The Book is Launched!

My new book "Mastering Silhouettes" was finally launched last month with a small party at the London Sketch Club.  We were fortunate enough to be sponsored by Hendricks Gin - who supplied the drink - so it was a small but very tasty party.  Thank you Hendricks!

The London Sketch Club provided the ideal venue, with its frieze of life-size silhouettes of past members stretching back to Victorian days. It was a real treat for those who attended.  My publishers says enough of the 'right kind' of people attended to make it a success.  It looks like the book will be available in the souvenir shop at the National Portrait Gallery, and there are vague rumours of a French translation.

If you would like you own copy you can order a signed copy direct from me at the cover price of £16.95 + p&p.  I've attached an order form below.  Otherwise those of you with an eye for economy might prefer to pick one up on Amazon at their usual discount rate.

Breakfast Marmalade - iPhone drawing, 2012

Now that the book is well and truly christened and out of my hands I finally have some time to return to the studio and do some painting.  In this regard my biggest inspiration do far this year has been the (very crowded) David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy.  Did you see it yet?  Isn't it amazing?  Inspired by his example I set about teaching myself to draw on my iPhone (I haven't yet managed to graduate to an iPad) starting with fairly simple subjects such as the pot of marmalade shown.  Drawing on an iPhone naturally leads to sharing the work with others, so before long I found myself 'tweeting' the resulting images on a daily basis.  This has become a kind of project for me: to supply a 'picture-a-day' to my followers on Twitter.  So far most are iPhone drawings, but there are also a number of life studies and (of course) cut-out silhouettes.  If you would like to be one of them you can see the work so far and add your name to the list @roving_artist.

Bernadatte from the Back - pencil on scissor-cut paper, 2011

Apart from iPhone drawings I've been experimenting with hollow-cut life studies.  I call these my "chameleon" drawings, since they change completely depending on the kind of wall one hangs them on.  I use the facility with scissors I have built up (after so many years cutting silhouettes) to cut away the figure from inside the paper.  I then draw-in extra details of hair and drapery with a fine pencil.  The drawings are framed between two sheets of glass so that the wall is visible through the 'hole' and becomes part of the image.  The rounded effect on the girl's shoulders is created by the shadow of the paper on the wall.  For me this is an exciting new direction so I have assembled a collection of these images and plan to start exhibiting them this year.

The first opportunity to see these will be at the Reading Contemporary Art Fair, during the last weekend of April, at which I have taken a stand. There is a private view on the evening of Friday 27th April - for which I have a number of tickets - so if you feel you might like to come to this just send an e-mail and I'll pop one in the post for you.