meanwhile, in the spare bedroom...

[WEDNESDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2009]
It is raining, and then stopping, then raining again. And there are builders with big machines moving hardcore out the front. Rather than drag the behemoth 'SMILE' canvas down the stairs, out the front door, round to the garage and up the ladder, I took the bold decision of werking on it in the spare bedroom, where it presently resides.

I werked and werked with chalk, fingers and dry-brush; then stopped and lay on the makeshift bed to get some perspective; then werked; then ate lunch; then bashed away on my spanish guitar; then scrawled some lyrics to a prospective new Miss Pain song entitled "The Last of the Great French Lovers"; then werked some more with titanium white oil paint, blending it out.

For a time it seemed I was going too far with the spread of the white neon glow, but the photos I took suggest it is working. I stopped at around 5pm, called it a day and left an instructional note to any visitors.

Confessions of a Wednesday Painter - the movie

Back in March, I mentioned, in passing, a lo-fi video I had made. The video was a mock-serious/tongue-in-cheek introduction to "the artist" and his werk. I sent it in as part of my submission for a BBC/Charles Saatchi-is-looking-for-an-artist-to-patronise TV show. I wasn't shortlisted. I suppose they didn't get it.

The video contains shaky footage of a tour around my "studio", showing werks in progress and the general filth and disarray of my working space, intercut with some finished paintings, with an ultra-deadpan monologue over the top.

It is a fine piece of werk...
[WARNING CONTAINS STROBOSCOPIC IMAGES]


"School Of Saatchi" the TV show airs tonight, 9pm, BBC2.

It clicked

[WEDNESDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2009]
I decided it was about time I put some of these canvases to bed. ‘SMILE’ and the ‘rock face’ have been hanging around drying for a good few weeks now, I’ve had plenty of time to live with them, which means plenty of time to become a little objective about them.

I took ‘SMILE’ to task this morning. Although it has a subtle glow, I felt it needed to glow some MORE. So outside, in the gusting winds, I went at it with some white chalk, fingers and a paintbrush. It looked bad at first, but by the time I was through the glowing was growing. It will need a few more sessions, though, I daresay. I took the behemoth canvas back in the house, leaving faint evidence of my werkings in the leaf litter.


Next, that ‘rock face’, or at least the dark chasm enveloping the pink neon glow. Problem is it still isn’t quite enveloping it intensely enough. This could take some time…

I sat and pondered the ‘rock face’. I took photographs. It clicked. There is a specific section of the neon path that is not right. I will deal with that next week. Or the week after.

A moment’s deliberation. I decided to go back to werking on ‘SMILE’ at least I’ll feel like I’m getting somewhere.

It got too dark to werk outside, so I had to stop. ‘SMILE’ looks great in the half-light, not quite there in the artificial light yet, though.

5pm: just got some time to black out the edges of ‘Three and Eight’ – that is the one painting I do believe is now ready to be signed and released. Watch this space.

thick red paint

[WEDNESDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2009]
Last week I had the day off, I needed it. I made up for it a bit by spending a few hours chopping wood last night, I now have timber ready to make 3 canvases 80cm x 130cm – this will be my new format.

Today I am back in the studio. I have inspiration. It is mainly inspiration for new paintings. I am trying to channel it into current ones. I spent hallowe’en weekend in post-mushroom hell. Thankfully BBC4 had programmed an alternative horror-fest: an evening with Francis Bacon. It gave me ideas, it gave me inspiration, it made me want to paint.

‘Home Sweet Home’ is being taken to task. A palette thick with red pigments, I am here to paint…



10 dirty brushes, 3 wet canvases, 10 minutes to 2, and I’m cleaning up.

Lesson learned

[WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2009]
I estimate I was in the studio for just over an hour today...

I picked some wild mushrooms yesterday, I am 99% sure they were edible (I'd eaten a bit of one the night before with no ill effects). My dinner and glass of wine did not sit well with me. Had some odd shifting-vision and a terrible gut-ache. Got panicked that I'd poisoned myself. Spent most of the day researching mushrooms on the internet, to check for sure if they were okay. I am still not sure. Though I am certain they were not deadly poisonous, at least.

If I don't make another post, you do not need to wonder why. In the meantime I am looking out for signs of jaundice and kidney infection...