However, what I was thinking when this was being said is that I don't do it enough -and not publicly enough. So, I thought I'd better remedy that here. I'm planning a series of posts that show where I've picked up knowledge or where I've fallen into the orbit of an artist I greatly admire, whether they're still around or not! Much the same way that an academic must cite references, although no-one has ever accused me of being academic...So here's the first -and he's alive and well!
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| Paul Slater. Album cover for OMD's Crush. |
I'll spare the embarrassment by not gushing about this first painter because it's highly possible that he'll read this at some point. Paul Slater is an English artist who has been creating wonderful, unique work for papers such as the London Times and others too numerous to mention for a long time. His witty, surreal and beautifully rendered artworks on the food theme were a staple of the Times restaurant critic's page for many years. I came across his work because he was invited to speak at NCAD in 2002 to illustration students and I was also there with fellow Irish illustrator Tom Byrne, representing our new illustrators' organisation, the IGI.
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| 'Tiny Trilbies' by Paul Slater |
It was Slater who came up with the words of advice that I've tried to follow, 'Think of the most ridiculous thing you can; and paint that". He also impressed upon students that you can't realise your crazy ideas unless you have the craft skills to support them.
We had a conversation in the pub one day about our palettes and I mentioned that I used Ivory Black (and there are many categorical-minded people who will say the black should NEVER be on the palette). He asked me why and I told him that it's good for making shadows from body colours and it's a relatively weak black compared to Lamp or Mars blacks so it's less likely to overpower mixes. I was surprised when he fished a notebook out of his breast pocket and wrote it down. And that's one of the things that make him such a great artist; he's supremely confident, he's always curious and always ready to try something different in the pursuit of his art rather than defensively sticking to one way of doing things. He told me a couple of years later that he'd been using ivory black quite often. Blimey -I thought to myself, especially as I didn't have a notebook handy.
There's something that's so English and early 20th century about his work. I was brought up amid this stuff and despite living the greater part of my life in Ireland, I still feel at home in his art. I'm delighted to say I've got a few Paul Slater originals in my collection.
Paul Slater - Illustrator from Cian Brennan on Vimeo.
Paul is represented by the Central Illustration Agency in London and you can see more of his work on their site.