Artists of Spitalfields Life: A taster

Artists of Spitalfields Life: A taster

the Fat Boy

Next wednesday 7th November sees the launch of the Artists of Spitalfields Life exhibition at Ben Pentreath's, 17 Rugby Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 3QT. The exhibtion will run until Saturday 24th November.

I will be selling, along side the likes of Joanna Moore, Adam Dant, Laura Knight, Sebastian Harding, Anthony Eyton, Alice Pattulo, Robson Cezar, Marianna Kennedy, Lucinda Rogers, Rob Ryan and Lillie O’Brien, a series of limited edition ceramic tiles, based loosely upon the Great Fire of London 1666. I've created 48 designs, in a strictly limited edition of two tiles per design, on food, fire, plague, gluttony and Restoration London.

Attached is a brief taster of 3 designs; the Fat Boy monument, at Pie Corner, on Cock Lane, where the Great Fire is reputed to have stopped.

Pie Corner I

Cock Lane II

Whisky Galore

Whisky Galore

cover

 A lovely commission I put to bed a month or two back for a new hardback edition of Sir Compton Mackenzie's classic tale, set during World War II, whereby a cargo vessel (the S.S. Cabinet Minister) is wrecked off a remote fictional Hebridean island group — Great Todday and Little Todday — with fifty thousand cases of whisky aboard! Celtic cunning is pitted against Sassanach censorship.
Published by Birlinn.

My idea for the cover was a deathly quiet, almost dour, view of the islands in the background and a vignette, in the form of a bottle of single malt Uisce Bea'tha, containing all the 'spirit' of the islanders at a ceilidh within it. I'd seen the film as a kid but I'd not read the book at that point. But I have now and its a cracking good read at that.

I really enjoyed this job and think that shows...

Cover detail

Whisky Galore

The World Today - Flagpoles

The World Today - Flagpoles

 A piece I did a few weeks back for the October/ November  issue of political publication The World Today.

This was for a piece about the world's tallest flagpoles, in an article entitled 'Boosting morale while straining the neck' by James Nixey. The six at the top of the chart are, in descending order, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Jordan, Abu Dhabi and Malaysia. Winners, the Tajikistanis, put up a 160-metre flapole in their capital, Dushanbe, late last year!

The article ends thus: "For a relatively young country which feels under threat - to its economy, security or identity - its an easy solution. And cheaper to run than a tank. Or a school. Or a hospital."

Barnacle Bill

Barnacle Bill

 A quick sketch I did tother morning whilst sipping my coffee of my friend and close neighbour Will Brown of Old Town clothing (http://www.old-town.co.uk/) who enjoys a scoop or four in the lowly taverns of old Cromer town. He stands ale in hand at the bar of the Snug Bar, Dolly the cat at his heels.

I've given him a bit of a pumpkin head, which was not my intent and which, in life, he does not possess, but in other ways I think I have caught something of him...

Museum Journal - The End

Museum Journal - The End

After just over 2 years the monthly installment of the Diary of the (nameless) Director of the (fictional) National Museum of Great Britain this gig has ran its course and come to a natural close.

Here are the last two stalling enthrallments:

Part 27. Here our man commandeers the Ark Royal for the Museums Board, decorates it with artwork by Tracy Emin and Grayson Perry and sails into Left-wing cities like Liverpool and Glasgow to threaten councils that refuse to tow the Party line.

And here, in the very last Diary entry, Part 28, our man recounts how he got imbroiled in the tabloid press royal sex scandal. Here he chats innocently to Lord N___ (dressed as the Great God Pan) whilst holding Prince Harry's Willie (his goldfish, named for his brother, as it mostly just sits there, stares and opens and closes its mouth)!

As always with MJ the final print size is minute (3 or 4 cm across tops) so its crucial to keep the design very simple and the detail to a minimum. 

Cromer - Gem of the Norfolk Coast

© property of Paul Bommer

Cromer - Gem of the Norfolk Coast

An idea I had to get out of my system to commemorate the move to our new home town on the edge of the wild and windy German Ocean. Cromer is famed for its crabs and lobsters, and I've shown one of each representing Nick and me.

Cockney Rhyming Slang (Ted Baker)

Cockney Rhyming Slang (Ted Baker)

A month or so back I was asked by the Association of Illustrators (www.theaoi.com) to be involved with a project entitled Great British Pastimes, a collaboration between them and clothing company Ted Baker (www.tedbaker.com).

Ted Baker had selected a Baker's Dozen of thirteen illustrators he wanted to design a range of A2 limited edition litho-printed posters on varios allotted subjects celebrating British hobbies and culture. The posters are given away free with purchases over a certain amount from any of TB's outlet across the world.

Fellow artists included Andy Smith, Katherina Manolessou, Jane Smith and Sara Fanelli.

I was given Cockney Rhyming Slang to illustrate. I thought a Costermonger and his Stall (full of 20 odd slang 'vignettes') was the best way to show it - both the cockney traditions of the pearly kings and queens, and the use of rhyming slang, originated in the East End costermongers' world of the 19th Century - the former as a way of attracting more attention and the latter as a secret language to avoid interference from the Law!

Although not as prevalent as it once was, rhyming slang is still very much alive and kicking.

Detail: Rabbit & Pork, Apples & Pears, Whistle & Flute, Dog & Bone, Boracic Lint

Deatil: Syrup of Figs, Butcher's Hook, Plates of Meat, Tit for Tat

Detail: Brown Bread, Bacon & Eggs, Raspberry Tart, Pen & Ink