The Sandy Studio

Since the keen interest and recent demand of my seascape and landscape paintings, I have set up The Sandy Studio an online gallery to sell some of my recent paintings and sketches.

I'll be painting live all weekend at Porthtowan Food Festival.

Paintings and sketches will be uploaded regularly and throughout the weekend. If you would like to be informed when new work is updated and news of upcoming exhibitions just send through your email address, or "drop in" regularly to thesandystudio.com




Have a great weekend! :)

Cosmic

Harry Adam's documentary of my work.

Somehow, from following my actions for a week, Harry Adams managed to piece together some sense of what I've been doing lately.

Here is the article. The short documentary is at the bottom of the page.

Recent work now up on BigCartel!

Click here for my gallery to see my recent live paintings from the beach!
:)
Cosmic

"If You Say You Can't Draw, Try This!" The workshops!

There are two workshops coming up next week in Cornwall. There are no pre-required qualifications. You don't even really need to not be able to draw!

The workshops are a one-time experience using effective, tried and tested methods to unlock your drawing abilities.

• Monday 26th September 7-9pm at Porthtowan Village Hall, Porthtowan TR4 8AD
• Thursday 29th September 7-9pm at Miners and Mechanics Institute, St Agnes TR5 0TQ

The workshop costs £23 per person. The proceeds go to St Julia's Hospice, Hayle as a small thank you for looking after our dear friend Nola x

To book, call Cosmic on 07970 307908 TR5 0TQ

The Art Blaster! at PARK LIVE

This oversized ghetto blaster was commissioned for Source Fm's PARK LIVE July event in Kimberly Park Falmouth this Sunday just gone.

It's a large canvas to be drawn all over and the theme was "What do I see in the future for Source FM".

Adults and children left some great images and ideas on the installation, including: "Broadcast from space", "More community news" and the art included some very bold neo-expressionism!

The sun was shining all day and the spoken word (selected by Mac Dunlop) and the live music (selected by Ryan Jones) kept everyone highly entertained.

INTRODUCING: Say You Can't Draw Try This!

Over the past few years I have been testing out this experience workshop. The results have been really amazing! Remember, no experience is unnecessary.

TROPICAL PRESSURE FESTIVAL 16th/17th JULY 2016 There is an entry fee to the festival but on this occasion these two SAY YOU CANT DRAW TRY THIS workshops are free to participate.

If you are thinking "But, I really can't draw!" this workshop is for you.

If you want to get into a conversation with me about drawing and wether or not anyone can or can't, be my guest. This is my favourite subject and I am ready to talk about this all day and night.

Come and draw!

EMAIL: cosmicimages@live.com to find out about these workshops near you.

We're Jammin' (the radio!)

Every Friday night on The Source FM in Falmouth I present The Cosmic Art Show (or Cosmic's Show) and last night I had a short, but epic interview to play with reggae music legend U-Roy!

First person to get this tattooed wins a t-shirt!

Everything was going good, I was enjoying the show. The interview with DJ Johnny Nash (U-Roy's main man and selector) played fine. Then,  I was about to play the U-Roy interview and the radio jammed! I could still speak but no music would play what-so-ever. Spooky goings on indeed.

Listen to the show again click here:

U-Roy DJ Johnny Nash scored some art.

New artwork at the beach!

The new owners of the beach cafe down at my local beach have just given it a beautiful new refit and, as well as having all the windows opened up to really enjoy the breathtaking views of Trevaunance Cove, recently commissioned me to paint all over the outside walls.

It does what it says on the wall!

I had free reign to paint what I wanted as long as I got certain words in there. So, I kept it simple and fitted the artwork and colours in with the locality and business as much as possible.

Breaking waves: Signage and beach graffiti combined.

As well as the cafe upstairs, Breakers also have the Ice Cream Joint. I painted this to look like a "surf shack" style ice cream parlour to fit in with the long surf culture and history the beach has.

The Ice Cream Joint "surf shack" hatch.

Breakers Beach Cafe can be found at Trevaunance cove, St Agnes, Cornwall and is open most days. 

The Essentiality of Nature...

When I began using spray paint to capture seascapes in 2014, I visited Port Isaac and sketched and painted at the harbour for a few days. The results weren't good. Occasionally I'd get a part of the scene to work and then pull my finger down on the cap a smidgen too hard and blow it all.
Lots of distractions too. I always happily answer questions when I'm working even this time when I really didn't want to be disturbed. Tourists and locals were stopping and asking me what I was painting with and although they'd seen spray paint they thought it must be different stuff as I wasn't using it for graffiti.

And then all of a sudden, this piece just happened. The mistakes began to work in my favour and I could see that this wild, almost untameable medium could be used to work on such small scale and achieve stunning results.

The Roots Culture Market, Porthtowan

Today was awesome! 

Thank you to Angio and Tim at Mount Pleasant Eco Park in Porthtowan for inviting me to today's Roots Culture Market.  A blend of local crafts people who bring their wares to trade alongside the popular Reggae Roast.

It wasn't easy with such a vibrant mix of traders and friends to distract me, but I managed to draw quite a bit of stuff  in the end and have a good chat with a lot of awesome people at the second Roots Culture Market. There is another one on Sunday 28th February, and two in March.

An inspiring day, full of really good vibes and interesting people.

I'll definitely be back!

Cosmic

The "Ulysses, read by Jim Morrison" Show

Every Friday I do a radio show on Source FM in Falmouth, called Cosmic's Radio Show or The Cosmic Art Show (why have one name, right?).
It started life as an arts show and kept the theme, even though we often go off-piste!

Here's the listen-again podcast from last night's show, where reading a book by James Joyce turns the studio into a Doors tribute act! with Tam Johnstone, Mat Roberts, Keef Purple and the legendary George from Penzance!

A couple of large canvases for sale.

The 11th Feb 2016- UPDATE: The whale painting has now sold.

Since I painted these two canvases in 2014 for The Heseltine Gallery's "Flow State" exhibition with Truro School, they have hung on the walls of the studio and my house.

I don't really want to part with them as I normally paint large murals that I could't keep if I wanted to. However, I need the wall space for current projects and I'd rather these were being enjoyed than being kept in storage.

On 120x100cm box canvases, painted in acrylic and spray paint, these two paintings have a presence in any sized room, much like one of my murals, except these can be moved.

Full descriptions and prices on my Etsy shop.

Radio Show, Catch up from here:

Good Morning, HERE is last night's ear candy from my weekly radio show on Source FM in Falmouth.

Including: a chunk of Balkan, Graffiti-inspired Hip-hop, classic interviews with Francis Bacon, Mark Bode, regular callers George from Penzance and Sister Scholastica, a bit of Soul, Keef Purple's "Wall of Sound" podcast 'Spanish Omelette Mix!' and pre-gig Congo Natty warm up tunes.

https://www.instagram.com/cosmicimages/

Starman

My limited edition David Bowie print STARMAN went on sale today at 12:00 midday.
It is available on my Etsy page.

'Starman' is a tribute to the ethereal nature of the artist we knew as David Bowie and his career in many mediums.
The focus of this image is on the theme of the universe that echoed all the way through, from the "Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" to his final album, "Blackstar".

This run is a limited edition of 100. Printed on 300g high white matt Fibaprint paper, usin U.V pigment that will not fade.

The Zen Boardroom

The brief: "Being mindful of the chaos outside as we work with calm in the boardroom."

My third visit to Jambo's offices. A year since I painted two rooms in their building in Manchester I'm back in Truro installing a huge Zen Wave Garden mural in their boardroom and an Accounts/Contracts/IT themed mural in the accounts department.

Using low odour spray paint and a fume extractor means I can paint indoors as the company works around me.

Hot Off The Press

Colouring books are out! Hot off the press!

"A Street Art Colouring Book from Cornwall" is available now in selected outlets around Cornwall and on my Etsy page.

32 pages for all ages!

Trewirgie Junior School Murals

The Trewirgie "Cornish Studies" Mural.

Earlier this year I completed a series of three murals at Trewirgie Junior School in Redruth.

"Creativity and Watersports" A mural about favourite leisure activities.

This was such a great project. The pupils involved chose and designed all the content and it was their choice to theme the murals on their studies.

For each wall, a design team of pupils came up with the ideas and directed me through the sketches straight onto the wall during a consultation workshop, and returned to class. I called them back when it was time to colour.

Most of the paint that was applied was the work of the pupils involved. Really, in a way, all I did was help with outlines and tidying up the edges!

Most had never used spray paint before and they responded well to a responsible introduction to this versatile medium.

The "Trewirgie Regal" playground theatre space mural. Designed by Trewirgie pupils.

These workshops are hugely beneficial in using drawing as a visual skill which supports other communication skills like reading and writing.

Here is an write-up from the West Briton newspaper.

A Street Art Colouring Book from Cornwall !!

I have put together 32 pages of my street art ideas and designs as a colouring book. Available to order now for £5 from my Etsy page with FREE UK POSTAGE on all orders by Friday.

 Look out for the designs on the street. Happy colouring! 

Cosmic's Art Space

Over the last couple of summers I have been developing an art space at a few UK festivals.
An area which is both a space for practicing artists to continue their own projects while at the festival, and a place for those who maybe don't consider themselves to be skilled, to create in a relaxing, creative environment.
COSMIC'S ART SPACE is a non-judgemental, fun and relaxing environment where people can spend some quality time painting, drawing and creating works of art, even if they think they can't.

To illustrate what I mean by someone who thinks they have no artistic skills let me begin with drawing and an example:

Far too often I hear everyday functioning adults say "I can't draw." like drawing is something we have or don't have, or is a skill that some are lucky to have been born with, and some are not.

Drawing is a communication skill. Like reading or writing.
We can all draw. We just do or don't.

Like any practice, the more we do and the more often we do it, the better we are and the more confident we become, so we do it more because it makes us feel good that we do it well.
This also means, however that if we don't do something very often we can get cross with ourselves if we don't like the results when we do try.

So I have developed workshops accordingly. Taking part is fun and you realise that you have everything you need to develop a strong visual art practice.

The workshops I have created are aimed at varying degrees of ability so that within the shortest time possible (just under an hour) the participant can access the "I can" of drawing and can return to that whenever they like.

There is no charge to take part and all art materials are provided.

The most popular workshops this year include Life Drawing With Attitude, Artist Rediscovery, How To Make Good Mistakes and Say You Can't Draw Try This which was very in demand!
Plus many more and some that might evolve from our daily Discussions On Art, which sometimes have no art references what-so-ever and that leads to another topic about the relevance this has to our art. Then we all go and watch some bands.

 "These aren't lessons, but a unique approach to opening the artist up to new creative possibilities"-Bestival

Watch out for  COSMIC'S ART SPACE  at UK festivals in 2016. Drop me a line, via email at the top of this blog's homepage, if you want to see Cosmic's Art Space at your favourite festival next year.

At the beginning of August I put together an interactive art forest for WWF at Camp Bestival music festival in Dorset.

Workshops included, mural painting on the teem of "Why we love forests", animal mask painting, decoupage a frame for the mural, letter writing to your MP, and more!

At 20meters, the site was almost too long to capture in a photo!

The animated fire pit kept everyone warm.

The interactive mural was a big hit and the result can be seen at WWF HQ. Deadly 60 TV star Steve Backshall contributed to it with his trademark skull and a signature.