Category: Non classé

Happy New Years Eve friends! 🐀

As we’re about to say goodbye to the year of the metal/golden rat, please welcome the last Procreate piece for 2020! Which this time I’d actually call more of a digital drawing rather than a digital painting. And it marks our six month anniversary on this platform, so I think that it’s time to meet the parents… If you dare show them all this nudity and art, and reveal what you’re really up to “on the internet”.

Anyhow, the reason that this piece turned out to be more of a drawing is mostly due to the source photographs quality. However damn striking and beautiful and lush is its subject – my friend Ingrida – the image was very darkly lit, and featured a lot of fabric which, being a professional artist, I dare claim to be my arch nemesis. Not because of how difficult it is to portray – it is actually quite the contrary I believe. Drawing fabric is a very methodical skill and I have had enough experience with it during my art college days in the drawing room. I just find it quite boring to do, and the result does not garner the amount of time it usually takes. It’s so monotonous, and not worth it in my opinion! Plus, ya’ll should know I really detest straight lines and angles in art, they are far far far from my preference of things to portray. This is why you’ll rarely ever see me do cityscapes, any kind of architecture, interiors, man made objects, etc. I prefer organic subject matter – which mostly contains curved lines, natural angles, and sporadic surfaces. Thus, my interest in portraying the flesh of the human body for this series of exclusive Procreate pieces. The low amount of light in the source photograph for this piece also meant that it was difficult to really see a broad spectrum of flesh tones. So I decided to create a somewhat monochromatic piece, using only the HB Pencil Sketching tool in a blue colour. The fleshy peach background providing a nice contrast.

As no smudge or blend tool was once again used for this artwork, it took quite some time to do so even though I do have a roughly finished piece with the missing fabric pieces and an expanded background – I decided I really preferred this version. And my fellow art college survivors might agree, that it does make the piece look more Fine Art in the end. And less obvious, as executing it exactly in the same manner that the source photograph appears, would be rather predictable. So I hope that you enjoy this work, and perhaps I can round up a special post for our one year anniversary featuring all the alternate versions of the monthly Procreate pieces (there are usually a couple per digital artwork).

Thank you so very much to Ingrida for her modelling talent, and Daria for her persistant photographer skills. I really appreciate it girls! And I hope that you all have a lovely NYE. 🐁

Hi friends!

Following on from my GIANT DRAWING FOLDER tour, here is the first instalment of my smaller sketchbooks. These accompanied the main body of work created during my final third year of the drawing elective at CIT CCAD. Which really was just an excuse to draw Lucky dog all the time! 🐕

Hi friends!

Following on from my GIANT DRAWING FOLDER tour, here is the second instalment of my smaller sketchbooks. These accompanied the main body of work created during my final third year of the drawing elective at CIT CCAD. Which really was just an excuse to draw Lucky dog all the time! 🐕

MFA Artist Talks Part 1 – Artist Talk Fine Art Lecture Series 2020 / 2021, Thurs 3rd Dec 2020 12.00 pm via zoom online. 

The MFA Fine Art course in Belfast School of Art, UU was established in 1979.

Since then, 320 emerging artists, 21 full time staff (including 6 Course Directors) and over 200 visiting artists have exerted their individual and collective influence on the shape and direction of this program of study.

The course continues to produce artists of international reputation as evidenced by the success of graduates in major national and international prizes and competitions; in 2011 Susan Phillipsz was recipient of the Turner Prize (Tate Britain), one of the most prestigious awards for Fine Art. The program has also provided five previous nominees for the same award. Two graduates have been awarded the highly competitive Paul Hamlyn Award. The course has also been substantially represented over the years in other high-profile events and prizes, including the Venice Biennale (multiple exhibitors alumni and staff), Becks Futures and the Glenn Dimplex Award and the Nissan Art Project, (IMMA, Dublin). Film production, gallery management and curation are allied areas where graduates have been internationally successful, the course has also been immensely influential in the sphere of art education across Europe with a high number of elevated academic, research and management positions being held by MFA graduates.

The course’s vision remains as radical and cutting edge as it was in 1979 – asserting  relevancy, criticality and quality in today’s contemporary art world.

If you can’t make it to the presentation tomorrow, my section will go live on my YouTube channel at 2pm. Set a reminder to make sure you don’t miss it! It should be rather entertaining. 🤡

Hi! Hello. How are you, my favourite people in this universe? 👩🏻‍🎨

As I was recently back in Cork, and briefly reunited with my extensive archive of art, I came upon a couple of paintings on stretched canvas that have been waiting for their forever homes FOREVER. The two self-portraits are from early 2014, and were completed as part of the Art, Craft & Design portfolio preparation course which I attended at St. John’s Central College. They are both in acrylics, with the Medusa piece having an oil paint layer on top as I eventually reworked it a couple of years after its initial completion. Probably sometime in early 2019. The original version had a completely opposite colour story would you believe – in bright orange, yellow and red. I’ve even managed to find a photo of that state of its being, in evidence:

Now my bet is that it does look less scary now that it is reworked. And it matches the Pinup self-portrait colour story. Which close up looks something like this:

These two paintings are based on two very different photos of me, and sort of represent a flattering and an honest view of myself. I’ll let you make the guess on which one is which! And as for the Lucky portrait, well it was created with the intention of subverting the concept of shame – through a strikingly bright colour palette – into my signature humorous filter on everyday situations. It is the only piece in this trio of works which isn’t varnished, so appears of a more matte texture: 

If you were HYPOTHETICALLY asked which one of these pieces YOU would like to receive in a future giveaway (open to all levels of Patreon supporters), which one would you choose? Please cast your vote below. Full disclaimer however, I am personally very much aware of the progression of skill which is evident in these pieces lined up side by side with each other. But I’ve also grown to appreciate all levels of art making more, and at the end of the day it is all very subjective. So if you rather not receive ANY of these paintings in a giveaway, don’t feel bad about it. They’ve all managed to be featured in exhibitions within their short lifespan, and I’m sure will live out the rest of their lives in peace. Besides, I’ve enjoyed featuring them in this little write up regardless of the outcome of this poll. Perhaps discussing influences and processes to do with older works could be something that can become a more regular part of this awesome Patreon page?

Take care You squishy delicate human form of a person! 💕

PS – to comply with Patreon’s stance on raffles, lotteries or giveaways the legal validity of this future giveaway is upheld by the 4th mentioned option, of determining the winners of this giveaway on a first come/first serve basis. Based on the order of comments made under this post. And due to some logistical circumstances, this giveaways prizes are reserved for dispatch in January of 2021. As that’s statistically the grimmest time of the year, when we’re all going to need a bit of cheering up more than usually. And by then you’re morelikely to forget about this giveaway as well, so any winnings will come as an even more unexpected surprise. In conclusion: if you’d like to actually receive any of these paintings as a prize, in January of 2021, comment below this post with your preference. Open to all Patron levels. Good luck!

Following the creation of last months digital painting, I’ve played around with a variety of filters on Procreate. Here are my top ten colour variations for this piece. Which one is your favourite?

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Flipping through this sketchbook for the first time, since starting it back in the summer of 2019 and finishing it within the first semester of the MFA course at Belfast School of Art, UU. Whenever I get a pocket sized sketchbook, it always seems like a good idea – but ultimately my preferred sketchbook size is probably an A6, even if square shaped. I couldn’t resist the colourful pages in this one though!

It begins with some observational sketches made from a private viewing of an oil painting titled Boars In The Snow, 1893 by Carl Zimmermann at Crawford Art Gallery in Cork. There’s a few musings on animal rights and compassion. As well as a lot of process thoughts/plans and sketches to do with pieces created on the MFA course. I hope that you can find some of the daily observational drawings amusing nonetheless.

This wasn’t that easy to film as I’m currently away from my usual, more convenient setup in Belfast. And I was determined to do it in one take and capture my first impressions, as I haven’t looked through this sketchbook since last year. So I hope you folks enjoy this very intimate closeup peek into some of my creative process. And let me know if you recognise any of the development sketches for my more recent conceptual pieces!

Love you lots – more than jelly tots!!! 💕

Hi! Hello. How are you, my favourite people in this universe? 👩🏻‍🎨

As I was recently back in Cork, and briefly reunited with my extensive archive of art, I came upon a couple of paintings on stretched canvas that have been waiting for their forever homes FOREVER. The two self-portraits are from early 2014, and were completed as part of the Art, Craft & Design portfolio preparation course which I attended at St. John’s Central College. They are both in acrylics, with the Medusa piece having an oil paint layer on top as I eventually reworked it a couple of years after its initial completion. Probably sometime in early 2019. The original version had a completely opposite colour story would you believe – in bright orange, yellow and red. I’ve even managed to find a photo of that state of its being, in evidence:

Now my bet is that it does look less scary now that it is reworked. And it matches the Pinup self-portrait colour story. Which close up looks something like this:

These two paintings are based on two very different photos of me, and sort of represent a flattering and an honest view of myself. I’ll let you make the guess on which one is which! And as for the Lucky portrait, well it was created with the intention of subverting the concept of shame – through a strikingly bright colour palette – into my signature humorous filter on everyday situations. It is the only piece in this trio of works which isn’t varnished, so appears of a more matte texture: 

If you were HYPOTHETICALLY asked which one of these pieces YOU would like to receive in a future giveaway (open to all levels of Patreon supporters), which one would you choose? Please cast your vote below. Full disclaimer however, I am personally very much aware of the progression of skill which is evident in these pieces lined up side by side with each other. But I’ve also grown to appreciate all levels of art making more, and at the end of the day it is all very subjective. So if you rather not receive ANY of these paintings in a giveaway, don’t feel bad about it. They’ve all managed to be featured in exhibitions within their short lifespan, and I’m sure will live out the rest of their lives in peace. Besides, I’ve enjoyed featuring them in this little write up regardless of the outcome of this poll. Perhaps discussing influences and processes to do with older works could be something that can become a more regular part of this awesome Patreon page?

Take care You squishy delicate human form of a person! 💕

PS – to comply with Patreon’s stance on raffles, lotteries or giveaways the legal validity of this future giveaway is upheld by the 4th mentioned option, of determining the winners of this giveaway on a first come/first serve basis. Based on the order of comments made under this post. And due to some logistical circumstances, this giveaways prizes are reserved for dispatch in January of 2021. As that’s statistically the grimmest time of the year, when we’re all going to need a bit of cheering up more than usually. And by then you’re morelikely to forget about this giveaway as well, so any winnings will come as an even more unexpected surprise. In conclusion: if you’d like to actually receive any of these paintings as a prize, in January of 2021, comment below this post with your preference. Open to all Patron levels. Good luck!

Here’s the setup I used to present my first performance video for a group critique in college. I received a lot of good feedback, and feel like I’m at a good place for the work to evolve further. And for someone who used to be very adamant about not doing performance art, or video art – that is a very big deal. Expanded painting.

Would love to know what your thoughts are in regards to this newest development in my work!

The muse behind my very first Patreon exclusive digital painting is back with a proper reveal. This piece is large in size, allowing for correct high resolution that’s needed for sharp image printing. Thanks to this project I have the space to develop my skills. I am learning. Thank you for your patience, and trust.

Am continually inspired by my friend Daria. By her visual form of curves and fullness, by her persistent work on self love. I’m hoping that I can channel this energy. Taking this collective inspiration, I urge you to have the motivation to feel love, gratefulness and appreciation for the body that houses your soul.

Feel lust. Desire. Be vain.