More work on the Jabberwock model today; etching using my vibro-etching machine from Aldi which is good but is very noisy (even when wearing the maximum strength 'Peltor Optime III' ear defenders, it's noisy) and it vibrates so much that I must use lots of gloves to avoid tissue damage to my hand! It is ideal for these scales though...
Then, after a damp walk in the park, the painting. Initially a coat of dark brown to sink into the cracks, then reds, then golds. In retrospect, I should have used a lighter hue after the brown. I've made so few of these sculptures in my life that I'm still learning. Here's a close up:
The model is rather dark, but it is probably good enough for the music artwork.
I painted it as I listened to Queen's Greatest Hits II. Singing along, I managed to hit all of the notes in it (I think!) although, of course, nowhere nearly as strongly as Freddie. The greatest vocal challenge is probably It's A Hard Life, not a great song at all, but amazingly sung. The best song, for me, is The Show Must Go On; so poignant, though Barcelona remains his saddest, if not one of the saddest songs ever recorded. Perhaps no song here is as good as their early work.
In other news, I appear to have sold another print; print 4/50 for my Tiger Moving Nowhere.
I was struck with melancholy earlier, at my long awaited Nantwich Museum exhibition next year, three or more years waiting, and it will happen during the pandemic. All of the special events I had planned or hoped for; poetry readings with local artists, music performances of unique and newly created work, cinema shows with projections... so many events, all now cancelled. The show would have been new, different, my best exhibition so far, and yet, now it will be a mere exhibition of paintings. Hardly anyone will see it and I might not even be at the opening event, if there is one at all. It felt like some sort of ending of my visual art, which is of course nonsense, but I was struck by an arrow of sadness just the same. I've stopped painting this year primarily for pragmatic reasons; I had lots of musical and computer based work that I needed time alone inside to do, so I did that. The only gallery I'm exhibiting in is the Macc Lounge and all exhibitions and competitions have been cancelled, so this year has been about music instead.
It's been a good year in that regard: War is Over, Burn of God, The Dusty Mirror, created and released, plus remasters of Synaesthesia, and Animalia. Plus Apocalypse of Clowns recorded ready for next year, plus learning to play guitar to a useable degree, improving my audio production and engineering skills and studio equipment, and starting to learn to sing... as well as other things; finishing The Burning Circus, the Chinese translation of 21st Century Surrealism, Flatspace, Taskforce, etc. None of these things have been a success as such but with each thing I've learned something and pushed some limit. The Burning Circus is certainly my best poetry yet it has yet to sell one copy. They are all important seeds. The best art, historically, always appears like a seed, unseen, that grew slowly. All art is about making, learning, growing, and doing that over and over.
I must live each day, month, year, as though it were my last; push, strive, fight, battle, aim for the best, highest; the transcendent. Excellence is necessarily a solitary path. Our friends are the transhumanic gods, and our encouraging angel friends, the great artists of the past and present who are counting on us to continue their important work. My duty is to them.
Next plans: To finish the Jabberwocky cover art, and the music video for it.
