In love as in death

Skull with lillies, acrylic paint on A3 paper, available on Big Cartel

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Amor vincit omnia

Roman poet Virgil, writing way back in 38 BC, wrote ‘Omnia vincit amor et nos cedars amori’ which I’m sure we’re all aware translates as ‘Love conquers all; let us too, yield to love’. Which is a lovely sentiment so we ‘borrowed’ it. We’ve decided to go with the punchier, truncated version of ‘Omnia vincit amor’ and have left it in its original latin because quotes always sound classier in latin. 

That’s about all you’re getting by way of explanation for today’s piece. Quite why the lady is in purple is for us to know and you to find out however. We can’t just spoon feed you everything…

She’s A2 in size and made using the magic of acrylic, spray paint and paint pen. If you’d like this mysterious lady and her ancient quote to adorn your wall just drop us a line or you may find her on our Big Cartel page some time soon.

Cheers

id-iom

Love will tear us apart

Sometimes it’s difficult to know where inspiration comes from. Was I listening to Joy Division’s ‘Love will tear us apart’ when I came up with this design? Or did I come up with it independently as it seemed fitting for the design? I really couldn’t tell you. 

I can tell you however that the Joy Division version was released in June 1980. Apparently the lyrics were inspired by lead singer Ian Curtis’ marriage problems and frame of mind before his suicide in May 1980. Which is really quite sad all things considered. I’m not quite sure where I’m going with this so maybe best just to leave the rest to you. 

It is made using the magic of imagination, stencils and spray paint on 60 x 60 cm canvas

Love

id-iom

The day after the night before

Dave (or ‘Panther’ to his friends) had never been accused of making good decisions. In fact his chequered past was littered with questionable decisions. But none quite so foolish as today’s rash move. 

He’d decided to buy a jet ski and go and see his girlfriend, which, on the face of it, sounds pretty romantic. Love will find a way and all that. He lived in Scotland however whilst his heart’s desire lived on the Isle of Man. If you throw in the fact that the Irish Sea in winter time is not the most charitable place to be combined with the fact it’s 40km from Scotland and the fact that he’d never ridden a jet ski before you can begin to see the poor decisions branching off into infinity. Oh, and I forgot to say it’s the middle of a pandemic and the Isle of Man is sealed off, covid free and lusting to throw lawbreakers in prison – so Dave’s decision is looking poorer by the second.

Somehow he made it despite the journey taking almost 4 hours longer than he predicted and, assumably, him almost freezing to death. You’d think perhaps lying low at his girlfriend’s might be a good idea but no, it’s out clubbing for Dave and his betrothed. Perhaps predictably this was his face on being told he faced a prison sentence after the long arm of the law reached out for him the following day…

It is A3 in size and made using the magic of acrylic, pastel, paint pen and imagination. Drop us a line if you need Dave in your life…

Cheers

id-iom

From Russia with Love

It’s funny what you can find on Wikipedia when searching for something entirely unrelated and how that can lead directly to inspiration. Which is always tricky to find. 

Here we have a piece based on Valentina Tereshkova who was the first and youngest woman to have flown in space with a solo mission in 1963. She orbited the earth 48 times, spent almost three days in space, and remains the only woman to have been on a solo space mission. And at only 26 years old to boot. You really should check her out. An interesting lady.

Like other spacefarers, some of her words have been immortalised. Her call sign for the mission was ‘Seagull’. Valentina is known for saying:

‘It is I, Seagull! Everything is fine. I see the horizon; it’s a sky blue with a dark strip. How beautiful the Earth is … everything is going well.’

And that was enough to inspire me to create this. Whatever will I find next on the internet…

On A2 and made using acrylic, spray paint, paint pen and pencil

Cheers

id-iom

Rust covered love, a love so old

I love art shops don’t get me wrong but a good craft shop can be a wonder of delight as well. Some might ask what is the difference? A lot of products overlap but in a craft store there are some things which you just don’t get anywhere else. For instance ‘Rust paint’, paint that when applied looks like rust without needing a massive skill set. This is exactly what I bought the last time and what a find it was.

Admittedly I’ve had the stuff for quite a while as I had no idea what to do with it but, as always, the Muse will strike at any time. And for this clout around the head I was gifted with the idea of a rust covered heart.

Perhaps it’s about everlasting love or maybe about someone who won’t open their heart and so it falls into disrepair. To tell you the truth I wasn’t really sure myself until the other half of id-iom walked by whilst I was painting and casually mentioned the tin man and his lost heart. And that was it. You just have to love it when a plan comes together…

On A2 made using the magic of inspiration, spray paint, acrylic, rust paint and just a little bit of sewing

Cheers

id-iom

All for the likes – a modern fairy tale

All for the likes – a brief modern fairy tale

Social media can definitely be a force for good but I think we’re all too aware it has a darker side too. Social media influencer Kylie here is so tied up in her impeccably curated Instagram profile and getting more likes for each and every picture that she posts that she decided to have a modified Facebook ‘love’ tattoo done in an attempt to hit the magical 500K followers where apparently those lucrative but elusive sponsorship deals start rolling in.

Sadly all she got was a notification from Instagram saying the post contravenes policy and her entire account had been suspended pending an investigation. It’s currently unclear if she lives happily ever after.
Kylie is on A2 and is made using the magic of spraypaint, stencils and imagination. Drop us a line if interested in giving her a new home…

Love

id-iom

Love will tear us apart

Sometimes it’s difficult to know where inspiration comes from. Was I listening to Joy Division’s ‘Love will tear us apart’ when I came up with this design? Or did I come up with it independently as it seemed fitting for the design? I really couldn’t tell you.

I can tell you however that the Joy Division version was released in June 1980. Apparently the lyrics were inspired by lead singer Ian Curtis’ marriage problems and frame of mind before his suicide in May 1980. Which is really quite sad all things considered. I’m not quite sure where I’m going with this so maybe best just to leave the rest to you.

They’re on A2 paper and are made using the magic of spraypaint, stencils and imagination. They’re £130 each if anyone wants to give either a new home.

Love

id-iom

i Love It herE

First up this week on eBay is ‘i Love It herE’. Click the link below to check it out on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392185027608

As i’m sure we all know by now the path of true love never does run smooth. And today’s piece is something of a homage to that somewhat disturbing truism. In fact, today’s piece is largely about a love that has run it’s course and is now somewhat moribund. This is evident in the blue letters within the piece. I’m sure you can work it out.

Cheers

id-iom

Title: I love it here
Materials: Screen print, spray paint, stencils and paint pen
Size: A3 watercolour paper

Make love not war

Make love not war. It’s a pretty straightforward slogan on this one and it would seem this couple is taking it all quite literally. But I think perhaps it’s worth repeating given the troubling times we find ourselves living in.

With full on wars, proxy wars and terrorism springing up all over the world a little more love would go a long way. Originally from 1960’s US counter-culture movement it’s a pretty simple anti-war sentiment that is still pretty relevant.

As an aside I’ve used my favourite new font for the text on this called Sans Forgetica. It was developed by a multidisciplinary team of designers and behavioural scientists at RMIT University. It’s purposely more difficult to read than standard fonts as the ‘desirable difficulty’ you experience when reading it prompts your brain to engage in deeper processing. Which is both pretty cool and very fitting considering the topic. Win all round.

Make Love Not War is on A2 and has been created using the magic of spraypaint, stencils and imagination. Drop us a line if interested…

Cheers

id-iom