My boyfriend and his house mate have been hit by the Fallout 3 bug again recently so whenever I go round I end up watching them play and giving advice. This also means that I’ve had the soundtrack in my head for weeks – not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, it gave me a title for this post!

Anyway, this weekend I was working on an image I had been thinking of for some time. This is a landscape painting of Springvale, an in-game location in Fallout 3. I am hoping to do a few more location paintings so if you want to suggest any feel free to pop it in a comment. I can tell you that I already plan to do the Nuka-Cola factory and Paradise Falls.

This painting will be on sale at the London MCM Expo, October 28th-30th. Information about the show can be found here.

Here are some WIP photos. Please click the images to enlarge.

At the London MCM Expo this October I will be sharing a dealer table with the awesome Tab Kimpton and his collection of steampunk and cosplay goodies, and comic books. As such I’ve been very busy beavering away at my easel, creating pieces for sale and prints. As the event spans over three days I am pretty worried about not having enough stock, hopefully that wont be the case. Below are a few pieces that I have created especially for the Expo so far. My goodness there’s a lot to get done!

A Mirror’s Edge inspired Abstract…

…and two Street Fighter 4 Pop Art pieces – Blanka and Juri.

Over the last week I have been requesting characters to paint over at my Twitter account. I have also started taking on watercolour commissions, which was not expected, but incredibly flattering. Thank you to everyone who has requested one this week.

Here are a few examples of my work so far, as you can see I’ve still got a lot to learn so expect more updates in the future. Prints of these are now available on my Etsy store.

The image of my tattoo above was taken after letting it settle for a few hours and a quick wash in the shower. It’s still pretty bloody and swollen so expect better pictures once it’s healed. The final sitting was only 2.5 hours and it was great to chat to Luci and catch up with her after so long. After the sitting Chris and I headed out to explore Brighton and play Time Crisis in the arcade! We even took a trip to the Sealife Centre, which was brilliant! I haven’t been to one for the longest time, not since I was a child. My favourite attraction was definitely the Green Moray Eel. It was HUGE and the most beautiful colour. Check out the picture on the left to see how badass they are!!

After kidding around on the pier and a short walk through the lanes we stopped off for food at the famous vegetarian restaurant, Terre à Terre. I was recommended it by a friend and it certainly didn’t disappoint! The food was utterly delicious and the service was second to none. I will definitely dine there again given the chance. I’ll leave you with photos of the two delicious puddings we ate: Doughnut fingers with chocolate dipping sauce and vodka-soaked cherries, and sticky chocolate pudding with a side of white chocolate ice cream and black currant sauce. YUMMY!!

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysse holds some great memories. I adored that game on my Playstation One, I completed it numerous times – not that I ever got the good end. No matter how thorough I thought I’d been one of my fellow Mudokons would always get left behind. Sorry matey!

Recently I’ve been revising some of my most loved games, this being one of them. I forgot how much I loved Abe’s character and design, he’s such a loveable and quirky character. As I was keen to try a new art style and to learn how to work better with colours, I decided to paint Abe in full colour. I am incredibly pleased with the result!

Over all this painting took almost 10hours. With practise I am sure I can reduce the time it takes to do a painting of this size and hopefully try some more adventurous images/subjects. Abe is up for sale here at my Esty store. Commissions can be requested by emailing me at spiralwork(at)gmail(dot)com.

Thanks to one of my new favourite websites, Love and Trash, I recently joined Project Noah. Project Noah is a web-based tool for documenting wildlife sightings and uses a google maps-like tool to allow you to place a location on your spotting. It’s a fantastic way for scientists and wildlife enthusiasts to collect and share information.

Joining the site filled me with inspiration which led me down to the river Wey this morning, camera in hand. Below are the results. For those interested you can see my Noah profile here

Please click the images to enlarge, they are best viewed that way.

Two tiny beetles hide from the rain inside a bluebell

More of the beetles above, this time dining on nectar in a Dandelion

A small snail clings to some flowers while it sleeps. A lot of light bled into this image so I washed it with some gradient colours.

A Mayfly rests by the river. I love Mayflies, they are my favourite things about living near a river.

A type of Soldier Beetle. He jumped off the leaf shortly after this shot. Daft thing.

A tiny lesser moth. I haven’t been able to identify this one yet, any suggestions welcome.

A Common Stretch Spider. Hmm, I wonder where that name comes from…

Luckily for me my piercer and good friend, Iestyn, returned form his holiday in New Zealand last month. There is no-one else in the UK I trust more with my body modifications, he’s also a top bloke. He recently started working at Divine Canvas, home of some of London’s most talented tattoo artists. I’d highly recommend Xed LeHead’s work if you are looking for exquisite black work. I have seen a number of his pieces in person and they are stunning!

Anyway, enough pimping, here’s a short write up of my microdermal removal experience:

To begin, as you would expect, Iestyn washed down all the surfaces he would be using, washed his hands, and donned rubber gloves. He then began choosing which tools to use, all of which had been sterilised. For this procedure he used a scalpel and forceps. He then taped some blue poly-backed tissue to his leg and asked me to rest my hand on his leg. He then sterilised the area around my microdermals.

For those who are unsure what Emla is, it’s a cream that slightly numbs the skin. Some people use it for tattoos if they are finding it particularly painful. Next he clamped the top of the first microdermal and locked the clamp in place. He made a small cut along the leg of the microdermal (the part under the skin, I’m not really sure what else to call it!) and used the forcepts to pull out the microdermal. This sucked a bit, I wont lie. After two years of making sure I didn’t catch them it was quite surreal to let someone cut them out. The pain was short and it was a particularly quick procedure. I did swear a little when the first didn’t want to come out. After the removal he cleaned and dressed the area. They’re gone!

Overall the removal process was very quick and mildly painful. Nothing a bit of gurning wouldn’t see you through. There will probably only be slight scarring once healed but I’ll get a photo for reference any way. I kept the removed jewellery so if I ever felt like getting more in the future I can get them sterilised and reuse them.

Before I left I discussed a other procedures I would like done in the future including a hand-tattooed design on my feet. I also gave him my deposit for the second half of my scarification and tentatively booked a date to get it done. I’m much more nervous about it now that I know what to expect. The cutting was fine but the healing was brutal. At least I know it’ll be beautiful once it’s complete! I also had my right lobe stretched to 8mm to match the other ear.

After leaving the studio I took a walk into town to meet up with Joe and my superBFF Lauren. On the way I saw some funky mosaics by the river in Camden. I took photos of it because I’m a dork. Upon meeting Joe and Lauren we indulged in a delicious vegetarian lunch before doing a little shopping and enjoying some bubble tea in the sun. I gave Joe his Shadow of the Colossus painting and he was really happy with it which is awesome! I had a cracking day and treated myself to some new gaming pants and an AMAZING bag. It combines two of my greatest loves – insects and zombies! Check it out!

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