Martin Stephenson @ artavita

Martin Stephenson

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Martin Stephenson began his career as a busker aged 15. He then spent three years plying his trade as the guitar player in various bands in the North East of England . But Martin wanted more, he wanted to tell stories of his own and he was quickly developing ways of doing just that.

He developed his song-writing technique by firstly learning a few licks from a Spanish guitar book and repeated the process with Jazz, Blues, Country, SkifFle, Reggae etc. Eventually, this glorious collision of styles would become the trademark which Martin has carried through his career of almost 40 years.

Martin formed his band The Daintees, who became busking sensations and were signed by Kitchenware at around the same time as Prefab Sprout and Hurrah! The band, and indeed Martin, have always been known for their incredible range of styles, each album covering a multitude of genres, tempos and moods. The Daintees went on to release four critically acclaimed albums between 1986 & 1992; Boat To Bolivia, Gladsome Humour and Blue, Salutation Road, and The Boys Heart.

His must-see live performances are an exuberant tour-de-force combining heart-in-your-mouth intimacy with playful humour and warm self-deprecation.

https://www.daintees.co.uk/

Portfolio:

Debut

This is my first offering at the age of 62
Having been a songwriter since 14 years I ended up channelling early on and an interest in microcosmic activity as opposed to world domination
I realise that for me a song and a painting in the 5th dimension are both images and sound and we are all hit with it, some of us manifest some of us don't
I asked friend and painter Christopher Twigg what I should do and he told me to use my wrong hand as it would set me free from memory and expectation of the education system, this blew my mind as I remember schoolfriend Peter Macadam always being told he was 'not an artist' but they didn't realise he was a conceptual artist, his ideas were mind blowing, it was just his motor skills that were limited, unlike some pupils who could copy a horse or a dog and were told they 'were' artists, such a brutal obstacle to navigate for Peter, when the circus of 77 punk arrived, we both dived forever bonded... also, being a right hander gives me lovely feeling of solidarity with the lefties, who not so long ago 1950's, were brutalised by the education system and forced to be right handed
It's an honour just to have a go, I spent a couple of weeks twiddling with Liddles canvases and trying to mix oils to disastrous consequences, then realised, just like my mild and probable OCD tendencies, found I hate mixing colours just like I hate mixing food or mixing records
I also found I like hand made Japanese paper and love the A5 & especially A6 sizes
This is where Im happy
My daughter Phoebe is going to come up the road soon and teach me how to do Lino cuts
Much love
Martin xx

If there is a wee LH in the bottom right hand corner, it means drawn by left hand from the right hemisphere
If there is a wee RH in the bottom left hand corner it will be my right hand drawn from the left hemisphere
;-) x

“Communion ”

Done on Japanese handmade paper A6 size

“John Lennon”

SOLD

“Glasgow Workers 1”

Done on a train from Glasgow centre to Clydebank

Support “Support”

SOLD

“Silver & Plum”

SOLD

“Chap on a train”

Train from Glasgow Central to Clydebank, I was heading to the Merc garage to pick my old wheezer up, she'd been under the mechanics knife ;-)

“Starbird”

SOLD
Alternate takes Available

“Navigating Deceit”

SOLD

“Glasgow Workers 2”

And meanwhile, on the train
'Giza smile lads...

SOLD

SOLD

Portfolio 2

Welcome to Portfolio 2, these are offerings done on size A5 watercolour paper with high quality coloured inks
This is a shorter run as I prefer the smaller A6 but these pictures will be rarer and more collectable

“Dream Guitar”

SOLD
Alternate and original takes available
No prints x

SOLD
This picture is still available as an original take 7 & onwards, as there have already been an addition 5 takes sold after the sale of the original
It's a time consuming alternative to lazy ass printing but it keeps things microcosmic and fun xx

SOLD
Alternate takes Available

Nature “Nature”

“Cycling Joy”

SOLD
Alternate takes Available

“Celebration”

Portfolio 3

A small portfolio of seven ink paintings on handmade Japanese paper
A6 Size: 4.1 inches x 5.8 inches
Although these are originals with no prints
I can do alternate takes which will be similar but not exact copies
Tis keeps things clear of the lazy printing option which I aim to avoid

“Egyptian Heart Throb”

He's a good looking boy x

“Happy Soldier”

I saw him in March at Inverness Railway station, I was having a coffee sketching
Seemed a lovely soul x

“Japanese Detective”

High up in the sky, he does spy ;-)

“Camp Dining”

I saw this guy in Portugal (Lisboa) 1996
He was originally featured in my wee travel book 'Bairro Alto'
He was originally called 'Gay Man in a Restaurant'

“Lock Down”

A picture of Anna holding her candle during lock down, she would take a minutes silence for us all as we did little concerts to keep good folk's spirits up
It was a tough time for a lot of people, losing loved ones, being isolated, Anna was a great host as we played some choons xxx

“Dream Guitar One: take 3”

Dream Guitar One: take one sold so I did another couple of takes from memory
One was for Anna to keep and this is the other (take 3)
These images are reasonably easy to recreate in spirit but all must have their own unique energy
Hence 'No Printing'
x

“Weather Passing”

I saw this lady also in Inverness not long after Happy Soldier got on his train, I love drawing little dogs from a distance, they look even smaller he he!
I added the stranger as I kinda misplaced the lady a little too much to the left, so I added Sam Spade time traveling or the like, I like the idea of weather being on different dimensions at the same time, I suppose that's what happens all the time, we are all ghosts to some entities x

Ghost Ships of Valhalla

A series of spontaneous drawings done very quickly and unconsciously
Watercolour paper with watercolour markers and sharpies
There is an aligned album written to go with these ghost ships released 05/07/2024 on Bandcamp
daintees.bandcamp.com available as download and pre-order Cd

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