Do Not Abandon Me

On the other hand the new Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin show at Hauser and Wirth is stunningly beautiful. It's a simple collaboration where Bourgeois (before she died last May) painted male/female nudes with water and gouache before literally passing them onto Emin. By themselves the initial paintings are gorgeous reds and blues.

The space where they are exhibited is also simple if not plain - it's on Old Bond Street amongst Tiffiny & Co and De Beers. I came to Louise Bourgeois late when she exhibited at Tate Modern, but enjoyed her expansiveness. However I love Tracey Emin. Always have done. There is something simplistic about the way she takes everyday life and emotion and places it in her work. If you want to see her life choices, her heart, it's there on the wall.

As with everything, Emin has taken the paintings and added life and realism. They work as a group in the room and confront various themes from sexuality and loss to abandonment and possession. She adds a narrative to the work that makes you realise the fragility of life. It's stunning.

Radiohead Love

One aspect of my Radiohead love is the artwork that accompanies their music. So I was really looking forward to seeing Stanley Donwood's 'Work on Paper' from their new  The King of Limbs album. It's at The Outsiders Gallery on Greek Street in Soho, a small, bare venue which on a sunny day in late February made a nice change.

Donwood's pieces are a heady mix of illustration, text, paint and hand drawn work. Vivid and thoughtful (he creates alongside the group as they make an album) they make you look at the music and art as one piece.

To be honest, albeit a small collection, it was disappointing. It feels a bit all over the place with no real connection to what's gone before. There wasn't enough of the new work either. What was available from the new album was four or five lovely atmospheric pencil drawings of woods and trees. It's as if you've been stranded alone, desolate in a deep dark and windy forest late at night. Very Tim Burton.

Things on my desk

I've been making a lot of lists recently. These are just a few of the things on my desk over the last couple of days.

Joy Division - Playmobil Transmission

Dance, dance, dance to the radio..

Ashes to Ashes..

But only on weekends. Obviously..

Save your Library!

Today is 'Save Our Libraries' Day!!

There's so much being hit at the moment in the name of 'justified cuts' but communities losing their local libraries has got slightly lost. Maybe in this digital and internet age they are an easy target. When I was younger I'd be down the library all the time, borrowing books and enjoying the peace and quiet. People watching. You forget that not everyone can afford to just head out and buy that new book or surf the net when they choose.

Time to take a stand for those that cannot. Time to be inspired.

New ideas

Daily events unfolding in Egypt make the (worthy) student demonstrations look a little self-absorbed.

A re-working of my unfinished 'Illustration 101' Dementia project. More fruit and education help fight it. I'm not so sure this works to be honest, but I like the 'head' outline. It would make a useful starting point for a book cover I think with the right wording.

I might make this into a t-shirt for myself.

Have tablet, will draw..

Say hello to my Wacom Tablet. It's like posh Etch-a-sketch with a pen as opposed to tweaky dials. It doesn't have a name..but that's good, right?

Anyway, I've been off a month now and it's a strange sensation not actually having to get up and head into work. No tube, no buses. Just the short walk from the kitchen to my desk with podcasts, iTunes and the temptation to watch 30 Rock while 'having lunch'.

Mostly though I've been drawing and teaching myself Photoshop/Illustrator. Some of my 'projects' have come off (posts to follow) and some have travelled by first class air direct to the bin. I'm determined to have another couple of months off to get a portfolio together.

I'll try and post a bit more frequently over the next couple of weeks.