the life of an unknown

Shit! it's april already!

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:37:00 +0000

crickey, where do i start?

hokay then.... um.... there's been a lot going on and as usual i've not updated the blog or site haha... i've been barraged with all kinds of greatness since the last post...

i'm currently working with rick dickinson on the latest musical offering from molly macleod in the form of their new album artwork which with any luck will be polished off in the not too distant future. i'm also lucky enough to be working with the ever talented nancy cunliffe on her new album artwork as well, i just hope i can do her album justice, if the early mixes of her music i've heard are half as good as the final recorded work it should no doubt make her a name you'll hear a lot more of in the coming year if you haven't had the pleasure already.

what else... well i've joined the wigan based arts collective north by north western and am working on an exhibition to be held in august along with a barrage of exciting arts based projects and shows to be held in wonderful wigan in the first week of august, check out the site for more details and how you can submit to the events that are planned, there will be art, music, poetry and all manner of creative things happening in the town that should make for a landmark year for the collective. i will post more info as soon as i get it and will be accepting submissions for my show in the near future when i finally iron out the details, the clock is ticking.

i've not had much chance of late to continue with my new quest in painting, that's something that should be changing very soon, i've a few freelance projects bubbling away at the moment and some interesting creative bits and bats that will get some airplay as soon as time allows...

updates soon... promise ;)

Paintings, iamunknown, xmas and new year things!

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:04:00 +0000

As you may have noticed on iamunknown, i've uploaded the first of the new paintings I've been working on. It's been a busy year with not very many productive projects happening as far as personal work goes, I plan on turning that around in 2009 with a fresh redesign of the website and what new work I do have being uploaded to it.

Maintaining a website is a time consuming thing at the best of times and you only need to sift through this blog to see how many times i've promised to get my arse into gear and actually do something with it. I'm making some big changes in my life at the moment and time to expand on my creative projects and get somethings out of my head and into realised in the real world are high on the agenda.

Till the next post which I'm sure will be in the new year, have a great Xmas and new year and I'll catch you in 2009

Neil

:D

... time flys when you're having fun

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:13:00 +0000

Seen as it's been a fair few months since I updated the site and blog I thought I better shed some light on what's been happening.

I've changed web hosting packages after issues with my hosting company, iamunknown will be back up in one form or another as soon as I get chance to get it sorted out. I'm working flat out at the moment to make ends meet and get things off the ground, so time to work on the website is pretty much none existant at the moment.

I've recently started painting in the last few weeks and am about 70% of the way through my second painting. I've never really tried to paint portraits or anything other than in a graphical style like the work I've done in the past and trying to decipher a photo and replicate it in paint is quite an exciting challenge. As soon as I get some good quality images of the pieces i will upload them to the blog.

Can't believe it's nearly xmas already... 2009 is coming round pretty damn quickly...

I will post more soon... got a stack of new exciting websites to post up as well... there's just never enough time in the day.

Neil

So then...

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:04:00 +0000

thought i better post something as it's been far too long.

i've been busy doing this and that of late, some freelance work and at least one exhibition since the last post. hence not having the time to post or to update iamunknown.com which is in desperate nee of attention and some updating.

im exhibiting this wednesday in Wigan for the NXNW festival. it's a local culmination of art, music, poetry and other aspects of the arts:
"North by Northwest is the Wigan Festival of Arts & Music and is in its second year! It is taking place between the 26th of July and 2nd of Aug 2008. NXNW celebrates the various creative circles working in and around Wigan, and further afield. This year features some specific, once in a lifetime, improvised events including the bringing together of wigans best bands into one super performance, artists homegrown and international creating one off pieces in the town centre, poets facing each other in a fight to decide who's pen is mightier, bands from across the country and an exhibition celebrating the best of wigans graphic scene."

info for the exhibition can be found on the myspace page, it's an exciting week of events in the area and if you're able to, making it down to one of the nights will be well worth the effort.

i'm finishing off a number of important jobs before i get cracking on some new work, i shall update the site and get on this blog more as i keep seeing the most amazing things on the web at the moment that should be shared.

i'll be back sometime soon.

n

Random Photos

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:20:00 +0000

...art of tea exhibition + album launch party...eventuall

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:11:00 +0000

Right then,

It's taken a while but here are the shots of the art of tea exhibition and the only good shot on the night of the album launch... im sure there must be better ones out there so if i lay my hands on any then i'll update this post.

Jane's artwork

Rick's artwork

My work... hung some pieces I've not exhibited before though it was painted back in 04

The fantastic Art of Tea, run by the most welcoming and fantastic people.

John Fairhurst's album launch, an awesome 2 night set, go buy his album before he sells out, you can get it on itunes but I can't seem to get the direct link thing working properly.

I'm taking a break for a while to finally sort the studio space and finish off my new painting. I've a few other ideas in the sketchpad and my head I'm hoping on getting stuck into as well.

When the studio is up and running I'll be doing an update to iamunknown.com as well, i'll be updating the media section photos with some better shots along with some new work.

Photos of the Limited Edition Show

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:21:00 +0000

Here are the shots i got of people at the show, just to prove there actually were people there. Most, if not all the other shots online are of the work and most are better than mine so for a peek at what was and still is on offer for sale go here.

I'll get the shots of the exhibition at the Art of Tea up online when I have some images of the event on Friday and Sat night.

Till then, go and get yourself a piece of art from the Limited Edition show, it's for a good cause... go on...

exhibitions!

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:43:00 +0000

This post will be brief as i plan to upload a stack of news later tonight.

The Limited Edition show was fantastic and I have a stack of photos to upload from the night which I plan to do later.

Spent three and a half hours setting up the exhibition at the Art of Tea last night with Jane and Rick. The space is fantastic and they couldn't be more accommodating at that place... I may fire up a few sneaks of the hung work later... best to go see it for yourself if you can make it down and while you're there, have yourself a nice cuppa T.

Due to the crazy response and feedback from the piece I remixed for the Limited edition show, I will be doing a run of limited prints of the original artwork "No Second Chance" in the greyscale and full colour version. I've yet to decide fully on quantities etc but if you want to get your hands on one please email me and i will put your name down on the growing list of reservations.

More updates later.

Exhibition at The Art of Tea, John Fairhurst's album launch.

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:57:00 +0000

Here's the flyer for the exhibition that will coincide with the launch of John Fairhrst's album "The Joys of Spring".

It's already getting some great reviews and as far as I know it's not yet on general release, you have to go see him perform if he's playing near you as his live sets generally raise the roof.

Here are some shots of the album artwork, i'll get some better ones taken soon.

right then!

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:45:00 +0000

Since my last post much has happened, I've finished the floor finaly and at the bottom of this post are a selection of images from as you saw it last to present. Just the skirting board and filling and decorating and I'll be in action.

This is probably going to be a mammoth post so bear with me...

I will have work showing at the Limited Edition show in Birmingham next Friday (14th March), it's going to be a great event, which i'm hoping to attend with any luck. There are a stack of talented artists from all over the UK getting involved in a worthwhile cause. All proceeds of the sale of work will be going towards helping endangered animals and raising awareness of the cause. there should be some fantastic work on show and on sale, so heading down to the opening night should be more than worthwhile.
see the flyer below for details, click for larger image.

Another event coming up will coincide with the launch of John Fairhurst's album launch over easter weekend, Friday 21st and Sat 22nd March. Myself, Jane Fairhurst, Rick Dickinson and Tim Fielding will all be showing work at the Art of Tea in Manchester running upto and after the show. I shall post the flyer with all the details asap, unfortunately as I write this I don't have the artwork with me and as I do that I will finally post some images of the final album artwork for John's album, which if I do say so myself, looks fantastic and sounds even better.

Talking of Jane Fairhurst, I was at the opening of her 'Un-Natural Selection' exhibition at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester last week, it was great to finally see Jane's amazing work on show in one place, i've only viewed her 'Freefall' collection in two's or three's previously and to see them all in one space was great.

The exhibition of work continues till the 8th April, Viewing times: Monday - Sunday 11:00am - 11:00pm.

hmmmmm.... i've had a mental block all of a sudden.... the floooooor, how could I forget...

It took some serious backbreaking work to get the thing finally finished and a lot of sanding (any excuse to buy a new power tool for the collection), here are some more piccies of the process and the final thing.

Holes where there shouldn't be...

Mixing a wood stain to treat the wood before the 3 coats of varnish.

lots of testing of stain and varnish.... had about 30 small bits of wood in the end.

The final dry stain, it dampened the pure glow of the fresh pine and countered some of the colours in the stain/varnish I got from B&Q as on it's own it was aweful.

Crap photo, great floor... the final thing, you have to see it in person and to have witnessed what lied there before to really appreciate it.

Iv'e since spent a considerable amount of time doing this, those testing bits of wood make pretty good coasters.

So that's that... think I've covered everything I wanted to, just one final push on the studio space to finish it off which I'm hoping on getting done within the month so I can finally get stuck into all the work I've had floating in my head and not been able to do for longer than i can remember.

I've got plenty new work that's going to surface in 2008, it's gonna to be fun.

and so it continues

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:47:00 +0000

this is turning out to be more of a mission that i first thought, but what do you expect with a house that's 100 years old...

joy

it's begun

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:16:00 +0000

i have started the studio renovation... more to come

...im still alive...

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:18:00 +0000

Right then....

um.... happy new year and all that, it's been a while, and during that while a lot has been going on. i'm currently working on a number of projects that i will have posted up on here very soon.

My good friend John Fairhursts album has finally been pressed and printed and i have a spanking copy hot off the press here, if i don't say so myself it looks and sounds amazing, being part of the art/design and recording process from the beginning to the end really gives you a buzz when you finally hold the finished recording all packaged up ready to hit the shops. i shall get some shots taken of the final thing in all it's glory, hopefully before it hits the shops.

I've (finally) begun the work on my studio at last, i have a living room full of floorboards ready to be laid and have begun the task of ripping up the rotten boards and pulling out nails, it's been far too long in the pipeline, when it's finally up and running i will be able to get stuck into some work i've had floating about but have been unable to get get off the ground due to lack of a decent working area, it's really exciting stuff.

by the time that is all up and running i will be more inclined to be taking better care of the website and updates to artwork etc a lot more frequently which will be nice.

i'll get some in progress shots up for the studio renovation in the next few days.

i love this

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:20:00 +0000

aside from being one of the best tracks on the new album this is fantastic!

Radiohead Helmet cam: Jigsaw Falling into Place

enjoy

R.I.P. Pixelsurgeon and other things

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:43:00 +0000

Thought it was time for an update,

I'm gutted that pixelsurgeon has been shut down, i've been visiting the site pretty much since it was launched 7 years ago, it was a massive source of inspiration and many hours of my life have been spent following links from it to many inspirational things from design and art to music and film.
it's gonna be hard for another site to fill the void that pixelsurgeon did so well, i cant imagine any individual one will.

hats off to Mr Arber and the rest of the team for what they managed to produce and keep going over the years.

righty then, work and things, well im about to get some work cooking for the Limited Edition show being held at the new toy boutique Go Go Plastic based in the custard factory in birmingham in March next year and being organised by the fine fellows at vinylabuse. should be a great event with a stack of great established and new artists contributing to the show. the artwork is to be auctioned off in the name of endangered animals, fingers crossed we should make a decent stack of cash for the cause and have a bloody good time in the process. more info on this as i get it.

i'm on the edge of an exciting project with a collaboration of artists that's just starting to gain some serious steam, when the site is up and running fully i'll put up some more info.

um.... im sure there was more to add than this... got a head full at the moment...

it'll come to me.

WOW!

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:56:00 +0000

Wish i could make it to L.A.

what more can i say, the images of Mr Murakami's work speak for themselves... enjoy

site update

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:21:00 +0000

Right then,

Been busting a git the last couple of weeks to get some work out the way, i've nearly finished an artist presentation for the Red Dot artists to send to Chile, I will post images of the final piece when it is completed, hopefully i should have this ready this evening as long as all goes to plan, trying to feed a 3m sheet of paper through an A4 printer is quite a daunting task... cutting it was a challenge so i'll have all my fingers crossed this evening.

The website has had a few updates, mainly in the "other" section of the site, all the new pieces are for sale, see the page for details.

finally, go here and buy... it's bloody marvelous and a step towards the radiohead many people thought had gone for good.

more updates soon

exhibitions and things

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:08:00 +0000

right then, been upto my eyeballs over the last month or so hence no major updates.

i have a couple of pieces up at the OK Studios space in standish in wigan as part of the open studios thingy they do once a year. there should be a great selection of new and old works from the artists at the studio and plenty inspiration in the air... i'd have dropped this news sooner but i've not got time to think at the moment the way things have been panning out.

anyway, you can find out how to get to the studio via their site, the show opens tonight and is running for a week as far as i can remember, haha... sorry for the lack of decent info.

i should be exhibiting in the presedential palace of Chile along with a group of artists from the Red Dot collective by the end of the month, quite a special and bizarre place to get something in but exciting stuff none the less, so if you're knocking about in Santiago at the end of the month then drop in and have a peek. there should be a good array of artworks from all over the world in the place so it should be good, shame i cant afford to nip over and check it out myself.

i'll get some updates up as soon as i can, i have had to take a backseat on work of late as i have far too many things on my plate to get any serious work done.

more as soon as...

classic bike for sale...and things

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:47:00 +0000

i'll get a piccie up asap, but i have a robinson pro race bmx up for grabs 1980-83 i think. just a frame, suntour stem and fusion sprocket... pedals and bars etc... serious offers please. it will go on the bay at some point soon but i thought in the meantime i'll lob it on here.

just finished the final print ready album artwork for my very talented friend john fairhurst.
the album is fantastic and i hope myself and artist rick dickinson have done the music the justice it deserves. i'll get the artwork up on the music section of iamunknown soon.

mind blowing ceramic works

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:33:00 +0000

I'm sure I must have posted something about this before on iamunknown but after sifting through some old bookmarks it cropped up again the ceramic work of Shigeki Hayashi is truly amazing stuff.

copyright 2005 (C) Shigeki Hayashi

AT LONG LAST!

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:57:00 +0000

The site is up and (nearly) finished. I still want to re-shoot a lot of the media images as i've been using the same ones for some time now and the quality of the shots just shows how far digital cameras have progressed since I took the images.

There are a few bits to add, links and a few more bits of media work that I need to photograph, but the bulk of it is there.

I will be selling some prints through the site when i get chance to sort stocks of various prints.

Anyway hope you like the new site, lemmie know what you think.

Neil

the website ...

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 12:40:00 +0000

It's finally getting some serious attention.

I've managed to get a design layout I'm happy with and it's full steam ahead... I have a few other projects to juggle around it but it shouldn't be long till I'm in a position to polish it off and get it uploaded.

keep em peeled...

got a lot on...

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:58:00 +0000

tad busy at the moment...will update soon.

in the meantime watch this

exhibitions and things!

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:32:00 +0000

Right then, well I'm a little slow in getting this on the site seen as the opening night has come and gone but fear not, the exhibition at Drumcroon in Wigan is still on till the 24th August.

I am exhibiting with a number of fantastic artists from the OK Studios group for the next month, the show has a great array of styles of work and subject matter and is well worth a visit if you are in the area and even if you're not for that matter.

I will get some images of the work i have up on the site as soon as poss, should be in the next day or so. A number of the pieces have the wrong title, but I guess these things happen when someone else does the labels for the work.

I have a limited 5 copies of each of the prints at the exhibition for sale. Print number one of each being framed and the others unframed, something i think i will continue through my reproduction work in the future. I reworked the Passing of Time series of works from colour to mainly black and white, which I think makes the images a lot stronger, plus there are the two new landscape pieces I have recently been working on.

The website is slowly getting attention in small chunks as i photograph my work and organise all the images i want to include in the new design...the layout is another story but i shall get to that in due time.

I am about to embark on some serious DIY in the house to turn the poor spare room full of junk into the workspace I have been dreaming of for a long time. The room has had little attention since I bought the house aside from plastering and will need new floorboards and the works really, potentially a sink as well, depends how I get on and what room there is available when the main work on the room has been done. I will get images of the progress on this on the site as well, in the meantime it looks somewhat like this...

I shall get some images up on the site in the next few days, in the meantime, go and see the Drumcroon show!

website...

neil@iamunknown.com (neil) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:34:00 +0000

i've taken the site down so i can organise all my files and images and whatnot and try and get the flaming thing in order.

i'll whack up my most recent stuff and work back through my old back catalogue and ditch the stuff i've had on the site for years that i don't really like any more.

anyway, i'll get working as soon as the upcoming exhibition work is sorted. more info on that soon as well.