London Calling at California's OCCCA

London art continues to make an impression across the pond, this time at California's Orange County Center for Contemporary Arts. Following on from the success of the London Art Box at Flag Stop in L.A. back in September, I have been one of those selected to exhibit in the collective show entitled: 'LONDON CALLING' from December 21st 2011 to January 12th 2012.

London Calling at the OCCCA

The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art showcases emerging British artists represented by the London Gallery,Debut Contemporary, located in Notting Hill. 

Their roster of artists reads like a who’s who of the young, UK art scene, including Rosie Emerson, Tahnee Lonsdale, and Agnetha Sjogren. Works by these and other collectible artists will be available for sale at OCCCA. 

The founders of Debut Contemporary are husband and wife duo, Samir Ceric and Zoe Knight, named by the British press as, “one of UK’s most powerful couples in art and fashion.”


Perhaps the most exciting thing about this collective is that in our climate of limited art funding, the artists have taken it upon themselves to promote and raise the profile of the London Art scene overseas. They are working collaboratively to come up with creative solutions, opposing the diminution of diversity in art, and extending the reach of UK arts: Fundraising to get as many of the talented artists to LA as possible, to be true ambassadors of the London art scene. They are empowering themselves to create their own opportunities. Find out more on their fundraising platform and Etsy art shop.

List of London Calling exhibiting Artists:

Abigail Box, Agnetha Sjogren, Azadeh Fatehrad, Beth Nicholas, Carlos Martyn Burgos, Chantal Powell, Darren MacPherson, Katerina Stavrou, Katerina James, Kimi Wylde, Henry Wood, Joe Cruz, Lloyd Durling,Lyndsay Martin, Masa Suzuki, Nicola Anthony, Rachel Noble, Rosie Emerson, Robert West, Senghye Yang, Silvia Krupinska, Sylvia Morgado, Sun Ae Kim, Tinsel Edwards, Tahnee Lonsdale, Twinkle Troughton, Victoria Heald,Vikram Kushwah

Barcelona Showcase 2011

On Saturday 10th December I'll be in the cultural city of Barcelona exhibiting some of my art in Gaudi's architectural jewel, Casa Batllo. My work was selected to be in the Barcelona Showcase 2011, first international exhibition of contemporary art and photography.

To find out more please visit their site: www.barcelonashowcase.com

FRIEZE 2011 art fair

FRIEZE 2011 art fair, a set on Flickr.

A small selection of photos of my visit to FRIEZE 2011 at Regent's Park, London on 13–16 October.

The ninth edition for Frieze Art Fair, the leading international contemporary art fair.
Showing 173 of the world’s most exciting contemporary art galleries, representing 33 countries and showing new work by over 1,000 artists.

Including The Sculpture Park, which offered a rare opportunity to see a significant group of international work on a public scale. Presenting work by some of the most acclaimed international sculptors.

Steve Jobs iPad Tribute Sketch

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
Co-Founder & CEO of Apple Inc

Steve Jobs

Sketching On An iPad

Created using the 'Brushes' for iPad app 

Having got my hands on a second hand first generation iPad, I was eager to see how this would become a useful artists tool beyond a library of reference photos or source material. I wanted to see if it would serve me well in terms of sketching out ideas or working out colour compositions before painting.

 There is a lot of exceptional iPad art out there but I only wanted to use it for basic playful sketches, not for finished masterpieces taking many hours or more to produce, but its nice to know it's possible. I like real paint and real materials, but this to me offered convenience.

My first sketch using SketchBook Pro app.

My first sketch on the iPad was with the app SketchBook Pro and my finger. I felt strange using my finger as I've spent forever using a stick, be it a pencil, pen, charcoal or paint brush - but you get used to it with practice. The app is great at mimicking real materials like the texture of a pencil etc.

The main problem with drawing on an ipad is that the tablet is not pressure sensitive... yet. So you have to learn how to play with transparency and opacity levels. The software tries to get around this by the speed of your movement, so the quicker the stroke the thinner it tends to be, not quite natural but you adapt to your tools.

iPad & Wacom's 'Bamboo' Stylus.

I decided to get myself a good stylus despite the fact that the iPad was designed for finger use. After some research I came across Wacom's 'Bamboo' Stylus and being convinced it would suit my requirements I purchased it. It is rather pricey compared to other stylus' out there but with Wacom being the leading industry in digital drawing tablet's, it has to count for something.

Wacom also has an app called Bamboo Paper to accompany their stylus, it's more of a notebook and very basic, like using gel ballpoint pen, but it works great with the stylus, no lag and it's smooth. I drew this character using this app and the stylus.

Sketch using BambooPaper app and stylus.

The stylus doesn't work well with certain apps like inspire pro, a great painting app when using your fingers only, I felt a lot of lag which is annoying. The app in itself is fantastic and worth getting.

I then tried the stylus using the app Brushes, I imported the drawing I did in the Bamboo Paper app as a base. The stylus was great and using this software was a pleasure, I liked it a lot.

So this was my initial experience sketching on an iPad and using a stylus over this weekend. Obviously there is a learning curve when using painting software and adapting to it but I'm pleased with what I've experienced so far.

The video below shows the painting process of my character using the 'Brushes' app.