Shootout in McDonalds Dalston London

This work was done around the same time as the girl below. My friend Jasper and I shared a studio in Dalston London. One night a shooting took place nearby in McDonalds. I think the area is now changing and less dangerous.

Prize Winner

The work below titled (Brixton Girl) won The Lincoln Seligman Prize at the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2012.

Discerning Eye ING art competition

This month a watercolor of mine of a girl (see below) came fourth in an international art competition run by the company Lascaux. This same work will be shown tomorrow as part of a group show which features six of my works on paper.

If you have the chance to see the show it runs from the 15th until the 25th of November. Selectors include the Independent newspaper art critic Charles Darwent. The Guardian newspaper art critic Skye Sherwin as well as Collectors Doris Lockhart and Gerlad Walker.

Too add some history. The heads of the girls were all made about four years ago in different parts of East London mostly. I made lots of drawings in cafes, bars or on the bus or train. It is a real challenge to draw people but more rewarding than taking a instant photograph. I don't know but I feel people know you are drawing them. Seems ridiculous to think but it might be that sense of being looked at.

I titled these works after the areas of London the drawings were made in: Dalston, Brixton, Whitechapel and Lewisham.

The small landscape was made from memory. I think trees, especially, in the Winter are fascinating.

Spain and France

Two months have passed since I posted any thing here. Last month I was traveling in Spain, with a short stop in France. It was a challenge trying to travel with little money, camping but I felt it was a worthwhile experiences and awoke in me the desire to see new places and other cultures.

I learnt that you have to adapt out of necessity. Issues, problems are really mostly in your mind. Often solutions would present themselves from where to hang clothes or sleep. I walked with a heavy backpack, got sick and bitten by insects. Mostly I was alone but met some nice people along the way. I had intended to make drawings but it was not practical in most situations. Here instead are some photographs I took. I miss the long dry landscapes, small towns and most of all the people.

About the German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Here is a piece of writing about the German Expressionist artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. His lived quite an avant garde life in Germany but tired of the city and modern life and escaped to Davos to live in the country. Sadly his work was regarded as degenerate by the Nazi and he destroyed much of his work so as not to provoke them. This upset proved too much and his life ended shortly.

For me this is out of the question. Nor do I regret it. . . . The delights the world affords are the same everywhere, differing only in their outer forms. Here one learns how to see further and go deeper than in 'modern' life, which is generally so very much more superficial despite its wealth of outer forms." Modern life for Kirchner had been the streets of Dresden and Berlin; his own and other artists' studios; the summer beaches of Fehmarn in the Baltic; the Die Brücke group of avant-garde artists and the Expressionist movement, in both of which he was the central figure; and, finally, the First World War. Now he was in Switzerland, near the Austrian border, where he would remain until his death in 1938.

Mono prints and a computer print

Small landscape works on paper

Nocturnal Happenings or "Ghost Milk"

Night paintings.

Saturday night 7 July 2012, I created this darker painting quite late in the early hours of Sunday morning. I'm intrigued by the use of a darker palette, not only for landscapes but for paintings in general. Ended the evening looking at some of Cezanne's paintings in particular a painting of his wife which I liked very much.

Studio photographs and competition work

Today Tuesday 26 of June 2012 I'm starting on six watercolor paintings for ING Discerning Eye. An exhibition to take place in November 2012 for which I've been selected.

Sennilier art competition

Posted a watercolor for a competition hosted by Sennilier a French art materials brand. See the entry below. The Title is Crystal Palace Park. The park is in South London and is famous for its victorian stone dinosaur sculptures.