England Is Full of Rubbish!

Take a look at the road you are travelling on, or in a hedgerow you are walking past with your dog, and you'll undoubtedly find a piece of litter staring back at you. 

I was travelling to work 3 months ago and I was stuck in traffic on a dual carriageway approaching a roundabout. I looked out of my window at the central reservation and was appalled at the amount of coffee cups, crisp packets and general litter that was strewn across the grass. 

It is truly disgusting how filthy our countryside is and it should put us to shame. It is not just select members of the general public who through litter out of their car windows without a care, but also certain farmers who do not tidy up or take care of their land. 

Walking the dog I always see cans, plastic crates, tyres and crop insulation entangled in hedgerows, as well as old farm machinery rusting away. 

I have decided to make a little YouTube video on the rubbish in our countryside to highlight the problem, so over the next week or so I will be taking my camera out and about to go find rubbish! It shouldn't be too hard!

Making Calendars

Today I finished making the files for my calendar of Croome Court. I have been working on it for a while, but I got proofs last week and what I had made needed some tweaking.

I love smart, clean design and lord knows I have expensive taste and I think that has come across in the sleek design :)

I was thinking as I wrote this if someone had told me 3 years I would be approaching various printers for quotes and visiting them myself I would have told them nooo, that's scary. It feels good to be doing something while on the job hunt, and sure it's not a major retail venture yet, but it has the potential to go much larger in future years.

I can take samples of the calendar and show different shops who might be interested.

Working out profit margins has also been paramount and something I have enjoyed.

So yesterday I set about adding a bigger bleed area and also a crop mark for each corner where it will be cut to size. I hadn't known how to do this before, but I looked it up on YouTube and voila :) YouTube is everything to me! A way to share my work, inspire people (which I love doing), and it's a source of income.

I spent about an hour or two altering the files, and altering the day titles on the calendar too. So tomorrow I shall send them to the printer ready to be made up. Hopefully they will be ready by the beginning of next week.

I hope I will be able to sell them!

I am not one to think negatively, and I know how many I have to sell to cover my costs, and if don't sell that many I know this has taught me a lot on how to print :) I discovered DPI for printing this sort of thing should be above 300, I set it to 400 as that was what was recommended for text, and the photos look better too.

I will be proud when I have the final product in my hands :)

I had plenty of interest in them when I showed a similar one I had had made on the internet so I'm hopeful. This calendar is completely made by myself from scratch and is environmentally friendly printing double sided and using a very environmentally friendly printer whom I am very proud to use. Combining that with the quality of the photographs I think it will sell.

It gave me confidence in my photography too, as like with most things I do, I taught myself and it's my style.... I see things in different ways and am not about tourist shots, I like to get a different angle and to make the viewer appreciate things they might not have usually seen!

And to think I had never used photoshop either till 4 months ago!

Small steps :) Hopefully I'll get somewhere.

To view more photos of Croome Court go here: http://tkd-art.com/#/croome-court/4550044633

The Magic Of Seven Dials

By far two of my favourite parts of London are the streets of Covent Garden and Seven Dials.

Seven Dials offers the chance to get away from the hoards of people in Covent Garden and to enjoy a bit more time to yourself, wandering the boutiques.... and as I love to do, just sitting and doing some good old fashioned people watching!

I remember one time I saw this stereotypical blonde haired Texan lady coming out of a hotel and getting into her car. I heard her before I saw her with her loud American drawl and she reminded me of someone who might have made her money out of gold mines back in the day.

Seven Dials is full of great characters and with the large range of clothes shops, salons, and yummy food shops around you'll be sure to see some smart and eye catching london fashion! I've seen Louie Spence too about three times too, always good fun spotting Louie!

The thing i like the most about Seven Dials though is it's small streets which entice you to look round the next corner, or make you want to look up at the beautiful architecture, or even into an eye catching shop window.

One thing is for sure I thought the Christmas Lights were brilliant this year, gorgeous colours and lots of them sparkling above your head and they'll definitely catch your eye.

I suggest grabbing your loved one and take a romantic stroll one evening under the lights, or if that's not your thing, put on your comfiest pair of shoes, cus once you're there you won't want to leave and you'll keep wandering around taking in everything you can!

 Seven Dials is definitely the place to go with it's bars and cafes and fairly recent addition of the newly opened St Martin's Court where I came across a gospel choir singing some Christmas songs, it got me all festive and cheery. Gosh I love London!

Seven Dials will always give you little gems... it's made of festive magic at Christmas!


Jonny
http://www.tkd-art.com
http://twitter.com/TKD_ART
http://www.facebook.com/tkdart

Aldwych Tube Station

On Saturday I got the chance to go down Aldwych Tube Station and it was rather intriguing! You can see my photos from the day on flickr

I have always had an interest in that area of London, knowing about the 'hidden' tram tunnel under Kingsway and this closed tube station too. When tickets came up to go down the station I jumped at the chance as it's quite rare to be able to go down!

I was quite surprised that i wasn't surrounded by older men and train spotters while queuing to go in, but rather plenty of people my age and even a lady in a faux fur hat and boots! Obviously the love of the underground is shared by a large variety of people!

The station was opened in 1907, first called Strand, which can still be seen in the tiling, but then it was renamed to Aldwych when the nearest station on the Northern line at Charing Cross became Strand, (later renamed Charing Cross).

Aldwych tube station is on a short spur / branch line from Holborn coming off the modern day Piccadilly Line. The Piccadilly Line was created by the merger of two seperate tube projects. They were linked at Holborn to create the great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, which was opened between Hammersmith and Finsbury Park. This left the short spur from Holborn to Aldwych, the southern terminus of one of the tubes as originally planned.

The station was designed along with 35 + others by Leslie Green. They all have the dark red glazed brick and terracotta frontages. Each building is on a load bearing steel frame which made it strong enough to take the weight of the lift winding equipment.

Both old Otis lifts are still in Aldwych, but no longer operational, and they are the reason it closed in 1994. It was estimated to cost £3 million plus to replace them! Aldwych was also never busy enough to justify putting in escalators or new lifts.

Aldwych did have two tube tunnels and platforms but only the western platform was used by a two car train, as a shuttle service to Holborn. The problem was trains used to run every 9 minutes plus and you can walk to Holborn in that time from Aldwych!

During WW2 the disused platform was used to store 300+ paintings from the National Gallery and The V&A and the British Museum also used it in 1939/40 to store artefacts including the Elgin Marbles!

You can read more here: Aldwych tube Station

Some video I took can also be viewed here: Thelandofjonny

It was very damp down there, and water was dripping in places. The old posters were of particular fancy and some gave us a laugh due to the current economic climate! It was also really cool to see where they had tested out new tiles for new tube stations such as tiles for Piccadilly Circus and I recognised ones for the Central Line too.

Nowadays the emergency services use it for practice drills and the station is also used for films.

It was well worth the visit and to see it and I did like the part where they told us that if there was a fire or a problem at the top of the stairs, we would have to be evacuated by walking along the track and dark tunnel to Holborn! Now that would have been a story to tell.

Lady Gaga - A real person in a world of fake!

My title for this blog I am sure is contradictory in many minds, Lady Gaga is often accused of being a fake, a copycat, and in it for the fame and attention. However tonight she proved she is a humble human being who values everyone in life she comes across, and even those she doesn't.

I have been a fan from the beginning, her voice, what she stands for, I surprised by flatmate Becky back in uni in 2010 with tickets to go see her. Best concert I have been to!

Tonight on the British X Factor, Kitty Brucknell was voted out. Kitty was on stage having her farewell interview and they'd almost come to the end and Gaga ran on stage like lightening, in her high heels and embraced Kitty in a full on, wholesome hug!

The presenters tried to get Gaga to talk, and asked her what would you like to say to Kitty, but Gaga shook her head, showing how she wasn't doing this for press and PR, still hugging they then came apart, and Kitty said a few words, and Gaga said: "let's go for a drink," and they walked off stage!

I was very touched by this display of affection by the superstar. I have been to see Lady Gaga in concert at the O2 when she had released the Fame Monster and what she said then to the crowd struck a chord within me, she is very much about helping everyone, and bringing out the best in people.

Whatever critics and haters say about her music, style and character, she has done so much for gay people struggling with their sexuality, and anyone who listens to her message! She is truly humble, and a truly caring person of her fans!

There is so much more I could write, but I think video will speak louder than my words....  but I do want to say that I am very proud of her for all the hard work she does and how she uses her position in the world for such good, fighting DODT, equality, teen suicide, bullying... and for just being a friend :)

Jonny

http://www.tkd-art.com
http://twitter.com/TKD_ART
http://www.facebook.com/tkdart

Designing my own house, spiders, and the ruins of Detroit!

Tonight I was laying in front of the log fire in the lounge and taking in all the pictures of my ruins of Detroit photography book. I have such a fascination with abandoned buildings and I think it shows in my photography of architecture! (previous post on the book)

As I opened the front cover I got a bit of a shock! When I had  previously closed the book a spider had somehow got into the book and I was now looking at a 'as flat as a pancake' spider.... EWwwwww! 

You know when you used to press flowers as a child, it was like that, and it had sort of ingrained itself into the page slightly, I managed to get it off with a tissue, and it all flaked apart..... shudders.....

Anyhow, back to the point of the blog....

I was looking through all the photos and I adore that old style American house with a porch and turret. I have always wanted a house with a tower or turret! Something to do with reading all the Famous Five books as a little boy :)

This got me thinking, I really don't like English houses in some ways, modern ones are so boxy, tiny, and you couldn't hang a thing on the plasterboard walls. There are some gorgeous old ones, but too expensive for any young person to realistically afford, so with my arty skills I thought I would design my own home. I was sketching some very rough drawings of how to shade things for a video this week and it brought back my love of design, so I'm going to get my sketching on this week!

I've ALWAYS wanted a house with a turret or small tower, and that will deffo be included in the design, plenty of light, and a mix of old fashioned comfy-ness and modern style. I'll also need a trainset room for my electric train set!

So I'm going to get sketching my dream house and laying out it's floor plan! 

We'll see what I come up with :)

Jonny

http://www.tkd-art.com
http://twitter.com/TKD_ART
http://www.facebook.com/tkdart

Tintin - The Secret Of The Unicorn

Tonight I went to see Tintin at my local cinema. Though younger children may not be familiar with the character and I being in my mid twenties I was really looking forward to seeing it, having watched the cartoons as a child, and it didn't disappoint! Memories of the cartoon character's mannerisms came walzing back into my memory when they appeared on the big screen and the film was filled with a plethora of qualities that make a Tintin episode so quintessentially Tintin.

Produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Steven Spielberg it had to be good, and believe me it didn't disappoint! With their clever decisions to film it with performance capture animation where the viewer can see every little hair on Tintin's face and hairs move with the wind, it brought the whole film to life and made it so believable you almost forget that you are not watching real people.

We meet Tintin as he is having his portrait painted and when the artist turns the canvas round for use to see, we see it is the Tintin as the original author Hergé depicted him in the comics. It is a clever moment and sets the scene for the film where we first discover the ship the Unicorn and the story unfold from there. I won't spoil it for you all :)
With epic sea plane scenes, battle ships on fire, motorbike and car chases, scenes in the Sahara desert, mirages, flashbacks, mystery, hidden treasure, crane mauling and plenty of humour, what more could a guy ask for?

Putting all those different scenes together in a list like that might make you think; "wow that storyline jumps around a lot," true it does but it works so well and everything flows like it should and leaves you in suspense, and wanting to find out more.

The two main characters; the intelligent and quiff wearing Tintin and whisky loving Captain Haddock are visually perfect to the original cartoon characters and their witty lines, and interaction with Tintin's faithful dog Snowy make an enthralling film you definitely wouldn't want to miss a second of. Don't even think about getting up to go to the loo!

Even Captain Haddock's flashback scenes were well executed and the whole quality of the truly inventive transitions between scenes were superb.

The film is a refreshing break from the cheesy, staid and countless sequels that litter our cinemas screens much like popcorn scattered over the aisle floor. It incorporates superb creativity, action, mystery with humour and really is a well deserving and enjoyable must see movie of the year!

P.s. The music is brilliant, the soundtrack being written by John Williams who also worked on the Harry Potter soundtracks, and though not very similar both have John Williams' stamp on them, and I came away absentmindedly singing the Harry Potter theme tune :)

My Dreams

I have just been watching Rihanna's new video - We Found Love, and I've now played it on repeat about 20 times, no joke!




It's not only the music that is right up my street, but the video itself took my artistic eye. Whoever was involved in producing it created a flawless work of art! The grimy shots of England, and those corn fields we know from the media hype, about the farmer who didn't know who the scantily clad Rihanna was when he let her use his field to film in, and then objected to her lack of clothing, both all work really well and contribute to the atmosphere of the video.

The male in the video looks very like Chris Brown and the lyrics fit with it being a song about their relationship. Maybe that is why it is such a captivating video, it seems to have a personal element to it, mixed with that classic Riri raunch.

I had also seen Britney's new video for Criminal this week, also very well put together and it just made me think of how much I would love to be involved in producing something like that. I adore short films and iconic music videos grasp my attention, that mix of music that always accompanies my art pulls me in and the art of creating the video, finding locations, props, helping with the whole on location set up, all that would be my dream.

I think watching the Pirates Of The Caribbean behind the scenes footage of making the film years ago first got me thinking about doing that for work. It may happen one day I don't know, maybe it won't :)

Either way I'll appreciate the beautiful short films well produced music videos create these days.

Anyone made their dreams come true yet? I have made some of mine, but I have more I want to make reality.

Crack The Surface!

Tonight while googling pictures of Aldwych, my old uni area in London (I love looking at old pictures - yes I know, bit strange, shhh we all have our strange hobbies, hehe) I clicked on one and it brought me to a world of wonderment!

I clicked into a disused tube station, Aldwych, and started reading what I thought might be a fictional story supplemented with lots of sharp, moody, and to put it plainly, gorgeous photography. I soon discovered it wasn't fiction though!

It was the story of some guys entering the abandoned Aldwych Tube Station, a branch line off the Piccadilly Line, previously called Strand, hence the tiled lettering for Strand and not Aldwych.

I myself have always been fascinated with the closed and abandoned tube stations throughout London, and on my daily commute into uni I would peer through the darkness to see York Station as my tube train used to zoom through. You could often get a glimpse of the platform and the back of the curved walls as the tube lights illuminated it a bit, but only if you knew where it was and even knew it was there, somehow I feel i was the only person in the tube train who did!

I also knew there were the two hidden platforms at Holborn where I exited the tube, and I knew where the hidden doors to the passages were. It made me wonder what else is under London that we don't know about, and that the public walk past without ever knowing!

Anyway I set about exploring more of the site, and it just ignited my interest. I wouldn't have the guts to do what they do, risking their lives in dangerous places for example. I value my life too much (thoughts of the police who shot a man dead because they thought he might have a bomb enter the mind), and I value my freedom - as they could end up in jail for trespassing, but corrrr I would love to explore abandoned places like that too!

I then clicked on one about St Paul's Cathedral which they climbed and sat on the roof of!!!!! ....... The photography they took was so cool! Not a soul around, just reading it and taking the photos in gave me the feeling as if I was there too, a rebel, having defied all the security measures.... vibration alarmed scaffolding etc...

I'm going to spend the next few evening delving more into this site that's for sure.......

I love the internet!


Crack The Surface - Episode I from SilentUK on Vimeo.

Just Wowness! Lana Del Rey!

I was just reading attitude and they always have awesome music in their music section! This issue did not disappoint. They have now introduced me to Lana Del Rey who has a sensational voice and the looks of Emma Watson and Angelina Jolie in one!

What is really gripping me though is her sound, and also the style of her videos. Her YouTube is not at all what I expected from an artist about to break through, no VEVO.. just 5 videos with some amazing editing.

They appear to mix cartoons, old film footage, her singing and it makes a music video that we just don't see these days amongst the boobs in your face videos and women wearing nothing but knickers and leotards.

This woman has class!

Blue Jeans and video games are wowness!

I adore cleverly edited videos or videos that just make you stop and go what was that? ... They push your thinking and I love seeing what people create.

Another of my favourites is Levi Beamish. I often see people in the comments questioning the reason behind the video/ or asking what it means. I say to them, just enjoy what you saw and heard and take your own meaning from it.  I always look forward to a video with Daphne in by Levi. There is something about Daphne, that old lady who could be your granny who you want to help and find out more about :)

That's all for today folks :)

I'm concentrating on my work placement and a 6000 word essay I have in in October atm so you won't find me on YouTube till October sometime :) Hey if you miss me I'm on twitter and facebook from time to time sharing bits of my world.

p.s. I have opened up a new channel for vlogging..... it's not got any videos yet, when I make one I'll tell you all what it is :)

 

What would I do without a computer?

Hello everyone :)

I'm currently looking into buying a new laptop, well not looking as such, I know what I want, it's just a question of affording it, and going to get it.

My old faithful windows vista has deffo given up the ghost after 3 to 4 years in use every day. I am on the pc downstairs as I am trying to edit a video on it upstairs, but it's giving me the circle (you know the little loading circle, which I really think is it just giving me the middle finger).

The battery died two weeks ago, and it only runs off mains power now. Sooooo I am buying a new laptop which will be bale to handle HD video for all my YouTube-ness. I would like photoshop and some good video editing software too.

I want to up the content of my YouTube vids and be able to edit easily without being able to: eat a slice of cake, manage to fall up the stairs as I didn't lift my foot enough, and mop up all the water i had spilled from the glass I was carrying, to come back to my laptop to find it is still importing footage.

Yeahhhh a passing butterfly would outstrip the speed it does things!

So I have resigned myself to spending money on a new one, hey I'll definitely use it, for all the website editing, video editing and photo stuff I do.

You can't really live without a computer these days, everything is online, your friends, music, news, email, your life basically.

I do have the massive urge to go camping by the sea and leave all technology behind though :)

P.s That JK Rowling blog will appear, I haven't forgotten :)

Amy Winehouse : Died 23rd July 2011: Thank you for being an inspiration

As most people by now know, Amy Winehouse has died aged 27, that's only a few years older than myself. Puts things into perspective!

I painted her about 2 to 3 years ago. She was such an intriguing character, I had a desire to do one of my first paintings of her.

It turned out pretty well and captured the current Amy we saw documented in the papers.

I like listening to her music and tears dry on my own is a fav of mine and is just outside my top 25 tunes on my itunes.

It is funny, when doing my latest video this week of Justin Tranter from semi precious weapons I referred to this painting of her, as inspiration and a progression of my style in the background.

You can see the similarities in the background style if I put them side by side for you.
I used the same technique of scraping the black paint on.

A sad turn of events for a lady who gave us such wonderful music. Many songs of which have accompanied my drawings as I have been drawing them.

Thank you Amy

Moving on

Hello to all you lovely readers :)

It's been a while, I started a new job so I took a little holiday from the YouTube while I got used to that :)

London

I went to London last Saturday and met up with a friend, I might go back next Saturday for Pride, not sure, dunno if I have the time.

I made a video for YouTube next up, a competition where you can win 20,000 euros and support and a YouTube camp and all sorts. There are so many brill UK YouTubers I'll be surprised if I get through to the voting stage. Competition is fierce, but hey nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The Olympic Rings are up for the 2012 Olympics in London's St Pancras International train station. (The Eurostar trains go from here to France through the channel tunnel)

Youtube Next Up

I made up the poem for it, I thought I couldn't just talk and be boring haha so I jump cut it up :D

It was a great brain storm session for what I might do in the future, someone sugested in the comments that I could do the things I had thought of. My only issue as to why I do not do big art projects is the cost involved, materials etc.. unless I use nature :)

A sketch pad and pencils are cheaper in comparison and they are what attract my viewers at the moment but I want to get desigining some things and I am currently researching Tracey Emin, as I want to do a few odd videos on artists that intrique me, and that I don't know much about but want to know more...

I've also recently been filming a new project for my channel, which I will start editing and film more for over the next week or two :D It will be like something I've never done so I hope it will be appreciated.

I'm currently listening to Kylie :D ..... I really want to draw her again.

I'll be working art back into my day :) Sometimes it's good to have a break and come back refreshed :)

P.s.

TARDIS :D

Whatever comes to mind :D

Hello everyone :)

I'm sitting here on the floor listening to Owl City -Umbrella Beach :) I thought I'd have a good old blogity blog. I've had quite a nice day, went walkies with Ollie, hehe he's so funny, he went swimming in the river, and got out and I had to scarper quick smart to avoid getting water shaken all over me, the naughty little rascal got me last time, so I was prepared this time :D

I've got some ideas for a drawing, I dunno if it will work, it should, it might look a bit strange but it should be eye catching.... tis a secret, not telling yet :D

I'm just saving a 17 minute long video, jinkies, I never thought I would upload such a long video of me just talking, but that's what happened haha. I don't know if people will watch it all the way through but hopefully they'll like the parts they see.

I'm hungry, I feel like some lemon curd.... mmmm.

I put up lots of photos of mine for sale on my shop, people have been faving them and things which is cool, as I'm seeing which ones people like :)

Hope you're all well and having fun, and keep going if you've got exams at the mo, it's worth the work :)

Jonny

How to do I choose what to draw?

Hey everybody :)

Hope you're all doing well, I've had a fun day, digging a trench for a new hedge and gardening a bit. This evening I've been trawling the interwebs for pictures to draw. Sometimes people have asked me where I have found pictures that I drew from. More often than not, I have to give the answer I have no idea, because I can spend so long searching for a good picture I want to draw, and once i save the pic to my laptop and i click close on the window to the site i found it on, it disappears back into the realm of the internet .

There are a few steps I guess when it comes to me selecting a picture.

1. Normally it has to be someone I really want to draw, this often comes down to people who inspire me, or I feel a connection to at that time, in the sense of music or design or something. I think this is also why a lot of my drawings are of women, I listen to a lot of female singers.

2. I will get my groove on listening to some music, grab my hot choccy and a biscuit or two, or three... or four.. ok maybe half the pack.... don't judge me :D .... and select large images on google images. This means I get the highest resolution pics coming up which I need for drawing, because then I can see the detail when I zoom into features, nothing worse than a blurry picture to draw from!!

3. I'll type things in such as Kylie - aphrodite tour, photo shoot, shoot, cover , magazine... to get cool images to come up. I always try to pick 'out there' or more interesting pictures that I know will be more eye catching, than say your plain mug shot. I want excitement in my drawings and I don't want to draw a picture everyone has drawn either.

4. I can spend a couple of hours hunting for a pic, and then cropping it down or something to what I want to look good when I draw it. 

5. So voila :) That's how I do it really, of course sometimes people request me to draw people, but with so many people I want to draw, the ones I have the desire to draw come first. 

I found this on my searchings.... I think it really shows how much they love doing what they are doing :) unlike say Britney who only looks half there these days when she's on stage.

 

Over and out.

Jonny

Woodwork

Hi everyone :) Today has been a manly day :D

I have been in the garden, digging stumps out of a hedge we cut down, using the pick axe, axe and shovel etc. It's always a great feeling when I get the stump out in the end. There are so many good life lessons in gardening and art, don't give up, keep at it and you'll get somewhere :)

I did take a break though for a choccy biscuit :D

Once that was all done I decided I wanted to pressure wash my bench I made at GCSE about 7 years ago now I think. I started to sand it down a bit too, I think I want to paint it and when I move again it will come with me and be inside the flat. I designed it to be knock down to it splits into 6 pieces so :D I like putting a lot of effort into things I make and plannign and the making and seeing the final product.

I also oiled my hammock I made at A level. I quadruple checked the markings before I cut the wood to length for the hammock when I made it, and all the mortise and tenons etc. being hard wood - Iroko it wasn't cheap for the school to buy so I couldn't mess up, luckily I dind't :)

I could smell the oil, dust and soil on me and it made me miss my DT days. I really like making things with wood, I'll have to have a work shop and make things when I can :)

Ollie Pie came back from walkies so he had to be washed... this is mid shake :D 

A year and a bit on...

I got asked by a client to draw Jane McDonald for her, I had given the old drawing away so had to redo it. I really looked forward to doing this one because it was a great chance to see how I could improve on the first one.

I first drew Jayne on the left, back in November 2009 and this one is March 2011, I can see my proportions are better and my detail in the hair and placement of the figure on the page... interesting to see how I've progressed.

Commissions don't always allow full creativity so the images chosen are not always that spectacular and don't always show my full potential but this was great to do and compare :)

(P.S. bad lighting on the old pic)

Kylie Minogue!

 

Hello Everyone, wow it's been a while since I last posted, I've been reaaally busy! This weekend I went to see Kylie Minogue at the 02 Millenium Dome in London :D The O2 is such a great venue, I've been three times now, and the 20,000 capacity arena is certainly deserved of its world status as the world's most popular music venue.

It was out of this world! I had a blast, Kylie performed really well, the singing was great, hardly any bum notes and the stage production was spectacular! There were over 30 water jets on the stage and dancers were twirled up into the air on ropes, as well as there being great stage projections and choreography! 

Kylie was also in the air at one point on the back of a large angel as she soared over the crowd!

I loved what she did with Slow.... it's not the catchiest of songs but she really jazzed it up and made it sexy and then at the end funked it into a club/ powerful dance remix. Truely inspirational!

I haven't been able to stop listening to Kylie all weekend/ the past week and since the concert haha!

I went a bit snap happy too and took over 200 photos around London :) Got some good ones :)

Hopefully I'll be doing something with them soon.

Seriously if you ever get the chance and like Kylie Minogue, GO see her!

There's nothing like the old part of a city :)

A little picture into England for you .... I Love walking round cities and looking at the old parts, seeing what has been demolished, what has changed, where buildings used to be, wondering what was once there.

Haha I had to go to the bank to pay in some money, and I had to take a picture of the FML business centre, I bet you 10 quid that was named before computer chat speak came to be hahaaaa. It gives me a good chuckle every time I walk past :D

And there is me looking tired and a mess with a hot cross bun, chomp :) I'm hungry now actually, hmmmmm I wonder what I'll have to eat.






Spring is properly here, YAY! I was gardening today and could smell the hawthorn and hyacinths too... mmmmmmm. It'll be nice when all the blossoms are out. When I took those pictures of the ladybirds I took another of another ladybird and only when I was looking at the photos uploaded on the computer did I see a shield bug camouflaged in there too. I had got really close with my camera and face too, and I didn't see it, grins... nature is cool!


Can YOU spot the shield bug?? He's waving at you :D





Meep meep!

See you all soon, Hope you enjoy the new Britney video too!

Jonny

Guess Whooooooo ?

This is the drawing I am working on atm.... can you guess who it is?

P.S. Gotta love the shocking lighting after I turned off my daylight bulb :D

Painting and getting messy

I like to paint over old canvases if I do not like them after a while. Today I painted over a green and white one. Not really having any plan except for it to be textured and for it to have warm purples in it. Using red, white and blue this is what I created. I'm not decided whether it is finished yet so it might change a bit, or not :)

I like abstracts and it is something I am developing at the moment. I like the coarse texture of the white paint scraped across the surface, and in my world if you're gonna paint, you've not succeeded unless there is paint somewhere on your body and clothes :)

Water on Fire!!!!!! ......We need another Erin Brockovich, actually a whole team!

I may be all about art to a lot of you as that is what my channel is about, but I am also a geography graduate and I take environmental issues very seriously, I read national geographic every month and seriously some of the pictures scare me of what the future lays in hold for our race, because of what we are doing to the earth.

This short film covers a very serious topic about environmental issues concerned with natural gas drilling.

PLEASE watch from the beginning and stick with it, we need to educate ourselves on what we are doing to our world.

This is was fracking and drilling for natural gas does, it ruins water supplies as well as a whole host of problems! WATCH AT 8.55 in particular to see water catching fire due to the processes of fracking. It really is disgusting that companies get away with destroying lives and towns, let alone the environment.

If you do not understand what Fracking is click this link and scroll down, it also has an awesome diagram: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking

The fracking process also creates radioactive wastewater that cannot be treated by sewage treatment plants..... just think about that too! 

Double Trouble

Hey everyone,

I've just finished a drawing of Alexis Jordan, I have been listening to her new single "Good Girl" on repeat a fair few times today! It's catchy :) Mmmmm I'm not too fond of the drawing I just did, it is rather abstract in style, I like the hand the best and the rest is alright..... Sooooooooo I am going to draw another one of her and do a two in one video.

 They'll both be of the same sort of style though :) People seemed to like my essence of teacup Gaga a lot so this one won't be quite like that but I will try and make it a quick and rough drawing.

A snippet of the drawing.

I have also got a great one of Avril Lavigne I want to have a go at. And do that proper full on detailed style.

I'm not liking working at a desk at the moment, I think it is sending my perspective and scale off. I often stand up to check perspective, because you sit at an angle to the paper, proportions get skewed you see. I used to draw on my bed, and maybe I will go back to that for a new drawing and see it it makes any difference :)





This is what the second picture is based upon, you can see her hand looks rather strange as it is.

Magical Pixie Cottage

This is the Magical Pixie Cottage as I like to call it!

I took this picture in the summer and isn't it a beautiful cottage! I really like old cottages but I could never own one, I'm too tall at 6 foot 2 to be able to cope with their low ceilings! There is magicalness everywhere, we just have to create some sometimes!

I've been doing a few paintings in the evenings, one is finished and I really like it, it is very small but bright and has interesting textures in it. The other is not finished yet, and I'm deciding what to do with it next. Both are oils :)

I do have another Gaga portrait planned, and I want to do more of the Born this way Mash up paintings. Really incorporating many colours!

Did anyone see the Banksy art pieces they tore down in L.A. ? Such a shame.... I really admire his work and I thought the statement and message he made with this one was brilliant! Take a look, some really make me laugh, and some really make me wonder about the culture we live in!

Some images of Banksy's art around L.A.

The Charlie Brown one is fantastic!

I just had to share this with you all :)

I found this on my external hard drive while deleting some things, love it!

Born this way week

Waves :)

As you may know Miss Lady Gaga is releasing her new single born this way very soon! I've been wanting to do a Gaga series for some time now and this seems like the perfect opportunity. I once drew her in the style of pokerface, but it had a big mistake proportion wise with an eye.

For the past two or three days I have been sketching plans for a massive painting I am going to do. It is hopefully going to wow a lot of you, and I want to do it to push my style as I discussed in the previous blog post. It will definately be eye catching as it will be like no Gaga you will have ever seen! Suspense huh! haha... Lets hope I can pull it off!

Well tonight I wanted to draw her portrait style, but actually was not in the mood for full on detail so I just went with the flow and ended up doing a cartoony/ pop art Gaga.

Here is a sneak peak... it will go up on YouTube too as a video. I will probably be releasing a series of Gaga videos this week and in the weeks to come, as I do a variety of art inspirations to do with her :)

 

This piece is a concept using outlines, and cutting away the paper. It is drawn with black, blue, two yellows, a green and a red magic marker as well as pencil. I cut away the paper on two corners, inserting the yellow card behind one side, and then another white piece of paper behind too.  You can't see all the detail in the face, it looks more impressive up close.. oh wait if you click it you get a big image so yes you can :) ... anyway you'll have to wait for the video :D

I hope you're all having a good start to the week!

My favourite version of Paparazzi! I just adore the intro.

Beneath the Surface

Hey everyone :)

I've just been listening to Madonna - Frozen, and I have some inspiration for a new painting :D Some of you may also know from twitter that i have a painting of Lady Gaga planned, I am hoping it will be something that might make people go wow! I am anxious to pull it off well!

I feel I need to move on and grow my style and not just stick to pencil portraits, I need to push myself and use new mediums and experiment, I'm excited :D

I was given this platinum coated rose last week. I could have been given a simple beautiful rose, but this was a total surprise and is totally one of a kind as well as extremely special and elegant. It sparkles beautifully in the light.

Meep meep :)

There is real beauty below the surface of that metal exterior :)

There are often things hidden under my paintings and drawings you won't see. Some drawings have parts where i have gone wrong hidden by big black 9B pencil areas or paint :) I have also painted over old paintings in the past, I enjoy it. One of my favs is one that is painted over three times, it had a portrait of a YouTuber at first, then it got painted over to a spiral of union jack colours, then to this (scroll to sea spray) : Sea Spray. I painted over the old ones as I disliked them or wanted something different, but I know what is behind those layers and I enjoy knowing what is there :)

I know that my painting reflects where I am in my life, I did some very dark ones with black and red when I was dealing with coming out. I then progressed to less dark but still on a dark theme. Recently I painted over that to whites and greens :) - calm and collected. People may look at my paintings and not think much about them, but if I put a blurb by each one telling them the stage in my life and feelings and ideas behind it might bring more meaning to them :)

Sometimes it is important to think what is behind that layer of paint I see :)


Paintings I create are very much an extension of myself and what I feel.

Drawing Jessie J

Hey everyone,

Meep meep! Well I just put my video of Jessie J! I really enjoy doing drawings of people in awesome poses, and I try to find good poses for my drawings to be based upon. To capture Jessie's character too I knew it had to be a cool expression. My friend Mark gave me the idea for drawing her so thanks Mark :)

I actually think she is a really good singer and I do like to draw people I feel a connection with or that I enjoy their work. Music is a massive part of my artwork, and never is a drawing done without music. It's all art feeding into another type of art. I'm going to see Kylie Minogue in April and I was listening to a song by her and it puts me in such a great mood!

I did a darker background to the the drawing but then rubbed it away because it was too dark, but left it as a smokey sort of background as it wouldn't all go. Sometimes it is hard to decide on what works, and you don't know till you try!

I've actually had a really great day, I had the biggest surprise and then lovely comments on this video and yes, a lovely day!

I hope you enjoyed it and I have an exciting project coming..... top secret though! Shhhhhhh :D

The Ruins of Detroit

Hi Everyone :)

Quite a while ago I asked for this book for my birthday, and it finally got published in December! As some of you may know I do love my photography as well as my art, though I do not share it on YouTube.

This book really captures something I find really interesting, decaying buildings. It is full of gorgeous, and sad photos of building that are falling down, or before they were about to be restored, or demolished.

A few times when looking at this book, my mouth actually dropped, one picture in particular was of a the Michigan Theatre which was converted into a multi storey car park! Seeing cars parked under such a beautiful ceiling is quite something to behold.

I had to share it with you so here are some photos and also a link to where you can see some of the pictures properly. There is something surreal about the fact that as a race we built such buildings and let them decay and fall back to nature.... and in such a big city as Detroit and the world's superpower the USA, I find it rather intriguing that a city exists in this way. Having studied geography it is also of interest in how cities change with the times and how planning failed in parts of Detroit, as well as it's dependence on the automotive manufacturing which has now disappeared leaving the shells of factories left.

Times change, that is for certain, I hope some of these buildings will be left as reminders of what once was :)


The ruins of Detroit pictures

Michelle McCool drawing

Hello everyone, as you may have seen my latest drawing was of Michelle McCool, a WWE star. I was commissioned by her website to draw her as a surprise for her birthday :) I really enjoyed doing the drawing, and with the help of Mark I chose a picture a bit more outside of my comfort zone. Instead of my usual head shots I went for a full body shot.

This meant I had to get the proportions spot on, and someone had commented on a video recently saying my proportions are not always right. True, but hey I am not a printer :D Anyway I used the calculator and my big metal ruler to measure out where body parts would roughly be placed as I had to scale up. It worked out well, and even at the end I had to tailor it in a bit, making her legs thinner.

It was certainly a good lesson in getting proportions right and it is something I will focus more on in the next drawings :)

Here is a behind the scenes shot of me doing the art attack video :D Haha Look at Ollie staring at me thinking what is he doing!

I just ordered some postage tubes too for commission work and if I sell anything from my website, I shopped around to find the best price, amazing what hey charge for them sometimes! Meep meep!

Take care everyone.