Backups, Prometheus v388, Crushed Are The Meek Day 1

Quarterly backups yesterday, then a small upgrade to Prometheus to permit beats-per-minute of up to 9999. This is obviously of no (well, limited) use musically but can be used to skip beats at high speed for example, as tempo can be set programmatically. This also revealed a slight bug that limited speeds to 1 tick being 64 samples, which is the smallest amount of audio that can be processed (one chunk). I also made rough plans for a painting about the summer heat, with inspiration from Cabanel. I must prove that I can paint better. I must find room and time for a larger work.

Today, underpainting 'Crushed Are The Meek'.

The background is a mix of storm-filled sky and an angry, yet tear-filled, face in this largely abstract work, similar to Picasso's cubism perhaps. The face textures and shading were copied from an Ingres portrait, adding realism to what could easily be too abstracted. The light blue background worked wonderfully.

I'm painting better than ever. What fools those who don't select my paintings for exhibition are!

Panel Preparations, Three Counties Results

Collection from Bunbury yesterday, then panels prepared and tracing of the underdrawings for 'Crushed Are The Meek', and 'All The Broken Hearted'.

'Can There Be A Refuge From The Terror?' was not selected for the Three Counties Open, making this the first time I've not been selected for this. Perhaps this was due to the nudity, perhaps due to the digital submission which favours acrylic and digital art and hinders oil paintings. I've entered 5 non-juried exhibitions this year (a high amount, there are a few new exhibitions and Stockport was not juried for the first time this year), and 4 juried. I've failed to be selected for 2 of those, with 2 remaining for judgement, which are very difficult national-level exhibitions.

Them And Us Underpainting

First day when it's cool enough to paint. Met two 90 year olds yesterday and am thinking constantly about death. Underpainted the small 'Them And Us', here it is, with the colour study on the left.

Listened to Vangelis' Albedo 0.39, and ordered Heaven And Hell. I suspect that these are his best two albums. I didn't like Direct.

Dizzying Heat, Bunbury, All The Broken Hearted

Too hot to work yesterday, hooter than any day of the heatwave so far here. It's joy is that Deb has been sheltering here, her 33 degree flat swapped for my relative cool of 28.

In the evening, a trip to Bunbury Church to see the art in their Inspire26 exhibition, I have 3 paintings there. I recognised only 3 names in the catalogue. We spoke briefly to Deb's friend and her daughter, the latter of which is exhibiting.

Today is mercifully milder. An early visit to the moribund Auntie L. I felt weak, then found I couldn't stand up for much longer and had to recover on the floor. My heart rate is 50 to 60 and my strange weakness has continued, a result of the heat perhaps.

Some work however, have finalised the sketch for the 4th painting in my current tranche, 'All The Broken Hearted', and photographed the underdrawing (bless my camera that it can pick up these faint pencil lines!):

In the afternoon, made air-dried clay Golems, inspired by Deb's Prague holiday, then a lighting model for the painting. Generally have felt too tired and unfocused to work at an efficient rate.

Good Vibes, Heatwave Continues

Attended Good Vibrations in Congleton Library yesterday. It was very hot, but tolerable and always fun to play there. We skipped the regular post-performance lunch, and came straight back at noon rather than remain for another hour or two, to avoid the heat during the long drive back.

Then, more heat. It's now 26.4 in here. At 21:00 yesterday it was 28, lowering to 25 point something by about 22:30 with the window open wide. Windows open and curtains wide all night, and the indoor temperature dropped to 24.9 at lowest at 04:30. I barely slept, uncomfortably hot and worried about when to close windows and curtains. Closed the windows and curtains at 07:00 or so, at 25 degrees inside, then slept until after 09:00, by which time it was 26, but 24 elsewhere in the house, so perhaps I should have left all open.

Either way, too hot to work. Too hot to paint as I need ventilation, and computer work too causes the room to heat up, so is not advisable. Deborah is shielding here in this well-insulated house, her upstairs flat with no insulation is 2 to 6 degrees hotter than here.

We've cancelled our performance at the Ray Davies night in Congleton tonight, as it's due to be even hotter than yesterday, probably over 30 degrees at 18:00 when we're due to leave, and the venue is not insulated or air-conditioned, and is very cramped and full of people. The evening would be an endurance more than joy. Very sad not to attend, I've been rehearsing 'Little Bit Of Emotion' for weeks, but gave Deb a performance of this yesterday. Perhaps I can do the same at the next Good Vibes event.

I'll attempt some smaller jobs today. First, preparations for the Steam Sale, due to start later today. I'll draw out a painting perhaps. Mike sent over a few songs, which are always inspiring, they're always full of his energy and creative spirit. Too tired and hot to want to do anything. It's due to be equally hot tomorrow, a little cooler on Saturday, and the heatwave is due to end on Sunday. How I pity the wildlife, the trees and plants suffering in this heat, the people without shelter, those who work in kitchens, the patients and staff at the local hospital which is notoriously hot in even normal summer weather.

Sisyphus rolls his rock over the desert floor.

June Heatwave 2026

Too hot to paint this week, record-breaking heat today, and forecast to be hotter tomorrow and Thursday. Heat is good for painting, but it has to be cool enough to be able to open the windows.

Drew out the basic outlines for 'All The Broken Hearted' yesterday. This morning, collected paintings from Nantwich Museum. Both had crude overpainting of the mirror plates, which damaged one frame substantially. I needed to do a lot of paint removal and restoration to fix it; solvents, scraping, wood stain, painting; but now it is restored. Have rehearsed my song for the Ray Davies night in Congleton, a rare night of performance on Thursday.

I'd like to do more work but it's too hot for many jobs, lost productivity. Later today, delivery to Bunbury Church.

All Things Bright And Beautiful Underpainting

Today painted the underpainting to 'All Things Bright And Beautiful'. Unusually, most of the underpainting is a grisaille, in grey, rather than tinting towards the final colours, although those areas where I wanted a stronger final colour were colourised:

I wanted something delicate, cyan-greys in the sky, flesh-greys for the monolith. There is a strong green imprimatura here too, which somewhat taints the underpainting, but it seems to look on track for the glazing.

I haven't painted in greys for some years. My second version of 'The Art Of Painting' (2008) was painted in grey in and yellow like this, that took me 6 8-hour days to paint, and this of a similar size (less complexity certainly) took 6 hours.

It was 24 to 26 degrees in my room as I painted, at the start of week forecast to break heat records. Hot and sunny days makes painting easier, but if it's too hot I can't open the windows, which is not good when working with solvents. It will probably be too hot then to paint tomorrow and for the rest of the week, which will be taken up with deliveries anyway, to Bunbury, collection from Nantwich Museum, and two performance days, on Wednesday and Thursday for the Good Vibrations and Ray Davies Tribute events.

Them And Us, Crushed Are The Weak, ATBAB Studies

Today, drew out a new large painting as planned 'Crushed Are The Weak', which (in my old ideas book) was titled 'The Weak Always Get Crushed'. I didn't noticed the cliffs until I'd draw it out, to me these were the White Cliffs of Dover, which has given the painting a refugee theme; certainly one about England. The colours here are difficult as the painting has few defined borders or real-world 'objects', it's something like a miasma of shapes, like a swirl of papers blowing in a storm. It reminds me of later Picasso or Basquiat. I'm reminded that when the mood is ugly, the painting, it's delicacy and coloration, should look as beautiful as possible.

I painted a second colour study for 'All Things Bright And Beautiful', which on the face of it looks very like the first version:

I needed to resolve the horizon. In the centre, light orange, but dark on the right, which looks better, more dramatic. The narrative actually changes as we look along the horizon. The red sun we see first, then look left to the sunset and dandelions, then right at the rusty swing of the end-of-leg. I was also unsure about the foreground floor, which was almost flesh-like in the first version, but looks better green; dark yellow here. The greyer flesh works better too. In my mind the colours are H. R. Giger's, cyan greys. I keep thinking that it might be better to underpaint in greys, something I haven't done in many years. This will have the decayed, romantic beauty of a moonlit graveyard.

The third study was the colour study for 'Them And Us'. This is all pinks, with yellow lights, and yellow and black for green darks.

How brilliant my paintings are at the moment. How brilliant my unappreciated genius. How short life is. I must make stoic plans to paint these. I had planned four in this group but may start on these three instead. The fourth, 'All The Broken Hearted' would be third in a sequence of heart-break paintings after 'Cracked Planet' and 'So, How Have You Been?'. This is a big project, a big series. Would it have commercial appeal? Artistic appeal, certainly. Appeal for fine art collectors, of course. I'd need somewhere to show it, something to do with it, and a triptych of large paintings can be severely limited in where I can submit them.