urban scratchings

Fish Head...

2010-01-03T00:20:00.000-08:00

Today's Covert operations...

Deconstructed Figure

2010-01-02T23:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T15:20:00.000-08:00

Summer in the Southern Hemisphere means homage to Brett Whiteley's beach motif

New Art Project (Untitled)

2009-12-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

Something I've been spending some time on recently using recycled cardboard boxes, paper, acrylic paint and shellac...

Covert Operations...

2009-12-13T13:27:00.001-08:00

This one is in honour of a local bag lady where I grew up. She used to walk these streets and laneways with her shopping jeep

stencil after the gleaners by Millet

Different location

The boot is full and ready to roll!!

Tis the Season to be Drawing...

2009-12-08T16:24:00.000-08:00

Can You Help Me?

Negetive spaces

2009-12-07T17:55:00.000-08:00

Been mucking around with cloud filled sillhouettes on and off for a little while and have combined it with an idea for a paste up or stencil taken from "The Gleaners", by Millet.

This one is inspired by a bag lady that used to live next door to us when I was a kid. She died in awfully tragic circumstances and I used to see her all the time walking the streets with her shopping buggy. This is a way to kind of honour her memory.

I like to think of these pieces as being about loss. The holes left by being (and not being) human. Sometimes tragic, and lacking dignity, squillions of forgotten people that we never knew as potentially real spaces full of mystery and meaning.

Study in Acrylic

2009-11-29T18:16:00.001-08:00

Nude Study

2009-11-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

The Tree of Man...

2009-11-12T17:59:00.002-08:00

Continuing to fiddle around with Paper Mache. Finishing with acrylic wash and shellac

Never Give up

2009-11-08T17:56:00.001-08:00

Torso that began with this. Not that I am by any means successful in the traditional sense, but if there was one thing I could say to artists, young or old that are struggling with the tension of wondering if continuing with their art is really worth it, I would say, dont give up!! Even if right now it seems like nothing will ever come of all the effort, its worth it just to see yourself grow. Even if you never "succeed" at all in monetary terms. I nearly gave up and now I am so glad I didnt. That continues to be a guiding force behind my art practice. As Vincent Van Gogh said, out of great pain, comes great beauty.

Accidental Art

2009-10-29T01:55:00.000-07:00

An accidental abstract composition taken on an iphone...

Bears in Custody...

2009-10-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Inspired by this.

silhouettes

2009-10-12T19:38:00.001-07:00

SHOWTIME III

2009-10-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

The Sweetest Music

2009-10-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

SHOWTIME continued...

2009-10-03T20:15:00.001-07:00

Showtime

2009-09-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

Yep, its that time of year again... when children have the joy of playing in a sea of death. You can revisit my thoughts in this phenomenon, here and here.

The Notebook

2009-09-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

I've been finding some rhythm with the keeping of the notebook, or visual diary as its called in Art School. I always struggled to keep a visual diary, as every time I opened it, I found the blankness of the page daunting. The blankness of my mind even scarier. Now, occasionally, I catch the ideas before they drift off into the fog. I have learned how to use one, mostly through years of trying and failing. Giving up. Starting again.

Having a visual diary, is incredibly helpful as it is the capturing of ideas rather than the refining of them that is important. I was told this often. I had only ever understood it as a restriction and a chore until recently.

These two are drawn from memory from real life.

The Voice of a generation...

2009-09-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

A guy walked past as I was doing this and asked "Arent you?" I didnt really have a response...

Stage Two

2009-09-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

Stage One

2009-09-06T19:14:00.001-07:00

Anti Christmas Cards

2009-09-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Designs for a series of "Anti - Christmas Cards."

Love Birds

2009-09-02T22:47:00.001-07:00

Didnt quite turn out the way I hoped, and you cant see the outlines very well due to paper glare. But I am liking this concept and am happy with how the flat black acrylic paint worked on the brickwork. ( Yes I actually went to the trouble of painting the wall to do this piece.)

My Nervous Emu

2009-09-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

Have wanted to do this one for a while

After Millet

2009-08-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of drawings done after, "The Gleaners" by Millet

Chinese Whispers

2009-08-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

The Sweetest Music (update)

2009-08-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

Update of current painting.

The sweetest music...

2009-08-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Bubble Girl II

2009-07-30T17:55:00.001-07:00

The Window

2009-07-25T01:47:00.000-07:00

Playing with paint again and as usual, see plenty of potential and rarely see results

New Wheatpaste

2009-07-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Across the road from my old High School...

Sugar and Spice and everything nice

2009-07-13T17:30:00.001-07:00

John Bracks pictures of children have inspired me.

Latest Wheatpaste..(talk to the hand)

2009-06-20T23:14:00.000-07:00

Close up

First wheat paste I've done in ages. I actually had something else in mind today, but this piece works I think...

Torso...

2009-06-15T16:18:00.001-07:00

Another Torso update. Added some acrylic paint and some clear spray on varnish. Still a long way to go even though its already come some distance from here.

paper Torso..

2009-06-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

Updated shot of torso Ive been working on... Still a work in Progress:)

Cubist Guitar Guy

2009-06-06T19:39:00.001-07:00

Guitar guy is popping up in the notebook again.. Hes a cubist this time.

Last minute scratching...

2009-06-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

joined at the head

2009-05-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

2009-05-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

The Waiting Room
Pencil and Gesso on A1 Cartridge

Inspired by triplets I saw at the doctors on Saturday, and the drawings of John Brack

Lament
Cardboard, Paper Mache, Gesso, acrylic and found object

I am really not one for tricky conceptual ideas. But I still like to play around with sculptural elements. Its something Ive been interested in for ages. Thats why I really like John Brack. He strips it all down to the basics.

Study of everyman in his pajamas

2009-05-24T18:47:00.001-07:00

Self Portrait with Black Mug

2009-05-23T18:31:00.001-07:00

Charcoal and acrylic on paper

The time I've used paint in quite some time:) Wanting to do some serious painting again. I have some ideas in the visual journal and was inspired by the (deceptively) simple style of John Brack.

Random act of Sculpture

2009-05-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it doesnt mean anything or particularly look that sculptural, but I just felt compelled to do it.

out of proportion

2009-05-20T17:51:00.001-07:00

2009-05-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you look into the eyes of a patient, you look into the eyes of your own questions, fears and existential anxieties. They all lie underneath what you see, swimming in the looks up at the ceiling as you wheel them under the cold lights, or staring into the floor as if it were a pool for them to look into...when you look at them, you are often looking at yourself

Old Face

2009-05-17T00:23:00.000-07:00

Man by the Window

2009-05-16T02:10:00.000-07:00

another drawing done during my lunch break today.

Business is Business

2009-05-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, brush strokes work by accident...

Choose your poison well...

2009-05-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Out the Bathroom window

2009-05-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

2009-05-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

I started taking my visual diary to work now, and drawing in my down time or on lunch breaks. I see things all the time that inspire me. I always wanted to be one of those people who carried a notebook, or sketch book everywhere, but it seemed somehow false or pretentious. I always feel like a knob drawing in public. Now it seems I am literally inhabiting the Harvey Pikar cliche. (only without the success) scribbling away in some filthy cupboard, with the mop buckets and the smell of soiled linen filling my nostrils:) Feels strangely snug, despite the cliche.

Bad News?

2009-05-09T01:54:00.001-07:00

I see the eyes of sick people all the time. Lying there waiting. Will it be bad news?

Updated Paper Mache Sculptures

2009-05-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

Robed Figure. Still a work in progress...

Torso still a work in progress...as is the messy Loungeroom:)

Lost and Found

2009-05-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

This is a piece of sheet metal I picked up near the train station a while ago. Its been sitting under my mantle piece for ages, waiting...The stencil is done with a mixture of wheat paste and mud.

Gideons Flower

2009-05-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

After reading about Pro Hart painting the covers of Bibles, I painted this on the front of one of those little Gideon's Bibles back in 97. My faith was relatively new, and as you can see by this image, pretty simplistic and naive.

More Detournement

2009-04-30T01:44:00.000-07:00

This was originally an ad for GPS systems. I pasted it up on the wall of an abandoned building in Brunswick. Came out orright me reckons

Detournment

2009-04-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

For a while now, I've been collecting images from advertising and print media that I consider strange, odd or downright absurd!! In all probability, you'd see these kinds of images every day and gloss over them without a second thought. But when you remove them from their context you can almost see something of the (want to be careful with using this word) Evil they represent. (Perhaps death dealing is less loaded) Im trying to twist some of these images to show something of the sickness of that culture.

These ones were inspired by images from the local paper during the Royal Show last year.

Free

2009-04-17T16:50:00.001-07:00

New things are bobbing up all the time...

The Newmarket Gallery

2009-04-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

Pasted up some A1 stencils I had been working on the last month or so. Ran out of Wheatpaste, so didnt get up everything that I wanted to. A very cool looking dude and his girlfriend walked by as I was working. He didnt like it. A bunch of 13 year old kids walked by too. They thought it was, "mad."

Ke?

2009-04-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

A little something that Ive been working on this week... I work therefore I am therefore I am therefore I am... I am?

Nil by Mind

2009-04-08T19:15:00.001-07:00

The waiting room

2009-04-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Ages ago, I saw this woman in a corridor of the hospital reading a tiny prayer book. She was rocking back and forward slightly and stopped when she noticed me passing.

Eye for an Eye II

2009-03-31T19:50:00.001-07:00

Eye for an Eye

2009-03-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

Unfinished Business...

2009-03-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

Still trying to work at the crusading violence theme and trying to transpose that onto our culture of acquisition and consumption. Have not made much headway with the last couple of drawings but this one is starting to head in the right direction. Still trying to take some small amount of inspiration from Goya's Caprichos. Not so much the style ( as if I could ever get near to him) but the ideas.

Not having much luck, really.

Noisy Miner

2009-02-24T00:28:00.000-08:00

Bird of Death VII

2009-02-20T20:55:00.000-08:00

Pilgrims II

2009-02-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

Pilgrims on the Crusade Against Recession

Pilgrams on the Crusade Against Global Recession

2009-02-13T22:56:00.000-08:00

Bird of Death VI

2009-02-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

Bird of death V (Pilgramage)

2009-02-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

Copy my rights...

2009-02-09T19:58:00.000-08:00

Added this to the front of previous T - Shirt print, after I read this post. The legalities of copyright are pretty mind numbing to me, but I was struck by this phrase as I scrolled through a related link on the creative commons concept. That being to promote creativity people may willingly relinquish, "some" or "all" of the legal rights to their work. And as I thought about that phrase, I wondered about the broader implications... I thought it was quite a good counter point. The idea that we reserve no rights for ourselves. That we might willingly relinquish the "reservation" (protection - control - defence?) of our rights to give people the space and freedom to choose to give them to us? Looks great on a T- Shirt, how about when my "rights" are actually threatened? My standard of living? my work entitlements? My access to medical care? Theres a difference between rights being available, or given freely, and rights being "reserved." Are yours and my rights, as artists and people, "reserved,( thereby excluding others) or "upheld," thereby including others?

Interesting.

All things must pass...

2009-02-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

Finally got this wheat paste up after months of riding past the spot everyday on my way to work thinking about it. Pretty much all the pieces (the ones I liked anyway) that I have put up have been painted over or stripped. So most of them no longer exist, except here. I like that fact. All things must pass. It keeps me sober.

And finally...

2009-02-06T16:53:00.000-08:00

The Urbanmonk brand continues to expand:)

Double Girl..

2009-02-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

yeah..

2009-02-06T16:16:00.001-08:00

Back on the stencil bandwagon...Always was, always will be a binger in one form or another:)

Black and White

2009-02-05T15:08:00.001-08:00

... is always better

Stencilin'

2009-02-05T14:38:00.001-08:00

Havent done any stenciling in ages...Pinched... I mean "appropriated" this image from a photo of Tim Rogers in the local paper...

Bird of Death IV

2009-02-03T21:28:00.000-08:00

Bird of Death III ( suffering and faith)

2009-01-31T16:44:00.000-08:00

Bird of Death III

Four Birds

2009-01-30T18:35:00.000-08:00

Sketch from notebook

2009-01-30T13:56:00.000-08:00

Bird of Death II

2009-01-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

Bird of Death II

This pic gives you a reasonable idea of the size of the paper Im using. Here I've used medium willow charcoal, Flat black Acrylic enamel paint and Gesso Canvas Primer on A1 cartridge. Havent used charcoal in ages!! To me, the point with art is, NEVER GIVE UP!! No matter how many bad pictures you do, or how many times you fail at what you want to achieve, or how many times you look at the skill of other artists and hang your head, sooner or later, something will emerge that is worthwhile... Or at least, seems to be at the time:)

This is the slop pile out of which things grow...It aint pretty. But Id have to admit that neither is the finished product, really:)

More Suffering and faith..

2009-01-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Bought some sheets of A1 cartridge, some cheap enamel acrylic from the hardware shop, (ok, Bunnings) and some Gesso primer. Like "drawing" with paint. In the words of Robert Klippel, "trying to free myself up a bit."

Suffering and Faith

2009-01-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

The twins

Skull

2009-01-16T18:18:00.001-08:00

Sculptural Thinking

2009-01-15T19:15:00.001-08:00

Still trying to think sculpturally about the human figure... particularly the female torso... Thumbed through a book about Giacommetti in the NGV bookshop last week. INSPIRING!!

Another Sketch for "the shoppers"

2009-01-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

Wanting to do some large drawings on A2 sized paper that express something powerful about the world we live in. Yet to move beyond the A4 visual diary/sketchbook stage, however.

Thumbnails

2009-01-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

Made a random impulse purchase of some Derwent Graphic soft sketching pencils that were "on sale" ranging from an H to a 9B compound. Some thumbnails...

Expressionist Face

2009-01-07T22:40:00.000-08:00

Loveistruelife

2009-01-04T22:07:00.001-08:00

Inspired by someones profile name on a singles networking site. I think from now on, this blog will serve as the forum for all of my art work, instead of breaking it up into "categories." Not sure what I will do with the other one yet.

Paper Mache' Torso (work in progress)

2009-01-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

Paper Mache' is still fun when your thirty five years old. And still really cheap too!!

Since its that time of year...

2008-12-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

The Shoppers

The Ritual

2008-12-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

Crap Figure Study...

2008-12-24T16:17:00.001-08:00

Study of Intersection...

2008-12-22T19:48:00.000-08:00

Eat this scroll...

2008-12-21T18:19:00.001-08:00

Study of Kitchen Window

2008-12-21T16:16:00.001-08:00

Fish head

2008-12-17T13:03:00.000-08:00

Car head

2008-12-14T22:54:00.000-08:00

No this isnt my own work. Snapped it a year or so ago some where in Brunswick or Northcote or somewhere...