sim marriott

Mellieha Birdman

2012-02-07T15:03:00.000Z

For a country with so many hunters prepared to shoot anything out of the sky, it's somewhat surprising that there are also so many pigeon fanciers on the Island as well. It comes as no surprise, however, to learn that the two groups frequently collide...

Maltese Hunter

2012-02-07T13:28:00.000Z

Oh, how the Maltese love to hunt!! This is a drawing I made the summer before last following an upclose & personal encounter with a group of hunters in a designated picnic area near Mellieha. 4 guys, dressed to kill, swept through our peaceful lunch spot randomly blasting stuff as they went! There are hunting 'shacks' dotted all over the island in the most unlikely places - 50 yards from Childrens play areas, right next to a bird reserve, inside picnic spots...

Malta is a natural refuge for many migratory birds, but for significant numbers, it becomes their last resting place. Herons, Owls, Raptors, Warblers, Sea birds of all descriptions... Nothing is sacred - That is all except the hunters traditional and seemingly divine right to annihilate...

Le Chasseral, Jura Mountains, Switzerland

2012-02-06T15:57:00.000Z

This is a drawing I made last year, of a communication tower on the highest peak in the Jura Mountains in Switzerland.

Everybody's Sukkiri

2012-02-06T11:18:00.000Z

Something non-Tuna related! This is a drawing I did a couple of years ago (from a photo, as there aren't too many Japanese garbage trucks around in Malta!). If only all utilitarian vehicles and appliances were this cheerful looking!

Knights of the Brine

2012-02-01T10:51:00.000Z

This is one of the first images I produced for the book, whilst living in Switzerland. I had an opportunity to dive with these magnificent animals whilst in Malta the previous summer. Tuna are stiff bodied, muscular fish and they struck me as being somewhat robotic. It was a surreal and unforgettable experience. 1000 fish around 250+kg each. Just a shame they were in a pen, destined for the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo to be sliced up for sushi...

Courting Disaster

2012-01-31T13:30:00.000Z

'Courting Disaster' - This image is for a section of the book about the mismanagement of the Tuna fishery in the Atlantic & the Mediterranean.

Tuna Book

2012-01-30T01:01:00.000Z

This is a raw painting (i.e. It hasn't had any digital jiggery-pokery done to it yet) for 'The Tuna Book' that I've been working on for the past 18 months or so...

New Studio...

2012-01-29T22:02:00.000Z

This is my first blog post in more than two years, and I have rather a lot of news and developments to share. So I thought I'd keep things simple and start by sharing some photos of St Barnabas Press in Cambridge, where I now have a small studio. I've been here for the past 8 months. I'm fully settled in and LOVING every minute of it! No more working from home for me...

St Barnabas Press is a rare and magnificent fine art printmaking workshop on the edge of the City, owned and run by the rather special Mr James Hill - Master Printer, and his artist wife Aimin. They're ably assisted by Mrs Fiona Thomas - silkscreen & etching genius, and an artist in her own right.

The workshop is crammed full of presses, ancient & modern for most kinds of printmaking including Etching, Stone Lithography, Relief and silkscreen. There's also a digital suite with large format Epson and Canon printers. There's also a very busy framing dept run by Mr George Hill, Cambridge's finest picture framer & jungle / reggae DJ!!

There are about 14 artists (including me) who rent studio space at the Press. It's also an open access facility which makes it a bustling hive of creative goings on most of the time. Most of the resident artists integrate some form of printmaking in their work, but there are also sculptors, ceramicists, painters, illustrators and such like. There are also frequent courses in printmaking and other creative disciplines running, so there's often a very bustling atmosphere. Very refreshing after almost 10 years of solitary confinement in my home studio!!

Aimin also runs an initiative called Art China, which specializes in creating and maintaining links with printmakers and other artists in China. There are frequent exhibitions in the gallery upstairs at St Barnabas, and visiting artists often give demonstrations and run workshops.

Apart from teaching, managing the place, hanging shows, mending stuff, tidying up, fixing network issues, being perpetually asked technical questions by everyone, and running around like a headless chicken... James' specialist area of expertise is in editioning prints for other professional artists. So when does he find any time at all to produce his own work? Well, it wouldn't be unusual for the lights to be on in the press at 4am, James up to his elbows in sticky ink and levitating an inch above the ground due to the powerful coffee which fuels him. To say he's 'driven' would be an understatement!

If you happen to be in the Cambridge area, please feel free to drop by and see what's going on. Alternatively check out the website for more info...

St Barnabas Press, Belfast Yard, Coldhams Rd, Cambridge CB1 3EW tel. 01223 413792

http://www.stbarnabaspress.co.uk/

2009-06-26T14:24:00.000+01:00

Sim's been a busy bee...

2009-06-26T08:59:00.000+01:00

Although I promised myself that I'd do a morning drawing every day, no matter what - I also knew that it would be a bit of a tall order, and sure enough I've been unable to do one for a while.

I've been working on the cover of British Airways High Life magazine, and some internal illustrations too. I've also had a chunky brief come in from my agent (Jelly) and I've been asked to do all the backgrounds for U2's new video!

However - I'm waiting for a call from the director at the mo, so I'll do one now...

Little Emperor

2009-06-18T11:35:00.000+01:00

Jan Hammer Loves Leerdammer

2009-06-08T14:59:00.000+01:00

Everyone knows that.

Morning Drawing No.1

2009-06-05T18:51:00.000+01:00

This was the first in the series, and will be winging its way to my friends at DDB London.

Morning Drawings

2009-06-04T20:59:00.000+01:00

Part of my effort to reinvigorate my passion for drawing has been to do lots more of it. I've decided to make it a bit of a morning ritual and make a drawing every morning before I getted bogged down in the days events. Unsurprisingly, I'm going to call this series 'Morning Drawings'. In an act of shameless self promotion, I'm making each one into a postcard and sending them to selected art directors and buyers.

Website now live!! - Hooray!!

2009-06-04T20:44:00.000+01:00

Well, the boy done good. Lee's finished the site and we're live.

Check it out -

www.simmarriott.com/

Website almost complete...

2009-05-28T22:48:00.000+01:00

Lee's just putting the finishing touches to the updated website. Should be ready any day now...

2009-05-20T16:53:00.000+01:00

This is the first piece of work I've completed entirely in Photoshop for about 5 years!

Website Spring Clean

2009-05-05T11:56:00.000+01:00

The old site has now been replaced with a holding page, but the new site will probably take a couple of weeks to fine tune and publish. All the animation is done, and there's a new xml gallery which I can keep updated myself. There are some tweeks that need to be made at an unpressured pace, and I don't want Lee's brain to collapse under my whip!!

To see the new animated sequence (which will be interactive when it goes live) click this link...

http://www.contactacreative.com/playmedia.php?media=bWVkaWFfaWQ2Ng==

Site Updates

2009-05-02T21:15:00.000+01:00

Lee and I have been hard at work today rebuilding simmarriott.com. There's a new animated sequence with sound, new artwork, new showreel, and general lovely newness all around!

The new gallery should be ready for Monday morning to coincide with Contact 25 landing on art directors desks, and the new animated sequence should be up and running by the end of the week (fingers crossed!)

I also have new work on Creative Handbook , Contact and Flikr

Check it out!

Cold Hard Flash

2009-05-01T09:28:00.000+01:00

Bride features on Cold Hard Flash

2009-04-30T20:59:00.001+01:00

http://coldhardflash.com/

2009-04-09T10:32:00.001+01:00

Kwik-Fit Bride

2009-04-08T15:23:00.000+01:00

This was my first ever attempt at animation - It nearly killed me, but it was worth it in terms of what it's since lead to. Animated on Paper, scanned and imported into Flash and composited in AfterFX. Assisted by Lee Scarfe, Voice Over by the amazing Mr Justin Lee Collins. Agency - DDB London.

2009-04-08T11:19:00.000+01:00

Mr & Mrs Smith...

2009-04-08T10:01:00.000+01:00

The very lovely Mr David Bird esq.

2009-04-08T09:56:00.001+01:00

Sim's been working on some new portraits...

Updates to the website

2009-04-08T09:52:00.000+01:00

Sim's currently adding long awaited updates to his website. He's up to his eyeballs in keyframes and timelines, adding new animated features to his little floating world.

www.simmarriott.com

First post

2009-03-19T15:34:00.000Z

This is sim marriott's new blog.