After years of thinking about it, wondering if I can afford or even deserve it I’ve just got the keys for a studio.  It’s in the BV Studios which is a brand new development of purpose-built artists’ studios in Philip Street, Bedminster, Bristol.  I have a portion of one of the mezzanine studios (pictured here), I just need to get some shelving, furniture and all my boxes of frames in and I’m sorted.  I’m really excited about this and hope it’ll give my practice an injection of energy it needs and help me move my career on to another level.

I’ve just added my details to Saatchi online.  He seems fairly successful in the art world! so I thought might as well take advantage of the huge amounts of online traffic that no-doubt surge through the site and generate some interest in my own work.

Check out: DMD at Saatchi On-line

0k, so 2009 there’s a recession on with businesses folding left, right and centre.  Just the right time to get into retail then?  Well, that’s what I’ve done!  For a few months I’ve been a partner in Retro Collectables, a shop in Bedminster, Bristol.  We sell unique collectables from the 1950’s to the 1980’s and a range of retro inspired clothing & accessories, books, vinyl, artist made cards, prints and jewellery.  I’m in the shop two days a week and every other Saturday, so it’s a bit of a shock to the system.  For the most part it’s fun, especially buying the stock - particularly the vinyl and sourcing the artwork, but can get a bit boring sometimes when you don’t see a customer for hours! Still great oaks from little acorns grow, so it’s onwards and upwards…

I went to a fantastic wedding a few weeks ago at Banwell Castle in Somerset. More of a folly than a castle it was a beautiful atmospheric location.  Aside from the obligatory wedding shots of our friends Janine & Mick I spent some time capturing the other side of the castle - the quiet forgotten side.

Having been involved in organising the South Bank Arts Trail for five years, I have been looking for a ways to develop new community arts based events.  The big difference being that I’d like to retain more creative control, be funded to do it and be able to pay artists to be involved. Jess Wright was in a similar situation, having run the South Bristol Business Awards for two years she was looking for a new challenge.  We share the same aims but come from different backgrounds:art and business. Seven months ago Jess and I started working on a new project called illuminate. Illuminate aims to produce arts-based events that promote and reflect both the creativity and rich history of South Bristol. Key elements of illuminate projects will be the use of disused properties to show art/moving image work, to reflect the community and history they are set in and to involve key creative organisations in the city of Bristol.

illuminates long-term aim is to produce a festive Christmas event that would transform multiple disused shops on North/East St by using projected films/light/artists installations. We will be piloting the illuminate concept at the end of March with Spring Forward, an event partnered with the Knowle West Media Centre and Picture This:

The weekend of March 27 to 29 will see two empty shops - numbers 26 and 28 in Bedminster’s North Street  - playing host to illuminate’s first event ‘Spring Forward’. Number 26 will feature a series of projected films made by Bristol based artists alongside an exhibition in the empty property (no.28) next door. The exhibition celebrates the past and present of Bedminster’s retail history.

For more information see the illuminate web site

I spent an hour or so in the Robinson building at the top of East St the other day.  The old paper bag factory and one-time home for local artists is being turned into apartments.  I managed to catch it before completion, in a state of flux which is how I like it.  The shot here was taken on the scaffolding looking down towards Dame Emily Park.

  I spent some time this summer creating a mediascape for the Sweet History? project. The project run by the Architecture Centre in Bristol aims to make information about the heritage built environment of Bristol interesting and accessible to young people and lifelong learners. It explored the impact of the sugar and slave trade on the heritage built environment of Bristol, and enabled young people from the Archimedia group (Knowle West Media Centre) to create a host of digital media on the subject.

Using the young people’s audiovisual content as a starting point a website, a trail map and finally the mediascape have been built  introducing 23 landmark buildings and houses linked to 18th century Bristol and the triangular trades of sugar, slaves and tobacco.

For information and downloads visit www.sweethistory.org

My friend artist Tony Eastman has been collecting tiger related memorabilia for many years.  He shares his passion for all things tiger with anyone interested in tigers; collecting; art or purely having a curious mind.  In the past he has shown his collection in his garden shed, complete with curator/guide in costume, but time was right to get with the 21st century.  A web site has now been built, of which I had some input (mainly photographing the collection). The site tigermuseum.com does a great job of showcasing the collection and sharing Tony’s magpie like approach to collecting and enthusiasm for life in general.

I suppose in a month or so we’ll forget the lack of sun this summer?  Actually I don’t really get on in the heat and like the slate grey skies, but I like to feel I’ve had a summer.  This picture was taken in August at a disused airfield in Pembrokeshire - it ticked all the boxes for me, although this tyre sculpture or race track as some describe it did elude to recent human activity..