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Project Indigo (working title): Design of a vertical seaside metropolis "In december 2007 I sketched around a single theme for a while as a personal side project. I tried to envision what a huge -vertical- seaside city would look like in a world where dry land is very precious. This city would be situated on a huge pillar in a 'cavity' in the sea; possibly an inactive volcano crater of some sorts. I assumed a level of technology of western European countries around the seventeenth century. Naturally I had to take some huge liberties with the actual mechanical possibilities of these constraints to make a city in a hole in the sea work, not to mention a vertical city. As far as technique was concerned, I was not interested in creating pretty pictures, but I wanted to present a more or less solid approach to the theme described above."

Photographs of the Maunsell Sea Forts on the Thames Estuary.  Some black and white some color.

"In 1994, a few years after graduating from Edinburgh Art College with a degree in Drawing and Painting, I left Scotland for a new adventure in Hong Kong. I was struck by the sheer intensity of colours and design-style of all things Chinese, be that packaging, religious symbols, signs, labels or type. For three years, I received commissions from Hong Kong's major magazines and advertisers, but was frustrated by the limitations of the style I had created. My dream was realised when I won a place to study for a Masters at London's Royal College of Art. It was here that I discovered I could combine my drawing skills with the digital medium. This provided me with the tools I needed to realise my graphic visions. Gaining confidence in my new-found style, I returned to my Asian flavoured 'paintings' with gusto, this time bringing on board more elaborate and obscure sources, inspired by toys, communist-era propaganda, the Fifties, the Forties, sweets and packaging. In 2005, I returned to Asia for inspiration. This time moving to the romantic and inspirational former French Concession in Shanghai for a year-long sourcing adventure. I have now returned to my childhood roots of living by the sea, and now live in the beautiful English seaside city of Brighton."