Happy New Year

Despite the economic downturn and general 2009 grumpiness, I had a great year...

Many thanks to all of you who have supported me and my artwork - have a great evening's celebrations and best wishes for 2010!

Im off to Kernow to see the new year in - back with more projects in early Jan.

RIP Bear - the Street Poet

I just heard the sad news that Alan, AKA Bear the street poet, has passed away. As a ever present face on Stokes Croft, Bear was a truly charming character as anyone who bothered to gave him a few moments will testify.

I took this photo in early 2008, a short time after i painted the piece on Target Electronics in the background. Whilst i was painting it, Bear joined me and told me tales of his past - his lost family, past career, and his hopes and dreams for the future. I was stunned by his knowledge and enthusiasm for art and photography and his own ideas of painting blacked out rooms with photo-sensitive emulsion and then flashing lights around whilst people strike poses in front of the walls... I thought that was a pretty wild idea.

So to a man who so often looked grumpy, worse for wear and down and out, and no doubt had a right to be; but who also had a heart of gold and a creative mind, with tales to tell that would reduce you to tears.

Rest In Peace my man, thanks for the time you took to talk to me...

Shortly after i met Bear i spotted him one morning in from of the painting i had done and he was studying it and taking it in. I walked up to him and had a short chat, asked to take his photo which is the one you see above. I later used this photo to make a painting of Bear and later gave him a copy of the image. He was touched and thanked me for my kindness...

A week or so later i saw him again and asked if he still had the picture i gave him. Unfortunately, he didnt have a clue what i was on about... Bless ya Bear, Goodnight.

Acrylic paint, photocopies, photographs, pva, emusion, poska pens, tester pots, and a used PG tips tea bag on hardboard.

Issues...

A while back i spotted that a band i liked were playing the Bristol Bierkeller (not my usual hangout, bet hey...) and noticed that on their website they were requesting photographs from people who had been to earlier gigs . Knowing that Mrs Acer wouldn't be too keen on going i thought i'ld try and get a pass to take photos - sent an email with a few photo examples - and got the blag :-)So last night i headed out with all the kit; 10-20mm canon superwide, a borrowed 17-40L (cheers Lee!), and the trusty kit 55-250mm IS canon. EX430ii flash along with transmitter, defusers and a few other cheeky flash related gadgets i wanted to try out. But on arriving and getting my pass i was told that it was the bands request that i only take photos for the first 3 songs and with no flash whatsoever. Groan...

So without my trusty flash i was left to work out what to do with 3 lenses that aren't particularly quick (f3.5-4, f4, and f4-5.6 respectively). My camera only goes up to iso1600 so although quick, not as quick as newer models and was no doubt going to give noisy images. It was pretty dark in there too so the only way i could get a workable shutterspeed was to push the exposure compensation to 2 stops under the meter reading.

So by doing everything i could to get my shutter-speed as quick as possible i experimented by taking a series of photos of the support band.

The above image i managed to grab by supporting the camera against the safety barrier in front of the stage which allowed me to get away with a fairly slow 1/40 shutter speed with the 17-40L. It wasn't fast enough for my liking so i decided to switch to the 55-250 which has Canon's image stabilisation system integrated within it...

This seemed to work much better, although IS can compensate for a bit of camera shake, it cant compensate for the subject you are shooting moving, ended up taking lots of frames and hoping for the best...

The main act came on and were great. Very energetic, great musicians, crowd very boisterous! Good fun. I managed to fire of around 150 shots during my allotment of the first 3 songs before being ushered out of the pit by a gnarley security dude who just couldn't wait to enforce his authority. Luckily for him, there were plenty of rowdy lads in there for him to get to work on later on in the evening. And out of the 150 shots i got about 4 decent ones...

In Progress

Painting in progress next to Jody painting photo realistic rudolph the red nosed raindeer...

WoC Group Show

Malakai - Portrait of Gee 2009

by Acerone

Emulsion, acrylic, belton, montana, hycote and sabatoz on canvas

90cm x 150cm

On display in the Weapon of Choice gallery, St. Michaels Hill, Bristol.

Opening evening tomorrow night from 6pm

Weapon of Choice Magazine

The WoC magazine issue 2 is out now which includes a lil interview with myself - catch a copy out and about in Bristol now or online here...

Life

So i have just finished watching Life on BBC HD and this week it was all about plants. Perhaps not the most spectacular footage of the series but this was without a doubt the craziest project i have ever known anyone to undertake. Every time i watch Life, or anything Attenborough for that matter, i am blown away. This is what TV is for and this is why a pay Mr Murdoch £7 a month extra for high definition viewing...

Anyway.

If you missed it, you must visit the BBC Life website here and watch the last 10 minutes from 47:50 onwards. The scale of this project in simply unbelievable and took tens of people 2 years to make less than 60 seconds of footage. When i saw the footage at the beginning of the program i scratched my head for ages over how on earth they shot it - and at the end they gave me the answer.

Epic!

Doodle

CSB Canvas printing

The new run of Clifton Suspension Bridge canvases - DONE!

Inspiration

Conor Harrington's Headless Heroes

Brothers

I think this is perhaps the most wonderful moment i have ever captured...

These two brothers aged 6 and 7 have just watched their mother and father get married.

Magic.

X

Derek B RIP

Just received the sad news that the UK's original Hiphop MC Derek B passed away yesterday. He was one of the first ever rappers to appear on Top of the Pops in the mid 1980's and is still regarded as one of the UK's first homegrown MC/DJ's...

I have had the Good Groove 12" for years and the accapella has taken a serious beating - i love this track! It still sounds fresh 23 years later...

Fear of Risks

A while ago i stated that i wanted to submit more 'wordy' posts up here - my thoughts in text and so on. I think i may have been inspired by other blogs i read regularly that are more text than image, whilst i guess i tent to post more photos than words. But anyway, for some reason i started to write about an experience i had recently whilst painting and felt the need to share it. So here goes - comments are welcomed. Feedback is appreciated!

The Fear of Risks.

Some weeks ago I met up with a couple of friend to do a spot of canvas based painting. Whilst two of us were cracking on with cans and brushes at hand, one was milling around, doing anything and everything but painting…

I asked what was up and it seemed that although he was enjoying our company and the chance to have an evening dedicated to painting amongst likeminded others, he just didn’t feel any spark - the mood just didn't take him. He went on to say that he wanted to experiment and the vibe wasn’t right on that evening; that perhaps painting experimentally is something he just had to do alone.

Despite being amongst friends that wouldn’t judge or criticise his work, he still felt uncomfortable pushing the boundaries of how he painted around other graffiti writers.

This brought up an interesting point that I haven’t really ever contemplated before – the fact that (traditional New York) graffiti art is all about showing off how accomplished you are at writing the letters in your name... ‘I’m here!’ ‘Look at me!’ ‘Check out my style!’ ‘Look at my letters!’ Graffiti writers spend years perfecting their own style and experimentation can, and will inevitably lead to an outcome that you are not planning for. This could therefore make the style you are publicly known for considered substandard to a viewer who is familiar with your usual efforts.

It started me thinking about the fear of taking risks.

The fear of experimenting with new techniques and trying something totally different stunts the growth of the graffiti sub-culture, because either consciously or subconsciously there is a concern regarding how an onlooker will perceive your artistic ability. Perhaps more generally, artists tend to stick to their known formula in the comfortable knowledge that the world will have the opportunity to see that they have reached a level where their style is recognised and (hopefully) respected. Hey, if it aint broke, why fix it?!

This all rang true to me personally when I gave it a little more thought.

I dedicated a good 10 years to painting the same letters week in, week out, with the sole purpose of having others recognise the style of my letters - and I did this whilst conforming to the ‘rules’ of graffiti. It was only when I felt old enough and secure enough in myself to cease worrying about judgements the onlooker makes, that I really started to feel progression with my painting in a wider sense and began to embrace the art of experimentation.

Hmmmmmm!

I can feel another painting coming on…

J

Derelict Paths prints

Here are a few of the prints currently on display at the Golden Lion, Gloucester Rd, Bristol as part of the Derelict Paths exhibition I have work in alongside Mr LJ - Ockermedia.

These prints are available to purchase for £30 each or i'll cut ya a deal on multiples! Order them at the Golden Lion or alternatively contact me at lukepalmer78 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Print details:

Super high quality photographic giclee print

Heavyweight water colour art paper 350g's

Stamped by Acerone

40 x 30 cm approx.

Harrington at Laz

So having just noticed artist Conor Harrington has just updated his blog with a series of posts each one documenting a different painting of his currently on display at the Laz gallery in London - im off to nationalrailenquiries.com to book a cheap day return (or 2 of those £10 each way tickets!) up there to go and see it in the flesh.

A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

Take a look here.

Be prepared to be blown away.

Derelict Paths

This Saturday sees the opening of a new show by the mighty Ockermedia and myself at the Golden Lion pub on Gloucester Rd, Bishopston. Starting at 5pm and continuing throughout the evening with the finest saxaphone funk from the fantastic James Morton and his band.

All this for free!

See you there...

'Street' Art

Art in Street, Somerset...

(click to view larger)

Yesterday evening i ventured out into deepest darkest Somerset to see the new Elms Lesters exhibition Natural Selection. Featuring the likes of Futura 2000, Delta, Darlek, Ron English and Jose Parla, it was a high quality show with some very impressive works on display. And all in a small art college in the sticks!

It was great to see original canvases by artists whose work i am familiar with via the internet - there really is no substitute for viewing original works up close. There were also a lot of giclee prints from Adam Neate displayed in another room, but they were disappointing when you see the impact of the original works he produces - one of which is in the main show.

Get yourself down there for a look - i think the show is on until 12th December. Highly recommended!

Last Chance

Due to postage delays and a the printers being a little busier than expected, i have had to put the printing date of the CSB canvases back until next week. The good news is this allows you to get an order in with the background colour of your choice (see 2 posts below)...

You can choose any of the colours in the photo above, or a choice of your own - just let me know when you place your order.

Many thanks to those of you who have already put your orders in!

Cops on the Slide

All Bristolian children know about the rock slide round by the Observatory building, thats been a favorite since Victorian times apparently...

But this one's only for the big boys kids!

CSB Canvas - SPECIAL OFFER!

The next run of the Clifton Suspension Bridge screen print on box canvas is scheduled in for printing in the first week of November.

I have had a few requests for specific colours of the background fade so will be making a whole new batch of canvases for those people and thought that i'ld extend the offer to anyone who gets their order in before i start the painting and printing process.

If you would like one of these canvases with a background in the colour of your choice, head over to my store and place your order before the end of the Oct 2009, and let me know which colour you would like. Once you have placed your order you will be taken to Paypal.com to make payment and be given the chance to add a message to the seller. PLEASE ENTER YOUR COLOUR CHOICE HERE! If you could try and be specific (i.e. - Purple, Light Purple, Dark purple) that would be a great help, and Ill do my best to match available colours up to your request.

(preparing canvases for the first run of 10)

The artwork details are as follows:

"Clifton Suspension Bridge Canvas"

- 5 colour hand-pulled screen print on high quality deep edged box canvas

- 16 x 12 Inches approx.

- Black acrylic and spray paint background (colour of your choice)

- Signed by artist on reverse

£75 plus £12 p&p

Click on the image below for a more detailed image of a canvas from the first run.

(dark purple - from first run of 10)

Second Look UPDATE!

A big thank you to all who voted for me in the recent Second Look photography competition i recently posted about...

I am really pleased to say that i have just recieved an email telling me that i have WON!

Below is the message i recieved and although im currently sunning myself with the fam in Corfu, ill be back next week in time for the awards event next Weds. Do come down and join us for a drink if you are free...


A winner has been chosen from the Bristol A Second Look 09 photo competition!

After receiving over 1,300 votes online and as paper ballots, Second Look is delighted to announce that 'Arches' by Luke Palmer has been chosen as this year's Second Look at Bristol.

The votes were very close & competition was fierce. Several pictures took the lead for a while, and only 1 hour from completing the count this competition was too close to call. The general response to the 16 finalists from the public has been incredibly positive with a lot of people commenting that it was impossible to choose one picture to vote for.

There will be an award ceremony on Wednesday October 21st, at Photographique, 31 Baldwin St, BS1, from 6.30pm-9pm. There will be drinks, music & entertainment, all the pictures entered in this year's competition will be displayed & Luke & the 15 finalists will be presented with their awards. All are welcome.

Second Look would like to thank the 75 people who entered this competition for their incredibly creative responses to the brief; Mark Simmons, Steve Wright, Justin Quinnell, Philip Searle, Alex Wolfe Warman & Rachel Profit for the impossible job of selecting our finalists; Photographique & Make Better Photos for supporting this event & supplying the prizes; and the thousands of you who voted for your favourite picture. Once again the quality of the entries & the enthusiasm of the public has completely taken us by surprise.

Thank you Bristol.
Keep snapping.
Lisa FurnessSecond Look

Planet Docks

Over at Flickr.com i have seen people have been producing these 'planet' images for a while now. They baffled me - how did they manage to pull this off? I finally got round to investigating the technique a little and have just about managed to create one that im happy with...

Planet Docks.

Weapon of Choice

Whilst the family were sleeping, i grabbed my kit and the keys to the car and sneaked off down to the Thekla last night just in time to catch the Central Spillz crew finishing their set and the mighty Taskforce starting theirs...

Its been a while since i did the rounds on the music scene but i've caught a few different shows in the past week or so - Million Dan at the Thekla, Kid Carpet, Roni Size and Reprazent doing a collaboration with the cassical composer William Goodchild and his orchestra at the Coslton Hall (supported by Speech DeBelle, Mercury Award winner this year...), Mogwai and Zu at the Invada Invasion, and the Weapon of Choice night.

I enjoyed seeing Central Spillz at last - i have heard about these guys on the grapevine, but i guess the fact i haven't seen them until last night is a reflection on how little i go out to Hiphop gigs these days. I've only kept half an eye on the progression of the UK Hiphop scene of late, cirtainly not as much as i used to, but i liked what CS have done with putting their twist on underground dance genres. And their rapping was super tight and very clear - good stuff! Definitely one to look out for.

Last night Taskforce gave a shout out to Bristol and mentioned how much they loved it here, and also made referrence to the first time they played in Bristol.

"1998 here on this very stage" Chester shouted...

I remember it like it was yesterday! Right then i realised i was stood by the stage with my camera and flash at the ready - just the same as i was 11 years ago when he was freestyle battling FSH brother MC El Eye of the Aspects. How time flies...

Respect to Cheba and the Weapon of Choice crew for staging a great gig.

Dings Youth Project

Just came across this photo i really like of a project i worked on earlier this year with some young people in the Dings, Bristol.

Get Dring Mobile

Here is an event i encourage everyone to attend and support - Get Dring Mobile - an attempt to raise enough cash to get local lad Mike Dring a vehicle that can be driven using essentially the same controls that are on his electric wheel chair. Not an easy feat by any means - we are talking somewhere in the region of 75k, but a lot of time and thought has gone into making this an event that will help raise as much as possible to help him get driving...

Every time i see Mike he always has a big ol' smile and is always pleased to see me and for that reason alone he gets my full support! Along with numerous other artists, I have donated a piece of work to go into the auction sale which takes place at the Paintworks on 15th October...

Please do read the press release below - and then go along and show your support on the evening. Buy a piece of work from this event and know that every penny will be put to a great cause. (...and yeah that is three quarters of an acer tag there...!)

Mike was 23 when he broke his neck in a road traffic accident, resulting in paralysis from the upper

chest down – medically he is classified as having a complete Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) resulting in

Tetraplegia (level C6).

Between April 09 and April 2010, friends and family of Mike are attempting to raise money to put

towards the purchase of an adapted car which will enable him to drive independently. Mikes needs

are such that such a vehicle is highly specialised and comes at a very high price.

As part of this fundraising we have organised the GDM Art event and auction which will be held at

the Paintworks, Bath Road, Bristol on the 14th and 15th of October.

The doors will be open from 11am to 9pm on Wednesday for a full days viewing of the works going

under the hammer. Thursday will be a busy day with the opportunity for further viewing from 12pm.

There will be live painting by Mr Jago, Inkie, Lokey, Felix, Eelus, Xenz, Paris, Boswell, Vermin, Milk

and Dora starting at 4pm and the auction including lots by Guy Denning, Pam Glew, Rowdy, Ian

Francis and Nick Walker to name but a few, will commence at 7pm.

The work can be viewed on line at Dreweatts, www.dnfa.com and at www.art-el.co.uk. Bidding can

be made in person or live online at www.the-saleroom.com on the evening, commission bids will

be taken with valid credit/debit card details prior to the event. If you wish to make a commission

bid and to register for bidding please contact The GDM team on 07789 971273 or e-mail

getdringmobile@live.co.uk.

The event will also include a fine art ‘mystery’ postcard sale featuring work from award winning

artists from all over the world, many of which have shown in the BP portrait awards and with some

having work in the National Portrait Gallery their work usually thousands. This sale therefore gives

people the opportunity to purchase a piece of art that would usually cost a small fortune, for just

£50.

We are also running a raffle to win a portrait painted by Vincent Brown, a multi award winning

portrait and figurative artist from Bristol. Tickets will be available at the event and are also

available now via the GDM blog at http://getdringmobile.wordpress.com. For more information

about Vincent Brown and to see examples of his amazing work please visit his web-site at http://

www.vincentbrown.co.uk.

Vince himself will be attending the event and will determine the winner of our very own portrait

competition. We hope to see lots of you there, with live painting, music, beer and curry this

promises to be a great night.

If you require any further information regarding the event or Get DringMobile please contact us at

getdringmobile@live.co.uk

CSB Canvases in store NOW!

These Clifton Suspension Bridge Canvases were produced for the Triple Drop show by myself and the guys at Screen One. It was quite a job getting a manual machine to print directly onto canvas, but we did it and they came out looking fantastic.

These are a 5 colour hand pulled screen print on a acrylic and spray painted background, on a 16 x 12 inch high quality deep edged canvas. There are a few available now in the Acerone Store, each one is has a different colour background fade and is signed and hand finished by myself. Grab yours now!

Acerone @ Triple Drop

1) The Arches
2) Big Ben
3) Queen Street
4) 'Triple Drop' - 5 x 12" canvases displayed vertically (left to right) by Ziml, Acer and Dicy
5) 'Mash Up' - Left to right - Acer 'Stars', Ziml 'Ziminatures', Dicy screenprint 'Sketchbook Sessions' and Ziml's hexigons.

Some of these pieces are still available so drop me a line if you are interested in anything to can see here. Thanks again to all of you who came along and made the show such a sucess - and specail thanks to all who came and said hello and had a chat. I always like to meet some new faces...

:-)

Second Look

I was pleased to find out last week that one of my images has been selected to be a finalist in the Bristol : A Second Look competition at Photographique, Balwin Street, Bristol.

The brief was to produce photographs that show:

• unnoticed aspects of Bristol,
• what we might otherwise pass by,
• the small things we might take for granted,
• details with hidden interest or beauty,
• places which people might not normally be able to see.

The finalists are on show at Photographique from September 10th to September 16th & the public vote will run until October 1st. You can vote in store, by text or by visiting the website and clicking on image C, Luke Palmer - The Arches...

;-)

All votes for my image are gratefully appreciated!

Million Fam!

I was reminded by DJ First Aid at the Thekla on Friday night after the Triple Drop show that i never appear in group shots... cos im always the one taking 'em!

So here is one from just after Million Dan smashed the Thekla dance floor to smithereens - his set, as always, was packed with energy and lots of stage dives. Hiphop goes grunge.

From top to bottom, left to right - K.Ners, Humerak D Gritty, Michelle, First Aid, Acerone, Million Dan, MC Shadow