Ok, i've been completely and utterly useless at updating this blog, but it's a new year and another resolution of mine was to keep on top of things! So to start is a brief update of everything that i've been up to since i posted my last blog about 9 months ago...... proper slackness!
The mural project that i was working on in Truro came and went very successfully! After several more workshops and a consultation day with the public, we eventually embarked on putting a pretty wild image on a huge wall in a public space! The design for it was based on some drawings of eyes that one of the youngsters from the group had come up with. I then came up with a design which we had to submit to the local Council. Basically the group wanted to show some transformation of a character to show their progression as troubled teenagers who had been battling with drink and drugs. The painting of the wall took about 6 days in total, but was probably completed over a period of 2 weeks due to the ever unpredictable British weather! Overall, the project was an amazing success and a huge benefit to everyone who was involved.
Next up for me was the Jack's Cow project. This involved a life size fibre glass cow, an airport and Posca Pens! The project was organised for Hall For Cornwall in Truro, and involved local businesses commissioning artists to customize a life size fibre glass cow. I was lucky enough to be invited by Newquay Airport to customize their cow, and so began the task of drawing and painting onto one of the hardest things i've ever had to paint! My design involved images that showed places in Cornwall, one being Newquay and the other being St. Michael's Mount. It was a great experience, and my cow was displayed outside Newquay Aiport for about 2 months. One of the best parts of the project was taking the finished cow on a photo shoot with photographer Steve Tanner. We took the cow to various locations in and around Penzance to get some very interesting photos. First location was my mate Pup's field in St. Buryan which was full of cows, and the next was on the beach in Marazion in front of St. Michael's Mount!
July i got asked to do a poster for a music festival that a group of friends were organising in September in Sennen. The event was called OceanDaze, and involved local bands and DJ's and a surf competition too. For this poster i carried on the tradition of customizing objects, and painted up an old surfboard that my friend Lloyd kindly donated. Once it was painted up, me and Mike Adams (one of the event organisers) went on a dawn photo shoot down to Sennen to get a photo of the board on top of the cliffs. This photo was then used for the backdrop of the poster to drop the text on top of. A nice little job, and a very messy weekend at the event was had by all. Looking forward to next years event now, it's going to be bigger and better than the first one.... and hopefully i'll be asked to do the next poster too! Got an awesome idea of what i want to paint on for the next one!
I moved to a new studio while all this was going on too. Nice little spot on Chapel Street in Penzance, ontop of the Regent Hotel. It's got amazing views over Mount's Bay looking out towards St. Michael's Mount, very inspirational indeed! Since i've been in here, i've been working on ideas for new paintings for myself and on various posters and artwork for other people. I've been working on a series of posters for some DJ friends going under the name of ClusterFunk. I've tried to make each poster follow on from the last and try and create a sense of identity for the guys. I've really enjoyed doing these posters, which have been made up of old and new images. I've also been spending some time playing with my new studio toy! I finally managed to get myself an iMac, and it's been distracting me ever since. I've got no time for distraction now, got lots of projects that i need to complete so that i can get on with more creating! I did manage to find time to grow a moustache for charity in November though, despite my claims that i don't have enough time to do things! There's always time to make yourself look like a twat to help other people less fortunate than you!
So that was a brief history of my slackness over the last 9 months or so, since the last time i could get off my arse and update this blog! What's next then? Hopefully there might be a few more mural projects over the summer, still looking into a couple of options that might mean me chasing people and doing a lot of leg work! But if they come off, they'll be worth it. I'm in the middle of doing a poster for a local Hip Hop promoter, he's managed to get Souls Of Mischief to come down to the end of the line that is Penzance.... and i'm doing a poster! I then have to crack on with some new paintings, i've got loads of photos to work from and loads of new ideas. Hopefully by July i should have the majority of work for me to be able to put on a new show somewhere, but it remains to be seen where! A new year, and some new challenges ahead.... lets hope i don't leave it so long to keep my blog up to date! Here's to slackness!
