Tyneham House

Tyneham House the next CD on my little label 'Claypipe Music' is now available. This was a joint project with another label 'Second Language' and the CD can be ordered from their website rather than mine.

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The small village of Tyneham, on the beautiful Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset, was once a thriving little community – that is until the British Government requisitioned it for training manoeuvres and other ‘strategic purposes’ in the run up to WWII. This was supposed to be a temporary measure, but the area remained in military possession long after hostilities had ceased, causing distress among former inhabitants, many of whom were farmed out to prefabs in nearby Wareham and Swanage.

Tyneham was characterised by its red telephone box, a tiny parade of shops – Post Office Row – and a grand country pile which stood about half a mile away from the village: Tyneham House. The army removed the building’s oak panelling and ornate decorative details and promptly set about using it for target practice. So great was the shame expressed locally about the damage inflicted upon one of Dorset’s grandest houses that the powers that be decided to grow a copse around the remains of the structure to give the impression that it was no longer there. Despite this, a substantial part of the structure remains intact, including its Saxon hall.

Land access around Tyneham was opened up in the 1970s, but admission to the house remains strictly verboten. Those who’ve been found around the premises, especially anyone wielding a camera, have felt the full weight of military trespass law. Tyneham today is regarded as a nature reserve by some – as a national embarrassment by others. It’s still a political hot potato, in Dorset at least.

The pastoral, wistful yet ineffably disquieting music of Tyneham House is made by artists who have previously graced Second Language releases, but who wish to remain anonymous here, save for their eponymous title. The musicians are happy, however, to let it be known that these recordings have been around for some years (many of them compiled from old cassettes) and that they take inspiration from the 1960s/’70s/’80s work of the Children’s Film Foundation – a body who really ought to have made a film about this mysterious West Country curio. At least now we have its endlessly poignant soundtrack.

'Tyneham House' is a joint release between the London-based independent labels, Second Language and Clay Pipe Music. This 14 track CD album comes packaged in a Gocco-printed card box with booklet and cassette tape of bonus material (18+ minutes) - all beautifully illustrated throughout by award winning artist Frances Castle of Clay Pipe Music.

This is SL015/Pipe003. Limited to 300 copies only.

Tracklisting (CD) :

• A Chalk Horse
• Rookery Wood
• Coppice Walk
• Binoculars
• Bletchingley
• Post Office Row
• The Crows Circle
• Winter Carriage
• The Ragged Cat
• I Shall Not Cross The Sleeping Hill
• The Porch Room
• Saxon Chapel
• Last Village Before The Sea
• Lit Room At Midnight

Tracklisting (Cassette) :

A: A School Holiday, 1977
B: May Day, 1981

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas ! I promise to post more updates next year - its been a busy year for me and my blog has suffered.

Multiplied at Christies

I have some of my Gocco prints and Clay Pipe CDs on display at Multiplied at Christies, over this weekend. My friend Christina Lamb of Printed Wonders has brought together four artists who use Print Gocco , also included in the show are Karoline Rerrie and John Dilnot.

Images 35

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a bronze award for my Bear Hug image at the AOI's Images 35 exhibition. This is the second year in a row I've won an award for my work in Images.

Thalassing

Thalassing is the second release on my little CD label 'Clay Pipe Music'. I designed, illustrated and Gocco printed the cover.

Thalassing' is a self titled CD by duo Michael Tanner and Kerrie Robinson.
Michael has made music under many guises Plinth, Cloisters and The A.Lords to name but a few as well as recording and playing live with Mark Fry and Sharron Kraus. Last year he released the brilliant 'Music for Smalls Lighthouse' on Second Language. Kerrie plays in Betika.

I made 100 copies of the CD and now have about 5 left. If you want one of the last copies you can buy it from the Clay Pipe Music website.

Cards for Roger La Borde

Here is something I should have blogged about way back in Febuary when these cards first came out. They were for Roger La Borde who initially saw the bear (which was originally a web ad for my agents Arena) and then commissioned me to do three more 'mother and baby' images to make a set.

The Outsider

Its been a long time since I posted here - I have no excuses except for being really busy on various illustration projects. Keep your eyes peeled though as I have a couple of updates planned, the first of which is to post my entry for The Folio Society's illustration competition. The brief was to illustrate three pages, and design the cover for Albert Camus' 'The Outsider'.

3x3

I was lucky enough to have my story 'Sherwin's Cottage' accepted into the 3x3 Illustration Annual No7, and I just got my hands on a copy. You than read the rest of the story here and buy 3x3 here.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone! Have a good one.

The Hardy Tree

This year after a long break I started making music again - though I'm not a musician by any stretch of the imagination. Sounds are gathered from various places, chopped up looped and rearranged on my computer, tunes picked out with one figure on a tiny keyboard.

I've started a little CD label called Clay Pipe Music, firstly to put out my CD and next year to put out music by other people. I see it being somewhere between a record label and an artist book publisher - everything hand made/printed and designed by me as best I can.

The CD is called The Fields Lie Sleeping Underneath by The Hardy Tree.

You can buy it here: www.claypipemusic.co.uk

Pop Ups

Just recently published by Walker in the UK, and Candlewick in the USA is 'Pop-Up -Everything you Need to Create Your Own Pop-Up Book', that I illustrated. It basically gives you all you need to make four pop-ups and learn the art of paper engineering as you do it. The book is large with lots of fold outs, so it was difficult to photograph. You can buy both the US and UK versions on Amazon

The Association of Illustrators awards 2010

Picking up my bronze award in the New Media catagory for the work I did on the BBC Primary History wesbite.

With Steve May another Arena artist who won the Gold.

My page in the Images 34 book.
Many thanks to Caroline at Arena for taking these pictures!

HMS Belfast

A poster I recently completed for HMS Belfast, have a look at Arena's Blog for a break down on the commissioning process including sketches and examples of work in progress. If anyone spots this on The Tube over the summer can you let me know!

Cycling in London Competition

This was my entry into 'The Cycling in London Competition' run by Transport for London and The Association of Illustrations, mine was one of the 50 chosen from over 1000 entries to be displayed at the London Transport Museum, pictures from the opening night are over at my agents Arenas blog.

More Monotone

Below are some more experiments with limited colour ways and type.

Finley

Images from an idea for a children's picture book that I will probably take in a different direction now, but I thought it would be worth posting them here.

Gobal Contexts

Sorry about the poor scans, my work has recently been featured in book called 'Global Contexts' by Mark Wigan, I've been following Marks work since the 80s when I remember his paintings on the walls of Kensington Market, and the Scala Cinema, so I was really happy to have my work in this book along with some other really great illustrators. It is published by AVA and should be in book shops now.