Arachne’s Children
I'm David and I'm self-employed artist.
I live and work in Gloucester in the South West of England.
Back in the eighties I did a degree in contemporary crafts at what was Crewe and Alsager college of higher education. I made a lot of pots, and I built
mechanical sculptures out of scrap steel I got from the local dump. This sort of thing was briefly extremely popular, but by the time I'd graduated nobody wanted "creative salvage" and I was too
skint to set up a workshop so I got a job.
Other jobs followed, including twenty odd years working for social services. For a lot of that time I didn't do any art at all (which was a bit sad) apart from in life drawing classes that I taught at the local arts centre. Then, quite fortuitously, I got really ill with stress and depression, (stay with me here) and jacked in the last job. I became an artist again.
As well as drawing and painting I've taught art, built and painted pub signs, facilitated community arts and street painting projects, made and repaired musical instruments, built bread ovens, exhibited, sold originals and prints, and started writing.
For the last few years I’ve concentrated on drawing using large A1 sized paper, and have started to explore printmaking.
There are currently three main themes in my work; local urban landscapes, wildlife (particularly corvids), and finally magic-realist images inspired by mythology, folklore, circus, and narrative or Jungian archetypes. I work in acrylic paints and inks, charcoal, and digital packages such as Procreate to both manipulate images I've created using traditional methods and to make images from scratch.
Artists who have influenced me of late have tended to belong to either the Expressionist or the Weimar Era Neue Sachlichkeit movements. They would include Egon Schiele, Otto Rudolf Schatz, Rudolf Schlichter, Karl Hubbuch & British contemporaries such as Stanley Spencer & Lucien Freud. I also draw on film and popular culture for inspiration.
If you're interested in buying or commissioning work, or to order prints or teeshirts, please email me.
My Aim Is True No. 2
Circus Ambulatory
Ok so you’ve had a few bigtops stalking the land, an episode in the life of Rose and Jade, and a few other scraps.
Do you want more of this stuff, and do you want the accompanying back story in text?
Suggestions please. Possibilities might include Stephan the knife thrower, his target Isabella, Wulf the spider boy, the Jenson triplets (acrobats of short stature), Sabine the Art Brut tattooed
lady, Gloria the mermaid (alive!), Professor Merkin the prestidigitator and his novel prestige (never yet seen this far West), Mistress Kolmya and her performing skymonkeys, and Angmagssalik the
incredible. There are, of course, numerous aerialists, clowns, fire jugglers, and sideshow acts, dubious carnies with tiny hands, and the odd jungle beast.
Rose finally escaped the circus and her conjoined twin Jade. Jade was violent and jealous of Rose and her ukulele playing expertise. Rose would soon need a doctor, but aimed to get as many miles between her and the tent as she could.
Print 