Epic Studios

3 of my illustrations are now on display (and for sale) at Epic Studios (117 Magdalen Street, Norwich), along with the work of 9 other Norfolk artists. The exhibition was organised by Making Space and will last for a month.

Richard Ayoade

an attempt at drawing Richard Ayoade; actor, writer, comedian and director of Submarine.

"What a terrible mistake to let go of something wonderful for something real." - Miranda July

A little portrait of Miranda July, one of my favourite filmmakers. 

(You can find her website here: http://mirandajuly.com/)

"If I exorcise my devils, well, my angels may leave too" - Tom Waits

Dan has been asking me to make a portrait of Tom Waits for ages, so here it is.

And here is Tom Waits performing The Piano Has Been Drinking in 1977:

"It takes a long time to become young" - Picasso

"Nowhere you can go is more peaceful than your own soul" - Marcus Aurelius

I like the idea of snails being low and ugly creatures, but having somewhere beautiful and sacred to retreat into. Marcus Aurelius said: "People try to get away from it all - to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it any time you like. By going within".
The temple in this illustration looks a bit like a dragons face - it is based on the wats of Thailand. I was lucky enough to visit Phuket a couple of years ago and see a few of these beautiful temples for myself:

"Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self" - Kafka

The castle belonging to this snail is based on Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany. It was commissioned by King Ludvig II, a product of his own imagination, inspired by "old German knight's castles" and the music of Richard Wagner, and a place that he could retreat into. Inside the castle, the walls were decorated with murals based on the legends used in Wagner's operas. 

His cousin Elizabeth said of him: "The King was not mad; he was just an eccentric living in a world of dreams."

(Neuschwanstein later inspired Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.)

Seven Stories

This is a little book cover design I created for Krzhizhanovsky's Seven Stories. 

My favourite of the 7 stories contained in this collection is called Quadraturin, about a man who lives in a tiny room, in a building of tiny rooms (which, faithful to the regulations in Russia in the 1920s when the book was written, are regularly measured to check that they are the specified 9 metres by 9 metres). He buys a mysterious substance called Quadraturin from a salesman which, when applied to walls and floors and ceilings, causes them to grow. Unfortunately he forgets to dilute the Quadraturin, and becomes terrified someone will discover his endlessly growing room, which becomes ever darker and cave-like.

I love Krzhizhanovsky's writing, it reminds me of Kafka and Bruno Schultz, and maybe even a smidgen of Roald Dahl too. It crackles with imagination. And he kept writing it even though the censors prevented his work from being published in his time. Even now, I really think it deserves a wider audience.

Making Space at Expresso Cafe, Norwich

Yesterday we set up our new exhibition at Expresso Cafe, and luckily for us everything went smoothly. Rob and Rosie from MakingSpace were wonderfully helpful in organising the whole thing and assisting everyone with hanging their work.

I made 5 pieces, a series of ink and gesso drawings on the life of Mata Hari.

(the last image in the series, pictured above, is also featured on Tate and Creative Review's Blast/Bless blog)

Mata Hari

I'm working on a set of 5 paintings relating to the life of Mata Hari - a Dutch exotic dancer who pretended to be a Java princess, and who was executed by a French firing squad as an alleged German spy during WWI.

The paintings are for an upcoming exhibition in Expresso Cafe, Norwich.

Like most science-fiction writers, Trout knew almost nothing about science.

"No Place Like Home": June Mixtape Cover Design

"Liam Finn"

(a couple of illustrations for Creaturemag)

I am feeling quite homesick today, I miss my family and Hebe and my old job at the University, the lovely people I worked with, and my students, and cycling to work along the Isabel trail (a long cycle path, lined with trees and wild overgrown nature, over what used to be a train track) while listening to Bright Eyes, Joanna Newsom or the Magnetic Fields, and noticing the gradual change of the seasons happening around me each day, passing all the people walking their dogs...

This is what the Isabel trail looked like when it used to be a railway, before nature took over:

I've just finished 2 more pages on my webcomic : http://lesjardin.tumblr.com/

Now that it's June, we'll sleep out in the garden and if it rains, we'll just sink in to the mud

I met up with Making Space recently - Rosie and Rob are two artists on a mission to help local artists to find interesting venues for their work (eg: ones which don't charge ridiculous fees per night/ have a clique-y committee behind the scenes deciding if the art fits with their standards). They recently had a very successful exhibition at the Unthank Arms in Norwich, and since I've been on board they've helped me to get my work exhibited at Mustard Cafe and (soon) Expresso Cafe in Norwich. I'm really grateful to them for their help since I moved here.

On Thursday I sold my painting of Billy Childish - the 3rd customer to come into Mustard Café purchased it the morning it went on display, which was kind of unbelievable. (Mustard have invited me to make more paintings for them too, which I'm starting to plan now.)

In the evening, Dan and I went to see Bright Eyes at the Royal Albert Hall (in the flesh!), and even though we were so high up, in terrible seats (people kept walking past us to go to the bar) the band played so perfectly, and were so full of energy, that it was a wonderful night and we were totally immersed, and now we're obsessed with their music all over again.

My friends at Unfold Amsterdam have been busy lately - they have contributed to a wonderful Amsterdam City Guide for the Guardian. It makes me wish I was back in Amsterdam...I think its my favourite place.

I've also been working on my comic, and it now has its own little site: http://lesjardin.tumblr.com/

Oh - also - I found a wonderful book by Andrzej Klimowski "On Illustration", which I would really recommend. He is an illustrator I've looked up to for a long time. During my 2nd year at Falmouth he came to give a talk about a graphic novel adaptation of The Master and Magarita he had created with Danusia Schejbal under SelfMadeHero. Pip Chorley and I were sat on the floor in the front row, as all the seats had disappeared very quickly, and I breathlessly told her how Klimowski was a Polish poster artist, that he had written a mesmerizing wordless narrative book called "The Secret", and how he was a friend of the Quay Brothers...not realising until he got up to speak that he had been sitting behind us.