Illustration
I have always had a fascination for figurative work as a painter. As a young father I couldn't paint at home and turned my eye to both smaller work and performance art. As an illustrator I have always be known by my teenage nickname of Mackie. I continue to use this as the signature for my illustrations and artisan products. Over the years I have done a lot of varied work, usually in one off commissions. Below is a sample portfolio:
Wolfsbane - album covers, tshirts, merch and tattoos.
I have designed 3 album covers, tshirts and even tattoos for the cult punk Metal band, Wolfsbane for over 30 years and I remain a fan too! For the most recent album, Genius, we used a Zombie theme after one of the tracks and the cover was modelled after mty daughter, Greta, who revived the character of Kathy Wilson from their first commercial succes of 1990, All Hell's Breaking Loose Down at Little Kathy Wilson's Place. Greta then joined the band on tour as the live Kathy Wilson, which the fans loved.
Tarot Card Project
I am working on creating a Tarot Card deck,themed to the migrant, the refugee, the asylum seeker. Probably since the Cain (the farmer) murdered his brother Abel (the Shepherd) in the Old Testament, we have practiced distrust of the nomadic. It's ironic because our evolution depended so crucially on travel. This distrust is exacerbated by over two decades of negative tabloid stories in the UK, a destabalisation of the world and a rise in the popularist right. Since colonial times we have also equated the East, to the occult and the dark arts. These are of course all prejudicial perspectives. It occured to me, then, that illustrating the Tarot Deck, this oracle of guidance, would be the perfect medium to explore the peril of the journey, the unknowns of the future and the distrust of the arrival for those that have lost their homes. The images here are sample draft designs.
I am currently seeking a publisher for this project.
Plant Dramas
The Creative Critic
Antarctica (1)911
This large scale project was a funded collaboration with Robert Wilsmore and Peter Morton. The work originated in staged photographs, which I then worked into digitally, creating illustrations that are 5ft x 3ft.
The work...