The Rubbish Artist Blog

https://youtube.com/shorts/pynNKb1JIX0?si=OPXACnI4ZEe3AjnR Onslow Higginbottom started as a scribble. A quick sketch. Nothing precious. Just an idea on paper that made me laugh enough to keep going. Then I made the mistake of trying to turn him into a real thing. What I didn’t realise at the time was that I wasn’t just building a character — I was learning an entirely new material at the same time. Chavant. I’d never used it before. Not once. And it shows. The process started

I’ve not written on here for a while. Not because nothing’s been happening—more because everything has. Life shifted. Things slowed down. Some of it hit hard. Some of it just knocked the rhythm out of things. But behind the scenes, I didn’t stop. The studio’s been full of half-finished ideas, experiments, and bits of work that didn’t quite behave themselves. New materials, new processes, a few wins, a lot of trial and error. Some of the work’s playful. Some of it’s a bit odd.

You see, living with CPTSD and depression is a bit like owning a house where the heating only works in one room, and the boiler is shouting at you for using the oven. Everything else, your thoughts, your feelings, just drifts around like dust. And yet, somehow, you have to function. People assume you’re coping because you smile in the queue at Greggs, or because you can make toast without setting the smoke alarm off, or burning the house down completely. But really, you’re ju

So, last Thursday, I graduated from Leeds Art University. Graduated. Which, if you’re thinking, “Oh, congratulations,” you’ve already missed the point. Because “graduation” isn’t actually an achievement. It’s a ritual. A staged performance designed to make a room full of slightly confused people feel like something meaningful has happened. And me? I walked across a stage. Wearing a suit that was too big for me, hidden by a fancy robe. A robe that made me look like a wizard wh

Exciting News: Artist in Residence at Leeds Arts University I’m delighted to share that I’ve been accepted into the Leeds Arts University...

Some artworks arrive fully formed from the imagination, others wander out slowly over time. Daz the Bus Driver belongs to the second...

The annual Anthony Earnshaw Prize has been awarded to three MA students. Patrick Hughes judged the award and awarded first prize to MA...

This series of digital collages playfully reimagines the world of Last of the Summer Wine by transporting its beloved characters into the...