Do you want to take part in a live art battle in this little old town of Taunton? I am planning this trial event with view to taking it on tour around the South West in the future. The rules are simple, 2 artists (or teams) going head to head in a 90 minute art battle, armed only with black markers, white walls and a head full of imagination! Winners will be determined by a combination of guest judges and crowd noise.

WHAT I NEED:  2 artists able to draw in the cartoon/realist style, a couple of funky DJs and a venue to do it in (pub, club, bar, empty shop).

If the structure of this event sounds familiar it's because it's lifted from the globally successful Secret Walls (previously Secret Wars) who have held over 1000 battles, witnessed by more than 200,000 people. Please check out videos of their events to know what to expect http://www.youtube.com/secretwalls If this trial event is a success it could mean regular battles in Plymouth, Exeter, Bournemouth and other locations around the South West.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Contact me. Add or message me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/martin.joiner or drop me a comment on here. I will set up a meeting for artists, DJs and venue owners in a local pub to give anyone interested a chance to ask questions and get a feel for the event before committing themselves.

Please spread the word and share this blog post with anyone who may be interested.

Jon and I have been working on a new iButton immobiliser and ignition system aimed at the modified vehicle market. The iButtons (most commonly seen hanging from the belt loops of bar staff) are water proof, secure and available for a lot less cash than replacement car keys! The system has the very neat advantage of being able to use a current valid iButton to authorise or restrict additional iButtons, thus granting or restricting access quickly and easily. This feature will appeal to mechanics, off-roaders and track racers who all like to be able to share vehicles amongst friends and colleagues but still keep them out of the hands of opportunist scallywags. What's more, one single iButton can be authorised on several vehicles fitted with this system meaning a single person can be granted access to a whole fleet of vehicles but still only need to carry one iButton. Watch this space for further developments, I will post a demonstration video when the first system is fitted in an actual vehicle.

I am teaching a diabolo skills workshop at the 1610 Sports centre in Minehead on Wednesday. Both the under 9s morning session and the 9+ afternoon sessions are fully booked.

It's early days for my residency at Plymouth University. The students are still only just getting to realise that I am there and why the course even has an artist in residence. I moved into my large blank-walled studio space a couple of weeks ago and starting breaking up the visual silence with some quick, large-scale charcoal+chalk drawings. This was a great way to let the students come and find me at their own pace and start talking art. From the few I have met so far, they are a good bunch...  this is going to be an exciting year!

You may have noticed recently that our Government have suddenly decided to alter their policy on feed-in tariffs. This has been a massive blow of uncertainty to the solar energy industry. One of my clients, MB Solar Systems in Bridgwater, Somerset for whom I am doing branding and website design work are obviously affected by this. But like any good company they are seeing what some may call a crisis as an opportunity to diversify. I was half way through designing their new site when these changes hit, causing them to need a review of their services. They are making changes that would mean the website we planned a few weeks ago would now be out-dated at publication. Not good.

So what's required? Well... I wait. The Government deciding to bring the feed-in tariff deadline forward by 4 months has caused a sudden rush of demand meaning they have little time to discuss marketing with me. The extra stipulations on qualifying for a feed-in tariff means MB will most likely need to introduce new services to their portfolio which will mean a new structure to their website (and marketing model as a whole) to deliver a load of new information to customers. In the meantime I have published a stripped-down version of our planned website that delivers just the basics in a clean format. See http://www.mbsolarsystems.co.uk/.  Come the new year we can adjust our plans and commence development.

I am proud to be able to offer this level of flexibility to a client and I am also very pleased to have another eco company on my books.

The most meditative thing I know how to do is spend an afternoon tidying my studio and cleaning my tools. This rare biannual occurrence feels like a free shopping spree as I refamiliarise myself with things I forgot I had. I found spray caps, pieces of wood and drawing materials that I had no idea I owned! I sorted waste into the recycling and put receipts in date order. It is a time of reflection as I wipe away smears of grease and pigment, left on rubberised handles by art projects. In my mind I am revisiting moments from recent events, triggering memories and galvanising my understanding of technique. Simultaneously committing to memory the results of past experiments and preparing my tools for future projects.

Now that I am one of four artists in residence down at Plymouth University my studio practice is split into two spaces with an 80 mile gap in between. I get incredibly frustrated if I can't lay my hand on a tool when I need it so risking travelling down to South Devon for a few days and leaving my trusty staple gun in Taunton is not an option. I'm going to be writing check lists that would make a military officer feel ill-prepared.

The most satisfying moment of today was when I was sorting through a box of charcoal sticks and chalk that had got mixed up. In the mix were a few rubbers, completely blackened. So I took a piece of plywood and rubbed them clean. I thoroughly rcommend it.

Martin Det creates an explosion painting for a private commission. Rich blackcurrant and prussian blue exploded onto spectrum yellow. Oil paint on cotton canvas.  To see a video of the method visit www.explosionpaintings.co.uk

Another October and another successful crop of chillis from the year. Approximately one hundred and fifty juicy little twilight chillis all from one plant are now strung up and hanging in the window where they will dry and stay preserved for years to come. I use dried chillis in my cooking about once a week so this should last me one whole year.

A couple of the shops I visited today had such a seemingly random selection of colours that it was basically impossible to pick out a pleasing palette without visiting multiple shops. Who are they catering for? What do they base their decision on when placing an order? Of course the answer is that they are not catering for people like me. Most graffiti writers / street artists make on-the-fly decisions with their colours and work with what they've got in their box/boot/bag. I am a rarity in planning a limited palette so expecting the retailers to operate a policy that allows me to drive to one shop and collect what I need is asking a lot.

But of course this is what being an artist is all about! Original ideas will never be catered for with pre-existing, all-in-one solutions. If it's hard to source the materials in one place, you're probably combining them in an original way. The fact that the shops do not think like I do means something very special to me. It means I'm thinking outside the box. (By the way, I sincerely apologise for my use of bullshit middle management terminology)

But as a compromise I would love to see one of these shops introduce a unique selling point around the concept of guaranteeing stock. If they could maybe just choose one section of the spectrum and make it their priority then that would be fantastic. For example, imagine if Weapon of Choice decided to still stock a selection from the whole range as they do now, but made a new promise to always hold every shade of blue. They could become known for this unique policy and when each artist reaches the inevitable moment when they want a certain shade of blue and don't wanna mess around sourcing it, they will not think twice about visiting the one-stop shop that guarentees blues. Artists are compulsive people and when inspiration hits, they demand the tools to work immediately.

Of course the risk a shop takes with this policy is that some people will misinterpret it to think they only stock blues. But then again if it didn't carry a risk, it's not marketing. Risk-free marketing makes 100% of the public feel indifferent toward you, bold statements make 50% love you! I know what I'd rather have.