Self Portraits in Print & Music...

The following artwork is for the limited edition packaging for my EP Borrowed & Blue which is now available exclusively in my online store! It's free postage, worldwide. I'm so excited to share my original artwork with you... and the story that goes along with it...

SELF-PORTRAIT.

Pencil, Paper, Water-colour, Photograph and Graphic Design via Photoshop...

I've never done a self-portrait before. I found the process interestingly weird.

When the topic of CD packaging came up with my label, I was thrilled when Sony said they really wanted to embrace my artistic side... So we came up with a unique, one-off packaging design that unfolds to reveal my original artworks.

GRAPHIC LANDSCAPE.

Sketch and Graphic Design via Photoshop.

Weird scenes inside the gold mine... Let the pictures and the music take you on a trip...

I've spent the last 6 years of my life writing, recording and releasing my original music as an independent artist. Putting together packaging and working to specs in Photoshop was just part and parcel of being the indie artist - firstly because there was no one else to do that stuff (and I couldn't afford to pay a graphic designer) and secondly because I've always felt that the imagery helps in setting a tone for what I was creating with the music. So to continue that process for my Borrowed & Blue EP was just a logical step...

In music, I started out with just my acoustic guitar, then moved onto jamming songs out with my band... Both pretty straight forward when it comes to the recording process. Then I began to explore a new aspect to my solo, live performance: the loop pedal. And that's when, in the recording studio, I hit a brick wall.

I was writing song after song and recording demos with a bunch of different producers and nothing was turning out like what I felt in my heart, how I performed it live, or what I heard in my head. The music I wanted to make just wasn't being captured in the recording studio.

I hit that dreaded slump...Writers block.

So I stepped back from writing songs and I started creating a collection of stripped back tunes by different artists; re-imagining the beats, the chords, the harmonies and all the parts of a song as if I had created them myself. And through that process I re-educated myself on what it is to be a musician. Before now I really only knew half the picture - the lyrics and the melody... but now, after producing this EP (with an awesome co-producer and engineer Adrain Breakspear) I have a completely new take on things.

As someone who has only ever recorded and released original music I never thought I'd release a collection of covers, let alone be proud of it! And yet, this entire process has been the most gratifying, satisfying, challenging, eye-opening and rewarding experience I've ever had.

What I learned is that the things you think you can't do are usually the things you need to do to break through the doors of perception. And that nothing much good comes of always saying no.

Be challenged. Be uncomfortable. Be wild.
And then see if you know yourself.

Limited edition packaging for Borrowed & Blue looks like the size of a 7" vinyl record and unfolds numerous times to reveal a final art piece containing the CD, measuring 54cm x 36cm.
Buy a copy here.

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