PlumpState Christmas card 2012

This year's card is another pun. I was thinking of doing something with this Dorset beach picture as it was a nice and out-of-season-ish bit of colour that would stand out a bit from the crowd on the mantlepiece.

Occasionally, on a hot summer day where I lived as a child, the tide would leave cuttlefish stranded on the shingle at Southsea. (I think their posthumous fates were beak sharpeners for budgies). Occasionally a glistening mass of jellyfish were washed up. I thought a Yuletide might leave friendlier flotsam!

Blue Amy: My most popular image

BLUE AMY SIGNED OPEN EDITION £75

My exhibition at Ashley Wood Artspace was great. The private view the best I've ever been to, and the people who braved the uncertain elements were all on fine, appreciative form. Apart from a couple, but they were too drunk to care.

Blue Amy was my best-selling print, followed by Mauve Amy and Sarah Vaughan. I'm going to design a fantasy poster that includes them and Miles. I haven't decided where they'll play, but I might put them in the Quartered Heart in Norwich, or the Uncarried Load in Portsmouth.

Thanks to Anne Clements for taking so many cool pictures (a neighbour of Amy) and Richard Grosse who suggested I include this brilliant singer as a subject...

Thanks to you all. See you next year.

The Sound Of Music: John Coltrane

There's another image of the Modern Jazz Quartet to come. They, Charlie Parker and Trane all have one thing in common; they've been up-dated at the same time, so all share a stylistic similarity; the improvised turbulences, which for want of a better word provide a narrative, or some kind of sequential element... Apologies, I did need a better word, but just haven't got the time to think about what it might be! Oh, they're all called Dream Ignitions.

The Sound Of Music: Charlie Parker

This is work in progress, but the background is almost finished, and improvised entirely. Just like jazz!

There is a partial aim in making a painting about music, to have some of the  sequential properties of the subject. So these turbulent areas provide the spectator with something to work out, to decipher and I hope, enjoy. But as Donald Fagen said, "Even today, Charlie Parker can still empty a room."

I hope he doesn't at the Jazz Metrospective at Ashley Wood. But I'm happy to take my chances.

Amy: Pure Jazz

AMY WINEHOUSE by Johnny Bull

Years ago, I made a series of drawings of jazz icons including Miles, Sarah Vaughan and Pee Wee Russell among others. 

Someone suggested I should attempt one of Amy Winehouse. So here she is in full bloom. She was a fantastic singer; my favourite since Billie Holiday (who was Frank Sinatra's choice). There's no question; she was the real deal. Thanks to Richard Grosse for some timely intervention!

So she'll be up with my heroes at the Jazz Metrospective at Ashley Wood in July.

Missing her already.

(See post below http://j.mp/M2xnYd for details).

Life drawing classes: clothed and unclothed

This is a flyer I designed to promote life-drawing classes at Ashley Wood Farm. Clare, who runs Ashley is very keen that there is a space to produce work, and also to exhibit. I'm really grateful to her for this fantastic opportunity; I loved teaching it years ago – all the pupils were women, and mostly, so were the models – I didn't so much teach as encourage and cajole, and the results, especially from the novices (though nobody, strictly speaking, is a novice at drawing) were spectacular in their energy and spontaneity.

Classes are £20 for two-hours with either a clothed model (10-midday) or nude model (6.30-8.30pm). So you pay £100 for five lessons, telling me in advance, if possible, what sessions you can attend. 

Materials needed: Drawing board (20 x 30") paper and drawing equipment (charcoal, pencils etc) 

NB Don't forget a can of fixative (it stops the charcoal from smudging). A cheap version of this is hairspray! The studio has big windows, so the smell won't hang around for long!

I want to arrange an exhibition which features drawings from these classes at Ashley Wood, where we can have a proper Private View, drink white wine and listen attentively to the murmurings of adulation from friends and public alike. 


With live music and canapes. Whatever they are.

So, I can't wait to start again. I have to get people to commit to 5 weekly classes, but if for some reason they can't make the whole block, they will be credited for the sessions they miss.

The morning sessions will end at midday, and it is hoped to extend these to a lunch at the Beckford Inn nearby.

But I mustn't get too carried away.

New Exhibition: Jazz pictures at Ashley Wood

http://www.ashleywoodfarm.org.uk

I've got a feeling that things might be looking up. I'm not sure why, but in the midst of a recession I've been persuaded by Clare Martin, who runs the fantastic Ashley Wood Farm, to put on a show of paintings and prints.

Mostly they will be about music, and mostly, since it is one of my first loves, about jazz. Or rather, the people who largely figure in its history. If I've got  time I'll finish the drawing of lovely Amy Winehouse (who was jazz to the bone), to go with Sarah Vaughan, a true hero.

The private view will be on 13th July, which is a Friday. If you're visiting it would be very wise to get a room at the Beckord Arms, only a few minutes away.

I'll put up more images as and when, meanwhile spread the news.