30 March 2011

Remedial werk

[WEDNESDAY 30 MARCH 2011]
11.20am and I've not even made a move to go and paint.  I am a bad bad boy.

I will make a cup of tea and migrate all my bits and pieces forthwith.

Everything in the studio is wet.  I don't mean wet water, wet.  I mean wet paint, wet.  At least all the things I had considered working on today are.

Plan B.  The pink "path of least resistance" returns from the temporary gallery in the house.   I am satisfied with the glow, but the edges of the crack don't look concrete enough, and the crack itself looks more like a shallow hole than a deep void.


Time to tackle the crack then...  It soon becomes evident that some demolition is in order.  I take a deep breath and remove part of the rocky edge.


I will just need to cover it up now with darkness and glow.  Next time...

After this minor, but successful, step.  I find myself once again short of werk.  Maybe it's time to finally take an old nemesis to task.  I load up some reference photos and dig out 'Ne Travaillez Jamais' from behind a stack of canvases.  I also prop the 'No/Yes' canvas on the easel, this will be my testing ground.

I make notes as I go, of each step of the painting process.  Still have a lot to learn.  But I conclude that the shadows I'd painted in on the main canvas are not necessary/pointless.  I paint them out.

23 March 2011

many shades of red

[WEDNESDAY 23 MARCH 2011]
A glorious spring day.  Which I choose to spend cooped up in a window-less space under the eaves.

9.30am - 1.00pm: I took on 'Home Sweet Home' working up the background in many shades of red, blending out to black.  I also permitted myself a number of tea breaks to enjoy little moments of sunshine and fresh air.


In the afternoon I werk on my blue neon morse code message. And I werk and I werk.

16 March 2011

The false start and the mistake

[WEDNESDAY 16 MARCH 2011]
I had a false start: loaded up the brush with blue paint, put it to the canvas, smeared the paint around a bit. It was too wet to work on. Get back in your corner Morse Code painting.

That's thrown me. All my plans for the day down the drain. I wanted to continue with the blue neon...

Hung on the wall beside me is a large square canvas with a depiction of Le Corbusier's Marseille Unite d'Habitation. I look at it for a long time, until I'm brave enough to start removing the masking fluid.


Big mistake.  It's lost all its impact and definition.  Bugger.

Maybe if I stick some white over it and run it off with white spirit? Nope.  Again?  No. More? Still not.  I pick out the shadows with some dark oil paint, getting better, but a long long way to go...


I'm not sure how I'm going to rectify this, but I will find a way.  I turn to the 'Home Sweet Home' canvas and paint around the letters with the first proper layer of glow - Cadmium Red and Permanent Geranium.

10 March 2011

Work/Work Exhibition FINAL DAY = Friday 03 March

This Friday 3rd March is the FINAL DAY of the Work/Work exhibition.

The gallery is open 10am - 6pm.
Address: Lo & Behold gallery, 2b Swanfield Street, London, E2 7DS
nearest tube is Shoreditch High Street (overground).

The grand removal takes place on Saturday.  It will be a sad event, returning them all to their box.

Notes To Self: Stolen Time, March 2000 - August 2006

Notes To Self is an archival artwork made up of approximately 1,966 individual post-it note "artworks" created over a 6 year period, whilst in full-time employment.  

The piece was first shown in Work/Work - a group research exhibition investigating how artists balance their creative work with paid jobs.  The exhibition ran from the 3rd to the 11th of March 2011 at the Lo & Behold Gallery, Swanfield St, London, E2 7DS.


















9 March 2011

The Return of the Wednesday Painter

[WEDNESDAY 09 MARCH 2011]
I have returned.  Back after a couple of weeks off to deal with a huge archive of post-it notes.  I need to get back to the easel pronto.

Clearly it has been a productive day.  A productive day = no time for words, plenty of time painting.  I will let the photo documentation do the talking.



2 March 2011

Work/Work Exhibition opening night


Work / Work - a group research exhibition

Work/Work is a research exhibition exploring how artists manage the balance between creative work and bill-paying second jobs; the work/work balance.
Opening Night: Thursday 3rd March, 6pm - 9pm
Lo & Behold Gallery, 2b Swanfield St, London, E2 7DS

Exhibition continues until Friday 11th March 2011
Opening times: 10am - 6pm

Exhibiting group

- Dominic Bradnum
- Pippa Koszerek
- Sam Curtis
- Olga Hoffman
- Sarah Matthews

- Exhibition by Avenir Projects.


opening night performances from

Drums of Death
(Greco-Roman)
Flora Yin-Wong
(Dazed Digital)

http://www.workworkexhibition.tumblr.com/

Installation of 1,966 post-it notes

I've spent the past 2 days at the gallery installing my piece Notes To Self: Stolen Time, March 2000 - August 2006. The piece is made up of approximately 1,966 post-it note “artworks” created during full-time employment over a 6-year period.

The installation process took about 19 hours in all, and is documented on the work/work exhibition blog, today I feel like one great big ACHE.

Half of me feels like a proud father.  The other half feels like I've created a monster...


Thank you to those who helped with installation, you know who you are.