Inspiration - James Joyce

Bright colours, check. Surreal-ness, check, Typography, check. Humour, check. This has to be a winning formula right? All these things make my life very enjoyable and for an artist to use them is totally up my street. London based artist James Joyce takes all these elements, jumbles them up and it comes looking like a whole ball of crazy. 

This style of illustration would look pretty brilliant in my room I must say, it sure cheered my rather snoozy Sunday up.

See all his work here, all images via there too

Lisa Marie Payne's Illustrations

This is the third post of series in where I am looking for talent on my own door step, I've been searching in and around Blackpool for all things creative. Next up are some lovely illustrations and prints from Lisa Marie Payne. Usually taking her hometown as inspiration(there really is so much going on all at once in Blackpool), she creatives one-off prints in the most vibrant and detailed way. A recent graduate of Textiles at Manchester Metropolitan University, Payne's work is printed onto canvas and she has been dabbling in printing onto silk scarfs(see below).

Feast you eyes people;

Blackpool North Pier

Clown Drawing

Drips Installation (This one is one of my favs, got a touch of surrealism in there)

Le'Opera Silk Scarf 1

Pier Hut Collage

It's nice to see your hometown in a different light, but a different perspective altogether is really unexpected. I wouldn't mind the "Pier Hut Collage" for my wall at home! When I finally make a permanent move it would be nice to take a small part of the seaside with me.

Here's how she describes her work and thoughts, "Energy filled fun fairs, sinister clowns and dizzy festivals fused with romantic picture houses, ornate architecture and nostalgic theatres inspire my chosen imagery and ambience. The storey behind these visuals, teamed with my fascination for intuitive marks, abstraction and linear qualities within contemporary painting, collages and photography create inspiration for my most recent pieces."

To your taste, would be really great to hear some feedback so I can pass it on? Are you enjoying my homegrown talent series?

All her work is available for purchase and she does commissions too, visit Lisa Marie Payne's site for more info.

Messing With Mona

Mona is complete. I've totally defaced her haven't I? I've been working on this, it bit-by-bit over the past 2 weeks, it has been such a slow process as every single piece is separate but I think it has been worth it. It was done on Illustrator and it was quite simple process really, just very time consuming. What do you all think? A bit too much or do you like the effect?


I think I will be re-doing other painting like this soon, but which to pick. Any suggestions?


Image by Matthew Pike

Guess Who

Can you guess who/what it is yet?

This is just a little project I'm working on at the moment, it's a painstakingly slow process but satisfying, none the less. I'll post the whole thing when it's all done, but until then feel free to guess (it's not that hard to tell really?) in the comment box.

First person to guess correctly gets a pat on the back.