Paint By Number Issue 3 Launch Exhibition

I know it's late but I really wanted to share some images from the launch of Paint By Number's third issue. The launch night was fantastic and the turnout was amazing. I am honoured to have been featured in the magazine and it was lovely to meet and talk to new people at the exhibition. Because the night was so well attended I didn't manage to take photos of all the work but here is a small selection of what was on show. If you like what you see and you haven't already purchased a copy of Issue 3, don't worry, you can still get your hands on one here!

Laurie Vincent

Andy Welland

Jake Mullins

Songnyeo Lyoo

Chya Hsu

Jenny Beard

Aidan Quinn

Postcards!

'Handmade Pots on Indian Stone'

'The Core'

'White and Blue Pot'

Interested in owning an official print of one of my paintings? Well head over to my online shop here to grab yourself a professionally printed A6 postcard of 'Handmade Pots on Indian Stone', 'The Core' or 'White and Blue Pot'. The paintings information is displayed on the reverse side of the print as well as a standard postcard back. They are all printed on quality 350gsm silk card with a front-side gloss finish.

If you're interested, head over to my store here to find out more!

Two New Still Life Paintings

'It Came With the House' | Acrylic on Canvas

'Hope and Fear' | Acrylic on Canvas

In between writing my dissertation and producing practical work for the module I've been creating some more still life pieces. These two; 'It Came With the House' and 'Hope and Fear' are my most recent paintings and I really enjoyed making them. I really like the minimalist style and shadow in 'It Came With the House'. I think it has a lot of depth and it is something I may incorporate more frequently into my work. I also like the forms and colours in 'Hope and Fear'; I think I've managed to refine my technique and it seems to be working for me. What do you think?

If you are interested in either of these paintings, they are currently for sale at Silson Contemporary.

Paint By Number Issue 3 Launch

Issue 3 of Paint By Number launches this coming Friday (11th November) with a one-night exhibition at Studio 24, Leeds, and I can't wait! Alongside 24 other emerging artists, my work will be featured in the 52 page, full colour magazine which is really exciting for me as it will be the first time my work will be published as a physical paper form. The exhibition will showcase work of a selection of the featured artists and will officially mark the launch of Issue 3. It will be the first opportunity to purchase a copy of the limited edition magazine so if you are in leeds then get yourself down to Studio 24 on the 11th November. It would be awesome to see some of you there and your support would be greatly appreciated!

For more info, please click here to view the Facebook event page.

Esmarelda

It's been a while since I've posted about any of my own artwork and that's mainly because I've not really had time to paint over summer and now that I'm back at University I'm focusing more on my dissertation. I did however manage to get a few paintings finished but it's just taken me a while to get back into the documentation process. This painting, Esmeralda, is based off a fancy looking apartment block I came across while on holiday to Cala d'Or. The clean white walls and exotic plants bursting out the soil at the base of the building that surrounded the entrance of the apartment really stuck in my head and I knew I had to paint something based on that image. I tried to be a little less rigid with my painting style and capture the different greens within the leaves of the plants. I think it worked and I am happy with the final result.

New Beginnings

Silson Contemporary has officially opened! Friday 7th October saw the launch of Silson Contemporary, a new independent art gallery located in Harrogate, with its first exhibition 'New Beginnings' that is currently showing a few of my selected artworks. The private view was fantastic as I was able to meet some of the other exhibiting artists and the buyers of my two paintings; "White and Blue Pot" and "Handmade Pots on Indian Stone".

It was a very exciting occasion for me because it marked the first time my work had been selected to be shown in a commercial art gallery. It was amazing to be able to meet and talk to so many different people involved in the gallery and enjoy the delicious nibbles generously provided.

There is an incredible mix of artworks for sale at the gallery including encaustic paintings, devoré, bronze sculptures and charcoal drawings. You can check out the Silson Contemporary website here for more details on each exhibiting artist and their available work.

Here are a few photos from the private view (photos courtesy of Amy because I forgot to take some!)

Thank you to Sarah at Silson Contemporary for putting in so much hard work and for believing in my paintings enough to have chosen them to be exhibited in the gallery! Also, thank you to Terry who kindly provided both Amy and I with a lift to the private view!

If you have a spare moment you should check out everyone else's artwork. Here is a list of all the artists and links to their websites (or other relevent pages):

• Gina Bean
• Cath Brooke
• Peter Clough
• Gary Crowder
• Claude Frere-Smith
• Richard Gray
• Marcus Hammond
• Bali Kaur
• Suman Kaur
• Moz Khokhar
• Gill Kirk
• Terry Lister
• Julia Poulton
• Pietro Sanna
• Freya Stockford
• Dionne Swift
• Gary Thomas
• Tim Tudor
• Anna Whitehouse

Silson Contemporary

This October is particularly exciting for me as it marks the first time I will be showing selected works in an official, commercial, contemporary art gallery. Located within fifteen walking minutes of Harrogate city centre, Silson Contemporary is a new independent art gallery exhibiting the work of emerging and established artists from Yorkshire. With over twenty gallery artists the work on show covers a diverse range of disciplines from painting and printmaking, drawing and textiles and ceramics and sculpture.

This amazing opportunity was a result of hard work and a case of being 'in the right place at the right time'. During my second year at university I spent a lot of time (and money) submitting my paintings to exhibitions and competitions and it proved pretty successful. I had also been working non-stop on my website as part of a university module to get it looking as professional and streamlined as possible with the aim of getting it to  appear high on the search engine results. 

After a bout of exhibition rejections I was finally accepted to display a painting at "Fresh", an exhibition showcasing the work of thirteen emerging artists from the North of England. My painting was exhibited in the two-week show alongside fellow Leeds College of Art students Terry Lister and Mia Allonby. It was because of the show that Silson Contemporary had discovered my work and had then proceeded to contact me about it through my website. 

It's a good job I sent off those applications and put in the hours on my website!

Summer

As summer draws to an end and enrollment day creeps closer I'm left reflecting on what I've achieved over the past three months. Admittedly I've not been the most active on social media recently but that does not mean to say I stopped making things over the summer break; in fact I've got some exciting stuff lined up for the next few months!

This summer has been amazing for me as I've been able to have a little break, earn some extra money and I also managed to fit in some art related stuff too. Here is a little update on what I've been getting up to.

The biggest piece of news is that in October I will be represented by Silson Contemporary, a new independent contemporary art gallery in Harrogate that is showcasing the work of selected emerging and established artists from Yorkshire. This is extremely exciting for me as it's the first time my work will be represented by a gallery and I can't wait to attend the opening night of the first show. I will be writing a separate post later this week that goes into this in a little more detail so look out for that.

I've also had a short feature on the online gallery, Isthisit?, for their 17th weekly exhibition (which you can find here). Curated by siteTitle, Isthisit? is a platform showcasing the work of emerging artists with a new exhibition each week focusing on different themes and concepts. It was amazing to be featured on this online gallery and a somewhat new approach to getting my work out there.

Paint By Number Issue 2 Cover

I am also pleased to announce that in late October I will be featured in the third issue of Paint By Number, a full-colour artist magazine showcasing the work of emerging creatives. I was really happy to find out my painting had been selected for the next issue as it's the first time my work will be published in print. As a huge fan of art magazines such as Parterre de Rois I am eager to be featured in a new independent art publication like Paint By Number.

I've had a couple of paintings selected to be part of the 2016 Art For Youth North exhibition in October. Art For Youth is an exhibition that displays the work of Northern artists where 33% commission of sold artworks is donated to the charity UK Youth in the aims of improving the lives of young people through support, encouragement and new opportunities.

Lastly, I have finally made some small tweaks to my blog and website to give them a more professional image. I'm trying to make my online profile appear as streamlined and polished as possible which meant adjusting my layouts and updating my information. My website is now on one platform (Cargo) and I have bought my own website domain, jakemullins.com. I now also have the necessary information in my CV and Biography and my social media platforms link to one another making it much easier to navigate; let me know what you think!

At the start of September I spent an amazing ten days in Cornwall and managed to fill up two rolls of film. Since returning I've been working full time at the cafe so I haven't had the time to get them developed yet. Now I'm back to my normal shifts I will hopefully be getting them developed very soon so I'll be sharing them in a future post!