I like it here, can I stay

Hello all. Back in Bristol now after a trip to London. The AOI exhibition was fun, and I won the gold award for New Talent! Great to see some old and new friends there, and I met lots of nice people.

The exhibition is well worth going to if you're in London- really diverse work and a lot of ideas about image making. It's right next to Tate modern, which was really lacking images, knowing their incredible collection of paintings. Plenty of interesting ideas, but apart from Picasso's Dancers and Matisse's Snail, there were barely any engaging pictures. Is this why there are so many illustration students? I know I was certainly turned off from 'fine art' at college because of the lack of interest in image making.

I digress. London feels more liveable each time I'm there, but the cost makes me think twice.

They Shot Him Down

This is the image that is in the exhibition. Because of the whole process, it is about 2 years old, but that gives me some perspective on it.

The image came from an idea that I've been thinking about again lately. It's this idea about fiction and reality and how they can live in the same world. A kind of post post-modern idea.

Anyway, all this got me thinking about my role as an illustrator. Someone who creates images to give a visual to an idea. The image can be based on reality or myth. Fact or fiction can exist on the same page. In an image they are one and the same. It's all about giving life to an idea, to communicate something. Ultimately it’s about new ways of seeing.