phlegm

oil tanker boat...and drawing.

2012-02-08T22:03:00.006Z

It took a while to scrape off the thick layer of ice. It's gone very cold this week. photo by Mark Blundell

Robot.

2012-02-04T13:03:00.003Z

I've got a backlog of walls so I'll do a few extra posts over the next few weeks. This big robot is painted on the back of some abandoned substation just outside Sheffield.

The first three photos are taken by the excellent photographer RomanyWG

civilisation (pt3 of 3)

2012-02-01T19:16:00.002Z

The final part of my civilisation drawing. I'm going to work on this to become my next print. If anyone wants to be on the mailing list to hear more about it just send me an email.

I've also been painting some big walls the past few weeks. I'll start sorting some photos and put those up next week.

civilisation (pt2 of 3)

2012-01-30T11:19:00.000Z

a4 dip pen and black ink.

x phlegm x

civilisation (pt1 of 3)

2012-01-24T18:18:00.004Z

This is a drawing from one of the books I'm working on at the moment.

A4 dip pen and black ink.

wingsuit

2012-01-16T15:10:00.003Z

Falling men

2012-01-07T10:31:00.005Z

In an abandoned tower.

Telescope drawing.

2012-01-03T11:28:00.003Z

Hello again.

Here's another drawing for the next book. A4 pen and ink.

I've got a load of walls to post that I painted over the past few weeks...I'll sort those out for next week.

x phlegm x

high above sheffield

2011-12-19T18:56:00.003Z

Painting high above Sheffield watching the sun rise on a cold frosty morning. The snowy peaks in the distance.

x phlegm x

Penrose triangle

2011-12-13T15:46:00.003Z

x phlegm x

Not Miami...

2011-12-06T18:25:00.007Z

...It's Sheffield in December. lashing it down with rain and sleet every day and it's too cold to feel my fingers. I love it! Hot water bottle to keep the cans warm and some fingerless gloves. Bring on the snow.

x phlegm x

Alphabet zine rejects.

2011-12-02T18:40:00.004Z

update...all gone sorry.

I've cleaned out my print room and found a bunch of ABC zines i cut and stapled while i was a bit drunk. I did about thirty before i realised my accuracy was a little out. I've just put them in my shop I'll send each one out with a few individual letters from pages I've gathered up off the floor too. I also found a few older comics which I've popped in the shop too.

x phlegm

...more drawing.

2011-11-24T20:44:00.006Z

I seem to be in some sort of drawing funk this month. More outdoor photos next week i promise.

Pen and ink on paper (a4 size)

X PHLEGM X

model solar system drawing

2011-11-14T08:49:00.003Z

Another page from my sketchbook. An extended crowd scene for the orrery.

x phlegm x

Basel, Switzerland

2011-11-08T11:43:00.008Z

I painted in Basel, Switzerland last week. Thanks heaps to Svea for making it happen.

WALL ARTS BASEL

passage drawing

2011-11-06T13:21:00.002Z

I'm going to slow down drawing and get back to painting again. I wanted to get my next book ready over the next month, but that would mean me sitting in and not going out painting. I have ants in my pants already so it's not going to happen. Instead i've been playing around with a print idea that forms a sort of vertical Triptych made from a4 prints. No promises but if i can get the drawings looking good enough I'll do it.

the passage

2011-10-24T00:25:00.002+01:00

Nice to be out painting at home in Sheffield again. I seem to be painting from the more melancholic parts of my brain at the moment.

x phlegm x

harnessing of the giant squid drawing

2011-10-21T23:18:00.002+01:00

A drawing based on this painting i did earlier in the year. Another page for my next book (not looking forward to trying to print the detail in this)

I'll post a new wall in the next few days too. I've just been enjoying sitting down with my dip pen after the past few hectic months.

x phlegm x

Ink 2...The great orrery

2011-10-15T22:42:00.006+01:00

It's been good having a few weeks of really getting involved in drawing again. I really want to push the ideas forward with the next book, and stock up on new ideas and directions for my outdoor work too.

Below is a section from a much bigger crowd scene i want to paint on a wall some time. One of many ideas waiting for the right space to do it.

open in a new tab to enlarge.

peace out.

Oh and here's a great addition to one of my paintings by the brilliant Stretan Bor

x phlegm x

ink.

2011-10-11T10:37:00.007+01:00

I thought i was going to be away painting last week but unexpectedly i ended up back home for a bit. Most of my travelling for this year is over now. I'm looking forward to a few months of painting some spots in Sheffield and sitting at home working with some ink for a while.

Here is a page from the next book I'm making. If you are not already on my mailing list for them and want to know when it's ready just pop me an email

phlegmcomic@gmail.com

x phlegm x

sketchbook and a wall.

2011-09-30T23:02:00.005+01:00

I've just come back from painting in Stavanger, Norway for Nuart festival. Had a great time there and didn't want to leave.

I spent most of my time painting underground so this is the only street piece i managed to get done... on my last day there.

I got carried away designing a whole evolutionary tree for my characters where my hooded men evolve from single cells, to star fish, and eventually birds. Also the carry giants forming a separate fish ancestry evolving into whales and so on

After four or five days i managed to cram a lot into the space. The sketchbook pages below show a bit of the working out i did for parts of it. I'll do a separate post for these walls when i sort out some photos.

I haven't stopped working on these sketchbook pages even after painting the walls last week. I'm going to work on a much more complex pen and ink version if this work next month to make as a book or a fold out chart.

Croatia part 2.

2011-09-21T12:19:00.007+01:00

Last lot of work from my week away. More about the project and photos from some of the other artists involved here

Open in a new tab to enlarge.

x phlegm x

london

2011-09-18T08:48:00.004+01:00

I stayed in london for a few days before and after going away the other week. My photos are a bit poor because i was distracted before i went away and then knackered when i got back. London street art has some great ones.

Thanks to signal gallery for this wall below. It's in the courtyard behind their building. There are some much better photos of this on hooked blog and unusual image who stayed through the rain and wind until it was done.

x phlegm x

calibrating the seeing device

2011-09-13T16:11:00.006+01:00

I'm on painting overdrive the past few weeks!
Last week i went away painting in Zagreb, Croatia. I did this in the first three days on the the side of an old bomb shelter in Dugave. Thanks to Ivana and everyone for making me so welcome.

I've got another couple of walls I did while I was in Croatia and a few I painted in London before and after my flight. I'll do another post when I've sorted through some of my photos. I need a bath and a rest.

x phlegm x

paints.

2011-09-01T21:06:00.002+01:00

Crazy collaboration in sheffield. Ghostpatrol, me, Ema, kid acne and Barber filth.

Thanks to Mark of Hooked for the photo.

São Miguel, Azores.

2011-08-24T21:16:00.015+01:00

Here's a big boat I painted in São Miguel, the Azores. It was for the walk and talk festival. It features imaginative but slightly impractical ways of fishing, like herding fish using dead fish heads on spears or tricking fish into shoals with a mobile of false fish.

My hand made books sold a lot faster than i expected. I'm glad you liked them. I'm putting together a mailing list for future zines. If you want to be added to it just email me. I hate using the computer so i guarantee you wont get more than two or three emails a year.

update.

All my zines have now gone you crazy cats. There are still a few of the newest zine stocked in some shops. Lik & neon in london, rare and racy in Sheffield and the old sweetshop in Sheffield. Make sure you phone or email before you visit.

cheerio. x

Illuminated alphabet

2011-08-17T01:26:00.011+01:00

Here is the Illuminated alphabet book. The first of my 100% hand made books.

Postcard size book of illustrated type. Handmade and printed by me on recycled and unbleached paper. 28 screen printed pages in different shades of blue. The cover is a four colour pattern design with a silver foil embossed 'a' on the front and 'z' on the back, with printed inside cover too. The edition number was about 300 but my skills at stapling have most likely murdered it way below that number.

click to enlarge

I decided to do it for a touch less than i said last week. I like the idea of it being a tenner including the postage and packaging. So the final price is £8.50

So including p and p UK £10 and anywhere outside the UK £11.50
simple cover version including p and p UK £7.50 and anywhere outside the UK £9.00
Both now in the shop here.

simple cover version.

x phlegm x

Eyes in the vines.

2011-08-04T12:05:00.005+01:00

It's really not easy making books. After weeks of grafting away printing folding and stapling they are done.

...but I'm now away painting, so i can't release them until i get back. The date to pop in your calender is the 17th of August. The edition size is 300 so they won't sell out like Glastonbury tickets...you don't need to sit there clicking refresh all day. The books will be £10 each. I've also done some of them with a single colour cover for anyone short on cash. Those will be £6.00 each

click to enlarge.

I'll post the full set of pictures when i put it in the shop on the 17th. This is a detail of the repeat pattern covers. A kind of william morris wall paper with eyes in the vines.

Right. Time to paint.

x phlegm x

print print print.

2011-07-23T09:56:00.002+01:00

I've spent some late nights trying to get more of the alphabet book printed. The covers are done and over half of the innards too. It's a lot of hard work, i just hope it shows when it's done.

x phlegm x

the giant squid

2011-07-15T23:45:00.003+01:00

A-z

2011-07-07T09:52:00.004+01:00

I've been printing a few pages of the illuminated alphabet book. After a lot of blood sweat and tears it's coming together. With hindsight I've decided the cover I posted a few months back didn't look good enough. Now it's a five colour repeat miniature pattern with a letter A and Z embossed in silver. It's taken so long to print them I started to question why I'm hell bent on hand printing everything....but looking at it in the light of day I feel a bit more positive.

click to enlarge.

Thanks to my drinking beer printing methods the zine bundles i sell will be wrapped in the letters A and z for a while. You don't notice you're seeing double when you're already printing in doubles.

x phlegm x

unicycle balloon

2011-06-29T19:30:00.002+01:00

Another day painting in the burnt out gym. No zombies and film makers this week. Peace and quiet and sunshine that seems out of character for the uk never mind Yorkshire.

click to enlarge.

phlegm and the walking dead.

2011-06-22T08:34:00.006+01:00

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Sometimes odd things happen in old derelict sites like these. This time the tranquillity of a burnt out building outside of town was disturbed by 150 moaning zombies eating guts and brains. Turns out someone thought it was a good place to film a zombie movie.

Toodlepip.

x phlegm x

West london

2011-06-16T15:19:00.005+01:00

I've been away painting this wall down south this week. The weather turned to hell and it had to be finished huddled under an umbrella (thanks Andreia!) My photos of the wall where rubbish apart from the close-ups so thanks to giles, Andreia, street art london and unusual image for these flicks.

Below photo by street art london

Below photo by Unusual image

cheerio.

x phlegm x

Shrines and caskets.

2011-06-06T22:38:00.003+01:00

Here's the beginning of a slightly more macabre chapter of the wall comic. I've found a nice spot that's all big, burnt out smooth walls all covered in soot. Hopefully it won't turn out to be a bust and i can get a few good walls painted here.

click to enlarge.

thanks for visiting. x

ABC zine.

2011-05-28T15:47:00.009+01:00

Last month i was sorting through some of my lettering to make up the word phlegm for the header on this blog, and i realised i was pretty close to having the whole alphabet. So this week I've sat down and done the last few and started screen printing it as a small a6 book. The next issue of my comic is taking a while so i figured it would be nice to do this in the mean time.
Here is the test print for the cover. Silver and metallic navy ink on black card. Its going to take a while to screen print all the inside pages but i hope to have it all done by the end of June.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

out of sight by romanyWG.
Also this week out of sight has come out. A chunky hardback book about art in abandoned spaces. Its by RomanyWG who's taken some really fantastic pictures of hidden street art and disused spaces. Some of the pictures he's taken of my work are put my photos to shame...Here's a video if you want a little taster of it.

x phlegm x

Londinium

2011-05-19T16:55:00.003+01:00

Painted poster with smoke sprayed on after.

I donated a battle print to the red cross silent auction. It starts from now and closes on june the 4th. All the money from the sale will go to the red cross...so if you feel generous it will make me very happy if we can help raise them some money.

x phlegm x

The old school

2011-05-09T21:06:00.010+01:00

As i said in the last post... I've been painting a lot of walls lately. This spot was amazing to paint. Spend a week on your own in there and you can literally watch nature eating it's way through it, claiming it back. If these aren't enough have a look over on arrested motion for some really good shots of this creepy spot.

click to enlarge.

All the zine bundles will be wrapped in my battle print mistakes and test prints for a while.

click to see big

I'm also going to go back to writing peoples addresses calligraphy style with my dip pen again. I stopped for a while because i got busy...but the packages have seemed less personal because of it so I've changed back.

x phlegm x

Endless cross hatch.

2011-05-06T21:23:00.004+01:00

It's been a while since I've put any work on here from my book 'in brine' It's taken so many years now people have stopped asking about it! For me it's the most important part of my work and has been for years now. It's a wordless creation myth for everything i paint on walls and everything that's appeared in my zines over the past three years. I still have over a hundred pages to draw so its a long while off yet.

Here is a germination page from chapter six.
click to enlarge

Ps. I've been painting a lot of walls lately. I'll do a bumper post over the next few weeks to get myself back up to date.

battle print.

2011-04-27T15:25:00.007+01:00

Here is my latest print...It's sold out from people reserving them though. If you want to email me i can put your name on one if someone backs out. I have two or three held back in case of any postal disasters, so when all the prints arrive safely I'll let those go too.
I've slaved over it for far too long. A more accomplished screen printer could knock it out in a day. My print rooms main component is gaffa tape, and i draw my layers old school on a lightbox.
A2 300g white satin Somerset archive paper. 5 layer screen print using water based inks. Signed and embossed edition of 45. £90

click to enlarge

cheerio.

x phlegm x

The harnessing of the giant squids.

2011-04-26T08:40:00.011+01:00

I've been really busy with the screen print this week. I'll do another post in the next few days about that one. It's ended up going from three screen layers to six. It's stressed me out but i think it's going to be worth it.

Here is a painting i got to do right down on the riverbank this week. A great spot for some of the walls from the nautical chapter of the comic I'm painting. When the winter water levels rise i should get a good picture of it as if its actually submerged.

x p x

Smoking art fag

2011-04-17T10:25:00.003+01:00

Kid acne painted this massive art fag up on a hill in Sheffield last month. It occurred to me that a cluster of my painted houses would look like ash from a distance. Local writers are going to get up and repaint the wall soon so i thought I'd make an addition to it before it's gone.

click to enlarge

x phlegm x

phlegm manchester

2011-04-07T09:31:00.008+01:00

I painted in Manchester yesterday. It was the first time I've ever been there and it's not rained all day. I love Manchester, I'm going to try and paint there more often.

click to enlarge images.

x phlegm x

ps. The battle print is almost done, I'm just a bit slow getting the last screen exactly how i want it. Shouldn't be much more than a week now.

phlegm in fast forward.

2011-03-31T14:45:00.005+01:00

Here is a time lapse video of the painting i posted about a few weeks ago. Thanks to Andy for hours of editing and filming in the cold!

Untitled from Andy Skillen on Vimeo.

x phlegm x

Hackney Wick phlegm

2011-03-26T15:34:00.006Z

Here's a painting i did in a yard in Hackney Wick, a stones throw away from the Olympic site in London. I've decided to wander about more so expect to have loads more posts from random places in the uk this year.

click to enlarge

ps. If you're in London at the beginning of this month kid acne has a new solo show on at stolen space. Art fag and proud, go check it out. Should be ace.

x phlegm x

big moon.

2011-03-19T22:33:00.007Z

Some bad kids smashed a window of the laundrette in sharrow so i painted the temporary fix.

click to enlarge.

I've disabled my comments and got rid of my email for a bit. I just want to get some work done. Soz.

X PHLEGM X

spring sun.

2011-03-14T22:33:00.004Z

click to enlarge

x phlegm x

D.i.Y

2011-03-06T08:29:00.006Z

This is an illustration for the new book I'm printing at the moment. It's nice drawing a4 and having that extra space.

click to enlarge.

Almost there with the battle print i've been working on for ages too. I should start printing that next week i think.

x phlegm x

phlegm london.

2011-02-27T09:45:00.006Z

Back in Sheffield after painting down in London. It was so nice painting with Roa and working with the robots. Such a lovely lot of motivated people. Roa painted an amazing pile of bones with a hawk stood on top. The robots sculptures take over every inch of the room upstairs and are a sensory overload...fantastic. The space is open for a while yet and in the evening there's loads of bands playing in the venue downstairs.
Now I'm back and the panic is starting to set in. If i don't start working on printing my new comic I'm going to run out of money to keep myself alive. So I'm going to roll up my sleeves and get covered in ink.

The work i did in the courtyard.

double click to enlarge

The sculpture collab i did with the robots upstairs.

Double click to enlarge.

I spent some time looking around London's art scene while i was in the city. Its odd how motivated by status, ego, politics and hype art can get. These things can make art so ugly it's hard to see what makes art so amazing. I found it all a bit empty. I wish these things didn't get to me so much...Nothing that being a hermit for a bit and getting stuck into some work won't cure though.

toodle pip.

Thanks for stopping by.

x phlegm x

sukhoi su17 jet + phlegm.

2011-02-17T16:12:00.005Z

robots, roa and phlegm.

2011-02-09T21:43:00.004Z

Oh yeah. I'm in London the end of this month painting with Roa on some walls and crazy wooden installations by robots collective. Should be rad. More info here

next phlegm comic

2011-02-06T17:15:00.003Z

The next issue and most likely every zine i do from now on will be 100% diy. I'm going to screen print every comic start to finish. This means the ink is ethical and economical, the paper will be unbleached and recycled, and every thing i do will be produced by me personally. I'm confident i can make comics that have more personality and detail to them while still keeping them affordable.
So here we go. Issue eleven will be twice the size (a4 rather than a5)single colour screen printed contents on recycled 100gsm paper. Three colour printed card cover. It will be a mixture of three frame strips like the one below and some single page illustrations like issue ten. A run of 800 hand numbered and embossed comics.
click to enlarge

I'm working mainly on my big comic 'in brine' so this will be a side project for the next few months. I also want to get out painting walls every week so i wouldn't expect issue 11 until early summer.

x phlegm x

riverside car park phlegm boat

2011-01-30T00:46:00.003Z

click images to enlarge.

Here are the rest of the images from the riverside car park in Rotherham. Sadly it rained solid as soon as i finished and its all been damaged by the water seeping from behind. So this image will only be there for a month or so until i replace it with something else. I've also got a giant squid and another boat to paint in the same car park.

On another note. I've been working hard lately making some changes to my print room and I'm glad to announce....(drum roll)....All further issues of phlegm comic will be 100% diy. I'll be printing not just the covers but I'll be printing the insides, cutting and stapling too. Everything i produce from now on will be made personally by me (with the exception of my comic 'in brine' because it's going to be over 200 pages long...but I'll still print all the covers)More about my first 100% diy comic next week.

x phlegm x

Whale of a time. Riverside carpark.

2011-01-22T19:49:00.009Z

It feels so good to be clear of that horrid virus. I'm now back out in the street painting on full steam. This wall is in Rotherham again. These two blocked up arches are just two out of six I've been painting over the past few days. A whale and a huge barge carrying the buildings to the carry giant. Sadly it got so dark today i had to stop with only another hour or so of work left to get get it all done. I'll do another post next week with the whole picture.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Oh also...I'm half way through drawing a 70cm by 50cm battle scene print. I was really touched by the response to my last few prints and so I've really tried to pull out all the stops with this new one. These contain a huge amount of detail and should really look good when I'm done drawing it...I'm really exited about it. So far I've spent about thirty hours drawing and cross hatching and it's still only just past half way!

I'm putting together a one off email list for the print, so that anyone wanting one can get a reserve before i put them in the shop. If you want to join the list just email me with the subject heading 'battle print' and I'll pop you on the list. The print won't be released for a few months so you have plenty of time to save lunch money up. It's going to be roughly £80 to £90. Printed on Somerset Buff 280gsm off white Archival paper. Edition between 30 and 45. Four colour print using water based inks. white, black, transparent grey and burnt Sienna for background detail.

x phlegm x

APG works kid acne x phlegm

2011-01-16T12:11:00.007Z

Before Christmas Kid acne painted one of his nice hair textures on the entrance wall of APG works on Sidney street in Sheffield. Yesterday i spent hours trying to make the rusty old tangle of fuse boxes look like houses. Another chance to do one of my mournful looking carry giants. If you're in Sheff pop by and have a look, it's hard to capture these 3d paintings in a photo.

click images to enlarge.

x phlegm x

under the sea.

2011-01-08T09:18:00.003Z

Well i still feel a bit of a mess from this virus I've had so I'm still not able to go out painting, which is really starting to bug me. As soon as I'm better I'm going to go into hyper drive.
Instead I'm spending some much needed time working on my comic. The page below is a coral reef double page which is from the first half of the book. It's odd working on such a large book. You have all the pages in your mind and you find yourself constantly flicking through it virtually but no matter how hard you work it takes years to get the thing realised. It gets very frustrating sometimes. I feel i want to just graft a usb drive into the back of my head and print the thing out.

click twice to enlarge

See you later.

x phlegm x

chapter six.

2011-01-01T18:17:00.004Z

Happy new year everyone.

I've been slowly wasting away over the whole Christmas period thanks to some evil virus. I wanted to get really busy doing some painting but I'm still housebound trying to get well, so instead I've been quietly working away on chapter six of my comic 'in brine'. This is the chapter six intro page (drawn slightly smaller than a4). Having that break to do issue ten now feels like a mistake. I'm quite overwhelmed by the amount of work i still have to do for this book. I'm sure once I'm back in the rhythm I'll feel a bit better about it.

click to enlarge.

I found a stilt print hidden in my scanner!...If anyone wants it just give me an email.

minus ten phlegm.

2010-12-22T19:11:00.009Z

I've never seen this happen to paint before. Every last drop frozen solid!

click to enlarge.

Here is my manatee/otter/cat character looking like a bit of a stoner, refusing to move in this unbelievably cold weather. minus ten. Crackers.

click to enlarge.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

This is the last post until after new year so I'm in a reflective sort of mood.

Over the past three years or so I've really been confused about art. I got into all this through a love for self publishing and diy culture. I had many many issues with the ideas of value, status and ownership after i left university. Self publishing and painting unloved walls and buildings bypassed all these worries and left me free to enjoy working.

It's funny how fast you get sucked into the art machine. I ended up working for all sorts of companies and galleries and taking part in shows. It diluted everything i believe in and left me with less time to paint and draw. If I'd have let it carry on any longer i would have gone mad.

I'm back on track now but with a heightened sense of what i want and why i do it... I have a policy of everything from my own hand. I will never allow my runs of comics to get so large that i can't screen print and customise all the covers myself. My prints will always be hand printed by me and sold in small affordable editions. At least for the foreseeable future i don't feel the need to do shows. A comic is like a show but much more personal, instead of making you walk around a white room somewhere i get to write your name on an envelope and send the work straight to you where you can contemplate it in your own time.

So thats that.

I'll be back next year focused like a hawk.

Have a good christmas.

x phlegm x

ps. on a slightly less enthusiastic note, there seems to have been a few issues with the postage on the stilt print i did. It seems that a board envelope with do not bend written all over it in red letters hasn't stopped some postmen folding them in half to cram them through letterbox. If anyone has any problem please email me and I'll sort it out next week. The next print i do will be posted in....i don't know, a steel casket lined with reinforced concrete?

2010-12-15T22:58:00.002Z

Since the comics out I've been trying to get back to painting some walls outside. The weather keeps interfering with that so it looks like I'm going to have to skulk about in a warehouse instead.
Here is the carry giant holding onto a pipe. I apologise for the bad picture but it was so dark my camera had no idea what it was supposed to be looking at.

click to enlarge.

Cheers to everyone who bought my print editions. I'm over the moon with the response I've had from them. Next year should be fun.

x phlegm x

a4 stilt print hot off the press.

2010-12-09T12:39:00.007Z

Here, as promised a new print! A4 on the same lovely Fabriano ivory paper. A highly detailed two colour print. Printed the exact same size as it was drawn with the dip pen. Signed, numbered and embossed edition of forty. These are now in the shop for £15.

If these sell out before Christmas then tough, I'm not printing again until next year. I want to spent the next few cold weeks going out painting and also trying to get back into writing my comic 'in brine'
click to enlarge

X phlegm X

ps. I've stocked the wonderful rude shipyard with my comics this week too, so pop along and hide form the cold with some Guinness cake. yum yum.

The stilt print above is now dropped off at the old sweetshop too if you want to see one in the flesh.

phlegm issue 10!

2010-12-06T16:56:00.008Z

first of all sorry to anyone wanting to buy the new print, it sold out quicker than i expected. But don't worry I'm up to my elbows in ink doing a new little a4 size print. I will pop it in the shop over the weekend. x phlegm x

A new illustration issue of pen and ink versions of the work i paint on walls. A5 zine size. Twenty litho printed pages on thick 150g ivory paper and white intro page. Three colour cover hand screened by myself on brown recycled card. Phlegm emboss seal and gold emboss title too. neat.

click to enlarge

I'm really pleased with this issue, its the first one to come out resembling how it was in my mind.
The comic is now available in my shop linked to the right. If you live in Sheffield please try and support the lovely indy shops i stock rather than buying it here. I'm hindered by the ice and snow but i managed to stock rare and racy, the old sweetshop, apg, golden harvest and syd and mallorys today. As i get out to more I'll let you know.

I'm off to roost.

x phlegm x

phlegm 10 special editions for the sweetshop

2010-12-06T16:54:00.004Z

If issue ten wasn't enough for you then I've done twenty special edition versions. The comic is the same but it comes in a brown envelope with a hand screened rust coloured print on the front. Hand numbered and signed. They also come with a pin badge and a each one has a small page from my sketchbook in there too. The back of the envelope is wax sealed with a illuminated letter p. If that's not fancy enough for then i can't help you.

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These twenty are done just for the old sweetshop, if you want one they're available here for £20.

x phlegm x

The Phlegm print studio.

2010-11-29T13:01:00.010Z

Hello. Issue ten will be on sale some time by the end of the week. As soon as I get them I'll do a post and add them to my cartel shop. promise.

Here is at last my new print! As you know I've slunk away from working with brands and taking part in exhibitions this year and judging by how contented and happy this has made me i don't see the point in changing my ways. On the down side this means I'm broke. The only way out of this is to concentrate my energy into my zines, comics and my print studio. So i introduce to you the first of many editions printed as professionally as i can muster.

42cm x 54cm paper size. Printed with water based inks on 300g archive quality Fabriano ivory paper. Edition of thirty. Signed and embossed with a made in Sheffield stamp. Even though it's only black and white it's a five colour screen print using overlapping transparent inks to achieve the light and shade. The print is £40 unframed and five pounds for postage and packaging available now from my cartel shop....Quite a few of these have already been saved for people so if you want one don't fuss about too long.

PS. Anyone buying this print will get it sent out with a free issue ten, so there will be a small delay until the end of the week before they get put in tubes and sent out. If you can't wait until then just pop me an email and I'll send one out without the comic asap.

click images to enlarge.

x phlegm x

if you live in Sheffield and want one framed I'll have some for sale in the old sweetshop and rare and racy some time next week.

long lost comics.

2010-11-23T20:35:00.002Z

My new issue is still held up at the printers. That will teach me to want 135g ivory paper and tracing paper instead of white copy paper! Apparently it will be ready by the end of this week, so i'll have it ready and online monday/tuesday along with my new screen print too.

A lovely skate shop i used to stock closed down a while back. They sent me back some unsold comics. So for a limited few days (or hours) i have pocket lint and issue five for sale!

x phlegm x

another delay.

2010-11-15T14:12:00.003Z

Sorry. I've had to postpone my comic and new print for another week.

I've done a poster for the band low who where back in the uk for a few dates. It was all a bit short notice. I finally got them off the printing bed at about two in the morning the day before the first date on the poster.
click to enlarge.

The unframed prints are £30. Three colour print on satin card. Edition of 150. The letter o is also based on a poster i did for them a few years ago too.

I only kept back five of these prints so if you want one I'd email or ring Emma at the old sweetshop asap. She also has one of the old low posters so if you wanted them as a set I'm sure you could get a deal.

Email. info@theoldsweetshopsheffield.co.uk Tel. 0114 255 8515

bye.

x phlegm x

....almost ready.

2010-11-08T13:45:00.003Z

YO.
I've been working really hard the past week or two trying to take my printing a little more seriously. I'm pretty confident now that i can reproduce my wall work and my pen work in my screen printing. The small detail below is part of the cover of my new zine that's out in a week (or so).

Also over the next week I'll be releasing a new screen print using my new and improved printing techniques, so look out for that one, I'm pretty proud of them.

ps. I want rid of the last hundred issue sevens, so from now until Christmas (or until they sell out)anyone who buys more than one comic from my shop (linked to the right) will get a free issue seven.

cheerio. x

spooky phlegm

2010-10-30T15:32:00.000+01:00

phlegm. Made in sheffield.

2010-10-20T08:59:00.003+01:00

Back from holiday refreshed. Now it's hammer time.
Below is a detail of issue ten that I'm just sorting out this week. A wonderful 'made in Sheffield' emboss. Also note the wonderful brown recycled card I've got for the cover too!
This time around I've really tried to compose myself with the design and not just rush out the comic as soon as the artwork is done. The comics always suffer because of my enthusiasm so I'm determined to at last have a comic that looks like the one in my head.
Over the next few weeks I'll have my new and improved screen prints for sale too, all of which will from now on be stamped with the made in Sheffield stamp above and printed on heavyweight archive quality printing papers. I figure if I'm going to cut out most of the things in my life that can help me make a living i should really take the things i still do a little more seriously. maybe.

click to enlarge

phlegm anti hype.

2010-10-12T08:25:00.006+01:00

The zine just needs a cover printing and then it's ready to go. I just need to wait for my paper stock(a lovely rough recycled brown card)to get delivered to me so i can print them! And because i love you so much I'm going to push the boat out and print three colours.
Another page from issue 10.

click to enlarge

Everyone keeps going on at me about this moniker art fair in London. Personally i feel such a wealth of conflicting thoughts on the subject of street art, hype, status, and value I'm not going to go near it. But i seem to be cultivating some sort of self destruct working practice these days where I'm permanently shooting myself in the foot over and over so it's not worth listening to anything i say.

I'm away for a week of rest and detox, see you later. x phlegm x

jus chillin

2010-10-08T08:59:00.002+01:00

Here's my cat manatee again, this time nice and big so he can wave a paw at the trains on their way out of town.

click to enlarge.

x phlegm x

in the unlikely event of a water landing

2010-10-04T09:02:00.002+01:00

A double page from my soon to land issue ten.

click to enlarge

x phlegm x

my bike has gears.

2010-09-30T08:46:00.007+01:00

click to enlarge.

Another page from the zine I'm working on. All i have to do now is screen print the cover and draw another four pages and it's ready to go to the printers!

As you may have noticed I've stopped working for companies and galleries. Initially i did this because i wanted to concentrate on my comics for a bit. Now i realise that all i want to do is paint walls and draw comics. I'm unsure about how i feel about art. I don't see the point of finding a way to work outside the gallery system only to gravitate back to it later. All i know is i want to be creative and have nothing between me and you, no company brands or gallery hype.
So i really don't know where I'm going to end up anymore, because painting walls isn't cheap and zines only ever really pay for themselves. I'm going to focus on my screen prints and step up the quality of them a few notches of the next month or so i think....blah blah. I'm rambling. Now i'm gone.

x phlegm x

Here's a comic i purchased last week. I love it. It's called 'funeral' and it's by Barnaby Richards.

balloons

2010-09-27T08:37:00.007+01:00

Here's a few nice photos of the balloon i painted in the time lapse video.
The weather seems to have got the best of me this week so I've not painted. Although, it has given me time to really knuckle down and get issue ten in shape.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

x phlegm x

The Edward Gorey museum. I want to go.

flem comix

2010-09-24T10:28:00.002+01:00

Another page of the new zine I'm working on this month. Only five pages left to draw now!

click to enlarge.

Amazing little gallery and bookshop in Bristol. This place always has wonderfully curated exhibitions running all the time.The here gallery.

x phlegm x

phlegm issue five and six!

2010-09-22T18:04:00.005+01:00

The Sheffield shirt company royal stock closed down a few months back and i collected my left over stock. Among the shirts where a collection of issue five and issue six of my old zines. I can barely look at the work now it looks so dated but for anyone who collects my crap i guess its a rare chance to get a few issues that sold out a while back (Maybe I'm too harsh on myself, there's still quite a few pages in there that don't make me cringe).
I've put them in the shop section. I only have ten or so of each issue so don't hang around!

oh yeah...end with a link. Here is 'good vs evil' zine. Always money well spent.

ps. Regulars to this blog may have noticed my posts are increasing. I'm very busy so I'm just going to post things as they get done...Posts will go back to once a week when my new zine is done and i'm back to my hermit lifestyle drawing for 'in brine' (a big comic i'm drawing)

x phlegm x

I paint walls.

2010-09-18T08:39:00.003+01:00

Welcome to the new improved blog, now with a working shop section linked on the right there. I may even add prints too over the next month or so.
Here's a new painting. I got carried away and painted the houses on buckets, wood and other found objects before jamming them in the holes in the wall. I'd like to do a few more like this.

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I'm going to try and sign off every week with an interesting link. This week its the anatomical drawings of cartoon characters by Michael Paulus.

x phlegm x

mental monday.

2010-09-13T07:19:00.003+01:00

click to enlarge

x phlegm x

phlegm video

2010-09-07T09:01:00.007+01:00

Here is my time lapse video at last! Almost a hundred hours of painting squeezed into a meditative ten min time lapse. Made by Rob Myles

Cool to see wooster collective rocking rotherham.

ps.i don't know why its not fitting on the screen but i can't be fussed with fixing that. I recommend double clicking it and putting the picture quality up to 720 HD.

x phlegm x

phlegm website

2010-09-05T23:19:00.005+01:00

I tried to update my website, fell out with it epic style, then kicked it off the Internet. This page is now officially where it happens. I've even taken the block off the comments(which admittedly didn't realise I'd blocked in the first place!)

Below is a messy balloon i painted on a wall. Below that is a slightly better balloon from my next mini zine. I did want to put up a link to the epic time lapse video I've been working on but it's not quite ready. If it's ready I'll do another post tomorrow for it.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

x phlegm x

phlegm Newcastle

2010-08-30T10:11:00.003+01:00

I went to Newcastle and had a lovely time painting an old rail arch. Cheers to Scott there holding the death trap ladder combo i cobbled together while i reigned a century's worth of soot and debris on his head. Cheers to kitch-engalleryfor sorting the visit out.

click to enlarge

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Rotherham open arts festival opens to the public this month. The entertainment lineup is here. The hammer horror night is one I'm looking forward to. From me there's about eight massive paintings I've done inside the building. They also had a photographer follow me around filming my every move. He's made a fantastic video timelapse of almost a hundred hours of painting squeezed into ten mins.

x phlegm x

phlegm may contain small parts

2010-08-23T08:42:00.004+01:00

Oh hello, fancy seeing you here.

This is the painting that i did next to the one i posted the other week.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

In a rush....busy busy.

x phlegm x

the revolution will not be facebooked

2010-08-16T20:39:00.004+01:00

Here we go again, another weekly post. I've decided that the current big book projects I'm slowly killing myself with are going to be even more long winded and time consuming than i thought, and are going to consume not only the rest of the summer but also all winter. So I've decided to take a month off and make a short zine so you don't forget about me while i hermit down. It's Just an illustration zine with fifteen or so pen and ink drawings of characters from my wall paintings.

Here is the first page.
click to enlarge

I'm aiming to get it done in the next month along with the print book I've been threatening to release. The zine will be a5 and printed black on off white matt paper. I've even got a embossed 'made in Sheffield' logo for the cover. It should look swish. Hell i may even do a pin badge for each copy.

thanks for stopping by

x phlegm x

phlegmageddon

2010-08-10T09:05:00.005+01:00

I'm still in Rotherham painting this big space for their arts festival. I've been up a scaffold for a few weeks now and it's starting to really knacker me out. I've had a photographer with me filming the whole thing. Our aim is to have a time lapse video of the entire space getting painted crushed down to ten mins. It should be epic when it's done.

click to enlarge.

click to enlarge

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x phlegm x

phlegm street tart

2010-08-04T08:19:00.005+01:00

This week I've been painting a space in Rotherham that's going to be used for an arts festival. The building is huge and bare so i was asked to splash a bit of paint around.
I'm monkeying around on my scaffold tower for another week or two until all the walls are painted.
click to enlarge

I'm going to update my website. It's starting to look like a portal into my past.

x phlegm x

In a rush. want coffee.

2010-07-26T08:08:00.003+01:00

Here's a painting of that tortoise again. I never do before photos of walls i paint...well that's turned on it's head today.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

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Not long left on the wood paintings and phlegm iss one i put on eBay last week, get your bid on. I already feel guilty about the price a crappy old zine of mine has got to so I'll no doubt send it out with another present from my studio floor.

x phlegm x

kittens and dead birds

2010-07-19T07:54:00.005+01:00

First of all here's a few things I've popped on eBay in a recent clear out of my studio. First up....A copy of my first ever zine. Issue one of phlegm comic!

Phlegm issue one on eBay

A few paintings on wood left over from an exhibition last year. I just want these to go to a better home so I've popped a low price on them with no reserve.

three eyed snake painting on wood

bird painted on wood.

Here's my final pattern for the clothing fabric I'm printing for Syd and Mallory's. Hopefully I'll get this set up and printed this week so i can get the printing press back on my print book 'no ideas'

click to enlarge

x phlegm x

r.i.p Harvey Pekar

2010-07-13T09:56:00.003+01:00

I painted this wall in the Bowery Sheffield last week. It's only there for a month or two, so go and hang out around the toilets upstairs if you want to see it.

click to enlarge.

x phlegm x

storm

2010-07-06T10:21:00.004+01:00

This is a page from my comic 'IN BRINE'. It's one of about four or five pages set in a lightning storm. It's great fun doing these high contrast pages for a change, makes me feel like a poor mans Charles Burns.
All in all i think in brine's going well. I seem to have picked up pace a little with each page taking me two days on average instead of three. So hopefully I'll still be young enough when I'm done to try and revive some sort of art career afterwards...instead of just sitting in an attic room eating jelly beans, drawing and wondering where it all went wrong.

click to enlarge.

Phlegm Manchester

2010-06-29T10:19:00.006+01:00

Here's the first batch of hand sprayed posters I've been doing instead of the traditional photocopy and wheatpaste. I must have about forty of these ready to be put up. Some of them are massive, made from six or seven a0 sheets of paper.

(click to enlarge.)

x phlegm x

i can has cheezburger?

2010-06-22T09:40:00.006+01:00

click to enlarge kitten.

I'm drawing kittens and half eaten birds this week. Its all going to be printed as a repeat pattern on some fabric and then made into girls shirts by the wonderful syd and mallorys. I've really gone off doing any commercial work this year, and this feels like a great solution, limited and completly hand made from scratch. ace.

x phlegm x

long monkey (with castles)

2010-06-14T08:33:00.003+01:00

A new painting that really pushed the boundaries of an extendable ladder. I've always been a bit sketchy when it comes to safety, but this was slightly beyond my comfort zone. I've never wanted fame or fortune but the benefits of some scaff and a cherry picker from time to time would be a real bonus.

click to enlarge.

Below is a photo not taken by my shabby camera, it's a great quality picture sent to me today. Here is his flickr.

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Right then. This week I'm going to get cracking with printing some more of my zine anthology 'no ideas' I'm really sorry it's not done yet, i just seem to have had one thing after another get in my way over the past month or two.

x phlegm x

as above so below

2010-06-07T11:40:00.004+01:00

Here is the as above screen print. It's printed on a lovely high quality Saunders watercolour paper in black water based ink. It's a super small edition of ten, five of which I've hand coloured using water colour. Most of these are ordered already so if you want one of the remaining ones just let me know. The hand coloured ones are fifty five and the uncoloured ones are thirty.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

x phlegm x

pointing and measuring.

2010-05-30T12:37:00.003+01:00

Here is a small wall i painted a few weeks back just next to the wicker arches. I posted it's sequential frame a while back. It will be from the second to last chapter of the comic.

click to enlarge

I should still have the DNA print ready late next week. I didn't like the results with the card stock i was using. I'm now printing it black on white textured card and i'm hand colouring them all with light watercolour washes. I'll post it all next week.

x cheerio x

sun, sea and solvents.

2010-05-24T08:48:00.005+01:00

First up we have another sleeping giant from the very begining of the comic 'building'. I think this is the third frame where he's begining to get up.
I'm trying not to think about all the work i need to do for this comic, all i'm doing is making sure i paint all the walls i can like a madman every week until i run out of summer.

(click to enlarge)

It's been a while since i last posted a full page of frames for the comic 'in brine'. Here's is a page from a chapter called cluster.
All in all this book seems to be coming together of late, i still have a huge amount of work to do on it, but looking at it you really get a feel for how its going to be, which is quite a buzz.

(click to enlarge)

ps. Anyone still holding out on buying the limited edition house shirts i'd get them soon, i'm already starting to run out of certain sizes. Get them here

x phlegm x

The house skatepark sheffield

2010-05-17T11:08:00.005+01:00

Below are some snaps of the new house shirts i've been printing. These are designed by a fantastic range of artists...i'm chuffed to bit they all had time to help me out with this.
The skatepark has really hit hard times this year thanks to increasing bills and a decline in people skating. Personally if i lost this place and ended up with knowhere to skate in the winter it would be unbearable. It's also the only thing keeping thousands of kids from getting bedsores from playing on thier xboxes and tossing around on facebook so all in all it's a good cause.
You can buy them all on line here at The house Snap them up very fast because i've only printed a few of each size!

Below is a design by Travis millard He's been a big influence on my zine making over the years, i'm stoked he sent me this picture.

Below is a design by sketchstance! Another zine/skate hero of mine.

This design is by the very talented pudd, whose paintings adorn some of the house skatepark walls.

Below is my lime green and pink design that i did as a big print a few weeks back.

Below is a design by Kate Hawkridge aka clumsy Kate. The black one's glow in the dark!

Below is the dark lord funeral french's design. He's a skate art legend these days so i'm chuffed to have him involved.

Below is a design by Chris Bourke Another artist whos made a real mark on skate graphics.

Below is a picture by the fantastic Lord bunn.

This design below is by Aurthur Tubb, fantastic artist and also skates for heroin skatebourds! sick retro front and back print.

Last but certainly not least is sheffields own Kid acne. I've also printed some of these on white shirts as solid black fill. Sick as hell.

Why are you still here? go buy them.

x phlegm x

comix

2010-05-09T23:35:00.002+01:00

Here's the first page of chaper five i just drew for my comic 'in brine' It was a real pain to draw all that detail on an a4 page...in fact this is the third attempt. It's based on a human dna spiral. I'm going to do a few mustard colour prints of it on yellow card next week. Anyone interested in one let me know.

click to enlarge.

PS. I'm done printing all the house shirts now too, so keep saving that pocket money and i'll post that here next week!

x phlegm x

full power phlegm.

2010-05-01T14:42:00.006+01:00

The photo below is of a painting i've done a wall on leadmill road in sheffield. I have about four of five paintings designed for this wall so this little bird won't be around too long.

click to enlarge (poor photo...sorry.)

Below is a crazy vw van i painted a couple of frames on.

click to enlarge (mr cats name is opal)

click to enlarge.

...And here's another quick painting. In the time line of the comic this is three quarters of the way through the book. To make it more confusing it's a few pages after the rare and racy wall i painted last summer. yeah it confuses me too.

click to enlarge.

x phlegm x

ps. next weeks post will be about my range of guest artist house skatepark shirts, so get your fingers on the paypal button ready for those.

sheffield childrens hospital

2010-04-24T08:51:00.004+01:00

This here is the commission i took on last year for the hospital. It's 79ft of hand etched and hand painted wood. It's being installed inside the lift shaft. The lift has a viewing window a few inches away from the wall, so you travel up the picture with the lift. The perspective of the painting is bent in a way that should create the illusion of getting closer to it as you travel up.

click photos to enlarge

So, that was the last of my commissions and commitments from last year, which means I'm now on full power comic writing mode with no distractions. I'm going to pour every waking moment into getting these books drawn and painted this summer. Don't stay still too long or i may paint over you.

x phlegm x

Building

2010-04-17T11:02:00.003+01:00

I'm busy organising walls for some of the more intricate frames of the comic. I think I've found a good wall for the front cover and a few of the very busy middle chapters of the book. The smaller frames I'm going to do as spray painted pasteups so i can get them up in more difficult spots. Some of the tricky ones to find are...a factory chimney, a two story house next to water and some huge industrial machinery (like a quarry or something) If anyone has any clues, or if you have any interesting or big walls get in touch with me, i only charge in tea and biscuits.

ps. i don't paint inside peoples houses (no matter how many custard creams you offer).

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

...Oh yeah and the official name of the photo comic is 'building'

x phlegm x

print post

2010-04-09T22:08:00.006+01:00

This print is very limited. I only printed these to order so it's an edition of five! Four people orderd them so i have one spare if anyone wants it? It's a nice big a1 poster size. Red ink on a faded blue heavy card. Discount price of £15 plus postage.

click image to enlarge
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Here's a nice new mino edition of the complete set of frames i posted last week. It's an edition of fifteen signed and numberd, printed on smooth white paper using water based dark blue/green ink. These prints are slightly over a3 in size. £25 unframed

click image to enlarge

x phlegm x

ps. Here's a free sheffield art event you may be interested in if your an artist of any sort in and around sheffield. This night is to raise funds for sometihng much bigger by them in May. I'm doing a painting in the courtyard of the cremorne before the event and i'm painting over it after the event. search ArtSoulKollective on facebook for more details. Get involved.

Art+Soul Kollective bring you a benefit night of Sheffield Diversity to raise awareness for Temporary Autonomous Art Sheffield

Hosted at The Cremorne, Sharrow, Sheffield
Friday 16th April 7:00pm- 12:00am

TAA exhibitions exist outside the corporate world and established art elites. We are addressing the urgent need for free spaces outside commercial pressures, where people can meet and come together to share ideas and create new possibilities.

x phlegm x