Getting out and about

I was lying in bed Thursday night, scrolling Instagram as you do, when an advert popped up for something called Queeriosities. It was a queer art market that was opening the next day here in London, so I thought "fuck it, let’s go". I’m trying to get more involved with local creative/ queer communities, and this looked like a perfect blend of the two.

Well I wasn’t disappointed! From the moment I stepped inside, I could see so many cool creations, from exceptional figure paintings , to ceramic buttplugs, vintage gay magazines, clothing, you name it. The event was packed and deservedly so.

I spent a solid two hours going around browsing and chatting to the artists/ vendors. It really hammered home how much the local community has to offer, and my mind was buzzing with ideas of what I’d like to create for my own stall at an event like this one day.

Mark Ho’s figure paintings are beautiful and caught my interest as soon as I walked in.

And Phil Douglas’ work really inspired me as a fellow life drawer. I dream one day of being able to have prints, books, and originals to sell at a stall like this.

Needless to say I left Queeriosities super motivated to develop my own brand of queer art. There’s so much that I want to do, and seeing and speaking to other artists in real life is so much more impactful than scrolling through Instagram endlessly. Even if that is how I found out about this event in the first place..

Anyway, you know I had to squeeze in some drawing over the weekend, so I went to my usual -  Secret Sketch at Vaulty Towers. I have never seen the place so busy - over 20 artists crammed into a tiny basement. But we made it work somehow.

This life drawing group has exceptional models without fail, and Josie (who runs it) puts in a lot of effort to make sure the lighting is just so, and everyone has everything they need. It’s my go-to place if I have some spare time on a Sunday afternoon.

All in all, a very good weekend!