PROPERTY, PORN

I'm wary of posting too much work in progress because I don't wanna be one of THOSE internet ppl who continually allude to things that never materialise (hiya 28 DRAWINGS LATER) but here's some anyway.


A reject


I don't think it's any secret that I'm obsessed with houses and out of the many estate agents' websites I wistfully trawl THE MODERN HOUSE is probably the dreamiest, both in terms of the photography and layout and the houses they market. It's mainly geared towards SE England however and the asking prices are mental, but I've come across a couple of diamonds in the rough of Scottish property sites, which seem like incredible bargains by comparison (I obv speak as someone who lives out of the bottom end of their overdraft but you know, one day).






CALDERSTONE HOUSE by East Kilbride 'is a unique B listed 1960s designed house by the renowned architect Robert Steedman' and the multi-level studio looks magnificent. Having checked it out on a map it looks like it might be in danger of being engulfed by industrial estates and retail parks, but I kind of like the idea of having that as Ballardian inspiration in contrast to your Arcadian 7 acres of private woodland.




TOWNHEAD STEADING in East Saltoun dates from 1973 and is by Andrew Renton, and again has a nice studio. It looks like they've gone overboard with the white paint to give it a kind of BoConcept-type makeover and it'd be interesting to see it in its original state, though I'm really into the tiled floors and built-in furniture.

WHO RUN THE WORLD (BOYS) (LOL)

I've been starting to draw and work through some ideas for a new project, which I think will tie up some of the threads I left dangling at the end of college when I ran out of time. I feel like things I've posted lately have been A) v monochromatic (monochrome? Oh god, am I that person on To Buy Or Not To Buy who says they like their decor minimalistic?) and B) man-heavy, but I guess I gotta get these things out my system. Once again drawing fitness shocks me by being exactly like real fitness in terms of using it or losing it, and I'm still constantly amazed by how different (for better or worse) drawings appear when they're reproduced.

Looking at the photo of my hand-rendered type up there it occurs to me that (THO NOTHING COULDA BEEN FURTHER FROM MY MIND AT THE TIME) it looks a bit like a ripoff of work by one of my fave artists, ARRAN RIDLEY, which in turn leads me to wonder if he's deleted his entire internet presence in the name of art or has merely blocked me on Facebook and Flickr. Anyway, THIS is still up and I can guarantee it'll be the best computer game you've played this millennium.

AVIN IT PLAGE

Since I've had such a long, uh, holiday from this blog, it seems apt to ease myself back into it with some disposable snaps and a couple of drawings (below) of my recent HOLIDAY with college pals in Normandy, courtesy of Simon and his family's dream beach house. We caught and played with and vaguely attempted to eat crabs, had a game of sardines which featured the BASEMENT heavily (see looks of pure fear above), swam in the sea (my bff was an inflatable crocodile) every day, drank from wine boxes and listened to Juiceboxxx, never made it to Le Kissing discoteque and, to my Celtic chagrin, had EN VACANCES EN VACANCES LES ANGLAIS EN VACANCES sung at us by the local teens.

I've been featured in the latest issue of Glasgow-based INDICATE - cheers Leo.

(not) changing (that much) rooms

last year i moved into a grubby magnolia box room that was unfurnished apart from a divan, two drawing pins and a few stray pubes. my lack of initiative meant that i lived in squalor for the earlier part of my stay above foneworld, which culminated in the sub-how clean is your house scenes (what's more embarrassing, my discarded scants or that libertines single?) pictured above. anyway, then i decided to paint the walls white, set up an old decorating table my housemate had left over from an exhibition, put my clothes in a cupboard on the landing instead of the floor, realised that i could improve the layout by putting the bed next to the window and that the increase in noise from one of South London’s noisiest junctions, full of winos, drugs and weapons (lol lol lol) was marginal. sadly i didn't take any nicely staged photos of the stunning end result (i even had a petunia in there at one point) without a DELL on show for starters but still, l@@k, it's not as gross!