"Isle of Hackney" screenprint map

I've just finished printing this new "Isle of Hackney" screenprint, the first in a series of prints representing London's boroughs as individual islands in the style of old nautical maps. This print is a three colour screenprint on Fabriano 300gm paper and measures 30x40cm and is available from my online shop.

"Isle of London" - screenprint map of London as an island

London has long been considered an island, both culturally and politically, and perhaps that was never so clearly illustrated than in visual representations of the recent general election results, where London is shown to be a (mostly) left-voting city, surrounded by an ocean of Conservative voting sh*tbags.

I've spent the past couple of weeks working on this new screenprint, showing "The Isle of London" in the style of an old nautical map. It took me a few attempts to burn the screens successfully due to the level of detail and fine lines in the design, but I got there in the end and am pretty happy with it. It's a big screenprint by my standards, measuring A2 and is printed in 3 colours on Fabriano 5 300gsm paper.

I'll only be printing a very limited number of these, and will post again when they're in shops and available from my online shop.

Screenprint - Ale - Great British Food & Drink Series

"Ale - Let's blow some froth!"

The third print in my "Great British Food & Drink" series of 1950s advertising style illustrations celebrates good old beer drinking.

The aim of this ongoing series is to mimic or pastiche the style of advertising images from the middle of the last century, while promoting fairly mundane but "classic" British food. So far I have illustrated Curry, Tea and Beer, and other prints I have in mind include Pie, Crisps, Kebabs, Trifle and the like.

Showcase 100 Exhibition

The Showcase 100 exhibition is is a juried exhibition and publication of 100 illustrations from some of the best professional illustrators working in the industry today, and I'm EXTREMELY pleased (and not a little surprised) that one of my illustrations has been selected for the show. The list of exhibiting illustrators is pretty amazing, and prints of the selected illustrations will be on sale.

It's organised by The Little Chimp Society and the exhibition is taking place from 7-11th April at The Framers Gallery in London's Fitzrovia. There's a private view on Thursday 9th from 6-8pm which is open to all, so please feel free to drop by if you're in the area.

And, hey, don't worry if you can't make it, you can still buy the book! 

Visit Hackney Central screenprint

This is the latest addition to my "No Underground. Get Over It." series of London screenprints - Visit Hackney Central by motor-bus service No.55. As usual it's hand-printed on Fabriano 5 300gsm paper with non-toxic inks and is now available from my Etsy shop

So... where next?

Screenprint - Tea - Great British Food & Drink series

Just completed, the second screenprint in my Great British Food & Drink series, this time featuring a good old cup of tea. How do you take yours?

More prints in this series to come... Chips? Pies? Crisps? Beer? Whisky?

Screenprint - Curry - Great British Food & Drink series

Just finished screenprinting up this spicy little 3 colour number, mimicking the style of mid-20thC public information posters. It'll possibly be the first in a series of similar prints on the theme of classic British food and drink.

I'll be adding it to my Etsy online shop very soon in case you're interested in purchasing one to adorn a loved one's kitchen wall, or even your own.

Highgate Cemetery screenprints acquired by Museum Of London

Very pleased to announce that my two screenprints of Highgate Cemetery - shown below - were recently acquired by the Museum of London and added to their Print Collection. They'll be stored with the collection and can only be viewed online at the moment, but who knows, perhaps they'll make a public appearance at some point if the museum organises an exhibition in which they'd be relevant.

Fundraising screenprint for StokeyLocal

I've just finishing screenprinting this 4 layer CMYK screenprint to help raise funds for Stoke Newington's Stokey Local campaign. It's a limited edition of 40 prints on 300g Fabriano paper, it measures 30x40cm and is available to buy for just £40.

Importantly, every penny from the sale of these hand-pulled screen prints will go to the Stokey Local Community Fund, helping them to take their case to the Court of Appeal.

So, if you'd like to buy one of this limited edition of 40 prints and contribute to a worthy local cause, please contact me via email: contact@beyondthrilled.com.

*** UPDATE 15.12.2014: 30 of 40 prints sold so far... ***

(If you're not acquainted with the details of Stokey Local's ongoing campaign against the proposed housing and retail development in Wilmer Place, Stoke Newington N16, you can read all about it here.)

For those who are interested in the process, the screenprint was printed with yellow, magenta, cyan and black inks in the order shown below:

First layer - Yellow

Second layer - Magenta

Third layer - Cyan

Final print with Black

We Built This City - revolutionising London's souvenirs

Last night I dropped in on the launch party of We Built This City, a great new pop-up shop on London's Carnaby Street which aims to "revolutionise the souvenir offering of London", offering a huge range of individual and amazing alternative souvenirs, from screenprints to ceramics, tea-towels to books. The WBTC team have done an fantastic job bringing it all together and everything is really beautifully displayed.

I'm very pleased to have five of my London screenprints included - four of my "No Underground. Get Over It" series and one of my "Magnificent Seven London Cemeteries" - amongst such great design company.

There are prints and products by Neil Stevens, Lucy Loves This, Ursula Hitz, James Brown, Victoria Eggs, Hoxton Mini Press and Alfred and Wilde, and many others.

If you're in London's West End over the next few weeks (the shop is open until Saturday January 10th) then drop by to see all the amazing London-based gifts and souvenirs that Alice Mayor and her We Built This City team has sourced.

Fights of Fancy book has a new website

"Fights of Fancy", the little book of illustrated comic verse that I published earlier this year (written by Steve Redshaw and illustrated by myself) now has a new website with a handy button to buy it from Amazon.

We've also put up a page on Facebook - feel free to go and like it :-)

CMYK halftone screenprint -Tom eating spaghetti

Yesterday I printed my first four colour (CMYK) halftone screenprint. I'm pretty happy with the result, particularly considering I printed it in my spare room with my home made exposure unit, and registered each colour using an acetate sheet. It was also quite a challenge making sure the screens were burned well enough to pick up all the halftones.

The image area is 22x27cm and individual colours are shown below as they were laid down.

Yellow

Yellow and Magenta

Yellow, Magenta and Cyan