Witchfest

I went to 'Witchfest' in Croydon today, chiefly to check it out as a possible venue for selling pictures that might appeal to pagan and wiccan types. It was an interesting day and I met a few outher artists who do stuff comparable to what I do, who had stands there, including dark777fairy whose work I'd long admired on deviantART and Chris Down, whose work I'd only recently come across on there.

It was also interesting to learn more about paganism, with various lectures and demos going on, though they've not made a convert of me. Another highlight was the talk by historian Prof Ronald Hutton on ancient religion and monuments in Britain up until Roman times.

I have quite a lot of work on presently, hence my neglect of this blog. One of my more recent works has a witchy flavour, an album cover commissioned for heavy metal band 'Brutal Temptress'.


Brutal Temptress by ~dashinvaine on deviantART

Grimshaw Exhibition

Went to the exhibition of John Atkinson Grimshaw at the Guildhall Gallery in London today. Very impressed with the intricacy, draftsmanship and atmospherics achieved by this painter. He had a tragic life despite being successful, as only 6 of his 16 children survived to adulthood. This goes some way to account for the air of melancholy present in many of his works. He himself died at only 57, so I read, of cancer. His productivity was impressive, as well. Some people have to deal with much tragedy, and those that can overcome it and go on producing things of beauty are indeed to be admired.




Also saw some other great Victorian paintings, including 'Israel in Egypt' by Poynter, one of my favourite Ancient-Egypt themed paintings.





Then looked in St Paul's Cathedral (saw Lord Leighton's monument having earlier seen one of his paintings) and crossed the river to Tate Modern, though C was mortified to be dragged into such an unholy place. She had a point...




This is 'Untitled VII Bacchus' by Cy Twombly.
Surely any sane person can see this worthless rubbish for what it is.

We were confirmed in our low opinion of 'modern' art. Also went past Globe Theatre and Golden Hind to Southwark cathedral, then away from the city 'suits' to Camden...

Tablet blues

My Graphics tablet seems to have died on me. Shaking and bashing the stylus seemed to give it temporary leases of life, but whatever it had seems at last to have proven terminal. I don't think dropping a Stanley knife on the tablet a while ago would have done it much good either, but it seemed to survive that! I've ordered a new one of the same make, so hopefully that will work and it won't prove to be a problem with the computer itself. Fortunately the remaining projects that I'm working on all involve traditional art, and getting back into oil painting in a big way may be a good thing in the long run. Sometimes I can identify with the Luddites.

Machines and Magic book

I was honoured recently to have two pieces selected to be featured in a soon to be published art book called Machines and Magic. It's a collection of sci-fi and fantasy imagery (mostly digital) that has been put together by Craig Musselman.

The pieces of mine that are included are 'Thalestris', an Amazon warrior, and 'Bone Head Explodes', a burning skull design. I've seen a preview and there is some wonderful work by other artists, and it's well worth getting your hands on. Thanks and congratulations to Craig for organizing it!

Here is a youtube vid on the book.

2011BC

I went to 2011 BC, aka. Birmingham Comic Con today. First event of that type I've been to apart from Dragonmeet in a previous year, (although that was more gaming oriented). As expected there were people dressed as super heroes and as sexy cave girls. There was a lot of artwork to enjoy, and real live artists with tables. And comic books, obviously.

I had the pleasure of meeting Matt Warner and Mark and Amy Adams from Hellbound Media, for whose comic 'Kiss Me Deadly' I did the cover.



I Made a few other contacts, got some nice feedback, and had a very constructive portfolio review from David, editor at Titian.

Blackguard promo vid

Work progresses revising 'The Blackguard'. Here is a youtube video showing the before and after state of the first couple of dozen scenes...

Blackguard reworkage

I am currently reworking and expanding my visual story 'The Blackguard'. Some of the new scenes can be seen here on Conceptart.org