A year or two ago I was commissioned to do a stencil of a Schnauzer in a propaganda style similar to the kind of stuff Obey did. Because of the way it came together I needed to use a lot of layers and the paint got thick and heavy and I was never really happy with it (not that I'm ever particularly happy with anything I produce). Anyway I thought at the time I would revisit it, try again but this time a little more in my style and as 2014 is the year I catch up and finish old projects here is a few shots of the finished cut stencils.
2014 has seen a good start to the sketchbook. Gonna collaborate with Miss Wah on one of these books (I think she likes my cactus)...although after counting 10 metres of paper in one book I'm thinking I've bitten off more than I can chew. Anyway here are some shots of the sketchbook in progress...all done with Posca and Sharpies.
This artwork originally had a different title but I decided to go for the less desperate sounding title of "Save Me"
Size: 20cm x 20cm Media: Posca pen on box canvas Price: £45 Brand new coiled worm t-shirts are now available in my Spreadshirt shop. Available in kids, teens, mens and womens sizes and various colours. Click here to jump to the shop. Curious Yellow Weekend was an opportunity to paint with a few friends and try something new. So I put away the cans, whipped out the brushes and came up with this. Pleased with how it turned out because it was pretty similar to the original sletches... Here are some shots from the day
Head Jam was a live art event at Head Hairdressing put together by My Dog Sighs and Strong Island. It was an opportunity to paint alongside Id-iom, Miss Wah, Process and My Dog Sighs and it was one of the best days painting I've ever had. Met loads of nice people and was really well looked after by Rick (the boss at Head Hairdressing), the Strong Island boys and the My Dog Sighs family. It took 3 hours for me and Process to travel from Peterborough to Southsea but it was well worth the drive. A quick coffee from Rick, a hello from Miss Wah (who had already nearly finished her wall) and an art director style brief from My Dog Sighs was all we needed to get us ready for a day of painting. A little later Id-iom arrived, both of them (I had no idea Id-iom were a pair and brothers as well). Unfortunately My Dog got a message from Snik who had broken down and was not going to be able to make it. Shame because I was looking forward to seeing Snik work, he was the first guy to make me aware of Upfest and, being a stencil artist, I was after seeing how a professional does it. One of the highlights of the day was featuring in a Legography photoshoot. Legography is a page on Facebook run by Andrew Whyte (an excellent night time photographer) who, just for fun, takes photographs featuring a lego character. Check out the FB page for more shots and a video of the lego man getting in the way of the spraypaint. The great thing about the smaller paint events is being able to chat with everyone. I met Miss Wah for the second time, she's a champ with Poscas and is very sweet but I cant understand a word she says. Id-iom were very cool and I love the way they work together, two brothers too opposing styles yet together they make the most amazing art. Take a look at their Youtube page for some great videos. I spent a lot of time talking (complaining) about Flickr with Simon Rutter who spent most of the day there capturing the work in progress. Check out his website and the photos below which are all his but he was kind enough to share with me. I would do anything for Paul and Tristan from Strong Island. There wasnt a half hour go by that one of them didnt have a beer or a burger on hand for me. They also made this video of the day. Cant say thank you enough to these guys. Big thanks also go to My Dog Sighs for inviting me down, Rick for letting us paint his walls, Paul for the ruby and Jo for the hospitality.
Cant wait for Head Jam 2... My legs have only just stopped aching after Upfest 2013, there is so much to see you just never stop walking. Its difficult to summarise Upfest in a few paragraphs, it’s as if someone has loaded a cannon with all the best street artists and fired it at Southville. The main target is the Tobacco Factory but spread out further there is some great art to be found on the fringes. This year we were late getting into Bristol after a journey littered with closed junctions, bomb scares, traffic accidents and road works. Our 3 hour journey took us 5 hours to complete so unusually we decided to be sensible and go for a meal (Thai Edge, very nice) and get an early night. Bad idea, Saturday morning we wake up at 9:30 which is normally OK when you’re on holiday but Upfest artist registration is between 9:30 and 10:30 so the pressure is on already. We can’t afford to miss out on the free breakfast so we go downstairs and fuel up on bacon and eggs. We roll into the Tobacco Factory at 10:20 and queue for registration, behind us two artists who had only ever met over the internet recognise each other with a series of OMG’s and man-hugs. Great stuff. We collect our goody bags which contain cans of Montana paint, Posca pens and caps (thankyou Upfest) and make our way to our venue…The Luckwell Club. The Luckwell Club is an abandoned building, scheduled to be knocked down last year but still standing and home to the most artists out of all the venues. When we arrived the Upfest volunteers were still putting up the last remaining boards and told us that we would probably be round the corner at the back of the car park. Luckily Sisquatch used her charm and managed to negotiate us a board right at the entrance between Kef and Andy Council. How cool is that? While getting ready for Upfest I couldn’t decide what to paint. It was either going to be a giant 3 layer stencil of a wrinkly man or a new forsaken worm. With help from Sisquatch both went up. While painting it’s always good to meet up with those people who you regularly talk to on social media but never actually get to meet so thanks to everyone that stopped by to say hello. After a long day painting it was time for a drink so we took a short walk over to the Hen & Chicken to catch up with My Dog Sighs, Los Dave and Miss Wah. Also there was Wally and his wife who owned the van that My Dog Sighs and Funns painted. Apart from someone stealing my pizza this was a great night catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. For me Upfest on a Saturday is all about getting your head down and painting whereas Sunday is about walking the streets and taking in all the great art that is being put up. Sundays highlights included the C215 cat. An amazing freehand piece by the French artist that was painted over a magnificent Smug piece from last year. It was a brave decision to paint over Smug but I agree with it because it says no matter how good your art is its getting painted over next year which fits with the very temporary nature of street art. I got a Facebook message that I was in the Upfest gallery on North Street which surprised me because I sent my work to be exhibited a day late. Over the moon with this. Further down the road we caught up with My Dog Sighs again and this was the first time I’d seen the eyes he paints in the flesh. Pretty special moment, the reflection in the eyes is fantastic. Would have liked to have seen the van all finished. Process Smith managed to make it over on Sunday and was in Bar BS3 so we took a look in there. This was a really chilled out area and absolutely full of the most amazing stencils. Round the corner from Bar BS3 was Cretin Collective. I’ve painted with Dom W at a couple of events and I like his laid back attitude. He’s bloody good without trying too hard and pretty modest too which is a great combination. As far as I’m concerned Dom and the other guys from Cretin Collective painted the wall of the weekend. Really tight work that fused together several different artists styles seamlessly. Later that night Cretin member Loch Ness won illustrator of the year. There was plenty more to see at North Street Green, Vector Seating, the Tobacco Factory and all the other venues. Sunday night was a drink at the Tobacco Factory with the Duckmantons and Process Smith. Later Miss Wah and My Dog Sighs dropped in to collect an award for artist of the year before moving onto the Tunnels for the official after party. All in all Upfest 2013 was a classic, we loved it and can’t wait for 2014.
Check out what Wayne Williamson did with my worm heads...I love it. Picture on top and a video below. Im not a big fan of doing standard portraits so I've been looking out for interesting photos that I can stencil just to practice my cuts and spraying technique. I found this one and made it into a 7 layer stencil but rather than having a different colour or tone for each layer I decided to just use two cans and see if I could blend my way though 7 layers. Here are all the stencils... Here is the artwork...
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