Tuesday 15 November 2016

2016 and all that..

Howdy people

I think I'll give up apologising for the  lack of blog posts, and just accept (as you may have to) that they will not be that regular!

Anyway, here we are at the end of the year again. It has been a funny old year, news wise (worryingly in my opinion), and two of my musical heroes have died (Bowie and Cohen), but in creative terms it has been pretty fruitful and exciting. I've been working on a rather exciting commission in the last few months, which I can't reveal yet(!), transformed an elephant, and created my biggest donkey print to date!

I NEVER EVER take interest in my work for granted, and would like to thank you for supporting me. I love what I do, and to be able to do it for a living still blows my mind, even after seven or so years. So, THANKS A BUNCH!!!!

HERD OF SHEFFIELD



















So, the auction was held last month, at the Crucible in Sheffield, to sell of all 52 elephants created for 'Herd Of Sheffield'. My 'Donkeys in Elephant Land' one raised £6000, and the total raised was over £400,000 for the Sheffield Children's Hospital, to buy vital medical equipment. What a result!

My elephant was bought by John Mellor and his family in Sheffield, and it is now at home in their house. Over the years they have been raising a fair bit of money for medical equipment for Sheffield schools, so it is fitting that they won the auction. Here is pic of John's mother-in-law hazel with the elephant.














NEW PRINTS

I have a couple of new prints to show you:

'Tabitha' 2-colour linocut print
























Tabitha belongs to my friend Camilla. She has a house full of very beautiful cats, and I was drawn towards this particular one. I particularly enjoyed trying to create the tabby markings on her fur and her wired expression! It is an edition of 100.


Whitby No.4 2-colour linocut/screen-print


































This is my fourth print of the beautiful Yorkshire town of Whitby. I had featured the abbey previously, but with this print I wanted to concentrate on getting more detail into the building, and the surrounding landscape. The image started off as a linocut, but I decided to print the edition (of 60) as a slightly larger screen-print (at Sheffield Print Club).

Both prints are available in my Folksy shop.


EVENTS

Here are my last four events of the year. Maybe I'll see you at one or other of them?


Sheffield Print Fair 2016
St Mary's Church & Community Centre, Bramall Lane, Sheffield S2 4QZ
Sat 19th November 2016, 10am-4pm
I co-organise this event, now in its 4th year. This time we have 44 printmakers, plus print demonstrations, kids' workshops and very tasty food and drink. We're really looking forward to it, and are more than a little bit excited to show you what's on offer! The event is supported by Folksy and Sheffield Hallam University, and we are very grateful to them. The posters were created by the supremely talented We Live Here. Check out our blog for more info.

 




The Harley Gallery Christmas Art & Food Market 
A60 Mansfield Road, Welbeck, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 3LW
Fri 25th-Sun 27th November 2016, 10am-5pm
One of my favourite events of the year, and one I always end up buying things from too! A really big marquee in the beautiful grounds of the Welbeck Estate, full of top-notch art and craft.

Kelham Island Victorian Christmas Market 

Kelham Island, Alma Street, Sheffield S3 8RY
Sat 3rd (10am-7pm) and Sun 4th (10am-5pm) December 2016
Christmas begins here. Everyone (including myself!) all dressed in Victorian costume, endless festive songs, buskers, food, drinks and loads of art, craft and gifts.


The Holt Craft Market 

156 Arundel Street, Sheffield S1 4RE
Saturday 10th December 2016, 11am-4pm
The Holt is normally a fancy cafe by day, but is hosting a cool little craft market in time for Christmas.



Right, that is it. I hope you have a great festive break, and thanks again!















Friday 29 July 2016

Summer elephants, forests, donkeys and the seaside..

Howdy!

Herd news, and loads of new prints this month. No event news, as I'm taking a bit of a break for August, but lots to come from September onwards.. I'll keep you posted..


HERD OF SHEFFIELD
























So, here is my finished elephant, entitled 'Donkeys In Elephant Land', in place at Weston Park, Sheffield, as part of the 'Herd Of Sheffield' trail. The trail consists of 58 large elephants placed all around the city, each transformed by a different artists. There are also a load of smaller ones transformed by various schools/schoolchildren in the city. I'm very proud to have taken part in the project, and see peoples reactions to my work. I've seen pretty much all of the other elephants, and they look ace. I'm in very good company; See the full list of artists here. The elephants will be in place until October 2016, and will be auctioned off for the Sheffield Children's Hospital afterwards.

By the way, my design is based on a few donkey landscape screen-prints I have recently created. 


NEW WORKS 
Quite a few new prints here (especially donkey ones!), since I last blogged. They are all available in my Folksy shop, and some in my Etsy shop (shop links in the titles):

Cromer No.2 (2-colour linocut print)
























It is pretty much the reverse view of my 'Cromer No.1' print. I'm a big fan of the Norfolk coast, and felt the urge to take on the challenge of this beautiful Victorian pier.




Black Donkey Dream (A3 3-colour screen-print in blue/yellow and red/yellow)

























This is a continuation of the 'donkey dream-world' series of prints I've been creating over the last couple of years. 
 

Happenings In Donkey World No.3 (A2 2-colour screen-print in lemon/navy and peppermint/grey)


















My biggest 'donkey-world' print, and first ever on non-white paper, it is simply a further exploration of this place I have dreamed up where donkeys inhabit, away from us pesky humans.
 

Midnight Donkey (2-colour linocut print)
























This donkey has just popped out for a late-night stroll. Who knows what adventures he might have?
 

Jackdaw (2-colour linocut print)
























I have a plan to create a series of prints of black birds from the UK. First the blackbird, then the jackdaw, then I'm not sure!


The Folk Forest No.6 (A3 limited poster-print)
























This is the official poster for the 'Folk Forest' music festival in Sheffield, which is part of Tramlines Festival. I create a different design based on the theme each year, and this is the 2016 one. The posters are limited to 100 copies.

Tuesday 24 May 2016

Elephants?

Howdy!

I've been working on a rather unusual commission this month, in the shape of an elephant; not a print of an elephant, but a great big fibreglass elephant! My job was to transform it into a piece of art, as part of the 'Herd Of Sheffield' project. In brief, fifty artists in the city have been chosen to apply a transformation, and the finished elephants are going to be displayed around Sheffield as a kind of trail from July 2016. People will be encouraged to find them all with the help of a special app. Each elephant has a sponsor (mine is the University Of Sheffield), and when the trail ends in September, the elephants will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Sheffield Children's Hospital.

In addition to this, lots of schools of Sheffield have been getting involved, transforming a load of smaller beasts. these will be displayed in the city, too.

As my studio isn't really big enough for a life-size elephant, my elephant was based in a Special Steels factory in Attercliffe, Sheffield, alongside a load of other artist's elephants. All sorts of great artists are involved in this, including George Law, Tom Newell, Kid Acne, Lisa Maltby, Jonathan Wilkinson, Florence Blanchard, Coralie Turpin-Thomson, Ella Osborne and many more. We were given two weeks to do our 'work' in the factory, and it was a lot of fun, but a really hard work too. I'm used to a printing studio, not a big smelly, grimy factory, but I think it did my brain some good to be out of my normal environment! I met some lovely artists that I hadn't before too, and in a way it felt like we were on some weird school project. We hung out, painted, drank gallons of tea and ate our sarnies, while the steel-workers gave us funny looks (they were all very friendly actually).

Here are a few sneaky preview shots of my elephant. As you might have guessed, I decided to have a 'donkey' theme. I'll show you the full thing when the Herd is launched in July 2016, and let you know where you can see him.

my undercover elephant!

pre-painted beast

work-in-progress donkeys 1

work-in-progress donkeys 2

work-in-progress donkeys 3

finished elephant leg!
 

Friday 15 April 2016

Open Up Sheffield 2016

This is just a quick blog post to let you know about Open Up Sheffield 2016

 







It takes place on the last weekend of April and the first one of May. Loads of artist based in the city open up their studios to the public to come and see how they work and maybe buy some art too! It is a really great event and highlights the diversity of artistic talent there is in Sheffield. I'm open on:

Saturday 30th April, Sunday 1st May, Saturday 7th May and Sunday 8th May



















I'll be taking part this year (as I have done in the last few years), but this time from my new(ish) studio at the bottom of my garden! I'm going to tidy it up a bit, maybe bake a cake, and do some linocutting and printing (as well as displaying a load of my prints).

I'm based in Meersbrook, S8, and you can find more details and a map at the following link:

http://openupsheffield.co.uk/open-up-artists/james-green

Look out for the balloons and sign outside my house on the days I'm open. Maybe see you soon!


Tuesday 15 March 2016

March, really?

Hi there

Is it really March? Oops. Apologies for the lack of blogging for the past three months.

I have an excuse. I spent most of January working on commissions, and then February on new prints. Since Christmas I'm still feeling the effects of having 'been on TV', with quite a lot of interest in my work, which I'm very grateful for!

ELEPHANT!













I've been selected as one of the artists for the 'Herd Of Sheffield' project. What this means is that I (and several other artists) have been tasked with creating art on rather large fibre-glass elephants. The finished artworks will be displayed around Sheffield in a 'trail' later in the year. Each creature has been sponsored (mine by The University Of Sheffield), and they will be auctioned off at the end of the trail period, with all profits going to the Sheffield Children's Hospital charity. I'll keep you posted with work-in-progress pics!


NEW PRINTS
I have three new landscapes to show you, and one new creature.

Two landscapes are of Scarborough. I visited last year for the first time in ages, and was somewhat inspired. The Yorkshire coast. Need I say more? 'Scarborough No.1' is a 2-colour linocut (edition of 100), and 'Scarborough No.2' is a larger linocut/screenprint (edition of 60). I have also made a print of a view in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire. I've passed this view many times on my way through the region, and thought it about time to capture it. 'Matlock Bath' is a 2-colour linocut (edition of 100).

 
Scarborough No.1























Scarborough No.2























Matlock Bath


























Also, 'Young Badger' is the latest creature to make a home in my collection. It is available as an A3 poster-print.

Young Badger
 

 





















GREETING CARDS
I have now signed up with card publishers Green Pebble to produce all of my greeting cards. They supply cards to shops and galleries all over the world, and you can also buy direct from their website. All of the designs for sale are ones that I've never previously had available (inc Peloton, Pheasants, Stag and more).



EVENTS 









I'm taking part in the following events over the next month or so:
 
Manchester Print Fair
Sat 19th & Sun 20th March 2016, People History Museum, Salford

Leeds Print Festival - Print Fair
Sat 3rd April 2016, Munro House, Leeds LS9 8AG

Open Up Sheffield
Sat 30th April, Sun 1st May, Sat 7th May, Sun 8th May (location via the link)

Yes, the Sheffield open studios event returns, and this year I'm taking part in my (newish) own studio in my back garden! New works, some linocutting/printing and cake too..