First Big Solo show in 5 years :)

ok, big announcement time: I've done a few festivals, had a few pieces in group shows and done small shows of drawings and watercolour sketches but I'm pleased to announce that work is well underway on my first solo show in 5 years! if anyone wants a personalised invite please email me your postal address and I'll sort it out nearer the time.

I've had a bit of a rough time creatively for awhile now, (I know I moan about it far too much on here) and I've managed to get work together  for group shows and little things. and I've spent my time exploring other areas of creativity and teaching of late, so it's taken me awhile to get into the head space, but I feel really good about this, it's nice to get my teeth into something big and exciting as a solo show, and it dawned on me the other day that it has been 5 years since my last solo show!

Unlike previous bodies of work where part of the spectacle of the show is the huge number of artworks in the show, my plan for this one is to have more meaningful pieces (I'm sure there will still be a big number of images too) and I'm around 10 artworks in and I'm quite pleased with the direction the work is going in.

I'll update more soon :)

Thoughts on the year and Fresh starts

I realise I've been neglecting this blog for quite some time and truth be told I've been neglecting my own art practice for quite some time too, I think the reasons for neglecting my art are many and I suppose  most creatives go through it, but anyway here are my thought on it.
The Image a day project which took place during the entirety of 2014, though very successful was very demanding in terms of time and creativity and so it would have been sensible to take a proper rest afterwards, however I did not, I put myself forward for the Lorient exhibition and upped my hours spent lecturing, in hind sight both of these things were a mistake, though the work for Lorient turned out well in the end, I felt I rushed it and let the pressure of the show really get to me, I didn't give the show the time it deserved. Lecturing is another matter really, I originally got into it to pay for my Masters degree, which I completed and have paid for, I somehow had talked myself into thinking this is how I should spend my time , and don't get me wrong I love teaching but I teach based on my experience and my practice, if teaching takes over my practice stalls and I get few new experiences, which is exactly what is happened.

From a creative perspective 2015 has been the poorest year of my career (it's hard to admit that) I've produced significantly less work than any other year of my career, I've felt very down and burnt out all year, all of this because I did not rest between projects and didn't prioritise what was important to me. over the last couple of months I've had 2 bereavements in my family, and as awful as these tragedies were it has made me evaluate what is important in my life and how I wish to spend my time in this life. I love art, I love making art, I love big crazy art projects, this is how I wish to spend my time, this is how I'm going to spend my time!

I know this post has been a bit whiny, but out of this I feel like I've turned a corner, I feel focused, perhaps more focused than I have in may years, so I'm ready for a creative and refocused 2016!

showing the Lorient work

If you are here on the rock, then please feel free to attend this, a group of us are showing some selected works from the recent show in Lorient:

Strange times and creative block

It's been a funny old year so far, I hadn't realised just how burnt out I was after the image a day project and have felt (creatively) exhausted all year, though there is always a bit of downtime between projects and exhibitions, I've never felt so drained before, I have recently taken part in a group show in Lorrient, France with 3 other Manx artists and 4 Cornish artists. (here is my work and me):

 If I'm being honest I found it incredibly difficult to get motivated to do the artworks required for the show and ended up working right up to the deadline (normally I leave myself at least a month to be finished before a show). I was in France for 10 days and either side of it spent a few days in the Uk visiting friends, visiting galleries and seeing old clients, The show In France was also hugely successful and I feel very proud to have been a part of it, though whilst away I did have a bit of an epiphany, I worked out why it was so hard for me to produce work and why I've done little in the way of art since last December, part of this is due to a little bit of exhaustion, as stated before due to the nature of the image a day project another aspect is due to my teaching role taking up more of my time, so I have less time to produce work (I should note that I love the teaching and find it hugely inspiring and enjoyable) however the main reason why I've found it hard to get going, is that even after 10 years of working as a creative, I'd let myself be convinced that I was no good at it!

It seems silly thinking of it now, but I had let certain individuals (well, one) make me feel bad and inadequate in producing art, my trip away was great it has re-built my confidence as an illustrator, artist, creative or whatever you want to call it. So I feel good again, confident, now I know what the problem was, I know not to listen to certain people as a result I've already started producing new works, I also have ideas for a show, I feel ready to take on a new project now!

The image a day project has ended

Looking back at the start of the project I think I was incredibly naive about how big the project would be. The project has been extremely demanding but also really rewarding. I've had the opportunity to work across many mediums and explore a number of themes (which is alway good fun).  In terms of thinking of an image to create everyday I've only really stumbled a couple of times, at the end of January, I had a couple of days where I really found it hard to come up with anything (though I did, in the end) and then a brief spate around TT week, where I wanted to do images that were bike themed without actually doing images of Bikes.

The long duration  of the project ( a whole year) has made the process of creating an artwork every day into sort of a habit, it's become something I just do every day now.  and it's been nice in that I can explore whatever medium I'm in the mood for be it Acrylic paint, print making, digital or drawing. People ask me how far ahead I work? to be honest, not very, usually only a day ahead. 

I've tried to keep the subject matter as light as I could, but I know at times it got a bit dark, I'll not apologise for that as it's all a part of life, though I would like to thank all those people who emailed or asked if I was ok. (I was, but thanks for asking)

Part of the project meant travelling round all the island's high schools and producing an artwork in front of the students, which was nice (and I'd like to say thank you to all the patient high school art teachers who put up with me). The thing I've enjoyed the most about the project is the amount of exposure it has gotten, it's not just the Manx public that have  viewed the daily artwork, but people from the Uk, USA, Canada, Australia, Malta, Bulgaria, all over the world really,I've Even had views from far flung islands in the south pacific and Mongolia. The Blog averages around 100 to 200 views per day with a current total of around 40k views.

I think I'm too close to the project to decide how I feel about it. I don't know what the arts council plans to do with artwork after the project is over, I've heard plans ranging from an exhibition to a book, I guess we'll see in 2015. People keep asking me what I'm going to do next, in truth I don't know, all I really know is that I'm going to sleep in (all year I've been getting up at 7am or earlier to promote each day's artwork) and I'm going to have a little rest.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank The Island of culture team, the IOM Arts Council for funding the project and to everyone who has viewed the blog throughout the year. it's been a full on year for the island in terms of creativity  and I hope that 2015 will be equally as amazing.

What to do next?

As the image a day project enters it's final stage of about 60 or so artworks, I'm keenly aware of the fact that I have nothing planned for after it is over. In the past when I've finished a big project or large body of work, I've been so exhausted (mentally) that a break is all I've thought about. The image a day project is different in that, yes it is large project with a lot of work involved, but it a little bit of work every day rather than bursts of vast amounts of work over short periods of time. The project has been hard, but it has been good for me, I feel like I have my mojo back (so to speak). i feel like I've been a little lost with my work for a couple of years now, this project has allowed me to try new things, experiment with older methodologies, get a little closure on themes and techniques that have bugged me for awhile.

so here I am, in a position of being inspired and ready for something to do next. now all I have to do is think of something new to do.

Busy and Processes

Just incase you missed it over on: http://imageadayiom.blogspot.com here is a short speeded up video of my painting process, aside form this the project is going well at the moment. I'm hopping to do a few more videos like this

Busy Busy Busy

OK so I know I've been really bad at keeping this up to date lately, though that is about to change very very soon. but in my defence, I have been super busy of late, firstly I've gotten a new computer set up, after being a life long Mac user, I've go a PC mostly because my work is moving more and more towards digital techniques rather than simply paint. That being said I've recently had the honour and privilege of designing and painting some stamps (that's a great job to get, one most illustrators aspire to.) the stamps are themed to the upcoming island of culture and will be on sale from January 6th 2014, so keep your eyes open for that:: 
more exciting island of culture stuff coming soon..

Updates from the mists!

Ok since my last post quite a bit has happened. Firstly I got the results of my MA in 3D computer animation and I passed with a distinction (Woo Hoo! :)), I've returned to the Isle of Man for the time being mostly because I'm flat broke, I will be seeking employment within the computer arts from here on out. I've resumed my old teaching job at the Isle of Man college, teaching illustration, drawing, painting etc.. it's quite fun, which is good. a couple of projects on the horizon that I can't really talk too much about at the moment, but trust me when I say they are very exciting.
for now though, here is my showreel:  Juan Moore showreel from Juan Moore on Vimeo.

FINISHED MY MASTERS!!!

So here we are then, It's the 16th August a date which i thought would never arrive but has snuck up on me rather quickly it is of course the deadline for my masters project. I have handed everything in and feel weird, with nothing to do. I'm fairly happy with what I have produced, I have a debrief meeting on Monday, so i guess I find out then. results will be sent out on August 30th, I return to the island next week and have secured some part time teaching work for at least a year, so whilst I'm looking for work, freelance or otherwise, I will have something. just excited to be finished: here is the finished project:

WATCH THE ANIMATION HERE

News

Ok Big News the Next show which will be at the Courthouse is nearing completion, Please see the poster for more details either call me on 321325 or email me at runswift@hotmail.com.
The other exciting news is that I'm pleased to announce that the final show (the one that show cases all of the work from all the exhibitions of this project) has been confirmed and will open at the Manx Museum in July 2011 ! (Yay!)

Learning, exhibition announcement.

So as part of the Welcome to the neighbourhood project, I've spent the last couple of weeks going to the high schools on the island and doing workshops on conceptual thinking (the process I use to come up with artwork ideas) I must say there are a number of very talented young people around and I do hope some of them take it further.

I must say I'm very pleased with some of the work produced in the workshops and as a result some students work will feature in the final show.

Chico & Rita (the animation I worked on for 15 months) premiered last Thursday, myself and some of the team I worked within went to see it, it was nice to see the end result, having never seen the fully finished film, it was nice to finally close the book on the project which my involvement began in November 2008.

unfortunately I'm now very far behind with the work for the next show.

The next show "One Night Stand" will be at the courthouse bar on 17th January 2011, so I'd best get painting.