On display in N16

Being the cutting edge Banksy-style street artist I am, I've just bombed my tag on a dark and gloomy underpass near Croyden.

Not really - that's not my style. I have, however, recently hung a selection of my pictures on the walls of London(the World?)'s finest patisserie, Belle Epoque (37 Newington Green
London N16 9PR) map.

Even if you're not interested in my pictures, it's well worth going there as they make a darn good mocha. And the chocolate almond croissants are amazing. And the cakes...and...just try everything.

Omar Little

Amazing Feet

The results of me playing around with the 'Women and Nanotechnology' drawing I did a while back


Amazing feet, 2009

Paper Michael

I did this to frighten my girlfriend the other night.


Paper Michael, 2009

'She Laughs' at Nexus Art Cafe, Manchester

If you haven't made it along to the 'She Laughs' exhibition at Nexus Art Cafe in Manchester yet, head along before it ends on 21 October. I have a few things on display there, and prices start at £2-£5 for some of the prints, so what are you waiting for?

Thanks to those who came to the opening night on 11 September, and to the folks at Nexus who put the whole thing together.


'She Laughs', Nexus Art Cafe (exterior)*


'She Laughs', Nexus Art Cafe (interior)



*photo taken by 'big bozo'!

Micro in Japan

I recently spent a month in Japan, which was thoroughly amazing and I'm still digesting it as there was so much to take in. While I'm doing that, you can have a look at some of the sketches from the diary I kept there

'She Laughs' at Nexus Art Cafe, Manchester

Some more info on the 'She Laughs' exhibition in Manchester, which I have a few drawings on display at, starting this Friday - come along for the opening night if you're in the neighbourhood:

SHE LAUGHS 11^th September – 21^st October 2009

Opening Friday 11^th September 7 – 9 with performance

What does humour do, what does it say or can it simply function as something to be enjoyed?

Nexus is constantly changing & developing the ways in which it approaches visual art. Not being a ‘white cube’ adds a number of things to the work that is shown in the space & this exhibition, designed by Liz Gaunt & Dylan Thomas takes that forward in its installation. This space has been transformed as a heightened reflection of its Northern Quarter surroundings. There are many visual references to the shabby chic vintage shops & record stores all around making this exhibition something familiar. The visitors to this show know how to flick through records & are welcome to use the same action with the 12’ mounted pieces. Like there rest of the northern quarter enjoying the comfort of nostalgia, rummaging through like old records, absorbing their images the way you might next door or across the road.'

Exhibitionist

I have a couple of drawings on display at the forthcoming 'She Laughs' exhibition at the Nexus Art Cafe in Manchester which opens on Fri 11 Sept 2009. I'll be there for the launch, and I think there will be some interesting things happening that evening, so please come along!

(I'll update this blog should I hear any additional details)

Not quite as shockingly bad iPhone art #2

Another attempt at drawing using the iPhone app 'Brushes'. Animation of it being drawn here. (and previous attempt here)

This is a pretty awful attempt from memory at drawing Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, having seen him at the Ghibli Museum, Tokyo.

I'm glad to see that the Brushes app was updated the other day with the introduction of layers, which means it'll be much easier to use, but I'll now have even less of an excuse if the next picture I draw with it is shockingly bad.

Drawing on the back of a bus

I've done some ads for Stoke Newington School & Sixth Form to appear on the back of 20 London buses throughout August (I'm not sure which routes but they're probably based around Hackney). If you see a bus with this ad please take a photo of it and email it to me. The person who sends the highest number of photos of different sightings (no cheating allowed!) wins a small prize, not yet decided.

Antifreeze / Trade City

I'm taking part in Manchester's first 'art car boot sale', Antifreeze, this Saturday (4 July 2009), as part of Trade City and the Manchester International Festival. If you're quick, you should be able to pick up one of my masterpieces for £1 or £2 at the 'She Laughs' stand (organised by Nexus Art Cafe).

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it up there, so please take a photo of the stand for me if you do go!


Saturday 4th July 2009
12-7pm
Free entry

CHIPS Building, Upper Kirby Street, off Old Mill Street, New Islington, Manchester, M4 6EB

http://www.multimap.com/s/M7wfs331

Further details, including directions:

http://www.citylife.co.uk/arts/news/13628_antifreeze__the_alternative_art_car_boot_sale

http://antifreeze2009.blogspot.com/

Life Drawing

I've just attempted to tidy my room, and instead ended up trawling through some old drawings and scanning them in. Here are a couple of sketches from a life drawing class in late 2007.


Sitting man, 2007


Man with quiff! 2007

Morocco

A couple of drawings from Essaouira, Morocco done in April last year.


Doorway, 2008


Boat, 2008

Kuniyoshi - behind the scenes

Kuniyoshi

Having really enjoyed the Kuniyoshi exhibition at the Royal Academy (which ended a couple of weeks ago) and also having promised myself for some time that I'd have a go at using watercolours (rather than Photoshop), I decided to have a go at copying a Kuniyoshi print and then ruining it with watercolours. Results (badly photographed, just to make things worse), below:


Kuniyoshi woman, black and white, 2009


Kuniyoshi woman, colour, 2009

Illustreeous

Some experimentation in Illustrator last year that I'd forgotten about. I can't find the original files, only printouts that were buried in a folder I was looking through yesterday. I drew the bare tree image, and then played around with Illustrator's brushes by creating different leaf images and setting the colours to vary as I painted with them.

I've photoshopped these images to clean them up a bit post-scanning, but quite liked the paper image of the second one, so I've left that relatively untouched.


Illustreeous 1, 2008


Illustreeous 2, 2008


Illustreeous 3, 2008


Illustreeous 4, 2008

Shockingly bad iPhone art #1

I read this article yesterday, whereby an artist by the name of Jorge Colombo managed to get a gig doing the cover for New Yorker magazine using his iPhone. Naturally I was intrigued to see how his images were made, which turned out to be done using the Brushes app (£2.99), so I immediately downloaded this to have a go myself.


Lozenge of Love, 2009

It's not easy drawing on such a tiny screen, although Brushes makes it easier than you'd think by allowing you to zoom in by 800%, and my favourite function is that of 'undo', which is probably the one I've been using the most. It doesn't have layers, which I've become accustomed to using in every other piece of graphics software, so drawing (painting?) something requires quite a different thought process. Namely, having to start with the background and work upwards. Much like a real painter might, I suppose.

I've just figured out that Brushes stores every brush stroke you produce, so you can get it to produce a video of the creation of the drawing. Pretty clever!

Not the greatest image I've ever produced, or subject matter (it was 1am, I was in bed and just grabbed something nearby to draw), but a worthy experiment and I'll possibly add some more 'Shockingly bad iPhone art' using Brushes in the near future. It would probably look cool with the New Yorker logo at the top, if anyone from that particular publication wants to run an add for a popular sore throat lozenge brand, using the latest technology?

P.S. this blog is not sponsored by Brushes, Strepsils or Apple. If anyone from those companies is reading this, I'm willing to accept your cash provided you can convince the other two companies to do the same, in the interests of fairness for all parties.

Le Marche Des Enfants Rouges - Finished version

I've tidied up my original sketch, and coloured it as best I could from memory (so it could be completely wrong). Presenting the finished version...


Le Marche Des Enfants Rouges, 2009

Le Marche des Enfants Rouges

Another good Parisian tip I was given was to visit the Enfants Rouges organic market on Rue de Bretagne. It's a relatively small market with a good choice of things to eat, e.g. sushi, falafel, Italian, etc. all under one roof. I drew this while eating a falafel sandwich and waiting for my girlfriend to get some sushi.

She came back with a falafel sandwich.

I may add a bit of colour to this drawing at some point if I remember.


Le Marche des Enfants Rouges, 2009

I recently came back from a five day jaunt to Paris. Due to the terrible exchange rate at the moment, I spent most of the trip wandering around like a zombie having had no sleep in the cheap (£90 a night - not sure if it gets much cheaper than that in Paris) hotel room which had built-in amplifiers in the walls with surround sound toilet, shower and building-work noises.

A top tip if you're heading there soon is to visit the Rodin museum, avoiding the museum itself (which was about 8 euros to see) and just heading to the garden, which was only 1 euro and contained some amazing sculptures. One of which was a little old thing called 'Le Pensuer' ('The Thinker', to you and I). I spent 20 minutes trying to draw it and messed it up (particularly the head) due to the pressure of too many people looking at what I was doing.

Interesting that there seemed to be three stock reactions to seeing one of the world's most famous sculptures:

1) To reenact the pose for a photograph
2) Complete indifference (mainly seen amongst younger people)
3) To say "Ah...Le Penseur!" in a wise and knowing voice (seen exclusively amongst Dads)



Le Penseur

Idea Planted

I was playing about in Illustrator with some shapes, and this appeared.

I'm Only Sleeping - available as a limited edition print

'I'm Only Sleeping' is now available as a limited edition print.

The print is A2 in size, and comes on fine art paper. Edition of 40, £150 each (not including postage & packing). If you'd like to purchase one, please contact me on: info (at) microsketch (dot) com.

I'm pleased to be able to display photos of this print without the clichéd use of bulldog clips or people holding them up.


I'm Only Sleeping, 2009


I'm Only Sleeping, 2009

So Far Gone

So Far Gone, 2008-9

Blanket Coverage

Last night's snowfall may have caused havoc for UK businesses, with the BBC reporting that this may have cost them about £1bn, but it's not all bad news. I've done this drawing of how it looked out of my window at 1am this morning, for example.


Blanket Coverage, 2009

Bathroom

I was commissioned to draw this bathroom, which was built recently in a converted attic. It's a great room and feels rather like a posh health spa (but without the inconvenience for the owners of having random strangers wandering around).




Bathroom, 2008