Leave Behind a little bit of Art

A little time ago I was sitting in a cafe in Beijing in the Art District (The 798) and, after buying a replacement pen and a replacement book I, on a slight whim, decided to leave behind a little sketch for whoever could find it:

The hardest part was letting it go, understanding that I had no control over the piece, no right to put it in a nice frame, or restriction to stop staff throwing it in the bin. It was quite nerve-wracking just to walk away.

And that started the slow beginning of my Leave Behind project. From the first to the ninth I was still testing the water trying out this different pen to my normal and looking at the brown paper as though it was an alien surface. To aid my memory I took photos of each of them, giving me a timeline and a narrative of my trip, though focusing on my thoughts rather than an environment.


My first direct response, from a waitress at Mocha Bros, was compounded by my inadequate understanding of Chinese but her excitement at running it out the back into the kitchen gave the idea some merit.

From then on I've drawn many coming up to almost 300 leave behind sketches folded into tent shapes and deposited where I've had a chance to be seated.
From the literal consumption by a friends child:

to the first response outside of those sharing an evening or night with me:


And now to being recognized while in process of sketching I've had a good chance to leave them everywhere I go around Melbourne and other venues when I've visited.

I'm not stopping this project but all I can say is, if you want to try your own, don't hold back. Get out there and leave some art for the world. As the receiver on the piece once gave me the best compliment by saying that 'It had made their night.'


And if you do see me scribbling away at my A6 notepad there are only 2 rules if you want to take it.
1. If you haven't had one before just ask and you shall receive, first in of course.
2. If you already have received one, you can only take it when I'm not looking.

The gallery of uploads (constantly being increased) | or my Instagram account where I post a considerable number of them

Grade B Poster Series is Complete

And so, I can now say that the Grade B project is now complete.

After all the blood, sweat and tears with only an addition of a further 6 months on the clock from the original plan the full mix of posters can now be seen.

From the start I thought this project would be complicated and with about 160 hours work on the full range I'm extremely happy with the full outcome. After finding each one took between five to eight hours work depending on the complexity I  did think I'd bitten off more than I could chew.

From all the inspiration, all the work and the help that I've got over the past year and a half I can proudly say thanks to all those who supported me. It's been a roller coaster ride of a time but I'm proud to say it's all complete.

At this stage I'm resting but I would like to have an exhibition later in the year of the whole lot.
As well as this I will have a limited run of books made for anyone needing to learn the alphabet for the first time (or even as a refresher).

So, now the question is, what is your favorite of the whole series.
If you want to run through the whole lot again you can have a look at them on my site

For your chance to win a poster version of your favorite one. Post your favorite letter from the series below (Entries will also be accepted on Facebook)