Entropic Intelligence

Intelligence, as we generally think of it, is simply a matter of processing speed, this is obvious if you consider artificial intelligence, which is a simple list of rules. An idiot following these rules of, say a chess program, could beat a grandmaster. Once you understand this, you can gain confidence in doing things slowly but correctly, and this is one reason why I perform monthly computer backups and general filing. It's a good way to keep things neat and in an ideal order, time consuming though it is.

Copying can create errors in itself, which need correction and care. It's a matter of entropy, so perhaps the real measure of the quality of intelligence is not speed, but accuracy, this action of reducing entropy, repairing errors. As with adding more detail than is actually present, as per my previous post, it is this entropic reduction which is the measure of genius.

It takes an increasing amount of energy to correct a mistake made early on. This energy is a sort of intelligence in itself, because its clarity of action, its correcting power, is the vital ingredient. One regret in my filing is not using ISO date standards in my dates. I date a lot of things; dates of painting this or that, each layer. My painting file alone will contain 4000 written dates or so in the 36,000 lines of text. It will take a lot of this intelligence-energy to fix this. This emphasises that things done slowly and carefully over a long period are much stronger and more powerful than things done quickly. Time itself has a sort of weight and power, a destructive force, as does space, because it is during transmission, motion, than errors occur.

My regular filing over many years amounts to a huge amount of work, and all of it, like all information storage systems, prone to slight errors. These require increasingly large amounts of intelligence-energy to repair. Some repairs are impossible because the pure data source is lost forever. It is by this method that all death in the universe takes place. All death, even that of and in people, is information death. All of the signs and faults of ageing are due to this loss of information (as such, I can assure anyone pursuing immortality that this is impossible). Of course, people, like all life are composite beings. Even cells are composite of smaller molecules. All life on Earth is intimately connected like one giant organism, our beliefs of individuality are naïve. Beings exist as much as a wave in the ocean; a pattern of apparent individuality.

Glazing When This Is All Over

A long day glazing When This Is All Over, some of the most meticulous and detailed glazing work of my art-life so far.

Beginner artists draw what they think should be there. Once you learn how to draw, you draw what your eyes can see. The next level uses parts of both because the details you can see are always limited, you must add more. All copying involves the rules of entropy and thermodynamic; you must add more energy, more information, to make a good copy, ideally a 'better' copy than the original. Here is the skull I had to copy:

This is the final and best resolution and a lot of detail is absent. I needed to add a lot more detail, and this needs actual knowledge of the object, what bone looks and acts like, how to add details that are simply not there.

This made me think that there is a strange madness in art; painting what is imaginary with complete confidence and certainty.

The work was always difficult, each break felt like the pause between rounds in a boxing match, but the results are good enough. I made more use of ultramarine violet than normal, and used this in the flesh of the hand to darken the red rather than my usual blue.

More painting tomorrow, perhaps.

Shakespeare Colour Study, Jabberwocky, TMBWOD

A steady day. Woke at 5am. I had the energy to paint, just, but the light and weather wasn't with me. How blessed we are to have reliable forecasts. I started by more proofreading of The Many Beautiful Worlds of Death, a few small changes.

Then I got the synths ready and decided to work out the music for Jabberwocky. Watching a Queen concert on Sky Arts was inspirational, all research for performance. My fundamental problem is that I alone must play all of the parts. The piano will be the mainstay, but a gentle and reedy lead will be part of it on the DX, with the Korg being both a bass backing and deep synth growl. Those sounds decay very slowly, over many seconds, so I can hit a key, then let it run while I use other hands on the piano or DX. It's like plate spinning.

Another job was painting a colour study for Moon Over Shakespeare. I first took a photo of the canvas. It's rather dark blue with faint brown lines but the camera did a great job, and with some image enhancement I got a very good image of the drawing:

I printed it on card, pasted it on wood, then prepared it for painting and painted a simple study. The colour study is very useful here because the image is rather fantastical and could be pulled in many ways. Key elements are clashes; to make dark touch light and light dark. I also painted a simple colour test for Hand of Destiny. How I love the Blockx Mars Yellow-Orange! Like Light Red, it can paint flesh with only black and white, and I'll make use of it there. All of the Blockx colours are wonderful.

Generally I've felt very tired and lacking in energy, perhaps lacking in food, but the food of life and art sustains me. The Covid-19 news causes me anxiety, the cases are doubling for a new wave. I used to know a few people or friends of friends who had caught Covid, tested positive, the lingo of our time, but now its moving to phase of knowing fewer and fewer people who haven't. What is the government's plan? How many people will get this in this wave, according to the models, which the government must see? Why do they hide so much and say so little?

Fall in Green Rehearsal 3

A long day yesterday. We had out third full rehearsal of the Wonderland show. Lots to do. This time I used a new two-tier keyboard stand by Adam Hall, which was faulty. The stand is supposed to fit inside the tubing of the keyboard stand, but it's secured by tightening a bolt which should slide the second half of the hexagonal nut up because the second half breaks with the first at a 45 degree angle. For a start, this barely slides, the joint is not slippery (it is painted) and the bolt itself is so loose that it's easy to tighten if from the bottom, making the angle closer to flush than 45 degrees. This nut only grips the inner pipe at its points (the design should use a tube, ideally with a slightly rough exterior like 400 grit sandpaper, rather than hexagon). Finally, the tubes has an inner weld, a pronounced ridge, and by sheer bad luck, the corner of the nut on the right hand stand exactly corresponded with this ridge, so that the stand could never be secured vertically. I had to make extensive modifications.

The playing was okay but there is a lot to work out. Over time, our simple act of piano and poetry has evolved into a complex act of lots of instruments, and keeping the sound quality high is a unique task each time. Some tracks, like Herr Kasperle will be very different from the recording, but this was always inevitable, the recording was designed to be its best in that medium while ignoring any live considerations. I would love a new synthesizer, but must sell my SY-85 first. I designed a couple of new Microkorg sounds for new parts. What a great synth that remains.

The rehearsal was complete by 6pm. I'm full of anxiety and the desire to paint, create, do. I need good weather and rest to paint well but I don't feel ready today and the weather is uncertain and possibly rainy for today and tomorrow.

The Starcrossed Escape

Woke late after a poor night's sleep. I dreamt of owning 5 or 6 guitars, in a small cottage near Queen's Park where I lived with my mother.

I read a bit about Fernand Khnopff and Holman Hunt, then a few pages from Diary of a Genius. By 10:30, I was ready to start painting and added the final layer to The Starcrossed Escape Of The Psychological Cosmonaut, finishing at 16:00. The important thing is exact colour matching now as this layer must blend with the background invisibly. An perfect join is impossible as the texture is different here, but few will notice.

The flesh colours were, unusually, transparent maroon (still the superlative red!) and ivory black, fading up to yellow ochre light and white. The ivory from Old Holland is very leaky and sticky, to the extent that just touching the lid covered my hands with an unpleasant tacky layer. I hardly ever use the paint, so it's worth buying a new clean tube for the future, it will last me years or decades. I have a new and unopened tube of Michael Harding's ivory but that is already very leaky and covered in linseed slime. Harding's black is probably too liquid anyway, so I've ordered a Blockx. It will be easier to keep them clean in my new paint box.

The flesh glazing went fine. The hair was more problematical, it tended towards too much power and green, though the fine strands were enjoyable to whip with the rigger. I need to paint more flowing hair, this is a rarity for me. I added a few more stars for a final touch, and a signature.

In a day or two I will look at it again and can then be sure that the painting is done. I've ordered more brushes too, and a bag for my keyboard stand upper-tier. One thing about live music performance is that everything needs a bag.

I need places to show and sell my work. I also need to frame more; for the future if not now. Bouguereau painted 6 days per week, apparently, but who prepared his canvases? Who drew and transferred the drawings? Who framed the work and shipped things to galleries? I expect this is included in the 6 days. I work 7 days a week without a gallery space and still have too little time (although Bouguereau didn't write and publish books, music, computer software).

I must start to work on larger works. I painted a study for one called Sappho years ago, and have one new painting, which is an important one. I'm full of ideas and urgency. I would also like to write two more book about painting; a manual and a new aesthetic theory. 21st Century Surrealism had some ideas, but was essentially a partial analysis.

Tomorrow we will rehearse the full Wonderland show for the Knutsford Music Festival. I watched a fragment of a Rush concert today. Geddy Lee was playing bass and two synths and singing... Perhaps I could play my three keyboard and a guitar at some point.

Lachesis Glazing Days 2, 3

Two days of painting. A long and tiring day yesterday frustrated by the dark weather. The day only brightened up at 4pm, on these the first dull days since the start of June. Only when the sun appeared could I see the extent of my work. The key painting for yesterday was work on the ocean of space. For this I added some toothbrush-sprayed stars into the ultra-thin glaze, these could then be stroked to drag them in a certain way, which worked well and created an effect which is only possible in a glazed oil painting like this; acrylics would dry too quickly, and dry horribly from the skin down anyway. Of course, no good artist would use those.

Two inspirations appeared. First the idea that folded space moves two points closer together. Yes, I am aware that this is the principle of the so-named Warp Drive. I thought of this in terms of information; viewing the future and the time leap that this phenomenon permits. It's something like the pressure difference in an aerofoil. This may permit faster than light travel for real objects which can move through an extra dimension but 'project' into real space. It should be trivial to calculate the fore-time possible in an Earth-like environment.

Second, Marcel Duchamp's idea that in a gallery space anything is art was intended to be an attack on the art institutions and a liberation of good art, which anyone can instantly recognise anywhere. It was not a proof that anything can be art. His ideas was perverted by artists like John Cage and Andy Warhol, and the galleries, for their own benefit and profit.

Today was a matter of snake painting, a joy with transparent mars yellow, a lovely colour.

My snake patterns borrow from the clouds of space, as well as the markings of a Lachesis snake.

I've started to explore zinc white for highlights; titanium is too flaky at these fine-detail levels. Zinc has a glossy feeling, like tailor's chalk vs. the matte chalk of titanium. Of course, I'm aware of its enamel-like problems with flexibility. In watercolour it can turn whiter over time, I suspect due to some reaction with the air as zinc metal seems to do this.

It's too dark to paint today but I plan on painting again tomorrow. I have six works ready to glaze: the Cosmonaut face, When This Is All Over, The Safe Box, Spree Killer, Gynocratic Paedoparanoia, plus another sky layer for Tripod, and three or four to underpaint. The Cosmonaut and When This Is All Over are the most urgent as I'd like to enter these into something. I'm frustrated at taking too long to shake off the tendrils of these clinging older works. I have many new ideas and the year is running away.

Lachesis Glazing Day 1

Awoke at 1am with stomach pain and sat up to read Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph for two hours. Listened to Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, which is always a good thing: late night music seems to inject deeply into the unconscious.

I awoke later than I should, feeling more tired and irritable than I should. I didn't really feel like painting, but I know that this is often a good feeling for a work day. The key difference between a professional in a field and a hobbyist is that a professional will do the job whether he or she wants to; tick tick, by wage clock, the job is there to do so must be done whether we want to or not. The results are generally irrelevant to how I feel, but I think that generally, the results are better when I don't want to paint or am in a low mood. A happy mood lends itself to being carefree. Self-critique is vital, as is moving at the correct speed, better slow than fast.

I started the Lachesis glazing with the face, the key part of the painting. I wanted to do this first because it needs the most care and focus, and I was least happy with this in the underpainting. I reminded myself how much I hate this canvas surface. It feels too chalky. Most canvases have lots of pits, this one has bobbles. The glazing was very smooth though. This made me think that surfaces are divided on ease of smoothing and ease of detail. A smooth panel is good for detail but difficult to produce a smooth, jewelled finish. This canvas does smooth really easily, but detail was more difficult.

Here is the figure in the underpainting:

And here today, after glazing:

Caucasian flesh tones can be painted by either underpainting in reds/pinks and glazing in yellows, or underpainting in yellows and glazing in pinks (or anything else, of course - such as Michelangelo's flesh over green). Dali advocated a Venetian Red underpainting in 50 Secrets, perhaps because his Leda Atomica (his latest masterpiece at the time of his writing) was clearly painted like this. Of course, over his long career he painted all ways. I prefer reds over yellows because the transparent reds are prettier than transparent yellows (well, this is debatable), but also because yellow is a secondary colour, and red a primary, and painting in layers is best when moving from tertiary to secondary to primary.

The space background is very dark, a case in point, it is ink-black, actually violet over blue, so it looks very blue, and the drapery very red. Filters tend towards primary colours, but the top layer also reflects (these effects can't be seen on a mere photograph). Here, unusually, I've used silver paint for the stars, which gives the sky a cosmic and magical air, matching the themes of gods and universal order. You'll note that I've changed the hair radically; the first was too dark and lit from the top left, as in the Waterhouse painting from which I took the pose. I decided to redo this as lit from below like the face, glazing very delicate light tones over near black is not easy. I've added some gold paint in the hair, ideal for a goddess. These ultra-fine strands look rather spectacular, every bit as fine as the rays in a van Eyck.

Dali Dream, Glazing Aspartame, Studio Equipment

I dream of meeting Salvador Dali, he was dressed in a short smoking jacket with a paisley design, not dissimilar to the gold coat I was wearing. In his life, he was still painting, and his agent or friend said how new and as ground-breaking as ever his recent painting was. I asked him whether he smoked cigars and he said of course. I slightly annoyed him with tales of of how useful I found his painting book; he remained aloof. In another part of the dream, a bishop was murdered by having his face and neck covered in thick, lead white paint. I knew this was Dali's work because of the paint, and told the police of my suspicions, but they seemed dismissive of my painting knowledge.

Today, a day of glazing The Fictional Secret History of Aspartame. I tend to dislike glazing versus underpainting, it's a slow process of mere finishing, and often, I think that I've not added much to the picture, but I must remind myself that I am wrong. Glazing always improves a picture, sometimes hugely, though sometimes invisibly too, and it's better to glaze the whole painting than only a little. Glazing is a process that demands careful patience, and slow, meticulous exactitude. Underpainting, however, only sometimes does. That more often requires passion, feeling, expression. It is these two feelings, and two layers, that make oil painting the paragon of the arts, if, it indeed is. The musical analogue is one of composing a piano concerto, note by note, then playing it in spectacular style.

For the record, I thought I would detail my tools and equipment. I use two blank sheets of newsprint on my desk surface, as a general backing and to dry or wipe brushes. A third sheet lies behind me on the floor so that I can throw painty-tissue papers onto it. I sit and work in a height adjustable leather office chair with wheels. A jam jar half filled with Zest-It citrus is used as a brush wash. This jar is held at a 45 degree angle by a base I made from clay, so that the pigment and solid parts fall to one corner. As a palette I use a glazed ceramic white tile, 33x25cm, clipped with a metal double-dipper, of which one pot is filled with 20ml of Sansodor solvent, as a dampener, quick washer, or partial medium (I don't use Zest-It in the painting at all, this is just for washing brushes). For oil media, I use a slightly concave glass dish about 80mm in diameter, a lens from an overhead projector, which is a perfect pool for my precious oils (I am reminded that in my dream last night, I told Dali about the excellence of James Groves' Amber Medium). I store my brushes in three Pro-Arte brush wallets: one long one for underpainting brushes, often containing hog brushes; one small wallet for glazing, the sable-type brushes, although I only use synthetic brushes now; and one short one for blending brushes. These brushes are in use; new brushes are stored in separate wallets just for that purpose.

I use my father's beech studio easel, and have blocks of wood of different sizes to jam between the easel and the painting surface as a stop so that I can lean on the work without it being pushed back. I don't use a maul stick, but have vertical wooden poles of 20x18mm pine which hang from the top of the canvas, hovering 10mm away thanks to a wooden disc at the top. These poles can be clamped onto the back of the work using a stopper made from Polymorph. This is just tight enough to hold the sticks horizontally if needed. I have two poles; one 70cm long, one 130cm long for bigger works.

When working I often hold a small piece of cotton, about 12cm square, as a general painting rag. I use white 'lint free' paper rolls, 187mm high, of the sort used by window cleaners, as a general wipe. These are dust free enough to use as a rag too, but less absorbent than cotton.

My computer screen, currently LCD, 17 inch, and not widescreen, is before me as I paint and always contains some source image or reference, even if this is not the object I am painting; the more source images the better as these are unconsciously absorbed. On a painting day, everything the eye sees may appear on the canvas.

Covid Jab, School of the Future

Had my second Covid vaccination this morning. An easy day after that. I'd like to paint, but lack the energy at the moment. I traced over a painting called Hand of Destiny as I listened to the album Scott Two. As a child, the single Jackie, which my parents owned, was one of my favourite songs and the album doesn't disappoint. Later, I prepared four frames; basic cutting of mounts, backing boards, etc. These are generic, plain black wood frames for 30x40cm works, which I can use as needed. I also set up a new two-tier synthesizer stand and watched an Eric Clapton concert. I noticed how easy it can be to learn by watching a master player. We can probably learn 50% of any skill by mere watching.

I had an idea for a concept for a school. Like the prison system, and formerly the mental health system, schools seem like an over-institutionalised and over-controlled system from a past age. I wondered, how would humans naturally learn, in a village, or communal setting. The answer is almost never in the class-way that the world seems to teach, although universities come closer to this.

My idea is to emulate this village aspect. A school would run several classes and courses which last a few weeks, on certain skill levels and a wide variety of subjects. Pupils can join any class, and move on to any other at the end, as they want. Better students can move up if they want, or students can learn a wider variety of simpler lessons, if their personality suits this. I think that lots of shorter courses would make teaching easier too, although it would lessen personal teacher-student interaction and knowledge.

I had a high fever after my first jab then felt fine on the following day. I expect, based on reports, than there will be fewer side effect after this second dose. With luck I will paint tomorrow. The glazing layers never seem as satisfying as the underpainting. Making something better isn't as good as creating it. Paintings in progress are: Self Portrait as Tripod (which is now not finished - it needs another layer), the Aspartame one, Gynocratic, Lachesis, Spree Killer, The Safe Box, When This Is All Over. Covidopolis and Cock of the Woke are complete, and the three big ones: Shakespeare, Ethics In A Time Of Revolution, and Hand of Destiny are ready to underpaint (and Mama Mia, but this can wait).

I read that Scott Walker never listened to his old recordings, perhaps due to self-criticism. This is a useful lesson.

Onwards!

Shakespeare, Keyboards, Guitars

Steady day. Completed the Shakespeare composition. Here is the idea sketch, from which everything is based:

This has a loose and sketchy quality which gives it lots of character, but it can't really be expanded like that, unless the result is also loose and sketchy. I've translated it closely. The object on the right is a castle, Elsinore, I imagined, but perhaps something deathly. There are two moons, one firey, one calm. The whole scene has, in my mind, a funerary or deathly feeling.

The sky was a bit empty, however. I wondered what it needed... so I imagined the image as music, something symphonic. The flowers are the living part, growing in bloom, these are the theme, so I've placed them in the sky too, echoes of them. It's taken from 6pm to 1pm today to transfer to canvas. All ready now. This is one of four of these medium sized paintings. Perhaps I'll have time for more, or perhaps will move onto one or more larger ones.

I've ordered a new tier for my keyboard stand but it annoyingly doesn't fit either of the stands I have (I have three, two Duronic ones which are light and quick to set up, and one Rockjam one which is much heavier and tougher - though both have a 40kg rating - generous, I doubt the Duronic ones will cope with that, though I like those better because they weigh less). Anyway, the top tier doesn't fit so I've ordered yet another stand just for this.

It's extra expense for uncertain reward. In our Wonderland show I will be using three synths, and before have used three stands, but this makes playing the left and right one at the same time difficult, I can only see either my left or right hand at once - so another tier might help, and make the setup neater. Musically, I think the show is worked out now and will be our best yet.

I've also ordered some new super-light (0.10) strings for my APX700II electro-acoustic guitar. I am yet to like this guitar, perhaps spoiled by my electric, though I love Deb's APX500; perhaps it's a matter of mere colour, perhaps not. The current strings are light, (0.12). The guitar on most of my/our recordings is actually my normal acoustic, Yamaha F-310, which is a wonderful guitar. Perhaps this and a mic would be best for recordings anyway, but for live acoustic performance an electro-acoustic is probably easier to manage. Well, Deb will be playing all of the guitar parts in Knutsford. I would like to, but three synths at once is already enough for my two hands.

Shakespeare Drawing, Wonderland Rehearsal 2

A full day yesterday, started by finishing the drawing to the Shakespeare painting, which took until 2pm. Then Deb and I did a second rehearsal of the Wonderland performance. Much better than before but there is so much to do on this, as much memorising the music as well as the different technical setups. I will probably use my larger 1000W amp for this, the venue doesn't need such loudness, so I could use my 150W monitor, but the stereo would make everything better.

This took the rest of the day. Today I've made Prometheus work in 19-tones-per-octave mode to see how it sounds, this is perhaps the next more popular alternative to 12. I still keep the CDEFGAB notation in the sequencer though. I can't easily redefine the cents per note here, there are always 100, but these are (obviously) smaller in 19-tone. Should I add this as a fixed feature? If so I'll need, I think, to rename the notes somehow...

Ethics Study, Self Portrait as Tripod Again

A busy day, still enthused about painting but unable to charge into it as it's a music rehearsal day tomorrow. I started by making a lighting model, and painting a colour study for the new 'Ethics' painting. I also took some reference photos of flowers for the Shakespeare drawing.

All of this took quite a few hours. Then I decided to add a new glaze layer to Self Portrait as Tripod, which I wasn't quite happy with... the sky was too bland, yellow and grey, when it needed more drama, more darkness, and more variety to the hue. Glazing was time consuming and slow, partly because I don't like to glaze with opaque colours - this defeats the beauty and point of glazing, but it makes darkening and smoothing more difficult, generally, this needs more layers.

I used Michael Harding's Burnt Sienna here, almost an identical hue to Blockx Mars Yellow Orange, though the latter is fantastically powerful and opaque and the former so very weak. I now recall that Raw Sienna is also fantastically weak, to the point of being pointless, not so much transparent as severely lacking in power of any sort. The Harding Sienna was frustrating, so I mixed a similar hue with cadmium lemon (Cadmium Yellow Pale in Blockx, this is actually a very primary yellow, called lemon in most ranges) and benzimidazolone maroon. I tend to favour Blockx Primary Yellow, also benzimidazolone, because it's almost identical to the cadmium in tone and usage, but more permanent and less toxic. Today, I just felt like a change. This new orange was far more powerful and better in every way.

For the darker parts of sky I used Ultramarine Violet, also a supra-delicate colour, but I can forgive it in this lovely hue, the most beautiful of all colours. It did mean that the upper sky is a little transparent. I might have to add yet another layer here.

I want to paint more - need to! But events feel in the way. I'll complete our rehearsal tomorrow, and try to work on the paintings in progress next week.

TMBWOD Proof, Tracing Ethics,

Managed to complete a first draft of The Many Beautiful Worlds last night, and have ordered a proof.

Today, a steady day working on the underdrawing and composition to a painting tentatively called Volcanism & Social Media. While working on it, the title of 'Ethics in the Time of Revolution' came to mind because there is a lot of pressure and social judgement in the painting, a connection to the theme of 'Cancel Culture' which, I noted today, is a manifestation of the same young vs. old emotions present during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, even if, in the latter case, this was intentionally rationalised and encouraged by the government. I want to explore this more from an ethical perspective; perspectives on the philosophy of kindness. This is a separate issue from perspectives on the philosophy of democracy, which is (and was) equally pertinent. A strong component of 'Cancel Culture' is not ethics, but a division between individual determinism, the libertarianism of 'mob rule', vs. parliamentary determinism where groups elect experts to govern.

The painting will be a tiny comment of this subject which is worthy of a lifetime of masterpieces. I finalised the drawing before noon and spent the next five hours preparing the panel and tracing it over. This job so tedious; eye and hand straining. I listened to music while doing it: Novella by Renaissance, Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Alan Parsons Project (which was notably better than Renaissance, though, in general, I prefer the former) and Vulnicura by Björk. These works were unified by the quality of the lyrics, the Alan Parsons one the only one to hold together as a musical whole.

Oh for more time and more resources to create.

Frame Complete, TMBWOD 2nd Edition, Music

Have completed the framing of the paitning behind glass, here is a look at the finished back. These spring clips are the correct way to hold a painting when it's flush to the frame:

The only thing left was the final label.

I've spent most of yesterday and today re-reading and editing the new 2nd edition of The Many Beautiful Worlds of Death, I do love the book. Just about every page has had some change to it, though nothing major, mainly improvements to clarity, tidying language, fixing punctuation. The font treats semi-colons and colons oddly, both look odd, so I'm toying with replacing all of them with another font, though, of course, that makes future editing a bit of a pain.

I'll order a printed proof soon. In other news, our Apocalypse of Clowns CDs will be arriving tomorrow. I can't wait to see these. This, plus The Myth of Sisyphus and Nightfood, constitute my best albums so far. Amazing to think that between 2000 and 2010 I sold 50 to 100 CDs, but since around then have barely sold one (except at live events). I read a statistic that one in ten people spend £500 to £1000 on music per year, that is recordings and memorabilia, rather than live event tickets. With a streaming world which charges £10 a month, then this will obviously lead to a massive loss for the music industry, which is apparently happy to see this happen. Someone really needs to design a new physical format that has industry wide agreement and support.

Frame Restoration

A slower day today. The frame seemed to set solid overnight, better than I expected, although some liquid Titebond dripped out at one point so I'll wait 24 more hours for everything to set. Here is the frame so far:

It had two plastic strips, probably part of the original hanging mechanism, these needed removing. This wasn't easy. The plastic is too hard to slice with a sharp knife and too awkward to saw. The best tool was my reciprocating vibrating multi-tool (nobody has thought of a better name). Despite being advertised as useful for 1001 jobs, it's only really useful for sawing holes in the middle of a block of wood. It did the job here, though it tended to melt the plastic a little:

Then I cut glass, spacer, backing board, so everything is ready to frame. This took me up to 11am. Then a pause for a visit from Nick.

After that I scanned in the newly updated version of Land of Beauty and Sorrow. Here is a comparison of the before vs. after paintings:

For the week I want to update The Many Beautiful Worlds of Death, and work on some of these paintings in progress. We have a new rehearsal of Wonderland scheduled for Friday. I really need to sell my Yamaha SY-85 so that I can buy a new replacement keybord for live performance. My piano is wonderful, but too heavy and too delicate for live play.

More Frame Work, Pixar's Soul

More work this afternoon; cut two canvas panels for the Shakespeare and Volcanism paintings, using a snap-off knife which is always unpleasant on 3mm MDF, but just about doable. A jigsaw would be easier.

After that, I took down a heavy 50x60cm frame. B&M used to sell these as mirrors, solid wood covered in plaster and mouldings, very cheaply for the work, about £10 for a 40x30 frame, £17 for 50x60cm. Now, all frames are the cheap hollow plastic (at the same size), but I've bought a lot of the solid wood-plaster ones, perhaps 15 over the years. These were probably made en-masse in some far-east place at really low prices. Now, nobody could make these at this price, they would cost hundreds at this quality, the last of a line of solid wood frames. So I've spent most of the evening painting one in gold paint, using liquefied gold acrylic for the last step, so that it evaporates to give an even coat.

I also stuck the wooden frame to the Ernie Edgeley frame. The epoxy putty which held the fixings fell away from the frame quite easily... this made me reconsider how to attach the wood here; there aren't many options. In the end I used a pool on Titebond, and fitted lots of Milliput around the edge. This is the yellow-green Milliput which I hate. I love the concept of epoxy putty, and like the use the white stuff but the yellow-green stuff is terrible in every way, it flakes rather than sticks, is rock hard even in the hottest of summery months and stains everything. I wish someone made something like Milliput but softer and more sticky, yet with an longer working time. Perhaps I should experiment with making my own linseed putty.

In other news, Deb and I watched the Pixar film Soul last night. Beautiful and imaginative, but so disappointing, the story was a rambling mess that missed so many opportunities. The film builds to the climax of the protagonist musician playing with his dream jazz hero, even conquering death to do this, yet to subvert this apparent cliché of a climax, he doesn't enjoy the hit-gig (despite being an amazing piano player, he has apparently never played a gig) and, amazingly, loses his passion for music! The film rambles on for 40 more minutes leaving various unexplained plot holes along the way. Richard Ayoade, amazing in everything, is poor here. Graham Norton is stunningly miscast in a part that Johnny Depp probably would have got if he weren't 'cancelled'.

Scoring, Restoring Venice Painting and Frame

Managed yesterday to work on the Wonderland music, and tidy up some musical notation for existing music. I've generally done this for music I've played myself, as a mnemonic, but sometimes I finish the notation a little more. Today I've added some of these scores to my website, for some of The Anatomy of Emotions, Cycles & Shadows, Music of Poetic Objects, and the basic Clown Face melody. The differences in how the score sounds to the performance is huge, compare By Candlelight and my recording of it, for example, but it's nice to have some music up there, in case anyone would like to play these.

Yesterday I also scaled up the underdrawing for a painting currently called Volcanism and Social Media, I'll work on this and the Shakespeare painting today.

One other job is some cleaning and reframing a painting by Deborah's father. It is 40 years old and very yellowed, and painted on a Daler board, textured cardboard, and with no glass or backing board, held with mere masking tape. It was bent and very dirty, and the cheap plastic frame is falling apart. The frame looks nice from the front though, and it reminded me that even old and cheap frames have a unique heritage and are part of art history. It is a photo frame, with lost glass and no firm way to hold the painting in place.

I started work by cleaning the front of the painting with cotton buds and a damp cloth, wiping excess dirt with mere water. I don't intend to restore it or remove varnish, merely clean and stabilise. I cleaned up the bent cardboard on the back and painted it with Golden GAC100 medium to waterproof and seal it. The board was slightly bent backwards, the oil painting surface convex. This is ideal, as painting anything water based on the back will tend to expand and slightly bend the panel in the opposite direction. The acrylic medium won't sink deeply in anyway, and there was little or no evidence of change to the bend. These small steps have instantly stabilised the painting for many more years. One other job is to write the title, artist name, and date on the back. These are essential steps that separate any old painting from an artwork with a history and provenance.

The frame is thin hollow plastic and little more. There is no way to hold the painting, and the yellowed masking tape that was holding it had fallen off, making the painting loose.

I've crudely attached some hangers using epoxy putty - this is much better than before, the hollow back was hanging from a nail, but isn't as neat as I would like. My plan is to use more putty to glue a wooden frame about 20mm wide into the hollow. This will be strong enough to hold the frame together and can be screwed into to hold the painting in place too. This, and the putty, will also secure the flimsy frame. I could add glass and a spacer too. It could be left without glass, as it has been for 40 years, but glass would stop more dirt; it will be hung in a kitchen, so best kept isolated from the atmosphere as much as possible.

Wonderland Notation

One lesson of existence is that a group of idiots working together will achieve more than one genius of any ability.

An exhausting day yesterday doing various things, including a unusual day trip and household jobs. In the intermediate time I've been transcribing, scoring, the Fall in Green music. It's less important to exactly notate recorded works, like Jabberwocky or Harr Kasperle or Lost at the Fair, but I still need to notate the details of these for playing live (they have to be at close to the recordings, ideally the same but better). For live works that aren't recorded, I can, could, and have, make up things in a more haphazard way, so that no two performances are the same. In practice, I stick to the same key, same mood, same instrumentation, but over many performances these tend to be 'sanded down' to an equal smoothness and so they become very similar each time. There are many new pieces in our new show, Wonderland, and a few ones that have not been recorded, but most have been performed live at least once, so I need to note down what I played more exactly than before... all of this work, for this tiny few minutes for a small crowd. The notation is for my memory, but it should theoretically allow others to play it, so this is an important part of the art too; in some ways this is far more important as this notation will outlast me and any memory of us, but this also adds to my burden, as I need to do it reasonably well and thoroughly, more than I would need for a mere mnemonic.

This takes time and is frustrating due to that. It feels like I'm tied in knots of old-ground, a tedious transcribing job anyone could do, rather than working on important future works that only I can. In painting, design of the first batch of small works is complete, so I'm starting to draw out a few larger ones, like the Shakespeare one. Perhaps then, I'll move to even larger ones... I have a few ideas this morning.

First Wonderland Rehearsal

Another full day and a feeling of too little done, yet I (and we) have not stopped, and remain aching all over from recent work.

Did more work on the Shakespeare drawing, and prepared the equipment for a Wonderland rehearsal. I needed to check the projector and how it worked. It remains stupid in operation, but usable. Another weak link in its chain is the complete reliance on a remote control. Lose it or have it not work (the buttons are not very reliable) and the whole performance can be jeopardised. Well, I'll wait until a final set-list before thinking about videos. 90% of a music show is carrying, unpacking, connecting, and sound checking. The actual performance is 10%, and despite needing to remember every note and nuance of each piece, the hardest work remains the physical carrying, setting up and technical aspects. I barely have any time to worry about playing the music.

In the afternoon we did our first rehearsal, a basic run through of each song and which instruments will be needed and which parts have music, where the speech comes in etc. Many of these songs will be performed live for the first time. Some, like Herr Kasperle, are quite advanced musically and will involve solos. I need to write down the music and words for these. I began our live performance career with a simple list, but now, 4 years later, I will soon need a page for each song.

A really long day, but I think a lot of progress has been made. If the music was all written out, and if I could read it fluently, there would be far less need for rehearsal time, but a lot more time spent writing it all out. In many ways, it's good that it has been so long since our last show. It has permitted some leaps which might not have happened if we had evolved slowly; Deb will play lots of guitar for the first time (in the recordings, I play all of the guitar, but can't do this live AND play all of the keyboards). I also realise that need to notate a lot more music, just so that I remember them all - without this I might merely remember it from the previous show, when, ideally, it would all be notated. In practice, that will never happen because at least half of the tracks are very complex and improvised in complex fancies.

Some of the most simple are the most beautiful. The Candle Burns is little more that a descent of four chords in arpeggios, from high on the keyboard, to low, and a dramatic melodic fantasy in those chords, yet it works so well. Some, Like The Cabinet of Dr. Eckelmann or Siamese Twin Domestic are more like musical sound effects or explosions in response to the words, and very different each time we perform them. Dead Hand is such a complex work (it's on our Apocalypse album) which I improvised in one take for the album, but which I'd have little hope of ever duplicating, though I could notate it by 'cheating' and transcribing the MIDI file. I know that, for posterity if not live performance, I should.

This one, 2-hour show will take us at least 8 full days and a lot of energy in between to rehearse. I can see how it is more efficient to arrange a tour with identical sets each evening.

Rehearsals, Shakespeare Drawing

A slow day yesterday. I spent the morning setting up the piano and two synths to run through the set-list for our Knutsford performance. At the moment we have 29 songs/poems, which is a lot, probably too many. I will need MP3 recordings for some and needed to design a few new instruments. Deb assumed that we would be using the projector, which I hadn't considered. This would mean making 29 videos, or at least some. The problem with the projector is that technologies like this introduce more risk. I can control it with a remote control but everything needs to be carefully set up. If I press the wrong button accidentally, the whole thing can be ruined. It's impossible in the middle or a show to cancel or try to reset things. The people who design projectors seem to put no thought into how the projector might be used. The playing order of a list of videos, for example, isn't down to filename or date or any file attibute, it defaults to the read order from the USB stick, the order the files were copied over! Rather than wait, films will jump to the next one automatically, so the idea of making a short looping film, or one that will simply end and stop is out of the question.

In the afternoon I started to sketch out Moon Over Shakespeare but it was slow going. On we push!

Two Dreams, Larger Surfaces

I dream of being alone on a small rowing boat in the middle of a night ocean. I could hear distant screams or ghosts. There was something horrible, a red mark like splattered blood. I awoke terrified. This seems to relate to the Spree Killer painting, which has a similar mark, and also, the boat has a few painting connections.

I slept again and dreamt of an evening meal and party being hosted here, in our garage outside. Many of the guests were celebrities including Bob Monkhouse, and Little & Large. Eddie Large looked thinner and had dark, sunken eyes. He had suffered a hard time 'recovering' from Covid-19, I talked to him about it, and to Syd about his work and money troubles. Another Covid-19 victim was there, perhaps Bobby Ball. The party was generally jovial though.

Today I completed the underpainting for Spree Killer, the difficult minature work of the main family, though I've felt very tired. I remain enthusued with art and ambitious despite my fatigue.

I'm thinking of methods for painting and preparing larger canvases. I like solid surfaces, I think the lack of flexibility makes these safer and generally easier to use, though they can be prone to damage, as scratches are not deflected, and these can be heavy. Perhaps 3mm MDF with canvas, plus 6mm MDF as a rigid support might work.

Spree Killer Underpainting

Two days underpainting Spree Killer, here is a look at the colour study:

It was a slow day yesterday, I woke late and tired, so rather than start painting I proofread part of The Many Beautiful Worlds of Death. In the afternoon started on the 'rocks' on the right here. 

The initial composition was something like my 'Prometheus as a Turkey' painting, which was itself inspired by a masterful painting called Holly by Louis Smith, which presumably was itself inspired by Leonardo's Virgin on the Rocks. A view of a light sky as seen from a sort of cave. I wanted a light yellow sky rather than blue, as the house on the left is burning. This made the overall hue warm and yellow, so I made the floor blue-ish, well, greenish, actually cobalt turquoise, for balance.

Most of the rocks use raw umber, which is just a little too transparent for comfort for an underpainting. The hue is pretty but it needs real exactitude of application to get a perfectly smooth layer.

Today I finished most of the rest, leaving the family group for tomorrow.

The title was conceived at the instant of drawing it, as with most of my paintings, an idea about the psychology of a spree killer...

...perhaps; but perhaps not. When scaling the work up, I used a photo of my mother, brother, and self as the family, and the feeling and meaning for me, at least, is transformed. Most of my paintings this year, from Cromwell to the Gynocratic one are about my father.

I will complete the painting tomorrow. Like many of my recent works, this is a small 30x40cm. For years, my standard size was even smaller, 234x336mm, but now I feel that everything is too small. This painting would have been better bigger. The workload isn't hugely different when on canvas (on a smooth panel things are more difficult, dust is more evident and it takes more time to keep everything smooth and even). Generally, the time to paint is almost the same for a large painting, it's a matter of using bigger brushes, but more paint is needed, and (of course) a bigger surface, and a more expensive frame and more difficulty to transport. I have two other paintings drawn out from my initial 2021 batch, so I'm still on this first generation. The next one to draw out will be a relatively old idea, the Moon Over Shakespeare, but also a new work...

When will these works be framed or shown? Who knows. I have some exhibitions and competitions but always so much more work that I can show. So many of my paintings have hardly, or even never, been exhibited.

Studies, Silver Frames, Hand of Destiny Photography

A slower day today. I started with a painted colour study for a complex work, Spree Killer, which is effectively about dashed possibilities of family. I developed a quick way to prepare a surface for these: I scan the drawing, laser print it at A4 size onto card, then stick the card to a 3mm piece of wood (normally a cheap backing board from a picture frame) using PVA glue. Then I apply some acrylic sealer like Golden GAC100, roll that with a sponge roller, then apply gesso, rolling that too. The gesso is normally transparent enough to show the drawing through. This creates a really cheap and fast surface for oil painting that is non absorbent.

This worked well today, and the Lefranc gesso was revealed to have a great tooth and perform well now. I painted the study, it's a complex and otherworldly work, and needed this to work out the many colour options.

After that I took outside two silver frames which had a sort of rottenstone dust applied, and spent a couple of hours scrubbing these with water and a toothbrush and sponge to try and clear them up; this worked but there is a still a lot to do on these. After a couple of months of pain in my left shoulder and arm, almost like a 'trapped nerve', today, a similar pain appeared in my left knee. Not welcome.

Then I did some lighting models for an old painting about entropy and information decay and retention, originally called Soul of Genius, now called Hand of Destiny. The photography involved some complex use of lighting as parts are lit from above, some from below.

I've got three underdrawings ready to paint, so should perhaps work on those before I draw out any new works; next on my list to draw out are Moon Over Shakespeare and Hand of Destiny.

One other job for today was writing out the basic music notation for our Jabberwocky music, I will need that for Knutsford, though the news about Covid-19 is not pleasant today. I wrote the music for Clown Face yesterday. I've generally felt tired, weak, and lacking in enthusiasm today, but have achieved a reasonable amount.

Lascaux Gesso and Gesso Brand Comparisons, Painting

A somewhat frustrating day at first, woke too late and had a lot of small jobs and a lack of focus, but I fought through this jungle of the day and into a bit of a sunlit meadow of creation.

The Lascaux Primer arrived, which was interesting. Gesso is complex to quantify and compare because it can vary in viscosity, absorbency, tooth and finish (plastic/chalky, matt/gloss) as well as basics like pigment density/opacity. All these things matter. It would help if there were standard units for these and each manufacturer listed them but as we are, artists must try them all.

Now, I bought this because my Lefranc and Bourgeous Gesso had thickened to a cream-like constituency, going from 1478g (for a litre) when new, down to 748g five years later, as the water had evaporated. By amusing coincidence, it now looks and behaves exactly like the new Lascaux Primer. Of course, I haven't tested absorbency and other things in detail, but in consistency and tooth, the two are indistinguishable.

I've tried 4 brands to date:

-Winsor and Newton (red label). Made before 2010. This had a jelly-like constituency which I liked at the time because I use a roller and a watery gesso can spatter. I've used this exclusively for priming almost all of my paintings to date (mostly on MDF panels). Only now has my last tub of this expired. Sandable, and with a quite strong tooth with an almost glittery aspect (quartz? mica?).

-Winsor and Newton (black label). After about 2010, they reformulated to make this. Much more liquid, perhaps the most liquid of any gesso I've tried. A palette knife won't lift any, you must pour it or use a brush. Too liquid for me, and less tooth.

-Lefranc and Bourgeous. When new, this was slightly thicker than Winsor and Newton black label, but still quite fluid, not jelly-like at all. Very fine tooth. As I said, now after 5 years of thickening, and sanding two test patches, it appears to be indistinguishable from Lascaux Primer, but my 1 litre has shrunk down to about 500ml anyway. I've no idea if this loss of water has changed the chemistry; I don't know if acrylic suspensions in water oxidise or merely evaporate. Like the Winsor and Newton brands this has a cardboard sealer-thing in the lid, which tends to stick to the rim, become damp, glued and then peel off leaving bits of cardboard in the gesso.

-Lascaux Primer. 785g for 500ml (in the tub, of course, one can only compare weight like with like). A heavy, cream-like constituency, the stuff on the top of the lid won't drip down and holds peaks. About the consistency of the extra-thick spoonable dairy cream we all buy for mince pies. A very fine tooth in my one test, but have not painted on it so can't fully comment on absorbency or tooth. This is intended as a smooth top coat or general primer. Lascaux Gesso is supposed to be rougher, with more tooth and more absorbency. As I like a smooth surface, I was unsure which to get. I will probably try both.

There is no cardboard sealer in the Lascaux lid, in fact, nothing. For acrylic media or PVA glue this can mean a danger that the whole tub will dry into a solid lump over time. Golden seal their rims with insulation tape to stop this (they also use the cardboard sealers, though a bit higher quality, more plastic). One trick here is to turn the tub upside down once to seal the gaps. This can allow the media to set and form an airtight seal around the lid, but this also can glue the lid firmly shut. I now seal the lids with cling film.

I will list any future Gessos if I remember.

At about 3pm I started painting and added another paint layer to the tiny (15mm square) face on Land of Beauty and Sorrow. I think it looks better now. I will have to check in the light of a new day. The joy of oil paint is that the very tiny tiniest of marks remain, the slightest of slight strokes, even breath itself moves the paint. Sometimes I paint without being able to see the result, knowing that it is having an effect. This tiny face took 90 minutes.

After that, I decided to rework Covidopolis. The sky was too uneven in finish, all due to the rubbish canvas board surface. I glazed it with some azo yellow, a wonderful and strange colour. My recent lighting guides were not of use for it. In the original plan, which I stuck to firmly, the sky had lots of little lines in, like the sugar strands 'hundreds and thousands':

These are like dust, dirt, virus particles, but the painting looked very otherworldly and unrealistic. The division between the foreground triangles and background 'dashes' was too stark... I felt that I needed to add something real, organic, so made these dots into silhouettes of birds. I first imagined crows but a quick image search gave me some doves, which by happy coincidence seemed perfect; the souls of Covid-19 victims perhaps, a peaceful element to contrast with the foreground.

I may keep working on this painting yet, but for now it is drying. I don't feel like painting tomorrow so will plan the colours for Spree Killer, or perhaps the Volcanism picture (already out of date in my latest philosophy of aesthetics) and perhaps work on other compositions. It is 11pm and I'm only just finishing. It is time to enter the world of dreams.

Lighting Models

A full day of lots of little jobs yesterday, started with the initial setlist for 'Wonderland', our show ofr Knutsford Music Festival.

Then made a foldable table by fixing a camera tripod screw thread to a piece of wood, allowing this to be screwed to the top of a tripod to make a simple platform. I made some lighting models for paintings from Newplast and used this to position them

I made a few models for existing paintings and future ones. I've also fixed these tripod nuts to some battery lights, so can use cheap tripods to mount spotlights at complex angles quickly.

I'm full of ideas, I feel I'm darting between too many projects. I'm still not happy with the earlier ones of the year, but must proceed carefully. There is no time for much except painting at the moment, but I must also work on the Fall in Green music; I may be playing 3 synths and my electric guitar this time, and redrafting The Many Beautiful Worlds of Death. These alternative creative works act like a break.

On we push.

Starcrossed, Old and New

A frustrating day, anxious about recent works that I'm not happy with. However I vow to only produce great work from now on, I keep thinking that it won't take much work to brilliantify the recent paintings that I'm unhappy with. Perfectionism is something like an anxiety disorder. Of course, the better we get, the worse out previous work seems.

I primed a 3mm panel and coping-sawed a new round for the Love is Dead reworking. I noted that my Winsor and Newton acrylic gesso is rather stiff, from a thick to very jelly-like. I decided to look at the other tub by Lefranc & Bourgeois, new in 2013 and still not used. I discovered that it's mostly dried and is now a thick, cream-like constituency like spooning cream. It was liquied when I last tried it. This might be useful but it might be spoiled. I've used the Winsor and Newton one for so long now (I boughty two 1l tubs) that I might never get through this thick one. It's amazing that, in 2013, this cost £5. Now one litre of Gesso costs £25... and some brands costs £50 or 60. I can't help but feel that this is a matter a price fixing, surely marble dust and titanium white can't be that much more expensive now?

Either way, I'm now at the stage where I want the best. I spent the morning researching and I like the look of Lascaux. They make three types: Gesso, Primer, and Uni-Primer. Gesso is apparently rougher and more absorbant, perhaps like gesso grosso, Primer, finer, and Uni-Primer for outdoors or solid surfaces like steel. I like the sound of all of these; they are in the £50-ish bracket.

In the afternoon I applied a second layer to the new Starcrossed Escape restoration. It was difficult, I had a headache due to eye strain and didn't feel like painting at all, but, I needed to, and I've never paid attention to feelings about work; work must be done. Nobody remembers Mozart for the days he had off. The results were fine. Here is a before and after:

More layers to are come.

The portrait of Liza Minnelli which I donated to Barnardo's in Macclesfield went on sale today and it sold within the first hour, which is excellent news. Of course, I get none of the money, but any sale is to be celebrated.