where have you been Wednesday Painter?

Owing to various events and occurrences I've not been able to get to the studio over the past few weeks, and this looks likely to continue for a bit longer...

What I did find some time for was to photograph 3 canvases which have been selected for a forthcoming exhibition in Macclesfield (more on the exhibition here).

Wednesday Painting SUSPENDED

ATTENTION: Wednesday Painting has been temporarily suspended.

Owing to the looming spectre of Christmas, I will be mostly playing the role of Santa's only-elf-in-the-workshop, making wooden jigsaws for all the children so that they may have broad smiles on their faces come Christmas day.

Normal service will resume on days when I have spare time to get into the studio, and I will also be doing extra remedial painting werk at home.

Tricolores and dirty hands (eventually)

[WEDNESDAY 12 OCTOBER 2011]
I curse the things I always leave until Wednesday morning to get done:  today these included printing off directions to collect the 'Wish You Were Here' canvas from Manchester, with a convoluted road trip via here there and everywhere thrown in; emailing and phoning various people to meet/visit during the trip; constructing a CD cover for a belated birthday present; checking a L'Amour Electronique mix before it goes live; plus various other odd jobs.  Consequently I greeted the studio just after midday.

And even then I didn't crack on with the neon painting.  Instead I began some new Tricolore posters for the aforementioned L'Amour Electronique.

It is lunch time now.  I need sustenance. Then the painting.

Or not.  The time is 17:22, I have done precious little painting, except for adding some acid-y pale blue glow to the morse-code.  I feel frustrated and listless.  I have about an hour and 40 minutes left to do something worthwhile.  Here I go...

18.10: I. GIVE. UP.  But not before I've got my hands dirty blackening 12 sheets of A4 with indian ink, and painting another Tricolore.  The black paper is for a mock-up of a proposal I'm waiting to hear back about.  The Tricolore to add to the collection above.

[THURSDAY 02 JUNE 2011]
I shake my fist once again at the May bank holiday bonanza knocking my week out of kilter.  It's not that I didn't enjoy my day off on Monday, but it does leave me a little off balance.  I'm a sensitive artistic type you see.

[As with the previous post, I am writing this in retrospect, going by the photographic documentation from the day, and the brief intro I wrote above. Only 2 photos exist.  Conclusions: I werked on Ne Travaillez Jamais during the afternoon, the following images were taken at 16.47]

Yessssss!

[WEDNESDAY 25 MAY 2011]
A bit late starting today.  We went to London to see the amazing lo-fi Gospel-DooWop-Garage-Soul Revue show of Chain & The Gang.  Then, as is tradition, we very nearly missed the 1am train - made it after a sprint across Victoria Station (it was like the Louvre scene in Bande A Part, only nowhere near as fun or carefree).  Today I have a severely stiff neck, from looking up at the high stage, and I feel a bit hazy round the edges.  I will have a Berocca and a cup of tea and I will go and paint.


Later, I return to the house and conclude that the Pink Path of Least Resistance is finished.

I allow myself a small, celebratory, Napoleon Dynamite-style "YESSSSS!", as I head back out to the garret.

[details of the rest of the day are sketchy, there is no photographic documentation, there are no notes.  I can surmise from the opening paragraph that I was in some discomfort and possibly dosed up on ibuprofen, and I most likely did some painting.  That was my purpose after all]

No painting today

[WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2011]

No painting today.  Instead I have spent the day in preparation for putting up all those post-it notes next week.  This essentially consisted of time-trials marking out the points for each post-it on the wall in the spare room.  Actually I only timed the first one - half an hour - and then I didn't bother counting how many points I'd marked out.  Durrrrr!

I marked out the points with little squares of adhesive note, just like I will do on the day.

At least I've had a bit of practice now and know exactly how I am going to do it.  Still a bit apprehensive though.

I also had to work out what to do with the rogue 127mm post-its, in terms of spacing them between the others.

I can't believe I have been doing this all day.  Though the ache in my wrists is a fair reminder.

I wish I had had time to paint today, but I was far too pre-occupied.  There will be no painting next week either, so I should pay a quick visit to the studio before I leave so I can keep them in the back of my mind while I'm away.

No paint today

There will be no Wednesday Painter-ing today.


Instead I will be spending the afternoon at the hospital, and the evening at a meeting in London about an exhibition.

[The two are not related, and I'm hoping the latter makes up for the former.]

no paint today

[WEDNESDAY 01 SEPTEMBER 2010]

Due to illness and the bank-holiday,

Wednesday Painter-ing is cancelled today.

A.W.O.L.

[WEDNSEDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2010]

The Wednesday Painter has gone A.W.O.L.

Wednesday Painting cancelled

[WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY 2010]
There was still about 4 inches of snow here yesterday, and we got another dumping of the white stuff over night. As a result, there will be no Wednesday Painting this week.

Instead, I will spend the day working and in constant readiness to leave at a moment's notice. It is so cold here we have icicles this long.

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...

a vice like grip

[WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER]

So I sat there on my little plastic stool, nursing a cup of tea, with my back turned to the easel. It went on for an hour or so. My wrist still hurting, and not one single painting inspiring me to pick up a brush.

I decided if I couldn't get on with anything, I should werk out how to do something new: this 'something new' would, at some point, warrant building a set of tall, thin canvases. I measured and scaled up the subject by 10 times - 170cm x 9cm.

Next I went to the dusty jigsaw workshop and set up the mitre saw. Conclusion: if I was to cut any lengths of timber to 9cm, I would definitely be risking my fingers. I did a test, and realised that the bloody thing doesn't even cut a straight angle anyway (this explains why I had to make a wedge to get the last canvas I made square.). Tried to adjust the blade, made it worse. Then concluded that even if it did cut straight, there is absolutely no way of making a precision cut, as there are no guides on the bed to show where the chop will be made.

Much swearing followed... then I went and bought one of these old-fashioned manual bits of kit on eBay for a fraction of what the electric one cost. It's built like a tank and painted in green hammerite, just what the doctor ordered.

a write-off

[WEDNESDAY 07 OCTOBER]
I've decided to write-off today. I did start painting for a bit, but I have RSI and my wrist hurts, and nothing I did was right. And anyway I need to leave in a couple of hours, so what's the point?

Normal service will resume next Wednesday.

--- CANCELLED ---

There will be no Wednesday Painting this week due to adverse weather conditions.

There will also be no Wednesday Painting next week, because I'll be in Paris.

Some of you out there may be thinking: "But we've not had last weeks scintillating instalment yet!"

To this, I hold my hands up and I apologise - I will do it tomorrow.

I have to go and work in a cold shed now...