THUD!

[WEDNESDAY 13 JUNE 2012]
Out in the studio and raring to go.  I cracked straight on with the blue 'morse code' painting, determined to get the glow along the edges looking better, and to get the blackness looking deeper and darker.  I ended up with it propped up on two paint tins against the garage door - giving me the opportunity to get some much needed distance from the canvas.

Things were going well and after adding a little glint of light to each of the dots and dashes, I retired up to the loft to clean my brushes. 

And then THUD! I dropped everything and rushed down the ladder to find the canvas face down in the dust and dirt.

A minor clean up operation ensued, removing specks of dust and grit from the fresh paint - this isn't the first time this has happened, so you would think I would have already learned my lesson.  But no, I curse myself and do my best to clean up what had been a pristine coating of paint.  The painting is now safely on the wall in the house, hopefully away from any more dust and crud...

After lunch I gave my mind a bit of a wander with some Sub/conscious drawings. The result: more animals, clowns and speed demons spilling from my brain.

I need a change from painting neon, and with just an hour or so before I head home, I render the balconies on the Le Corbusier canvas in jolly shades of blue and yellow, as they are on the actual building.

hasty actions

[THURSDAY 07 JUNE 2012]
I am a day late to the studio at her majesty's behest. Though even then I didn't take the full 2 days off to join in the Jubilee festivities/banalities. In fact I pretty much avoided it all as best I could.

To break myself back in this Thursday morning, I set to making another batch of 'Sub/conscious drawings'. The results left me baffled and bemused, and one particular drawing made me laugh out loud. Can you guess which one?

And now for my next trick!  The blue 'morse code' is taken in hand and given some care and attention.  I'm yearning to get this one finished in the next few weeks, so I'm in the mood to try certain hasty actions which will hopefully pay off.  Today I smothered the darker areas of glow in Phthalo blue, and knocked back some areas where the light catches on the craggy rock-face.

Don't want to go too far, so I leave it there. And move on to the '...RUGS&...' canvas, to which I lay down a pale pink border to the letters and blend it inside and out.  Mainly to rid it of any leftover and unwanted pencil marks from the initial sketch. Still time after this to block in a quick layer of deep and luxurious crimson red.

I leave a tired and satisfied Wednesday-cum-Thursday Painter.

The painter's progress

[WEDNESDAY 30 MAY 2012]
Today I have been a good Wednesday Painter and werked all the way through until 5.30pm, and didn't go on the computer once.

I headed for the garret with a real sense of purpose this morning, and set about tackling the old 'rock face/blue morse code' canvas, concentrating on the edges of the crack and knocking back the leaking blue glow. I threw many things at it including chalk, charcoal, ink, oil paint, and dirty water, with fingers, knuckles, household paint brushes, artists' paint brushes, and even a toothbrush.

After lunch, I returned to deal with 'Home Sweet Home', blackening the background void and lessening the green glow, then allowing the deeper, darker reds to spread outwards.  I also touched up that troublesome area betwixt the orange neon heart and the ends of the green neon borders.

NEXT! While I still had time, I brought out the '&RUGS' canvas and swiped some lamp black around the edges of the red glow, then blended it in with various shades of luscious Crimson and Red.

Today was a good day, and the painter's progress continues.

let out a scream/let off steam

[WEDNESDAY 23 MAY 2012]
Last week I went to Paris to see a neon exhibition, and so I did not partake in any Wednesday Painting. So it follows that I was itching to get back to the studio this morning.

It is now 5.26pm and since 9.30 this morning I have been mostly painting the '...RUGS&...' canvas, with regular breaks to let out a scream/let off steam when the intricate brushwerk all got too much.

I am pleased to report spring has finally arrived, or maybe we have just skipped straight to summer.  On Monday I was still working in thermal underwear, today it has been hot and humid, and I'm almost expecting a storm to hit as I attempt to cycle to the station as I make my way homewards.

As a distraction from that intense brushwerk, I trundled down the shed and completed three 'Sub/conscious' drawings. I am very often amused and baffled as to where such imagery comes from, but then I conclude that it's all somewhere up there inside my head just waiting to spill out.  This is what spilled out today.

Calling Cards

My two regular readers (me and my mother), may remember a post back in June 2010 relating how, on a trip to Japan, I had begun to leave my business cards in various cities in the hope they would be found by unsuspecting members of the public.

I have continued this project intermittently since then, and most recently deposited cards at sites throughout Marseille.

You can read more about the ongoing project on my new website.

systematic painting & sub/conscious drawing

[WEDNESDAY 02 MAY 2012]
I have been away, did you miss me? No? Well I certainly missed my Wednesday Painting sessions, but I did get in a bit of brushwerk whilst at home, finishing a neon date painting to commemorate the wedding of an old friend [see here].

So, what have I been up to today? I began with some 'Sub/conscious' drawing in the shed. I managed 6 in all, using a dipping pen and indian ink - this, it seems, is what lurks in the darker depths of my mind today:

Once I sat down in the studio, I picked up werk on the '...RUGS...' painting. During a break I had to rescue a bird from the evil family cat. The poor thing was terrified, so I took it somewhere quiet in the hope it would regain it's strength and survive. The cat has been locked in ever since.

UPDATE: The bird was not where I left it, and a spooked bird flew off as I approached, so hopefully it is okay.

Back to the shed to add a splash of colour to a few of the drawings...

And then on with the '...RUGS...' canvas: It's funny to me how systematic the early stages of these neon paintings can be - painterly but systematic, adding a layer at a time across the whole image, then back to the first letter for the next round. Soon I will have the groundwerk done though and I can get a bit more free and gestural with the brush.

Monday, Thursday, Friday Painting

[FRIDAY 13 APRIL 2012]
Bit of a mixed up/muddled up/shook up week (thank you bank holiday Monday!).

So no painting on Wednesday, but I did paint a bit on Monday at home, Thursday morning at the studio, and today at home again, so surely must have put in something towards the requisite hours.  Who's counting? Me. And me only.

At the studio I applied another layer to the new canvas:

Whilst at home I made progress with a secret painting that will be gifted to an old friend.

Scrawlings and Rugs

[WEDNESDAY 04 APRIL 2012]
It all started so well: sketching out a new neon design on a new canvas and then a break to do some email/internet errands. I moved some canvases back out to the studio and finished off a lo-fi scrawling I made yesterday with a touch of watercolour.

[not sure where it came from, but at some point I was possibly thinking of Numan, hence "Gary". Adding the shock of bleached-blonde hair seemed like the obvious final step. There will be more lo-fi subconscious/conscious drawings in the near future]

And now?  Now I am hungry for my lunch and I must eat before I get on with the afternoon shift.  But I've been stuck at this computer screen for the past hour or so, doing this and that and the other.  ENOUGH!

I ate some soup.

It was not Campbell's Condensed though.

Afternoon: My first proper bit of painting consisted of touching up the "rock-face" where the blue glow is leaking out of the dark chasm.  I didn't do much, and I will continue next time.

Instead of returning to all those old, half-finished canvases, I stuck the fresh new one on the easel and commenced painting in around the words which will be depicted as deep-red neon. As you can see I am possibly thinking about jacking all this painting in and opening a carpet shop.

trials and tribulations

[WEDNESDAY 28 MARCH 2012]
Another glorious spring day, and I've put off my trip to the studio long enough. I've not been slacking off though. No, not me, I have a new canvas stretched and triple-primed.

Somehow I have managed to make it through to lunch with very little of your actual painting being done.  Oh dear me.

For the afternoon session I re-visit 'Home Sweet Home'. And I stay there for the remainder of the day, knocking back the green glow, drawing in the darkness, violently blending, smoothing out, touching up...

And now? Now I am thoroughly sick of the sight of that canvas and I hang it on the wall and I hope that come next week, and with a little distance, it will look better.  Oh the trials and tribulations of a struggling artist!

Apologies for the slight rant. I am now drinking warm, calming tea to help me back to werk.

Not much else to report today, I leave the studio feeling a bit ragged and spent, but with very little sense of satisfaction.

the residue of success

[WEDNESDAY 21 MARCH 2012]
A beautiful, early spring day.  And what better way to spend it than holed up in a window-less loft space!

I began the day with a short stint of paid work, and then the time was all mine.

First, some email and internet errands and posts.
Second, I mounted a couple of slides for a new secret date painting.
Third, I marked out the date in a swish Art Deco font.
Fourth, I went back on the computer.
Fifth, I ate lunch.
And finally I was ready to paint.

The continuing saga of 'Home Sweet Home'.
I am pleased to report that having sat and gazed upon it at leisure during the past 2 evenings, it isn't nearly as bad as I believed last week.  Still needs a bit more werk in a couple of the green neon areas though, so I tackle these and leave it at that. I will let it rest until next week, or maybe the week after.

And so, onto my next job: that blue 'morse code', breaching the edge of the faux rock-face with illuminating blue glow.  I think we're getting there.

Flushed with the residue of success, I go and have a cup of tea, and put the slab of rock-face aside to dry. And when I return it is to tackle another, almost finished, canvas.  I'm still learning when it comes to this white neon, but someday soon I will finish this white 'Path of Least Resistance'.

And that is me pretty much done for the day.  See you next week.

Saatchi Online Abstract Showdown

I have entered one of my neon ‘Drip’ paintings in the Saatchi Online Abstract Showdown competition

If you are able to take a moment to click on the link and vote, that would be hugely appreciated. And please do pass on to anyone else who you think may be interested too. Thanks!

Round 1 Voting started 12 noon yesterday (15th March) and runs until Tuesday 27th March
VOTE HERE >>> www.saatchionline.com/showdown/vote/showdown/10/artist/29963

Exhibition: SPASKI - live + gallery opening

I have a painting in an exhibition this Saturday 17th March, 7-10pm at
The Grey Area, 31 Queens Rd, Brighton, BN1 3XA
[ENTRANCE VIA DOOR ON NORTH ROAD BETWEEN THE MONEY SHOP AND THE BARBER]

Entry is free and there will be performance from resident artist SPASKI + art and more

more info >>> HERE!

still plugging away

[WEDNESDAY 14 MARCH 2012]
Curse you internet! I came here to run a couple of cyber-errands and four hours later, I am still here.

I shall partake of some lunch and drag my skinny ass outside to do some painting, like what I am supposed to be doing on a Wednesday.

So, I report back: about 3 hours of painting undertaken. Still plugging away at 'Home Sweet Home'. Still struggling with that green neon. I make the green glow grow and blend it all in with fluid brush strokes.  I stand back and still it is not working to my satisfaction.  Even in the daylight it doesn't quite sing to me.

Next week I will probably go back and werk over what I have done today, knocking it back and letting the darkness take over again, battling to achieve equilibrium.  Always battling.

the old routine

[WEDNESDAY 07 MARCH 2012]
It is 11.24am.  I should be out in the studio painting.  But instead I've opted to begin today's blog.  The weather is foul: a sheet of fine drizzle driving in at a 45 degree angle.  This makes moving the 'Home Sweet Home' canvas back to the studio something of an impossibility.  I should probably re-commence werk on the blue 'morse-code' canvas.

I will stop typing and head on my way now...

A short bout of werk followed.  The rain stopped long enough to allow the transfer of the 'HSH' canvas from house to garage. Feeling a bit peckish now.  As you may have noticed I'm not quite so full of purpose today.  This is partly due to the exhibition I had in the pipeline falling through.  Probably a blessing to be honest.  So I seem to have just slipped quickly back into the old routine, and am just carrying on as before.

Thank heavens for long afternoons. Between 2.30pm and 7pm I werked hard on the blue neon 'morse-code', adding extra glow and laying the foundations for the blue glow catching the edges of the "rock face".

The canvas is removed from the studio and placed in a room, in the real world.

Still time to paint, though, so I pay close attention to the green neon bordering on 'HSH', dry brushing and spreading the glow and letting go - carefree painting, gestural strokes, loose wrists. Painting joy.