Originals

TIMING

Originals leave the studio in batches, primarily when we finish a new collection and the whole lot, the originals to be published and the extra pieces, end up at the publisher. These are then allocated galleries and online slots to be put forward for sale, you can of course jump the queue a little bit by popping your name on a waiting list and this way you will get first dibs on any new work but pinning down originals can be an art in itself.

Weddings commissions translate well to novel pieces, half the fun is designing what you can get away with and then painting the resulting chaos such as the Camel Alley and surfing inspired piece shown above. When you have so many elements to include you can add situations and reactions that you would normally stay away from when designing a commercial collection and you focus entirely on making sure it amuses the client as much as possible as opposed to as many people as possible.

THE ULTIMATE PIECE

Owning an original from any artist is the ultimate acquisition; you are getting a piece of the artists life along with the time and skill that went into it's creation and the journey that led them to this point. Sounds a bit dramatic doesn't it? But basically that's what it is - time, tears and skill in an attractive package. Getting something to a stage where it is desired and commands attention on a gallery wall is not an easy task which is why originals remain the ultimate collecting item when following an artists career.

I'm no Banksy or Picasso and I've no doubt that billionaires won't be fighting over my creations after my demise but the truth is, most originals are never seen and disappear into collections so I thought it'd be rather fun to sneak a view at some of the hidden gems.

WHATEVER YOU WANT

Commissions allow you to dictate the content of an original, either to make it more personal or to depict something or someone in particular. The plus side is that you can pretty much get what you want, the down side, if there is any, is that commissions are traditionally a little more expensive than an off the wall original and take a little longer to produce. A commission, if sold, becomes just an original to anyone else as the personal bit is left behind whilst an original remains an original to all but both are still as desirable as each other.

Commissions can be a rich seam of inventiveness due to their random nature; if you look above you can see a painting we produced for a strawberry jam farm that contained lots and lots of elements the client requested and because we were given free rein, we went to town.

Above is a retro computing piece full of in jokes and old technology that nailed the brief but to the left is a relatively simple piece with a gold leaf background. Relatively simple that is until you realise it was 48'' high and 32'' wide. It was huge! The Impossimals are a slightly different shape too and the items of food were all requested by the client.

Some people choose to include their business or home such as the lovely 'Belle Lingerie' did a number of years ago (shown below). It's a quick take on 'Panic Room' but with lots more innuendo, again, this was a whopping 48'' piece but the scale really made sure it pulled you in.

You can also really go off menu too if you like. Combining family members, food, favourite films, characters, hobbies and a host of other things lead to images like this Star Wars inspired caravan dragster with Wacky Races overtones shown in the painting above.

But if you really want to go bonkers then throw everything at it an see what we do with it.

Well, the last person to do that gave us one of our favourite paintings to complete, how many impossimals, film references, famous faces can you spot in it? (see below)