Yesterday, I was mostly being Van Gogh. I created this version of Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ for my wife’s art classroom doors, ready for the new school year to start. It was a lot of fun to do. In doing so I felt that I got a taste of the energy and vibrancy that Van Gogh painted with. The mimicking of the technique and style was a lot of fun and it was interesting trying to interpret such a masterpiece. Certainly a lot of energy and verve within each brush stroke. Quite a limited palette too. That said, there is a lot of warm colours that aren’t immediately apparent when you gaze upon the actual painting. Anyway, I hope that I did it some justice. The funny thing is, I can also see my own style in there too. Hard to avoid to a certain extent. It’s amazing how much you can learn through the exploration of someone else’s technique. All good fun.
Beardyman – God Damn I Look Fresh
A quick sketch of the Vocal Beatbox and Musical Noise genius Beardyman.
He posted a video this morning on his Facebook page running a little competition for fans like myself to get involved with. I freeze framed the video and made this image from the freeze frame.
Never heard of Beardyman. Why the chuff not? Check him out here… www.beardyman.co.uk
Art and creativity is everywhere. You just need to look for it.
Sketch It!
Here are a recent collection of images. They are a mixture of hand drawn and digital art play.
Mr. Scoper
Nous Trois
Hue Too
FeistY
Coffee Morning Sketch
Earth Spirit
The Butterfly Effect
Hero Boy
New Illustration
Cartoon line boy, a super hero boy, equipped with a cape he’s a gold tooth boy.
He’s an out there boy, a real hero boy, a fine and dandy do it well and for the people boy!
Self Portrait
Spectrum
Beep Beep
Youth
Eco Warrior
Cast Away Your Doubts and Fears
Let There Be Afro
Just Bea’
State of Mind
Colour River Flow
Oi! RUG
‘Oi!’ – Hand Tufted Wool Rug – Collaboration Artwork
Not so long ago I teamed up with Andrew Warburton of Area Rugs www.arearugs.co.uk
Andrew is a highly skilled and experienced carpet maker using hand-tufting methods in the production of his carpets and rugs. He has been designing and making unique and exclusive hand-tufted rugs and carpets since graduating in 1988 with a first class honours degree in carpet design.
He was intrigued by the style and technique of my illustrations and thought that they would transfer well into a carpet design. He had seen an illustration of mine called ‘Oi!’ that he thought would work well and that would be both quirky and impacting. Andrew set to on interpreting the image with pure wool. The results are below.
The design is first sketched out to scale.
The wool is then worked into a type of man-made muslin cloth!
When the tufting process is finished the topside is then cropped to get an even pile.
This is done with a machine that works a little like a lawnmower.
Rugs can also be carved and sculptured by using a carving machine a little like the clippers used to sheer sheep.
When the rug has gone through all these processes it is then backed with a natural latex and hessian.
Rug Entitled: Oi!
Size: 1.7 by 1.2 Metres.
The result was absolutely outstanding. Andrew made an incredibly accurate interpretation of the original design, I’m sure you will agree!