Iron & Bluebrick

I’m fortunate enough to have support in my creative...

Sun, 12 May 2013 17:10:00 +0100

I’m fortunate enough to have support in my creative ability, the front room of my parent’s house has my old bits of work scattered about the place in and on top of china cabinets and dotted about on the walls

I thought I’d herd a few of the pieces together and give them a bit of recognition, I feel that my earlier pieces from college and 6th were pretty imaginative and represent how enthusiastic I was about persuing a career in art and design

The paper bureau was made from an old book from the 1950’s which was being sold for 10p at the college library, its was a caligraphy book so reincarnating it as a writing slope/bureau seemed apt (though I wasn’t happy about destroying it in the first place)
The glass hands were created at a Glass Centre in Brierley Hill from a plaster cast which was then filled with broken glass, heated in a kiln to make it molten and left to cool
The architectural sculpture was made at 6th form along with the painting of the pier in a rough sea, these were the result of my increasing interest in heritage architecture which had really taken hold at this point
The painting of a lone character perched upon a star was in response to a project for ‘places of worship’ for which I felt I would one day worship a place where I felt I belonged and was truthfully happy, but which I had not yet found

the Mother’s Day haul!I threw together a home made card...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:44:33 +0000

the Mother’s Day haul!
I threw together a home made card this afternoon which I am quite happy with, vaguely Victorian theme, though the bird was inspired by the new wallpaper in the living room (Laura Ashley Eau De Nil Summer Palace… we got it in the sale before you jump to any conclusions haha)

Scented candle - from a charity shop believe it or not, handmade with a nice glass stand
…and a ‘shabby chic’ (cannot stand that phrase) vintage style clock, which my mum has been going on about for ages every time she see’s a similar one on a tv advert - this was from Matalan though and it doesn’t have any annoying fake-distressed effects so it’s all good!

a few shots from my short trip to Edinburgh last week, beautiful...

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:05:43 +0000

a few shots from my short trip to Edinburgh last week, beautiful architecture which for the best part is very well preserved in it’s Georgian and Victorian splendour though even here the new age obsession with vast sheets of blue glass and clunky structures is present alongside ugly Brutalist thugs - the worst being the shopping centre which was build on the site of Georgian buildings, destroyed under the ever popular mid-century excuse of ‘slum-clearance’

richardbullows2: I’m still so obsessed with the redevelopment...

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 23:39:15 +0000

richardbullows2:

I’m still so obsessed with the redevelopment of Birmingham in the 1950’s and 60’s… I can’t process the degree of madness required to destroy such amazing Victorian architecture - and the sad thing is that this is on a minute scale compared to the city centre Bull Ring development.
The irony is that the building that was new in this video, the Birmingham ‘ziggurat’ Library is now facing demolition itself… the artist impression of the bland contemporary building they want to build there instead is just… contemporary nothingness

Amazing video…

richardbullows2: Kirstie’s Homemade Home eat your heart out -...

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 23:38:33 +0000

richardbullows2:

Kirstie’s Homemade Home eat your heart out - shoebox veneered with recycled wallpaper

It’s a jazzy Victorian-medieval-revival-William-Morris-esque pattern with a greyhound pursuing a fawn, I love it but I reluctantly had to remove it from my room - at least this is better than throwing it away!

post-educational life is a tad slow in the way of creative...

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:27:00 +0000

post-educational life is a tad slow in the way of creative career progress…

Stemming from chancing across a print of central Birmingham on ebay I’ve been for the past hour browsing pictures of places that have been destroyed… it really strikes a nerve with me - it obviously makes me angry to see beautiful heritage architecture destroyed in the name of progress and such (which almost always roots back to financial gain of some sort)

I feel like I should go back to chanelling this interest (if you can call it that) into producing some new works…

or perhaps look at a completely new career path in the history and archival field… lol?

The pictures are of train stations in Birmingham - long gone.
New Street Station is now one of the worst places to venture, I HATE changing trains there - a concrete bunker-come-labyrinth, it has no natural light, a frustrating, unclear and confusing layout, it’s dark and oppressive and just dull and soul-draining…

Just thought I’d make a handy visual summary of some of my...

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 22:43:00 +0100

Just thought I’d make a handy visual summary of some of my most recent works

Historic Architectural Design, Model Making, 2D design and Illustration as well as elements such as carpentry and glass cutting with reclaimed and re-used materials

mood doodle.

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 01:24:00 +0100

mood doodle.

Random objects acquired during the past 2 days: -Reclaimed...

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 00:06:56 +0100

Random objects acquired during the past 2 days:

-Reclaimed Victorian etched sash window panel

-Incredible polo shirt with a novelty tobacco pipe print

-Assorted geometric notebooks & photo frames from Paperchase SALE in Selfridges

-Metal 1940’s-esque utilitarian storage tin

-Reclaimed cast iron brackets

…just thought I’d share my glee and jubilation

I’ve been daydreaming about ideal jobs all day…This...

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:02:44 +0100

I’ve been daydreaming about ideal jobs all day…

This collection of Edwardian postcards hangs on the wall opposite my desk, I love the way these iconic local buildings sit side by side in a celebration of eclectic heritage architectural styles… wouldn’t it be great if that could happen in reality - rearrange a city layout like a massive jigsaw of interchangable pieces…

I’ve sort of seen it done (in a much less simple and idealised way) at a local museum where they dissasembled buildings from around the region brick by brick and rebuilt them side by side, the result is an authentic Victorian village, it’s such a great place! http://www.bclm.co.uk/

It’s a shame that money has to put a spanner in the works of brilliance like that, it’s just easier to just knock a building down and build flats on the site… boring. The beautiful Snow Hill Train Station building (Birmingham, top left postcard) was demolished in the 1970’s, it’s one of the worst cases of local demolition (I think I’ll create a specific blog post for this case because I could rant all day about it)

But an ideal (if virtually fictional) job would be relocating old buildings in bad places, relocating them and designing a new town square of wonderful mis-matched historic buildings… well I can dream can’t I.

Just finished this Deco motif, I considered it more of a...

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:26:43 +0100

Just finished this Deco motif, I considered it more of a practice piece as I’ve not drawn one for months, saying that, I’m fairly happy with it…

I was worrying for nothing, the salon guy loved his painting -...

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 19:55:50 +0100

I was worrying for nothing, the salon guy loved his painting - phew!

I finished this yesterday, a 2 x 3ft illustrationIt was supposed...

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 22:42:00 +0100

I finished this yesterday, a 2 x 3ft illustration
It was supposed to be for somebody I know who owns a salon - having recently re-decorated the salon he asked for a ‘mural’ on the wall, but as he wants to keep the piece when he sells the business I drew it on a big board - removable! The brief was ‘vintage and tree’s’ so this is what I came up with, he liked the initial sketch :-/
I’m not sure if he likes it though, soo it may have been a massive waste of time… it’s not the best illustration in the world, but I don’t usually draw on a large scale

it’s all practice anyway I guess…

Graduated last week! It was a really nice ceremony inside...

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:37:00 +0100

Graduated last week!
It was a really nice ceremony inside Bristol Cathedral,
just a shame it felt so rushed afterwards - by the time I’d queued up to have my proper photo taken the marquee was virtually empty and most people had left to have their family meals on Park Street or go home,

anyway… cheerio Bristol it’s been an interesting 3 years

that is awesome, they are great! love your blog, i am actually majoring in Architecture now and interested in set design.

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:11:22 +0100

Thank you, I really appreciate that!
I hope your Architecture degree is going well, set design is so underated, not enough people realise how much work goes into making films look good!

hi, i was looking at your most recent model pictures. what type of material were you using?

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:45:28 +0100

Hey, thanks for your question,
they’re made entirely from card, paper and a lot of thought and patience haha

‘Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 00:57:00 +0100

‘Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey’

^ I want this book! It’s basically full of images from behind the scenes and the making of the film series, it’s around £40 but I will scrimp and save to have a copy!

(images courtesy of http://parkablogs.com/node/7598)

Seriously starting to think that the creative sector of the film...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 00:45:00 +0100

Seriously starting to think that the creative sector of the film industry may be the place for me to pitch up a career, I have the imagination and the physical ability to make things… it’s a shame the Harry Potter series is over, working on that would have been just perfect.

The works that I slaved over… they don’t look like...

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 23:53:36 +0100

The works that I slaved over… they don’t look like much at the end of the day

The degree show went well though, I recieved a few compliments which made all the stress and worry worth it (a little bit)

‘The Show 2012’ was a couple of weeks ago now, it essentially marked the end of university for me, aside from a leaving party in a few days and moving my things back to my parents…. it’s over

I don’t think I’ve really got my head around it yet, it feels quite surreal

The model I mentioned making ages ago happened in time to be in...

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 23:46:00 +0100

The model I mentioned making ages ago happened in time to be in the degree show a couple of weeks ago, it was a stressful rush to get it and the accompanying paperwork written and submitted in time, I am very relieved that it is now over.

The model is a continuation of the exploration of demolition of heritage architecture in the mid-twentieth century and is designed to evoke curiosity and consideration, I was quite happy with it despite the compromises that I had to reluctantly undertake in order to meet the deadline