klingatron

Brand New T-shirt

2009-08-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Now available on my Klingatron Online Shop

100% cotton Beefy-T

Sizes range from Small to X-Large.

Only £20

Free P&P for the UK only

£3 P&P for across the waters.

Some New Paintings

2009-01-11T07:36:00.001-08:00

A new year and a with it comes some new paintings.

These are new additions to a newer style of work that I'm experimenting with of combining detailed stencils with drips and splatters as a contrast. It seems it has been a while also that I have done a piece on a skateboard and never done one in this style, something new for 2009

'Untitled' Skateboard

'Untitled'

New Paintings.

2008-12-10T09:17:00.001-08:00

Here are two of my latest paintings.

'Paddy's Market'

This is my second painting of Paddy's Market in Glasgow done in the same colours as 'Paddy's Jeans'. This piece is bigger and has a darker atmosphere to it in comparison, and I have become fond of this painting with the amount of detail it has. The individual hand cut stencils has been destroyed so that this painting (like my others) remains a one off original.

'Untitled'

This painting stands at 60 x 120 (cm) and was done as part of the live art session of the Fusion Street Art show I just recently did at the Studio Warehouse in Glasgow. On completion the painting was then put up for auction in order to raise money for The Princes Trust and I am happy to say that it sold. Of course the stencils were destroyed and once again I had great fun working of a portrait in this style.

Fusion Street Art Exhibition

2008-11-23T14:05:00.001-08:00

This is the next thing happening in my dairy and I really hope you can make it for this one.

It is an exhibition that has been organised by Fusion to raise money for The Princes Trust displaying work from street artists, illustrators and graphic artists from across the UK with various events taking place over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of December at the Studio Warehouse, 100 Eastvale Place, Glasgow. There's going to be exhibitions, auctions, raffles, live painting and more, think it will be alot of fun and will be a great way to support a hard working charity.

This is a ticketed event with proceed going to The Princes Trust and to order tickets, ask questions or to get more info contact zoe polglase on zoe.j.polglase@accenture.com

On Friday the 5th of December they are holding a corporate event (if you work for, run or know of any businesses that might be interested please contact Zoe on zoe.j.polglase@accenture.com asap). Entry is by silent donation. There will be food and wine, djs, light shows, a private view of the exhibition where all work is for sale, live painting from the artists and the judging of the artwork made by the young people taking part.

The exhibition will then be open to the public on Sat 6th and Sun 7th 12-5pm- admission £5 in advance or £7 on the door, £3.50 for under 18s and students.

On Sat 6th December there will be a launch event open to the public where you can view and buy work from the exhibition, watch the live painting from myself, ELPH, SMUG, GAZMAC, ESTUM, SOUL RELICS, SYRKUS and REKOR and bid on the work created in a live auction. Admission- £10 (over 18s only- ID required).

It is going to be a big show with plenty of things going on to be a part of and for a great cause. Hopefully I will see you there and bring your friends.

New T-shirt Available

2008-11-21T05:10:00.000-08:00

The new Bear T-shirt is now available through the Klingatron Online Shop
Sizes rangefrom Small to XX-large, only £10 with free UK P&P

Online shop update

2008-11-17T12:50:00.001-08:00

There has been some new products added to the Klingatron Online Shop as well as a new T-Shirt design coming soon. The Shop has also had a little Botox treatment to help it look a little fresher. There are images of all products ranging from Original Artwork, One Off Hand Painted Skateboards and T-shirts.

New paintings.

2008-09-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Been busy working on new pieces and here are two new commissions.

'Pone'

'Down Town China Town'

Joggers and Pin Stripes

2008-08-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well once again it has been a while since my last update and this time I won't be showing any new work from myself cause at this moment in time I have nothing new to show. I have been working on some commissions and have been getting things sorted for when I get to move into a new studio very soon which I am looking forward to, more room and no flies or bats this time.

But I have managed to check out a couple of shows which was interesting. My friends Ally and Amy of the Recoat Gallery hosted their 12th show to celebrate the gallery's 1st anniversary with a show filled to the brim of amazing talent and the fun began the day before the opening night. The show would exhibit the works of She One, Steff Plaetz, 0two, my friend Duncan Barton as well as many others in what was a packed group show.
As I said the fun began the night before with some live art happening in the tunnel next to the gallery.

She and 0Two got things started.

She, Steff and )two worked on one wall whilst the opposite wall was transformed by Elph, Lyken and Ally.

Steff slaying down some stencil action

The Tunnel

Elph working his magic

Lyken has the skills creating some fine lines with a can

I left before they were all finished but headed round for the opening night, however before I made my way to the gallery I had to go check out a new commissioned piece by my friend GazMac who created this massive piece outside of Buchanan Bus Station for all to see as the head off on their travels.

Dave White piece

Steff

Duncan Barton

The busy opening night. Thanks to Ally and Amy for a great night and it was really good to meet She One, Otwo and Steff for the first time whilst also catching up with Elph and GazMac.

The following week I headed down to London for the day to go check out the "Street Art" show at the Tate Modern. It was an early start with a 5am take off.

Walking across the Millennium Bridge was different with the view of the Tate altered by the massive paintings by JR, Blu, Faile, Nunca, Os Gemeos and Sixart.

'Hands up'

So my expectations were that there was to be work by the featured artists who may have created an exhibit inside the gallery for a show titled "Street and Studio" so after paying £10 for what I thought was the street art exhibition (because of the title) we were disappointed to find a show of old photographs. Not that that wasn't interesting but our expectations had been kicked in the nuts at this point.
It turned out that the street art show was free and viewers had to use a map to walk around a certain area of London close to the Tate in a treasure hunt type of way to find the art.

The show wasn't what I thought it was going to be, being more wowed by the works on the side of the building I can see how it would be exciting for young kids who are getting into the "street art" scene. It was a cool concept but by the time I had finished inside the Tate I was shattered from walking around London since 7am. It was time to grab some food so I headed along the Thames to make our way to Soho for some DIM SUM.

One thing you notice when walking along the banks of the Thames is that everyone Jogs on their breaks and all the men wear pin stripe suits, it is just a mental city of buisness folk.
After Dim Sum I met up with my good friend Chris who is an animator working for The Motion Picture Company having worked on such films as 10,000 BC and the Narnia films. It had been a while since I had seen and caught up with Chris and was gutted also that Sam couldn't make it. Thanks for the Tea Chris.

So that same day I headed back to Glasgow. A day in London is always different and who knows when I may do it again. So now I gotta crack on with my commission work but before I do I'm off for a holiday in the sun. I'll see you when I get back.
Peace

New Works

2008-08-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

I have recently been working on some new works which have a more loose feel to them. These paintings below combine the detail and clean lines of my stencils mixed with the messy free hand spraying to give it a different feel to previous works. These have been painted on heavy duty cartridge paper rather than my usual wood canvases.

'Girl with Shades'

'Untitled'

'Girl with Shades 2'

'Untitled' (self portrait)

Usually with my work I only do a one off original piece, however for the first time I have produced a very Limited Edition of stenciled prints. 'Profile in The Shadows' is a run of 10 prints that have been individually sprayed by myself on heavy duty Cartridge paper, these are not screen prints, and are available to buy on my Online Shop whilst stocks last.

Order 'Foo Kin rice' next time

2008-07-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

It has been some time it seems since I updated my blog to let you good folk know what has been going on. I have been working hard on some new paintings getting ready to send them off to Australia as I have been invited to exhibit at this years Stencil Festival for a show titled '5 Continents - 6 Artists' and below are two paintings I am sending.

'Drunken Man'

'Another Day In China Town'

The other week I headed down with a few other members of the M8 Collective to Leicester for the Sole Elements Show in line with the Bass Festival, myself, Gazmac, Foot Solejah and Leslie of Fat Buddha Store and a van load of art and limited edition trainers drove down with some interesting questions being asked on the way down.

We arrived in a very wet Leicester and began to set up the show which was only to run for the weekend, but there was still a lot to get on with.

Gazmac made some finishing touches to his 'Undesirable Type' painting.

A detailed shot of the glitter of his painting

Big Brother is watching

My display of skateboards and custom trainers.

Works by myself and Gaz

Futura Sneaks, toys and sign $50 bill

Custom toys by Dinosauria

We got to our hotel which the guys at 2funky records (who hosted the show) had arranged for us to stay over the weekend. It wasn't the best place I have ever been to and the yellow stains on the mattress didn't help.

Gaz and Leslie enjoying the hell hole.

The Foot Solejah got in touch with the guys of 2funky who told us to grab our bags and get the hell out there as they were moving us to a better hotel.

And sure enough it was well better, and by better I mean the best hotel I have stayed in.

The reception area.

Gaz and the flat screen TV

An absolute weapon of a bathroom

Quite spacious compared to our previous rooms. Notice Gaz up for celebrating with a drink from the mini bar

We settled down and headed across the road to The Noodle Bar for some amazing grub and a few enjoyable pints.

The show didn't have an opening night like a usual show but a good group of folk came in to check out the art and sneaks including my Xynthetic brothers, Gavin Strange and Pone came along to check it out, Gav was mad enough to come all the way from Bristol. Even Mr Jonny Clooney made it to the show.

The weekend was over and we headed back to Glasgow. I cracked on with getting work ready for Australia and for the up and coming show in Belfast which is happening in the next couple of weekends, but I did manage to find some time to put down my knife and catch up with some folk. I headed down to Prestwick Airport to check out the arrival of the B17 'Liberty Belle' which was doing a final tour of countries across the Atlantic.

It was really something special to watch especially to see the B17 do a low fly by over the runway, this classic made an amazing noise as it flew by.

I got pretty close as it made its way to its parking space. These are the two pilots who welcomed a coffee after flying 6 hours from Iceland, they were also welcomed by a mass of reporters and camera men.

I also took some time to grab a pint with my friend Theo 'the music man' Forrest who has been working on a album for the past few months solidly, he let me listen to his work so far and discussed a few ideas whilst listening to some songs for Theo to gather some inspiration. It is early stages but after listening to the foundation of what he has created was enough to get me excited about what is to come.

Just the other day I got invited to join my good mate Chaz Sands, his mum and sister, who was visiting from Cambridge, for a meal at Bar Soba. Good food as usual at Soba and was good to catch up with Chaz and find out that he was an uncle. Here he is with his 2 year old niece, Ruby.

With it been a while since my last update it seems only proper to have a long blog for you guys. The next will have all the gossip from Belfast with the other Xynthetic family members. Should be a good one with some new work from all the troops and some live drawing action as well.

Up and Coming shows

2008-05-26T15:42:00.001-07:00

Since the show at The Arches things have been quiet with regards to me displaying work however that is about to change in the up and coming months with the first show kicking off in Leicester. My self and the rest of the M8 Collective (a Glasgow based collective of artists) will be involved in 'Sole Elements' during the Bass Festival. There will be of course custom kicks by myself and other sneaker influenced artwork yet it is not just a sneaker show, there will be original artwork, photography and prints. Entry is free and will be during the 28th and 29th of June. Hope to see you there is you are in or near the Midlands.

The second stop is across the water in Belfast in July for an exhibition hosted by Candy Collective Talk . I will be displaying work with fellow family members of Xynthetic as well as hopefully doing some live painting and my man Gav Strange will be doing a Q&A alongside Ben Drury from Mo Wax. I will let you know more as things progress with this one so stay tuned.

Been working on some new decks for these shows as well as other paintings in my studio.

'Via Condotti' skateboard.

'Untitled' pattern skateboard

There are 5 of these skateboards available which are for sale via my online shop and I will be taking some to The Bass Festival.

The other week I headed up to Dundee for the degree show to show my support to my good friend Scott Hobbs as he unveiled his innovation product to the world. The people who came to have a look were loving Scott's product which is easy to believe.

It is called the Attigo TT and the TT stands for Touch Tables, and I have had a go on them and they are amazing fun. The sound waves from the Mp3 file run vertically up the screen an allow you to que up the beat as well as scratch, pitch control, play the beat backwards and when switched off it slows down as a 12 inch record would. Check out the vid below to see the final product in action.

Final Product // ATTIGO TT from Scott Hobbs on Vimeo.

Enjoy

New Skateboards Available

2008-05-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is 1 of 5 skateboards with a new pattern that I have designed which are now available on the Klingatron Online Shop
More colours will be available very soon.

What's happenin in April.

2008-04-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't done as much traveling this month compared to previous months which is good especially as Scotland is in a panic about lack of fuel, but I have been busy with some bits and pieces.
As I mentioned in my previous blog my good friend Gav Strange of Jam Factoryis having an official release of his brand new Droplet toy at Go Go Plastic in Birmingham on the 2nd of May and I was invited to customize one for the opening night which I am very happy to be a part of and I wish him every success for the release. here is my contribution towards the show.

I have seen a couple of the other submissions and there is a large number of artists involved so I recommend you check it out if you can make it or contact Gav to find out how to get your hands on a Droplet.

I have been playing around in a sketch book as well.

I also mentioned that I was to have an interview in Kingdom Magazine and I am happy to say the mag is printed and on release at decent news agents. Thanks to Joe for ding the interview.

The other weekend I hooked up with AZZ and Jossy to go see Redman & Method Man in Glasgow. This had to be one of the best gigs I have been to, those guys know how to get the crowd buzzin.

I managed to get this clip of the gig.

Method Man & Redman in Glasgow from klingatron on Vimeo.

This year saw the second Chaz Sands Invitational Competition and I was asked by Chaz to paint the competition logo at the top of the rail box.

The rail box section.

Getting my bling on with Gold paint.

Done

Chaz with the 1st place trophy.

A couple of days later the comp began with everyone excited about what was about to go down, it was good to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.
My good friends Giles admiring Mike's new Enigma sweater from the new range.

The comp saw a big crowd ready to see some pros from all over the world do their stuff.

The comp was won by Brian Aragon with Chaz placing 2nd and Al Hooi in 3rd.

The comp was followed by an after party where the drinks were flowing and the vibe was good.

That's your lot for now but there are always more in the pipeline that I will update you with as they happen.

Carbon & Chemicals Show #3

2008-04-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

Time really passes quick when you're having a good time as no sooner had the Nottingham show forthe Xynthetic Carbon and Chemicals show started it finished and that ment that it was time for the final show to begin at The Workshop.

If you couldn't make it to any of the previous shows didn't quite get what the show was all about, rather than writing a massive essay to tell you all about the idea behind the show and the process going into creating the work then check out this edit created by Xynthetics own Jonny Clooney.

Xynthetic Carbon & Chemicals retrospective from Xynthetic on Vimeo.

Ok well I hope you enjoyed that one now lets get to the action that occurred in Bristol last week. I arrived in Bristol after another 400 mile journey which has become a lot easier to digest now that I have done it so many times, I was greeted by Gavin Strange and RichT who were pimping their bikes.

Everyone seems to be getting into their bikes down there which is cool cause a car isn't really needed that much in Bristol. The opening was the following day so Gav and I were keen to get things ready for the show so that things were not so rushed like they have been for previous show so we headed down to The Workshop.

So myself, Gav and Alex begun to get all the work on the wall. We had all the work from Nottingham which was a lot and had to get as much as we could into the smaller space of the Workshop, Don't panic Gav we'll get it all up.

It was starting to get late as we continued to work, we started to feel the hunger and decided to grab a pizza from across the road which has it's own brewery also. SOLD.

Paid the bill then headed back over the road to finish off what we started. Alex cracked on with the mass amount of photos, Gav sorted the prints and I hung the skateboards.

I think out of all the shows this one looked the best, Workshop looked great also with wall to wall art.

We actually got it all hung and ready and closed up shop at around 1am, I had read on Gav's blog that he was getting well into the guitar hero so he showed me his skills.

Then I showed Gav my style.

Later Rich stumbled in to just wipe the slate clean and show us both "How it is done"

So the next morning was calm as we got so much done the night before, it was strange not having to panic and we just got the goody bags ready as we waited for Dan and Norm of Waste to arrive. They should up and helped with the final finishing touches.

Myself, Dan and Norm were starving just before the show so we headed to The Ship for a pizza (big mistake) and also got a round in with Rich and friends.

By the time we got our crappy pizzas the show was up and running.

The booze and banter were flowing and it was a good opening night and a good turn out of the Xynthetic members.

Even Pancho from Dirty Sanchez came down for a peek at our work.

So the night carried on and some of us went home whilst others (like myself and Dan) continued drinking at some club, needless to say I felt pretty rough the next morning. So the gang headed to the local pub.....not for a drink but for a feast and some pool.

Followed by a good long walk up to the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Just near the Bridge is a rock that has become so polished because so many people have slid down it and you always see kids brave it, make way for the big kids.

Added danger by surfing down this rock.

That's how we roll (or slide)

The day ended with a take away, Sin City and obviously more guitar hero which is amazing. Gav and Jonny were indeed the two guys to beat mastering the game expert style.

As I said time just flies by cause before I knew it it was time to make that 400 mile trip once again to get back in time for a good sunday roast.
All three shows were amazing to say the least and I had a great time every time getting to meet new people and fellow Xynthetic members. Cheers Gav for sorting everything out and to Dan and Norm for being great host in Middlesbourgh and Nottingham. The show in Bristol finishes up on the 2nd of May which is also the same day that something very special happens in Birmingham.

Gav Strange of Jam Factoryis having an official release of his brand new Droplet toy which is a cool toy coming in a variety of colours as well as plain white for customising your own possible. Check out Gavs Flickrpage to see what these little bad boys look like, and hopefully you'll be able to make it to the launch of the droplet which is due for international release. Congrats Gav.

New Paintings available

2008-04-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

I have added some new paintings to my Online Shop, check it out and there are a few Bear T-Shirts left.

Making The Cut edit

2008-03-27T08:28:00.001-07:00

New edit of myself creating my latest paintings for my recent solo show at The Arches, Glasgow.

Carbon & Chemicals Show #2

2008-03-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

It has again been a crazy few days, before I begin on the madness that was The Nottingham stop of the Xynthetic Carbon & Chemicals tour here is a couple of commissions I finished recently.

So the Nottingham show opening was on Friday 21st of March so I drove down with all my work the day before to meet up with Gav Strange, Pone and Dan and Norm from Waste at their studio which was a pretty cool place.

Norm with his printing gear on.

Arty farty photo of Pone.

Dan and Norm still had plenty of work to do to get their screen prints done so Gav, Pone and myself headed off to Ikea to get some supplies. Gav may look like he was in a stressed mood but he wasn't really, we were getting a bit carried away in ikea with all the cheap goodies they have giving us ideas for the layout of the show.

We returned to the gallery with frames and candles after a detour to Derby thanks to Pone's navigation skills, time was passing fast but we got all the work out and some of the prints frames ready to hang before Gav and I headed over to his to make a start on getting the photos clipped together.

Prints by Waste

Gav and I stayed up until after 1am clipping Lomo photos together whilst watching the last episode of The Sopranos but I struggled to sleep so I woke up at 4am and finished clipping all 500 photographs together.

3 hours later and it was time to head to the gallery to get set up, which was locked up and we had to wait up in the studios until Norm showed up.

Getting our 'Dragons Den' steez on.

And so the hanging began, with so much to hang and do everyone had a job to do.

All was going so well until a pipe from the the toilets above the gallery burst cause a shit load of water to go all over, thankfully nowhere near the prints or artwork but still. It was strange that Gav didn't seem to show any signs of panic compared to setting up other shows, I went kind of silent for a bit with "WHAT THE F*@k!!!" shouting in my head.

Thankfully it was sorted soon and Nom could start setting up the projector with the 8mm footage played on one of the two brand new DVD players that Jonny bought, he got two cause the first one was broken right after he bought it and then replaced with another broken one. An electric shock or two later and we got it running.

Finishing touches before show time.

The Goody Bags for the first 30 visitors.

Big G dawg labeling the work.

And so we were ready to rock and roll.

The Decks.

Waste Prints

RichT painting

Gav's print

Pone's print

Pone's other print

Deck by Waste

RichT Deck

My Deck

Mr Jago's Deck

Pone's Deck

Pone's other Deck

Deck by Waste

It was not long before the crowd started to get bigger and enjoy the fine beer and wine that was complimented by some classic beats mixed by ED 209.

Some live art was happening as the party continued, Mr Jago, the Waste boys, Pone Gav and myself hit up the wall throughout the night. No stencil work for me sadly so I had to get my sketch on.

The finished product.

Signed

My attempt at a B-Boy stance, see what booze does to you kids.

Gav giving his thanks to the crowd.

Then off to The Orange Tree for even more drinking action and a great way to end the night.

Jonny and Gav showing there was love in the room

Dean and Gaz

Pone and his lady

And so that was the opening night of the second Carbon and Chemicals Show, the next one os only just round the corner down in Bristol at Workshop, hope to see you there if you are in the area. Nottingham was a great show and thanks to Gav's parents and Norm for putting me up for the two nights I was down.

The Opening Night

2008-03-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

After so many hours of cutting and spraying it came to the point where I could do no more as the opening night of my solo show at The Arches was upon me. As well as a few older paintings featured in my Bristol show I created new paintings of my home city of Glasgow shown below.
There are more photos than text in this update for your viewing pleasure and I am in the process of making an edit of the build up and opening night so look out for that.

'Central Tracks'

'Paddy's Jeans'

'Through The Wire'

'Aston Lane'

'Escape on Church Street'

'Back Alley'

So Friday the 7th of March was the opening night and I was asked to hang the work first thing in the morning, getting up nice and early I headed off to get the van I rented for the day. The rain was not shy that day but I made it to The Arches to hook up with my friend Mike Amato of UpUp Design and the legend that is Rob Gunn who drove 100 miles to help out, thank you both so much for all your help.

The space.

The Arches is situated under the platform of Glasgow Central Station and has three of these tunnels acting as a club/gig space and below this area is a restaurant/cafe bar.
We unpacked the work and began to get an idea of where the work was going to hang and how which took the longest time especially figuring out how to support the weight of 'Central Tracks' but thankfully Rob has a good knowledge of knots.

Mike took most of these pics, the one below was a favourite of ours.

Not much light in in the space other than the spot lights for the paintings.

Rob showing his mad skills with knots.

Finally we got everything hung and cleared up with a couple of hours to spare, 'Central Tracks' was a tough one but we got there in the end.

I loved the way the paintings seemed to almost hover off the brick wall and as the venue is dark all the lights were focusing on the paintings. Perfect.

And then it was 6pm and the people just kept coming through the doors greeted with a whiskey.

The space became overflowing with bodies, finger foods and drinks, it really was a good opening night, an overwhelming night for me infact and I thank everyone who made it to the opening night. If you didn't make it the show is on until the 9th of April and I would like to thank Mike and Rob as well as Lj for all her help in making the show happen.

Xynthetic Carbon & Chemicals Show #1

2008-02-10T12:29:00.000-08:00

I was meaning to write this blog last Sunday but I have been pretty busy working on paintings for my solo show @ The Arches which is now just under 4 weeks away, but better late than never. Below is the board I did for the Middlesbourgh Show at The Kitch-en Gallery which has a subtle pattern making the board just seem yellow from a distance, simple but I'm planning to work up some fresh detailed decks for the next show down in Nottingham @The Art Organisation opening on the 21st of March.

But I've got plenty of photos of the opening day so I will let them do most of the talking, The day started with me leaving Glasgow at 6:30am so that I made it to Middlesbourgh in good time to help set up.

Eventually found the gallery to be greeted by Gav Strange or garth as he later became known as, Jonny, Pone and I got to meet Dan and Norm from Waste which was cool and a massive thank you to Norm and his folks for letting me stay over.

This is how the wall of Lomo photos was looking when I got there, the guys were at the gallery until 1:30 in the morning sorting them out. Hardcore.

Gav was incharge of the labeling.

Dan was sorting the prints into their frames.

Pone was drinking a jug of tea.

And Norm continued to work on his deck.

The guys had done so much that at first I was puzzled what to do but managed to help Gav set up the decks, and I hung the prints and Jonny filmed the process for the next Xynthetic vid.

This was one of my favourite pieces by Sums

The toilet walls were covered with brown paper so you could have a sketch whilst on the throne, believe it or not I did a drawing.

Gav left a message for all who visited.

Some of us headed back to get our glad rags on whilst Gav and Pone stayed to sort out all the finishing touches and get what looked like the worst chippy I have ever seen.

And so the night kicked off with a good turn out and pretty much all the goodie bags went.

All in all a good and fun night and if you want to check out the Lomo photos then check out the xynthetic Lomo sets as well as seeing more photos of the night via the Carbon & Chemicals pics.

I returned to Glasgow the following day to continue working for my up and coming solo show as well as hooking up with my friend Niall+ to get profile shots for an interview I did for the next issue of Kingdom Magazine

My good friend and talented illustrator Azz finally got ichat working so I managed to have a good catch up with him and he was telling me that he is a featured artist in the new book tilted 'The Art Book'. it's a massive book and he is right at the front with a full page. Congrats mate and be sure to check his work at the Glasgow Art Fair next month also. But it's back to the studio for me for some serious hardcore cutting and I'm sure the next update will be of the opening of the Arches show, come check it out if you can.

Making The Cut, Solo show

2008-01-24T06:19:00.001-08:00

I have briefly mentioned this before but the time is creeping up to the opening night. This is my first solo show in my home town of Glasgow and I'm very excited about this show especially because of the location at The Arches on Argyle street.

And so 2008 Begins

2008-01-12T12:17:00.001-08:00

A good way to start the fresh year is to give you readers a list of the up and coming shows that I'm involved in during the start of 2008 and so far the year plans out to be a busy one. I have been working hard on new paintings for my solo show at The Arches in Glasgow which I excited about as it will be my first solo show in my home town.

The paintings will be mainly of a Glasgow theme and this one will be the biggest and if you want to see the final product then make your way to The Arches in March. As well as preparing for the solo show I have been working on my skateboard for the Carbon & Chemicals tour which will be documented through Lomography photography.

I did manage to complete a new painting before christmas which I would have posted up sooner had it not been a special present for my girlfriend.

So this update is also becoming a bit of a catch up since I haven't blogged in a while especially the Nothing But the Art Nike SB show so lets do a little rewind back to just before christmas, yet I don't have any photos of the actual night sadly I do have some pics of the custom sneaks I did.

'Nike Money Cats'

'Nike SB MAFIA

However I may not have photos but Fifthblade made an edit of the opening night, just hit play and check it out.

So that is a basic run down of the latest news so far and no doubt there will be more very soon especially with the Carbon & Chemicals tour only 3 weeks away from starting.
Peace

Xynthetic Art Tour

2007-12-27T15:19:00.000-08:00

With 2008 drawing closer each day it is not long until the Xynthetic CARBON&CHEMICALS mini art tour kicks off. The last time I was in Bristol I helped Mr Gavin Strange get the flyers sorted by using Lomography photography as they are sponsering the shows. Add these dates to your diary for each night will be filled with visual goodies as well as music provided by ED 209.

NIKE SB Show

2007-12-05T13:18:00.000-08:00

I have been invited Foot Solejah to display work for 'Nothing But Art show in Glasgow sponsered by NIKE SB. I was given some Nike SB trainers to customise for the show which will be opening at the Focus Skateshop in Glasgow.There will be Nike giveaways, free booze from generous sponsers and a raffle to raise money for Yorkhill Hospital. If you can make it along then please do. Check out the links to get more info on the show and the after party aswell.

New Painting, 'Picking fruits'

2007-11-26T13:19:00.000-08:00

I have continued what has become a Rome series of paintings and have recently completed a new market stall piece of Piazza di Campo de Fiori.

This piece consisted of 5 layers, all hand cut

And once sprayed the stecils were destroyed as is the case with all my paintings.

More to come very soon including news on up and coming shows.
Stay tuned.

Getting Things Done

2007-11-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

I was flicking through a recent copy of ' i-on Glasgow' the other day to only to see a review about Bar Soba and check out the photo the used.

That is one of the 'Japanese Square' pieces I did which I was well happy to see in a magazine, that cheered me up after having a real shitty day.

It has been a busy month of November involving a lot of traveling which is where I start this news/blog update.
I headed down to what is becoming a second home for me, Bristol to catch up with my good friend Mr Gavin Strange and to pick up my artwork from The Workshop. It's always a pleasure hanging out with Gav especially when he has food ready for you after a 400 mile drive, we had a lot of things to plan out for the up and coming Carbon and Chemicals mini art tour that I mention previously but didn't do anything until we had watched Transformers on the big screen with surround sound.....the way it HAS to be seen.

We even got a new Podcast done so check that out to get the lastest scoop on what is happening and what is in the pipeline for Xynthetic.

The next morning saw myself and Gav meeting up with his lady Sarah for breakfast of smoothies, sausage rolls and the worst scrambled eggs I have ever seen and tasted, looked like vomit but I still ate it. Gav ,Sarah and I then took a monster walk to get some super 8mm film for our cameras in preparation for some up and coming filming for the xyntetic shows.

Gav has started a new free art campaign called "Free Art Friday" which involves him drawing one of his cool characters then randomly placing it on the street for some one to pick it up and give it a home.

This particualr piece kept on being blown on to the middle of the road so we had to reposition it a couple of times. But we got back to work to create the flyers for the carbon and Chemicals show featuring Lomo Photography hense the aesthetics of the flyer. I think it looks great and can't wait to see the printed version.

Before I knew it it was time for me to brave the long road home after one final cuppa tea, it amazes Gav how little milk I take in my tea.

"Must be a scottish thing." he says.

So back up in Scotland there has been plenty happening mainly over in Edinburgh. I got a call from Elph asking if I was keen to be a part of a group show in a new venue opening up soon to which I said "Damn right!" to. So I headed through to the Burgh to meet up with Elph and a few others to check out the space and to also pop into The Red Door Gallery to drop off some spare pieces I had.

I love the street The Red Door Gallery is on with buildings on top of buildings.

So I hooked up with Elph and we checked out the venue which was massive, check out website of The GRV to get all the info but basically it is a massive building with four floors to play with. The top floor is a massive gallery space as is the 3rd floor, the second floor acts as a studio for Blimey Productions and the lower floor is a bar which also has a sub room for gigs to be held.
This is the gallery space we would be using which still needing a coat of paint.

Friday 16th saw the opening of The GRV so I headed through with my work to get things sorted and help out. It was certain to be a good show with such a vast variety of artists showing including myself, Elph, Acorn, Gregor Louden and many more.

To begin with there was a lot of hanging around cause not all the works had arrived and the whole building was still getting finished off.

The bar and gig space weren't even finished and the opening was i a few hours.

All good though as it allowed Elph and Acorn to finish off some of their works.

Elph working ( this may have been a better photo had I made an effort to move that chair)

Acorn showing he has a good amount of patience when he works.

Sure enough things got done and the space started to take shape.

And then the doors opened.

Jen came down with her friends Claire and Amy and Claire even bought the larger piece that Elph did which was cool as she had never bought a piece of art before.

The place got pretty packed and it was good to catch up some mates that I haven't seen in a while including Doughty, Saul, Maci and Zack. Cheers for coming troops.

The show is on for a month so if you near edinburgh at all check out The GRV on Guthrie street.
I think that will do you for now, December should be just as busy so stay tuned for the next blog.

Klingatron Online Shop

2007-11-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

I now have an Online Shop were you can get hooked up with original artwork as well as t-shirts. There will be more added on to it soon. But hit the link to check it out.

Carbon & Chemicals Mini Art Tour 2008

2007-11-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

Xynthetic is proud to announce the dates of the shows it will be involved in next year.
The series of show’s are called the CARBON&CHEMICALS mini art tour and we’re going to be hitting up Middlesbrough, Nottingham & Bristol with a low-fi analogue show featuring hand-painted skateboards with Lomo photography accompanying each piece, giving an insight into how it was made.
Aswell as the boards they’ll be unique hand-screened prints & 8mm film projection, so they’ll be plenty to come along and see.
Each city will have an opening night, featuring members of the Xyn there, music, drinks, sweeties and all the work to checkout. We’re going to add little bits to each show too, as the ‘tour’ progresses we’ll be documenting it with photography so those snaps will be added to the show too, so make sure you come along to the opening night near you, dates & details below…
Chapter I: MIDDLESBROUGH
Opening night Friday 1st February 6.00 - 9.00pm
Kitch-en Gallery, 46 Montrose Street, Middlesbrough
Show ends Friday 29th February
Chapter II: NOTTINGHAM
Opening night Friday 21st March 6.00 - 10.00pm
The Art Organisation, 21 Station Street, Nottingham (literally opposite the train station)
Show ends Saturday 29th March
Chapter III: BRISTOL
Opening night Friday 4th April 6.00 - 9.00pm
Workshop store, 1-2 Perry Road, Bristol
Show ends Friday 2nd May.
Myself and all the other family members of Xynthetic will be there on the opening nights, it isn't long until the first show so get these dates in your diary and come along.

So What Is New?

2007-10-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

Since the opening of the show @ The Workshop I spend a couple of days taking things easy untill it came to the time where I had to get back on track with some work on some new paintings.

My studio continues to be a mess carpeted with tiny off cuts of papermixed with used spray caps and the odd dead fly or two, just the other night I got the fright of my life when I found that I had a BAT flying around my head and even landing on the sleeve of my hoody, jeez I jumped right out my skin.

With 2007 slowly drawing to a close I am already excited about what 2008 has to offer. I am in the early stages on sorting out some stuff which I will share once things have been set in stone but what I can tell should hopefully satisfy your interest.

Xynthetic continues to become stronger with both the standard of the skaters and the new artists/designers that it welcomes and I am still honoured to be apart of such a great group of like minded individuals. It has already been posted on the Xynthetic site but I haven't yet mentioned myself what is in the pipeline. Firstly I have been sketching ideas that will develop into ideas for my own laser engraved skateboard and I plan to push the laser to the limit (hopefully) but check out below the test board that Gav Strange @ Jam-Factory had done. Sweet as a nut mate.

Not only that but myself and the other artists and photographers are working on other printed decks which you will be seeing very soon no doubt. As well as that Xynthetic is proud to announce a mini tour of work set to visit not 1, not 2 but 3 ities in England. The shows will be in Middlesborough first, Nottingham second and finishing up in Bristol!
It’ll be early 2008 with the M’Borough exhib due around Jan/Feb time so not long until the first one! Stay tuned for more info on our first group shows via the Xynthetic site .
But wait there is more.

With the success of the Rebelo:06 exhibition in Newcastle we have the Rebelo vs Xynthetic show which will be towards the end of 2008. It promises to be bigger and far better than the 2006 show which has set a high level to beat but a lot has developed in two years with regards to the skills that all artists/contributors can bring to the table. I personally am very excited about this especially as an :07 exhibition didn't manage to happen. Stay tuned as things on this develop.

All in all things will be busy at the start of next year and no doubt continue through out the fun filled 12 months of 2008, I'll be sure to update this as things progress. But before I sign off I have to recommend....no wait order you to go out and by Tristan Mancos new book 'Street Sketchbook.'

It is a fantastic and inspiring book that will make you pick a sketckbook and pen/pencil thanks to such a wide variety of amazing artist including favourites of mine, Elph, RichT and Mr Jago. It's a lot of book for not a lot of sheets.

Klingatron T-Shirts Available

2007-10-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

These T-shirts are available in limited numbers @ The Workshop in the shop or you can drop me an email and I'll get one out to you.
£12 (including P&P) sizes Large and X-Large only

The Opening of the Solo show

2007-10-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

It finally came to the thime when I had to pack up all the work that I have been working on for the past few months and head on down to Bristol for the opening of my solo show @ The Workshop. Below is the pieces that I created especially for the show and like all the other work I have done in the past they are one of a kind as once again all the stencils have been destroyed.

I met up with Jen in Glasgow and we got the tunes blazed for the 5 hour drive ahead. We arrived at the The Jam-Factory to be greeted by Gav's flat mate Amy recommending we head to the pub down the street to meet up with RichT, Danny Wainwright and Black Cloud. A pint of Guinness later it was time to head back to the flat to catch up with the legend that is Gavin Strange fresh from his London travels.

The next morning was as amazing weather wise as the day before and Gav and I headed out to the local to get milk and tea bags initially, gut came back with £40 worth of breakfast goodies.

Always a pleasure catching up with Sully.

Gav did some work and then we headed down to Workshop to meet up with Danny and Alex and deliver all the work.

As Danny and Alex worked very hard to hang the work a few folk came into the show to a have a sneak peak at the work including Bristol based artist Nick Walker.

Jen admiring the skateboards.

It was great that Jonny came down for the show, I hadn't seen him since the Rebelo:06 show and it was good to catch up.
This was the lay out of the show, which also included two framed stencils of one of my pieces allowing people to see how that paper looks after I have attacked it with a knife.

And so the party began. The Workshop filled out and it was amazing to meet suck an amazing crowd of people, all of whom I thank very much for coming down to check out my work. Even Mr Jago came down to have a spy, which was awesome to finally have the chance to meet him.

Some of the Xynthetic family.

Off to the Ship Inn for a few more Jars and even some Garlic Bread.....that's right, Garlic and Bread.
Jonny was enjoying the cider but this time there was nothing organic about it, so no swearing from him that night.

RichT had me in stitches with his comedy. Did you know that he even produces his own label of cider, I've tasted it and it's the future.

The night ended with RichT chatting up Danny and the pub closed a bit too early for me and everyone else. But it had to end at some point.
The turnout for the show was fantastic and thanks once againg to all the turned up, the show runs until November 1st so if you are anywhere near Bristol be sure to check it out.
A massive thanks to Danny @ Workshop for giving me the opportunity to show my work and to Alex for helping set up the show. To Gav, RichT and Amy for letting Jen and myself stay at their flat and to Jonny for filming the night for the up and coming Xynthetic video.
I'm back in Glasgow and have plenty to get on with so until next time, Peace.

Klingatron Exhibition

2007-09-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here is the flyer for my solo show at The Workshop in October. Come check it out if you are in the Bristol area, if not head to Bristol if you can at some point It is on for a month so you have got plenty of time.
Thanks to Gav Strange@ Jam-Factory for sorting out the flyer and to Danny Wainwright for the show.
Hope to see you there.

London Calling

2007-07-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw me taking a plane down to London to see my two good friends Sam Rowan and Chris Marshall who are both animators working for MPC. I hadn't seen these boyos in a long time and it was amazing to catch up with them agan.

I think mustashes are coming back with this 80's revival thing going on as like I found with RichT, Chris was also rockin the tash.
As well as hooking up with Sam and Chris I knew of a show happening down at the Elms Lesters Painting Rooms on Flitcroft Street, both Futura and Jose Parla were exhibiting a show which I was very keen to see. I went a bit trigger happy with my camera but the show was just amazing and it was the first time I had seen Parla's work in the flesh.

It was really an amazing show to see which I recommend you try and do bare in mind there is only one week left, so I spent the rest of the day catching up and walking around with the animators until it was time to take the plane back to Scotland. i had only come down for the day but next time plan to stay a little longer. I couldn't leave London with out leaving a little sticker or more to show that I had been in the area.

Back down to Bristol.

2007-07-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

It has been a fun couple of days with plenty going on, I recieved notice that the Rebelo site is back up and running hopefully bringing with it another show as big as the Rebelo:06 show last November, but you'll have to check out the site to see what is planned.
I was chuffed to find my first stencil the other day which now proudly hangs on my wall, pretty basic stuff done oh so long ago.

Speaking of first stencils, my girlfriend was over the other day and watched me create a stencil for the first time to which I asked he if she wanted to have a go. I had a single layer stencil and an old cardboard box and let her have a crack.

Allow me to introduce 'Jenatron' with her first stencil.

Bristol was calling me again and I couldn't help but get in the car and drive the 400 mile journey once again to see web master Gav Strange@ Jam-Factory, once again I must thank him of letting a Scotsman crash at his creative crib. I had only sat down and already Gav was the host with the most offering me Tea and Toast which was greatly appreciated after the monster 6 hour drive, the rain down in England is pretty crazy at the moment so folk would slow take their time in the fast lane, thankfully Annie Mac kept me going on the radio. I got to meet RichT who was sporting a very fine mustash, I thought he was a "French Duke" at first. Check out RichTs work when you get a chance.
After plenty of tea and toast Gav and I had a burst of creative inspiration involving a UV pen and a skateboard, which started off as a muck around but has now led to the creative juicing boiling. Now skateboard company Xynthetic who offer unique hand painted skate boards which I'm proud to be a part of will soon have a new range of Artist series UV skateboards created by its vast array of artists. Check the video below to see what we came up with.

Expect to se a RichT and Mr Jago deck real soon.

So moving on to Saturday which allowed me to visit The Workshop where I will be displaying new works in a solo show in October.

Rich and Gav chillen @ Workshop.

The shop is owned by skateboarding legend Danny Wainright who not only is letting me display my work but also commissioned me for a painting, Here he is with daughter Maggie and 'Crossing China Town.'

For those people who aren't too sure on how much a legend Danny is check out the video below to see Danny setting the world record height for an Ollie of 44.5" a record that still stands 7 years on.

It was soon time to get some lunch and I was keen to see the famous Suspension Bridge, but we chilled in "the secret garden' in the blazing heat eating our grub, some more than others, I was starving and 1 sandwich wasn't good enough I had to have 3. I felt a bit bad as I got to meet Gavs girlfriend Sarah and see got to meet me whilst stuffing myself like a turkey. Nice.

The view from the top of the park was amazing and there were some caves below us that Gav and I had to check out. This was a crazy little walk that like Alice in wonderland became smaller and smaller the further you go down the rabbit hole.

The following day was an interesting one, we grabbed lunch and then headed for a coffee again hooking up with Danny who made a swift exit after he saw gav and I mucking around with our new toys.

Even Sarah donned fashions next big thing.

Back to the flat werethe fun continued with the Transformer Masks.

Then the time came when I had to brave the long road home and the journey wasn't as bad on the way back. I look forward to returning back to Bristol in October for the show at the Workshop. Hopefully you can make it.

A High Flyer

2007-07-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

I recieved an email attatched with the flyer for the Urban Art Agenda #1 show, and I am honoured to be displaying my work with such an amazing collection of artist and once again would like to thank JD and Satta. All the info you need to check out this show is on the flyer and if you want more knowledge then just hit the link above and read all about it. If you manage to make it to the show I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

I continue to be busy preparing for the show at The Workshop but I managed to complete a commission requested by Mr Wainwright.

'Crossing China Town'

I look forward to passing this piece on to Mr Wainwright when I take part in another road trip down to Bristol in a coupke of weeks to once again hook up with the internet mastermind Gav @ Jam-Factory and hopefully Jonny.

Front of T-Shirt

Back of T-Shirt

Here is an idea for a T-shirt design that I am thinking of getting made up either before or in time for the show in Bristol, I have been wanting to get some T-shirts made for a while. That is in early stages but we shall see how thy turn out and of course I'll let you know as things progress.

When in Rome......

2007-06-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hello again to all who read this. Well with October creeping up on me like a Gremlin I have been busy getting paintings ready
as well as some other bits and pieces which I will share with you soon, for the show at Workshop down in Bristol I hope to not only do some detailed pieces but some skate decks and perhaps some more sneaks. I also have some things happening that I will share but not quite yet until things have progressed a little further.
Not too long ago I went up to visit my very good friend Azz who's birthday was a couple of days later, but he was actually going to be on holiday with his girlfriend in Lindos, so I thought I would go up and see him not only to wish him a happy birthday but cause he was having a BBQ and I was kinda hungry.
"OH Baby I like it RAW!"

I also had a wee surprise for Azz who I met in Art College years back, and I remeber discussing our inspirations whilst browsing through a variety of books and I always remeber Azz talking about a drawing by Mode2 which is his favourite.

I think it is safe to say I done good with this present. So Azz headed off to Lindos and I with my girlfriend headed to Rome for a few days, a holiday that both of us had been looking forward to for a long time.
Rome is a city that my girlfriend has always wanted to visit and I have wanted to return to, we returned from our holiday just the other week. The city of Rome is just an unbelievable place and through out our few days there we we continuously amazed by the beauty and the history that it has to offer.

The first day involved a trip to the Colosseum including a guided tour to get a better idea and understanding of the history of this amazing building, the inside is unbelievable especially when you think how old the structure is. A word of advise though is that if a guy dressed as a Gladiator comes up to you offering to have a photo taken outside the Colosseum just say "NO!!" these guys will try to rip you off and in this case they did. That was the first and last time we were going to let that happen. After the tour and some ice cream and a lot of water we had some change in our pockets so headed over to the Fontana di Trevi chill in the sun and toss a coin or two over our shoulders.

We stayed there for a while to relax after some serious walking in the heat. You'll notice that I may use beautiful a lot in this blog cause it is the best way to describe all the fountains, paintings, streets and historic buildings. The hotel we stayed at was pretty close to everything apart from the Vatican.

And the Chappella Sistina being next door is worth a visit to see the ceiling by Michaelangelo of course. You aren't allowed to take any photos but everyone should know what it looks like. You can get carried away looking up at it that you may forget to check out the walls also with what looks like hanging fabric but a closer looks shows that the fabric and all its details are painted, no stencils either. But I did manage to get a few photos of the halls that you have to walk thorugh in the build up before you get to the chapel.

This was one of my favourite paintings

As we walked along the River Tiber I noticed another painting that I was fond of by Italian artist Sten.

Both my girlfriend and myself were fond of the Pantheon.

However it annoys the hell out of me that no matter where you maybe in the world like outside the Pantheon which is one really old piece of architecture with a gorgous fountain at the front with welcoming restaraunts surrounding you will always find a F*@king Mc******s there as well, that type of stuff really pisses me off sometimes.

The little restaraunts served amazing food but seeing as this holiday was special for my girlfriend I treated her for a meal at the Piazza Navona serving some of the best food we had, after all when in Rome.

This guy was one of the coolest buskers we had ever seen.

All together it was an amazing holiday and a well needed break from work that both me and my girlfriend needed after what has prooved to be a busy 2007 for the both of us. I highly recommend Rome.

New Painting, New Edit, New Sneaks, New Blog

2007-05-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the piece that I have been going on about for the past few updates and if you have clicked play on the above video you will see it coming together, I would like to thank the very talented Mr Cooper for granting me permission to use the track 'Three' from his album 'Amongst Strangers.' You may recall a previous post refering to Mr Cooper I did a couple of years ago, a massive thank you Mr Cooper.

So above is a photo of the fianl piece (click on it to see the larger image) which I'm well happy with, it is an alley in my home town of Glasgow and unlike previous paintings I have done it shows a 180 degree view of the alley letting the viewer see the roof of scafolding right down to the cobble stone ground. This 180 degree view is something that I will be working with again in the near future. Also the edit shows myself destroying the stencils right after I have completed painting which is something that I have always done since I started stenciling even after spending as long as I do cutting and yes I did paint this piece in my slippers. But working on this piece was a lot easier than previous larger pieces because I managed to get a larger studio space which is great apart from the lack of ventilation and it needed a tidy as I think Spiderman was here before me and he is pretty messy, but the space was great to manage the large sheets of paper compared to my other space.

But not only did I get to finish 'Mitchell Alley' but I completed my first pair of trainers for a client who saw my previous pair and was keen to have a pair of his own, to be honest I prefer these to the pair I did for myself. So if your are interested in owning a pair of Klingatron sneaks then drop me an email.

The other month I was checking out Wooster Collective and read about the plans for OS GEMEOS, NINA and NUNCA were planning on transforming the exterior of Kelburn Castle which is on the west coast of Scotland and is just 15 minutes down the road from where I live so when the weather got a little better my girl and I got in the car and went to check it out.

The castle looked unbelievable and it was amazing to see people of all ages just standing for ages watching these talented artists create something so different to anything anyone from the quiet town of Kelburn had ever seen before, my girlfriend and I stood there for ages until our necks got tired of looking up all for ages. If by any chance you are planning to visit Scotland I suggest you get on a bus or train to Kelburn (near Largs) and check this out, it really is something. The castle is surrounded by forrest land and you can't go into the woods without seeing an Elph.

Totally can't believe it's May already

2007-04-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well oce again I have been pretty busy with work and quite a few things have now started to happen. Firstly lets start with the Stencil Festival which opens pretty soon now. Above is the flyer with all the necessary info you need should you be in Australia and able to make it which you totally should if you can. I still am pure juiced that I will be displaying my work at the festival and once again shouts out to JD and Satta.

After my road trip down to Bristol to hook up with the one and only Gav Strange @ Jam-Factory I recieved an email from skateboard legend Danny Wainwright who has kindly invited my to exhibit work in his shop Workshop in October. Workshop as you can see has plenty of other exhibitions this year and has had some amazing artists in the past so if you can then check out the shows but obviously save yourself for mine in October, there will be Tenant Lager and Haggis hopefully. I'll try to get a few sneaks done and a few skate decks.....speaking of which I have been adopted into a new family.

I was invited by Gav to be a designer for Xynthetic Skateboards creating hand made skate decks which I warmly accepted, if you checkout their site you can listen to a podcast I did with Gav and Mr Jonny Clooney after the Rebelo:06 show in Newcastle a few months back. Massive thanks to Gav and shouts out to all the Xynthetic family to whom I am looking forward to working with.

The weather up here in Scotland has been amazing which is typical seeing as how I'm pretty busy working on a piece keeping me hidden in my studio as the sun rises and sets, I'm not fussed cause I just love what I do too much to let the weather bother me and I'm excited about the painting that I'm working on at the moment which is starting to take shape. For once as well I have been working with some company in my studio, my dog who when leaves is covered in a coat of paper cuttings and like me he is happy to chill for hours in my studio.

I headed up north to see my girl on Friday and usually we get a pizza delivered and rent a film but not this time, we grabbed a fish supper and some Irn Bru and ate our healthy cuisine on the pier at Broughty Ferry which is in Dundee and admired the amazing view of the city and River Tay. Both of us are pretty busy with our work but the pier was the perfect remedy to unwind and totally chill to take a break from the work.

My good friend Azz was displaying work in the annual Glasgow Art Fair for which I met up with him to check it out. We hooked up on the final day of the show to find that Azz had sold 8 of his 10 pieces which was fantastic, Azz has also been having his work in The Times news paper body and soul sections recently which you should look out for. With his work pretty much sold out I took some photos of other pieces that I was fond of, check em.

Russell West

Ric Horner

Donald MacDonald

So congratulations to Azz for his success at the show, same time next year. But now after bringing you up to speed I gotta head off untill next time readers.

Peace

New Sneakers For The Pimps

2007-04-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

I managed to finish off my sneaks for the Sneaker Pimps Tour 2007 this weekend and I decided to work on a pair of Puma Contacts again with my pattern aswell as tweaking a pair of Nike Court Force which I was planning on sending also for the tour but fancied instead keeping them to wear out and about so that people outsid eo f the interweb can have a peek a boo at my ideas for altering a pair of trainers. Below are the Nike trainers also sporting my pattern with different colours.

First of the month

2007-04-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

Orite folks, I can hardly believe that we are on the forth month of the year already the past few months seem to have flown by. Above is my latest finished piece which I am pretty proud of titled 'Erika's big day' seeing as it is of the bride on her wedding day just before she enters the church, it is the largest piece I have done in a while being 90 x 120 (cm) which was good to work on due to the style of the vale. I'm still working on another commission which at the moment I don't want to give too much away for now.

I am very happy to also say that I am to be one of the many featured artist at this years Stencil Festival in Melbourne which started in February 2004 by Satta and JD Mittman which continues to grow in popularity every year and I am honoured to be a part of it for the first time.

As well as that I have been working on some new sneaks/trainers for the Sneaker Pimps Tour 2007 which will be touring around Asia and around America, and I should have the sneaks done by this week which I will obviously post on display.

So as always I gotta be getting back to work as things are continuously happening so as always stay tuned for more updates.

For the Record

2007-03-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

Some times when people see my work (or any other stencil artists for that matter) on a computer screen it doesn't seem to deliver much justice on the work that goes in to a piece. Some may say that it is just an image tweeked on the computer or even not hand cut and I just wanted to post this photo I took just before I painted 'China Town' which is all the necessary layers of stencils on top of each other, to show you the viewer the paper that I have hand cut for many hours in order to create as detailed a piece as I can manage.

The Long Road Home

2007-03-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

If you may recall back to a couple of posts ago you may remember that I painted a skate deck for the creator of my website, the gifted Gav Strange @ Jam-Factory. So instead of posting the deck in the post I got into my car and began the long drive down to Bristol. The journey down took just over 5 hours with a much needed petrol stop just a few miles out side of Bristol as I was running on empty. Thankfully I had a sat nav telling me where to go and parked the motor outside Gavs flat to be welcomed by the man himself.

After parking the car Gav gave me the tour of his flat MTV Crib style and I got to meet his fellow flat mate Sully.

After the tour we had put the kettle on and had a cuppa tea and had a banter and then Then headed out and about to check out some of the sights of Bristol.
Banksy had worked his magic just round the coner from Gavs flat which was cool to see but funny as well as I was one of the many people snapping this piece.

As it was Saint Patricks Day we head to a cool place that also doubles up as a cinema. I had a Guinness whilst Gav chilled with a Lemonade. Gav was however well impressed by the barmaids skills of making a shamrock in the froth of the Guinness, do't think he had seen it before to which I told him that "after a few pints of the stuff you forget it's even there."

After our drinks we chilled back at the flat and had some toast and more tea, being flat mates with Sully you'd think that Gav would have learnt by now not to steal his last piece of toast as Sully packs a mean slap across the back of Gavs head.

Gav was well juiced about his new piece of art as he recreates the origonal photo.

We headed out to get a pizza at Pizza Express dodging through all the drunken folk pretending to be Irish for the day. The food anyway was preety good but the waitress wasn't up for the Glasgow banter. Getting back to the flat I met Gavs other Flat mate Amy who is well sound. Aswell as Amy Gav also shares the crib with the talented RichT who was away doing some work in Wales I think, anyway his work is sick and is darted pretty much through out the whole flat.

I was also admiring the origonal painting that Gav owns by Mr Jago.

The night was young so Gav cracked open a bottle of the good stuff and showed me the fun that you can have with a Nintendo Wii.

The following morning it was time for me to head up the road after some geeking it up time checking emails and sharing some music, I then headed back up to Scotland hitting a snow storm on the way up. It was a lot of driving in two days but it was well worth it. Gav was a great host and it was good to see him again and hopefully we hook up in the future real soon. Thanks a lot to Gav for letting me come down.

A few days later and I headed into Glasgow to pick up some framing that I got done for my new OBEY prints which I recieved the other week from mr postman.

So all in all I had a really good chilled weekend but now it's back to the grind stone to get on with some serious work which I'll keep you updated with.
peace

Take em down to China Town

2007-03-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

This is the newest piece that I have completed from my New York series which didn't start out as a collection of pieces but after completing 'NY Azz' and 'Escape' I continued browsing through my photos from my last visit. I found China Town in New York an interesting experience compared to other china towns hat I have been to. I'm well pleased with the outcome of this piece especially the way it continues to feed my hunger for detail. I have been working on this piece for a while which I will be taking to my priends at The Red Door gallery. It has been too long since I have submitted new work to them as things have been a bit crazy. Speaking of The Red Door Gallery I would like to thank Chante for all her support for the past year as she is sadly heading back to her home land of New Zealand and hopefully not for too long. I wish you all the bst for the future and thank you Chante.
Below is a close up of some of the detail featuring a tired Klingatron in the background, I started working n the final layer and and just couldn't stop and so found myself staying up well late to finish.

But what else has been happening, well for a while I have wanted to get some more stickers made to paste up any where I find my feet taking me. I had an idea late one night and stayed up late one night working on illustrator to create what is now my new profile icon for my Myspace page and then I thought it would make a cool sticker, better than the last one I did as it involved my pattern.

So I got in contact with Edinburgh based Sticker Monkey to hook me up with a quote and then send me out some samples, which the cheeky monkey did pretty swiftly, so now with some minor adjustments to be taken care of I should have a batch of stickers pretty soon.
So I have been pretty focused on getting 'China Town' completed but was over the moon when I recieved a package from Mr Postman delivering something that I ad been looking forward tofor a long time. I ordered myself a pair of the limited edition K-Swiss Logan Hicks Trainers.

The box is in its own right a work of art featuring Logans signature pattern that has been laser cut, which is signed and numbered by the man himself. I got number 13 of 200 and the sneaks also come with a sweet t-shirt. There was some problems with the sneaks getting delivered across the water but they made it and I want to thank Logan for all his help and efforts to get the problem solved as I know he is a busy guy.
So that is what has been happening lately and I'm excited about the weekend that is coming up as I am heading down to Bristol to geek it up with the web design mastermind that is Gav @ Jam-Factory which I'm well excited about so stay tuned to see if I can get a Guiness down Gavs pipes on Paddys day.

I'm off to see the wizard of OZ

2007-03-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

Well I wish I was going to the land of Oz but at least my work is, I am so excited to be a part of the Adelaide Fringe and displaying my work with such a great selection of fellow artists. I recieved an email with the flyer attatched and it looks great. So if by chance you are reading this and you are from Australia the get yourself to Adelaide to check out the fringe which judging by the content described on the website sounds like an amazing time. i would like to thank Satta and JD for getting in touch to make this happen. Thank you both.
I have been busy working on a new piece which I'll be taking to my good friends at The Red Door Gallery in Edinburgh. After completing 'NYAzz' I continued to go through my holiday pics from New York to see if there was any other photos of interest, more will be revieled once the piece is completed but here is how it is looking so far.

I love New York as I have mentioned I'm sure many times before but there is no place like home so stay tuned for what is is the pipelines for newer work. Again more will be said in a couple of blogs time. But what I can say is that I am happy to have 'Blinds' returned to me from Opus Underground down in Newcastle because I became really attatched to that piece as I worked on it, which is a problem most of the time for me towards my work. My parents really like 'Blinds' and so you may say christmas has come early for them as it is now hanging in their home but knowing me I'll probably ask for it back one day.

Just a short update again this time just to spread the word about the Fringe Adelaide, stay tuned for more to come.

It has been a while but I've been busy

2007-02-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

Hello to all reading this. It has been a good while it seems since I last updated this to let you know what has been going on. 2007 is starting to be quite a busy year so far with a couple of commissions heading my way whch is fantastic however because of this I became unable to send a piece in time for the X-acto mundo exhibition at the Pawn Gallery which would have allowed me to display with artists such as Stensoul, Adam 5100, Sten, Stncl.07 and Pobel. I'm pretty gutted and annoyed at myself for being unable to meet the deadline but things have been mad with the commissions, which I am getting on with but here is one that I finished.

When doing this piece I was worried how it would turn out but it has grown on me. The client was fond of my NYC piece with the dripping paint and wanted to have something similar, and now I have a bit more space in my studio to crack on with the others which I am very excited about.
The other day I headed over to The Red Door Gallery for the opening of " Become The Work Machine" which was a solo show displaying new works by Elph.

After a stringy pizza in the east coast wind I made my way to the show which had a really good turn out and some amazing pieces by the Edinburgh based artist and I recommend that if you are in the Edinburgh area between now and the beginning of March then you should head to The Red Door Gallery to take a look. This was one of my favourite pieces in the show.

So there is plenty going on at the moment and plenty to be getting on with for me. I'm looking forward to March and will be heading down to Opus Underground for the opening night of the solo show by Mr Jago which should be really good. But untill then.
Peace

Klingatron v Jam-Factory

2007-01-23T14:51:00.000-08:00

This is my latest piece that I just finished which is this skateboard for the mastermind that is Gav @ Jam-Factory. I did it on a deck cause Gav is skates and runs Xynthetic, a skateboard company that he started in 2003 specialising in hand made graphics for skateboards aswell as being diverse in other aspects of design. Hit the link to listen to the Xynthetic Podcast also to hear some beats, I have had the honour of being a guest on one so check that one out.
The logo on the deck is the Jam-Factory logo and as you may know Jam-Factory is responsible for my website design whcih adds to his outstanding folio. So now it is just a case of getting this down to Bristol, I just hope Gav has a big enough letter box.

Bring It On In 2007

2007-01-22T14:08:00.000-08:00

Well well well folks it has been a good while since I last updated this with some fresh news and images and this is because for the most of December and first half of January with out my Mac which has been an absolute nightmare for me, yet I was lucky cause I took my mac to get fixed to only find out that the warrenty ran out the day after I handed it in so I was a lucky swine there. So what has been happening....... I managed to make the deadline for sending my submissions away to Australia for the Adelaide Fringe just on the deadline and here are the two pieces that flew over there.

The painting with the figure ( who is my good friend AZZ ) was from a photo I took a few years ago when Azz and myself where in NYC and I have been wanting to do this as a painting for a while and wanted to wait for the right moment to tackle it. The Building piece is a second version of the live painting at the Rebelo show yet I wanted to do it as a mutli-layer and only focus on the fire escape instead of the whole building. I would like to say that the stencils for the live piece had been distroyed. So I sent them off to Satta and JD who in 2004 gave birth to the Melbourne Stencil Festival and I am honoured that they invited me to be apart of the Adelaide Fringe.
Since I sent those paintings away I have been working on a couple of commissions especially the project that I have started to call 'Klingatron v Jam-Factory.' Basically I am painting a skate deck for my dawg Gav of Jam-Factory which is looking good and nearly completed, stay tuned to that.

But I totally missed the chance to wish y'all a merry christmas and a happy new year. Since I had been a good boy in 2006 Santa was generous enough to hook me up with a Mr Jago print, check this beast.

I love this piece which has taken pride of place in my hall for all to see who come and visit, my Guinness boxers were a real treat also for christmas and my girl got me a belter of a pair of Puma Clyde trainers and my Gran did a fine job with the christmas dinner. But moving on as we are now in 2007 and with the new year came a new calender.

And a powercut that lasted for around four days which sucked but it came back on in time for me to catch 'the South Bank Show' which was interesting as it was a documentary about the artist Damien Hirst and how he has bought a £3,000,000 estate and is spending £10,000,000 to fix it up as a home for his collection of art.

It was really interesting to see some of the pieces in his collection and some of the views and opinions he had on the art world and the people outside of it, and to find out that some artists are in such demand that they are unable to produce their work on their own but have studios full of folk creating their pieces which was interesting to find out.

With the success of the Rebelo:06 show the one and only Mr Lee has started a new venture that is opus-underground which has "has leaped from its first show into an urban art and design store specialising in original artwork, prints, books, DVDs and urban vinyl and plush by some of the planets best a brightest artists, designers, illustrators and graffiti writers." I headed once again down to Newcastle to see Mr Lee to see how he was getting on, catch up and take down a couple of paintings for him.

We got chatting about his plans and what he will be looking for in the work that will be on sale which allowed me to form ideas on what I will try to do next for him and most importantly make the pieces affordable, as I put it art twork that is "less than an i-pod."

After a good catch up with a fine cuppa tea I got back in the tron mobile and headed back to Scotland which is frickin freezing still but you get use to that. It feels good to be doing a blog again, this is quite a long one and if you made to the end then like me you may be spending to much time infront of the computer. All the best for 2007 to everyone and thank you for the support in 2006.
Stay Tuned. peace

Should be a good one.

2006-12-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

Seasons greetings to you all and we are slowly coming to the end of the year but have to get through Christmas first, that is fimne by me, judging by the december page of the Lucy Pinder calander it should be a good one.

I have been really busy for the past couple of weeks getting on with some fresh pieces, I have been invited to exhibit my work at Adelaide Fringe, Australia in March 07 which has really got me excited especially with the line up that I'll be exhibiting with including Akiro, Hammo and Lucamaleonte as well as others, all whom I am excited to be displaying my work with. The deadline is creeping up pretty fast on me so I have been racking on with the cutting big time.

Once again I'm pretty juiced about the new paintings I'm working on especially the one I have started to cut because it is taken from a photo I took on my first visit to New York and I have been waiting for the right time (or at least until my skills improved) to tackle this one. When I haven't been cutting out paper I have been planning out other commissions on the computer and every time my computer is switched on I slot in The Run Up every time.

And once I have met the deadlines for the Adelaide Festival I will be able to get on with the Christmas shopping but like usual I'll leave it to the last minute.
Merry Christmas y'all.

Rebelo:06 Art

2006-11-17T16:53:00.000-08:00

Seeing as how the Rebelo exhibition at Opus has now officially been opened, I think that I can now show you the paintings that I created for the show. As well as the trainers that I did I really wanted to push myself for this as Rebelo:06 is the first exhibition where I have been a named featured artist. Below are photos of how my work was displayed as well as a photo of the live art painting I did on the opening night of the exhibition.

Rebelo Show pt2

2006-11-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

Day 1 down in Newcastle, I drove down to Opus on the Wednesday (the day before the opening) where I met up with Mr Lee Simpson and Fanchea and finally got to meet the brains behind the aesthetics of my site, the legend that is Gavin Strange. It's crazy when you finally get to meet someone that you have been speaking to for ages over the net and get to meet them in person for the first time. Later on Gav's very good friend Jonny made it to the gallery and it was a pleasure to meet him as well. I aslo got to meet Mr Guy who had a mass amount of colourful work that really brightened to space.

Everyone was keen to get the show set up and everyone had fresh ideas on how they wanted the show to look like, well everyone but me. No sooner had I met everyone but I grabbed a table n chair combined with my cutting matt and my trusty knife I began to cut my live art piece.

There was some amount of work that needed to be hung up including plenty of skate decks so there was plenty to get on with and Sonneywas there to lend an extra pair of hands whilst I sat there cutting away. Gav was a bit of a nervous wreck due to the shitty postal service not delivering his 3 canvas' and a munny toy but he did well to take his mind off things.

Headed out for some lunch and when we got back Mr Guy had pasted some of his characters on to the basement floor. Here is Mr Lee standing in his pimp style pose.

Fanchea was amazing making plenty of cups o' tea. The two days allowed new T.UNIT recruits to be welcomed (It was easy to lose count on how many cups were actually made.) Cheers Fanchea. It eventually hit 10pm and that ment it was time to leave the gallery, I could have easily stayed cause I had so much cutting todo and wanted to get as much done as I could but I had to stop. The script was that myself, Gav and Jonny were staying in the nearest Travel Lodge and to save a bit of cash Gav booked it so that we all chilled in the same room. The room stank of stale fags and the kettle was dodgy as hell leaking and giving Gav a shock when he attempted to make the tea.

Jonny brought his laptop with him allowing us to check our emails (and our myspace pages, yes I'm a fanny and gave in to the darkside of the net) but Gav found time to write a wee Blog. Gav pasted out and Jonny and I ended up watching the worst John Travolta film an old one as well, gave up on that and lights out cause it was to be an early start at the gallery in the morning.

Time To Get you Arse In Gear

2006-11-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

We woke up and headed to the Opus only to be amused by Mr Lees impression of a homeless dude. It wasn't open quite yet so the troops headed to BAPS for some breakfast goodness. It was only round the corner and when we got back Fanchea was the with the Gallerys sales director Emma Poole discussing ideas on the aesthetics of the show which to be honest didn't appeal to us at the initially but after a frustrated few minutes everyone picked themselves up and got on with the job at hand even though the stress levels were beginning to rise because time was an element that seemed like it was trying to pass quickly.

The shit thing was that Gav's work still hadn't been delivered and the postman had been and gone, so he was on the web trying to track his recorded delivery down like a mongoose hunting its prey. Everyone seemed interested in the culture up in Scotland and would ask about the iconic treats that it has to offer, it seemed a bit early for a whiskey so Jonny nipped out to get the next best thing.

Irn Bru is the second best selling drink in Scotland apparently and its colour has given it the nickname 'Ginger' which everyone found amusing as the started to speak in their best Scottish accents. Shit started to come together and even Mr Lee began to become a mirror image of myself armed with a knife and a cuppa tea.

Here are some shots of how the gallery space turned out in the end which ened up looking amazing forgetting about the disagreements in the morning.

The Mr Jago deck was propably my favourite piece in the show.

And where was I when everyone was doing an amazing job getting the whole thing sorted and organised? yep I was in the corner of the gallery cutting away.

The Opening

2006-11-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

The opening of Rebelo:06 at Opus was amazing with an awesome turn out hosting a variety of age groups. It was impressive to see an older generation appreciate work produced by street artists in a gallery when they would have ignored it on the streets or classed it as vandalism. It was wicked cause Jonny filmed the entire night and I'm looking forward to viewing that.

I was still cutting in the upper basemnet whilst Gav freestyle doodled down in the lower basement and on the gallery window, I would love to have joined him but I was way to busy and under pressure to get my final sheet of paper cut. However Rockabilly and LintsOne, who had travelled all the way from Denmark with his good lady joined in the doodling fun.

The finised wall.

It came to 9pm and I still had a fair amount to cut but thankfully most people at the show were well interested in what I was doing that they were more than willing to hang around to see me spray the stencil. It got to 10pm when I stood up and allowed my back to crack straight and loosen my stiff hands and Marketing Director Louise gathered everyone into the lower basement and I began to paint. I was so nervous cause usually I'm painting on my own in my studio with no one watching what I'm doing. Gav filmed me finishing off the stencil capturing the crowds reaction which was an experience that was I have never experienced when painting.

I became speachless when I had only just signed the piece before all my efforts were rewarded in the piece being sold which was unexpected to me and I thank all the people who patiently waited for me to finish cutting the piece. Pretty much after that the gallery closed and all involved with the show headed down to a pub down the road for a celebrated drink although I recommend you don't go to this pub should you head to Newcastle cause it doesn't have Guinness or Southern Comfort which kinda bugged me cause I would have loved a Guinness after all that cutting.

The next morning I headed to OPUS to talk with some journalist from a local paper with Mr Lee and Mr Guy and you'll never guessed what turned up.....yes that's right Gav's paintings, so they got hung it's just a shame they didn't make it for the opening night.

I would now like to take this opportunity at the end of this massive blog to thank all at Opus for all they did and of course to the great Mr Lee Simpson for making Rebelo:06 happen and allowing me to be apart of it. Thats also to Gavin Strange for telling me about the show and it was amazing to finally kick it with yourself and Jonny and I hope we get to do it again real soon. Shouts out to Mr Guy and Sonney and Rockabilly and LintsOne and all the other artists who displayed their work at the show, it was an honour to exhibit with you all.
Until next time...Peace

Rebelo Show pt1

2006-11-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

Seems like it has been a while since I have added a blog/news info. It has been a real busy few weeks of rme getting ready for the Rebelo exhibition at Opus, but the paintings are complete and on Thursday just there with one week to go until the opening night I bubble wrapped my work and left Glasgow and started the drive to Newcastle. I was pretty shattered as I started my trip but I turned up my tunes and turned up the heating cause it is pretty damn cold here at the moment in Scotland.

I needed to stop for a pee break, fill up my car with fuel and get my dinner consisting on a chargrilled chicken sandwich, kingsize twix and a bottle of juice, mmmmmm yummie. The drive down took around 3 hours but I eventually go to Newcastle around 7.30.

Surprisingly found the galery real easy and got to meet the brains behind Rebelo Mr Lee Simpson and gallery manager Fanchea Clarke. with their welcoming smiles and a stella we began chatting about the opening night and pretty much having a good banter. I then fetched my work from the boot of my car and unwrapped the many layer of bubble wrap to show off my submissions. I got to have a peek at the other artists work that had arrived and I was getting excited by the variety that this show is going to deliver. I would love to have stayed longer for a pint o' the black stuff but I had to hit the road and get some sleep.

The following day I went up the road to see my girl, she truely is something special not only did she cook a belter of a meal but she had bought me a new DVD. She bought me The Run Up, a documentation of artists influencing a contempary art movement. I'm actually watching it now as I write this blog which I'm going to finish up cause this is a beast of a DVD.

A Little Taster

2006-10-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have been working hard to get everything ready for the Rebelo exhibition in Newcastle as the deadline is pretty soon. Since my last update I have been cutting away at a new piece that is proving to be really intricate, still got plenty to do on it but once it is done then I will be able to work on my final piece.

I know I said I wasn't going to show any of my pieces but I have to give you a wee taste of my new sneaks that I will be submitting for the exhibition. A custom pair of Nike Air Force 1 trainers with the box to match.
Right I still got plenty to do so I'm off back to my studio.
Peace

Flying Away

2006-10-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen this is the flyer for the Rebelo exhibition in Newcastle. Look look there's my name. BLAM!! So show this to all and spread the word. Myself and Jam-Factory will be doing a live at show whilst listening to some phat beats. This will be the first time I have done a live art thing, should be interesting especially cause I can't use my beloved cans because we are unable to supply masks to the guests. The entire night will be filmed by Jam-Factory's mate Jonny. So if you are about Newcastle in November head on down to ch-ch-check it out.
Since my last blog I have been working like a trooper (I've even grown my hair just so I can pull it out in times of stress) getting my pieces done for the show, but I'm not going to show you just yet what my submissions look like yet, maybe closer to the date of the exhibit if you are lucky.
But I still got a whole pile of work to get on with, especially when I have spent the past two weeks working on a piece that I actually hate (I only got half way through painting it) but it seems like I have wasted time working on it and time is running out. So stay tuned folks, stay tuned.
peace.

Opus Exhibit

2006-10-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

I got a busy month ahead of me for sure. I am working on my paintings for the Rebelo exhibition at Opus in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Been working really hard to produce some of the most detailed pieces I have done so far, so I'm well excited whilst cutting. I should have 3 paintings for the show but I'm going to try for 4 pieces aswell as couple of Klingatron sneaks.
The exhibit opens on the 16th of November and is on for a wee while so hopefully you guys can manage to head down. Other artists include HelloBard, Jam-factory, ORCO and Matt Joyce to name a few. Definetly worth a look.
I got a lot of late nights ahead of me and I still have plenty of tea bags so I'm all good. Stay tuned for more updates.

Sneakatron

2006-09-16T05:35:00.000-07:00

I have just finished customising a pair of Addidas Shell toes with my 'signature' pattern. I decided to use the same colours as I did with the background for the Bar Soba paintings. The paint shouldn't suffer any damage if worn because it is only the heal that has be done but in saying that I dunno if I'll be dancing in these puppies. This is the first time I have customised a pair of trainers and I don't think it will be the last, it was an exciting process especially when pealing off the masking tape to reveal the final product. Let me know what you think and stay tune for future customisations.

What's happenin'

2006-09-05T15:11:00.000-07:00

I had a wee break from work after completing the Bar soba paintings but now I'm back in action. I am displaying some work outside the Botanic Gardens in the West End of Glasgow, which has been suffering from some piss poor weather, so hopefully it perks up in a couple of weeks time. The show is part of Art on The Railings allowing artists to display their work for a day and I intend to do this again in December outside the GOMA in Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow. So I'm going to get on with a couple of new pieces for that.

Also I am submiting paintings to exhibit at OPUS in Newcastle in November in association with Rebelo. I will be working on some fresh pieces especially for this show and hopefully do some live art with the mighty powerhouse that is Gav from Jam-Factory. It is still in the early stages but I am very much looking forward to this show and to get some Brown Ale down the tube. Plenty to get on with but first a cup o' tea.
Peace

The Final Product

2006-08-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

Well Well Well it has been a while since I have done a wee post, thought I needed a break for a bit. Last week I hung the 'Japanese Squares' in Bar Soba and here is how they look in the restaraunt area. It took me around 7 hours to hang these bad boys but it got done and now the room has completely transformed from the bare way it was before I came along. Only the other day I took my girl there for a meal as she had not seen the finished product apart from on a computer screen.

Here is a photo of myself (yes that's right) standing beside I guess my favourite of the three to give you an idea of the scale of the 'japanese squares'. I had large walls to play with so these pieces had to be big cause size does matter.

Japanese Squares pt2

2006-08-07T14:01:00.000-07:00

After a month of work, hours and hours of cutting god knows how many sheets of paper and painting roughly 125 pieces of wood I am pleased to say that the paintings for Bar Soba are finished. These images are of the final two pieces which I am very proud of, in fact I am so damn happy with all three and I'm sure that some people will have their personal favourites. This is for sur ethe biggest painting I have done so far and the cool thing (I thought) with the background is that you can add or take away pieces so the paining can extend if you want it to, and they can be put side by side to create one long landscape piece (length of a full size snooker table approx) and I have a few extra background squares to play with.

Here is a closer look at the third painting so that you can see the detail in the background pattern and each section and the detail in the woman. I gotta admit that I am pretty tired after working continuously on these pieces especially when juggling painting and a full time job.

As I mentioned this took a long time but with plenty cups of good ol' tea and a Guinness or two at the end of each session I didn't have anything to complain about. So now all I ahve to do is go to the bar to hang these bad boys up, I didn't make an edit to these two pieces cause I'm planning to film the hanging process instead to give you guys something different to watch. Untill then folks.
Peace

Japanese Squares pt1

2006-07-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Dailymotion blogged video
Placement pt 1
Video sent by klingatron

Just completed the first of the 3 Bar Soba paintings. The video is so you can get the idea of how the build up of the individual squares generates the full image. I am really please with the outcome of this piece and am very excited to be getting on with the other 2 pieces. I can't put a figure to the number of hours this has has so far taken but it doesn't really bother me. Hope you like the edit and the painting. Peace

The Lodown

2006-07-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

The story so far: I have been working hard to get the background done for the paintings. I have only done enough for one painting (as i had to recut the pattern) but it's all good cause I'll move these out of the way to do the rest of the backgrounds, then get cracking on the main images. Slowly it's all coming together. Stay tuned.
Peace

The story so far

2006-07-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

I got the wood recut for the wooden canvas for the Bar Soba.paintings. As you can see there is a lot of wood. A total of 124 individual pieces of 20 x20 MDF will collectively create 3 paintings. I have now primed the wood ready for painting which will for sure be the quickest part of this job, but I am not complaining as I can't wait to get stuck in and start placing the squares into position to reveal the final pieces. Below is a photo of some of the wood to give you a basic idea of the layout of the wood. I will probably film the process of these paintings, I got 4 weeks to get the job done so I am going to be super busy. Stay tuned

All Day I Dream

2006-06-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have posted some news. I have been really busy with the paintings for Bar Soba. But I took some time out to do this stencil on my studio wall. It is an idea I have been wanting to do for a while, it's simple and not as complex as some of my other stuff. Just something I wanted to do, after all-

All
Day
I
Dream
About
Stencils

Fun in the sun

2006-06-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well the weather I think can't get any better up here in Scotland. It was Azz's birthday on the weekend so we went to the easy coast for some camping, beer and BBQ food, what more could you ask for?

So we chilled all through the night and the fire kept on going through to the early hours of Sunday thanks to the skills of boy scout Bad Boy, not just a pretty face. I had to put my mark on the fire of course.

It was a great night and having only got two hours sleep I woke up and headed back to Glasgow where I got on with some painting, I did manage to get a couple of hours sleep once I got home before painting.

This was done for Gav at Jam-Factory for his brothers 18th. Dan is now a member of T-UNIT and this painting proves it.

Subtle in Glasgow

2006-06-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

I went to see Subtle in Glasgow the other day which was well amazing. It was a really good gig and I'm happy that i have finally seen Jel and Dose One live. Jel is a weapon on the old drum machine. I didn't take my camera out with me so I took these snaps with my phone.

For those of you that haven't heard of Subtle or their music then check out the video below for a song entitled F.K.O. (just click the black square to stop and start) This is a sweet video and im sure that any animators that view it may find it interesting.

The latest

2006-06-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

Well folks I am very happy to say that Klingatron.com is up and running. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Gav@jam-factory for making it all possible, he has done a fantastic job and once again I thank him very much not only for creating an amazing site but also for his support. Cheers Gav.

Also in other news I have moved back to Glasgow after a good five years up in Dundee. Since moving back I have been in my studio getting some paintings prepared and also I will start to produce the paintings for Bar Soba. I am very happy to be back home in Glasgow as the time felt right to leave. So stay tune for more news.
peace

I heart painting NY

2006-05-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

Was back in Glasgow for the past few days getting on with a commission. My client wanted something to go in his new flat and so I came up with a design for a painting of New York and started to crack on with it. The first day of cutting was ok apart from the fact that I felt like crap, having to constantly blow my beak. But anyways, I felt better the next morning and continued with cutting. With this painting I really wanted to push myself with getting the deatil right and this was the first time I have painted buildings and I have to be honest it was really enjoyable. Something different.

Dailymotion blogged video
Painting NY
Video sent by klingatron

So you can check me out in action with the above video. I sped up a 20 hour job into 1 minute. Enjoy

Above is a clear photo of the final painting. Personally I am so dam happy with how this painting turned out and hopefully it looks good the clients wall.
Peace

A New Toy

2006-05-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to get one of these for a wee while and the other day I had to give in. It's a Lomography Fisheye camera allowing photos to be taken with a 170 degree viewing range. So we shall have to wait n see what can be done with this bad boy. BLAM

For Jen

2006-05-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

I did this painting for my girlfriend Jen who has been working her ass off for her exams so I thought I'd give her a wee treat by doing a painting for her n getting it framed. Stuff always looks better when framed.

12 inch

2006-05-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

Spent a lot of time in my studio this weekend painting some new pieces for The Red Door Gallery as they wanted some more stuff on vinyl. So these are the painting i did on some random records which I again found up in my aladdins cave of an attic. in this vast record collection I stumbled across The Lennon Collection which I dunno if i will paint on.

Red Door Gallery Opening

2006-05-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I posted any new stuff of the ol' blog. My computer decided to play silly buggers with me and I had to get it sorted so I was without my baby for 2 whole weeks. But its back so let me tell you what the lodown is. I took a wee road trip with DR3W to Edinburgh for the opening of 'Open Works' at The Red Door Gallery. some good work there and some new faces also, you can see my pieces in the bottom corner. Sarah who works there and has been very supportive of my work is having to go back to her home of New Zealand so it was good to see her before she left. so if your through in Edinburgh check out The Red Door Gallery.

I enjoy what I do

2006-05-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

Was back home in my studio for the weekend, aswell as being my old mans birthday I had a painting to do for my friend Dill. He gave me a sheet of metal and told me he would like a robot with a speaker so sure enough I got my sketchbook out to come up with some ideas. So above is the final product but it doesn't end there. I got a little carried away because I enjoy what I do so much.

Outside of my studio is my mums wheely bins and sure enough I it them a Klingatron make-over. Thankfully she really liked it and was happy to know that her bins are individual.
I also managed to see two paintings this weekend and shook hands for a commission (stay tuned for the final product) and with my earnings I took my dad out for a pint on his birthday.

Having fun with illustrator

2006-04-27T02:59:00.000-07:00

Decided I felt like a new header for my blog.

T.UNIT

2006-04-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well I am very excited in the fact that today is the day that I am opening my christmas present. Me mam knows I love tea so she got me a big ass bag, and I;m only opening it now cause i had a 500 tea bags to finish first. So today is the day that I begin to get through the badboy bag but I know I can handle it, being a member of T.UNIT.

Finally got a photo

2006-04-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

I finally got a photo of this painting that I did over a year ago.

Weekend of cutting pt2

2006-04-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

I am so happy that I finished cutting this pattern I designed, 27 hours of continuous cutting was all worth the effort. I didn't mess up (which people would keep asking how I would take it if I did) and now I was able to use this pattern for my new paintings. and the funny thing is if I had to I would do it all again, but I don't so I'm happy for now.

Well what a productive weekend I had. Because I spent all last weekend preparing for this one I was able to get on with painting. First of all I got on with a painting of my friend Hobbs, this painting is intended for The Red Door Gallery. The brief is that each image be 30cm x 30cm so I thats what i did but made 3 images equal 1, I'm pretty fond of it, these new painting allowed me to play with some new ideas which is always good.

So after completing the first painting of the weekend. So after completing the first painting of the day I had to head in to Glasgow to Bar Soba who are comissioning me to do several paintings for the dining area, so I had to go tehre to measure out the sizes of the walls so I know how Big or small to make the paintings. It was really good cause I had ideas but now after really looking around the creative juices got flowing. But I wandered around Glasgow for a wee bit n outside Boarders Books there are always people performing stuff.

I'm so glad i had my camera cause I was able to snap Dublin Juggler Russ breathing a massive ball of fire for his final trick. So happy I got this photo. But anyway the meter was running so I headed back to my car after shaking Russ' hand and got back on with painting. Now I have never painted on records before but have seen it many times n finally gave it a go, especially cause I found a box of old records in my attic.

I really enjoyed it and will be doing more record paintings for sure. So I incorporated the pattern into the background after a coulpe of practice goes to get the colours right n then got on with the paintings. You may be able to see that the paintings look pixelated which is intensional cause when viewed from a distance they are not. I'm happy with how they turned out n have taken then to Edinburgh so now I hope they will be up on display real soon. What a day, haven't a clue what I'll be doing next weekend but.

Go Magazine

2006-04-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

The other day I was informed that I had a mention in Glasgow based GO Magazine' In fact I had been interviewed by the student who word the artical, but i thought it was for a uni project the guy was doing, but its all good. Its a small free magazine that is distributed around Glasgow, and free stuff is always good. I hope the image is big enought for you guys to read.

Weekend of cutting

2006-04-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

What a weekend i had. Firstly i Fancied customising my studio walls by doing a painting on it. I played around withe the perspective of the font which looks pretty trippy from the side view, but it's better than the bits of tape I had all over the wall.

So after i painted the wall I continued with my cutting. I spent the majority of saturday working in my studio and most of sunday aswell untill it was time for my sunday roast. I'm still cutting my pattern out and after 12 hours of cutting I'm not even half way through, I'm looking forward to getting that done, should be good. This is me just getting my paintings ready for the The Red Door Gallery as the dead line is soon so I'd best get back to it. Peace

Glasgow Art Fair

2006-04-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well I got invited to go tho the Opening of the Glasgow art fair, thanks to Azz for the ticket.

Azz had his art work up on display which looked fantastic and got good feed back and sold a couple of piece on the opening night.

Also saw some fresh work by an artist called Max Taylor and it was this piece called Mr Cassidy that i was really fond of, really nice image a monkey mixed with graf and crains, i really liked this piece

The show finished at 9pm so we then decided that our stomachs were pretty empty so we headed to a noodle bar for some grub after trying other places first. I had some good noodles with a chilly n beef flavour, oh yeah. To the joy of the staff we eventually headed to a oub under the local Burger King (thats Glasgow for you) for a pint and to meet up with Frazer. After a banter Jen n I thought we'd best head back up to Dundee so we did.

So there was plenty happening, My girlfriend Jen had a great time and it was good to see ma dawgs Sam n Chris again. Well done Azz with the show.

Red Door Gallery

2006-04-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

Orite folks, well for the past week i have been planning out some new paintings for a show at The Red Door Gallery in Edinburgh. This was the first gallery that i displayed my work in and am very excited to be having some new pieces on display (if they like what i have done) I still got plenty more to get on with but stay tuned

More Ink

2006-03-30T07:03:00.000-08:00

Did another ink drawing the other day in my sketch book.

Identical commission

2006-03-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

I got asked to paint the portait of twins for their birthday. I enjoyed doing these painting cause i have't done a small painting in ages and its always to go back to them some times.

Worst summer

2006-03-28T06:16:00.000-08:00

I just came across this photo again, thought I'd share it with you. Two Summers ago I pretty much snapped ma arm in half. My right arm and I'm right handed. This is what it looked like after my cast came off now i have 2 plates and 12 pins in my arm.

Something For Your Ears

2006-03-23T16:16:00.000-08:00

A while ago my friend Dyspher let me listen to some fresh beats by Brighton based musician Mr Cooper and now i wish to share the sounds he creates with you. enjoy and then get his album.

Bubble Magazine

2006-03-22T05:48:00.000-08:00

I got an email not long ago to design a logo for an up and coming Glasgow based magazine call 'BUBBLE' so here is what i came up with as a logo. It is a free magazine documenting the fashions and lifestyles of Glasgow locals. Issue number 1 is due out in June. look out for it.

Back from Dublin

2006-03-22T03:56:00.000-08:00

As i couldn't afford to go to dublin for Paddys Day, i went the day after for 4 days. arrived at 8 in the morning and then was picked up by ma dawgs Giles n Jay Mulligan. Hadn't seen those boys in so long. At around noon we headed to 'Ramp n Rail' skate park where mad shit went down. It was the legendary Connor Manweiller that took away €250 for best trick. Then the drinking started and didn't stop until 5 am. things to do when you go to Dublin are drink REAL Guinness, go to Leo Burdocks for a portion of 'chips n batterbits' and watch the 'Podge and Rodge show' ill be goin back to ireland for sure. keep it RUUUUUUUUDE.

Klingatron.com

2006-03-16T04:25:00.000-08:00

orite folks, just thought id let you know whats been happening. jam-factory is hooking me up with a fresh portfolio website, hit the link to check him out, Gav is responsible for creating Mr Jagos website. i'm looking forward to getting it up and running. so check out www.klingatron.com

Warm feeling inside

2006-03-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

I couldn't believe that scotland would get such heavy snow in the middle of march. madness. here is a photo of how my studio took to the weather, a little nippy but still warm inside.

New Painting

2006-03-13T07:50:00.000-08:00

I did this painting the other day. Im so happy with this painting. i canny stop looking at it. It will be displayed in a hair salon in Glasgow city center.

Blue scarf

2006-03-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

I gotta say that this is my favourite painting that i have done so far. I can't get enough of looking at this one.
it is on canvas, 90 x 90

some new paintings

2006-03-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

well here are some paintings i did over the christmas period last year.

Where the magic happens

2006-03-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

here is a photo of my studio with customised door. it's a small wee studio but I love going in there to do work.

Spread the Love/Hate

2006-03-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Look out for the Inkfeenz. We're coming.

NYC stick up

2006-03-09T16:09:00.000-08:00

I love New York. was there at the beginning of the year. stuck a few stickers around, even got pulled up by the police. I can't wait to got back to NYC.

Another thing about NYC that I'm a fan of is the trainer selection. Now if you go to places like Niketown, Footlocker etc your goin to be rockin the same stuff as everyone, but me n ma mate manage to find a place called 'Flight Club' which was sneaker freak heaven, they had jordan 1s for $1700. so i spent $50 on these puma badboys. I don't know what type they are all I know is that I have never seen them before. So I rockin something that aint as common as an Air Force 1. BLAM

more ink on a page

2006-03-09T05:33:00.000-08:00

here are some new ink drawings that i have done in ma sketchbook

McQueen pt 2

2006-03-09T03:46:00.000-08:00

I painted Steve McQueen before but this time i added a vibrant background.

Howie commission

2006-03-09T03:37:00.000-08:00

A commission i did last year. I was asked to paint three brothers.

Old Paintings

2006-03-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some older paintings i have done.

New sneaks

2006-03-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

The background of this painting took me ages to do, but i'm happy with the results

Faces

2006-03-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

A series of 6 paintings i did a while ago and a photo of me.