weathering

[WEDNESDAY 25 AUGUST 2010]
Step 1: paint in neon numbers.
Step 2: more verdigris coloured oil paint



Then the rain came. I propped the secret canvas outside for a brief spell of weathering, and retired inside for lunch.

While the secret canvas is getting wet. I turn my attention to the old "rock face": I am starting from scratch on the neon, so I begin by laying down a base coat of pink along the edges of the new serpentine line that trickles down the canvas. Done.



Next! Perhaps I'll try tackling a bit more of the red neon on green background. I need to experiment on 'No/Yes' before I can apply it to 'Ne Travaillez Jamais'. Cadmium Red and Permanent Geranium around the letters, then Cadmium Yellow with Titanium White to fill the letters in. And blend.

After contemplating my next move, I add a smidgen of white to the mix of Cadmium Red and Permanent Geranium on my palette. This is painted over the red glow and blended out again.

the application of various layers of filth, liquids and spirits

[WEDNESDAY 18 AUGUST 2010]
Small canvas. Projection. Draw outlines in pencil. Paint in with white acrylic. Mask areas with masking fluid. Leftover Permanent Geranium and Titanium White paint. Leftover Cadmium Red and Cadmium Yellow paint diluted with turpentine.

After much exertion I finally manage to open a pot of mixed up grey-green and paint it thickly over the top. (I made such a big thing out of that fact, but I never even took a photograph of the result...)

Wildlife watch: Look! There's a green woodpecker strolling round the field picking at insects.


Back in the loft, The Wednesday Painter throws some filthy inky, oily water down the small canvas...

The canvas is rubbed down to allow the application of a verdigris mix of Emerald Green and Prussian Blue with Titanium White...

Some time later: more ink flows down the surface, and then we're outside for a sprinkle with the hose...

The masking fluid is rubbed away (most of it had disintegrated, anyway, during the application of various layers of filth, liquids and spirits).

The canvas is left horizontal, a pool of grubby water, oil and ink glinting under the fluorescent strip light.

I THINK OF YOU AND I SMILE private view

Thanks everyone who came to the opening night of my exhibition, and if you couldn't make it along, there's still plenty of time to go and have a look - exhibition runs until 30th September.

Here are a few photos.

an empty nest

[WEDNESDAY 11 AUGUST 2010]
I am greeted by an empty nest. Each and every painting I have invested so much love and attention to has gone. They are out there now, in the big bad world. Hanging on the wall at Blanch House.

I am left with a handful of half-finished canvases. The ones that I've neglected and ignored, the one's that I've fallen out of love with. A motley bunch they are too...

I dig out the "rock-face". I've been thinking about what to do with it over the past couple of days. A bold decision had to be made. Out comes the sandpaper, and I set to work sanding down the meandering pink neon line to a smooth, flat surface.

I paint the pink out with white acrylic and take three attempts to draw in a new path of least resistance.

The neon will still be pink, but the line will stagger more than before as it traces its way through the blackness.

I have made a small canvas for a new secret painting. I prime it and chuck a load of filthy, oily black water and ink and God-knows-what over it.

Now, brushes are the main tools-of-the-artist, and I don't look after them nearly as well as I should. They are in desperate need of a deep clean: a bowl of warm water with washing-up liquid and a bowl of clean water to rinse. I end up with a sore on my hand where I've been pressing the brushes to work the soap into them. Ow!

Exhibition press for I THINK OF YOU AND I SMILE

I've had a couple of features in the local press about my exhibition...

Following my interview the other day, The Argus have devoted half a page in today's edition

Meanwhile, The Source have given me a good write up: Mat Barker has compared my paintings to Jenny Holzer and Gerhard Richter, and I can't argue with that!

[apologies for the poor quality scans]

Julian Clary isn't here

[WEDNESDAY 04 AUGUST 2010]
It is already 10.25 and no painting has been done yet. The morning has been spent sending emails and reminders about my exhibition.

I was here on Monday afternoon, shirking payed work and painting. I was happy with what I left on Monday evening. I have a feeling one of the neon drips might need a little more werk, but aside from that I'm almost ready for Sunday. I don't think I've ever been this organised for an exhibition... It makes me feel a little uneasy.

It has just started tipping down with rain, which means my plan to move paintings in from the loft, and others out to the loft, has been scuppered. I also just realised I have black paint all over my hands, which is probably now on half the washing I've just brought in. Oops. I then got a phone call from someone asking to speak to Julian Clary. For some reason this doesn't surprise me...

12.51: I've just come off the phone from an interview with a girl called Nione (pronounced Neon - what are the chances?) from The Argus (turns out it was her wanting to speak with Mr. Clary) - they will be doing a feature on my exhibition in Saturday's edition.

I have signed all the finished paintings, and I've signed 'SMILE' too, each has been moved into the empty extension, photographed, and now awaits further orders.



I have moved all the paintings into the extension, and blocked off the doorway to avoid the cat rubbing against the wet paint. I will be back tomorrow evening to wrap them up ready for the big move on Friday.

I THINK OF YOU AND I SMILE exhibition

I THINK OF YOU AND I SMILE
neon light paintings by Dominic Bradnum

Sunday 8th August - Thursday 30th September
(Opening night: Sunday 8th August, 5pm)

Blanch House, 17 Atlingworth St,
Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 1PL


Dominic Bradnum’s paintings are emblazoned with lit-up slogans and abstract neon forms in vivid, saturated colours. He paints in high-contrast with fluid, sensual brush-strokes, setting these shimmering lights within the darkest voids or against ruined and decaying surfaces.

Throughout August and September, Dominic Bradnum exhibits his paintings of neon lights within the chic and retro stylings of Blanch House.

in/out

[THURSDAY 29 JULY 2010]
Today I will werk on the blue drip. There has been some saggage overnight. I pull out all the staples at each end and pull the canvas taut and re-staple. That's better...

I spend a lot of time werking away at the background - too much red, not enough darkness... too much blackness, not enough red. I add some Phthalo Blue at the edge of the neon glow, then blend it out into the black...

I take the painting outside to view in the daylight, then back up into the loft for more werk. Then back outside, then up the ladder again... repeat a few times...

I leave it looking like this:

the afternoon shift

[WEDNESDAY 28 JULY 2010]
Just an afternoon session today - There was payed work to be done in the morning.

Progress is good, but then I always seem to be more productive of an afternoon. I de-sag the purple drip canvas, and once more I have a taut surface to paint onto. I werk on both the drip paintings and 'Love is Amour...'. But for the last few hours the purple drip painting is the focus of my attention. More Yellow, then knock it back into darkness. And more darkness. And more darkness.

21.00: I take it out to view it in the half-light. I'm satisfied, so I call it a day.

whoop

[THURSDAY 22 JULY 2010]
Lunch time: Things have been going well this morning. There have been moments when I have almost whooped with joy. I have been werking on 'LOVE IS AMOUR IN FRENCH'. As things stand it is looking good. Just a bit more werk on the deep red neon areas...

14.45. Down tools. 'LOVE IS AMOUR IN FRENCH' is taken out for daylight inspection. I hang it on the wall in the lounge. It glows down on me.

I have a cup of tea to celebrate.

Back in the loft, two options: Blue Drip or Purple Drip. The purple one is looking a bit saggy in the canvas department. Curse you fine-weave canvas! Following my success with the blue neon this morning, I opt for the blue drip. And by the time I am done it has taken on a whole new glow. Just a bit of darkness at the fade. I'll need to darken the background a touch next time. I step back in the half-light...

...And Wednesday Painter saw that it was good.

background painter

[WEDNESDAY 21 JULY 2010]
We begin today's session with some time on the web, compiling a list of people to invite to my exhibition. It is arduous, and it is keeping me from painting. It gets me down.

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This morning was wholly unproductive. All tense and frustrated, I was.

A change of tac' for the afternoon: Instead of doing close-up, detailed work, I switched to messy, physical background painting. The purple drip, the blue drip and 'Love Is Amour...' all received my attention. And at 8.30pm I cleaned the brushes and my grubby mitts and I left the loft.

Wish You Were Here - Southend-on-Sea

Here are some photos of my work at Artside 2010: Wish You Were Here in Southend-on-Sea. The exhibition continues until this Friday, my work is on show at Tomassi's, 7-9 High Street.

Don't I look handy with a hammer?

that bird has flown

[WEDNESDAY 14 JULY 2010]
I feel like a baby bird I have nursed and nourished has just fledged the nest... Such is the void left when a painting I have focussed all my attentions and energies on is finally finished and taken out into the real world. After the blood, sweat and curses, and all the physical exertion: it is just gone. I have spoken of 'the void' before. This is it.

But I have other canvases to werk on. Canvases that have been neglected in my rush to finish 'Wish You Were Here'.

Having spent the past few sessions werking al fresco I returned to the loft to disarray. Now almost everything is back in its rightful place, I squeeze some Permanent Magenta oil paint onto the palette, with the intention of adding some immediate glow to the 'purple drip' painting. I have a blank. Was it painted straight on, unmixed? Did I add some white? Or mix it with another colour?

So I'm back on the computer, looking at photos of 'SPQR' and 'Commemorative Date Plaque: 05.09.09'. Then back through old Wednesday Painter posts. Bingo!

On Wednesday 12 August 2009, I wrote:

"Number 2 is up on the easel now. First I over-painted the white neon characters; then some Permanent Magenta mixed with Titanium White for the intense, immediate glow around the characters."

Permanent Magenta and Titanium White. Permanent Magenta and Titanium White. Permanent Magenta and Titanium White. Permanent Magenta and Titanium White. Permanent Magenta and Titanium White. Permanent Magenta and Titanium White.

And in the afternoon, I turn my attentions to injecting some bright blue glow on the blue neon drip.

Wish it would dry

[THURSDAY 08 JULY 2010]
All day, werking away on Wish you Were Here. At 19.03 I signed it.

Werk continued until 21.05.

And then I brought it inside and set up a fan to try desperately to dry it a bit. Tomorrow it travels to Southend-on-Sea.