Hallowed Age print release...

The Kingdom Animalia show was a huge success and resulted in an amazing $25,000 being raised for the Big Life Foundation which will help to pay for (among other things) a years salary and training for a squad of 8 anti-poaching scouts, together with equipment for patrold like radios, uniforms, binoculars, GPS and cameras!

Im more than happy to say that my Hallowed Age piece sold, ive had a lot of interest in this piece and decided that it would be good to do a small run of limited edition prints and again, try and give something to the Big Life Foundation. So here we go, the print is 16x19" including a border for framing, comes numbered, titled and signed. It also has a mini Certificate of Authenticity which is also numbered, signed and embossed. The run is limited to only 25 and will be £60 plus shipping. 50% of the profit from each sale goes to Big Life so with any luck- if the run sells through- i will be able to hand over £500 to the foundation!

It will be going on preorder from my store on 22nd August so keep your eyes on mostlywanted.com/shop and please, reblog, give this a shout on twitter, Instagram, tumblr, facebook or whatever social network you frequent!


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Chrysalis...

Heres a new piece ive just finished, Chrysalis is the first in a series im planning on producing. I cant really say much about the project yet as im still sorting the details- but this piece does give you a good taste of what is to come!

Friday 12th November...

This friday, the 12th November, i have work in 2 shows. First up is my tribute to Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'Pandora' for the 'Idol Hours' group show at the London Miles Gallery and can be seen here on a showcard. If youre in London be sure to pop over and check out the show, its an impressive artist list and im really pleased to be involved and have my work hanging in such great company!



Next up is the 'Eyes wide shut' show by Fine Grime at the Walcot Chapel in Bath- my home turf! I have my 'Frankie' portrait and the 'All the Devils' works on show / sale at this exhibition so if youre local to the area, or if you fancy a night in Bath- pop in for a drink and check out the works on show that include pieces from Sylivia Ji, Carles Gomila, Natalie Shau, Fran Williams and Tom Lane (aka Ginger Monkey).



I was intending to get up to the London Miles show but plans have had to change and i will now be at the Fine Grime show in Bath so feel free to say hi!

All the Devils...

New piece, with a working title of 'All the Devils' which is a shortened title from the line 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here' from the first act in The Tempest by William Shakespear. The line is carved into the twisting bramble-like roots at the bottom of the picture. The final print will be approx 20x30 inches, hand embellished, dry mounted on board and varnished. I will drop some news when its available to purchase after its been on show. Heres the final piece and some details at about half size.

Print giveaway winners!

Its the 8th of Sept so the giveaway prize draw is done! Thanks for the great response and for those you you that helped spread the word a special thank you! In order to be as fair as possible each name on the list has their own number, im using the random.org true number generator to pick out the three winners in reverse order... and the winners are:

No.42 / Mike Ramirez / Wins 'Preen'
No.100 / Kirsty Mordaunt / Wins 'Fledgling'
No.55 / Erin Tapken / Wins 'O-dokuro'

Congratulations to the winners, i will be sending you a confirmation email shortly and to request your delivery details. To everyone else- thanks again for entering, im sure i will end up doing something similar again so check back soon!

The Mostlywanted Shop lives!!

Finally, after quite awhile of waiting, i can now say that the shop is back up and running including the work from Yokai Dreams (both the smaller sizes and the large special limited editions for the exhibition) together with a selection of illustration work as open editions!

If youre interested, please visit mostlywanted.com/shop and if youre swayed, purchase something to brighten your walls!

Yokai give away...

Ive got a limited amount of the booklets i was giving away at my show, if you would like one drop me a mail to 'info at mostlywanted dot com' with 'Yokai Giveaway' as the subject line and include your postal address in the body of the message. I will leave it a couple of weeks and then randomly pick the recipients and get them in the post asap.

Edit: Competition closes Monday 26th July.

I designed these booklets to give visitors a brief insight into the stories that inspired each piece, 250 were produced and most went on opening night.



I wont be able to let you know if youve won or not, but i will post a message here to say when theyre in the mail.

Yokai prints at Fine Grime

Fine Grime have released 2 of my works from my Yokai Dreams solo show as limited edition prints. 'Hito-dama' and 'Kuchisake Onna' are on sale in editions of 50 on Woodstock Felt cotton rag, 410 x 560mm including a border for framing.



If you would like to buy one (or two..) contact Joel at Fine Grime or buy online through my page on the Fine Grime shop. Some of the original editions of 5, done for the actual exhibition are also available via Fine Grime.

Beautiful Grim Auction

The second wave of auctions for the Beautiful Grim project is now live on Ebay. Check the listings for Beautiful Grim and see what wonderful works have been donated. The first edition of my 'Hito Dama / Beautiful Grim' piece for my Yokai Dreams show is available for bidding along with work by Lisa Evans, Joy Ang, Jeff Miracola, Victoria Ying and Andrew Jones to name just a few.

So if you can, place some bids and help out with a good cause.

Yokai Dreams

Well the show is now up and running, the Knifesmiths doors are open to everyone so if youre in bristol at any point during may please pop in and have a look at the show. As i mentioned in a previous post, the Knifesmith gallery is a few streets away from the Bristol Museum so if youre coming to Bristol to see the amazing 'Art from the new world' Show by the Corey Helford gallery you may want to wander over and have a look at the Yokai Dreams exhibition.

The private view went really well, a really good turn out and i would just like to say thanks to all of you who made it, i dont think ive spent so long talking about my work, if i wasnt able to speak to you i can only apologize and thank you for spending the time to look at the exhibition! To those of you who i did manage to have a chat with- it was great to talk to you and thanks for listening to my rambling!

I was able to take a few (bad) pictures of the gallery before the opening to give you a view of the hanging works and below is the cover image for the fold out flyer i was giving away which went to give a little of the back story to each of the pieces- hopefully if i wasnt able to explain the work, this would have given you enough to understand a little of the individual Yokai in the show.















I have added all the work from the show to my Behance portfolio projects and will be adding everything to mostlywanted.com early in the week.

Showtime!

Its finally here, private view for my Yokai Dreams show starts at 6.30pm through to 9pm at the Knifesmith gallery in Bristol (UK), if youre in the vicinity feel free to come along and buy something. I will be taking some pics and if any are of any use i will post them up as soon as my hangover clears. I will also be publishing the work on my behance portfolio and updating mostlywanted with the work so will drop the links back here too. Fingers crossed all goes well.

Yokai Dreams, Tengu

As the show is just in a few days time i can show you another full image from the exhibition. I posted a preview for this one awhile back, it was the first to be finished, although i did go back and do some final tweaks to it a few weeks ago just because i had looked at it long enough to see some areas that needed a little improving!

Each of the works for this show are based around japanese yokai stories, this one is the Tengu spirit. Theres a lot of folklore based around this deity and its image is usually depicted as male, wings and a human face but with an elongated nose. At least thats the image that is more prevalent in popular culture reference, previously in its origins the Tengu took the form of a bird of prey, sometimes a crow and are depicted with avian and human characteristics. In its early history it was a pretty malevolent demon and a harbinger of war but over time has become a more protective spirit of the forests. They are shapeshifters and one of the more powerful yokai. I have drawn this Tengu as a female and changing to human form as she removes a traditional crow mask, quite a bit of symbolism going on throughout but as with all my work i would rather the viewer interpret each piece in their own way so im only giving the basics away!

Once the show is in full swing i will update the blog and my portfolio site with the full body of work. Until then, heres the full Tengu piece.

Yokai Dreams show

Finally- im able to reveal some stuff about the show! My solo show will be taking place at the Knifesmith Gallery in Bristol (UK) and will be running from the 8th to the 29th of May. There will also be a private viewing on the evening of the 7th.

The show is being put on in conjunction with the great Fine Grime who already publish the limited editions of 2 of my previous works. The pieces in this show will be available in extremely limited editions of 5, 4 of which will also be specially hand finished and include the piece that was donated to the Beautiful Grim project i posted about awhile ago. (although the final finished version is a little different to the posted pics)

As well as the show ive also got a few of these pieces going up for sale in the Fine Grime booth at the bristol Affordable Art Fair which will be taking place 14-16th May, well worth a visit!

If youre interested in what my show is all about the check out the Knifesmith page, in the meantime heres a couple of flyers for the show to give you a taste of whats going to be on offer.




As soon as things are a little more settled i will post up some more images and probably a post on the custom typography. As a slight aside to this, if youre in the UK or if you can venture over here around this time- just up the road from my show is also the amazing exhibit being put on by the Corey Helford Gallery in conjunction with the Bristol Museum. 'Art from the new world' just looks quite incredible and a show that really cant be missed. Check out the CHG press release (pdf link) or the article on Juxtapoz online. So if youre coming over for the CHG show, pop round the corner to the Knifesmith too!

Down computer

A couple of days ago my workstation decided that it needed a rest and refused to switch on or show any sign of life. After I had managed to stop freaking out I went through all the usual checks and came to the conclusion that it was probably at best the power supply unit or worst case- the motherboard. As I had no way of actually checking either of these problems or working out if it was anything else I have had to take it to a tech shop to have it 'looked at'.

After a few hours of nervous waiting I got the call to say that it was indeed the power supply, thank god, bit I'm mow having to wait for a replacement 550w with the extra cable to help power the graphics card. Not too bad- could have been a lot worse, but the upshot is that I have had to take a bit of an enforced break which is driving me nuts and I haven't been able to get my print sales out. If you're one of those who have yet to hear back after making a purchase- please bear with me, I will send you a confirmation mail asap.

Hopefully I will get all this sorted and be able to post a few new pieces at some point after the week end.

Beautiful Grim

A while ago i got a message from a friend on facebook that made me aware of a project being put together by concept artist Mike 'Daarken' Lim. Earlier this year his girlfriend, Cat, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 25, after 16 weeks of chemotherapy she had a bilateral mastectomy.

In order to help with the ensuing medical bills he and some friends have set up a charity auction and are asking artists, sculptors and photographers to donate some work. The theme / title of 'Beautiful Grim' has been given to the event and artists from all around the globe are getting involved, at the moment theres about 200 participating, hopefully raising the much needed funds for both Cat and a Breast cancer charity.

Ive just finished my contribution, it a digital painting which on the final print will be hand embellished (so a total one of a kind), signed and framed. Heres a couple of shots of the artist proofs (theres a bit of a color cast on them in the photos which is throwing everything off slightly)




I will post more details about the show and auction as i get them but in the meantime make sure you pop by the site and join the facebook group, buy or donate if you can!

Beautiful Grim website.
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Beautiful Grim Facebook group.
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Mike 'Daarken' Lim.

CIA shop sale

To celebrate their birthday, the CIA shop is having a 25% off sale on a wide range of prints, my New Beginnings and Tiki Spirit pieces are included!

Check out the CIA shop sale.

Fine Grime

I now have 2 prints available as limited editions through the great Fine Grime, Sweet Mercy and Reliquary.



Im currently up to my ears with a job for the BBC via the nice guys at Preloaded, cant show anything about it at the moment- hopefully i will post some shots of the illustrations when the site is finished, really looking forward to how it turns out although i have to say after this job is finished i may never want to paint a forest piece ever again.

I have a bunch of new work in the pipeline that i cant wait to get started on, it will have to wait a little while (after i finish this current job) as ive had the joy of developing RSI in my hand, consequently using a mouse and tablet have both become pretty painful, so a bit of R&R is long overdue!

Reliquary

Just finished this piece 'Reliquary' which will hopefully be doing the rounds in the forthcoming Central Illustration 'Traveling Circus' show. It will soon be available through Fine Grime who will be releasing it along with Sweet Mercy as limited edition prints. More details to come.

CIA new prints

Central Illustration Agency shop gets a few more pics to add to the shop, including my tiki spirit piece, (click to view my post about its creation) the prints are limited edition giclee prints, run of 20 only, including certificate of authenticity, printed on 100% cotton Somerset enhanced paper, 50 x 70cm.

The recent update of works available include pics by: Tatiana Arocha, Paul Wearing, Andrew Bannecker and Tristan Eaton. Visit the CIA shop for details.

MW Shoppe goes live!

Hoorah- thanks to a bit of help from paypals tech support- ive fixed the nagging issue i had with a part of the cart process and can officially launch the mostlywanted shop today! Also a quick not to say many thanks to simon for his help with the dev work. Please stop by and have a look and if possible make a purchase.

Visit the shop here: mostlywanted.com/shop/