Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Arms! for Old Town's Evening Star

Arms! for Old Town's Evening Star

This is a piece I did to illustrate a very amusing tale by Old Town clothing's Marie Willey for their occassional newspaper the Evening Star (tagline 'Small Life Is Here').

The article is the true story of an obstreperous Old Town customer who, when trying on one of their 'grandaddy' shirts, was amazed to find it fitted so well as he was insistant that his arms were of significantly different lengths...

I have shown Ms Willey just on the cusp of losing it (I had considered putting a pair of tailor's scissors behind her back). Visitors to their beautiful shop in Holt, Norfolk, will recognise the setting as the changing room at the back).

Its always hard to draw friends' likenesses and I was worried how my rendering might be received. But Marie and Will both said they were delighted and Marie especially was glad that I had given her 'thin ankles' (which, I hasten to add, she has!)...

Yet more faux Delft tiles from Umbra Sumus

More faux Delft tiles from my Umbra Sumus solo exhibition in April...
Arms of Nicholas Culpeper, herbalist & apothecary

Coney Street

The Phoenix Claw (old carved sign)

Hearts of Oak (Naval ship-building)

Hampstead Teeth (=Teeth: Cockney Rhyming Slang)

Tulip (Columbia Road Flower Market)

HoneyComb (Steve Benbow, London Honey Co.)

The Devil & St Dunstan

Peter Hardwicke, sign-painter

Sandys Row Synagogue (menorah)

Cross Bones Cemetery

Clay Pipe (Jane Amelia Parker, who makes jewellery from mudlarked claypipes)

Monday, August 6, 2012

More faux Delft tiles from Umbra Sumus

More faux Delft tiles from my Umbra Sumus solo exhibition in April...

Jones' Bros. Dairy

Pen & Ink

One for Sorrow...

Artichoke

Quaker Street

Tweed Cycle Ride

Pineapple (John Tradescant)

Grasshopper (Sir Thomas Gresham)

Gardners Market Sundriesmen

Ripe Straw-berries! (street cries)

Ombudsman Services #2


Ombudsman Services #2

Another job for the Ombudsman Services, this time about the perils and pitfalls of buying and selling property and to follow hot on the heels of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Ombudsman Services #1

Ombudsman Service #1

A job for the Ombudsman Services.

How many Ombudsmen does it take to change a light bulb? Three - one to put in a new one, one to investigate why the old one failed and a third to record and assess how the other two have performed (I didn't write the joke!).

Museum Journal - Part 26

Museum Journal - Part 26

Part 26 of the Director of the National Museum of Britsh History's Diary, for regular client Museum Journal (MJ), August 2012 issue.

This month our man tries to console his superior who feels that as a result of the Levinson enquiry that they are both f@ck•d.

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.

Museum Journal - Part 25

Museum Journal - Part 25

Part 25 of the Director of the National Museum of Britsh History's Diary, for regular client Museum Journal (MJ), July 2012 issue.

This month our man is sent to Little England '84, a Tory-backed theme park where everyday cricket is played upon the village green, foreign terrorists are arrested by an ever-vigilant police force and Thatcher shines down benignly....


In the end the image was amended to render the terrorist unoffensive.

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.