Hammer Horror

The man who wasn't there (my version of the title!)

Yesterday upon the stair

I met a man who wasn’t there

He wasn’t there again today

Oh, how I wish he’d go away

When I came home last night at three

The man was waiting there for me

But when I looked around the hall

I couldn’t see him there at all!

Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!

Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door

Last night I saw upon the stair

A little man who wasn’t there

He wasn’t there again today

Oh, how I wish he’d go away

"Antigonish" (1899)

This poem and the one about the two dead boys, I love. They're just nonsense poems but I love how weird and unsettling they are, I also just love the nonsense.

Two Dead Boys

One fine day in the middle of the night,

Two dead boys got up to fight.

Back-to-back they faced one another,

Drew their swords and shot each other.

One was blind and the other couldn't see,

So they chose a dummy for a referee.

A blind man went to see fair play,

A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"

A deaf policeman heard the noise,

And came and shot the two dead boys.

A paralyzed donkey walking by,

Kicked the copper in the eye,

Sent him through a rubber wall,

Into a dry ditch and drowned them all.

(If you don't believe this lie is true,

Ask the blind man -- he saw it too!)

Our Lady! and other bits

I posted the last of these three images a good while back I think, but felt the need to again. These photos were taken about 3 years ago on holiday in France. The statue of 'our lady' was right outside the house that me and all my mates were staying in, which was right out in the middle of nowhere.

First stages...

So! This is an example of how I go about beginning a new design, its not how I do it every time, but how I'm working at the moment. So i start composing work by clipping photographs, photocopies etc up into collages to get the bare bones in place, then elaborate from there. It's all about putting images and shapes together until a narrative begins to form. The work for me, has to feel like its a deliberate collage, but that it has its own life also. The marks of cutting and pasting I want seen in a way, this is likely to do with the fact that I want the processes and ultimately proof of my work evident so everyone knows I did it! that I didn't rob it of someone else and a computer didn't do it either. The work for me needs to feel natural also, I'm not really interested in stylised illustration, I want it to feel real and raw!

Can't think of title

Aubrey Beardsley

The strange unsettling sexual elegance of his work attracts me. I like thats its ambiguous and maybe offensive in some instances. I'm not interested in work thats about trying to shock for the sake of it, in my opinion you have to earn the right to challenge and extort certain subjects. If you have something to explore and deliver to people because its important to you and drives you like hunger, then it matters. Annoying its become trendy and acceptable now to put out provocative imagery within every creative outlet, from Theatre to stand up comedy, to Design and Film, boundaries are pushed all over, but all too often the glory is soaked up by Trend followers, people who want the respect and praise for making controversial statements, but lacked the balls to make the stand in the first place because being the first to raise an issue, pull it apart and not give a shit who you bother in the process, that is the hardest part, its a lonely journey until you start reaping the benefits and by that time, you've been fleeced by the wannabe creative free loaders. I cannot abide being copied or producing derivative work, sometimes is happens by chance, accident or what ever, but if I find my work starts sitting into trends, it really gets my back up! It means your work will have more chance of selling, but its a completely pointless exercise if its just about churning out material to making a quid or two.

Aubrey Beardsley though, how good is that name?!

Apples

My mum is in the process of moving house just now, as I was home recently I had a little nose around the new place. I spotted this lovely old apple tree in the back garden, so had a little climb about in it and took a few pictures. We had apple trees in our old old house, where I grew up, so I've always been very fond of them.

The Thing

As long as I can remember I have had a fascination with Horror, I don't know where it comes from, but its there. I was watching horror films from the age of 10, and before that I just found myself always interested in anything strange and unusual. I once recall finding a dead bird in the back garden and wanting to keep it, strange yes, but its all part of nature which I was interested in at all levels and I guess there began my interest in taxidermy!

So, back to Horror. The post below of Goya's 'Saturn devouring his children' ties in with this interest, its so horrific and so nightmarish. Images like this (below) helped to instill fear and therefore devotion within the Catholic faith. Say your prayers or you'll burn in hell! all that rubbish. I want to elaborate on this, but I'll save it for future posts...

Goyas Black paintings

Taxidermy at Tring

These images were taken about a year ago in one of my favorite museums, which is in a village called Tring in Hertfordshire. Its an amazing natural history museum which my sisters and I were taken to many times when we were little, so as well as being inspirational for my work, its also a very nostalgic place for me to be.

I went back early this year as well as last, but havn't managed to get the photos I took then off of my sister, as I used her camera.

I am becoming more and more fascinated with taxidermy. That these once living things are now objects, gathering dust and shelved with other collectable objects. They're often pretty sinister looking, and when stuffed badly and given dodgy squint eyes, they become ridiculous. Its this strange unsettling feeling these things evoke that interests me.

Hieronymus Bosch

Beautiful Marbling Samples

Inspired Interiors

These images are inspiration for my work, I would also love them to be my own interior spaces!. Something about these bare worn out rooms I'm really drawn to, stripped of luxury and modern finishes.

Made of Strong Stuff

'Made of Strong Stuff' is now part of my logo and business identity. There's more to it than just a title but more info will follow, I just wanted to get a bit of ownership over the title in case someone else starts to use it Grrrrr!

Pull your finger out

A little update!

Things are all starting to come together finally. 2009 was a year of massive upheaval which put my Designing and making on hold for a while. Now in a new year, while I still don't have my studio all in place here in Edinburgh, I am back on board and ready to get stuck in again.

Some of the new work will be very different to what I've put out before, but more faithful to my real inspirations and ideas. I have felt in the past some of the work I've produced to be a little derivative, but more so for it to be very safe. I want to get away from making easy commercial work, it feels pointless, I may as well be selling someone else's work. So! Big changes in store.

In addition to designing and making, I do an awful lot of other stuff (Teaching, Workshops, Theatre work) maybe I've said this before? I don't know, but I feel the need to remind everyone in case you think I'm lazy!. So, while it may appear from the lack of activity on this blog and lack of website entirely, that I've given up, this is far from it, I'm doing loads! The website should be together within the next few months, so keep a look out.

The image posted below is my business card which frames my new logo at the centre of it.

Made of Strong Stuff!