Volunteering and me.

 

Jobs. Jobs eh? They’re funny things. I’ve found that a good number of people I know don’t like their jobs and a good number don’t have one and struggle to get one. It’s especially sad to see post-graduate students just out of university with nowhere to go.

Well I don’t have any answers I’m afraid, but I can tell you my story (which may or may not help) through the medium of comics!

 

 

Now, let me elaborate on this a bit. Basically as you can see I was unemployed for a good while after coming out of college and generally was a bit sick of working in shops etc. I knew I wanted to do something creative, either art or music or anything in between.  As people get when they’re unemployed I got a bit figity and felt like I should be doing something. On a whim I called my local community centre and asked if I could come in and help out, not long later I came in and gutted the art room and got started.

After a while I got to teaching kids and old folks arts and crafts and bits and bobs and when the funding came I got some paid work from it, doing I enjoyed doing, fab!

Now in the arts, funding comes and goes so after a year or so that was me back to square one, but with that experience I was now a lot better off to get a job more suited to me.

For the past year or so I’ve been working for a charity, basically I work part-time (doing my own art the rest of the time) with people with dementia and alzheimer’s finding ways to communicate through arts, crafts and music. Although it has its challenges, overall it’s very rewarding and I’m super happy there.

I guess my point here is that I’d never have got that job if it wasn’t for volunteering so if you’re in the position I was in 2 years ago it’s definitely worth a try even for a few hours a week. Even if you don’t feel you need the experience it does make a difference to other people’s lives which is why I still pop into my community centre to this day.

And that’s my wee story.

Take care!

Neil

 

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Dad’s Soup!

Hello!

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and a good new year etc!

I thought today, that instead of my usual ‘happy new year here’s a picture blah blah’ I’d provide you with something of actual use.

Today I’d like to share with you one of my favourite things about christmas time, my dad’s winter soup!

It’s an easy peasy recipe, obviously you can add salt and pepper and other bits to taste but here’s the main bit.

I hope it serves you well :)

In other news, I spent a wee while (and all my christmas money) putting together a new workspace, it looks like this…

It’s a lot bigger and spacious than my last space so I’m hoping it’ll help me be more productive and hard working this year.

Oh! before I go I’d just like to let you know that I put a TON of pictures up on my etsy shop today so please have a look if you get a chance!

take care!

nx

Picking up the brush again

I have a new painting to show off, and no it’s not a little sketch or a glorified doodle it’s an actual painting which took me a good week (on and off) to finish!

To be honest, I’d love to blab for ages and ages about what it represents and how it has a deep philosophical meaning but the truth is I just wanted to paint and this is what came out.

Beforehand I was flicking through some of my old books and found a doodle of a robot sitting at a bar and I thought to myself ‘I’d really like to paint that’ so I went ahead just for fun of painting something.

Having that said, it might actually be a sneak preview of some of the stuff that’ll be going into the next exhibition :p

nx

5 Artists You Should Know About

Hello! hope you’re all well, this week I’ve been mainly blasting through some big paintings and commissions as well as other bits and bobs, unfortunately some of the commissions are confidential and I’ve yet to finish any of my personal paintings so I don’t have anything to show. But that doesn’t stop me from showing you some of my current favourite artists!

1.Amy Sol

Just now, I’m totally in love with how delicate her painting style is, and also how beautiful her muted pallet is, more about her here.

2. Tara Mcpherson

As some of you may know, I’ve been a huge fan of Taras work for a long time now, what I like most is her characters and the amount of detail that goes into her work, always inspiring. more about Tara here.

3. Ekundayo

Although primarily a street artist, I cant help but be amazed at Ekundayos acrylic work, seeing his work made me take the medium a lot more seriously, more about him here.

4.Noferin

When I first came across Noferin I was immediately drawn to the cute characters and the little stories behind them, noferins work is often refered to as ‘the greatest children’s story never told’ I am fortunate to own a print and limited edition toy of theirs :) more about noferin here.

5. Jeff Soto

I’ve always loved Jeff style and how he constantly pushes his medium to its limits, his robots and surreal style have very much inspired me, more about Jeff here.

Well that’s It for now, thanks for reading! and if you know of any cool artists I might like please let me know!

take care

nx

Then I’ll Dig a Tunnel

Hello everyone!

Hope you’re all enjoying the summer, I just have a few bits and pieces to share today, Firstly a little drawing.

This was actually a commission for a friend, It’s actually one of favourite kind of  jobs because I was only given a lyric and then had the freedom to interpret it any way I wanted, anyways that’s what came out and I was very pleased with it and so were they(yay!).

In other news I’ve been spending most of my free time preparing for the Made In The Shade Summertime Hop which will be in Edinburgh in the Roxy Art House this saturday!

I’ll be there setting up shop with some new pictures and prints as well as almost 30 other indie designer crafty vintage people, If you’re around that area It’s definitely worth a peep!

Oh a poster!

For more about Made In The Shade check their site or facebook!

Tarra!

nx

Nintendo Power!

Hello! How’ve you been keeping?

I’ve been busy painting the last few days and would like to share my new pictures :) I’ve been lacking slightly in inspiration for the past wee while, I guess nothing all that interesting has been happening, so I thought to myself, what used to inspire me when I was a lil’ un? and of course it was computer games!

So I started off with my all time favourite series Zelda! Here’s Link, he’s found a triforce.

It’s based on the concept art for the first nes game where all the characters were a bit more cartoony which fortunately lent itself quite nicely to my style.

But It didn’t stop there! here’s a magic mushroom,they make mario grow big.

And so no mushroom is left out, I also painted a 1-up!

I’d love to do more stuff like this, but obviously I don’t want to turn into ‘that nintendo guy’ im only just getting over being commonly known as ‘the robot guy’ I do love it though, I remember reading my first school report card which went something like ‘Neil could go far if he spent less time doodling video game characters on his jotter and more time on his work’ and that was pretty much the same right through to secondary school :P

Alright I’ll stop geeking out now.

take care!

nx

New In Town

Hello again! It’s that time again for another insight into the amazing life of a mental artist, This week I’d just like to show off another painting, this one was actually a commission, and like the best kind of commissions, I was given complete freedom (although other times jobs with strict guidelines can have interesting results) and so I had a flick through some of my sketchbooks and found a little idea I jotted down some time ago.

Basically, as I often do, I pondered into the life of a robot, this time a giant robot. Now, a lot of the time in sci-fi films robots and monsters find themselves in big cities (always new york city for some reason,place must be a dump now). Anyways I got to thinking what if I was a big robot in that situation,would I go ballistic and start tearing the place up? probably not, I’d probably have a seat, or try to find a giant robot or lizard pal to hang out with.

And that my friends is the kind of thinking behind most of my pieces!

hope you like it!

nx

The Original Pimp My Ride

If I havn’t mentioned before, I’m a bit of a ghostbusters obsessive and every now and again this comes out in the odd picture. This time around I’ve focused on the amazing ecto-1, possibly my most favourite car in the world! It’s made from a souped up 1959 Cadillac hearse,in fact the rack they would roll the proton packs out on was originally used to carry bodies about, interesting!

Ok here’s my painting!

cool yea? I’m actually chuffed with it,I’m still weighing up whether or not to keep it or let it find a new home. anyways, as further proof of my ghostbuster love, I found this a wee while ago in an old photo album, it’s me (and all my friends) on my 4th birthday, and as you can see on the left is my prized and dearly missed ecto-1.

Well that’s it for today I’m afraid, can I just thank the nice people who wrote back in reply to my postcards, It’s such a relief to get mail from real people :)

take care!

(and yes, that is a ninja turtles cake).

nx

A sneaky peek at fridays opening!

Hello everyone hope your well! I have had a mad busy week with all this exhibition business and some band stuff too, but Ive got some time to myself so let’s do some catching up.
So Friday was the opening night of ‘I’m not weird’ my first solo exhibition and i think it went great! I was totally flattered by all the people who came and from all the great feedback I got.
Here’s what the exhibition looks like from the outside….

yeap I know It’s tiny (it is the tiny gallery after all) but I like to think of it as like walking into someones mind, I also think it makes for a more personal experience as only one person can fit in at a time.
anyways aside from my pictures I got some amaaaazing cupcakes courtest of Auntie M next door.

and of course I wanted to keep everyone entertained so I made a little colouring in corner which was quite popular, and some people really showed me up!

all round it was a very lovely evening, and you can see some more pictures on my flickr.

Also, can I remind you that If your from around Glasgow, the exhibition is open to the public until the 30th this month and can be found at the Masionette in De Courcy’s Arcade on Cresswell Lane behind Byres road in the west end.

so go have a look!(please :P)

oh and happy easter!

nx

Neils Day Off.

Hello everyone hope you’re all well!

I have lots of stuff to show today, I was going to spread it out over a few posts but I’m away at the weekend so I’m just gonna cram it all into one big post :)

OK, first things first,  I know I’ve been prancing about the subject of my next exhibition and trying not to give away too much, but with 3 weeks to go now’s about the time to explain what It’s going to be like,  and doing that for me are the lovely hosts Made In The Shade via their lovely blog which is here, please have a look!

Also today I found some time to make a couple of sketchbook entrys!

am i the only person that thinks this?

Also today I got a couple of things in the mail, including a massive guillotine of death for cutting paper and a bad ass bench stapler so i can get to work on making some zines :)
But the best thing that came was this…

It’s a robot pencil case! (unfortunately my dinosaur pencil case just had enough and is now in a sad state) I got it from a lovely shop on etsy and im just chuffed with it, my pens have never been happier!

anyways I think that’s enough for today,have a great weekend!

nx