Behold... Darwin!!

A pen drawing done for a friend across the sea

Interesting ....

Exciting Signage

A little solo project I did for a bit of practice and fun with graphics/signage/typography and presentation.

Thought it came out alright

A Scarfed Trio

arch 8

Situated Ambience

Between stillness and immersion, 

they both play into one another. 

The idea of being immersed by the many different things around you.

 They surround and hold you where you are,

 creating a certain atmosphere 

particular to that place

Glen Hansard at NPR

arch 7

Temporal Impermanence

The River Thames once used to freeze over,

 the flowing waterway would become an icy expanse. 

A playing field for the energetic child with a ball, a market area for the keen seller,

 a new road for the carriage.

 It became another level, another floor of human interaction within the city. 

The drawing expresses this sense of levels of activity, 

but also of timeline as the river only froze over because of the old London Bridge 

and it was only during this time that it froze in the harsh winters.

The Staves - truly beautiful sound

arch 6

Tangible Solidity

The city's density of form and materiality 

is obvious to the person moving through it. 

As you traverse its streets and pathways, 

experiencing the differing materials through your feet and hands and eyes,

 even the noise and echoes they make. 

They form the city and its environment.

A little bit of the Blues

arch 5

Unfolding Materiality

The journey through the city,

 moving from one point to the next, 

through and within the ever unfolding cityscape.

 The forms and materials play out in front of you,

the concrete, tarmac, stone, wood 

and water. 

How they juxtapose and transition from one to the other, 

they seem to integrate and flow 

as you walk by.

Love a bit of Acapella

arch 4

Moments of Stillness

The points of repose and meditation 

amidst the chaos of a frenetic paced city.

 The interplay of levels and form. 

The density of movement

 as people and traffic go by. 

The way in which these moments can seem like they are hanging

 on a string, 

stopped and held there from above.

A Rae of Hope

arch 3

Transient Reality

To experience the city through an eye 

that’s looking for the surreal

 is fascinating.

 To notice things that don’t belong

 to imagine those that could be part of the landscape. 

The constant change and destruction,

 leading to new and different environments. 

The city’s unfolding impermanence.

River Whyless - Check out the album online

arch 2

Immersive Dispersion

The atmosphere of the city surrounds you 

 immerses you,

 the different sounds and smells, 

the people and buildings. 

Even when you find a more secluded spot 

like this 

space under the bridge 

you still feel within 

and a part of the city

Watch-Listen-Tell, keep telling people about it =)

Loving it, and check out the youtube channel it's got such great music on there.

Arch - 1

In the 3rd year of my architectural degree I had to come up with a set of 10 conceptual drawings that had to be a comment on a site I had found in London. I have already posted a couple in the past and this is another to add to the set.

Chaotic Density

This drawing expresses the flow of the city around London Bridge. The constant movement and course of the people and traffic. The interplay of the different levels of activity, roads, bridges, the river, paths in and through the city’s heart.

Good Old Foy

Virginia

A tribute to the beautiful state of Virginia and to my lovely fiancé =)

Their state bird - a Red Cardinal and their state flower and tree - the Flowering Dogwood 

I'm a fan, are You?

1920's Style Cabaret Slide

Slide I came up with for our Grace church Cabaret 2012, silent film style 

A Buzz Session

Good old Americans

Keeping Tabs on those Keys

I don't know about you but I am always misplacing my keys, I do find them but it means checking all the usual spots and then the slightly less likely spots and further on down the list. So I thought I'd do a little fun project to keep my keys in check. I came up with this graphic which I then printed out on nice paper and put pins on each of the paint spots above the keys to hang my keys on. And wallah I now know where my keys will be, at least when I remember to put my keys on them. It happens some of the time.

Laura Marling

Oranges for my Father

Leftwich doing it Right

The Majestic Kingfisher

What do you think?

Some good old guitar

You've gotta love some acoustic goodness from time to time. Just a guy playing some great guitar.

The Seed on Good Soil

The Paper Kites !!

It's an amazing song and a pretty funky music video to, loving it 

Rainbow Umbrellas

I had a little fun doing a sketch of the decor for our leaders party at Grace Church. I had the honour of putting them all up over the course of the week leading up to it, so I felt I should commemorate, or at least remember it, in some way. UMBRELLAS HANGING FROM CEILINGS!! doesn't happen every day

Good Old Roo

Only the Cool Kids Photocopy Their Faces (?)

 If only a little creepy, maybe just a bit, or quite a bit, I'll let you decide how freaky they are.

 Can you guess who thought it would be a fun idea to see what it would look like to photocopy their own face?

( A side of his beard we may never see again in all its glory for a long time to come)

The office is a busy place =)

The treasures you unknowingly stumble across!!

Listen and enjoy, I'm definitely going to look more into this band now.

Wet Toes

Don't be Afraid to get Your Feet Wet

One Epic Voice

I'm loving this guys voice, though I think he looks a little fresh faced for it. He could do with a beard.

THE T-SHIRT

Rocking it Beard Style!!!

The Dulcimer!! What a great instrument

Winter Robin

A card I did, a robin in the white, icy cold of winter

You've gotta have your Backing Vocals!!

There are some great artists on the 'Mahogany Sessions', definitely a youtube channel worth checking out. 

Gecko's Flower

Fun flower sketch for my sister (and for those wondering 'Gecko' refers to my sister), as she is the master of flower art I thought I'd give it a go myself and send her something. 

Walking through Paris

You've got to love the random people wondering what's going on as this artist wonders by singing with a camera following behind.

Speaking Duck??

A fun little sketch I did for an artist that was giving away a free ticket, if you drew a duck saying london, I though I was so close and then find out that it only shows other peoples post if you go onto a certain page and there are loads, so didn't win that one. Oh well, but here is my very own speaking duck.

Jonquil on a Big Yellow Couch

Artist's Co-Op - 3rd Year Design Project

For my third year final project for my Bachelor of Architecture, I designed an Artist's co-op, a place where local art would be housed, created, practiced, taught and appreciated by the everyday passer by and the art lover. An artist would live in residence and produce work for an exhibition, there would be teaching rooms, performance stage, a cafe/bar for the public with a stage for musical performers, and space to exhibit work.

The buildings design is also create to interact and create a conversation with the pedestrian, as  elements bring viewing points into existence, small public areas for rest and relaxation and a general intention to engage and provide for the city dweller. 

The buildings site was beneath and around the north side of London Bridge, the image above shows a view from the east and above the site (so looking down at an angle from the east). 

View of building design from the opposite side of the Thames bank, The design has a parasitic aspect in its wrapping around the bridge, and using it as a ceiling/roof, and supporting structure.

Section through the length of the bridge and Co-op, showing the movement between levels and use of spaces

Floor plan, for main bank level (under the bridge), the top of the drawing is the north bank of the Thames, and then north side of London bridge, the bridge actually passes over the centre of this plan - from the top and through the large black wall in the middle.   

Exploded Axonometric, showing the building three levels, bridge level, bank level, and water level. They are separated to show them in more detail

Interactive artists' studio, interface between the public and artist during the creative process 

Passage Under London Bridge - leading into the Co-op on the left

Some Gospel for You

Oh Yes =)

Mums' Day Card

This was my mothers day card for my oh so special Mother. I took the theme of Spring flowers (just to make sure you noticed) and the daffodil was on the front, the snowdrops on the next page inside and then the crocuses. Spring is such a great time of year, the world awakes to a glorious new green, with flowers, blossums, leaves, and generally new life. Puts a smile on your face =)

Run

What an instrument!! Does anyone know what it is? I don't that's for sure, but it is cool, extra music points to Basis Bulat for being able to play it =). I'd really recommend looking for new music through youtube, once you find a good channel that does nice acoustic sessions of artists, ok this only really works for the sort of music I like which is the best type, and then there are normally other great artists on the same channel and then you can look elsewhere for more of their recordings. Try it out !!

The Beauty of Brick

This is a piece I did for my good friend Paul Svoboda. This man can admire and enjoy studying a building, or even a simple brick wall, for hours, taking pictures every now and then, standing back to take it all in, coming closer to look at the details, taking in all the textures, the ornament, the irregularities, the imperfections, the ware and tare of time and just simply enjoy soaking in the whole thing. I studied architecture and I have to lay my hands down and say I don't feel anywhere near as interested as this man in the built environment. But then you see Paul's work, he is a computer environmental artist for gaming platforms, and you can see where all this attention to detail and architecture goes, his work is superb. Check it out if you want http://paulsvoboda.net/ , it's amazing. So this piece was a homage to him and his love of brick and slightly decrepit buildings.

Sisters Harmonising

I thought I would post this video of my lovely fiancée, Noelle, and her sister Jessa singing a cover of a 'Weepies' song called 'Simple Life'. They played it for me while I was over in the USA a couple weeks back and I got to be the camera man, quite the honour =). Their voices compliment each other so well and I also love the song itself, so it was quite a treat and I'm glad there is a video copy to go back to and enjoy. I hope you also enjoy it to. 

P&T

A fun little drawing I did of my brother and his wife =). On our trip up Ben Nevis, on maybe the way down, as we got amazing views across the surrounding mountains as we came back down. Beautiful place.

Music to my Ears

Beard Man T-shirt Design

After I showed Jon Brown the sketch of himself, he came back to me to tell me that the thing that caught his attention the most was.... the little drawing in the corner, underneath the sketch itself. He wondered if I could make an A4 drawing of it so he could print it out on a T-shirt. So apart from the fact that I was a little bemused by his interest in that singular part of the piece, I thought it would be fun to do something that would get printed out on a t-shirt that would be worn by no less than the great Jon Brown and so would go down in Grace Church lore. So I did it, though he still has to get it printed and he better do it soon or won't have his own beard to go with it =)

On a Carpet in an Empty Room

Some chilled music for you to enjoy. 

J N Brown

I was just having some fun sketching a while back, and thought I'd have a go at doing my friend Jon Brown, and it turned out alright. So I took it and scanned it and added his wonderful name. (the hand is a little bit of a scrawl and not great but its still a fun little sketch =))

Beirut

A class band, I've only really listened to youtube videos of these guys playing a few songs live across the globe and they have all been great. Quite a different sound to most bands, and the leads voice might take some getting used to for some, but it's definitely worth it. Such good music, enjoy =)

Christmas Cards No. 2

I designed 8 different cards, so these are the second half of them 

Feel free to comment on them, what you like, your fav, and also to critique, artistic critique is always welcome 

Josh Garrels with Bells

Josh Garrels has been one of the best artists I've found out about this year, his new album Love & War & The Sea In Between is simply amazing and the fact that you can download it free online is just crazy. I would highly recommend him to anyone and I think quite a few others have been discovering him over the past few months and have been as amazed as I am. So you should check him out, and this is a really cool video of him playing a song with a large accompaniment including bells. Enjoy!

My Own Christmas Cards =)

This Christmas I decided to design and create my own cards to send out to people, unluckily Christmas is a busy time of year and I only finished them a few days before so I only managed to give them to a few people. But there are many more Christmas' to come and I will probably use them again.

To create them I started by researching and sketching out ideas, then I drew them up on my computer, scanned in some watercolour textures before fitting them into the shapes of the drawings. I then framed the images with some great Christmas Bible verses. Finally I printed them onto some nice watercolour paper and wallah they were done.

this is the first 4

A new artist I've come across, and a pretty cool song

Grace Church Christmas Service

For our Family Christmas Eve Service at Grace I helped put together a Christmas Graphic for the event. I designed and created the baubles that were used on it and then Jon Brown got the text and finished piece together. It was a fun little project that I enjoyed helping out with, and I was able to use the skills that I learnt during my degree as I used Microstation, an Architectural program, to draw them up before converting them.I thought it came out looking pretty good, let me know what you think =)

Back from a Long Break .....

Hey, well here goes my first post in a number of months. It definitely has been a while and I'm sorry to those who were hoping to see more go up and it obviously hasn't. I will now try to get posts up at semi regular intervals =)

Well I guess I should get going ..