ICONOGRAPHY: February

Well, it won't come as much surprise to your lads to know that my desktop background still features our Che. Not to worry, you'll have a snazzy new design to play with soon, just in time for Easter. First up though, here's a bit about why J-Lo features in the ICONOGRAPHY series, as well as the February desktop artwork for y'all to use.

Wellbeing & Work: The Work-Life Paradox

"Shake the Inverse's hand and the exact opposite of your life will flash before your eyes. When the Inverse shook Businessman's hand, Businessman saw himself as having a work and going to life. The experience was so intense that he retired the next day." - Taken from All My Friends Are Superheroes, by Andrew Kaufman.

In our pursuit for some answers when it comes to how to be well in the modern world, a lot of us have been known to use the phrase work-life balance; the elusive point at which the different intersections of our lives seem to make sense together; a point at which we have it down. It shines like a formula of grand design that means we get enough time to ourselves and our loved ones, but also work hard and fulfil our dreams, in seemingly equal measure. Across various conversations and attempts of my own to reach this kind of equilibrium, the question of whether a work-life balance can exist at all (beyond the instagram accounts of yoga instructors and food bloggers, perhaps) has begun to puzzle me. Like, a golden snitch of our day-to-day existence dancing just out of reach.

ICONOGRAPHY: January

Until today my desktop background had my 2016 October artwork adorning it. It feels ironic that someone as tested by time as me (think: running for trains / already behind on their - first ever - proper comms plan for 2018) to create such a timely project as a calendar each year, but I'm also someone who thrives on changing things up regularly and throwing myself into time-specific challenges. Sorta like trying to get the golden monkey on Jungle Run. What can I say, I'm a thrill seeker. A thrill seeker wielding desktop backgrounds who isn't afraid to use them.

Red Christmas

I had the idea of a Christmas card design about different homes years ago, so when my friend buddy Olly Armstrong asked if I'd help out his campaign in Northfield with a lovely festive design I knew just where to begin.

Something To Say

I recently took part in the #OnceThereWasABook exhibition and print auction curated by Badego, where I was invited alongside other Brummie illustrators to create a one-off print inspired by our favourite children's book. Aware the story I had in mind wouldn't be known by everyone; not even close, it nevertheless felt like a good chance to try something a little different as well, whilst hopefully raising some P for a good cause.

TEDxmas

It's about 01:30 on [technically] the 26th of December - although as Laurie will testify I don't class the next day having started until sunrise - and I sit feeling reflective, wearing a wolf hat that makes me feel like a kid dressed to go on an adventure; Max from Where The Wild Things Are. As I sit at home after a low key Christmas day with my parents, long after they have gone to sleep, the awesomeness of this year is washing over me like a wave crashing, and I mean 'awesome' in the true definition - 'extremely amazing or daunting; inspiring awe'. In this moment I feel small, scared and a little empty, as I often do when my days aren't full and focused, but when I think of everything this year has brought I feel proud, loved and a little overwhelmed at the enormity of it.

For a while my mood was simply TEDxBrum. 'How are you?' kindly folk would ask. 'TEDxBrum' I would reply. For an event lasting just a single day, it was incredible how much this project entered my psyche. To describe it as just a project even sounds ludicrous. The lyrics of Emmy The Great describe it better: The world's made of numbers and I am a 3, and you are 908 and you're sitting on me. I am single cell matter, and you are the sea.

Truth

Honestly, I'm getting this blog post done so I can write the next one. Not exclusively, of course, but it absolutely has that air about it in my mind as I write; of doing the thing you need to do in order to contextualise and lay the ground for the thing you really need to do, and weirdly this project and the next had that sort of relationship too.

Earlier this year (in April) I was commissioned to bring an artist-led element to the first ever TEDxSkoll event in Oxford. 'While the Skoll World Forum is an invitation-only event, TEDxSkoll welcomes 500+ members of the community to join participants and speakers from across the UK and the globe to engage in rich dialogue, forge connections, and seize on the energy sparked by the Skoll World Forum, Marmalade, and other events taking place in Oxford in the first week of April.' Working alongside producer Immy Kaur and designer Clare Hartley to explore the broader theme of the event - Truth - myself and fellow artists Alison Baskerville, Aliyah Hasinah and Shaheen Kasmani set out to make a zine, including provocations of our own alongside content via open submission.

The Happy Illustrator

Around the same time as rounding off v3 of the Birmingham Cocktail Weekend map, a time when we had recently moved flat and had no internet to call our own, I had also committed to illustrating Frenchman Robert Marchard for ray of sunshine @thehappynewspaper. A large 'eeeeep' sound rang out across Stirchley as I realised it was 2am the day after this illustration was due, so I set to work on capturing his mighty spirit before sneaking down the stairs of our communal building and setting up camp outside my landlord's business premises to suck out some emergency WiFi juice. I guess mightiness comes in different forms... and so does determination / desperation.

Cocktail Compass

Earlier this year I was mentioned in a tweet concerning recommending illustrators for a commission with Birmingham Cocktail Weekend. As this tweet was sent at approx 7am and I had stumbled into consciousness around 10am, I was fairly confident I had missed the boat, but sent some samples of my work along to Alex of Birmingham Museums / Living for the Weekend fame anyway. To my surprise I was invited to complete the commission, an illustrated map of the cocktail venues for visitors to use that also highlighted key city landmarks.

Hello, World.

Much like this mural half covered by tarpaulin (or half uncovered, depending on your outlook), so I sortof tentatively am ready to dip my toe(s) and return to my blog; return to thinking about my work, and reflect upon all that has happened over the last few months. Back in June I saw a lot of this tarp, but emerged from it each day like it was a temporary creative chrysalis. Lately I've been feeling much more stuck in a psychological rut, perhaps the consequence of lots of different things happening quickly and not being able to process them all steadily.