i’m currently displaced from home and studio due to a family situation…

there’s nothing tragic or dramatic happening, however it does mean i have no access to my stock – which in turn means that i am currently unable to fulfil orders.

fingers crossed this will all be sorted out in the not too distant future and the site will get back to normal.  thanks for understanding.

chris z   xx

meet my friend, kitty. though she is better known online by the moniker, crumpled foreskin!

the photo is from a mermaid-themed shoot she did last year for paul fessey photography. i thought it was rather lovely image and wanted to try to do a painting of it at somepoint.

please note that all copyright of this photograph belongs to ‘paul fessey photography’ - i am simply reposting the image to show my source of inspiration. you can check out more of his excellent work on flickr [link]

well, i never managed to break out the paints, but i did make a start on a digital sketch…

although this is still very much a work-in-progress, i’m reasonably pleased with it so far.

i haven’t made any real effort to work on a likeness yet so it really doesn’t look much like kitty. but hopefully i’ll get working on it again soon, and post the finished results.

the title of this piece will be ‘worship the goat’.

i bet you never knew that’s what a goat’s tongue actually looked like?!  ;)

this design features britannia, who is the traditional female personification of the british isles.

the lady britannia will stand proudly with her trident, shield, and lions. however, the eventual title of the piece will be ‘this empire burns’ – so the broader view will reveal her to be in state of corruption and decay.

i’ve been seriously busy finishing my degree, then moving house – but importantly i have now set myself up in business as a freelance artist!  so i’ve been in the studio all week drawing, except for one day where i met a lady who wants me to supply her with dead bodies!

anyways. the drawings…

^this is a drawing i did a few years ago, just after reading singularity seven. this was my first introduction to ben templesmith and i was pretty amazed by his work. with my sketch, i was trying to do an ’embodiment-of-war’ type character, but the similarity to ‘the singularity’ from templesmith’s story is undeniable! anyway, i’ve always liked the drawing but never felt able to complete it, so i thought i’d re-work it from scratch.

these are the progress sketches, using pre-photoshop old fashioned skills of cut-and-paste – utilising photocopying, pritt stick, and tippex!

i started off with skulls, bones and tentacles, which had a real nautical flavour, so i added a ship’s wheel to the composition. the wip sketches speak for themselves, but i eventually dropped the wheel, as i just couldn’t get it to work because the silhouette was just way too busy for my taste.

and this is how the sketch currently looks..

the intention was always to create: what appears to be a satanic looking re-animated pirate-skeleton, who was brandishing the tools of his trade.

but if you look properly, there is nothing supernatural about that skeleton at all…

addendum:

wordpress has just informed me that this was my 100th post! it pleases me greatly that the subject matter is all about me getting back into my art.  :)

i’ve been drawing up a carnival style poster idea for my brainchild project [link]. and while this is certainly not finished, i do kinda like it..

_