Episode One - HMS Crown.

Hello hello.

Been a bit quiet recently, I've been working on this video with comrade Keir Carroll. This is our first episode of a surreal series we would like to do, playing to our strengths and showing off our skills. I hope you enjoy:

St Ives.

Hello.

I came back from a lovely break in St Ives yesterday, I usually take this opportunity to do more of my photography work but this year I wasn't in that exact creative mindset, I had more of an urge to draw (which is great!). Did a few silly sketches and revisited some landscape drawing which it only dawned on me that I've always done this type of drawing even from an early age. Here are a few doodles:

On the scenic train journey down just before we stopped at Plymouth I saw this idyllic pocket of land next to a river. The building was this small stone structure with 3 metallic gates and what I can only assume was a pagan symbol above the central gate. Completely untouched and resting upon this small hill and absolutely surrounded by trees. It seemed strange that this was obviously quite isolated from everything else but yet very visible from our train carriage.

The title is pretty self-explanatory really.

Seagulls are horrid.

Honestly, they really are, the only negative aspect of Cornwall in my eyes.

I'd go as far to say that I prefer London pigeons over them.

View from Porthmeor beach 1

View from Porthmeor beach 2

View from Portmeor beach 3

(L-R) My brother Matthew and my sisters Hazel and Eden.

After going to the fantastic Alex Katz exhibition at Tate St Ives I was drawn to replicating his sketching style (example just above) - it's something I often do when I come across an artist I like, 'you have to speak in a lot of different voices to find your own' kind of thing. It's a similar process to singing one of your favourite songs for example.

Anyway, his method of sketching in particular was to draw and not to think, so that you can create a fluid piece of work without obsessing over minute details. Beside his sketches I was absolutely fascinated by his paintings, he was one of those artists that just seemed to click with me. It makes the experience much more enjoyable when you 'get' an artist and what they're about. I found it surprising that he came about in the 50's when Abstract Expressionism was at its peak and was going against the likes of Pollock and De Kooning.

The paintings in particular, for me anyway, had this great element of being like photographs. Especially his paintings of when he went on holiday various years with his friends to Maine. He managed to capture these intimate moments with his friends very much like a photograph does, which instantly draws in a nostalgic element (which is always a strong tool) but the use of his vibrant colours gave it a timeless kind of feel. Here's a good example. I realize that almost sounds like an oxymoron but have a look at his work and hopefully you'll see where I'm getting at. All his paintings had a very strong sense of 'film' like you could imagine a lot of the work being used for advertising and used in general today. He turned 85 this year and is still working.
If you're in the area, I really recommend having a visit.

TTFN

Ealing Olympic thing.

Yeah I went along to it, might as well if it's round the corner from your house right? Great weather for what was a huge build up and predictably an anti-climatic finish, got a bunch of free stuff from the sponsors. I kinda felt sorry for the guy lighting the thing. He was clearly knackered from the run and then was bombarded by a children's TV presenter "SO HOW DO YOU FEEL?!" "Um, yeah alright..".

They took a huge photo, I couldn't resist.

Yeah, take that, corporate events! 

Gerald the Bear.

I was clearing out some old folders and came across this comic I started, I have no idea why I stopped doing it as I loved the character. Anywho, I polished off a few details and finished the text so here it is! May do some more. 

For Arts Sake.

Hello Hello,

Well, I've been working at the gallery 'For Arts Sake' in Ealing for just over 15 months now, my role has developed so that I do a couple of days down in the Hendon base where the workshop is situated. I'm a spare pair of hands but I get to do more design based work and get to use our lovely huge printer as well. My role has developed also in the sense of social networking, we've created a Twitter account and a blog for the company so that clients and customers can have a more direct link with us and give everyone a better idea of what we do as a whole, as we aren't just like any other gallery..

If you could be so kind and give the blog a little look here: http://forartssakeuk.wordpress.com/ and perhaps a little follow on the Twitter too?

Ta

Jamie