wine sign design

I did some sign writing for the organic greengrocers next door...

stars don't shine to noise

Headfall released Stars Don't Shine to Noise in November 2004, just short of ten years ago. The record has just recently been made available to order online, along with a free digital download of the whole album. It was one of the first records I ever owned and it is still one of my favourite and most prized possessions by far. 

Seriously, you should buy this album. It is a genuine undiscovered classic. The only reason this thing is not completely sold out is that for a long time, the only place you could purchase it was at Headfall shows, which only tend to happen once, maybe twice a year in pretty small venues.

George McKenzie (drums, guitar, violin, piano, humming, tape loops, clarinet.) once told me that this album was the only thing he's ever made that he is still proud of. He then went on to tell me where all of the mistakes were. But they don't sound like mistakes to me. This whole shuffling, brooding thing sounds so on purpose, grey as mist on the sea, broken glass, to sand, to salt water. A bunch of punk kids trying to make jazz, awkwardness exploding out of them. Everything is poetry, sung and played, 'a truth too teenage'. 


I don't want to keep describing how it sounds. You can find out for yourself, and you should. I just think that what it does sound like, what it wants to sound like, is captured perfectly, stylistically, aesthetically, framed in smokey static electricity, perfectly honed and curated, artfully presented. a jagged frenzy beneath a swelling surface, barely restrained, three yearning hearts.

copper spires repeat

 Have been experimenting with a repeat print today. The final element was a quotation from a diary entry from Frances' and my trip to Copenhagen last year. This composition really reminds me of Bob Notley.

This will hopefully be the cover material for some sketch books I have bound to sell in my shop(s) so if you want, you can own a piece of this print for not too much money some time soon!

the old fire station

The Old Fire Station art centre will be opening in Oxford next Saturday and I'm very proud to say that they will be stocking some of my work in their shop. The Old Fire Station is a multipurpose art centre working along side Crisis, offering art courses and workshops to homeless people. I am really pleased to have been asked to sell my work at this place and help support this homeless charity as it is something I care a whole lot about.

For those who still check this blog regularly, I'm sorry the posts have been so sparse. It's been a hectic few months. I will have a few projects getting finished soon and will hopefully be posting a little more regularly. Last night was our Oxjam performance and we had a great time, with thanks to a whole lot of great friends who came along and spent the evening with us.

the diskery/spillers/banquet

Over the last few months I've been visiting some wonderful old independent record stores, dropping off copies of our record. Sadly, our time at Rough Trade East is finished, but I'm pleased and proud to have these great stores stocking our record.

the original Spillers, image from here

Spillers Records is the world's oldest independent record store and is now located in the Morgan Arcade in Cardiff.

image from here

Banquet Records in Kingston are friendly and eclectic and also promote a whole load of shows in Kingston, South London

video from here

The Diskery on Bromsgrove Street in Birmingham is a fantastic store, stuffed with vinyl. Most of its staff have worked there for over forty years and are all friendly and knowledgeable.

rough trade/sister ray

The Dowry 10" will be stocked at Rough Trade East for the next two months. You can buy it from the shop or from their online store. Thought I'd better mention this because of the time limit on the record's availability from this store.

Dowry is now also stocked in Soho's Sister Ray. They carry a couple of records which I will be topping up from time to time. It is a lovely shop with a huge range of stuff and worth a visit.

Over the next few weeks, I will be trying to put Dowry in a few more shops, hopefully outside of North London and hopefully. including Scotland, Southern Ireland and Wales.

shop restock and overhall

To coincide with getting into doing markets again, I have restocked my folksy shop and made it look a little nicer. Pleased with how it's looking now, nice and full, with a nice banner.

designers/makers

Designers/Makers Market is an art market occurring every Saturday from the first of April in the Triangle, Warburton Road, London E8 3RH.

I will be holding stalls on four consecutive Saturdays in May: 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th.



Alongside some new editions of my usual zines and prints, I will also be selling the new upcoming 10" EP by tiger & panda, about which more later. I will try to have a little listening station available.

Little Paper Planes

San Francisco based Little Paper Planes are now stocking my work on their online store. I sent them a few copies of The Object & Eternity and Village Pub Cinema. I will soon be adding a menu bar of distros where my work can be purchased.

Also, I will be holding a stall at the Stour Space Designers Market, on the 27th of February. Copies of Food Chain #1 and Rosa Tyhurst's project should hopefully be ready to sell by then.

Coming up soon, I'll be doing a photography project that is exclusive to this blog. It will be nice to make a post that isn't just an update.

long week

Felix Frith's wall at the New Contemporaries exhibition in November

It has been a long week already, but I wanted to include some work that wasn't mine, so I've uploaded an image from an exhibition I attended last year that included the work of Felix Frith. Now I'm going to write a short list what's been happening this week.

I created a Folksy Shop. I'll add it to this page as a link shortly.

I contacted San Francisco based Art seller Little Paper Planes who have requested copies of The Object & Eternity and Village Pub Cinema to sell on their website. I sent them off today.

Olly and I visited our friend David to play some music and we formed a band, provisionally named 'Uncool'.

Tiger & Panda recorded a demo of a new EP to send to Phil Dodd, of Polite Records and the Boiler Room Brewery Blog. He will be recording us on the 30th and 31st of January for a 7" that will hopefully be ready by Autumn.

donlon books

image from bokship

I dropped a few copies of village pub cinema in to donlon books in broadway market today. It's a great bookshop filled with stuff I wanted to buy. The lady who took my books was really enthusiastic and friendly. She was recommending all kinds of people who's work I might like.

Other than that, I've started selling stuff here as well.

new year

As this photo indicates, I had hoped to make this post on the first but our internet has been broken so it's a little late. I had a long holiday and am looking forward to doing lots more projects, blogging and research this year as well as some shows perhaps. The last thing I did before I left was the Doodlebar Christmas Market, which I enjoyed and sold some stuff at. hopefully I will do a few more of those kinds of thing this year. In the meantime, I have set up an Etsy and a Folksy account to sell work from. I'll update when there are some items for sale.

Next pending project: the first Food-Chain Zine

Happy New Year

book art bookshop

image from focusbalancecreate

I finally visited the Book Art Bookshop and had a proper look. It's wonderful in there and the lady who runs it is lovely. I dropped off a few copies of village pub cinema, about which she commented 'now this is the kind of thing that sells'. That made me blush. So you can buy my work there for £3 a go.

calendar for sale

image from here

If you're in Brick Lane any time soon, how about dropping into the eastside bookshop and buying one of my hand-printed calendars? They are 630x1050 and rrp for £35. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks they'll be in a few other bookshops.