A busy day refining the Apocalypse of Clowns artwork. I want some sort of unity across all eight pages and have used the checkerboard motif. I've also created the last two pages, for credits and one for Jabberwocky, and added some final details to the back; the barcode etc. There are many technical details to consider.
Most of the morning was taken up with computer housekeeping - it took over an hour and six attempts just to update Windows, something which is very common for many people every month. It amazes me how badly the whole system is designed. I also started to tiny up my email storage, deleting unused emails. Until 2014 I kept neat text versions of all of my emails but now they are part of the massive Google lump. So many emails are rather pointless notifications from any number of companies; just about everything you order. I don't really want or need them but they -might- be useful one day... an ebay email from ten years ago for example... what if I wanted to know the exact thing I bought back then? Unlikely, but possible.
I generally download and keep backups of everything, even this blog, but with gmail this is not possible unless one downloads everything in one lump - I would love to download just a certain selection so that I can keep backups of the important things but casually retain the less important things.
Anyway, I digress.
I scraped some time for basic vocal warm ups and reached a high C a few times but generally I feel ill, sore headed, eared and throated. I completed The Infinite Forest artwork to a first draft too, after a second experiment:
Last night I started to work on the Jabberwocky video too... I have several ways to tackle this. I was interested to read Bergman's notes concerning Cries and Whispers, which I've seen recently after saving time for this knowingly special moment. He rated this as one of his best films, and indeed it is, but its development was full of doubts and insecurities. The photography is outstanding, truly his best colour film; it is a symphony of red, white and black to an extent that it is almost a new class of film: black and white; black, red and white; and colour. He began with a central image and built around that which is an excellent method. He even mentioned Leonor Fini in the notes, although it was the Carrington painting 'Grandma Moorhead’s Aromatic Kitchen' which stuck in my head; another masterclass in red. How I wish I had time to paint!
I've made a list of almost random images, then divided the music into broad parts and noted the mood for each part. One idea is to express that mood irrespective of narrative; but of course, narratives can create moods too... this will be a longer project than I would ideally like - I want everything to take just a day but even this trivial album art has taken the best part of a week. One image that always comes to mind is a gravestone, walking slowly towards one, like the solemn movement down the road in my Love Symphony film. Perhaps, like Bergman, I should hold onto this vision, at least. Hold onto the images which appear strongly.
I have a headache and do not feel well. I will keep drinking and rest this evening.
