‘Back to Black’ completed 18.10.2018

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I had previously given a different piece this title, but decided this painting lent itself more to it. The blonde woman with her back to the black haired Amy. The previous painting (see recent Blogs) is now to be called ‘You Know I’m No Good’ which is the work with Amy wearing Union Jack wings. Both these artworks and three others will be on show along with recent paintings from Bristol at Roy’s People Art Fair in London to be held from 1-4 November. The exhibition is at Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf and I will be there for the duration. Please come along and introduce yourself to me as I welcome meeting people and talking about my work. I decided to paint a small series of works for the Art Fair based around Amy Winehouse, one of my heroines. In this work, the very modern woman of our times is so busy on her smartphone she is completely oblivious to her surroundings and the stunning street art behind her. This particular street art is in Camden, Amy’s stomping ground and I knew I had to feature it in my own composition. If you would like to be kept up…

Detail from new work in progress 11.10.2018

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This will be the last of my current series of works based on Amy Winehouse. I am taking part in Roy’s People Art Fair 1-4 at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London and am desperately trying to complete it in time for the oil paint to dry and then temporary varnishing, oh and of course framing 🙂 I saw this wonderful street art of Amy in Camden last year and immediately thought it would work in one of my compositions. It is painted by @zabouartist and I have her permission to incorporate it into my own painting. Amy is featured lying on her side looking directly at you, holding a microphone. I am painting my trademark woman in the middle of the street art with her back to Amy, busy looking at her phone. To me the work is showing how the woman is so absorbed in her smartphone she is completely oblivious of the beautiful, poignant art behind her. It is perhaps a metaphor of our own relationship to our phones. We are not ‘smelling the roses’ any more. I decided to have the model in a dress that Amy might have worn, and I think she would have…

‘Hello Camden’ completed 04/10/2018

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I saw this sign whilst waiting to cross the road just out of Camden Town tube station. I liked the colour of the Hello Camden wall (its more turquoise in my painting, couldn’t quite get the photo quality right). I have used slight artistic licence in removing some of the other signs and making the pedestrian crossing box more luminous yellow. Hey, it’s my painting and I can do what I want 🙂 I had the idea of having my woman walking in tandem with the green man of the pedestrian crossing light, and have her in a red dress to complement the colour wheel theory of the green man. Her pose is one of my bugbears of today; she is so busy looking at her smartphone she can’t see the wonders of the world going on around her. I am also guilty of this. Camden can be messy late at night, but just outside that Tube station there is SO much going on, all life is there, all the time. And she is missing it. This piece is another on my series for Roy’s People Art Fair at the Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London from 1-4 November. Please…

‘Back To Black’ completed 20/09/18

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Miche

I can’t quite get the colour reproduction right on the photo of this work, for which my apologies. I take pictures for my Blog on my IPad and the colours don’t seem to have the definition of my IPhone. I have an Instagram account for which I use my IPhone, so please go there later today for a better resolution. Enough of the technicalities. This painting is a homage to Amy Winehouse and I am grateful to @Pegasusart for permission to use the wonderfully inspirational street art image of Amy. I had the idea of reversing my woman to mirror Amy’s pose, as I felt this made the composition ‘sing’. I also specifically went for a blonde to compliment Amy’s dark tresses. I think it works. Please see previous week’s blog for more details about this piece. I am exhibiting at Roy’s People Art Fair (@royspeopleartfair on Instagram) at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower, London 1-4 November and am excited about meeting the other artists and talking to visitors to the Fair about my work. My theme will be Amy Winehouse based and I have her mother’s permission to use titles of Amy’s music as titles for this series of my paintings.…

Work in progress detail, 13.09.18

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Miche

This is the next painting in the series I am devoting to Amy Winehouse inspiration (see previous Blog for more info). At the moment it is early days, hence the small detail, but my idea behind the concept for the piece is as follows: I am a big admirer of @pegasus street art which I see on Instagram. I did not take my own photo of this particular Pegasus work, but loved it and obtained his permission to incorporate it into my own work. I intend to paint my own version of it and am then going to paint my own trademark woman standing in front of the streetart in a reverse image of Amy’s own stance, ie. backview. I think this composition will work well. I am using a blonde woman as a contrast to Amy’s dark and beautiful hair. The title for this painting will again be taken from music titles to Amy’s own music. As stated in the last Blog, I have her mother Janis’ permission to do this. So the title will be ‘Back To Black’. These works, plus a selection of my other paintings will be shown at Roy’s People Art Fair 1-4 November at…

‘Fxxk Me Pumps’ completed. 05.09.18

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Miche

I am taking part in an Art Fair in London at the beginning of November and am putting together a series of London street art based paintings specifically for this event. Roy’s People Art Fair (@ROYSPEOPLEAF on Twitter, @royspeopleartfair on Instagram) are hosting this Fair at the Oxo Tower from 1-4 November so please come along, have a look at my work and introduce yourself to me. I would love to meet you. Amy Winehouse is one of my all time heroines and I am incorporating some street art with her image into my compositions and will be using titles from tracks of her music for these pieces. I am in touch with Amy’s lovely mother Janis and she has given me her permission to do this, thank you Janis. This particular painting is based on a fabulous street art I saw last year in Camden, Amy’s stamping ground. I took a photo then and there, not knowing what my composition would be then, but knowing I would use it one day. It is by the street artist @whoamirony and I love the colours in it. I came up with the idea of the blonde turning around as if the…

Work in progress, second detail. 30.08.18

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Miche

So this is the second part of a painting I started recently. Last week’s Blog explains the first part. There is still work to do on this part of the painting. I need to get my straight lines straighter, the ground knocked back more, highlights on the dress and hair, etc, etc. Being an artist is difficult for me sometimes as I am so impatient. I have the idea and enthusiasm to start a new piece, I get completely in to the painting, but then I want the painting finished so I can move on to the next idea. However, the details in the finish are essential to complete the work and ‘make it sing’ as an art tutor told me a long time ago. So next week, the fluorescent oil paints will come into play to lift the painting (found online as they are impossible to buy in the UK for some reason, acrylics no problem, oils impossible). I am now on a deadline to produce work for RoysPeopleArtFair to be held in London at The Oxo Tower 1-4 November. I am very excited about this, but my problem always is that oil paint takes a while to…

New work in progress detail. 23.08.18

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Miche

I am now busy preparing new work for an Art Fair this November in London, which will be at the Oxo Tower (http://royspeopleartfair.com). More details in future blogs. I am hugely excited. I want the theme of my work to be based on Amy Winehouse, a singer of immense talent, gone too soon. I have been in touch with her mother about this, as we are known to each other on Twitter, to ask if it would be ok for me to use titles from Amy’s records as titles to my artworks for this London Fair. I do not want to upset anyone here, Janis Winehouse has given me her blessing, but if any of you Twitterarti out there think differently, could you let me know who I should approach? Cheers. I painted a portrait of Amy some years back, and this will feature in the exhibition as well. As regards this piece, the detail is a small part of a much larger work and I am inspired here by the wonderful street art of @whoamirony on Instagram. I will of course have a woman in the foreground somewhere doing something related to the streetart, but which changes…

‘Killer Heels are not for Rabbits either’. 16.08.18

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Miche

This is the third and last painting incorporating the amazing street art of Alex Lucas (@lucas_antics on Instagram). Her work is very visible in and around Bristol and I asked her if I could use some of her work in my own pieces. She kindly agreed. This rabbit can be found on the outside of the shop that sells her work exclusively in Stokes Croft (@thelittleshopinbristol) and I was particularly drawn to the slightly world weary view in the rabbit’s eyes. I decided to leave out all the detailed black lines in the areas surrounding the rabbit as I thought it would detract from the composition. I decided on humour in this work rather than the more political angle of my last work (Picking Up On An Uncertain World, see recent blogs). So I placed my female sitting wearily down next to the rabbit rubbing her sore ankle as she takes off her high heeled knock’em dead red stilettos. They are indeed beautiful shoes as is her whole outfit, but the things we do in the name of fashion eh? I am not entirely sure whether the rabbit would ever have considered wearing shoes like these however. If…

Picking Up on an Uncertain World. 01.08.2018

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This is my second piece in a series of three based on street art by the wonderful Alex Lucas (@lucas_antics on Twitter). The title comes from a street art by Alex called Uncertain World and the mollusc forms part of a larger artwork up on Park Row here in Bristol. My take on this is to place my young woman picking up a discarded plastic bottle just in front of the mollusc which has an empty aerosol in its tentacles. Plastic pollution is such a huge problem these days and I wanted to relate to this in my painting. Along the same lines, the model (@stephbridet on Twitter, fabulous model) is wearing a gorgeous upcycled dress made by Linda Thomas, a local dress designer (@linda_eco_design) who works exclusively with upcycled material into which she stitches beautifully designs. I am keen to promote local here and will continue to collaborate with local artists/models/designers as often as I can. We creatives all need to support each other. After the next piece, I will be working on London street art scenes as I build up to the London Art Fair at the Oxo Tower in November. More in a later blog.…

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