Phlegm at Millennium Gallery, Sheffield: How Yorkshire artist went from large-scale illustrations to diary drawings

His work features in the urban landscape of Sheffield and beyond and tends to involve surreal illustrations of untold stories.

They are said to weave a visual narrative which explore the unreal through creatures from his imagination.

His work has caught global attention, far beyond his Yorkshire base.

All was going swimmingly until Covid struck, forcing a switch from huge works, for which he is well known, to smaller creations.

“I started a visual diary dedicating a few hours each day to documenting what I saw around me, in the form of one postcard image each day,” he said.

“That body of work ended up being just shy of 70 drawings. It was a cathartic self therapy that naturally ended as we adjusted to all the changes at home and the outside world.”

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Sheffield Museums – with the help of the Contemporary Art society Rapid Response Fund - purchased the pandemic diary. This diary will be on show in Sheffield's Millennium Gallery from now until July 7.

He said: “I'm so grateful to their support and the work framed in the museum space looks fantastic. I really hope you can get some time to visit while its on show.“Secondly I've also produced The pandemic drawings as a postcard set in the form of a small bound book that will be on sale online and during the show.”

He added: “So the next year for me is really about clearing up the projects that have totally consumed the past seven years. I'm brimming with big plans.

"Last but by far not the least is a huge thank you for sticking with me over the years. I may not show it often but i'm endlessly grateful for your support. I'm also painfully aware I've been a very reclusive artist and I often feel guilty for keeping so much of my practice private.”

He reveals he has a beautiful new studio in the garden. It's insulated so he doesn't need to “wear Arctic gear while I work”.

He has an A4 book of illustrations from the past six years.

The artwork is done, he says, but he needs to collate the pages and then hand print the covers.

He said: “The work is a mixture of my usual pen and ink studies for walls but also documents my transition into a more delicate engravers style of drawing in recent years.”