New Work

September ’10 – Four New Fairy Paintings

finished: June and July ’10

Four new fairy paintings have been added to the collection. I particularly like the large and curvaceous Fairy Cakes fairies, and in fact have a few more generously proportioned fairies planned...

July ’10 – Tea on the Lawn

finished: June ’10

A typical English summer scene... not, as it happens, typical of this particular summer, though, which is just typical!

July ’10 – Better the Last Smile than the First Laughter

finished: June ’10

This painting was visible for some time on my Facebook page, but has only just made it to the website. I photographed it as I went along and posted pictures of it - you can see the work in progress here in my facebook album. Now it's finished, it has finally made it to the website. Much gilding went on with this one again, this time in two colours of gold.

May ’10 – Front cover for Murky Depths

finished: February ’10

Another new picture for Murky Depths magazine - this time for the front cover of issue 12, just out this week, and the story is by Jon Courtenay Grimwood - click the thumbnail to see it.

April ’10 – A Gallery of Etchings

finished: November ’09 - February ’10

I have a whole new 'Etchings' section in my gallery. I finally got round to posting up the first of my etching prints - something I've been doing since about last October. These are an entirely new technique to anything else on this site and are original handmade prints in very small edition runs (there will be no digital prints of these pictures). At some point I shall post a little information on the website about what etching prints are and how it's all done, but for the moment I have quite a lot of information in the 'etchings' photo album I've been adding to on Facebook, where you can see some step-by-step photographs, some of the actual etching plates and also glimpses of etchings I've yet to add here. Click here to go to the Facebook album.

February ’10 – The Guilty Party

finished: January ’09

Here is 'The Guilty Party', a picture which, I have to say, took rather a long time (for me anyway) and included at least 4 solid days gilding the background in 24 carat gold...

February ’10 – Murky Depths Illustration: Heart of Clay

finished: December ’09

An illustration for issue 11 of Murky Depths Magazine. Golems and vampires: an unusual combination. The story was by DK Thompson.

January ’10 – Murky Depths Illustration: Soul Music

finished: September ’09

A new illustration for issue 10 of Murky Depths Magazine, to a hilarious story by Richard Rippon called 'Soul Music'

January ’10 – Christmas 2009: Three Wise Angels

finished: October ’09

My latest Christmas offering...

November ’09 – The Department of Dangerus and Unusual Canapés

finished: March ’09

This is a series I finished in the spring of this year. I held off adding them to the website because I wanted them 'new' for an exhibition in the summer, and somehow they never made it on to the website. So, it's high time I introduced you to the girls from the Department of Dangerous and Unusual Canapés...

November ’09 – Stain Devils and Permanent Sketches

finished: September, October ’09

I have been adding to my stock of 'small stuff' over the last few months - in time for an exhibition in Bath next week (plus a few other events - see my Future Exhibitions page). There are now many more 'Stain Devil' coasters and Permanent Sketches - to see them all, have a look in the Small Stuff Gallery.

September ’09 – The Frog Gimp

finished: August ’09

Princesses, it seems, prefer Frogs....

July ’09 – Murky Depths Illustration: 'Is this My Last Testament?'

finished: May ’09

These were simply fun to do, very gothic-horror kind of setting, and, though I'm not giving away the plot, the observant amongst you will notice a kind of werewolfy theme to the pictures. Something of a first for me, I think - can't recall ever having done a werewolf picture before.
If you want to read the story, which is called 'Is this My Last Testament?' written by Juliet E. McKenna, you'll have to buy a copy of Murky Depths # 9 - available for sale now from the Murky Depths website.

July ’09 – Stain Devils

finished: July ’09

These are really more demons in coasters, like the gold lot, but these have a different story, and come complete with a fine selection of ready-made tea, coffee, and wine stains, so you don't have to spill your drinks on your actual furniture.

June ’09 – Fishnets

finished: June ’09

Mermaids in Fishnets! Just in time to make it into the Sirens in Stockings exhibition (for more about that, visit my Future Exhibitions page.

June ’09 – A Romantic Picnic, Spoiled by Mermaids

finished: June ’09

This was done to fit in with the general theme of 'Messing About on the River'. The picture is off to the 303 Gallery, in Martock (Somerset, UK), if you know it. They have no website but there are some more details at the bottom of my Exhibitions page.

June ’09 – Frolicking Fairies

finished: May ’09

I have added a brand new picture to the site that really belongs to the 'Fornicating Fairies' group of drawings on FornicatingFairies.co.uk. It is, however, a lot more subtle than those rather overt creations, so I thought it would do just as well on this site...

May ’09 – Illustration for Murky Depths: 'Out of Time'

finished: Feb ’09

This was for Murky Depths # 8 - a story by Jack Westlake, and a bit of a tricky one...

May ’09 – Life Drawing Sketches

finished: 2008-2009

I have finally got round to putting up a few (quite a few) of my life drawing sketches on this site. It's not the usual thing you've come to expect of me, possibly, but I do do quite a lot of life drawing nowadays, so I have made a gallery all for them.

May ’09 – Demons in a coaster

finished: March ’09

I have a few more Demon Coasters - these ones are available straight from me, but there are only 12 new ones at present, so if you're interested in buying any, let me know. There will be more presently. The coasters are in the Small Stuff section of the gallery.

New work on another site:

April ’09 – Fornicating Fairies & Fairy Sutra

finished: Sept ’08 - Feb ’09

Introducing Fornicating Fairies - the website! For those who've not read the previous notes about this, I have a little group of artwork that is a bit more risqué than the rest of my stuff. So, partly in an effort not to alarm those who think I only do 'nice' fairies, and partly because it's a very fine name for a website, I have created www.fornicatingfairies.co.uk. Do take a peek, though depending on where one works these could generally be described as 'not safe for work!'.

April ’09 – Medusa's Hammock

finished: April ’09

Medusa, relaxing in her rather unusual garden...
Incidentally, I posted work in progress images in a facebook album if you would like to see this painting develop - click here to see.

March ’09 – Coasters and Buttons

I have put up a few bits and pieces that are very small items, but all original artwork.
First there is the series of Demons in a Coaster - as a direct result of producing so many gold fairies I now find I have a surplus of gold demons, so I have been carefully trapping them in coasters for safe viewing and for keeping coffee rings off your table.

Then there is also a series of Original Buttons - these are even smaller - tiny circular drawings of demons, fairies, angels, and quite possibly the occasional vampire - all safely trapped inside their own little inch-and-a-quarter button badge. These are not currently listed on this site in their entirety, but I am putting all those available in my Etsy shop, and you can see a selection on this site too.
All of these things now live in a section in the Gallery that I've called Small Stuff, which is also where the Permanent Sketches have gone to.
Click the thumbnails to go the appropriate pages...

February ’09 – The Gatecrasher

finished: January ’09

Demons, as previously discussed on this site, are quite keen on social gatherings, and frequently have cocktail parties, to which they naturally invite their friends and colleagues. Unfortunately a few 'undesirable elements' are wont to appear once word gets out about free drinks and the possibility of picking up a ‘bit of rough’...

January ’09 – Illustrations for Murky Depths # 7

finished: November ’08

More illustrations: these are for 'Murky Depths' # 7 - click the thumbnail above to see my illustrations to C.S. MacCath's wonderful short sci-fi story 'The Longest Road in the Universe'.

January ’09 – Cocktails with the Nouveaux Morts

finished: January ’09

Is it just me, or do there seem to be a lot of Vampires around lately? Whatever, I generally struggle to get any of them into my pictures, but I have made a special effort and, following lengthy reasearch, have come up with what I hope is a slightly novel take on the Vampire theme.

December ’08 – In the Naughty Cupboard

finished: August ’08

And finally - the newest edition to my Christmas Gallery....
Merry Christmas to all, and all the best for 2009!

November ’08 – Murky Depths Illustration: 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?'

finished: August ’08

Another illustration - for 'Murky Depths' (issue 6) - click the thumbnail to read more, and to mark the fact that I now have a grand total of 2 illustrations on this site, I have even added an 'illustrations' section to the gallery, so they no longer have to reside in the 'commissioned portraits' bit, which wasn't really appropriate anyway....

August ’08 – Murky Depths Illustration: 'So This Is Mi'

paintings finished: May ’08

I don't often do illustrations, but this one was fun! This is an illustration I did a few months ago for Sci Fi / Fantasy / Horror anthology 'Murky Depths' (issue 5) - click the thumbnail to read more.

July ’08 – Medusa's Gimps

finished: July ’08

Medusa discovers a new vocation... and a slightly tacky taste in interior decor.

June ’08 – Origami Mermaids - group of 3 paintings

paintings finished: June ’08

This is a group of 3 paintings done especially for The 303 Gallery's Summer Exhibition, entitled "Fish and Ships"

June ’08 – Platinum Fairies!

newest drawings finished: June ’08

A couple of weeks ago I completed the 50th Gold Fairy.... and as I thought number 51 should be something a bit special I did him in Platinum. Yes I know I said I wouldn't, platinum being so much more of a pain than gold, and horribly expensive but, well, I had a few sheets of platunum leaf left over from The Mariage of Heaven and Hell so it seemed silly in the end, not to use it up...
After that it seemed a bit silly to call that one Gold Fairy 51, so he became Platinum Fairy 1. At present I've completed Platunum Fairy 2 and Gold Fairy 51. If you go to the Gold Fairies page you can see them all, though at time of writing the Platinum Fairy number 1 has gone to The 303 Gallery and is on display there...

May ’08 – Five Aces

painting finished: March ’08

Devils cheat at cards, just as one would imagine. The trouble is they all cheat, which is fair, in a way. Unfortunately all of them have an ace up their... well they have an ace anyway... and it's the same ace in each case, which is going to cause trouble. The she-devil on the right also has a '666' - which is probably a winning hand in Hell. I don't know, I've never been much good at cards.

May ’08 – The Sphinx changes the Rules

painting finished: May ’08

Another tale out of Ancient Greece - here is the Sphinx, somewhat more resourceful than the monster in the original story...

May ’08 – Commissioned Portraits

paintings finished: ’07 - ’08

I have a brand new section in my 'gallery' where I shall be displaying commissioned paintings. Now and then I get asked to paint portraits for people - naturally these tend to be people who actually want to be depicted as devils, fairies, angels, mermaids and so on - though I must admit that mostly they want to look like devils...
You can see the paintings by clicking the thumbnails, or go straight to the 'Commissions' page, where I've also put a bit of information for anyone interested in commissioning a painting from me, but please email me to find out more.

March ’08 – Painted Devils

painting finished: March ’08

The unholy trinity of she-devils returns - this time they are having their hooves painted in fetching shades to match their outfits - no self-respecting she-devil would be seen dead with scruffy hooves, and though sadly there are many devils without a shred of self-respect these girlies are not amongst them...

January ’08 – Medusa in Venus' Bedroom

painting finished: January ’08

Another one! It's becoming a good year for Medusa, but don't worry, if you don't like Medusa I will be getting round to some other subjects in due course... This one was to some extent inspired by the 'Rokeby Venus' by Diego Velázquez - which hangs in the National Gallery. Of course there's rather less danger in seeing Venus face to face - in my version it's Medusa who's seen in the mirror, which makes a lot more sense to my mind...

January ’08 – Medusa in England

painting finished: January ’08

Medusa's back again, and this time she's very definitely not at home...

January ’08 – Sirens on the Rocks

painting finished: March ’07

Here's a painting that seemed to have got left out of the site for a while - there were just too many other Maidmer paintings at the time - but this is probably my favourite of all of them - this time they are moving in on the Mermaids' patch, and the Mermaids are really not happy about it...

December ’07 – Rudolph's Revenge

painting finished: October ’07

Merry Christmas! At last I can put up the new Christmas image - finished over 2 months ago. This is the drawing I did for all my christmas cards this year. I think I have confused several more children, which is probably good for them...

November ’07 – The Infernal Gallop

painting finished: November ’07

This painting was done for an exhibition whose theme was 'Razzle Dazzle' - to my mind the idea of a line of demons doing the can-can seemed to fit the bill almost exactly. I was aware at the time that the best-known piece of music associated with the can-can is from the operetta 'Orpheus in the Underworld', but what I didn't know until I started looking for a title for this painting was that the title of that actual piece of music is the 'Galop Infernal' - or 'Infernal Gallop', to put it into English (which, considering my French, is probably the best thing). So there you are - a very festive and somewhat lurid painting - yes, it's really that bright in real life.

October ’07 – The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

painting finished: September ’07

This drawing was done specially for Gallery Eight's exhibition in Glastonbury, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of artist, poet and visionary William Blake.

August ’07 – More Gold Fairies

newest drawings finished: May - August ’07

... and a more user-friendly page:
I've been adding to the series of 'gold fairies' quietly, and I'm afraid they haven't always made it on to the website - partly because that page was getting a little weighed-down with the extra images... so I'm trying a slightly different kind if display, and as these are the originals I get most enquiries about I've arranged the fairies into groups of sold and unsold. anyway, if you visit the shiny new gold fairies page you will be able to browse through all the drawings (I hope! - if you have pop-ups blocked there may be a problem, but I hope I have avoided this...).
Please note: some fairies may in fact be demons. There is nothing I can do about this.

August ’07 – The Gorgon's new Man: 'Medusa and Oedipus'

painting finished: July ’07

Sophocles would be turning in his grave, but really - they're a perfect match - I mean, Medusa is actually pretty desperate and so likely to be happy with anyone, and Oedipus is hardly known for his ability to pick women (and it has to be said that even dating a Gorgon is probably less embarrassing than finding out you've accidentally been shagging your own mother...).

July ’07 – Medusa in Modesty

painting finished: July ’07

I thought I would address the delicate issue of Medusa's pubic hair - or pubic snakes, as it were. No one else seems to have considered this quite obvious question. If course this would lead one to wonder if the poor girl also has underarm snakes, too. One can only assume this to be the lamentable truth of the matter, however, I assume she shaves them off.

June ’07 – Dancing with the Minotaur

painting finished: June ’07

Well it seems I haven't yet finished with this as a theme - it's rather growing on me. Though this particular painting is rather soppier than most of my stuff I'm sure there is more scope yet (though I may eventually get tired of drawing the leaves on the hedges - there is a trick to making it look as if you've drawn ever leaf - and that's to draw every leaf... ).

June ’07 – Mrs Minotaur 2

painting finished: June ’07

As promised - Mrs Minotaur - again! Not that there's anything the matter with the other version as such - but it wasn't like what I had in my head - I think this is closer, and also ranks as the brightest, most over-coloured painting I've done, I think... mind you the competition wasn't stiff.... So - I'd like you to meet Mrs Minotaur 2 - exactly the same and completely different to the last Mrs Minotaur, if you see what I mean. Painted in gouache, as usual, but by a slightly different method, which accounts for its brightness. When I get round to it I may put the stage-by-stage photos up.

June ’07 – Mrs Minotaur

painting finished: June ’07

The Minotaur prowled King Minos' Labyrinth in the times of Ancient Greece, a terrible monster part bull, part man, or so the story goes...
Of course there was a Mrs Minotaur - she got him in the end - he just couldn't resist the slinky red dress, and then the maze became a far more civilized place, where one could feel quite at home, and probably even invite the neighbors round for a little drinkie.

April ’07 – Maidmers on the Beach

painting finished: March ’07

Another development of the Maidmers, following the much smaller picture Two Mermaids and a Maidmer. This time the Maidmers are a little more 'natural' - no stockings and shoes, but to match their cousins, they have - er - green pubic hair...

March ’07 – Arctic Mermaids

painting finished: March ’07

Here's a painting I've just finished - Arctic Mermaids. This is a rare form of mermaid specially adapted to the freezing seas of the arctic - huge and ungainly out of the water, compared to their skinny cousins from temperate regions, but graceful in the water, and of course they need the thick skin and layers of blubber to be well protected against the inhospitable temperatures, and probably against the Polar Bears, too. I seem to be having a bit of a run on Mermaids, as I've another 'Maidmer' picture to put up as well - coming soon.

February ’07 – Two Mermaids and a Maidmer

painting finished: Feb ’07

Another picture of the 'Maidmer'...or possibly 'Legfish' - the two names have been suggested to me in the time since I pasted up the drawing of this little scene a week or so ago and I like both so much I haven't even bothered to wonder what to call this sort of creature myself. Anyway - now in glorious technicolour - click the thumbnail to see it.

February ’07 – Permanent Sketches

Finished: Feb, March ’07

I took a break from long and complex drawings and have been doing some very small and often silly sketches - mostly in black and white pen on coloured paper. Amongst these, a rather more considered and slightly larger piece was for the 'Blood Relative' exhibition, which I'm taking part in, to be held at Bristol 'Paintworks', 2nd - 14th April 2007, in aid of Diabetes UK. The 'Permanent Sketches' were for my Glastonbury Exhibition - late April - early June. For the full details have a look at my Exhibitions page, and to see a small selection of the drawings click the thumbnail.

February ’07 – Masquerade 2

painting finished: Feb ’07

As promised, the follow up picture - a sort of demon fancy-dress party where they all get to dress up as people. I'm confident they would find this exciting and novel.

January ’07 – Masquerade 1

painting finished: Jan ’07

This is something of an expansion of the 'Party Faces' I did for Bridgwater Arts Centre's exhibition. A 'Masquerade 2' will be on its way, only that will be a little different...