James Flynn

Hello again, and welcome....

I would like to thank everyone who turned up to my exhibition this week, it was a great turnout and a great day all round!

As predicted I had a large case of cold feet the night before, but the day went well, wine was flowing, and people were talking art!

It was great to see my paintings on display at last, after hoarding them in a small room for about two years, and I certainly had a great time.

Two years of hard work went into this show and it was great to see a gallery full of my work at last.

I gained a lot of great feedback, and it is always good to talk to people about my work and interesting to hear what they like and don't like. You can never predict what people are going to like, and that can be a big learning curve aswell which is always good.

Thanks again for all the support, and also to studio61 for helping me do this.

I will leave you with a picture of me looking slightly smug on my opening day!...

Thanks again, speak soon.

James

With the weather recently starting to pick up, I decided that I could finally go out and enjoy a spot of "plein air"....

Having prepared the night before for the day ahead, ie packed brushes, easel, canvas etc, I was anticipating the next day and hoping for some more sun.

Of course, I woke up to the greyist sky I have ever seen. I almost decided to wait for a better day, but I was so eager I decided to take a chance and go anyway.

I headed down to a little spot I know on the thames which overlooks the docklands area, and felt slightly foolish for coming. I say foolish because it was actually foggy, and I was going to attempt to paint the landscape!

I persevered and began to paint anyway, and although I could no longer feel my hands after five minutes, I was creating something fairly reasonable and was making progress.

I painted away for a good few hours, the weather brightened up slightly, and I reached a point where I was satisfied with my progress.

This painting is still not finished yet, so I will be keeping you all updated in stages because I have decided to paint a series of three riverside paintings over the coming summer months, and I will be putting the paintings up here as they progress slightly more.

I currently have two paintings in progress, so I will be updating this blog frequently with new updates. So stay posted and I will see you soon.

James

Hi guy's, so good of you to drop by.

I have dedicated this post to a day out I had a couple of weeks ago. So, here it is...........

It is wednesday the 8th february.

It is a cold but bright day, and I am feeling excited.

After a brisk ten minute walk to the train station, me and my fiance Gemma, quickly buy our tickets from a ticket machine outside the station and head for the platform. After climbing a few stairs and being moaned at by the man in the ticket booth for buying a ticket from the machine rather than from him, we have actually made it there by 10am, ready for the 10.11am train to cannon st.

Cannon st is not our destination however, for we are on our way to shoreditch, to see the latest exhibition from Guy Denning and Frank. E. Rannou.......

I found out about Guy Denning a couple of years ago whilst looking on the net for new artists one night, and found a few of his videos on youtube, where he displays his "dark" painting skills.

I have been waiting for this day for a while now, and as the train pulls into the station, both of us eagerly jump on.

Soon enough we are travelling through Hither Green and New Cross, and I start to observe the graffiti down on the tracks. I remembered that I once new just about every tag, and every painting down along this line. As well as having some down there myself. I still recognise some, although a lot of walls have been painted over now by the authorities. I wondered why though, a waste of money considering it is down the side of a railway line I think.

After changing at London Bridge, and getting on a tube to Old Street, we are soon walking through a freezing cold Shoreditch. This doesn't bother us too much though because as soon as we got there we started seeing street art/graffiti on every corner, such is the character of this place.

Shoreditch is well known for it's street art scene, and it certainly did not disapoint. Obviously I could not help but take a few snaps......

(I am not aware of what artists the above work is done by, if you know, please let me know).

We arrived at signal gallery slightly early, so we decided to take a look around the pure evil gallery. Pure evil gallery is a fairly small place dedicated to street art and graffiti, and I was soon looking through some brilliant prints and sketches.

I did not get a chance to take any photos in here, but to find out more about this place, see here - http://www.pureevilclothing.com

It was time to head back to signal gallery, and after braving the cold again for a couple of minutes, we were walking down some cold stairs of the shared building to the gallery down below.

The first thing that hit me about this place was that it was much smaller than any pictures I had seen of it. Although not tiny, I would say that the camera definately "lies"......

We was far from disapointed though, as we were now looking at some great paintings from Guy Denning himself, and of course....Frank. E. Rannou.

Guy Denning's work has always struck me as being quite dark in subject, and yet pulled off in a very unique style. His work usually features portraits of people in a look of pain, or discomfort, or emotional paintings of a political theme.

As for Frank Rannou, I did not really know what to expect, and this just added to my anticipation.

In the end, there was some great work here on display from both artists, and here is a selection of pictures in no particular order.......

Frank. E. Rannou......

Frank. E. Rannou........

Guy Denning.........

Guy Denning.........

Guy Denning........

Guy Denning.......

It was a very good day out for both of us, and well worth the train journey up to signal gallery.

It is always refreshing once every now and then to see other artists work up close, and it made me remember how good shoreditch can be also.

I wanted to share this with everyone as we had such a great day, and it was a break from our usual routine. Thanks for taking the time to look.

I will leave it there for now, but please feel free to leave comments, and stay posted.

James

Hello again, I hope you have all been well.

Very exciting times ahead.....

As you may have guessed already, I have a date for my exhibition!....it is finally coming together at last.

Here are the details.....

Studio 61

137 Lee rd, Blackheath, SE3 9DS

25th-31st March 2012

Please feel free to come along, this is basically a collection of my work spanning about two years, so there is plenty of artwork to be shown, so please spread the word!

Now, while we are on the subject of exhibitions......

I am also looking forward to a trip to Hoxton, near shoreditch tommorow to see an exhibition by Guy Denning and Frank E Rannou. I have been a fan of Guy's work for a couple of years now since I came across his website by chance. His work could be considered to be slightly deppressing at times, but he certainly has got a unique style, so it should be a good day, I am planning on taking a few photos and I will let you know how it goes in a later post.

Finally, back to my own exhibition.....

Here is one of my final paintings to be shown, one that I finished over the weekend and which I am very pleased with. I have named this piece...."The suppression of colour".....

I have often observed in the past how there is a lot of variety in my work. As well as painting landscapes I often find myself painting slightly more contemporary stuff like this too, and I do not plan on changing this. I think that my time involved in the street art scene back in the day still has an influence on my paintings in quite a big way, and I think the painting above proves that.

I plan on painting a lot more work like this as I enjoy the "energy" of it. And I feel that I express myself a lot through this kind of work.

As always, let me know what you think, I always like to see people comment on here, and I would love to see everyone at my exhibition.

Keep on painting and doing what you love,

James

Here I am again, just finished writing up a little list of local galleries that I will be paying visits too very soon.

I say soon because I am getting very very close to my solo exhibition, very close indeed. I have basically been working up to this for about two or three years now, I have around forty paintings up in my studio, just waiting to get out there and get some attention.

It is going to be a mixed bag of an exhibition too. Portraits, landscapes, and wildlife. In fact, I have been trying to think of what I am going to call it for a while now.

I would not say that it is an exhibition with a specific theme, rather it will be split up into sections, gathering relevant paintings together by genre.

Anyway, the important thing is, I will soon be laying out my works of art for all to see, and I literally cannot wait. I have put my story book on hold for now, while I knock out the last few paintings that I will exhibit, I aim to get my childrens story book out there by the end of the year, whereas my exhibition I was aiming for around spring, although I am tempted to bring the date forward a little.

I have the lee green/blackheath area in mind in south east london, and I know of a gallery which has just opened up there. I have not been in the premises yet, but it looks fairly big from the outside, and just down the road from posh old blackheath. Can't be too bad can it?

Exciting times, 2012 is going to be a busy year for me, I am certainly not going to hold back, I have put a lot of work into the last couple of years and it is time to really get my work out there.

Speaking of which, I would like to share with you my most recent paintings, which will be part of my exhibition.

I have not really regarded myself as a wildlife painter in the past, but I have had an urge to paint wildlife all of a sudden. I have completed three animal paintings here, and I can feel plenty more coming soon after these too.

I really enjoyed painting these, and I am glad that I have them for the exhibition.

This first piece I have named - King of the Jungle.

I had a good time painting this, I wanted the painting to have "energy" to it. I wanted it to have a rough feel to make it more vibrant, hence the paint marks I have left in the background.

This is acrylic on canvas.

My next painting I have simply named - Tiger.

Again, I really enjoyed painting this, and I finished it fairly quickly, which means that the painting went well in my book.

As with the lion painting, I wanted to keep a certain roughness to this piece, so I have again kept certain paint marks in at the end, as you can see.

This is acrylic on canvas also.

And finally, on to my most recent painting.

This one actually hasn't got a name yet.

It has turned out to be a much more "polished" painting than the last two, even though I originally was going to give it a more rough look, but I suppose this one kind of "painted itself".

I added the background in myself, which was not in the reference picture I had, as I felt it would help the atmosphere of the painting.

This is also acrylic on canvas.

I really like the outcome of this one too actually, the only thing is, is that I think of PG tips tea every time I look at it, which is slightly offputting!!

I wont let that ruin it for me though, and I think I have added three strong paintings to my exhibition here over the last few days, and there will be more over the next few weeks too.

In fact, it will be a great thing to see all of my work on display all at once in the same room. Usually, when I finish a painting I add it to the collection and do not really hang it up to look at for a while. So to actually be able to look at my work all at once is something I am really looking forward too.

On a final note, I just want to say that I try to update this blog as much as I can, but it is a very busy time right now as I may have mentioned earlier, so forgive me if I can only write up new updates every few weeks or so. I will try my best!

Take care,

James

Here I am once again, all nice and settled down in front of the TV, just finished watching another episode of QI, and waiting for another documentary to come on about gangs in el salvador (it's the only thing on!). I don't watch that much telly at all actually but I have been hard at work just lately and I am going to let myself relax a little bit now.

I decided a little while ago that I was going to write and illustrate my own children's story book, and I have made some pretty good progress on it already.

I am not going to give away all the details just yet, but I have decided to post the artwork here as I finish each piece.

My story involves the adventures of a fox in a town in south london, I have managed to write the storyline fairly quickly and I am quite pleased with what I have come up with.

I have never written a story book before, but I am pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable and therapeautic it actually is. I have written the whole story as a rhyme and I have nineteen scenes to paint to accompany the story.

Quite a big task to take on, but I am really enjoying it, and I have finished the first painting already.

I am not painting the scenes in the order that they appear in the story as I thought I would, in fact, I may even paint the opening scene last, but maybe this is a better way to work for me.

This is the first scene I have completed here, I will post each scene as I finish them for you to see. I expect to finish this book in around four to six months as there is quite a lot of work. Again I am not going to give away any details yet, but please enjoy the artwork.

First scene finished, here it is......

It is based on an area near where I live in south London.

Stay posted for new work which I will update regularly over the coming weeks.

See you soon,

James

Hello all, good to be here again, I have managed to make it through another christmas amazingly enough, the usual turnout.....drink far too much alcohol on christmas eve, then spend the whole of christmas day feeling like death warmed up. I did enjoy myself though, and all went well.

This will probably turn out to be a slightly more light hearted post in comparison to the last...... which doesn't really say that much come to think of it, considering I wrote a blog entry about kepler 22b, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life, but hey, just the daily workings of my mind...... Anyway, I like to think that this is a blog with a variety of topics, so just go with it!

It's been a very busy time for me just lately to say the least. In fact I have been fighting for time to get any artwork done at all if you must know, but at last, I have had managed to get myself in the studio and it felt great.

As you may or may not know, I have produced quite a few black and white tonal studies as my most recent works (see previous posts), so I thought I would get out my pastels and get stuck into a nice colour portrait or two.

Prince Philip was in the papers this week, more than just once in fact and although I don't consider myself to be a "royalist", I must say I have been quite inspired by his recent story.

To the best of my knowledge Prince Philip is around ninety years old, and is recovering well from heart surgery, and is showing no sign of slowing down in life, which I personally like to see, and although people will say it is because he has the best treatment available and has been looked after (which may be true), I think it is quite good to see that ninety years old, is not actually that old at all!

You see, over here in the UK we live in what is commonly known as a "nanny state". Meaning everyday we have to put up with health warnings left right and centre, government adverts telling us that this thing is bad for you, and this thing worse for you, food companies making every effort to get the message across that their product is healthy, hideous images on cigarette packets, over the top preaching about alcohol bla bla bla. And to be quite honest, although I think it's a good thing to live healthily, which I do anyway I might add, all these health campaigns have had another effect with me......it has made me a slight hypochondriac. And who can blame me? Or anyone else for that matter, we all suffer because of the intellectually challenged muppets who want to sit on their arse and get fat. The irony is that it has had the opposite effect on me, I am now too concious about health. I think too much about living well, and I did not even need any of this lecturing anyway, I didn't need anyone to tell me about living well.

So it is no surprise that this story caught my eye just recently, and how inspiring to know that the human body is so resilient and strong after all, and good luck to him, I hope he has got plenty more years left in him, no matter what anyone thinks of the royal family.

So, as always, the papers have given me some great reference material, and I have completed two portraits of Prince Philip.

So, two portraits are done and here is the first........

This one come along really nicely, and it is the first colour portrait I have done in a while.

I painted this in pastel, and I am pleased with the result, I painted this one very "loosely" and didn't let myself get caught up in anything too much, and just kind of let myself go.

I really enjoyed this one, and I think I captured the "essence" of the subject rather than fuss too much over detail, and this is how I prefer to work now actually.

Here is the second of the two portraits........

Now this one turned out to be a very different portrait from the first, I ended up spending quite a lot of time getting detail right on this, which is something I did not do with the first.

The first portrait has a more "sketchy" feel to it, whereas I think this one has a slightly more polished look.

I am pleased with both of these paintings, and it has been good to get my pastels out for the first time in a while. Although these paintings are of the same subject, I think I portrayed him in two different ways here, and that is the beauty of art isn't it? Putting some of yourself into the painting aswell!

I hope you enjoyed these, and be sure to come back soon, I am regularly putting my new things here to share with you all.

See you soon,

James

Hello again, I hope all is well. I am writing this blog in response to the recent news that I am sure you have heard, that a planet has been found named kepler 22b which is considered to be much like our own planet, in the sense that it has all of the essential requirements to harbour "life".

This is amazing news and it has been great reading about this new discovery. It has always been observed that there must be plenty of planets out there like this, however, we now have kepler 22b to confirm this. Now, this is of course very exciting news, as we, the human race has always faced the question.... "are we alone?"

First of all, I would like to say that I am not pretending to be an expert on this subject by any means, far from it in fact (and even qualified atronomers would probably say that nobody is an expert that knows everything there is to know). But I am interested enough in this to have a reasonable amount of knowledge, and I would like to share my views and what I know about this with you.

I quite often read new articles about space and astronomy, and I also have a collection of space paintings on this site, so I thought it may be a good idea to include something about this good bit of news here. And I may dedicate a painting to this very subject, some time in the future.

We all know that "Life" can mean anything from bacteria, to plants, to fish to mammals etc (or of course any kind of life that is unknown to us). So far, as far as we know we are alone in the universe, meaning we have not found any evidence of any other life yet. However, we do know that there are enough stars and planets out there to make it very likely indeed (statistically) that there is other life out there. And maybe kepler 22b will start providing us with some more clues! And there is a massive point to make here right now, and it is this......the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe, in any form, no matter how small or inadvanced that life may be, would be possibly the most significant discovery of all time, because it would answer the very important question...... "how rare is life"?

What does this question mean exactly, and why is it so important?.... "how rare is life"?

Well, we know that for a planet to harbour life to there has to be certain requirements........

Water - a planet has to have moisture or water of some quantity for life (as we know it) to exist.

A "goldilocks zone temperature" - a planet needs to be within a certain distance of it's neighbouring star so that it is not too hot, and not too cold. A planet needs to orbit it's star to within a certain distance to have a temperature that is somewhere in the middle, known as "the goldilocks zone" so that life can exist.

Atmosphere - And a planet needs some kind of atmosphere for life to exist.

See image below to get a better idea of what "the goldilocks zone" actually is......

The very fact that life has evolved on our planet is such an amazing concept that it actually boggles the mind just thinking about it. I do not have the exact figures at hand but I can assure you that the odds of our evolutional journey happening (which it obviously has) is such an amazing feat, the odds of this happening are actually astronomical (excuse the pun). The thought that life has evolved on this planet that has become intelligent enough to question where it has come from is simply incredible, and maybe the most incredible thing that has ever happened? But the significance of the question of "how rare is life" basically means that, if you have all the right ingredients for life to happen on a planet eg water, temperature, atmosphere, will life definately occur? Will every planet that meets these certain requirements definately hold life? Or was it literally such a rare event that planet earth is the only planet that this has happened on? Are we so unique in the universe that there are billions of planets capable of supporting life just like our own, but earth is the only planet where this process has taken place? This is a massive question that we may be on the verge of answering, and it will open up a massive can of worms regarding how teeming with life the universe is.

Now, it has often been speculated that the amount of stars in a galaxy is around 200 - 400 billion stars, and it has also been speculated that there could be 100 - 200 billion galaxies in our universe( a recent prediction actually raised that to 500 billion!) That is a lot of stars by anyones standards, and all if not most of these stars will have several planets orbiting them, so the simple law of averages tells us that there will be countless numbers of planets that are in the"goldilocks" zone as mentioned earlier, meaning that they orbit their star at a distance which provides a suitable temperature, so we know that there are plenty of places out there where life could evolve.

Getting back to this question of "how rare is life?" if we find life in any form on another planet, what this will basically mean is that the process of life may not be such a rare event after all, so far we know of only one planet which harbours life, which is our own, but if we discover a second, this would tell us that there is a good chance that many other planets which meet the requirements of life could very well harbour life too, because we would know that it is not such a rare event after all.

And although we have always suspected that there is plenty of hospitable planets, we have now found what looks to be the closest one to us. Here is an unknown artists representation of what kepler22b may look like.......

Here are some facts about this recently discovered planet that I have researched......

Kepler 22b was discovered on 5th Dec 2011

It's radius is around 2.4 times the size of earth

It was discovered by the NASA kepler spacecraft

It is located in the constellation Cygnus

It orbits the star - kepler 22, which has a light output that is 25% less than our sun (this is compensated by the fact that kepler 22b orbits this star slightly closer than earth does to the sun, therefore maintaining the "goldilocks zone"

Kepler 22b's orbit around it's star is 290 days, in comparison with our 365 day orbit around our star (the sun)

Very exciting and interesting news to actually hear and read about another planet so similar to our own isn't it? But I suspect the truth of the matter is that this planet is so far away that there is a good chance that by the time anyone reaches this planet, the human race could very well be extinct, including any life that may or may not be there. However, I hope that we can gather information in some way or another, that could give us an insight as to what is on this planet. It was once observed by Richard Dawkins that even if there is other life out there somewhere else in the universe, we actually might aswell be alone anyway, because the universe is so large that the time it would take to get to another star to potentially "meet" another lifeform would be so long that both life forms would probably be long extinct before meeting each other! Slightly depressing thought I know, but I actually remain optimistic about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, in whatever form it may be, and I would like to see SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence) keep up the good work that they do, whether it is directed towards kepler 22b or any other area they direct their attention towards.(And it is worth looking up and reading about this organization, for a fascinating insight as to what they do).

With new discoveries happening everyday, we live in very exciting times, and I look forward to the prospect of finding out more and more about this universe we live in, and we are very priveliged to be able to enjoy the technological advancements that bring us these discoveries.

Please feel free to comment on anything else you may know about this subject. As I would love to gather some more facts about this.

I will leave you with a small collection of my space paintings to round this one off, I hope you enjoy. I have more new pieces to put up here soon but here our some of my old favourites......

See you next time

James

The Beauty of Earth

Acrylic on canvas

Ganymede and the Gas Giant

Acrylic on canvas

Pluto and the Kuiper Belt

Acrylic on canvas

I tend to work a lot quicker these days. I have finished number four of a series of charcoal studies tonight, which is not bad going, considering that I only decided that I was going to go ahead with these paintings about a week and a half ago. Yes, they are essentially black and white, tonal studies, which are obviously going to take a lot less time than a full colour piece, but this is still pretty quick for four portraits.

So what? I hear you ask. Yes, so what indeed, it is not a race after all, far from it in fact, painting and drawing can be a kind of relaxing therapy. But actually, the great thing about art is that a painting can convey a sense of mood or feeling, that of which the artist was feeling a the time of painting. This mood could be relaxed, or it could be quite the opposite. How many paintings have you seen that convey dramatic energy, and explosiveness? Or a kind of rough, boldness that pleases the eye? What I am going on about here is that I am well aware now that spending a long, long time on a portrait, does not necessarily mean that it is "better". It has been observed by many an artist before that usually, the best works of art are actually done reasonably quickly, whereas if a painting is taking a long time, it can often mean that maybe the painting is not progressing well. Not always of course, some of the best paintings in the world were completed over a long time, but also some of the best ones were not.......

I think what I am trying to express here is my own appreciation of art that is painted quickly, or spontaniously.

I think there is actually a lot of appeal about work that is completed at a quick pace. I think that there is an element of "energy" to a freshly painted, or drawn portrait, that is painted or drawn "live" or "alla prima".

I really enjoyed working on these recent portraits, and it feels good to be able to finish work, and move on to the next one fairly quickly, and it actually takes a lot of practise and conditioning to do so. A few years ago, I would have had trouble producing work this way, preferring to spend days or weeks on a piece, however, I have grown to appreciate a lively, energetic, "off the cuff" look to my work, and I think I am on to something here.

Don't get me wrong, I still see a lot of great artwork that looks so good, it is almost "photographic", something that looks as though somebody has spent months, measuring, and delicately working away on it, and I always will see great work like this. But I really can see a beauty in quick, bold, and spontanious strokes and marks in work too.

I suppose I am mainly talking about portraits here really, although the same applies to artwork of all kinds of course, but a landscape to me is preferably something that relaxes my eyes upon viewing, something that has been painted in a relaxed mood perhaps, something that can be gazed into more. I think I like to see energetic, bold marks on portraits especially, mainly for the visual impact and stimulation that can be achieved.

The point that fascinates me here is the fact that if you paint a portrait and kind of care less about how it is going to end up, it can actually end up looking better! It may seem that I am talking nonsense here but honestly, I suggest you try it. Get out some pastels, or a pen, or whatever your medium of choice, and just go for it. Make bold, carefree marks and don't hold back and you might just find that you create the best work that you have ever done. What have you got to lose? And do you know what? It is actually harder to make yourself, "not care", than it is to paint or draw in a careful manner. Every fibre of your being wants to hold back and be careful, but it definately creates a more energetic portrait if you include some carefree, confident panache (there's a word I never thought I would use in this blog!).

Anyway, stay inspired, and keep going. Keep on creating, it is good for you, I believe that. Here is the final piece from my recent series anyway, this one I have called "a time for change", feel free to leave your feedback, I always appreciate it.

Until next time,

James

Here I am again, sitting in front of the TV, summarising the recent happenings of my life, so I can put it all down in words for you to enjoy.

I have to say, this blog started as a way for people to view my recent paintings, with a brief explanation to go along with it. Now, it is of course still a platform where I can show you my latest work, but I like to think it's a little bit more now......

Let me explain. I have grown quite fond of writing up these blog posts, and I now use this blog as a kind of therapeutic tool. Very deep, I know, but I actually look forward to posting new works, and I can now use this blog as a way to put down whatever goes through my head, whether it be painting related, or something that has got my attention in the past few days. As most of you have probably guessed, by my gallery dedicated to astronomy, I am fascinated by space, and I constantly come across new pictures on the net, or elsewhere, which I like to share for other people to see, so I can now use this blog to show these too a larger audience. In a nutshell, I am enjoying this blog, as I have said previously, and you can look forward to some great posts that I have planned.

With the new year in site, it looks like I have a busy time ahead. As you may know, I have a solo exhibition coming up sometime in the spring/summer time, at an undecided location. Additional to this, I have decided to write, and illustrate my own childrens story book.... Yes, thats right! This obviously has a long way to go, but I already have a idea to develop, and I will be working on next year. I will write about developments of this here soon, but I am not giving anything away just yet!

Now, back to the third painting of my series of portraits.....

I have named this piece, "a night of darkness"....

This name has particular relevance, as it was a very dark night when I painted this portrait in more ways than one. Not only was there gale force winds, and a downpour of rain going on that night, but I was also going through a very "dark night" in regards to mood/frame of mind that night. I won't go into details, but I think I have managed to convey mood very well so far with this series, and I think I have just one or two more to complete before I will move onto some more work.

So, here it is....."a night of darkness"...(literally)

Let me know what you think....

Now, as I mentioned earlier, this blog has become a platform for me to share different subjects that come to my attention, and I would just like to share with you another gem, I stumbled upon tonight.

I will leave you with possibly the best photograph of the milky way, I for one have ever seen. To the best of my knowledge this photo is real, no photoshopping at all!.... Enjoy this amazing pic.

Until next time,

James