Happy New Year!...

Another year seems to have flown past, this one certainly had its ups and downs though! As some of you may know, im now back in Bath, its been a couple of weeks since moving in and already it feels more like home than living for nearly 11 months in the other place- we really wont be missing it in the slightest! Lots of new stuff planned for the year ahead, a few shows lined up already- the first couple of months in particular are going to be a bit hectic but im really looking forward to it!

Just in case you missed it on the 3Cs Blog, my 100 portraits project is completed and as of the 1st January, the portraits will be available to order. Check out the blog for all the details.

I just wanted to say Happy New year to everyone, thanks for following! See you in 2012!

3Cs project Completed!...

After 100 days, ive finally finished the 100 portraits project! Go have a look on the project blog to see all 100 portraits, some closeups and whats happening next!
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http://100portraits.blogspot.com/
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Just a quick update...

sorry about the lack of updates here, everythings been a bit hectic over the last couple of weeks- we are finally moving again next week- back into Bath after having to move further out between Bath and Bristol, it quickly became apparent it wasnt somewhere we wanted to be and its taken most of this year trying to find anything suitable back in Bath!

Anyway, hopefully after christmas things should settle down a bit and i can get on with some new work, a few shows lined up next year so lots to do! In other news, the 3Cs project is nearly done, after the weekend i will be posting up the final 20 portraits and then the whole collection of 100! The initial concept of trying to do 100 portraits in 100 hours over 100 days soon became a bit redundant- after the first couple i realised that 1 hour just wasnt enough to produce a good enough portrait (at least to my eyes) so i resigned myself to allowing a bit more time if needed- the majority ended up being 1.5hrs while a couple i got a bit carried away with and did a couple of hours- hopefully it shows though as they had good little details that i really wanted to capture! Look out for the completed works some time on the 12th Dec on the project blog.

Falls Grace...

A new piece that will be going to the Scope Miami art show with Corey Helford Gallery at the end of November. 'Fall's Grace' is about 17 x 23" (minus the frame), and (as ever) painted in Painter IX.5, printed on heavy cotton rag, mounted on board, varnished and framed. Please contact the gallery for pricing.

Best Small Shops...

Another illustration for the Daily Telegraph Magazine, this time a feature about the best small shops in Britain of 2011. The feature was not only about fashion but also categories such as best shop for wine, mens fashion, bookshop, interiors etc.. the brief was pretty open but the general idea was to have a sexy fashionista and incorporate the categories in there as well.

The idea to have her carry bags and have the categories on there seemed like a good one so i quickly sketched it up for approval. Even though her head is really the only part thats fully painted and its actually pretty small- it gave me a complete nightmare and took a couple of days to get 'right' (right to me that is) but everything else went pretty smoothly.

Popshot magazine...

Awhile ago i was asked by the nice guys at Popshot Magazine to do an accompanying illustration for a poem in their Love Issue. Black Oil imagines love as a physical thing that percolates through the body. They very nicely sent a copy through for me, so heres a couple of quick Instagram shots of the cover and my page. I will add the original image onto my portfolio site soon if you want to see it without the filter.

Inspiration blogging...

A while ago i created a blooger called Carbon Cradle which i wanted to use as a place where i could share images that i found to be interesting, inspirational etc and i was able to keep it going for a reasonable time. Unfortunately as many will know, blogger probably isnt the best platform to share images like this, uploading, tagging, linking each picture can be a little tedious, especially when my custom css blogger template never seemed to want to conform to the right size- so every image needed alterations to the html so it would display properly!

So i have been looking to move this stuff over to Tumblr which is pretty much built with this type of blogging in mind. The problem i had was that Tumblrs coding was completely new to me and trying to find a custom theme i liked was a bit tricky. Ive found one which is ok- for now, its a bit buggy on the infinite scroll so im likely to change it when i find something that works a little better. (if you know of any themes that may suit- feel free to let me know!)

Anyway- as of now, my Carbon Cradle blog is now running on Tumblr at: carboncradle.tumblr.com and the old blog will just sit around feeling sorry for itself.

New work for London AAF...

Coming up at the end of October is the London Affordable Art Fair (AAF). Fine Grime will be at stand 7 at the Battersea show which runs October 20th-23rd. They will be showing a variety of great artists including: Carles Gomila, Nom Kinnear King, Jessica Stewart, Bethany Marchman, Charmaine Olivia, Paul Barnes, Archer Dougherty, Lindsey Carr, Adam Oehlers, Joshua Burbank, Bradley MacMath.

I will have a few pieces available there including these 2 new ones. Evil Intent and Lucille. Each is 355x498mm (approx 14x20"), giclee printed on cotton rag, dry mounted on board, varnished and framed.

Landscape sketches 4...

Taking a little break from doing these little sketches for awhile, just too much to do at the moment so they can take a back seat while i concentrate on other pieces. Heres the last batch, in all ive done 99 of these warmup sketches, seems fitting to be able to leave it there for a while!

ST Fashion, Front Row...

After producing 2 illustrations for ST Fashion magazines AW/11 Guide to Coats feature, i also got asked to do a couple more for their Front Row feature in the same magazine. I think this issue is going to be out with the Daily Telegraph on the 18th Sept.

3Cs project, one week in...

Ive just updated the 3Cs project blog with a little post, its now 1 week to the day that i took the ref images and started the project and so far its been going well. Ive added a couple of photos of a portrait i did on wednesday so people have some idea of what im actually doing!

Have a look at the 3Cs blog: 100portraits.blogspot.com

Landscape sketches 3...

More of these little landscape warm-up sketches.

Instagram pics...

As you may be aware, i use an iphone app called Instagram to take a lot of quick photos. At the moment (as far as im aware) there is no native website that allows people who dont have the app to view someones pictures. Of course you can see them if it gets posted through to Facebook, Twitter etc but not have a way to view everything that someone has taken. Fortuntely theres a site called Instagrid that allows you to view publish all you images under your profile and allow non Instagram users to see what youve been posting. Heres the link to my profile if you ever fancy a look:

http://instagrid.me/tombagshaw

Landscape sketches...

Heres a few more of these little sketches ive been doing as a warmup exercise. Check out the first post under the landscapes category for more.

3Cs Project Launched...

On the 1st of September i will start a project to create 100 portrait studies in 100 hours over 100 days! The idea is quite simple, take some reference photographs of 100 volunteers at noon on the 1st of September, then start creating a digital portrait study from the reference but only allow myself one hour to do it- one a day, for 100 days! Im hoping that this will allow me to further develop my portrait painting skills and will certainly make me do portraits that i would not normally undertake in my normal work!

I have set up a blogspot address, 100portraits.blogspot.com where you can find more information about the project if you would like to take part. Im also going to be promoting the project through Facebook and Twitter, if you can, please help in getting the word around, link to the blog, tell your friends etc. Obviously this is only going to be something you can volunteer for if youre in the Bath area on the 1st of September but i really need as much publicity as i can get in order for this to work!

Mostlywanted updated...

Ive just updated my main portfolio website mostlywanted.com with all the latest works including the full body of work for the Beautiful Imperfections show at Corey Helford Gallery. If you cant get to the gallery to see them, you can now see all the finished pieces in Portfolio One! I will try and get some detail shots up on the blog at some point but it may take awhile, ive also got a new project starting soon which i should be announcing tomorrow!

Beautiful Imperfections...

Beautiful Imperfections is the title ive chosen for my new body of work which will be on show at the Corey Helford Gallery in LA starting on the 6th August. The show runs till the 27th, as you will see from previous posts the main show on the ground floor will be David Stoupakis who has produced 7 new pieces (weirdly coincidental that i produced 7 new ones as well...). I really cant wait to see all his new work- from the couple ive seen so far he looks like hes produced a killer show.

Anyway, heres a little showcard ive put together using my 'Regrets' piece with some of the details. More info can be found on the CHG main site.

Something a bit different...

For a couple of weeks since i finished my work for Corey Helford ive been doing a couple of warm-up sketches per day, nothing fancy, just a nice landscape image sketched in photoshop with a single custom brush i made (again, nothing special- a dual brush, default round combined with a dry brush set on multiply).

I just wanted to do something i dont ever usually deal with for very long, i generally do figurative work so these were a nice way to 'warm up' before starting work properly, im really enjoying it so far. Im going to see how long i can keep producing these sketches and every now and again upload a little collection of them here (if you follow me on Instagram / twitter etc you may have already seen small versions of them). I will put them all under a new 'Landscapes' category and see how they come along. Heres the last couple of weeks worth..

ST Fashion AW/11...

Heres a bit of new work recently commissioned for ST Fashion, a bi-annual published with the Daily Telegraph. They are for a 'Guide to coats' feature in the Autumn / Winter issue. A really nice job with a lot of supplied ref images and a pretty much free hand in what to produce. The first illustration is on a right hand page so the image leads your eye over the turn to the next page where the second image is boxed within a couple of columns. Really enjoyable job- thanks Ciara!

CHG flyers...

Heres the Corey Helford Gallery show eflyer for the upcoming show with David Stoupakis and myself, below that is a small postcard theyre also having made up. Going by the full upcoming shows flyer that came over, CHG is going to be having some amazing shows over the next couple of months!

CHG Teaser collection...

After 2 months, ive now come to the end of producing my work for the upcoming joint show with David Stoupakis at Corey Helford Gallery next month.

If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen these already- in fact you may have seen them on Facebook and Twitter as well (i upload to IG and sometimes send the feed to FB / Twitter too). These are the small teasers for the new show works, small closeups, sketches and works in progress, all taken with the Instagram app on Iphone4. I just wanted to collect them all in one place, hopefully it will show my progress over the last 8 weeks! Im now in the middle of printing, mounting, varnishing and framing.. then everything will be shipped over for the show!

Paint it! Make it! Zine...

Illustration Rally now have the 'Paint it! Make it!' zine available to buy. This zine was part of the event on the 25th that i posted about earlier and you can buy it with a small donation (£3 minimum). Check out the Illustration Rally blog post to get more info and heres a look at the little piece i supplied.

Guilty pleasures...

The Guilty Pleasures and Modern Vices show will be running at the London Miles popup gallery location tonight. The Vices show will be displayed on the first floor while the 'Coming to Town' joint show by Nom Kinnear King and Xue Wang, will be on show on the ground floor (i think). If youre in London (or if you are going to be visting in the next few days) make sure you stop by and see the work.

Opening reception: Thusday, June 23rd 2011. From 6pm to 11pm.
On show: June 23rd to June 27th 2011
Location: 65 Hanbury Street. East London.



Heres my 'Mans Ruin' piece for the Vices show which i posted about previously here.

CLIO Awards...

I recently found out that my illustrations for JWT Melbourne for the IFAW Anti Whaling Campaign had won Silver and Bronze in the CLIO Awards 'Print' category! There was also a silver award at Adfest earlier in the year for the same and they were shortlisted for D&AD as well which was pretty cool. Congrats to the guys at JWT especially @HarshKapadia9 who i dealt with throughout the job.

Coming to Town...

Coming to Town is the title for a new joint show of works by Nom Kinnear King and Xue Wang. They are putting on the show at the London Miles pop up location of 65 Hanbury Street in London. This looks like a really good pairing of two great artists from the UK. The show only runs from the 23rd to the 27th June so make sure you have a look before its gone!

Paint it! Make it!...

I was recently asked by the awesome Stephen Chan to get involved with the Paint it! Make it! party for Japan. Its being put on by Illustration Rally (and friends) and looks like it should be a great event! 'Live drawing, origami, cakes and zine making where you can bind and customise your own zine with the work of some of the hottest illustrators around!' Everything raised from the event goes to the Just giving Tsunami appeal. Heres some more details:

When:
Saturday the 25th of June 10am til 5pm

Where:
The Book Club, 100-106 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4XS

If youre on twitter help spread the word with the hash tag #paintitmakeit and make sure you have a look at the main page on Illustration Rally for the artist list and more details on whats being planned. Heres the flyer- after the event i will also post up my contribution for the zine.

Working away...

In case anyone was wondering, im busy working away on a few new pieces for a joint show that ive got coming up with the incredible David Stoupakis at Corey Helford Gallery at the begining of August. Im slightly nervous about it to be honest and i really hope i can pull something 'out of the bag' that will be worthy of such a show! Ive got a couple of months of long hours ahead so things may be a little quiet on the blog (more so than usual) but i will try and add updates when i can- i will also be sending the occasional mobile upload through my twitter and facebook feeds just so you know ive not dropped off the face of the earth!

Remember that London Miles have their Literal Eyes show this week- Thursday, May 12th 2011. 6pm to 11pm. Exhibition on show: May 13th to May 16th 2011 at 65 Hanbury Street, East London.

Strychnin gallery also start their 'Enchanted Forest' show on the 13th in Berlin, looks like it will be a great show and a percentage of sales goes to help the WWF with their forestry projects.

Skullface...

Awhile back i got asked to contribute my Odokuro piece to an upcoming book called Skullface being put together by the nice chaps at Korero books. Compiled by Yak El-Droubie Skullface gathers over 70 artists to get to grips with Death in all its guises. An unequaled showcase of today's painters and illustrators, featuring the likes of Alex Garcia, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Shawn Barber, Mike Giant and Jeral Tidwell. Today i got my copy through the post (thanks guys!) and its a really amazing book- if you like anything to do with skulls, go get it now! Heres a couple of quick Instagram pics:

Literal Eyes...

London Miles Gallery have an new show on soon called 'Literal Eyes'. To quote the press release: '30 artists from Europe translating their favorite works of literature into visual masterpieces'. Im fortunate enough to have been asked to submit a piece alongside some great artists and i chose to interpret Shakespears 'A Midsummer Nights Dream'- more specifically the queen of the fairies herself, Titania- the title of this piece.

I always thought Titania was actually a much darker character- at least in so far as you usually see her portrayed. Originally i wanted to do a big epic piece, full of the characters lounging around- akin to my favorite painting of the story by Edwin Henry Landseer but unfortunately i just didnt have the time for something so complex (just too much to do over the next few months!) so i chose to concentrate on Titania herself. I wanted to include some fairies but stay well clear of the usual sugary sweet variety that has become all to familiar over the last few years. Hopefully the darker edge i wanted to portray together with a contemporary feel have come through enough.. anyway, there you go, a little background for you!

Heres my piece, a few details and the show flyer. You may have noticed that London Miles have a new venue for this show so if youre going- make sure you note the new address! Show runs May 12th - May 16th, 65 Hanbury Street, Shoreditch, London.