I'm now busy on the first and most important glazing layer of Perseus and the Burning Tree, a small but complex picture with bright colouring. I'm painting slowly and taking meticulous care, much to part of my own annoyance! However, little can be gained by rushing. Every painting deserves its days of sacred care. My Crying Invader is safely in Shrewsbury now and it looks like I will be able to attend the launch of the show on the 13th of July.

Well, after receiving the vocal recordings from Steven a couple of days ago, the production work on my latest song, One Day, is now complete. I've entered this and Calling Mister Wilson into the UK Songwriting Contest (yes, they make Songwriting one word). Today I'm back in the painting zone and working on a nice well balanced surreal picture called The Untouchables. After that I think I'll glaze Perseus And The Burning Tree, which isn't really a major picture, and won't be a bad picture, but worth painting.

Rule 4 of my rules on art states:
"4. It is better to paint one bad picture than none at all."
Rule 3 is also true though:
"3. It is better to paint one good picture than 100 average ones."

Mark

Hurrah! Calloo! The principle glazing of my latest picture, Somebody To Love, is now complete. A surreal image; green skies, mountains, waterfalls, lakes and dripping liquids feature. Other pictures in progress include; Virgin and Child with a Cat (which is relatively normal looking), The Untouchables (which is mostly surreal), Perseus and the Burning Tree (an allegory for the destruction of the environment), and a slightly surreal portrait of Charlie Chaplin. The next big picture, and the peak of the year, is a large historical figure piece, Saint Andrew Punishing the Sinner. That will be my largest and most complex painting to date.

A new poem. An ode to Coleridge about losing creativity.

Xanadu

I took a trip to Xanadu
where Kubla Khan once lived.
The sunless sea had turned to dust
with shattered bits of dome encrust,
and there in sleeping sands of time
I saw a skull like mine.

Well most of the underpainting to the Madonna picture is complete although the background remains uncertain. I've also added another layer to a figure painting called Somebody to Love and overpainted two small pictures, The Last Days of Rapa Nui and You Must Report to Oncology. Other life is as miserable as ever but failures as a game developer and musician will transform to success as a painter I am sure. Thought for the day is why do hoovers have retractable power cords when similar things such as lawnmowers do not? Surreal experiments continue; a dream the other night consisted of a violent man chasing me while his head was on fire after he poured petrol over it and lit it. I have a few scenes listed now for a short surreal film but I lack the time and equipment as yet. A snap of my latest finished painting is pictured.