I'm the cream of the crop

Help me rise to the top (start here)

I never eat a pig

'cause a pig is a cop

Or better yet a Terminator, like Arnold Schwarzenegger

Tryin' to play me out like as if my name was Sega.

Yes, I’m lyin’, I love bacon and ribs, bitch.

I also panic whenever a police car drives past, one time I got pulled over for driving too slowly.

That last sentence wasn’t quite in tune was it?

What is this all about? Why am I writing on Substack?

In short: To share my art with you and write some stuff about it.

My school art teacher was a bit of a dick, he told me that I can’t draw large scale. My reaction? To say fuck off, quit his class, and not draw for 20 years.

In 2019 I read a blog post by

Thomas J Bevan

, his 3 questions struck a chord with me:

Ask yourself:

1. What did I want to become when I was a child?

2. What was I obsessed with as a child?

3. What did people tell me I was good at as a child?

My answers were: 1. video game designer, 2. drawing and playing video games, 3. drawing and playing video games.

After reading his post I thought I’d give drawing a go, I had these nostalgic, cozy feelings of losing myself in pencil and paper as a kid, sitting carelessly on my parent’s carpet. So, I got myself some pen and ink and started drawing my dog, Bruno. It felt a bit alien at first, my mind was doubting every stroke “You can’t do this, you could never draw very well” it said. I shut it up by drawing more and more, stroke by stroke my confidence grew and grew.

I present to you, my first drawings after 20 years (Created in Jan 2019) Which one is your favourite? (Comment at the end if you wish)

Bruno 1-8 (2019) Ink on paper, A5.

I moved on to drawing friends for fun and I got validation from their positive comments. This is a drawing of a good friend, Rory, who’s a wicked artist and illustrator!

Rory Walker (2019) Coloured markers on paper, A5.

I enjoyed having my own unique style, yet I struggled with the notion that my art must look more realistic. The idea of learning how to do that didn’t excite me in the slightest, it felt boring and arduous, more of a chore than being enjoyable. So, I just kept drawing and drawing, then moved on to painting. The internal voice kept saying “You’re shit, you’re shit, you’re shit” so I kept on drawing and painting, drawing and painting, drawing and painting.

In June 2021, I had been doing some life drawing classes, I asked the organiser if she knew of any art studio space. My wife was getting annoyed about all of my art stuff cluttering the house, so my own art studio seemed like a good idea for all, I would have a dedicated space to paint and my wife wouldn’t have a cluttered house with paint on the carpet, it was a win-win! As I was saying, the lady mentioned that there was a place called Artsite, a group of local community art studios. So I got in touch with Sally, one of the founders.

With a stroke of serendipity, a guy had just left his studio to move to the Isle of Wight and a space had become available. What you must understand, is that there’s normally a huge waiting list at Artsite, I got in touch just at the right time. I moved in soon after, and I started to feel like a real boy, I mean, a real artist.

A lot has happened since I made the decision to get my own art studio. I will discuss more of this in my posts. Here’s a quick overview for brevity.

• I had my very first public group art exhibition at Artsite soon after I joined

• I hosted my own successful solo art exhibition

• I published a book of my artwork and self-selected quotes

• A posh London art gallery is selling my artwork on Artsy

• I’ve exhibited in Berlin, London, Paisley, and multiple UK locations

• I’ve got an outstanding achievement award from the Luxembourg Art Prize

• I set up a podcast called SLARTIFY, I’ve only had 2 interviews so far, I’m quite shy you see. But this one with Olek was great!

• Edit: Ah I forgot to add, that I have painted 6 large-scale, outdoor murals in my town. How do you like them apples, Mr.Ravenscroft?! (My ex-art teacher)

A mural I painted with Artist, Harrie Dearing in 2022.

I don’t say any of this to boast, as I’ve achieved these things since I started drawing again in 2019, but I am no closer to being an artist full-time.

Another reason for creating this Substack, I’m a bit tired (in fact, a lot tired) of social media and hustle culture. I worked out the that I’ve spent a 6-month solid block of time, on Facebook since 2007. I know that social media sites have their benefits, but I am at a place now, where the downside outweighs those benefits and my priorities have changed.

*Therefore, this will be the grand hub of my work*

Who will read this?

This space is for the person exploring a creative endeavour on the side. You could also be someone working in the art industry or an art lover.

I’m an artist working in a fairly unrelated day job involving technology, websites, and marketing. So if you’re like me, you’re working in a salaried job (you don’t have to hate it) and exploring creative avenues, then you can listen to me go on about that particular pursuit in my own life.

In the past, I have felt a lot of tension, caused by conditional thinking that says “I will be happy when I leave this job and become an artist”. So I’ve put that notion aside and started writing and sharing my art here instead. This has resulted in me chilling out and enjoying my day job a lot more too!

When will you post? What will you post?

• When: 2 x Weekly posts, one on a Wednesday (to break up that working week nicely, happy hump day!). Then a nice weekend edition on a Saturday sharing my weekly art practice.

• What: I will write about art that I’ve created in the past, new art, and my thought process around juggling art creation and a day job. There will be a dash of my attempt at philosophy too.

So, if that sounds interesting to you, please subscribe.

But don’t take my word for it!

Cream of the crop is recommended by awesome people such as:

• Porn Name Pseudonym
  by
  Clancy Steadwell

• Life Crumbs
  by
  Michael Young

• Thomas J Bevan
  founder of
  Soaring Twenties
  and
  The Commonplace

• 𝐏𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐔𝐒
  and
  "THE LEGENDARY 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐔𝐒"

• Jeanne S

• SÏRÏ

• Tobias (Writes KC☯)

• Dear Reader, I'm lost
  by
  Rebecca Holden

• and… last but not least

  Vitaliy Katsenelson

So if you believe them, please subscribe below.