the stipplers..
I used to sit in school and I'd be listening or not listening but either way, I'd probably be doodling on my paper. Nothing specific, just circles and little shapes and then my mind would wander and then I'd return and there would be more circles and scribbles and nothing specific. Sometimes by chance, something would emerge that would be a bit more than a doodle.
A long time later, I found myself getting ill in a crumbling house. Must have been the damp. If it rained outside, then it was raining inside, and water would sit and lie about in little puddles. I wasn't capable of anything for six weeks but as I started to recover I had the idea of trying one of my old school doodles only to try it big and cover the “lounge” wall. I still had a little bit left to do when the felt tip I was using gave up the ghost. RIP faithful felt!
I had a good hunt to see if I had any other pens of a similar type. I didn't. As a last resort I tried down the back of the sofa. Pretty lucky- I got 17p and an old fine-liner. I had a look. No the nib was too thin- unlucky..
I didn't see how it would do the job. It was then I noticed my tattoo which was the opposite to what I had requested at the time. I wasn't impressed back then but now it served as unexpected inspiration. Part of the design was filled with dots and I reckoned I could finish the wall the same way..
a cloud of everything's ok..
I thought I was onto something and started stippling paper. Stippling for stippling sake rather for any broader artistic purpose- I needed to escape from my own mind and stippling lifted me off to somewhere else. I tried to do lots of dots as close together as possible with none overlapping. There was no reason for it. It was silly, but I couldn't stop. Now there's 8 billion dots. (Probably not really)
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Attempting to record and digest my own experiences, together with optimistic dreams and the sad reality, I try and capture stillness without suffocation, line and shape arranged into harmony, along with the wonder and awe that interrupts from time to time.
My dead cat, who is a long time missed, manifests himself in many pieces masquerading as a bird. Not much better behaved as a bird ghost- he tends to do his own thing; just like when he lived on a bin lid in the neighbours garden and never came when called.
Regularly hijacked and coerced by Trip and Trick to complete larger pieces that they conceived but "didn't feel like doing" due to lackadaisical dispositions..
Gallery by stipple twins Trip and Trick McClung.
Trip and Trick process their experiences by rendering small images that chart their optimistic dreams, anxious realities, and bemused passage through their days..
​Here they present "In The Time It Took a Leaf to fall..",
a sequence of 50 images that together form a book of the same title.
In a loud and overwhelming world, their key aspiration is to define a personal view of existence rendered in a very simple way that creates a sense of stillness as an antidote to the noise.
The simple style of the illustrations is lifted and illuminated by the extensive use of fine, stippled pinstripes.
Each image is 17.5cm by 11.5cm on HP Saunders Waterford 638gsm High White paper. Completed in 0.05 and 0.03 nibs and archival inks..
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