Self. Don McLean - Vincent (time-lapse painting)

Time-lapse paintings

It's very difficult to get noticed in the art world and really get someones attention with a painting as people only really look at a painting between a few seconds to a minute, so I decided to put some time-lapse videos together to really 'show' people my artwork in the hope of keeping my viewers attention for longer.

My first time-lapse painting is of crows flying over Glastonbury Tor. Crows are very intelligent birds and the rhyme "one for sorrow, two for joy..." was originally about crows, therefore I decided that I would include two crows in the painting. Glastonbury Tor is a very spiritual place, linked with the King of Fairies, Avalon, King Arthur and the Holy Grail. If you ever have chance to visit it and look over the surrounding countryside I would strongly suggest that you do and take some time to sit at the top and breathe in the fresh air.

In mythology crows are linked to reincarnation and the souls passing, therefore due to Glastonbury Tors spirtual links I thought it would a great place for them to fly over. The white ribbon symbolises our delicate soul.

Crows over Glasonbury Tor

Music by Dj Food - The Crow: I believe the music goes really well with the video and I am very pleased with the outcome.

After my first time-lapse video I wished to paint something much bigger to really show what I was capable of. I felt the song was very important to the paiting and shouldn't simply be background music, therefore I chose an emotional song which moved me and really meant something to me.

Running up that Hill is about men and women wishing to change places so they understand each other better in their relationship, but I didn't think that wish would stop at simply men and women in relationships. I strongly believe that everyone yearns to be understood and lots of people wish to understand each other better, so I included many different people running up the hill. In the front of the picture there is a woman and a man talking to an angel. The man is ready to run up the hill, but the woman is more reluctant as she doesn't know if a complete understanding of each other is always a good thing and maybe some things should be left unknown.

Running up that Hill

Music by Placebo

With my next time-lapse painting I searched through 100's of songs to find the right piece. I was torn between using music that was significant to me and chosing music that I thought people would like. After some thought I decided not to try to please people with my music selection and I also decided not to use a piece of music that was significant to me in in some way. I have already painted my feelings of the past, so I decided that I wanted to create something new and I came across this piece of music and completely fell in love with it.

The painting came from listening to the music.

The Barn

Music by Yann Tiersen - Comptine d'un autree ete

I was incredibly flattered by the responce and support I recieved from people who watched these videos and I will no doubt make another in the future, but there are so many thoughts and images in my mind that I could paint, which would work with music, that it is hard to pin-point where to start.

Tattoo

www.thegallerio.com

You don’t have to be an Artist to be a Tattooist.

At present I am a self-taught professional artist and trained tattooist, I am not yet a ‘Tattoo Artist’ as that takes years of practice.

I have been working as a full-time artist for 4 years so far and I have sold my artwork all over the country. My main mediums are acrylics and watercolour painted on paper or canvas. I decided to change my medium to ink and my canvas to skin as I wish to be able to financially support myself with my skill and even though I have sold over 50 paintings and held my own small private exhibition of 1st edition prints, it simply isn’t enough to substain myself financially, therefore I decided to look into tattooing and the more I learn about it the more I love it.

I finished my tattoo training in October 2010 and I am looking forward to the future and becoming skilled enough to move out of my home studio and into my own shop. I have lived all over the country and in the summer I will be touring in a campervan around Cornwall and tattooing as I go. I am also an avid writer – I have written 7 novels so far – and on the ‘Tattoo Studio’ page of this website I intend to write about my travels around Cornwall and the people I meet tattooing.

After my travels I wish to open an Art Galley and Tattoo Studio where I can practise tattooing and exhibit my artwork. Some people find art galleries intimidating and some people find tattoo studios intimidating, so when I bring the 2 together I may well have the most intimidating shop on the planet, but hopefully people will leave their preconceived notions of art galleries and tattoo studios at the door and come and explore my private little corner of the artworld.

That’s the future, but at present it’s practice, practice, practice.

Tattoo Design

www.thegallerio.com

I have just finished my first tattoo design for a customer, he asked for an angel that resembled Angelina Jolie for his back.

I looked over the internet for pictures of angel wings and Angelina Jolie and also asked my client to send me some images of other tattoo designs he liked to give me an idea of what he wanted.

The image below was my first idea for the tattoo. Big boobs, flowing hair and fluffy wings. I like this one as she looks vulnerbale and innocent. I managed to get out of drawing arms and legs by covering them up with hair and a dress.

It’s very important to get a tattoo design right as a client will be wearing the tattoo on their skin for the rest of their life. The first draft is only ever an idea, a starting point to work from, I never expect to get it right first time and I asked my client to be as picky as possible. After a short dicussion with my client he decided that the wings should be spread and he wanted her to be looking up. He told me which tattoo design he liked the most from the selection he gave me and I worked on that.

Below is my second design, I also like this one (I like them all – I can’t present someone with a tattoo design idea that I personally don’t like, I may have to design things I may not like, but I always have to be happy with the picture before I present it to someone, no matter what the topic is).

I like this design as she’s a ‘normal’ weight. She’s not too thin or too fat, she’s feminine, voluptuous. I realise the wings look different than normal wings and the feathers actually look like swords, but I still like the image, I think it works well as a tattoo. Art doesn’t have to be perfect to be right.

Now the angel was in the right position I showed my client the new design. He stated that he wanted her to be slimmer, her child bearing hips were a little wide, he also told me that the hair was too big and he was unsure about the dress, which was the perfect responce as now I knew exactly what he wanted, so I set about designing a new image. It was easy to change the image as I have the position correct and I finally found the correct wings that I wanted to use.

I asked the client for a picture of his back so I could draw the design in the right ratio. The design below is almost perfect. I much prefer the wings and the dress.

I then put this image onto the picture of my clients back to see what it would look like. I knew that this was the design that my client would be happy with so before I showed him the final image I tweaked it a little and added another set of smaller feathers on top of the larger feathers of the wings as the previous image would have been too plain for the large area of skin it needed to cover.

When I showed my client the new design he was very happy with it, but he wanted the angel to be bigger, taller and the wings to be smaller, so I altered the image in photoshop to get the size correct. The image below is the final image, which my client loves. I will straighten up any broken lines when it traced and transferred onto my clients back to make the perfect tattoo.

Ilove this design and I am looking forward to adding the shading and tattooing it, I am really happy that my client suggested that she was made bigger and the wings smaller, I think she looks much better bigger with the wings smaller. It’s a really is great when I am able to communicate with clients and we work together to come up with the perfect tattoo.

I will add the tattoo to my tattoo gallery when it’s been tattooed so you can all see it in it’s full glory.

Slowly slowly catchy monkey

I recently put on a small local exhibition of 1st edition prints, I usually only sell originals direct to the commissioner (the person who commissions the work, not the guy from Batman) and i've never exhibited or sold prints before, so I wasn't quite sure how it would go, but it was amazing.

I'm really happy. I simply wanted to sell at least one print and get my business cards out to direct people to my website, but in 5 days I sold 60% of the prints, which, to me, is fantastic.

I was a little nervous about speaking to people about my artwork as i'm quite shy about my work and I don't really like being centre of attention, but everyone was really friendly and I was overwhelmed by how interested they all were in what I had to say.

I loved the fact that everyone liked different pieces and it really taught me that art is a personal choice so it's not for me to say what is good and what isn't so good, it really is down to the audience to make that decision. The overall consensus of thought was that people love vibrant colour and colourful pieces of work the best, no matter what the topic is.

I'm really over the moon that it went so well and thank everyone that helped me put it together in such a short space of time. I can't wait until I exhibit again, but next time I think I will only display originals and paint to the price, if you know what I mean. Baiscally people will buy things if they are under £50, so for my next exhibition I will paint original artwork worth £49.95, they will be small pieces, but they will be originals, then as my name gets out more I will slowly work up to larger pieces with larger prices.

I really enjoy painting big pieces of work, but that means I need to charge big prices to compliment the work, people are usually happy to pay the higher price, but I feel they will be happier to pay larger sums of money for my work when they have a better idea of who I am and my artistic CV is more varied.

You need to learn to walk before you can run and take one step at a time...slowly slowly catchy monkey.

If anyone is thinking about exhibiting their work I really think it is a great idea. It really helps you to understand what the audience want, which enables you to have a greater understanding of your artwork - paint for yourself, but always have your audience in mind. It also gives you more confidence to speak about your work. It is a must if you wish to compete in the artistic world.

Me, my art, my life

I paint in order to find peace and control so I can make sense of an otherwise chaotic and disturbing world. I refuse to paint negative images as I feel the world is already full of negativity, so I have no interest in adding to it and becoming just another disturbing individual who walks the planet in turmoil. For that reason I may never be noticed and I may never become famous, but I am happy with that as I am being true to myself and that is all that I wish for.

My art varies a lot as I work very fast, therefore my chosen subjects are fleeting thoughts which I turn into paintings. I feel that if you can paint a cup you really can paint anything as the principle remains the same no matter the subject. I mostly paint in acrylics, but more recently I have started to paint in watercolours, even though I tend to paint even faster in watercolour and I am really trying to slow down.

Some artists may think that I am akin to the anti-christ with regard to how and what I paint, therefore they may think that I am not a true artist, but I can assure you that I am. I do not use my skill to express pent up emotions as I do not have pent up emotions. I am fully capable of expressing my emotions in an adult manner, verbally, or with the written word.

My mind is clear and my head is stable and strong.