Hello to all after some time away.
Its been an interesting year for me with lots of changes both business and personal. Some great design work have been created for clients across the uk and national recognition for my skills. Mainly a recognition from the world leading Desktop Publishing company QuarkXPress. One of my photo montages has been included in a European wide poster to promote their new www.ilovedesign.com website. Great bit of publicity for my graphical and manipulation skills, and a big boost to my self belief.

I have also sold quite a few pieces of art and also canvas prints to the public and clients too. A new venture for me is my photographic art, which has received much praise recently. I manipulate digital photos that I have taken over the years and transform them to weird and wonderful creations. These are sold as canvas prints, metallic prints mounted to black edged MDF, acrylic mounted vinyl prints, metal etchings, and traditional framed prints, as well as gliche varnished canvas wraps. I am now actively promoting this new photo art under ideo-sync, and my new business 'Magus Imagery'.

In addition to this I now offer a garden art service, where digital images can be reproduced in fully waterproofed and weatherproofed materials for display in gardens, on walls and floors. You can even have entire walls in your home or garden transformed into an entire scenic view. Imagine sitting down in your living room and looking into a misty forest!

I have galleries on both Facebook and Flickr so please take a look:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neojacker/
http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=658281883&ref=pb

I am very positive about the future and hope to get lots of exposure and of course sales in 2008.

Please get in touch if your interested in any of the products mentioned for pricing, as goods can be shipped worldwide.

So I've come back to blog land after a long time away. After months of hard work mixed with hard times I am starting to get more into my art and creative past.

Its time I spent more time being artistic and less time at the office. Its a push by me to explore my photo art and try to turn this into a business venture.

I have a growing collection of weird and wonderful photo art on both Facebook and Flickr (check the links below):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14344&id=658281883

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neojacker/

Please take a look and tell me what you think, good or bad. I am selling these as prints, standard and metallic, as box canvases, white acrylic and clear acrylic blocks. Also as digital files, posters and much more.

All the images are from my own photo collection and have been manipulated with Photoshop.

So lets hear your views and also any suggestions or advice would be great as well.

Its been a long while but I am back. Lots has happened in my world over the past months and all positive.

New Year blues have finally gone and full steam ahead for 2007. Art wise I have an exhibition coming up at the Custard Factory in Birmingham, which is really good. Its called AART and I will be one of many artists on show.

Also the Burslem Festival group, which I am a part of, held their 3rd arts festival which saw nearly 30 arts and crafts people promoting their work.

Lots to do in the run up to the exhibition, which is at the end of March. Mainly, I have to organise a lock-up/studio to produce some larger work. Sourcing waste materials to use in my art, such as wire, nails, paint, scrap metal, computer circuitry, electrical parts and wires. If anyone knows of a source for cheap clear varnish I would be really grateful, as its not exactly cheap and I can use 4 tins each time to seal in my textural pieces.

Its good to be back for 2007, so watch this space.

Jason.

Technorati Profile

Well its been so long since I posted here guys so my apologies for keeping away. Just so much to do in so little time.

The good news is that I have my first large scale exhibition coming up! I have been accepted to exhibit at The Great Art Fair at London's Alexandra Palace this November. Over 300 artists will be exhibiting their own art to several hundreds of thousands of visitors during the 4 day show, so pretty exciting stuff.

It starts on November the 30th and finished on the 3rd December so if anyone is in or around London and fancies seeing a huge variety of British art, please come along.

Now I have a panic on to produce at least 20 new works ready for the show - nothing like a spot of pressure lol.

Sorry for being away for so long but I am making the effort to post here once a week now.

Jason.

Blimey I must be ill. Two posts in one night :-p

All of the work shown on my blog so far is of examples of my abstract art. Where the main part of my staple living is made from graphic design and photography.

But I have just produced my first two digital camera reviews for an online photography magazine, which I am really happy about. As a novice writer / reviewer, its a great big pat on the back for me, and with more reviews to come in the future I can safely say that I have surprised myself. Don't worry Im not here to gloat, its just great to know that your efforts have been praise worthy enough to be used by a magazine in the 'real world'. Luckily I did have all my time spent as a digital camera demonstrator and provided technical support for these in a previous job. But I think having a passion for photography was more important in creating a review that consumers could understand.

I have spent most of my study and working life using cameras and spending my spare time taking shots of anything that has interested me. Naturally enough I have built up hundreds of images which now need putting online, with some to hopefully sell as canvas prints.

So I think I had better get a sample range of these images on here soon. Everything from scenic, documentary, macro to abstract and the down right disturbed and weird.

Hello all,

Well just wanted to spread the word on the street that I have just successfully completed an art commission, for one of my design clients.

Here is a zoom shot:

The brief was to liven up 4 prints the client had purchased from Ikea! Yes Ikea! The god part was that the posters were mounted onto an MDF board and a box for hanging. The client wanted something to match their living room colour scheme, but that had a different feel to it. I pretty much had a free reign on the design.

From the two colours of magnolia and chocolate, I mixed in a caramel and an olive to be the basis for the 4 panels. The colours were mixed using matt emulsion paints. The texture was worked in Hard as Nails, which was spread over each board and then stippled for the raised effect. Then using a kind of rake tool made by myself, I made the wave lines flow across the panels. The wave lines were then smoothed using a wet cloth to create a break in the texture.

Once each board was filled with a different solid colour, the four wave lines were filled with a different colour that kept its line all the way across. The final touches were simply white matt spray at an angle to further lift the textures.

The final panels look like icing that you find on cake decoration. The client was over the moon with the design and has since placed a new order.

Just wanted to share one of my commissions with you all so as usual you impartial comments please. Sorry about the photos being a bit blurry but the shots were taken in a rush when the client came early to collect.

By the way the aptly named title for this project is simply 'Wave Cake'.

CAVE







So here is another sample of my art. This time its completely different from my last entry in both look and how its created.

This piece was created using acetate plastic from old tape cassette cases, which was smashed and then melted using a blow torch to create the smooth surfaces. The colour was created using matt house paints using a dry brush technique, whereby a small amount of paint is applied to a brush and then lightly flicked onto the surface to create subtle light broken brush strokes. Building up these strokes created many layers of fine detail.

Finally the finishing touch was to use a few whole tins of clear wood varnish to seal everything in place and to create the water type reflections.

You can see the detail much better in the close up shot. Again this is meant to be viewed from all angles, from afar and very close up indeed and this is also intended for people to touch as well, to really feel the changes in the surface.

It is very alien in nature and was created by sheer experimentation, it was only when I had finished that I stood back and was shocked just how realistic it was in comparison to the inside of a cave wall. Anyone that has been pot-holing will instantly appreciate this.

I really do like this piece personally and never get tired of looking at it. I suppose it appeals to my primeval instincts on a subconscious level.

JADE BURN

This second work is a very recent piece and shows my development. This time the base texture was created using everyday filler and sealant. The box frame was built and a hardboard sheet attached. Then drill holes were dotted randomly around the surface. Once done, 4 inch masonry nails were hammered in for the spiked effect you see. The texture was applied using old paint brushes and wound around the nails to hide the metal to create stone like pinnacles. White spray paint was applied to hide any breaks and to give a wash of white. Then car body under-seal was smudged around the surface and scorched with a blow torch. The beauty of this substance is that is turn into a solid cast metal like texture, similar to lava flows. I then also used a yellow house paint that when burned turned to an orange colour and also gave wonderful burnt brown parts.

In a flash of inspiration I got out a tin of wood paint that was a jade green wash, typically used for subtle was effects on furniture. When I stared to apply this I was just taken a back by the stunning changes in the colour of the piece. This went from a mixture of deep grey and orange to a white and jade coloured stone like surface.

I love the way that the piece resembled an alien landscape when you view it flat on a table. If you put your head right down to the side you are almost taken to distant planet and see yourself flying across the landscape. The pinnacles give a depth similar to mountainous peaks and the surface is dotted with holes and crater like dishes.

The big child in me was fascinated by this and I was pretty much imagining I was Luke Skywalker for about half an hour!!!

ICE STORM

This third work also uses 6 inch masonry nails, but this time I chose to keep the piece totally white. I conciously put the nails in densely at the edges fading to one single very large cone in the centre. This was to draw the eye right into the centre of the composition and hold you there. Shadows are created with lighting in any room you place this in. Like Jade Burn, this is also appreciated more from a close up view from the sides. You really get drawn deep into the surface by the tall spikes and the shadows. To me this became a dream like ice planet with huge ice needles.

Yes I do have a very active and vivid imagination - but then I suppose all artists do! I want my art to be different and unique and to do more than just look interesting. I want the viewer to be taken on a visual journey and to have to study the textures and surfaces I create. I'm sure you can see why I have difficulty in categorising my work.

Well, please do comment on these, and do give me your instant reactions to these. I will be continuing to add pieces to this blog so you can all start to see the variety in my work. Even though my new works are totally different, I still hold to the basic textural surfaces to give extra dimension to my art.

I look forward to your comments.

Well here is an example of my abstract art - finally I hear you call :-).

As you can see, this is not your typical art and is made using non traditional and household materials such as silicone sealant, filler, wax, house paint. Creating the texture is done using the other end of a paint brush like a stick.

The final touches were created using a dry brush technique for the subtle coloration's. This was my first creation some 8 years ago and even though you get a good feel of the emotion this really has to be viewed close up to appreciate all the textural changes.

New work is at another extreme, where I have introduced to use of nails, broken glass and nuts and bolts for pattern and base colours for a stark effect.

I do have trouble putting my art into a category, especially in web directories as they are not strictly paintings, more like textural art? Still I get a hell of a lot of satisfaction from creating these and will soon be selling these on both my website, and on eBay.

Funnily enough my graphic design in totally opposite, being clean and crisp but its still a creative outlet and equally rewarding, still like most other struggling artists, we would all give up our day jobs if we could survive on selling our art alone!

Please give me your honest criticisms on this piece, this will really help to gauge what other people genuinely think, so if you think its crap go on tell me so! But if you do then tell my why you do.

Okay that's one example, and more will come in time.

Now Its time to start thinking about my busy day at the office tomorrow and the heap of projects to get through - I love it really.

Well I trust we all had a rest this Christmas and tried desperately to not eat too much!

After finding this the worst year I can recall for telly during the festive season I couldn't help noticing the sheer amount of tack being flashed in peoples faces. Why is it that people can be so so discerning the rest of the year with their interior decoration and clothes etc. But when it comes to Christmas we all throw taste out of the window?

Now Im not being 'bar humbug' about this, but Christmas can still be a place for taste. I did design lots of mailings for my clients during December and also a few window posters and made sure that they were very tasteful and still kept the festive feel.

Red and gold glitz just makes me shudder and bold tacky clashing metallic's just give me headaches!

This problem covers the gifts we buy, wrapping papers, the cards we send - in fact in every part of the Christmas experience. Of course the children are oblivious to it but adults don't have that excuse.

Okay its out of my system now ;-)

Happy new year to all the blog.co.uk community.