Agent of U.N.C.L.E

"Close Channel D."

RIP
Robert Vaughn
1932 - 2016

Agents of C.H.A.O.S

The Dynamic Duo

And so the Small Publishers Fair 2016 slips quietly into memory.

Another special interlude with old chums and new faces.
Warm embers in an otherwise dispiriting week.

Photo courtesy Jeremy Dixon - he of http://www.hazardpress.co.uk

9 / 11 (2016)

As Easy As. . .

Available as a new trilogy set at the Small Publishers Fair this weekend at a discounted price!

Unleash your wallet moths!

'C' is for. . . cover, front. 'bio auto graphic' Issue 29 imminent!

Small Publishers Fair - next Friday 4th and Saturday 5th at Conway Hall.

Click on this image to feel the benefit.

Now you 'C' it.

The newest edition of 'bio auto graphic' is coming together nicely.
Here's a snippet capturing me limbering up for the release at the upcoming Small Publishers Fair.

'C' is for. . . the other

'C' is for. . . that

'C' is for. . . this.

Incoming. . .

An imminent occasion.
The charming Conway Hall at Red Lion Square awaits my partner in crime and I.
It would be a tonic to see you.

Here is a first glimpse of my upcoming edition in the 'bio auto graphic' series - number 29:

A Bouncing Baby Boarding Blog!

It's out there.

For those of you with an interest in my storyboarding activities past and present I have created a blog to revisit that work in greater detail. You can find it here

The Ponderer Returns

Last weekend's Turn The Page book fair event was rather enjoyable, despite my expression in the short clip featured by the venue's Facebook presence, which you can find here

In a rarity of a city (it voted to 'Remain' in the European Union where the rest of East Anglia didn't) there was much to discuss and shake heads about as the two days unfolded, but that wasn't the splendid selection of work that surrounded me.
That existed to raise the spirits.

My thanks to those that stopped to chat, browse and  - yes - even purchase from the Ensixteen Editions range on offer.
And to Jules Allen and the Turn The Page team. Staunch work!

And now - another week, and reality bites again: the last visit of an ugly little braggart and his big ugly thoughts to Brussels, racist attacks on the rise – having been given seeming license by the vote of only just over half those who voted last week – headless poultry in Tory and Labour camps, and more suicide vests in airport lounges yesterday.

On the world and domestic stages. . . confusion and mistrust.

Whither Britain - our septic isle?

The Pencil Beneath The Ink

So - a new book fair is imminent.
The city of Norwich is ahead; familiar nooks and crannies and favoured places already in my head from past visits. An idea of Norwich made from these ephemeralities is held between my ears, sketched in before the reality of the solid cobbles beneath my feet and the wide Norfolk skies above my head.
Expectation and anticipation.
The pencil beneath the ink.

Past Lives, Past Lines 4

And this is Word World 2 – a word for every letter of the alphabet.

These two pieces - from 2006 - are absolute cornerstones to my interests, directions and agenda with what have been 28 issues to date. Playfulness, exploration, flying when I feel like it - or staying grounded and pointing a blunt finger if it's needed. .

Click for larger version.

Past Lives, Past Lines 3

This was one of a pair, investigating our relationship to words & language. 

It is called Word World 1 – an image for every letter of the alphabet.

Click on the image for full detail/larger version.

Past Lives, Past Lines 2

Metafictional me.

Past Lives, Past Lines 1

One of a series of fragments from earlier work across the whole series of my 'bio auto graphic' - all of which can be seen at the Turn the Page event this weekend in Norwich. This one's a shot of Issue 21 "On The Margins" courtesy of Nathan Penlington, who has reviewed the series extensively on the Syndicated Zine Review site here

Click on the image for a crisper, larger version.

Go East!

A few days to go until the pleasant prospect of two days exhibiting at the 2016 Turn The Page event in Norwich.
Details here
Very interesting city, very busy venue, always surprises.

My latest edition - 'B is for. . .' will be available as well as the entire Ensixteen Editions back catalogue - open 10am til 6pm on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th.

MMU N16 28

As part of their new blog Manchester Metropolitan University's All Saint's Library Special Collections invited me to write a note on my newest edition.
Since Gaye Smith first added my pre-'bio auto graphic' editions to what they have back in the early 2000s, followed by Jonathan Carson and then Jayne Burgess and Jane Pendlebury in recent years, the collection maintains a complete run of everything I've done in this sphere.

It's appreciated.

Take a look here

Mist and dry stone walls and blood – 'Happy Valley' series 2

A woman looks with a sense of foreboding at her beloved, carefree grandson. He's running ahead of her, above a valley in Yorkshire. What lies ahead?

The superlative second series of 'Happy Valley' just ended, having starred a bevy of superb actors both written for and directed by Sally Wainwright.
Sarah Lancashire as Sergeant Catherine Cawood was never less than compelling as she crossed a wild terrain of emotions.
Her last look is worth a BBC license fee in itself.

Like a walk in a fierce wind it was breathtaking.

There's an interview with Wainwright here

'bio auto graphic' Issue 28 - front cover!

Here it B.

First chance to get a copy will be at PAGES Leeds 19th Contemporary Artists Book Fair (see recent posts). Click on this image to get the crisper, bigger version.

Ta-ra, chuck - RIP Tony Warren (1936 - 2016)

Creator of 'Coronation Street'. Cultural & Television pioneer.

"The outsider sees more. The outsider hears more. . . "

Life's a Beach: 'bio auto graphic' 28 sketchbook

NORTH!

I'll be attending the PAGES Leeds: 19th Contemporary Artists Book Fair at The Tetley in Leeds over next Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th March.
I'm representing both Ensixteen Editions and the gorgeous work of the skilled and award-winning book artist/designer Mette Ambeck.
There's a direct link to their site here, and my personal page lies therein.

Come, look,t alk and  - should you fancy - buy the 28th edition of my 'bio auto graphic' series. . .

B-aware?

It's picking up. . .

Some high winds acting for me in my sketchbook, as I prepare the upcoming 28th edition of 'bio auto graphic'.
Hold on tight.

Toast of London - Brief Reprise

Snatched from rare footage Tweeted by the Berry man himself, here's a last transitory fragment from my stint in Toastworld last summer, as he and The Maypoles performed the show's theme live over the end-credits back on December 9th twenty fifteen.

Prism? - 'bio auto graphic' edition Number 28 starts here

Begin at the beginning.
With a jaunt north next month to the Leeds International Contemporary Artists Book Fair 2016, it is time to set the nib to paper again. Dig up ideas and hold to the light of this erratic February.

Last time - in 'bio auto graphic' Number 27 I asked what 'A' is for. . .
This time, I wonder. . . what will it B?

Morse 'CODA' - 'Endeavour' Series 3 Finale

"We hold the line! If you cross it now then there's no way back."

A note to mark the close of the latest atmospheric series featuring young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse, as given breath by the splendid Shaun Evans.
After possibly the longest cliffhanger in TV and film since Star Wars fans awaited 'The Empire Strikes Back', in this third quartet of stories creator Russell Lewis added and subtracted from the regular cast and finally brought the audience some peace after the traumatic events at the close of series 2.
As Series 3 took the story into 1967, Lewis' clear passion for the world first created by Colin Dexter means he continued to reveal new layers to it. Events resonate away into the character's futures while honouring the past of John Thaw's original interpretation (not least by including daughter Abigail Thaw as the recurring local journalist Dorothea Frazil).
Of particular note have been some excellent scenes with PCS Reg Bright as played by Anton Lesser, who has a mesmeric way with even the simplest of lines.
Praise due too, as ever, to Roger Allam, who has made the troubled DI Fred Thursday as compelling a reason to watch the show as Shaun Evans himself.

'Coda' - the closing episode last night, brought the entire cast together in a gripping story that stretched expectations of what the series and the characters can be.
A 4th series would be my only request.

2016: To Boldly Go. . . ?

So - it seems we are all living in the future.

A future in which the random madness of Earth's wonky weather systems proves too unpredictable and the TV pundits look further afield.

Space Weather.

Incorrectly spelled Space Weather at that.