Zizzi Edinburgh Edinburgh Quay - May, 2014 - Initial Ideas

Painting Archive - Selected Portraits 2010 - 2013

Zizzi Roxburgh Court, Edinburgh

Proposals for Zizzi Roxburgh Court due to be done last week ofJune

Painters 20/05/13

Revisiting some of the paintings by Neil Dallas-Brown whose work originally convinced me as a student to pursue painting.  The economy of the use of paint, ambiguous handling of the figure and often powerfully symmetrical compositions really spoke to me then and still do.

 

Today I've also been re-investigating the work of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye - an artist I knew to make fictitious portraits- but hearing her in conversation from her exhibition at Chisenhale Gallery last year and discussing some familiar problems has been fascinating: wanting to paint the figure without capturing the 'essence' of a sitter and for the process to primarily be about addressing the paint and 'translating paint  into people'  http://www.chisenhale.org.uk/archive/exhibitions/index.php?id=122

Zizzi Glasgow Princes Square - Final Designs

Workshop of the World

Princes Square was originally commissioned as a site for retail by Sir James Campbell and completed in 1841. Campbell, businessman and Provost of Glasgow, had a passion for architectural design, insisting on the importance of plentiful natural light.  When his eyesight began to fail him, he drew his designs with white chalk on dark blue paper…

These colours spoke to me of blueprints and plans; of shipbuilding and of architecture and engineering; even pattern cutting – a reference to another of Campbell’s trades- and the drapers business he established in Prince’s Square. It is the visual language of the Workshop of the World.

 I combined imagery of the Princes Square building with elements from historical shipbuilding photographs.  The grid pattern creates depth, allows for playful perspective and hints at the distinctive scheme upon which the City is designed and founded.

Princes Square was refurbished and appeared in its current form in 1988, represented here by the literal ‘relaunching’ the iconic Peacock sculpture.

15/01/13 Graphite Rubbings and from Woodcuts

These images resulted from some experimental woodcut mark-making made with another artist at our studio complex, David Woods. The different marks (Mountains, checkerboard, cloud/drumlins etc.) were all made in isolation but by taking rubbings in graphite I could combine the disparate elements into 'landscapes'. This way I can imagine what form a future woodblock print might take and how different forms and patterns can be substituted and interchanged.

Jan 2013: Invented Garden, Watercolour and ink

Jan 2013: experimental watercolour research

New studio draings: Gouache, Pen, Ink, Graphite

Zizzi Glasgow Royal Echange, January 2013

Of the themes suggested for the project the ones which appealled the most  were that of GoMA and the Telephone exchange - the second making me think of speech, dialect and the Glasgow Patter.  This resulted in some initial ideas for ' Your Patter's like Water'; The course of the River Clyde and tributaries are plotted by phrases and words peculiar to the City that might refer literally to eating and drinking or as a form of rhyming slang or patter.

The current building was previously Borders' bookshop. Having traded on the site for almost 20 years, the bookshop was synonymous with the building and much-loved by locals. Recognising the obvious relation to dialect, patter and writing I pursued this as a new theme.  I collected together some Glasgow-associated novelists, poets, playwrights and seminal books; particularly looking for those with interesting titles and book-jackets ( and would also tie in with the green, grey, maroon and yellow palette).

Round 1 ideas

final proposals

Wish List 2012

Pick up your copy of The List today with Wish List - seasonal gift, food and drink and event guide - featuring my recently commissioned festive patterns.

Wish List 2012

I was just recently commissioned to illustrate some festive designs for the pages of this year's Wish List. From the menu boards at the Traverse Theatre and the poster for the Neighbourhood exhibition the emphasis for this was on a mix of media and simple pattern. Keep your eyes peeled for the December publication.

Neighbourhood Urban Outfitters 124 Princes St - On til 12 November