I’m a fine artist turned bureaucracy-survivor making a 'mid-life' bid for graphic novel glory.
Back in the 20th Century, I attended Glasgow School of Art, making lithographs and etchings that used formal elements of comics: sequential imagery and integrated text. Graduating between figurative painters ‘The New Glasgow Boys’, and a wave of idea driven multi-media artists, I decided to have it both ways.
I was an early committee member of the influential artist-run Transmission Gallery: one of the few not even nominated for the Turner Prize.
In the 1990’s, I co-edited and contributed to art comics anthology Dead Trees, and created pioneering interactive comic Tangled Tales (“Beguiling…The earliest of its type I have seen” Matt Madden).
After that, I juggled creative work with a career across community arts, gallery education, and community learning & development, latterly as a middle-manager and strategist. I served on a number of national committees, and edited and wrote the main text of Clarity for a Change: Key Terms and Ideas in Community Development, funded by the Scottish Government. This has developed my grasp of human behaviour, my ability to draw on the expertise of others, and to realise long-term projects.
My ‘graphic anti-novel’ The Curse of the Yellow Book was long-listed for the 2014, Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition. This convinced me that graphic novel success was in reach, if I concentrated on realising the right project.
I am now able to prioritise my graphic novel ambitions. I have invested in my skills, gaining a Master of Design in Graphic Novels (University of Dundee), and Certificate in Fiction Writing (University of Glasgow), both with Distinction.
My recent work is graphic novels/stories about key moments in the history of art. I’ve currently working on a graphic novel about painter Francis Bacon, and have completed short comics on Picasso, Vermeer, and perspective pioneer Paolo Uccello.
My prose fiction excerpt about Bacon appears in Alternating Current, 'an anthology of fiction, poetry, and experimental writing' from ‘Thi Wurd’.
I’m also a reviewer of graphic novels, for The Slings & Arrows Graphic Novel Guide. My nearly 300 reviews, span graphic biographies, art comics, underground comix, pop-culture classics, and more.
I live and work in Scotland between city and coast.
Back in the 20th Century, I attended Glasgow School of Art, making lithographs and etchings that used formal elements of comics: sequential imagery and integrated text. Graduating between figurative painters ‘The New Glasgow Boys’, and a wave of idea driven multi-media artists, I decided to have it both ways.
I was an early committee member of the influential artist-run Transmission Gallery: one of the few not even nominated for the Turner Prize.
In the 1990’s, I co-edited and contributed to art comics anthology Dead Trees, and created pioneering interactive comic Tangled Tales (“Beguiling…The earliest of its type I have seen” Matt Madden).
After that, I juggled creative work with a career across community arts, gallery education, and community learning & development, latterly as a middle-manager and strategist. I served on a number of national committees, and edited and wrote the main text of Clarity for a Change: Key Terms and Ideas in Community Development, funded by the Scottish Government. This has developed my grasp of human behaviour, my ability to draw on the expertise of others, and to realise long-term projects.
My ‘graphic anti-novel’ The Curse of the Yellow Book was long-listed for the 2014, Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition. This convinced me that graphic novel success was in reach, if I concentrated on realising the right project.
I am now able to prioritise my graphic novel ambitions. I have invested in my skills, gaining a Master of Design in Graphic Novels (University of Dundee), and Certificate in Fiction Writing (University of Glasgow), both with Distinction.
My recent work is graphic novels/stories about key moments in the history of art. I’ve currently working on a graphic novel about painter Francis Bacon, and have completed short comics on Picasso, Vermeer, and perspective pioneer Paolo Uccello.
My prose fiction excerpt about Bacon appears in Alternating Current, 'an anthology of fiction, poetry, and experimental writing' from ‘Thi Wurd’.
I’m also a reviewer of graphic novels, for The Slings & Arrows Graphic Novel Guide. My nearly 300 reviews, span graphic biographies, art comics, underground comix, pop-culture classics, and more.
I live and work in Scotland between city and coast.