Jan 18“I can’t imagine a life without music.”Gordon Hayes, owner of Nervous Records, the longest-serving record shop in Hinckley, died on Monday, and a town is in mourning. — Gordon was our friend, and was thought of as a friend by most of our small Midlands town, it seems. …Record Shop6 min readRecord Shop6 min read
Jan 18The January Fist Fight.I’ve just seen someone talking about a website called My Future Self where you write to yourself privately and check back in later — either much later, or just a few months. The potential for encouraging, moving, sorrowful or grateful readings years later is all there, and it seized my imagination in the moment. What a novel idea, I thought. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —Illustration3 min readIllustration3 min read
Jan 5“In spite of it all, life is beautiful.”My creative choices for 2022’s annual mailing were a bit different this year. For 2022’s Christmas project I decided, in a break from 20+ years of massive annual mailings, that I wouldn’t post anything — Autumn’s Royal Mail overwhelm, the cost of postage, workload and the strikes led me to…Illustration4 min readIllustration4 min read
Nov 21, 2022Payment for freelancers.It needs to evolve. It really, really does. I got quite upset the other day when I got the call to collect a repaired car. It was my sister’s; I’d organised the repair in her absence, and I told the garage she’d settle the bill when she was back from her holiday. But of course, the garage, quite correctly, reminded me it couldn’t release the car without…Freelancing2 min readFreelancing2 min read
Oct 5, 2022You’re too expensive, Sarah.Here’s how a conversation went last week about a new book cover.Illustration6 min readIllustration6 min read
May 10, 2022Snowtrees: A collaboration with Dr. Ed GarlandOur friend and long-term Inkymole collaborator Ed Garland is finally on Instagram, after moving away years ago and becoming Dr. Ed. This is good news. After meeting up with him for a weekend recently, I’ve been thinking of all the projects we worked on together. Obviously I hope there will…Illustration4 min readIllustration4 min read
May 4, 2022“…but how long did it take you get your STYLE?”I do a lot of talks and seminars for schools and colleges, and one of the questions I get asked the most is “how important is it to have a ‘style’?” — followed by “how long did it take you to get your own style”? My answer to this is not straightforward. Have a quick scan down the sample images in this post — they’re all from the same period of about 7 years, from graduation onward. You can see what was going on; I’d graduated with a portfolio of wildly ambitious 3D work, built…Illustration5 min readIllustration5 min read
Mar 11, 2022Sleep gone to the devil? It’s horrible, but this is what’s been helping me.My sleep disruption began many months ago as a product of, I think, a combination of pandemic, work anxieties, and a major hormonal re-wiring (the whole dashboard out, y’know the kind). I would get to sleep just fine, but wakefulness would boot me out of my slumber every single night…Sleep6 min readSleep6 min read
Mar 2, 2022If you’re not driving a BMW by the time you’re 24…My university tutor, colleague and leader of the degree course that set me on my path, Bal Nandra, died on Monday morning. That’s him leaning on the railings, big watch, big glasses. I write this with still-surprised eyebrows, because it doesn’t seem like enough time has passed for this to…Illustration3 min readIllustration3 min read
Jan 11, 2022Member-onlyDear Insurance People.I’ve been engaged in a battle to renew my business insurance lately. It’s gone on for an unbelievably long time, because I can’t find anyone to insure us properly. When asked about the reasons why companies are — I’m going to say ‘scared’ — to insure my business, it seems…Creative Business9 min readCreative Business9 min read