Friday Music- My Morning Jacket

Probably not the best version out there, but you know i like things a bit raw and what better than a gig in the back of a black cab?

Website Updated

Pop over to my newly refreshed pages on my agents website and have a look around.

Goldfish Bowl?

Traditionalists look away now!... Just found this little doodle in my notebook and thought it was worth taking a step further. I'm definitely going to have a go at this. I managed to clear a working space for myself at the weekend, so now i've no excuses and hope to start making this week... hooray!!... now to decide what gets to get made first??? Think i'll start with a flat sided bottle/flask and a pig idea i've been having which should work nicely with the slip ( I'm getting into the old pottery Sussex Pigs, which you can't find many good examples of online for some reason. More on these fantastic vessels soon). Also i plan to make a few little slab dishes, with a simple slip treatment i hope will work too. I'm excited! I'm still surrounded by quite a bit of household junk though, so i'll be happy when i can relocate that and the room feels a bit more pottery dedicated. It's a start though.
Oh and for anyone not keeping up, Jakki has posted her next instalment of our Property/TV adventure here.
I've also been busy sorting out new work for my agents website, so i'll put a post up when that's all sorted and ready to view.

Friday Music- Daniel Johnston

For all us 'Artists' out there. I just love this song. Daniel Johnston is a bit of a cult artist and musician and anyone who hasn't seen the film The Devil and Daniel Johnston really should!

Sgraffito Potts??

Yep, I'm at it again! It might take a while for my drawing on clay to get up to speed, so I'll have to settle with this fakery. I do enjoy doing them though, imagining that i'm scratching back the clay.

15 minutes of (local) fame

As most people will already know we appeared on the TV property show Location, Location, Location about 4 years ago ( before the kids aged me about 20 years!). Not everyone knows the full story though, so if you really want to know, pop over to Jakki's blog where she's recounting the experience in easy to digest sections.  I'm sure I'll mention it again on here sometime though. Funnily enough, i just had a guy stop me on the way to work today, he'd watched yet another repeat yesterday on his day off. People are always really nice about it though and always seem genuinely interested in how it's going. Well, it's not been repossessed yet!

Missing Link?

I love this fantastic pot! It's a 14th Century mask(face) jug and gives me ideas of the cross-over i could achieve between these medieval pots and the face jugs of my previous post. The whole anthropomorphic thing going on... add to the mix the Bellarmine or Bartman and i'm in pottery heaven. One day it'll all make sense to me, hopefully. I dream of big earthenware Bellarmines covered in sgrafitto, like one big tattooed sailor! Or a slipware face, of harvest jug proportions, with words and pictures telling a story like some full-face tattooed gang member. Then i worry that it's not the done thing, not pure enough, not 'slipware'. As i know from the rest of my art though, the knack is to just start making some of these things and the right path will soon open up. I do have to stop worrying about what's 'right' though.

Bellarmine/Bartmann 1600-1650

Lanier Meaders- back to pots!

Why do i love Lanier Meaders so much?... i just do. I've been looking at more and more pottery and learning about so much stuff,  it's weird how you go off at such tangents. When i set out to make pottery it was these beautiful face jugs that really got me excited and i would have been happy to be able to make  simple forms and put faces on. Then somehow i got to Michael Cardew... Isaac Button... Matt and Doug.. and suddenly i was passionate about slipware and it's whole wonderful history! It makes for a confused potter. I've been fretting recently, as i often do, about doing it the right way, the way it's meant to be done. I don't have the years of clay education though and last night was looking at more face jugs and remembering my "just have a go" attitude. Get stuck in, enjoy the process, don't start fretting over the details. I've been sitting on 100 kg's (nothing to a regular potter, but a lot to me) of lovely clay for weeks now and over-thinking it all. I'm just going to give it a bit of passion and hope some of it holds together. I do need to sort a workspace out though. I've got a spare bedroom that i'm going to use... be fun to get a wheel in there!! I also have folk staying with us for a few more weekends though, so i have to hold off a bit longer! It's my Big 4-0 in May, so i have to have started before then!! Who knows where it'll end up, but i've so many ideas It'll be fun finding out. Back on the subject of Lanier, I've given Jakki strict instructions to make sure that when i go, my ashes end up in a Lanier Jug!... unless i manage to make something half decent for myself before then. For ever in a Lanier Jug... bliss! ( and no more fretting!)

Good Cause

More mix and match madness, this time a piece i did for Richard House a children's hospice in London.
The idea being 120 illustrators provided a head, body, or legs and you can then make your own combination and buy a quality print of it. Great idea. This character has my devil head (which i did as a papercut) with body provided by Warwick and legs by Paul, both on my blog list .We made loads of these at college, years back! and it's still great fun to do. Exquisite Corpses, developed by the surrealists, is another name for them. Great fun to do when down the pub and drawing fast and loose!! Create your own here, i hope it goes well and raises plenty of money.

Klutz Drawing Book!!

Finally, my Mix and Match drawing book is out in the States! Have a look at it here at Klutz , there's even a little video if you scroll down and click on the film frame. I can't wait to get my hands on one. I'll probably even draw a few of the bits ( i guess i have an advantage there). Don't delay get your copy now!.. it's cheaper on Amazon, of course. I started this project about a year ago and finished working on it in September. I do find publishing schedules very frustrating, I'm very impatient. Another reason for holding off on children's picture books, i don't know how I'd handle the long, drawn out process. That's why editorial has suited me so well, quick ideas, quick turnover, move on. Anyway i'm so happy to finally see this hit the shelves, i hope it sells well. I'd also like to say a big THANKS to Stephanie at Klutz, who was a total pleasure to work with on this (then how could any of it not have been a pleasure). Stephanie also draws pretty well herself, sometimes i'd get changes sent back and i didn't realize it wasn't my own drawing! I've got some nice pieces of work from people in the office at Klutz having a go, but they're on my other computer, so i'll stick some more bits up tomorrow (i might even have lost them as my old computer died not long after... I've learnt about backing up regularly now... actually i haven't! i still have a hard drive in it's box next to the computer, i bought it about a month ago... yikes!

Ceramic Birds

This is a piece that still hasn't been finalized, just need the right base. I've lifted the picture from Griff's blog, where he posted a very nice piece about me a while back, here. Griff shares our studio down here in Hastings and is a very talented animator, film maker and illustrator. He's one of those guys who just puts a touch of class on everything he touches.  Which should have been my 'Wish List' series!... We were due to start animating them, when Griff had a fantastic idea to make a short film first!! You can follow his struggle to get this beautiful film finished on his blog, i hope for his own sanity it will be soon. Now take a look at this and imagine them all moving and talking!... come on Griff!!

Musical Interlude- Jason Anderson

As it's Friday, i'm going to offer a little more to sooth the soul and give you Jason Anderson. Now these aren't the best quality, but i love the context and his attitude. It might be a little too much for some, but i'm with him all the way. Stick with it, I always feel better after a little bit of Jason Anderson. Perfect Friday afternoon salve.... cheers!

Isaac Button

Yes, it another clip of a man throwing pots, i've watched hours of these in the hope something will seep in. This is for those illustrator types, that probably haven't seen this before. I can watch it over and over ... correction... has watched it over and over! He was just the most incredible potter. I love the permanent pipe fixture and there's a great quote from him about never leaving a pub the same day he entered it! Great. He just makes it seem so effortless... and it isn't! Oh, your ears are OK there's no sound on this clip. It's good for the soul, this kind of thing. Perfect for a Friday. Enjoy!

More Graphic Ideas

Thought I'd stick a few more of those images on here. Now, can i do anything with them???