Friday 21 May 2010

Summer Fun!

Here's some spots I just did for Baltimore Magazine in the US. They're gonna be printed very small, and shouldn't have taken me as long as they did...Oh well. I think they came out all right in the end!

The Gold Heart Mountaintop Queen Directory


These funny old skirts are now on sale over at Yee Haw's Etsy Store. Go'get'em girls! I really recommend having a good old browse while you're there. Better than the Argos catalogue!

By the way, this is a redesign of an image I originally did for a limited edition Monobird 7".
Cheating you say? Nah! Good to get a bit more mileage out of it!

Monday 10 May 2010

Log drivers

Here's another piece I've done recently. It's called "Log drivers on the Drammen River" and is another "homage" to the old river workers of my home town. It appeared in my local newspaper as part of a series called "Drammen Illustrated" which each week features a picture by an artist who either lives in or have some connection to the city. Drammen has undergone some dramatic changes in recent years. Traffic has been diverted through hillside tunnels, opening access to the river for the first time with promenades, artificial parks and beaches. A very costly facelift I'm sure, but it has definitely given the town an air of optimism.
With this piece though, I wanted to remind people that the city wasn't built by sipping cappuccino in a riverside cafe, but rather by the toil and work of thousands of workers with soggy feet and calloused hands!

Sunday 2 May 2010

Topsy Turvy!


Nobrow no.3 is out! Which means I can finally post the picture I did for it. Once again, the guys at Nobrow are encouraging creative use of spot colours, and once again, they've managed to gather an impressive bunch of artists to do so. Pretty chuffed to find myself in the company of Olaf Hajek and Johnny Hannah I must admit. I haven't seen the magazine yet, so I can't wait to get my filthy hands on it!
The theme this time was "Topsy Turvy", which means "upside down" or "inside out". Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival where the social order was completely turned on it's head; slaves and masters swapped roles, feuds and arguments were put on hold and people gave each other gifts and basically just had a massive party. I really enjoyed this one. Spent ages researching it, although it's by no means historically accurate!

Who We Were and What We Meant by It...


I just finished this album sleeve for My Two Toms, a Bristol band I've been a fan of for years. They play a stompin' kind of lo-fi country/bluegrass. 100% instrumental, but fully fantastic! Banjo, guitar (sometimes with ridiculously sloppy strings) and the occasional ukulele with maracas duck taped to their shoes. If this sounds like your kinda thing, check them out here: http://www.mytwotoms.co.uk. It's gonna be a 12' vinyl release, so I can't wait to see it printed! Should be out in a few weeks time!

The idea for this image is based on the old way of transporting timber; floating it down stream from the forests to the shipment harbours, saw mills and paper factories. The town I grew up in, Drammen, was built on this trade, so in a way it's a little homage to the log drivers of my home town.