-
Oil on Hand-cut Paper
Purple Book36 x 27 cm Purple Clothes36 x 26 cm Purple Poet33 x 25 cm Man and Goat Blue24 x 25 cm Man and Goat Peach24 x 24 cm Man and Goat Orange24 x 24 cm Chicken and Biscuit32 x 24 cm Chickens Eating32 x 24 Chicken and Sun33 x 25 cm
-
Blond: Bridge | Canvas | Cards | Crypto Social | Magnums | Posters | Twine
The first ten Blond Posters are all of Zombie. Original acrylic paintings on thick A2 size paper, around 220gsm thick. I drew and cut out a stencil to paint through from a roll of lino I found in the attic. The paint is cheap so each colour needed at least three layers. Then the red letter text was individually hand stamped on in Cailgo Rubine Red oil based printing ink. The Advertism was PVA glued on, then the whole thing painted over in gloss PVA. The first in the edition has a hole in it that happened when I left them out in the back garden to dry and they all got blown around in the wind.
The stencil painting is a new thing that will hopefully allow me to get many more copies of each done. I’ll also not be gluing these to cardboard as holes are now being stabbed into the tops, reinforced on both sides with Gorilla tape. Part of the reason I stopped giving out loose canvas or works on paper was because I didn’t want people taking them home and then just storing them away. I don’t like original artwork in frames or behind glass either, so gave them out on cardboard ready to hang and not needing framing. If they’re not ready to hang, then I’m sure most won’t bother putting them up at all. Now they’re just as easy and ready to hang as the cardboard ones, and more importantly, are less likely to be displayed behind glass. Win win!
The big cardboard paintings are so unpopular at Camden anyway, and must result in more people taking Blond Cards who would otherwise prefer a large painting. It’s better for me to take up more of their wall space, and I don’t fancy spending half of the rest of 2026 making Blond Cards because so few people want anything else. Less cardboard backed work also means I can fit more paintings into my laundry bag. All part of a big redesign I’ll be working on this weekend as the weather is forecast to rain on both Saturday and Sunday, preventing this week’s Camden Market Free Art Man from going ahead.
I’m getting into the habit of changing the format of my work to fit what people want, at the same time I’m getting used to doing free commissions. All that reluctance to take any instruction on board turned out to be counter productive. There’s some snobbery in art about accepting commissions or tailoring what you make to what people want, but I’m finding it to be all positive. I had no interest in painting Camden Lock bridge, for example, until Tina asked me to do it. I said yes out of politeness, but was pessimistic about the idea from the moment she mentioned it until half way through making them, when it occurred to me to put portraits of Zombie, Alan and me underneath and give it a neon green background. Now, not only do I like them, but have another four variations lined up for the same composition and series. None of the Blond Bridge’s are finished as I need to leave the acrylic paint a couple more days before covering in PVA, but this is where we’re at. For scale, my foot is a UK size 11:
The series is called Blond Bridge. The first of the five Blond Bridge designs is the one I’ve already done six of for Tina. A further three will be of each of the crypto social sites I’m on with Ron Throop and Offgridlife. The three of us standing under a bridge with Blurt.blog, Steemit or Ecency written on the bridge. The fifth will be Emma Pugmire Ron Throop and I standing under a bridge with Black Ivory written on it.
The other commission I took last week of the old Irish flag is still on my to do list, but the flags series idea came from Alan’s instruction too. Not only is changing what I make based on what people want working out, but is working better than my own ideas. Blond Cards only came about because Zombie wanted a Blond Twine painting but said it was too big for his wall. He was looking in my suitcase last Sunday for an Alan Blond Card. There wasn’t one so this is my note to remember to take him one next week.
As with all my showcase videos, they double up as the blockchain ledger of every numbered work in the edition. No forgeries possible. No signature necessary. Front and back photos, closeup videos and footage of me holding each one.
-
Two new Blond Card series started. I said to Tina, last weekend, I’d do a painting of Camden Lock bridge for her daughter. I didn’t have any ideas for it, and it’s not the kind of painting I do had she not asked, so I just started drawing and hoped something would work out. She said she wanted it about the same size as the Heckel’s Horse Jr Heckel’s Horse Double Portraits but I decided to make them smaller as I don’t have many big sheets of cardboard left. I could just go and get some from Camden, but we’re in the middle of a heatwave so am staying at home as much as possible. I drew the bridge, then decided to put Blond Card portraits of Alan, Zombie and myself underneath. I’ve started six.
We’re due some rain this weekend and the rain we tend to get after hot weather is pretty violent, making it unlikely I’ll be doing The Camden Market Free Art Man this weekend. Just as well, as I need to paint lots of new signage, start my contribution to the new JonThom paintings, and clear my studio out for band practice and music recording. I’ve also had some ideas about the larger paintings at Camden. Instead of gluing them all to cardboard, I’m going to return to loose paper but with more Advertism. Some will be on 12inch second hand inside out record sleeves and displayed on a fold up table in the same boxes you get at record stores. I like the idea of seeing people flicking through my paintings like they’re searching for an LP. Shelley and I had something similar at Nolias Gallery in Southwark, a 5 minute walk from Tate Modern. Cardboard trays we took from supermarkets fruit and veg stalls with rows of 10 x 8 inch paintings. I think we were charging £10 a painting. Not the typical gallery price for that part of London.
So nothing got finished today, although the Zombie paintings only need Advertism glued to them:
-
Offgridlife Clayamation: Main | More | Smoking Cat | Lone Kayaker
Unlike last Monday, I remembered today to take my template drawing for the next set of Offgridlife Claymation paintings.
Last week I forgot, so started the Add Maddarings series promoting Shelley’s shop at Camden Market. Today’s Offgridlife inspired image is called Lone Kayaker, the hand stamped red letter titles for which have already been printed. Oil paint on A4 size sketchbook paper I bought from The Works, a budget store in the UK that sells a lot of art materials. The oil paint isn’t applied with a brush, but is transferred to the paper by drawing on to the sheet after laying it on top of an oil paint covered board. I posted some videos showing the process on my YouTube channel, in the Offgridlife Claymation playlist. It’s called oil transfer drawing. A method I learned from the film Paul Klee The Silence of the Angel.
How to double your output in two easy steps. Discovered today at Billy’s painting studio in Chatham Dockyards, where I paint every Monday: Transfer the oil transfer drawings onto another sheet of paper by sandwiching four at a time and scribbling on the top and bottom sheets. Not the best explanation, so I’ll probably make another video showing this next Monday. From spending most of today making a set of 15, it took less than an hour to make another 15 transfers of transfers. Most needed at least an outline of black ink to finish them off, a couple needed more work. Thirty paintings in a day makes life a lot easier, as it means more interviews at Camden, more paintings in my online stores, and more in my personal collection. If only I had figured this out sooner I would have so many more days doing The Camden Market Free Art Man fully stocked in advance.
But this year has already been written off as a learning curve as I keep finding out things I did wrong preparing for it last year. 2026 is trouble shooting, 2027 should be the year I can put all the necessary lessons learned this year into practice. Doing so should allow The Camden Market Free Art Man to run at least three days a week, and for my online shops to have much more work in them.
The main lesson learned from 2026 is that I need an assistant. My girlfriend Aon is ready to help with things like packing orders and taking them to the post office, helping cut cardboard and paint the sheets in primer and black acrylic. Her English should have improved enough by then to do The Camden Market Free Art Man alone occasionally. It would make such a difference.
I PVA glued over the Add Maddarings oil paintings despite Google’s AI Overview strongly suggesting I don’t. These are long term ephemeral paintings. They’ll age and disintegrate, turn yellow, crack and become brittle. This isn’t damage or deterioration, it’s intentional ageing, willfully injected into every artwork. It’ll hopefully make them much less investible should any dealers or galleries start sniffing around. FREE ART FREES ART wants ambassadors, not investors. Stakeholders, not shareholders. Consumers, not customers. We want you! These statements would go well on a YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU Kitchener World War 1 poster, with me pointing. Kitchener and Billy have similar moustaches, so maybe I could do one for Heckel’s Horse Jr too. FREE ART FREES ART NEEDS YOU!
-
Two requests in two days. The day before, on Saturday, Tina asked me for a painting of Camden Lock bridge for her daughter. I agreed to both and hope to have them ready for this weekend, although rain is forecast for both Saturday and Sunday, so it’ll likely be the weekend after.
Further plans were drawn up for the revised display with Alan the Town Crier’s help. He suggested today that all my work has a black cardboard background, like the Blond Cards. He also suggested a hanging system with hooks for my advert boards, but I didn’t fully understand how they would work, although am sure they would as, so far, all Alan’s suggestions have come up trumps.
It was his idea to have flags with instructions in each language. It was also his idea to have the big poster at the summit of my display, replacing the felt “FREE ART” sign that dates back to when I was using the pushchair the local church gave me. It was Alan’s idea to put posters on both sides of the plinth and the wall behind, but instead of hooks, my mind’s already been set on large panels for a few days now.
The wind’s been blowing anything Blu-Tac’d dangerously into the road and tourists so I’m trying to phase out its use in favour of tying everything up in jute string. I like the look of dangly string everywhere anyway. I’ll start putting a few more advert boards on the wall behind and replace the current ones as they look dull and people hardly ever look at them.
The display, as it is now, isn’t photographed by passers by as much as Zombie and Alan. It needs to be a giant artwork with Blond Card themed artwork and colours around the text.
The crypto-social LP’s are slowly making their way into deserving people’s homes and unlike Saturday I remembered to bring all three in the set. A dedicated day to crypto-social’s is on the way once I’ve stacked up enough of each token myself and have all the necessary artwork. New Blond Card characters for each using images closer to their logos is a possibility if it doesn’t run into copyright problems.
Something for the suitcase making it clearer that you’re expected to do the one minute interview is also needed. Lots of people just take one and walk off, not realising the exchange idea. It’s good for getting work out there, especially Blond Cards, but I’m going to need 3000 as it is and have too many other things sidelined on the shelf to keep letting them walk away too much.
-
We’re in for another heatwave in London.
Yesterday wasn’t too bad when I filmed this episode of The Camden Market Free Art Man, but today is forecast to be much hotter. Usually I’d consider staying at home in this heat but next weekend is forecast for rain, so I’d better suffer in the heat today to make up for next week’s likely no-show.
As I was packing up I managed to get rid of the last of my available Camden on Canvas series. I might have accidentally given away some of the unavailable ones, as I was up in the attic earlier this morning and didn’t see any. I always keep the first few of any series, but think in my rush to get ready and out the door in the mornings, I might have chucked the keepers in the Camden Market laundry bag and given them out. Never mind. It’s good to have some diamonds in the rough. Like you used to get in charity shops before the internet was around for the volunteer workers to check everything on. There’s not so many happy surprises in charity shops and car boot sales anymore. The Camden Market Free Art Man is the antidote to all this modern regressive progress.
Another hour long Camden video. YouTube seems not to like these as my views have plummeted recently. Even some of my shorts are struggling to make it up to double figures. Meanwhile cats falling into hedges continue to go viral. This was a point of discussion at the last Black Ivory podcast with Emma Pugmire and I in London and @ronthroop Ron Throop in Oswego, USA. I’ve also been talking about improvements to The Camden Market Free Art Man with Alan the Camden town crier. We’ve agreed on a revised cardboard display on the main plinth.
At the moment, I’m putting up lots of scrappy looking cardboard sheets that don’t look very good. Next week, if it doesn’t rain, I’ll have just two big boards each side that cover the area better, are more colourful and have more text and Blond Card style images. Like full colour newspaper on the wall. Advertism heavy and hopefully a lot more photogenic. Both Zombie and Alan outdo me on being more photogenic and subsequently I’m missing out on a load of free promotion on passers-by social media accounts. Camden is an attention economy, as I guess is almost everything else essentially. If I had done The Camden Market Free Art Man throughout my teens instead of going to school I would have had a much better education.
There’s some footage of The Arsenal Man in yesterday’s Camden video. He’s often around the bridge, but passes through more than hangs around. I’d like to stop and talk to him one day and maybe make a Blond Card of him. I also need to do a painting of Camden Lock Bridg for Tina and Pat. They regularly pass by and have at least one of my paintings already. Tina came up on her scooter yesterday and specifically asked for it. About 2 foot square that I’ll make a series of on cardboard. Tina and Pat used to sell clothes at Camden Market and still live local. Their daughter’s getting the Camden Lock bridge painting, as will future visitors to my display. Not sure how I’ll paint it yet but I like the idea of getting all these characters and landmarks recorded as they are now. The videos do this too. Maybe one day they’ll paint over Camden Lock Bridge.
Bigger canvas paintings will be coming to Camden soon to be given away. They’re too big to sell online as the cardboard packaging I get on the streets before the bin collectors do is seldom wide enough. I’ll take the big paintings offline today and fill up both my shops with more smaller ones. At the moment I’m only selling to the UK as I’ve had some problem customers abroad, specifically in the US and the EU, true to form, have just announced their latest batch of unnecessary and counter-productive red tape requirements for small businesses and sole traders to have to deal with. Yet another thing making retirement to Thailand look so much better.
