Archive for June, 2007

Well, we met up with Russ, no hair as expected!! Looks great, living in Hackney with partner and daughter. Not a good photo I know…

Strangely enough has been an art teacher along the way – it comes to us all at some point…I intend finishing the drawing of John this weekend time allowing as I have been busy on different art forums and have started a site on myartprofile.com just for fun and a chance of meeting other artists, which I have been emailing one in particular; I’ll post a link on my links page very soon Â

Life is full of surprises. Having just joined Jo at her old girls school reunion (I have only ever met two of her friends from that time!), the day brought about something unexpected. Nice school, good facilities – JJ loved playing football with two coaches from Watford FC. We had lunch in her old dining room; no flicking of peas allowed. Sat across the room from us we recognised a lady; couldn’t place her initially, then it came to us, Sue Holderness: Marlene from Only Fools and Horses (I must say here that dad is a MAJOR fan of the show.) Despite my embarrassment, I got Jo to go over and ask for an autograph for dad, especially as my parents are celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary this month, she was wonderful and had no problem with being asked. Isn’t nice to know that some people are still down to earth enough to be bothered by us mere urchins! Apart from agreeing to sign an autograph – she is sending a photo to dad himself, she let me take a photo with the trusted old phone – picture coming soon (technology allowing).Yet again, she was very pleasant and didn’t mind the intrusion. Fact from talking to her; she left the school in 1967, the year Jo was born!!

Strange what you see in one day and are they all connected?

Whilst keeping upto date with the news on line I came across this photo of a blow up person on display in a town centre (abroad), which I found tickled me

Then knock me down with a feather – on the way home from picking JJ up we saw this

Taken with phone – quality not brilliantI’m going to have a wonder round to the house of the mysterious sculpture; in the past we have seen a life size blue elephant and a 10foot metal sculpture of a robot, looking rather like the aliens from the infamous Smash adverts of the 70’s. Question I ask myself – collector or artist, I will pop round and find out soon

An update from the weekend… the ceramics workshop that I did went really well and the new kiln has arrived! I still don’t like working with clay but heyho.

As you can see I had a go with JJ and he loved it, can’t wait to do more!!

On a personal front – both myself and Oz have been talking about old times (oh no I hear you say, not more dribbling). Anyway, we have always wondered what happened to our good old friend Russ. Well Oz took a punt and managed through various resources located him – fantastic.We hope to meet with him very soon…knowing us two it’ll be the Angel off Tottenham court Road, a favourite of ours. He is living in London so it can ’t be that bad. The last of the track downs, all I need to do now is locate a friend from my childhood, his name….. well I’ll leave that for another day!

Reading this from Reuters this evening – g_d help us fashion victims, I’m still thinking about wearing winklepickers ….. thought about it……. Far too old plus not a good look anymore!

MILAN (Reuters) – Italian design label D&G flashed back to the 1980s in its menswear show on Tuesday with shiny metal zips and studs on trousers, bleached battered jeans and plastic jackets.

Silver baseball boots, sandals with broad studded straps and trousers put together jigsaw-like by zips were worn with hooded black shiny jackets or drill cotton with big metal buttons.

The spring/summer 2008 designs from the label had some echoes of their stablemate Dolce & Gabbana, whose show on Sunday kitted men out in military-style.

But D&G’s look had heavy punk undertones, from metal plated belts to chains swinging from waists. Union Jack motifs were picked out in sparkling stones over black leather in a huge shoulder bag or on the front of a white vest.

Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, the duo behind both labels, put silver metal on collars for white shirts, teamed with thin black ties.

They covered the fronts of trousers in small, silvery studs or sparkled them with embroidery made of myriad mixed beads.

Beading was used on the front of a black waistcoat, or a denim version was worn over a white shirt.

For the finale of the show, D&G sent all the models out in black or white suits, which stuck to the single-breasted theme of other designers in the current menswear show season, which runs to June 27.

Is this the new D&G designer wear for Becks?

thanks to cannydrawit on art forum for this at the bottom of the post – I love this….

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Many people strive to climb the ladder of success, only to find it’s leaning against the wrong wall.

best I’ve read 4 ages

Just been watching the BBC 2 coverage of the Summer Exhibition. As I submitted 3 pieces and got rejected I was a little bit negative whilst watching Lawrence walk around the galleries ‘talking it up’One thing caught my ears – 12,000 entries; 780 exhibits. Makes me feel a lot better and more positive.I must admit I like the Chapman brothers work, the dinosaurs, fun, large and slightly taking the piss.

And as a Gavin Turk fan I was really pleased with his award. My friend Oz talks with great affection for him and some of the personal work he has produced over the years – actual size matchsticks cast in bronze with an inscription, the wooden chip fork also cast in bronze. Beautifully crafted and beautiful in concept

Spent a few hours today running a ceramic workshop for an arts weekend – the pressure was on as I’m not a ceramicist by any stretch of the imagination! It went well I think – enthusiasm over technical skill!!

Other news; there is a possibility that I may sell some work next week, an interior designer has some clients looking for some contemporary art – could be mine, who knows….it would be nice.

More and more ideas are coming to me at the moment for new paintings – an electric shaver (a cut abuzz the rest!), 3 pin plug x 3 (not quite ten pin bowling or 10 pin bowling 4 the wired folk!)Still haven’t decided on the remaining two words for hymn swears you know but it will come I am sure.Anyhow reports to write and they wont get done sitting here.

Looking at the Saatchi site and came across this article about Brian Griffiths (quote “I don’t understand most art either.” ) sounds really interesting and is a must to go and see.

BRIAN GRIFFITHS TO MAKE 70-METRE ART INSTALLATION IN LONDON
Platform for Art’s flagship art site at Gloucester Road station will this year feature ‘Life is a Laugh’, a monumental installation by renowned artist Brian Griffiths. A mock stage set including a 7.5 metre panda’s head, half a caravan, a lamp post rescued from the M42, scaffolding towers and ramps, bicycles, buckets and tyres are only some of the items creating a scene that will inspire passengers standing on platforms or travelling on passing trains. The work will be unveiled in July and remain there for almost a year. Installed on the disused platform in a major logistical feat that will be achieved at night over two months, ‘Life is a Laugh’ will be the largest artwork in a public site that Brian Griffiths has ever created.

This gives us all hope…

Damien Hirst became the auction world’s most expensive living artist last night as his 2002 pill cabinet, ‘Lullaby Spring’, sold for £8.6 million (before commission) at Sotheby’s contemporary sale. Francis Bacon’s 1978 ‘Self Portrait’ fetched £19.3 million (before commission). Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale realised an astonishing £72,427,600 ($144,427,600) – the company’s highest total for a sale of Contemporary Art in

Meanwhile at Christie’s, Lucian Freud’s 1992 portrait of his friend Bruce Bernard this week broke the record for a living European artist after selling for £7.8m at Christie’s. At the same sale Francis Bacon’s ‘Two Men Working in a Field’ sold for just over £5 million, and Andy Warhol’s ‘Three Marilyns’ fetched £5.6 million. Christie’s sales for the week totalled £237 million, including commissions, compared with a pre-commission estimate of between £172.2 million pounds and £241.7 million.

…. I wouldn’t mind some of that!!!!

 Just going through some of my images – transferring them from laptop to another and came across these – photos of my work at two different Affordable Art Fairs in Battersea, London.

Aah, it brings back memories and the fact I sold work there as well!

And two of my clients; Gerry and Allyson House,

who came over from America – a big hello to them!

Been working on the small portraits of John, thought I would post a picture of third drawing in its working state – unfinished!!

  Spent a short amount of time (!!) uploading images onto site, I know some people have visited it and have informed me there’s nothing there… well there is now! If you get the chance have a look and let me know what you think, cheers

Just fiddling about in the ‘shed’ and had another look at the newly named ‘Hymn swears you know’ and thought I would post it so I can mull over the last two drawings to put inside(internet; anywhere, anytime)

Possibly using the words yeah and great, who knows

 Finally – welcome to my new blogstrange, its like writing the first page of an exercise book when you were a kid at school; make sure there are no mistakes, keep within the margins and lines, check spelling and do not use the rubber at all costs!!I’m just going to start off with a few things…. until I get the jist of all thisjust to let you know most of the postings will be related to my artwork, some funny thoughts and ocassionally items that are pertinent to my liferecapping on the last week oh so….. haven’t quite finished my mixed media piece titled ‘hymns to swear by’ – I haven’t yet decided on the last two words; maybe to go with the swearing aspect or to tame it slightly. I gave it its first public viewing on Saturday night when friends from