CONTEMPORARY illuminated manuscripts PROJECT

My work as a musician and a visual artist hold equal value in my creative practice and one enhances the other. Visual art is intricately linked with my music and songwriting. 

As artist-in-residence for the Victoria University Music Department I've been working on campus at Kindred Studios Yarraville, writing and recording new musical works. VU have been supporting me by providing access to the recording studio and an adjoining space to create visual art.

To assist the creative process of songwriting and prepare for recording, I ‘paint out’ the lyrics to the songs in a visual diary with pictures, decorative borders and production notes. These ‘lyric sketches’, made in water colour, ink, gold leaf, pen and pencil become integral to the life of the musical works. Song lyrics are often finished as I paint them out. In the recording studio my lyric sketch book is physically present and becomes a vital part of the process, used as a tool to communicate ideas to the musicians, producer and engineer. Below are some pages from my lyric sketch book. These will be further developed into a series of finished contemporary illuminated manuscripts to accompany new musical works. 

Seen here is a self portrait that became the cover art of my album 'Dakota Avenue'