Shit! it's april already!

crickey, where do i start?

hokay then.... um.... there's been a lot going on and as usual i've not updated the blog or site haha... i've been barraged with all kinds of greatness since the last post...

i'm currently working with rick dickinson on the latest musical offering from molly macleod in the form of their new album artwork which with any luck will be polished off in the not too distant future. i'm also lucky enough to be working with the ever talented nancy cunliffe on her new album artwork as well, i just hope i can do her album justice, if the early mixes of her music i've heard are half as good as the final recorded work it should no doubt make her a name you'll hear a lot more of in the coming year if you haven't had the pleasure already.

what else... well i've joined the wigan based arts collective north by north western and am working on an exhibition to be held in august along with a barrage of exciting arts based projects and shows to be held in wonderful wigan in the first week of august, check out the site for more details and how you can submit to the events that are planned, there will be art, music, poetry and all manner of creative things happening in the town that should make for a landmark year for the collective. i will post more info as soon as i get it and will be accepting submissions for my show in the near future when i finally iron out the details, the clock is ticking.

i've not had much chance of late to continue with my new quest in painting, that's something that should be changing very soon, i've a few freelance projects bubbling away at the moment and some interesting creative bits and bats that will get some airplay as soon as time allows...

updates soon... promise ;)

Paintings, iamunknown, xmas and new year things!

As you may have noticed on iamunknown, i've uploaded the first of the new paintings I've been working on. It's been a busy year with not very many productive projects happening as far as personal work goes, I plan on turning that around in 2009 with a fresh redesign of the website and what new work I do have being uploaded to it.

Maintaining a website is a time consuming thing at the best of times and you only need to sift through this blog to see how many times i've promised to get my arse into gear and actually do something with it. I'm making some big changes in my life at the moment and time to expand on my creative projects and get somethings out of my head and into realised in the real world are high on the agenda.

Till the next post which I'm sure will be in the new year, have a great Xmas and new year and I'll catch you in 2009

Neil

:D

... time flys when you're having fun

Seen as it's been a fair few months since I updated the site and blog I thought I better shed some light on what's been happening.

I've changed web hosting packages after issues with my hosting company, iamunknown will be back up in one form or another as soon as I get chance to get it sorted out. I'm working flat out at the moment to make ends meet and get things off the ground, so time to work on the website is pretty much none existant at the moment.

I've recently started painting in the last few weeks and am about 70% of the way through my second painting. I've never really tried to paint portraits or anything other than in a graphical style like the work I've done in the past and trying to decipher a photo and replicate it in paint is quite an exciting challenge. As soon as I get some good quality images of the pieces i will upload them to the blog.

Can't believe it's nearly xmas already... 2009 is coming round pretty damn quickly...

I will post more soon... got a stack of new exciting websites to post up as well... there's just never enough time in the day.

Neil

So then...

thought i better post something as it's been far too long.

i've been busy doing this and that of late, some freelance work and at least one exhibition since the last post. hence not having the time to post or to update iamunknown.com which is in desperate nee of attention and some updating.

im exhibiting this wednesday in Wigan for the NXNW festival. it's a local culmination of art, music, poetry and other aspects of the arts:
"North by Northwest is the Wigan Festival of Arts & Music and is in its second year! It is taking place between the 26th of July and 2nd of Aug 2008. NXNW celebrates the various creative circles working in and around Wigan, and further afield. This year features some specific, once in a lifetime, improvised events including the bringing together of wigans best bands into one super performance, artists homegrown and international creating one off pieces in the town centre, poets facing each other in a fight to decide who's pen is mightier, bands from across the country and an exhibition celebrating the best of wigans graphic scene."

info for the exhibition can be found on the myspace page, it's an exciting week of events in the area and if you're able to, making it down to one of the nights will be well worth the effort.

i'm finishing off a number of important jobs before i get cracking on some new work, i shall update the site and get on this blog more as i keep seeing the most amazing things on the web at the moment that should be shared.

i'll be back sometime soon.

n

Random Photos

...art of tea exhibition + album launch party...eventuall

Right then,

It's taken a while but here are the shots of the art of tea exhibition and the only good shot on the night of the album launch... im sure there must be better ones out there so if i lay my hands on any then i'll update this post.


Jane's artwork



Rick's artwork





My work... hung some pieces I've not exhibited before though it was painted back in 04


The fantastic Art of Tea, run by the most welcoming and fantastic people.


John Fairhurst's album launch, an awesome 2 night set, go buy his album before he sells out, you can get it on itunes but I can't seem to get the direct link thing working properly.

I'm taking a break for a while to finally sort the studio space and finish off my new painting. I've a few other ideas in the sketchpad and my head I'm hoping on getting stuck into as well.

When the studio is up and running I'll be doing an update to iamunknown.com as well, i'll be updating the media section photos with some better shots along with some new work.

Photos of the Limited Edition Show

Here are the shots i got of people at the show, just to prove there actually were people there. Most, if not all the other shots online are of the work and most are better than mine so for a peek at what was and still is on offer for sale go here.

I'll get the shots of the exhibition at the Art of Tea up online when I have some images of the event on Friday and Sat night.

Till then, go and get yourself a piece of art from the Limited Edition show, it's for a good cause... go on...

exhibitions!

This post will be brief as i plan to upload a stack of news later tonight.

The Limited Edition show was fantastic and I have a stack of photos to upload from the night which I plan to do later.

Spent three and a half hours setting up the exhibition at the Art of Tea last night with Jane and Rick. The space is fantastic and they couldn't be more accommodating at that place... I may fire up a few sneaks of the hung work later... best to go see it for yourself if you can make it down and while you're there, have yourself a nice cuppa T.

Due to the crazy response and feedback from the piece I remixed for the Limited edition show, I will be doing a run of limited prints of the original artwork "No Second Chance" in the greyscale and full colour version. I've yet to decide fully on quantities etc but if you want to get your hands on one please email me and i will put your name down on the growing list of reservations.

More updates later.

Exhibition at The Art of Tea, John Fairhurst's album launch.

Here's the flyer for the exhibition that will coincide with the launch of John Fairhrst's album "The Joys of Spring".

It's already getting some great reviews and as far as I know it's not yet on general release, you have to go see him perform if he's playing near you as his live sets generally raise the roof.



Here are some shots of the album artwork, i'll get some better ones taken soon.

right then!

Since my last post much has happened, I've finished the floor finaly and at the bottom of this post are a selection of images from as you saw it last to present. Just the skirting board and filling and decorating and I'll be in action.

This is probably going to be a mammoth post so bear with me...

I will have work showing at the Limited Edition show in Birmingham next Friday (14th March), it's going to be a great event, which i'm hoping to attend with any luck. There are a stack of talented artists from all over the UK getting involved in a worthwhile cause. All proceeds of the sale of work will be going towards helping endangered animals and raising awareness of the cause. there should be some fantastic work on show and on sale, so heading down to the opening night should be more than worthwhile.
see the flyer below for details, click for larger image.




Another event coming up will coincide with the launch of John Fairhurst's album launch over easter weekend, Friday 21st and Sat 22nd March. Myself, Jane Fairhurst, Rick Dickinson and Tim Fielding will all be showing work at the Art of Tea in Manchester running upto and after the show. I shall post the flyer with all the details asap, unfortunately as I write this I don't have the artwork with me and as I do that I will finally post some images of the final album artwork for John's album, which if I do say so myself, looks fantastic and sounds even better.

Talking of Jane Fairhurst, I was at the opening of her 'Un-Natural Selection' exhibition at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester last week, it was great to finally see Jane's amazing work on show in one place, i've only viewed her 'Freefall' collection in two's or three's previously and to see them all in one space was great.

The exhibition of work continues till the 8th April, Viewing times: Monday - Sunday 11:00am - 11:00pm.





hmmmmm.... i've had a mental block all of a sudden.... the floooooor, how could I forget...

It took some serious backbreaking work to get the thing finally finished and a lot of sanding (any excuse to buy a new power tool for the collection), here are some more piccies of the process and the final thing.


Holes where there shouldn't be...


Mixing a wood stain to treat the wood before the 3 coats of varnish.


lots of testing of stain and varnish.... had about 30 small bits of wood in the end.


The final dry stain, it dampened the pure glow of the fresh pine and countered some of the colours in the stain/varnish I got from B&Q as on it's own it was aweful.


Crap photo, great floor... the final thing, you have to see it in person and to have witnessed what lied there before to really appreciate it.


Iv'e since spent a considerable amount of time doing this, those testing bits of wood make pretty good coasters.

So that's that... think I've covered everything I wanted to, just one final push on the studio space to finish it off which I'm hoping on getting done within the month so I can finally get stuck into all the work I've had floating in my head and not been able to do for longer than i can remember.

I've got plenty new work that's going to surface in 2008, it's gonna to be fun.