In the spirit of Halloween, here’s a link to a great podcast featuring Caitlin Doughty, hip mortician and promoter of healthy discussions regarding an avoided topic: death. And why not follow that up with a good ol’ fashioned ghost story? Here’s a good podcast featuring Neil Degrasse Tyson, astrophysicist extraordinaire. The podcast is interesting but there’s a particularly creepy ghost story at 55:08 told by another guest. ...
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I was fortunate enough to be put in touch with someone who appreciated my work and wanted to commission me for a piece. It was a lot of fun translating someone’s ideas into paint (there was a specific request for Patagonia mountains, stormy sea, boat, and the Orion constellation). It was a good challenge to squeeze it all into a long slender area. He loved the result – which is a very satisfying feeling after all of the time invested. (The piece is an unusual shape as it will be fitted into a customised campervan, which will hopefully travel to many interesting places and meet many fun people.) These background constellations are easily overlooked but if you look closely, they are as accurate as I could get them. Very tired eyes by the end....
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It was lovely to receive a positive response from the Ceilidh Place exhibition. A few sales were the icing on the cake. It was a challenging space to work with but, overall, I was happy with how it turned out. The enthusiastic feedback alone made the effort worth it. Unfortunately, it was a difficult space to photograph (due to lighting and layout). Here are a few new paintings that were included. ...
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Music and podcasts have been in heavy rotation over the last few weeks while I get ready for a local solo show in June. Check out these two talented beard-friendly fellows. Loving Ry’s live performance of “Howling”. Duncan Trussell is a delightful comedian/philosopher/all around good-guy who hosts his own podcast called The Duncan Trussell Family Hour. The free flowing conversations with friends, mentors and interesting characters usually stroll through many topics. This episode, however, was a special one spent with his mom who had terminal cancer. Words cannot do justice to the bravery and honesty that is shown in this intensely beautiful and lucid discussion about death. Those of us who find this podcast are privileged to get a glimpse into their amazing relationship and insightful look at this inevitable transition from...
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Living in a small village has lots of perks but I’ll often crave some big city energy. So, hopping on a train to Glasgow, I planned to pack in as much music and art as I could for three days. Heading straight from the train to the solo show of my fave Scottish artist, Peter Howson, in Ayr (which is close to where he was born), felt like a once in a lifetime experience. Very intense work, often dark, and at least four full rooms. Very inspiring – and intimidating. His unrelenting drive to constantly create is staggering. Wish I could’ve taken pictures. Lots of wandering the streets the next day looking for visual treasures, more gallery visits, then a beautiful concert by James Blake in the evening. Definitely needed that infusion of creative energy. ...
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Thought I’d take a stab at making some 3D creations for a local outdoor shop. Armed with tin foil, chicken wire, papier maché and charity shop material, I tried to bring to life some furry friends for a display. A fun break from paint. ...
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While I accumulate inspiration, I’m constantly stumbling onto amazing people doing incredible things. These two artists are perfect examples. Jason Tennant Andrew Bird...
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Instead of making it to IG:LU’s Annual Xmas Show last Friday, I was being pumped full of morphine and getting emergency keyhole surgery for an appendicitis. Merry Christmas. At least I managed to hang my paintings before being admitted. Sorry to miss the show’s opening, which was shaping up to be an amazing collection of work, but I’ll catch it when I can walk upright again. Below is the piece I was working on in November. Nice and cheery for the festive season. ...
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“Me Likey” will be a place to share some stuff: videos, music, people, images, art, things that have given me the creeps, made me laugh or cry… Kinda like an internet bookmark for things that have caught my attention or emotion. NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts are awesome. This one from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis was particularly good. If you have a job or a project you’re working on where some background conversation is nice to have, Joe Rogan’s podcasts are filled with info, humour and basic ridiculousness. This link features Cara Santa Maria who is a beautifully brainy neuroscientist and a treat to listen...
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It’s a Sunday night, there’s nothing on TV, you’re bored. Paint a skull on your face. Why not. Maybe you missed Halloween and you need a...
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Before I forget to mention it, I was featured in The North Magazine’s Autumn edition. Check out the online version here (page 37). ...
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If you’re in our neck of the woods, swing by ig:lu for “Even More Truth and Oddities”, a continuation of my last work. The show runs from Nov 9th – 23rd. This is its last...
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Paint brushes have been cleaned and canvases hung. Overall, I’m satisfied with the many hours invested for my “Truth and Other Oddities” show in Inverness. I’m still fleshing out my style in these early days, but a quirkiness and strangeness seems to have dropped anchor in every piece. I have to admit I like that. ...
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Architecture coming alive in Spain… (Catalan translation: “I’ve seen many things. Some good. Some very bad.” “Some things are best left...
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Last week’s productivity could be measured more in fun than in actual paintings. The week started out with saving a baby bird (whole family dead in nest except this one little trooper). Then off to Manchester to see one of my fave bands, Pearl Jam, and proceeded to party like an asshole for four days. The next dose of action was acquiring food poisoning, then finishing off with dog-sitting two cuddly staffies. Brought a painting to work on but strangely enough it didn’t see much action. Regardless of the lack of painting, my body consumed sights and sounds worthy of an imagination top-up and probably too much booze (and definitely some bacon that was a few days past being fit for human consumption). LOVING my PJ poster with artwork by Jeff Soto and Tara McPherson...
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The last couple of months I’ve been painting non-stop in preparation for my first two solo shows this year. Exciting but a little terrifying at the same time. I’m sure it’s just part of the process, (my process, maybe every artist’s process) but it can be a roller coaster ride of emotion: loving a piece one minute, questioning it the next. Repeat. All day. I’m hoping the emotional kinks will work themselves out as I clock more mileage on the canvas. Here’s a bit of what I’ve been working on so far. (These pieces are two of the smallest at 30″ x 30″, increasing to 60″ x 48″. *gulp*) I won’t give away the theme just yet. First two of...
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Thanks to a catastrophic run-in with wine, my computer has been out of commission for the last few weeks. Back online now with a better, faster, less wine-filled model. A few more photos from the remainder of the Spain trip. It was still a little chilly that time of year to sit out and sketch so I tried to make up for it by taking endless photos. I’ll spare you the hundreds and show some of my faves. Coming home to blue skies and blooming flowers made the 30 hour van ride...
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I started a new book in October 2011, with the goal of finishing a sketch every day – quickly and in pen – for as long as I could. No pencil or erasing allowed. I had a good run until a) I was sucked in by detail and the drawings took a slow turn, and b) I had to drop all sketching to focus on work for the Dec ’11 mixed show. Here’s what I have so far, with work ongoing… Not expressing myself properly = feel like crap. Ongoing love/hate affair with the city. Edinburgh Train Stn. Vs Ullapool Plant Life Venus Hand Trap Sing, draw, anything creative to stay sane. Pathogen set to destroy humankind. uh oh. (or yay) Lost. (I loved the interaction of these two pages… …it reminded me of folding MAD comic pages.) Found. Our garden has slugs. Lots and lots of slugs. Every morning in the summer I do “Slug...
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Time for a few more simple sketches… Four more of the old book that I thought were interesting enough to share. A nice balance of love and death in the final two. (Unless you consider the sniper rifle floating above Tea and Toast… then there’d be a hint of death in...
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A week into my first trip to Spain… The long drive over three days was worth it for snap-happy picture taking – when I wasn’t behind the wheel of course, safety first. Driving also meant that the mutt could come. Mucho bueno. (No she is not the Rottweiler running fearlessly into oncoming traffic.) Here are a few of the two hundred and fifty pictures I took the first few days. I’m loving some of the gothic-like winter scenery in the nearby small villages… The gnarly trees make me feel like I’m on a Tim Burton movie set. Love it. Finding the sheep’s skull at the top of a rock climb was (weirdly enough) one of the trip highlights so far. If only I could take it home, name it and love it forever. The asymmetric horns and the long curving shape on the side that was intact struck an aesthetic chord – and of course I couldn’t help but make the sheep dog look as though she was wearing it. Keeping eyes peeled for interesting things… ...
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If you missed the ig:lu show in December, it’s not too late to see my work. The new (as of last year) contemporary gallery Hung is currently displaying it. Go check it out. The prestigious Kevin Taylor taking a break from a hectic day. Also worthy of a mention is the new ICA magazine‘s release this week with the clown as a centre piece for the buyinverness.com website. It’s not the fact that I’ve gotten some press but more so the reaction to the ad itself… Four phone calls on the first day complaining of the explicit nature of the image. One woman was quoted as saying “just what am I supposed to tell my kids?!” In this day and age of over-sexualized everything, I’m admittedly surprised that something like this is still able to make such an impression. Worthy of a self high-five? or should I be feeling a little guilty? Nah. Pleasing them all is an...
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After three weeks of apocalyptic weather, here is our reward… …sunshine and blue skies. For...
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It seems like many people have been connecting with “A Ship Called Relation”. In response, I thought I would put together a little video of its making. I dove straight into this piece after completing the large painting “Do You Mind”. I found it hard to transition back to charcoal pencils and oil pastels after doing such a large painting and using big broad brush strokes. This one ended up taking much longer than I had planned and, as a result, I built a relationship with it: love some days, hate the others. I almost scrapped it at one point when I reached a high level of frustration/doubt and was seeing it only in a negative light. Glad I stuck it out. (Ironically mirroring real relationships?) Again, I wished I had had the forethought of these videos which were created from the photos I took along the way. I would have at least tried to keep more shots in focus and consider changing light conditions as I worked through the night. Although, having said that, there is something liberating about not having made something “perfect”… Thanks to my friends for the music. Check out their tunes on SoundCloud: Hummingbird Collective...
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Fun party this past Wednesday for the closing night. Good turn-out at ig:lu. Everyone seemed to be in the mood to let loose… especially the two Canadian friends I have in town for the holidays. This is hardly art related but I just have to mention (with his permission) that one of the friends fulfilled a dream by buying a full kilt on day two of his Scottish adventure. He couldn’t wait to bust it out for the party, and boy did he ever. True to Scottish tradition (or so we’re lead to believe), he went commando under his kilt. I think he felt the need to prove it as the night went on. There was some lovely art at the show – I just wish I had taken the time to document it a little better before the first few glasses of mulled wine were guzzled. There are a few beauties from Sarah Barney of Ladyface, and some amazing detail work in Gavin Downie’s work “Mind Games” (photo by Georgina Coburn). Many other talented artists were there (Michael Forbes, Shaun MacDonald, TillyHoney, Nathan Mellis, Chris (simpsons artists), Do-Glo Productions, Holli, Andrew Newton, Graeme Roger, Henriettas Ludgate, Robbie Mackintosh, Richard Maddalena, Rosie Newman. Managed to conquer a major fear of playing in front of a crowd that night as well, thanks to the support of friends. Terrifyingly fun. (Thanks also to Sid Innes for providing equipment and infectious enthusiasm.) The Canadians, along with help of Chris (Simpson Artist), pretty much closed out the night belting tunes until 4am. Truly, *ahem*, magical. Such a fun night and a great first gallery experience for me. Merry xmas...
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