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.
