Always Was, Is And Always Shall Be

A project I've been working on for a while now is a series of portraits of my favourite musicians/singers.
It began by making a LONG list of my favourite performers, starting with the rock/metal I was listening to from 1988/89 to the punk rock I listened to from my early teens and then all the country and original rock 'n' roll artists of the 1950's I have also listened to since my mid teens.

Here are some of the portraits I've made so far:

Don Gibson


Ike Turner


Hasil Adkins


Lemmy


I'll release the whole project at some point next year when it's finished.

Out With The Old, In With The New

This month I had a total of five tattoos on my left arm completely re-outlined and shaded as I had never been satisfied with the washy, unusual grey tone they had healed instead of the black and grey look I wanted.

Looks tidy.

Crumb

Below is a collaboration I made with Sophie Crumb in 2005. An unfinished version was included in my fanzine Hobo Soul also published in 2005 but the final piece has never been seen anywhere, thought you would enjoy to see it...



Sophie is the daughter of the legendary Robert Crumb who has just released his beautifully illustrated Book of Genesis, but she is also an amazing artist in her own right so if you aren't familiar with her work you should seek it out.

New Posters

Three new posters have just been added to the shop on my website:

Behold Our End


Birds


The Wet Spot


They each measure 42 x 29.7cm, are printed on a heavyweight 300 gsm paper and have all been signed and numbered.

Cheesecake Cheesequake

I was really pleased to be asked to design the first ever T-shirt for the pin-up model/burlesque performer Anna Fur Laxis.





They're available to buy now in both Men's and Women's T-shirts from her website

Sorry Mum

Here's the latest addition to my right sleeve done by Diego at MVL Tattoos in Leeds last week. Have a look on their website by clicking here
Highly recommended!



I also recently had this Owen Jensen inspired snake by Steve at In Name & Blood just before it closed. You can see more of his work here

Happy Birthday Lost Art!

Lost Art skateboards in Liverpool is 10 years old and still going strong. Congratulations Mackey.

I was going to post a picture of a shop sign I painted for Lost Art about six years ago but then saw this picture of Daniel Johnston wearing the 'Sketch Stance' Lost Art shirt at his recent gig in Liverpool and thought I'd post this instead...



Here's one of my all time favourite songs by Mr. Johnston...

Ta-Ra

There is only one week to go until my exhibition at Howies will literally be Long Gone.

Third Time Lucky

Just received the third printing of my book!!



They're available to buy now from my online store.

Not To Be Missed!

The Wet Spot's final show of 2009 will take place on the 21st of November, it wont return until February next year.




Here are a few of the new photographs from October's show, you'll be able to see the full set from next week on The Wet Spot's website

Long Gone T-Shirt

This is the T-shirt that's currently on sale at Howies until my exhibition ends there on the 12th of November.



Thanks to Herman for modeling it for me!

Grimm Times

I was sent this article from a 1977 issue of The Oregonian a while ago from Carmen Forquer who has been researching the life of her Great Uncle, who is also one of my favourite tattooist of all time, the legendary Bert Grimm.

From what I can tell Bert was a combination of talent and a huge character. His career in tattooing lasted over 60 years and was well known for tattooing Bonnie and Clyde and members of Al Capone's gang.

Click the picture below to see a bigger version...



Thanks Carmen.

Long Gone

My new exhibition Long Gone will open on the 1st of October at Howies on Carnaby Street, London and will be on display for six weeks.
This is the only exhibition of my drawings I have planned for 2009 so don't miss it!



Big thanks to Mark from the Carnaby Street store for making this happen.

The Wet Shot's

There are a couple of new Gallery pages on The Wet Spot's website of photographs from the last two shows.
This shot of September's sell-out crowd is one of my favourites...



And here's the new flyer for the next show on the 17th of October...



See you there!

Shine For Me

New 'Shine For Me' T-shirt available from Howies as part of their T-shirt of the Week series...

Full On Sleeve

About a year ago I posted a blog on a tattoo I'd been designing for my friend Matt, and earlier this week my old pal Ash Wilson who works at Lost Art sent me his photographs of the finished sleeve. Cheers mate they look amazing.







Click the photo below to see a bigger image:

Don't We Scrub Up Well?

Portrait I had taken recently with my girlfriend Vikki...

Concrete Hermit

'Anne Boleyn' T-shirt available now from Concrete Hermit

I have a limited amount of these shirts for sale on my online store for £10 each.

The Wet Spot - Anna Fur Laxis Birthday Special!

I drew an axe-wielding Anna Fur Laxis for her birthday party Wet Spot flyer...



As usual tickets are on sale at Rose & Co. in the Victoria Quarter, Leeds or online from www.thewetspotleeds.co.uk

You might also recognise Anna from the front cover of Total Tattoo's August issue...


See you there!

Bookworm

I always find it interesting to see where other artists take their inspiration from so every so often I'm going to scan and share artwork from my own collection of books and comics by some of my favourite artists I have been inspired by, starting with..

Dom Morris



Bruce Spauldeng Fuller


Danzig Baldaev



Rick Griffin (showing some love to Ed Roth)


Charles Burns


R.Crumb


E.C.

Lost Art

New skateboard and T-shirt available to buy now from Lost Art in Liverpool!

That's Magic!

Tickets for The Wet Spot's August 15th show are now on sale. Here's the new flyer...


Photographs from the 18th of July show will be on The Wet Spot website by the start of next week.
One of the highlights of the evening for me was when Cat Aclysmic ended her act by copying the pose of the fire eater I drew for the flyer...

Although she didn't know it the drawing was originally based on her anyway so it was crazy to watch, it felt like my drawing had come to life.

See you on the 15th!

Midnight Special

Portrait of Leadbelly

Book News

My book is now exclusively available in Sheffield from the Archipelago Gallery.
We also recently restocked OK Comics and Rose & Co. in Leeds, and Analogue Books in Edinburgh.

Cheers to everybody who has bought a copy so far, I can't believe how well it's been selling. Nice one!

Gallery Update

Photographs from the June 27th Wet Spot are now online over on their website





The Wet Spot goes monthly a week today. Tickets can be bought from Rose & Co. or from the website, there will also be 200 tickets saved to sell on the door so you don't have to worry about the show selling out in advance.


See you there!