired here by the wonderful street art of @whoamirony on Instagram. I will of course have a woman in the foreground somewhere doing something related to the streetart, but which changes…
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This is the third and last painting incorporating the amazing street art of Alex Lucas (@lucas_antics on Instagram). Her work is very visible in and around Bristol and I asked her if I could use some of her work in my own pieces. She kindly agreed. This rabbit can be found on the outside of the shop that sells her work exclusively in Stokes Croft (@thelittleshopinbristol) and I was particularly drawn to the slightly world weary view in the rabbit’s eyes. I decided to leave out all the detailed black lines in the areas surrounding the rabbit as I thought it would detract from the composition. I decided on humour in this work rather than the more political angle of my last work (Picking Up On An Uncertain World, see recent blogs). So I placed my female sitting wearily down next to the rabbit rubbing her sore ankle as she takes off her high heeled knock’em dead red stilettos. They are indeed beautiful shoes as is her whole outfit, but the things we do in the name of fashion eh? I am not entirely sure whether the rabbit would ever have considered wearing shoes like these however. If…
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This is my second piece in a series of three based on street art by the wonderful Alex Lucas (@lucas_antics on Twitter). The title comes from a street art by Alex called Uncertain World and the mollusc forms part of a larger artwork up on Park Row here in Bristol. My take on this is to place my young woman picking up a discarded plastic bottle just in front of the mollusc which has an empty aerosol in its tentacles. Plastic pollution is such a huge problem these days and I wanted to relate to this in my painting. Along the same lines, the model (@stephbridet on Twitter, fabulous model) is wearing a gorgeous upcycled dress made by Linda Thomas, a local dress designer (@linda_eco_design) who works exclusively with upcycled material into which she stitches beautifully designs. I am keen to promote local here and will continue to collaborate with local artists/models/designers as often as I can. We creatives all need to support each other. After the next piece, I will be working on London street art scenes as I build up to the London Art Fair at the Oxo Tower in November. More in a later blog.…
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I finished this painting this afternoon with one eye on the Federer/Anderson tennis match which kept me fired up. The rabbit is based on a street art work by Alex Lucas here in Bristol. With her permission I have incorporated it into my own composition. There are several of her murals scattered around Bristol, and she is, like me, represented by Great White Art gallery (http://greatwhiteart.com) so I am loving collaborating with her. More ideas in the pipeline. The model, Steph Bridet (see Instagram) is wearing an upcycled dress made by Linda Thomas (@linda_eco_design) and the organic carrot came from my local greengrocer Hugo’s here on North Street. I apologise for Steph nicking the rabbit’s carrot….. Next week from the 19th July, I will be showing my street art themed work at a new gallery here on North Street, aptly called North, alongside a group of fellow artists. This exhibition neatly includes the weekend of Upfest at the end of July, which is, I think, the biggest urban street art festival in Europe. I am delighted to be part of this world, so drop by and have a look if you are passing. I will be stewarding for some…
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My alologies, I’ve been on holiday for 10 days, so no Blog. However, I am now refreshed, recharged and ready with new ideas for my paintings. I am collaborating with Alex Lucas, @lucas_antics on Instagram, who is a well known street artist, particularly here in Bristol. She has painted some wonderful artwork around the Stokes Croft area of Bristol and I am sure will feature heavily when Upfest takes place at the end of this month (Urban Paint Festival when Street Artists from all over Europe descend on my street North Street and its environs to paint awesome street art and graffiti; please Google for more information). There is a new, presently temporary, art gallery opened up on North Street called North and I will be showing my work there from mid July which neatly includes Upfest weekend. I am delighted to have this exposure. If you’re in Bristol, do pop in and have a look. I might be there too. So to this detail of a piece which features one of Alex Lucas’ rabbits. Both she and I are represented by Great White Art Gallery (http://greatwhiteart.com) which gave me the idea of collaboration. In this work, the rabbit will…
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I had the idea for this piece having seen the Banksy ‘Rude Copper’ in various incarnations. I particularly liked the idea of it as a framed artwork, but took out the graffiti lettering as seen in the original, as it didn’t work with the idea I had in mind. I always seek the permission of the street artist to incorporate their work into my painting before I begin and have never yet been refused; until now. I have emailed Banksys ‘agent ‘ at Pest Control and had no reply. However, the Hidden Gallery (chris@hidden) where I first saw this Banksy, commented that Banksy probably wouldn’t be too precious about this, so fingers crossed. I wanted the two girls to be completely different in how they looked, but they needed to look really smartly dressed, as if at a Private View, which maybe would have irritated our Rude Copper, hence the Good Cop Bad Cop title. Just my own sense of humour, the viewer may make of it what he/she wants. I am delighted to be collaborating with Alex Lucas for my next artworks, as she is a wonderful street artist. Have a look at her art on Instagram at @lucas_antics.…
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