Gulf Fundraiser

A few days back I mentioned a huge art sale at the awesome My Love For You Is A Stampede of Horses. Well, the online shop is live now and all sorts of drawings, paintings, prints, jewellery, sculpture and more is up for grabs.

Some important facts:

1. All proceeds are going to the Gulf Restoration Network. Artists have put their work on sale as a donation to help out. Many items are free shipping too.

2. The shop is only open for a limited time. If you want to grab a bargain (and do a good deed) you have until the 5th of July.

3. Everything seems to be selling out fast, so don't hang about. Tweet / email / blog etc. to spread the word. Get everything bought.

4. You can go directly to the shop by clicking here.

Please have a look, you might find something you like. I'm happy to say that my drawing sold on the first day! Big love to Meighan for organising everything and to all the artists who contributed. Make sure you subscribe to My Love For You... because it's a great place to discover all sorts of brilliant art, design and general cool stuff.

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Skull

Good gracious I've been busy. I was doing so well with the daily updates for a while too. Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things after today.

The above image is from my zine, just a quick thing to post up here really. Today is my first day off in a fortnight and I need to rush. I'm away for a picnic with my girl. A real one - bikes, baskets, tartan blanket, the lot. Bye bye.

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Work In Progress

Meighan from the fantastic My Love For You Is A Stampede of Horses has been gathering together artists to submit work to a huge art sale. All proceeds will go to help tackle the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm very happy to be taking part. The above video is a tiny work-in-progress of the Treebark drawing I'm providing. Keep tuned here and to My Love For You... for more info. I think the sale will start on Monday 28th. Not only will you be getting the chance to pick up work by some really great artists, you'll be helping out the Gulf Restoration Network too.

My drawing will probably be $55 with $5 postage. If someone buys it, I'll donate back the postage to the GRN myself with a little extra on top. Even if you hate the drawing, buy it anyway. I'll be just as happy.

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Watering Can

Hello to Monday, hello to another week. This one's gonna be a busy one, I can feel it. There are a few things coming soon I'm pretty excited about posting up here. So, um, stay tuned I guess.

The above image is from my Red Neck zine. Still available in my online shop (which I'm planning to expand if not this week, then next). Thanks very much to anyone who's picked on up so far and apologies for my month-long sales pitch. Haha, incidentally, they are now also available at Analogue.

In a very British way, I think I've been trying to post a lot about other people's work recently to reassure myself that, after a nice little spell at selling my wares online, I'm not so blinded by success that I now only care about shifting prints and living the big life. By 'big life', I of course mean 'buying a new pair of trainers and perhaps some wheels for my skateboard'.

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Souther Salazar

A few years ago I read a comic by Souther Salazar called Fervler 'n' Razzle in the anthology Kramers Ergot 5. It was a beautifully weird collage of cut paper, drawings and text that told a tale (or two) about an 'ancient giant bird' called Fervler and 'either a squirrel or a mouse or a cat' called Razzle. I really loved it and have tried to keep up with Salazar's work ever since.

Comics are just the start, this dude is a damn fine maker-of-things. Paintings, sculpture, collage, installations all jumble together in colourful little worlds full of weird monsters and landscapes. I remember being so charmed by his work that I tried to emulate his style a little in a few drawings - it didn't work (it never does), I guess that's a compliment of sorts. Man, his art looks fun to make.


Yesterday my copy of Salazar's new zine, The Day We Learned To Fly arrived. I've made a little flick-through video to let people see it. My intention is to show off the really neat layout with it's different colours and fold-out parts rather than to 'spoil' the artwork by revealing everything. Hopefully I flip through it quickly enough leave you wanting a closer look. By the sound of things, The Day We Learned... has sold out anyway, but I'll not go crazy with scans or anything incase another batch appears for sale. Watch in HD for goodness.
For more Souther Salazar things, you can visit his website, add him on Facebook or follow the blog he co-writes with Monica Choy. His etsy shop has some really nice prints and you can read a great making-of post about the zine here.

The music in my clip is once again from John's ABC by Fence. This track 'J' (they're all lettered) just so happened to be exactly the right length. Not much more thought went into the decision than that.

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Christopher Bettig opening

A few posts back I mentioned that the new show All I Heard Was The Echo In The Light by the artist Christopher Bettig was opening in Edinburgh. Well it damn well did. The exhibition can be seen now at the fantastic Analogue in the grassmarket. Go visit.

I managed to get along for the launch and had a really good wee night. Analogue parties are always great. They show really good artists, everyone is always nice and friendly and there's a chance to catch up with lots of folk I don't get to see very often. I also got the chance to have a chat with Christopher Bettig himself - he's a really nice dude.

All I Heard... is one of the best shows they've put on. The first thing that'll knock you out is the ceiling - Bettig has covered the whole thing in bunting and little flags and the effect is really cool. On the night you could see big smiles come over everyone's faces as they walk into the room, staring upwards, all caught up in the colours and patterns. Around the walls are heaps of different prints, collages, sculptures and paintings that, despite being pretty intricate objects in their own right, have a really nice lightness to them that doesn't weigh the show down. Every piece of work invites you to scrutinise it, to inspect the stitching, printing or pattern.

I recorded a few little clips while I was there - my shaky hand and failure to change any of the settings on my camera doesn't really do justice to how stuff really looks (hey, I'd had a drink, give me a break), so visit in real life if you can. You have until the 10th of July. Analogue have screenprinted t-shirts designed by Chris and he has also made a really cool zine that's definitely worth a look.

The music is from the weird instrumental compilation called John's ABC by Fence. It's proving pretty good for soundtracking little videos. I'm going to keep trying to upload as much stuff to YouTube as I can in an effort to improve my shoddy camerawork. No doubt half of it will end up on the blog, but should you be someone who is inclined to subscribe to a guy's channel, you can find mine here.

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Drowning Man

Here's another page from my Red Neck zine. I'll be dropping off a few copies at Analogue Books in Edinburgh today. So now, if you're nearby, you can have a flick through the whole thing without buying it. You should buy it though, or something else from those guys. They've got loads of cool stuff. The Christopher Bettig exhibition is brilliant too (more about that later).


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Dr Syntax versus the Paperweights

A quick note to let you know that the new show at the Changing Room in Stirling opens tonight. Dr. Syntax versus The Paperweights by Mick Peter.

I had a little hand in the install for this one, managing to navigate some really unusual sculptures up a gnarly old staircase without mishap. Mick (who I seemed to think was called Joe - weird) was putting the finishing touches on some work the other day and caused some debate about blu-tack once he'd left. You'll need to catch the show to understand what I'm blathering about. Just ask yourself, what is the trombone* made out of?

Anyway, I might not make it along tonight (Friday 4th June) for the opening, which I feel really bad about, but if you're available, go, go go. Even if you've never been to an art opening before. They're not scary and see that big table with all the beer & wine? Yeah, that's free. The amount of people you can get through a door with that little bit of information is ridiculous.

The show will run through June and July so there's no excuse not to catch it, especially all Stirling residents. Support your only contemporary art gallery please. Here are the full details:

Dr Syntax versus the Paperweights
Mick Peter
-
Show runs: 5th June - 31st July
Private view: Friday 4th June, 7-9pm. All welcome
-
The Changing Room
Tolbooth
Stirling
FK8 1DE
01786 274005

That's that. Have a look at Mick Peter's website for loads of info about his work and examples of his work. I'm away to catch some sunshine for a bit.

EDIT: it's not a trombone, it's a tuba. Thanks Jules.

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My Friend Steve

For the past few months, my friend Steven McEwan has taken to drawing. A lot. I've known him for years and, yeah, he'd doodle some funny stuff from time to time, but not like this. He's recently been taken over by this compulsive urge to make pictures. Sometimes he says he's been up half the night just drawing weird stuff.

I was motivated to make this post because of the above poster he made for Daniel's 21st birthday. It's so goddamn cool and weird and brilliant. Isn't that exactly how a poster for a friend's party should look? Fun as hell. You just know you're in for a good time. I've changed the phone number / email and removed the date on that image for privacy sake.

The bulk of Steve's obsessive output has been dedicated to drawing people on Facebook. He must be close to posting 100 different friends (or even people he doesn't know), just for the sake of it. I've been trying to convince him to start a blog so people can browse through his work but he's not got round to it yet.

Alongside the big, bold colour pictures, every so often a little line-art compilation goes up. This is normally a retrospective list of everyone he's drawn recently. Facebook being Facebook, everyone kinda half-knows everyone else and it's really fun to sit and look over who Steve has been compelled to portray.

Last month he also went through a celebrity phase. So, as well as the Chuckle Brothers, we've had David Cameron, Ironside, Ironman, that horrible Fritzl guy, Rab C Nesbitt, Fall frontman - Mark E Smith and John Locke from Lost.

Steve has been asking me all sorts of questions about different kinds of paint, where to get prints made, framing etc. We've also been talking about going to life-drawing classes (something I've been meaning to get back into for years now). He's taking it pretty seriously, which is fantastic.



I understand this might be a bit in-jokey, like it might not be as amazing if you don't know Steve or any of the folk in his work. It's crazy if you do though. Imagine if one of your friends, just someone you go to the cinema with or skateboard with or something, started drawing hundreds of pictures, just because they felt like it. It's a strange thing.

If Steve gets round to collecting everything together online, I'll post a link up here for sure. The best thing is, he's progressing really fast. His drawings are getting better, his subjects broader, his colours bolder. I'm totally hyped to see where he goes next.

EDIT: well whaddaya know? He's went and started a blog since I wrote this. Check it out here.

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Chopped Hands

Another page from my Red Neck zine. With these I'm kinda in two minds whether to just post up the original B&W artwork or to add the little bit of colour that gets painted into the physical copies. Hmm.

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Christopher Bettig at Analogue

A new exhibition, All I Heard Was The Echo In The Light, by Christopher Bettig opens this week at Analogue in Edinburgh. It should be a good one.

If you can make it along on Friday 4th June for the reception, do. Analogue openings are always great. I've not been to Edinburgh in ages, man. Hopefully the weather behaves. I hear Russell (the hairy one) is away to fetch Christopher from the airport today.

After that, the show runs until the 10th of July. Analogue's blog mentions that they're printing a t-shirt to go with the exhibition and that Bettig will be one of the next round of Early Griffin poster artists too. Keep your potatoes skinned for those.

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