I had a dream where the white-suited, panama-hatted, Eurovision singer from the Portuguese entry was Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter. With a magic word and my wand I blasted off his arm in a bloody explosion, but he laughed as it grew back. I blasted at his body, again making a hole in it, but it magically healed. This monster was out to get me. I awoke in fear.
Then I slept again and dreamt more comfortably.
Spent most of the day painting, the flesh glazing to Cock of the Woke, a painting which I might never be able to exhibit! I was amused as I painted, wondering who might want to have such a painting on the wall, and the absurdity of this fact. Perhaps the aim of art is to stimulate uniquely, and thus, I have.
Here is the idea sketch, to give you an idea of it:
I glazed the flesh in transparent maroon (benzimidazalone) and viridian, fading up to white and a Blockx colour called Transparent Mars Yellow which is so pretty is feels edible, like butter. I made teh mix sandier than I usually do; my flesh can err towards pink, but I thought I'd try an alternative. It worked well enough, rather good actually.
It was also Nightfood launch day, so did some basic admin on that, making it visible to a basic degree. I've just listened to it again and I still like it. I spotted two imperfections which slightly annoy me, one a technical issue which hardly affects anything. I remain unsure about the mixing of Burnout; it is a very complex mix. The pianos seem to need more of a cut to the bass, this is the only issue, and something I toyed between a lot. The problem is, doing that makes them very quickly sound fake and tinny and not at all like pianos, and they start to infringe on other elements and sound weak for the main verse; they sound good there now, but less good where more notes are being played. This is all that can be done. I consoled myself my re-listening to an archetype: Children by Robert Miles, and how fake that also sounds now.
I'm really pleased with Nightfood, it's definitely a step up from Sisyphus, or a continuation, as I also liked that. I remain full of ideas for future music, and indeed painting... I must focus. I seem to spend a lot of time working hard on little things which are clearly not of masterpiece status when I should know better... but then it's not always easy to know. I'm reminded how Bergman disliked so many of his great works while working on them, or even afterwards, only to change his mind later. It's better to make something than nothing, not to waste time thinking rather than doing. Three 'maybes' are easily worth one 'probably' in art.
