James ink drawing

This is a brush & ink drawing of my son, James, for the collaboration with Tim Lowly entitled The Book of Souls. This was traced over a pencil drawing that was executed on tracing paper over a photograph (not of my son)...this will all make sense soon...stay tuned...


James, 2010, ink on tracing paper, 12" x 9".

Sketchbook of Souls

This is a new sketchbook I've just started working on, to somehow complement a project I'm working on with Tim Lowly, the Book of Souls. I'm not sure whether this sketchbook will have anything at all to do with that project...

Here are some of the pages I've completed so far:


Above: page 1.


Page 3.


Page 9.


Page 12.


Page 17.


Page 31.


Page 32.

And the cover:



More to follow.

Mollus Venus v.4

Possibly the final version — I traced the drawing & recreated it in 2 sections (head & body) in ink on tracing paper. I also drew the letters & scanned them in, & reassembled them in Photoshop. This method leaves things open for editing, etc.



Finally, I replaced the newer version of the shell/head with the one from the previous drawing:

Mollusc Venus

This piece was conceived as a design for a t-shirt...the owner of the company got in touch via Flickr & asked if I'd like to draw something for a shirt...the work they produce is quite dark & surrealistic, so I came up with this image, which has gone through several versions & is now possibly in its final state...


The original ink sketch (above), 11" x 8.5".


Second version, with a more developed figure. Brush & ink on paper, 11" x 8.5".


Same as above, but with digital text (Copperplate Gothic light) added.


The finished (?) drawing. Brush & ink on paper, 14" x 11".

Elizabeth version 2

This is an enhanced version of the pencil portrait below — I scanned in the orginal & then laser printed it, finishing it in brush & ink. I may try (an)other version(s) of this — the good thing about this method of working is that it's non-destructive of the original image & I can make as many reworked versions as I want.


Elizabeth 2, 2010, brush & ink over laser print, 11" x 8.5".

Portrait of Elizabeth

This is a pencil drawing of my daughter done at the Oregon coast (Lincoln City) for the Book of Souls project. I'm intending to take the basic pencil drawing & enhance it in ink, etc. More on the Book of Souls later.


Elizabeth, 2010, pencil on paper, 11" x 8.5".

Heyday's "Edinburgh" album out on CD

I just heard from Stephen Harrison (singer, guitarist, songwriter) that he has released an album of songs from the band I was in around 25 years ago...the band was Heyday & the CD is entitled "Edinburgh". Here is the back cover with the info:


You can click on the image to get a larger version.

You can buy the CD from this page.

I'm the keyboard player in the photo. It's strange that 25 years after the fact, an album is being released...the songs hold up pretty well, I think. You can hear some of the songs & there is more info on the Heyday myspace page. There is also a page on Facebook here.

We recorded the 7 songs that I'm playing on at a small studio in Leith, Edinburgh. The other 2 tracks were apparently recorded live after I left the band.

The CD is entitled Edinburgh, I guess, because that's where we lived & worked. Stephen & I both attended Edinburgh College of Art together. He is a very talented artist & hopefully will pursue his artistic interests in addition to his musical career.