THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE TIDES MEET...

As i'm writing this i'm listening to Jonathan Richman. 

I have only recently become aware of his music, and that is largely through William playing lots of his songs in the studio. But his stuff is the only music i've gotten truly excited about for a long time...amazing. And live footage of him is great. I wish I could make music as fun and simple and touching as this...

Speaking of which, spent 2 days this week recording at the Hyde Park Picture house with Mike Payne (Mechanical Owl) who is producing my record. I don't know when this will be finished. Soon I hope...i'll post some things up when its sounding better.

Not been reading much this week, been working on something to enter into the Jerwood Drawing Prize. Haven't entered a competition for a while but I think it'll be worth doing this one. I'm doing a drawing based on an Ivor Cutler song. Feels good to get back into drawing outside of my sketchbook. Got the obsession back again...perhaps. 

Having this blog to do is a really good way for us to clarify what we've been doing / thinking on a regular basis, and personally it is helping me to get my thoughts in order and also to help me realise how much reading and research i'm not doing. 

Anyway something I do want to talk about is the design duo Conway & Young. 

Jen Conway and Jess Young came up to Leeds from Bristol to Leeds in September last year. They initiate a lot of projects, run a residency programme and lecture on the Graphic Arts course at Leeds Met. They currently are running a project to find out how to go about using all of the empty spaces in Leeds city centre. Last Saturday they organised a walk around some of these spaces which also functioned as a way to bring people together and talk about how this could be achieved. This is something a lot of people in Leeds want to do, and have done for a while, but never seems to happen on a large sale. Conway & Young have done this sort of thing before in Bristol, and from the discussions at the weekend, and knowing them, I am confident that they can push this into the realms of reality. Their utilisation of design and visual art as a medium for social improvement is something I believe should be championed and supported, and their aesthetic is spot on.

C&Y's visual element of '92 Spaces' (part of Leeds Met's 'Recent Appointments' show) runs until 26th June.

Drawings from this week, and an old one i found in a drawer in my room...