Maggie has been trying to forget herself for a few years now but, unfortunately for her, she has a mind like a steel trap which just won’t let her forget. She managed to get the three barmen at her local to forget her almost instantly, her cat Echo acted like she never knew who she was anyway and her parents had been largely ignoring her since her 21st birthday anyway.But she remembered.
The reason behind Maggie’s interest in forgetting herself comes down to her misguided attempt to woo her coworker Steve. It was all quite the drawn out farce with Steve not knowing who she was at all due to the fact that they had only ever talked in the office via post it notes on the fridge in the kitchen. To say she never lived it down would be an understatement. Steve left less than three months later but she still finds suggestive post it notes on the fridge from time to time…
On 33 x 22 cm.bockingford paper and made using watercolour pencil, acrylic and charcoal. Available from our big cartel.
Out of all the pieces of canvas we found this was the most complete with a somewhat creepy face that the other half of id-iom just did not like. After a few minutes of discussion on what we were going to do we decided we were going to go abstract although we had no concrete plans on how we were going to go about achieving this.
We find the easiest way to proceed when you have no plan is to just start and see where it takes you. This can lead to some unfortunate circumstances however…
On the journey to abstraction we had to start somewhere so our first idea was to turn the piece into a half man, half pineapple kind of thing. Luckily this idea didn’t hang around too long before the other half of id-iom decided to become a bit of a can killer and pierce any almost-empty cans we had hanging around the studio.
Whilst, it was fun we had clearly gone too far by this point. So we gave into the inevitable and went back to rescuing some of the face. With a little finesse and a whole lot of luck we set about trying to pull this canvas back from the brink. A square stencil here or there, pulling the face forward and pushing the abstracted area into the background I give you ‘I see faces. Even when trying not to’.
Gary was just like you and me until the day he accidentally wandered through a field of genetically modified flowers and became ‘Nosegay’ with the ability to grow the most amazing alien-looking bouquets of flowers right from his fingertips. Now, whilst this wasn’t very helpful when it came to fighting supervillains it did give him a certain celebrity appeal. Which he revelled in. His client list was quite something to behold.
Despite this, his newfound wealth, and his access to jaw droppingly beautiful women he had repeatedly failed to impress any of them into going on a date with him. He imagined it was because he was ‘vertically challenged’ but in reality it was because he was arrogant and boring. Sadly he’d never have the insight to realise it…
This piece is based on an old sketch and is on a big bit of reclaimed canvas that was originally about 5 metres wide but had to be cut down into a slightly more manageable size. Which wasn’t really manageable at all. It’s now been rolled up so long that it’s no longer really viable as an actual canvas. Why I did it so large in the first place I’m not quite sure.
Perhaps I’ll go and grab a smaller canvas and paint it again. That would mean that I have to take myself to the art shop though which is never an action to take lightly as who knows what I’ll come back with.
Now this is a bit of a weird one for us. We usually like to stick some pithy words or a face on any pictures we do, don’t ask me why, we just do it would seem. This is why this piece remains something of a mystery.I was in the studio making what I thought would be a spiffy background for us to work on when the other half of id-iom comes in and says he likes it as is. That was enough to make me stop and ponder what he was talking about. This contemplation sadly went on for about 6 months longer than expected…
I was looking for some gold leaf when I came across this canvas again and, would you Adam & Eve it, I suddenly beheld what the other half of id-iom had seen all that time ago. So, before we potentially do anything else with it we thought it probably deserved to see the light of day.
Sometimes it’s important to do a little something for yourself. Or in this case for ourselves. id-iom’s junior member mentioned the other day that he’d managed to break his mini spirit level keyring or ‘wonkometer’ that he’d had for many years. To remedy this I thought I’d create some new team id-iom keyrings. Exclusive, classy, glass-like, laser cut and featuring a symbol of our individual call-signs. They’re 2 of a kind. And no, you can’t have one. As you can see they’re currently protected by Sebastian, the crack squirrel so good luck there…
Sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t. For Maggie here it’s definitely the latter. There she was watching Netflix late one night when she came across a dead pixel on her screen – or at least that’s what she thought it was.
After some intense experimental use of ayahuasca, however, Maggie now believes some parts of her face are teleported to the void and vice versa. She never knows when it’s going to happen but it’s always inconvenient. Missing parts of films at the cinema or conversations with potential suitors. It’s all rather embarrassing really.
I can attest to this because just as she was about to sit for her portrait for me some white shadowless void spots appeared on/in her face and stayed there until I’d finished. It really was very strange..
She’s on the finest a3 bockingford paper and has been lovingly handmade using the magic of acrylic and watercolour. If you’d like Maggie and the void for your wall just drop us a line.
There’s a whole slew of fantasy shows that are popular on various streaming sites like Witcher, Shadow & Bone and many, many more. And I’ve probably seen them all. It’s been a long year. This has led me down the slippery slope of imagining my own show. It would be called ‘The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen’. Think something like Game of Thrones meets Gossip Girl with a touch of Bewitched and you’re almost there.
Averick Cain has had everything taken from her. And now she wants it all back. Yaaasss indeed! This lighthouse of a lady is on a quest to restore her rightful place as the Scarlet Queen and she’s taking no prisoners. Now her tutelage under the brutal Sisters of Affliction has come to an end she is embarking on an epic globe-spanning journey in order to right some historical wrongs. Things will get messy.
Anyway, my hand painted show poster is A2 in size and made using acrylic, oil and paint pen. She’s available for purchase although you’ll have to agree to make a TV show out of it too. Otherwise you can’t have it.
Emily wouldn’t call herself trouble exactly but she does seem to get herself in quite a bit of mischief on a somewhat regular basis. Her Germanic father called her ‘Mein sorgenkind’ (‘my problem child’ for those that aren’t fluent in German) from an early age and it had stuck.
It’s not that her parents don’t love Emily; she just makes life difficult more often than not. Just the other day, they were out walking the dog when she somehow got into a situation where she gambled that her sausage dog would win in a race against an italian greyhound. Winner takes all. They are now, surprisingly, the owners of two small dogs. It was a good race though.
The straw that broke the camel’s back however was when Emily managed to set fire to a swimming pool with the excessive use of a napalm-like substance she created from watching videos on Tik Tok. So now not only has she been banned by all the big social media companies but her phone has been confiscated and she’s being shown the art of flower arranging by her mum. What’s the worst that could happen??
Mein Sorgenkind is made using acrylic, charcoal, spray paint and is A2 in size. Drop us a line if you want to give Emily a good home. To be fair she’s getting under our feet a little here…
The other half of id-iom told me just the other day that I should probably stop drawing men with big noses and I thought he was probably right as I have about 20 half-finished pictures sat around featuring men with big hooters. But then I did an about turn.
With inspiration running low and no idea of what to paint I was staring vacantly out the window when my eyes refocused – and what did I see but my own face complete with statuesque Roman nose staring back at me. That was enough to get the creative juices flowing, so I quickly set to work on my latest self portrait. Something I said I’d never do again after my last attempt which resulted in ‘High Risk Hugo’.
This time things haven’t gone much better, it would seem I still have a penchant for making my face look more like a horror movie monster than what I actually look like or perhaps all these months of lockdown have been getting to me.
Also I spent far too long painting the colours in the background but I guess I’ve had some time on my hands.
To occupy the time during lockdown Manana here has started taking suggestions off of the internet for what she should do to keep herself amused. She’s already completed Zelda on the Nintendo Switch, perfected the art of making croissants and somehow become an expert in the art of fly fishing although she hasn’t been near any open water since the start of January.
Today someone suggested she paint herself blue and post the results. I’m not quite sure what the person who suggested it gets out of it but Manana was game enough. The results speak for themselves. What on earth will tomorrow bring?
It is 37.5 cm x 37.5 cm on Bockingford paper and made using acrylic, spraypaint, paint pen and watercolour.
thisisidiom.wordpress.com 
You must be logged in to post a comment.