WOWsville!!!

 Gerry Cottle (of circus fame) rang up and asked me to design him a poster for a new stage show he's producing. He wanted "good old fashioned artwork", so I did my best to give him all the elements he wanted, including a number of characters. Sometimes the sketches have a life of their own, so I've added some here so you can see the starting point for some of the characters… and the front of a DL leaflet. If you fancy a holiday in Somerset, stay at Wookey Hole and prepare to be Wowed!

Carnival time

This week I've made this poster for Charivari Day, Strange Cargo's street carnival in Folkestone - Foundlings & Fairytales. They wanted it to have 'dark' elements, like those old papercut animations that used to be on telly when we were little...

Billy Vincent

 I've just made this logo for the band Billy Vincent - old school tattoo meets pirate!

More Folkestone Triennial…

The first thing I put on this blog when I started it was a selection of posters I did for Strange Cargo to call for submissions to Everywhere Means Something to Someone, a people's guidebook to Folkestone made up of their personal stories and knowledge about the town. The guidebook was commissioned by the Folkestone Triennial.

I also designed postcards and beer mats, which were put out in pubs across the town to get people talking and thinking about the book…

Then I illustrated a map of 'hidden Folkestone' showing all the things that have happened in the town, stuff that looms large in local legend. The drawing was originally for primary school children to take home and interview their parents about Folkestone stories, but it ended up being quite popular in its own right…

It was great fun to draw! Then I designed the book itself - around 550 pages long, it's a really nice thick 'pocket book' (A6) filled with beautiful photos by Ben Hills and stories by the People of Folkestone, which Strange Cargo are selling at £5 a copy during the Triennial.

Then I made some garish wallpaper for the exhibition to coincide with the launch of the book. The theme of the 2011 Triennial is 'A Million Miles from Home' so Strange Cargo, who are based in Folkestone, chose to make their gallery into a home environment…

Then I made a Folkestone board game, like snakes and ladders, to be played in the gallery during the exhibition…

Now the gallery's open and it looks great! Strange Cargo found some amazing stuff on ebay and junk shops, and the place has a very homely air. The books are selling like hot cakes, people are making themselves cups of tea in the 50s kitchenette area…

 The map has been made into a jigsaw which people have been playing with every day while they visit the gallery…

And the board game seems to have been a success - apparently one small lad managed to do it in three steps!

It's really nice to see all these things together in one place, and I'm particularly pleased with how the book has come out - it seems to be going down well. Again, you want a break from work? Come to Folkestone and buy the book, and explore its nooks and crannies!

Folkestone Triennial

Well, it's the Folkestone Triennial now, till September - an enormous international public art show in the town. Hew Locke rang and asked me to paint some names on some boats... of course, I said. They are on a flotilla of ships hanging from the ceiling of St Mary and St Eanswythe, the parish church, 'For all at peril on the sea'...

 The resulting piece is really spectacular. If you fancy hols by the sea you could do a lot worse than come to Folkestone and explore these places…

It wasn't the easiest job I've ever done, painting freehand on swaying boats while lying down on scaffolding that jiggled every time people walked past. "This must have been how Michelangelo felt…" I thought… except he had considerably more talent and fewer ships, obviously.