Higher Primates

Japanese Fairy-tales

 I wanted to produce a series of work, that is both different and coherent. I love fairy-tales, and the ones that come from other cultures are always seem almost alien. I've always liked Japanese culture, particularly the history and the art. In recent years, I've delved in the folk-lore prompted by Mike Mignola's Hellboy I guess.

Here I've portrayed certain character's that appear and stories. I've submitted these to a local gallery, hoping to exhibit them and sell them.

Christmas card

Basically this is a rehash of another design I did in 2009. I might try and think up something entirely new.

Haunted by Bowie

I've drawn Bowie before. Shown here Though there are bits about it I really love, the skin and the eyelids in particular. It has details that I cannot stand, the white lines more specifically. They stand out and distract from the image, also the lightening didn't work as well as I had first imagined.

That's kind of what I mean by being haunted by it, it was a missed opportunity, though it was only a sketchbook drawing. I knew it could be more successful.

So here is a watercolour sketch that I did this morning. It took about 40 minutes to do. With lyrics from Dance Magic. I know it's not Bowie's best song, I love Labyrinth though.

New paintings

 I get a concept in my head that I can't shake, I can't get rid of it until I get it out as drawing or a painting.Regardless of the quality.

Thoughts

I've been painting quite a bit and I always get it into my head that I'm not doing any regular drawing because I'm focused on the painting side of things.

To keep me doing some kind of drawing, I started drawing these little pictures, usually on the train journeys to and from work.

My thoughts always bug me, and I always give myself a hard time about them. Especially about things I regret and bad decisions I've made. I suppose it's like my conscience reminding me.


 I guess it is quite negative, though I cannot change my thought process and I hope it will help me learn my lesson. I have lots of regrets, none more so than events of the last 3 years. This is my way of dealing with it.

Angel

I had a idea for an angel drawing. I did it quickly one morning.Ideally I want the arms to be more distorted and twisted. I'd need someone to pose for me, to do it properly. I have since done some thumbnails of the next stage for this doodle, I'll attack it one day.

A lost Painting. Here it is.

A bunch of ink drawings

I was ill and had a phase of drawing Puffins.

Off work, so...

 Anyone who knows me, two things are true. The first is that I'm incredibly difficult to get along with, and secondly I never get ill. I'm like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable, but with more hair, This week however I've been struck done with some chest problem. I'm asthmatic too, so it is worse. At this moment in time I've had 2 and 2/3 days of work, unheard of for me. I've had 4 days off in 13 years before this. Crazy, huh?

So when I have the energy I've been trying new things.

RZA

I got a new sketchbook yesterday. I got a Moleskine, my second one. I usually am quite tentative when I start a new one. What I mean is, that I try and make everything I draw perfect. The last couple are full of scribble and half formed ideas and crappy drawing. Trying to be less precious about it, drawing for drawings sake.

This is a sketch of the RZA. Five minutes with ink and wash. I quite like it. :)

Kisune

Well, these are the two paintings I mentioned in a previous post. The photographs are bit blurred, sorry. I took a couple but the weather conditions were making merry hell of my photos.
The one on the right doesn't look too bad with the blur in my opinion. I'll re-take them at some point, probably when the 3rd one is finished. Though I've only prepared the back ground so far and I'm a busy man.

These are the biggest paintings I've done since the beginning of 2012, so I'm kind of out of practice but I enjoyed them and I feel I got back into the swing of things quite quickly. I have the least experience with acrylic paint than oil and watercolour as well.
I hope you like them.

Recent birds, which I seem to draw a lot

 Working with inks and watercolours together. I quite like how they came out.

Ghost Frog

I still feel guilty about accidently killing a baby frog when I was 10 years old.

Refining my lines

Mangy Fox.

I really enjoy reading fairy tales and  folklore, these days that of other countries. I enjoy Scandinavian and Japanese folklore the most. Mostly due to me, it seems the most alien to the stories I'm used to.
This is a rough, for a painting I've since completed and subsequently expanded into another picture. I don't usually complete rough paintings, though I had trouble visualising certain aspects of picture in sketch form.
It's based on the fox folklore of Japan called Kitsune. In it's simplest form is basically foxes transform back and forth into women. The perception of foxes is more positive than in the western world, which is another reason I like the stories. Foxes are up there with Tigers in terms of beauty to me. I haven't posted the painting, as it's bigger than usual and I need to photograph it.

Some doodles of various quality.

 I was just trying to keep drawing, whether or not I had a good idea or not.

Butterflies

 Butterflies are the best insects in the world visually. Bees are the best insects of all time, mostly because of honey. They look cool too.
Anyway, I was trying to work out of a concept, that in the end didn't really work. It started out, as something and changed into something. It makes more sense with the sketchbook doodles, though in these images it's difficult to explain what I aiming for. Anyway, some okay-looking pictures.