Also a musician, juggler, stand up comedian, carer,
culinary genius, father, husband, teacher and all round good egg!
EMELBI
Cast Away Your Doubts and Fears
New illustration.
Continuing with a theme of images with positive messages,
where the imagery doesn’t necessarily reflect the message.
Let There Be Afro
More creativity with my new graphics tablet.
I’m slowly getting used to how this great bit of kit works.
State of Mind
A positive state of mind makes all the difference!
Keep it positive. Keep a smile. Keep being creative.
Keep it positive. Keep a smile. Keep being creative.
GCSE and AS Level Art Graphics
Here is an article written by Hazel Saxelby, a teacher whom I have work closely with over the past few years at Batley Girls’ High School and Visual Arts College.
‘Graphic Artist Mike Barrett (www.emelbi.com) returned again in 2013 to support our students with their coursework and exam projects. Mike is one of our ‘family of artists’ who has worked closely with staff and students to extend their design skills and develop their use of CAD, specifically using Adobe Photoshop. As a result of him returning year on year to the school, Mike’s extensive expertise is being embedded, in his absence, into our day to day teaching and we are finding that these skills can be passed on to students even more effectively.
Last year, he worked with both key stage 4 & 5 Art Graphics students. The GCSE students benefitted from Mike’s creativity and support as they tackled the controlled assessment exam. Each of the students approached the unit in their own way and developed exciting, personal ideas with professional results. Some students innovatively used new media and technology, such as smartphones and Instagram to capture and begin developing their own imagery.’
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!
