Octoskull.

and a week of miniatures printing.

Summer collaborations with sweet toof again! Painting with toof is always fun. Just finding loose spots and getting to work. It makes me paint fast and bold which i really enjoy. Painting can mean a lot of different things to me. These collabs tend to feel the most free, just a seed of an idea and all the materials in a bag balanced on the back of a push bike. No endless red tape, days on a lift, hotels and budgets.

photo by Sarah Roberts.

It felt nice being by the water playing with an image that reflects in the canal. Also nice seeing so much nature in the canal. Hummingbird hawk moths feeding on the plants by the shore and cormorants catching some huge fish stirred up by passing narrowboats. Theres a nice reel on my instagram if you want to see snippets of our few days painting.

The rest of last week i spent printing the latest edition of miniatures and planning the next plates i need to start work on. I’m so enthused by everyone’s reaction to the first bundle. It’s just amazing to have so much support for it.

I’m keen to make the second bundle even better. I’ve managed to print enough of the old miniatures now to fill all my mystery envelopes. I just need to engrave and print two completely new miniatures of the small format and one of the largest format. Hopefully if i just keep it going in my spare time i should be able to fit in another bundle release in November. Four new prints of all the mini formats plus one mystery print from the first bundle.

There’s also now an online database phlegm.uk that acts as a regularly updated list of all the miniatures released so far. Lots of details for fans in there looking to build a collection and know a little more about what’s in circulation. I’m so hyped to see it grow into the hundreds over the next few years as i keep forging ahead with this project. I have so many ideas i want to get out there.

In other news I’m still viewing art studios and trying to come to terms with what i want from my bigger studio work. It’s hard to know where i’m going as i’m not at all interested in making big work to sell. After having a twenty odd year career avoiding the gallery system and having a deeply cynical view of the artworld i honestly don’t know what i’m doing at all. What i do know is that there’s something priceless about making a show an experience for people and its been over seven years since that last show. I adore the feeling of standing in front of a large powerful work. I have a persistent nagging desire to spend some time doing large paintings indoors that bridge the gap between my two practices. Painting big like i do outdoors but with a level of precision more akin to my engraving. I feel inclined to make them so big there’s zero chance anyone would have the space or money to buy them. I’d like them to exist just for the experience of people viewing them during the show and i’m ok with that.

x phlegm x