Another preview

Just finished the 4th in my new body of work, this one actually went down without any complications- at least nothing that meant me spending days re-working a section (unlike the last piece). I would love to show everyone all of whats being produced but im trying to keep this whole body of work relatively unseen until the show, bear with me, hopefully the end result will be worth the wait. Until then i will post up small cropped sections like this- just so you know im not being idle!

With my head in work so frequently i havent been doing much online surfing recently and only just noticed that the Apple ipad has finally dropped on the official site. Like many- i had heard something new was being produced by Jobs and co and was interested to see what was to come- and yes- its great, a big-ass ipod touch. If you havent seen it yet- check the link and check it out, another beautiful piece of design and tech merged.

-- Begin Rant.

I dont mention it that often as it tends to get me quite a lot of flack, especially from the design community- but i work on a PC. Dirty, i know- but at the end of the day i need a computer to do its job, my setup is a custom build that after 4 years is still pretty bloody fast, still has ample storage etc... it cost half of an equivalent Apple system. Ive worked on both platforms- a lot, both have problems with their OS in terms of crashes, hanging- apple just looks great doing it. My desk has a million wires behind it from the tablet, keyboard, monitors, printers, power, external HD's, but it does work. Im not extolling the virtues of being on a PC, far from it, if i could afford the same spec kit i would happily trade it all in without even thinking about it- and for one reason: it looks better. From build to OS, apple have it nailed in terms of product design.

But i cant afford to swap out all the kit i own, i dont have thousands of pounds lying around- so i must live out my professional life, shunned and ridiculed when i am asked the question that only a mac user will ask 'are you on mac?'. Rant over- i will likely have to trade in my v2 ipod (that is still going strong- it just doesnt mount on usb too well anymore and the backlight and contrast are nearly gone) and get an ipod touch and now im kicking myself for buying a little netbook purely for online surfing, mail etc in the eve because now a comparatively well priced but purely more awesome gadget is due to be released in the form of the ipad. Bugger.

-- Stop.

Anyway, sorry about that, wont happen again- heres the preview. Enjoy.

Finally- a 2010 post.

Hi all, been stupidly busy and once again have fallen a little behind with the blog, couple of new pieces done for the show (small section teaser of one below) got quite a lot more to do and the initial thumbnail sketches i did have slightly misled me into thinking doing the actual paintings will be relatively simple.. nope.

Anyway, on top of that theres a few other jobs in the pipeline, not much i can mention here at the moment but hopefully i will be able to post up something more later. One thing that i can say is that ive gotten involved with Memories project and will be doing a piece for the show / book. If you havent read about it yet check out all the latest info on the Memories site. Heres some background on the project:

'Memories will look at the thoughts and experiences of individuals who have survived cancer, as well as those of people who have lost loved ones. There will be ten stories inside, each looking at one person’s recollection of a particular day in the struggle against cancer. For each of these ‘memories’ a dozen leading artists, illustrators and designers will be creating their own visual response. Two further stories will go ‘open brief’ and we’ll be inviting creatives worldwide to make their own images to accompany the text. The best submissions will go into the book.

That makes for 12 touching stories, and 144 smashing pieces of artwork

The project is being launched this summer by Designers Against Human Rights Abuse (DAHRA), Subism, OneTenEleven Media and editor Garrick Webster. Along with a number of writers and, of course, all the image contributors, they’ll be volunteering their time and skills to the project. We expect it will take a year to complete, culminating in the launch of Memories and an exhibition.'

From the current line up of contributors it looks like its going to a really good mix of work, looking forward to getting started on it!

Finally, heres the teaser for the recently finished show piece, back with more soon.