Badde Manors postcard featuring in Sydney Review of books

Anna Couani a writer from Glebe, in Sydney got in touch with me recently via my website to ask for permission to use my Badde Manors painting for her essay about Glebe and surrounding area in Sydney Review of books. I use to know her partner artist Hilik when he use to sharpen knifes that I used in the kitchen at Badde Manors. Hilik sharpened them on the back of his motorbike. I still own a chef knife I bought from him. I liked the smaller chef knifes as the weight of the big ones wore down my wrists. Hilik features in my painting above along side everyone who worked at the cafe and the locals who came in. My painting also covers a piece of social history at that time. The Tent Embassy in Victoria park, also protester on roof about stopping uranium mining, the Internet cafe on the street, performance artists, famous musicians, actors and film makers as well as Danny Sebes as a boy with an gelato in hand and now he owns his own gelato shop in Roselle. I feature as the Egg lady as I made the breakfasts at the weekend. Look out for Anna's essay called "Beauty is underfoot wherever we take the trouble to look"

 

 

 

Dandifest 2017 is coming!

Norwich Dandies are preparing for Dandifest 2017.

If you would like to submit work in the festival have a think about the different themes. We have collaborated with Golden Bees from Australia and looking for submissions for a buzzing bee exhibition.
Also joined forces with Eaton Park cafe for a bicycle picture/painting to adorn the cafe during the festival.
1 square foot show will spread across Norwich in shop windows. Works no bigger then 1 square ft.
International postcard art exhibition which will be in a gallery window on St. Augustine's.
Local and International celebrity portraits show in Yarmouth Library.
Bird painting, photo, wall sculpture. Which will raise cash for Wing and a Prayer and the RSPB. This show is on at the Bridge Gallery at the Birdcage pub.

ABCD Showcase

A poster I designed for the ABCD showcase in Loddon on the 14 April 2016
I have been working on the ABCD project for over 9 months as a Graphic Reporter drawing at weekly meetings. Bring people and groups together for the whole of South Norfolk. The project was funded by the C.C.G. On January the 30th we had a festival in Attleborough to celebrate the project.

Here is a colouring in version of my poster. Rosie Lee tearooms in Loddon are going to host a colouring in competition. So get you pens and pencils out.

Graphic Reporting on dementia

 

Last week I went along to a big meeting about Dementia with all the people that have something to do with the care side from across the County. 

The next day I drew up the notes and Sabrina came along to help me colour in the reporting. This was the biggest event yet with 50 people at the meeting. This time I did the actual reporting without Sabrina and Shelly. But I wont be doing that again. I am going to only do the Graphic reporting with a team.  

 This was the biggest event yet with 50 people at the meeting. This time I did the actual reporting without Sabrina and Shelly. But I wont be doing that again. I am going to only do the Graphic reporting with a team. As its very intense listening and converting ideas into pictures and it really helps having friends there to help me. 

One of the comments that someone had said was that 'All carers need a wage' because most carers are family members and its not fair that they are doing a tough job with no money coming in.

Ten metres of drawing for this event and here is a tiny section. 

Dandifest Highlights at the NNUH

Some of the work from Dandifest 2015 in Norwich has gone up at the NNUH hospital on the 2nd floor for a special exhibition. The work was randomly picked to go in the exhibition and was everything I could hang in a day. Next exhibition I would like to print out photos of the larger works from Dandifest and show them. But this will have to wait till next year when I have more time. This exhibition will be up till November.

Goob signed sketches on exhibition from Q & A

Sketches of the Goob film Q&A in Norwich Cinema city are now framed and on show the Silver rooms Community hall in Norwich on Silver Road. Make an appointment with the Silver rooms to take a look round. 

The Goob is an award winning film made in Norfolk using real Norfolk actors with the Norfolk dialect. Its a fantastic film that stars Sean Harris. Sean now stars in Mission impossible films. The sketches were signed on the evening of the Q and A at Cinema City in Norwich, UK.  The DVD for the Goob will be out next week from the 21 September.

Houghton Hall Sketches

Houghton hall sketches of a Servant. I started working at Houghton hall in 2013 for the Houghton Revisited show, which brought back all the original paintings that once hung there before they were sold to the Hermitage in Russia. The rooms were brought back to there glory of the 1700's. Each day I look after different rooms. When there is quiet times so I fit in some sketching of the rooms.
This year I was brought back to Houghton Hall for the 'James Turrell show" Which is very modern art light show that is placed in different parts of Houghton. Sometimes I am looking after the light exhibits and other times I am i the house looking after the paintings in the rooms.
I have put all my sketches together and they are now on show at the NNUH hospital in Norwich on the 2nd Level corridor. I have mounted about 20 pictures and some are unmounted. They varied in size one picture is made up of lots of pictures where I have tried to draw the whole rooms and joined all the smaller sketches together together. If your in the NNUH it is an opportunity to see a piece of Houghton Hall. Houghton hall is open this year till the 24th October and well worth a visit.

Gallery Norfolk Summer show 2015

Gallery Norfolk has a Summer show of wonderful paintings by local artists.
My work has featured in the show this year with my beach paintings. Mostly of Cromer beach but also Overstrand and Sidestrand.
Whenever I get a chance to go to the coast I go by train with my bike. I get off at Gunton station and ride through the countryside and stay in my cousins house near my family. Every sunny day I ride into Cromer and set up on the beach to paint. This year my folks bought me this trailer so I can take a chair and stretched paper on board and all my paints down to the beach. Its really a children carrier but it does the job of taking all my work.

Last year I started beach painting as a break from city life. I done a dozen pictures and then took them up the slope by the Rocket House cafe and the life boat to Gallery Norfolk which is just on the left on the main street.

Catherine who works at the Gallery was delighted with the art and took it out the back to show Polly who owns the gallery and also makes picture frames. Polly said she would trial them to see how they go.

Polly frames some of the work for the show and then the others are mounted and unmounted sitting in racks.

The work has done very well and selling better then any of us expected.

'En plein air' beach painting can be very windy. But worth being outside catching the rays and fresh air. I look forward to the next sunny day to wheelie on down to the beach on my bike. The art works are all for sale and prised very reasonably for people to take home an original work from there holidays as a cheery memory to help them through the long winter nights.

Ships Wheel Art

This year for the Cromer and Sheringham Crab and Lobster festival the theme for artists was a Ships Wheel. Shops in Cromer and Sheringham sponsored wheels that artists painted and they put them in the window for the whole summer. Gallery Norfolk asked me to paint a wheel. I imaged being at sea and the seagulls that followed the boat reflected on my Ships wheel on a sunny day.
I painted the gulls on the beach in Cromer on paper then painted them  on the wheel. Exhibiting the seagulls along side the wheel in the window. On the 30th August all the wheels came together at the front of Cromer pier and were auctioned off for charity. They made a record amount of cash this year. All the charities will be local ones that need help.

Ukulele Caberet London Beach Party sketches

I was invited to draw the Poster for July's Beach Party theme. The actually event fell on a day when I was delivering a commission to London so I went down there and made a day of it. Dropping off sculptures in the morning spending the day at Tate Britain and Modern then eating out in a vegetarian restaurant and then heading over to the Lincoln Lounge in Kings Cross to see the Ukulele cabaret. 

The musicians were great fun off stage and on

I had not intended to sketch everyone, but got carried away with the music

Tricity Vogue organises the events monthly the next one is in September

Erin Hunter singing about child birth

Jungle book songs

The bar owners

The enthusiasts 

Playing the drum box

Background uke

Rapping to the Uke

Eye lashes that you could string a Uke with

The more serious Uke

First timer Uke

Birthday boy

Beard that you could string a uke with

Rocking out on a Uke

Pride without Prejudice time to catch

A poster by David Shenton of Pride without Prejudice show time to catch last few days of exhibition.

My work is on the right hand side and postcards are behind the desk. 

The Goob photos from Norwich Q&A

The Goob film was finally shown in Norwich after its World tour of Film festivals. I went along and saw the film and then sketched the Q&A 

Here I am with the sketch with Fergie who stars as Boo in the the film

Fergie with his adoring fans

Fergie chatting about the next film that he will be starring in

The other stars

 The end of the Q&A I caught up with Sean Harris afterwards as we had been in Brothers of the head about ten years before. Sean is now in big Hollywood blockbusters. 

Ghaphic Reporter

My new job as a Graphic reporter!! I was hired by Shelly Telly and part of her Action crew on a ABCD project in South Norfolk. About bringing communities together and having and figuring out how to support people with mental health.

I use felt tip pens and a really long roll of paper and draw what people are saying in image form. People in the meeting can draw to if they want and help colour in parts of the big picture. All good fun and I been asked to more Graphic reporting with another group so its trending. Get in touch if you would like me to help with your meetings.Here is a link to the website which has just been made about the project.

The Goob Sketches Cinema City

 

The Goob film set in Norfolk with total Norfolk actors with real Norfolk accents  was finally shown at Cinema City in Norwich after spending some time travelling around the world and winning awards at film festivals. The film was raw and realistic showing another side to the horrors of the supermarket industry. Supermarkets creates low prices for the consumer but no money for the growers and workers.  

The film was really well made showing some wonderful shots of Norfolk scenery as well as creating a swirling camera effects and well cast film.

In the sketch above the director Guy Myhill is answering questions about the film.  After the film was shown and the director, producer and actors were brought on stage for a Q and A with the audience. I drew each person when it was there turn with the microphone hence why they are all holding the microphone. Also capturing some of the cinema audience which was made up of friends of the film or people who worked on the film. 

 

I knew two of the Actors, Sean Harris who I was in the film the "Brothers of the Head"  in 2004 which was a film also set in Norfolk. I got on well with Sean Harris during the making of the film Brothers of the head. Also a brilliantly cast film. I am still friends with some of the cast today. Also I am very good friends with Boo also know as Fergie in real life or Martin Ferguson. Fergie has been a ceramic artist and then a plasterer and then a builder, now an actor. He has worked on several of my families homes. But he is also an amazing character and very unique with a great imagination. 

 The sketches are signed by everyone apart from the Goob and Fergie, whom I will catch up with soon to sign it. I will frame them and put them in my next exhibition at the Silver rooms New Community hall on Silver Road in Norwich. 

Norwich Dandies fundrazr

Norwich Dandies are fund raising for next year. They have quite a few big plans for next year and they have applied for Arts council funding but in order to receive the funding from the arts council they have to raise 10 percent. So I started a crowd funding campaign as we have quite a few perks to offer that make donating easier. Next year we plan Dandifest 2015 bigger and brighter and better and also to major shows in London for disability week and a tour of Norfolk round the villages. Please do donate and if you cant do share the funding page. A big thanks from the Dandies and we hope you can come and join in our events next year we try to make as accessible as possible for everyone. Click here to link to page

Washi Tape mural Japan meets NNUH

Washi tape mural on the 1st floor of the hospitals 

Lunch all together in the hospital restaurant.

A little bit of lunch time play making some origami birds

Dr. Goblin and his Washi tape mural

Dr. Goblin help we need some art on the windows and white walls. 

Students and patients help make the mural

Outside in

Jaide reaches the top of the Washi tape mural

Dr. Goblin in Washi tape action

Washi tape pack man.