Performing cats

Some days my job just gets even weirder. This time it was due to Zippo from Zippo's Circus asking me to paint a domestic cat jumping through a hoop to advertise his latest act – these days I work for Carters exclusively when it comes to 'showland' but I made an exception for this one as he needed it quickly and his designer had become unavailable (and he's a nice bloke!). Oil on board, added to the poster in Photoshop.

Lucky Me!

 

I designed this poster reminiscent of a B movie poster for Strange Cargo for their "Lucky Me!" exhibition which went alongside their Triennial piece "The Luckiest Place on Earth" (see below)...

Hot Rod Hayride

We had a great time at the Hot Rod Hayride this year! Anna Porter asked me to paint a trophy for the best hot rod, so I did this little blingy number on glass... I'm not sure who won it in the end, but there were so many amazing cars there I wouldn't have liked the job of choosing!

Tornado & Briton

Tornado Smith was a brilliant showman, a wall of death rider whose name still lives on. Briton was his pet lioness who would ride the wall with him. This painting is on the glass of a reclaimed cellar window, in enamel, gold leaf and palladium leaf.

Exotica

Another glass painting, this time on the thick bevelled glass of a Victorian cabinet door - one of the joys of reusing old stuff!

Board Tracker

This is one of the glass paintings I made for the Hot Rod Hayride art exhibition this year. It's painted on the back of the glass, with metalflake and gold leaf.

Black and White

These paintings are done on glass, painted on the reverse backwards. I love the depth you get in the black...

...and it's always good fun to turn it over and see what a mess I've made

That ain't rock'n'roll, that's jazz

Every now and then I do one of these paintings for fun - kind of Picasso-inspired Pink Panther-style jazz doodles. These are acrylic on canvas.

Dunno what the significance of the cat is... I just felt like it. One thing I do know though, he doesn't like jazz.

Ah thhankayou very much....

This is a painting I did for John at The King's Head, a cool little bar in Kilburn, London. It is acrylic on canvas.

...and here it is in its place on the wall. I also designed the logo for the bar:

It's a smart little place, if you ever find yourself at a loose end in Kilburn, check it out!

What happens on tour, stays on tour...

Thee Shrunken Heads, having a particularly bad day. Enamel and palladium leaf on glass, painted on the reverse backwards.

Glass painting is something I have been developing for a few years. Inspired by the incredible signs and mirrors painted by 19th century signpainters, I began to learn glass techniques. I now use some other little things I have invented too to get interesting effects.

I love the fact that I don't know what the painting looks like until I turn it over - it's how I get my kicks!