Knutsford, Love Reliquary Adjustments, Gold Leaf

A wonderful, memorable day in Knutsford visiting a new gallery partner yesterday. It was simply a joy to be in the company of truly artistic souls for a few hours. I have much to do today, compiling information and images, and preparing the way for this exciting opportunity.

I'm working on technical documentation for all of these freshly delivered artworks today. I have some slight adjustments to make to The Love Reliquary, to make it more easily wall mountable and make the base truly optional, and to apply gold to the edges. I also want to do something about holding the side paintings in place, but this is a complex challenge. I can't stick them in, they need to be removable for possible future restoration or care. If I use pins or similar they will encroach upon the painting. I can't use a magnet as with the central panel; the magnet there is concealed in the back and I can't conceal one in the gilded doors. My idea is to use a tiny rubber wedge.

At the last moment I remembered that the God Being Killed painting used imitation gold for the frame rather than genuine gold leaf. In almost all cases I use and prefer real gold for everything (this might be the only time I've ever used imitation gold), although there's a visual and textural difference between gold and imitation (imitation leaf which can include brass, aluminium or other metals). Non-gold can crisp, crackle and form sharper ridges, and is available in many shades including blues and greens; it looks and feels slightly different. Real gold is smoother, softer in the way it folds and flows, and can be found in shades from silver to rich gold. I use palladium leaf or white gold too, at times. Anyway, here I will gild the inner door edges in 23.5kt gold.

Time is short. Tick tick.

Painting, Story, and Album Thoughts, and Kafka's Diaries

Today I packed the paintings for tomorrow's visit. How I wish I could paint more. There are several reasons why I paint less now. First, I lack space, the space for completed works, as well as the incentive to paint. I'd love a regular place to exhibit, though I've never had one. To date I've painted for competitions or open exhibitions (near or far), or, after a spell of work, developed my own idea for an exhibition and staged one in a venue of my own hiring.

Covid acted as something of a stop to this, which brings me to the second reason, of diversion into other arts. I've made more music since 2020 than in perhaps the 20 years prior, so music served as my artistic obsession, stolen from painting. Artists must follow their whims, and perhaps mine will shift back to painting (or elsewhere, my artistic drive is as strong as ever). Though, the key lack of physical space is still an important factor. When I started painting I'd happily paint large works but I have no space for that now, too many paintings are in storage, and this limits the sort of painting I feel like doing. Now, I feel like I should and could paint more, again, better than ever, so it's important that I find a way.

Enough deep thought for now.

I spent 45 minutes listening to an excellent Radio 4 programme about liberty, and John Stuart Mill's essay on the subject, and later and equally good programme about chocolate. I eat chocolate every day; a drink of cocoa every morning, and a couple of chunks at least later. It appears that chocolate has no direct health benefits, such as a medicine might convey benefits, but benefits in food are relative. Chocolate may be more beneficial than another food we might eat instead. To some extent all foods are harmful, food wears our bodies down, so the health benefits of food should only be considered in relative terms.

In the afternoon, I went out with Deb, to at least take some fresh air. I bought a book, Kafka's Diaries. I'm reminded that now, after my recent audiobook reading that I'm evolving towards the literary. Last night I wrote out the plans for a new story about an AI chat-bot, but the plot is large and complex, as good as a Film Noir, yet too large for a 1,500 word story. I may be able to do something with it, but I have only 14 days to complete my Cheshire Literature Prize entry, so it may be more efficient to develop a new idea.

I also have sketches for a new album, with two tracks; the Radioactive theme to start, and 'Written on Rice' to end, but with no other tracks. The sketched story outline reminds me of the importance of structure, and I must endeavour to plan the album structurally, primarily. Above all, I must not rest. There is much to do, and I must strive to do it all, and well.

The Intangible Man Audiobook Version 2

Completed and submitted the second version of The Intangible Man Audiobook today. My new process is much simpler, editing the plain waves in 24-bit, then applying dynamics, then feeding everything into Prometheus for filtering, any special effects like reverb, boosting the volume to ideal levels, then limiting.

I'm already tired of this and ache to move on, though I have five other books I could read! I wish I had the drive to promote anything I do. I have a huge and unstoppable drive to create, to move on, to charge into the new, yet I have no drive to promote the old, to tell the world, or share anything. Quite the opposite, my instincts are to shrink from the very prospect of sharing anything. Years of this has also led to a complete lack of knowledge of how to promote anything.

Still, I use all of my brain, so that which doesn't promote is being used elsewhere. One thing I do and can do is enter competitions, and last night I had the genesis of an idea for a short story for the Cheshire Prize for Literature. I worked on The Intangible Man partly for this exact reason. The old book may well have done (though it does feel neater and better to re-read it with more skill and control) but if I'm to write something new, I need to enter that literary world. I have only two weeks to write it and enter.

I will start tomorrow, but I must also pack some of my best artworks for a trip to Knutsford, and the anxious delight of a visit to a gallery. In other happy news, I've finally been refunded by wonderful Amazon for the expensive but useless 4G phone I ordered in November. This was so out of date it had no hope of working (could not connect to data, would not update, could not use VoLTE). The 3rd Party Seller did nothing, not even a message; it was Amazon's appeals process which led to the resolution. My mother is also awaiting a refund from the same seller for the same model of phone.

Onwards we charge with new-found glee.

The Intangible Man Audiobook Second Edition, Substack Ends

A full day working on a second version of the audiobook for The Intangible Man and Other Strange Tales. Seven stories were read in draft yesterday, and the remaining today. This is a lot of tedious work, most of it the editing process. The next big step is processing the audio, limiting and volume checking, and adding any audio effects. I expect this will take another day, perhaps longer.

In other news, my Substack 'appeal' has been rejected, which is something of a blow. It was a huge amount of work to join Substack, to transfer this 20-year old blog to that more up-to-date platform. I'm still in the dark as to what the problem was. I didn't tend to email out posts. Perhaps the platform wanted me to do this more often, and so gain more readership - or, perhaps the opposite, that Substack objected to me using my external mailing list. Or it could be another reason. To say that I feel unsupported by a platform, which currently holds over 3000 posts of my life's work, is an understatement.

Perhaps I should be fortunate that this suspension occurred only a few days after a backup from that site. I can't now create a backup, and I don't appear to have any control over the site at all.

Well, onwards I march alone. My heavy boulder calls. Time to push it a little more, around this stony corner, down a new little pathway.

21st Century Surrealism Audiobook Complete

Two days of solid work on the 21st Century Surrealism audiobook. After each chapter recording, each need editing and checking. Then, boosting the volume, adjusting the dynamics, clipping, and conversion into the final format. This was completed today, and the 3-hour book submitted for publication within the next week or two.

I immediately began work on a second edition of The Intangible Man. Using Prometheus for the filtering, limiting, and other audio effects, is a much better (non linear) way to edit than using SoundForge, and I feel I can read better too. If I can complete this, and The Many Beautiful Worlds of Death this month then it would be a good month, I think. Perhaps, one day, I could work on The Burning Circus, or Deep Dark Light, or the computer book, or even the Blake poems.

Still, even after one book I feel the call to create something new. I can't dwell for too long on this current, tedious task.

Here's the audiobook cover:

21 Century Surrealism Narration, Refund Frustrations, Substack Suspension

Day 3 of recording the spoken text of 21st Century Surrealism. By the end of the process my speech rhythm and audio quality had changed so hugely that I found myself re-recording the entire book! Several sections were already recorded a few times, thus the entire book was read twice and some sections four or five times.

Other aspects of the moment are frustrating. The obsolete (and expensive) mobile phone, which was unable to be updated and unable access 4G voice calls, bought from an Amazon seller for myself (and a second phone for my mother) in November has been returned, with no response at all from the seller. My phone was tracked and delivered to them on Christmas Eve and I'm still awaiting any response. Amazon are ususally brilliant at this, the problems stem from the third party seller.

Similarly, I've ordered a part for my router in November, and each inquiry pushes the due date back, always about two weeks in future. The cost of this part is low and I can perhaps find it elsewhere, so this is a minor annoyance, but annoyance it remains.

A third annoyance is that my Substack blog, which took weeks of intense work to set up is now suspended in entirety due to their doubts about my 37-strong mailing list! I care less about the mailing list than the blog, but it was (and remains) convenient to combine the two. It's easy for me to run the mailing list via Sendy, as before. I don't mind at all deleting ALL Substack subscribers, and using it purely as a blog, but it seems I have no option, and that the whole 20-years worth of posts are now set to 'dead'. I can but appeal.

At least this blog remains.

Good Vibes 2026, and 21st Century Surrealism Narration

The snow miraculously cleared, so we visited Good Vibrations as planned. I've spent a lot in the last few weeks on some art materials, some silicone trays and mixing bowls for plaster, some Laropal A81 resin (which I'm excited to test in painting, as a varnish/stain, or glue), and some paper rolls for cleaning; a regular essential.

Today, started to narrate 21st Century Surrealism as an audiobook. I've narrated about two thirds add have spotted a few errors on the text to be corrected later. In between this, Deb and I went to Frodsham to collect my open paintings. A storm is due to hit the country tonight, so I thought it prudent to go today rather than tomorrow as officially scheduled.

Onwards we charge.

Lyric Videos, I Seek My Solace Plaster

Have spent the last couple of days recompiling the 50 or so YouTube 'lyric reading videos' for my albums, and moving these back to the music channel, all helping separate music, visual art and computer games.

Then, a little work on the 'I Seek My Solace' artwork. I've now cast three plaster sheets with different methods. There are many ways to make this backing for the painting. A plaster and slightly wave-like finished was in my mind when conceiving the idea. The ideal way would be to model it in a clay like Plasticine, then make a silicone mould and cast this. This is ideal for mass production but perhaps overkill for one work, and silicone is expensive, and I have none. The reliquary doors used epoxy clay, which is ideal too, but it's very cold for such a material (it's always hard work to mix, but especially so in winter); and it's hard to carve the lettering into epoxy.

In the third sheet I carved the poem while the plaster was semi-dry. This looks good, but the sheet is very delicate. I may be able to do better.

My next task for the month is to record audiobooks, so I may do this. I'm unsure if it's worth it, whether I'll sell a single audiobook, but 21st Century Surrealism has sold over 400 copies now, so it is perhaps worth a try. I'm not particularly looking forward to the job, it feels more like a chore than creative or artistic.

Everything feels a little uncertain, the normal mood for a self-employed self-motivated artist. What is best? I must do my best, every day. Grow, learn. Do better than what has been done before, and keep producing good works to an uncaring world.

It's too snowy to travel, so I can't see Deborah, and we may not get to visit Congleton on Wednesday, though I suspect those ever-busy main roads will be clear.