And Yet More Framing

Slept badly and woke late. First, sanded and applied a third varnish coat to the red 'Gynocratic' frame. It looks remarkable, almost like tiger-wood. I would not have designed a frame like it, or will again using this combination of solvents and varnishes, but it's not unattractive, and has almost taken longer to create than the painting.

I unclamped and varnished the two other frames, and have submitted work to a new local exhibition in Bunbury. Then I went to B&Q for more varnish and some metal. I needed to make an angular metal part used in my iron mitre block when cutting frames. Straight wood easily fits in the mitre, but if there's a recess then I need a second block to fit in that, so bought some aluminium for that and created a block for this purpose.

It's made from two U-shaped pieces of aluminium held together with Paraloid-B72 resin, with a piece of wood cut and sanded to exactly fit inside.

I feel I'm wasting my time and talents on this workman craft jobs, but artwork needs framing, and comparing these new frames with those before, these are a step up. I'm physically tired today after three days of a lot of running about, the trip to B&Q alone is a 3-mile walk; yet after three days, the work is still not framed due to factors like drying times. It is much more efficient to make several frames at once...

I'm starting making artwork notes. I must complete the Salome music with urgency; and find a venue or more to perform it.

Framing

More framing today, but seemingly slower, the process can take far longer than hoped. The panels for Masters of the Sky and the Bird Orbiting a Black Hole needed trimming to fit the new frames (both paintings will show at least 10mm more than in the older frames).

I also varnished and stained the new red frame for Gynocratic Paedoparanoia. I first made up a colour-matched wood filler for the frame. Wood filler is any filling powder (sawdust, chalk, in my case pigment) and any binder (wood glue, any varnish or resin, a solvent based resin, drying oil, shellac, etc.) I made a dark filler from brown pigment and red acrylic paint, which matched well.

The stain though was tricky. These solvent based stains have such a powerful solvent that they tend to re-melt and affect prior layers. The old solvent-based Ronseal Colron was brilliant, but is no longer available and their water-based dye is very poor. My new Morrells stain is a good colour, but the solvent seems to be a bit more powerful and seems to lift previous layers more easily; this might be my imagination though, as I rarely made many multi-layer stained frames, and certianly not in years.

The new frame looks pretty enough but the homogeneity is more haphazard than I'd like, I wanted a more smooth and even finish but in the end must settle for some variation. One plus side is that I can add and remove layers ad-infinitum.

For each frame I print and stick two labels, cut glass, spacer, backing board and this, plus the decoration of the red frame and gluing of the other two, has most of the day. In the remaining couple of hours, I've re-read and re-written the computer book and have ordered a proof print copy.

My next job is the Salome music. After I've written and prepared for this, I can start painting. I'm have a few good ideas.

Frame Cutting

So much framing today, just three frames but each a unique challenge.

The first has black gloss stain, but to avoid raising the grain of the wood I mixed a solvent-based outdoor varnish with solvent-based wood stain and applied that. This makes a smoky-black stain with high gloss, perfect for this.

I will later apply more black for a high-gloss finish.

Second, a frame for the Gynocrats painting. I needed to use two lengths of wood, and chose the best areas. I wanted to stain in red and brown, to match the deep red on the inner frame to Romeo and Juliet. I applied red solvent stain (there's no substitute for this in a water-based stain, dilute fluid acrylic works well, but only with certain pigments, and all will raise the grain). The place when the wood's barcode label was attached resisted the stain, leaving an ugly white patch which could not be covered with stain. I solved this by matching the colour and painting over just that area with a tiny brush and transparent acrylic paint.

The third frame is for the older painting, 'Masters of the Sky', which has needed a new frame for some time. This was plain brown, but tricky because the panel was developed for an older frame, so will need to be cut down to fit. The stain sponge (stain is best applied with a sponge) caught a splinter of wood, splitting it along the grain and catching a chunk of sponge. I had to grab some fine tweezers, remove the fragments of sponge, careful not to disturb even slightly the delicate and homogenous stain. Then I used a paperclip wire to apply a tiny fragment of wood glue, PVA for its transparency (I also use aliphatic resin glue at times, but PVA-based glue is better for this decorative job), then very gently hold the broken shard of wood in place as the glue dries. The mend should be completely invisible; but I know that even a tiny speck of PVA is highly visible if stained over, so I might have to leave the stain as it is.

All hand cut with my veneer saw; 8 precise cuts per frame. I imagine a ninja master (perhaps that famously bad Commodore 64 game did teach me something!) when making these exact cuts. As little as 0.5mm out would lead to a poor join, so each cut must be exactly made. These are perhaps the best three frames I have yet made, each with a different method of design. I will glue clamp the red frame now, the others must wait for the surface, and glue, to dry overnight.

SFXEngine, The Modern Game 2022

Two days of SFXEngine programming. The software uses the same audio engine as Prometheus, and the same GUI too, sharing that with Argus. Both are sparkly new by comparison. I've not touched SFXEngine in two (busy) years, so it's needed a lot of work to bring it up to date.

First job was to updated the GUI, allowing variable length windows for larger screens, and better support for storing and recalling custom window positions. Then some new skin colours, and all of the latest functions for modulator and sample processing, including ability to save, for the first time, and loading/saving in optional float format.

Second, some new plugins, and a unique audio effect for this tool of distorted filtered noise with an envelope (a mainstay of sound effect generation), and finally fixes and upgrades to the rendering chain. Here is an image of v1.20 of SFXEngine in operation:

My latest sound job on effects for a future game, Pursuit of Power 2, was a first test and I've been working on those in tandem with the software upgrades. One sound called for hooves, and I made use of some hollow wood, part of a new batch of recordings for the first time in a few years.

I was also the release of the 2022 version of The Modern Game on Friday.

This is the end of a wave of creative work from the start of the year, which has slowed a little, partly due to the live Fall in Green work, which takes a lot of time and rehearsal, the new book, preparation for the Art Fair, and the Salome music. I must get these projects complete so that I can do more of the important job of creating. The year is flying past and I've not painted a thing, nor can see any time available to do so... this is a tragedy! Oh for more time, more resources.

Next immediate jobs: To complete the computer book, complete the Salome music, and frame two works for The Stockport Open.

Art Fair Cheshire, Piano, SFXEngine

An enjoyable and inspiring opening at Art Fair Cheshire last night, featuring thrilling scenes such as this:

...and this...

and this...

Here is my little display:

I spoke to David Bez, met the ever-lovely Peter Robinson and a several other people, all noteworthy. All of the artwork was skilled... the artists had decided on a subject and way of presenting it and had generally mastered that method. In terms of subjects there was barely a narrative on offer at all, lots of landscapes without emotion (escapism), little animals. There were a few abstracts that had an interesting mental narrative. I was disappointed by the Ian Rayer-Smith paintings, some of which I really like online, but the ones on show here were messy abstracts of the worst sort. There was nothing in paint I saw that I could not match should I want to.

I ache to paint more. My work now is, in my mind, on another level to anything I've done before, but I need space here for new and large work, space, and time. I fear to be doomed to small works forever; I must battle this. I feel ready to leap to a new level in subject and ability.

I spent the night practising piano, playing fingers against each other: 4:4, 2:4, 1:4, 4:2, 4:1, 3:3, 2:3, 1:3, 3:1, 3:2, in different fingers. A endlessly difficult and fun game.

I've spent today making a new draft of sound effects and upgrading my software SFXEngine, which hasn't been updated in 2 years and is hideously out of date compared to Prometheus (it has the same interface).

How To Organise, POP2, Football Song

A full day on Monday working on How To Organise Your Computer Files, and a full day yesterday working on sound effects for Pursuit of Power 2. Art Fair Cheshire opens tonight. Today will be another writing day. Started this morning by finalising a little song, here are the words:

Football
match of the day
Football
home or away
Anyone can do it
Really nothing to it
If you see a goal just
kick the ball through it
Football!

Football
play to the crowd
Football
quiet or loud
Anyone can play it
Any night or day it
Kick a little round thing
Everybody say it
Football!

Macc Delivery, The Fantastical Dreams of Rembrandt van Rijn

Suddenly things have exploded into busy activity again. Delivered artwork today to Macclesfield Town Hall for Art Fair Cheshire, which opens on Thursday. I will attend the preview on Wednesday. I also received the entry forms for the Stockport Open, which will take place this year for the first time since 2019, so I'll enter some of last year's new paintings into that. I need to make frames for these this week.

I'm booked to play the Macclesfield public pianos on July 14th, so needed to develop a list of works for performance. Just playing an existing set like Cycles, or The Anatomy of Emotions, or Music of Poetic Objects, isn't enough. I've developed the outline of a new set called The Fantastical Dreams of Rembrandt van Rijn

The pieces will be: "Saskia, Burning", "Poverty and Ecstasy", "Myself, I, and Me", "Nebuchadnezzar's Knife", "Moving the Piano with Titus", "Children and the Explosive Growth of Tyrants", "The Automata of Kings", and "Mario Lanza is my Washpot".

I've also received a sound effect commission for a new game, a sequel to a game I last worked on in 2007. It's an unexpected pleasure to be working on game sound again.

This week I must finish the first draft of my computer book, and move to complete, as quickly as possible, the music to the Lou Salome project. We must develop an interesting or giant way to stage this to make it the show-case project it deserves to be. I've developed some costume designs already, but will need a cast of at least 4 for these, plus, ideally, a Greek-style chorus. None of this is likely on a budget of zero, but we can hope.

Aside from these projects I still have music projects in progress, such as the Dutch/Flemish masters album, and I ache to oil paint too.

Market Hall Show

A fantastic show yesterday in the Market Hall. Lucy was the Lyceum saved the show with transport, and everything went as well as could be expected. Deb 'stole the show' with her movements in the Ragtime Ragdoll Robot.

The booming sound quality was a constant problem, but it would have sounded better to the audience than us. The hall was packed, but almost everyone in the hall was behind us, eating or socialising, not watching the show. The stage faced in two directions at once, a Janus stage, so what we could hear was mixed with the sound of that audience; our speakers were beside or in front of us. The volumes and balancing sounded good in testing during the set-up, but sounded too quiet in the full hall... but were we quiet? We need third person to monitor the volume levels, take photos, a road manager or general manager of sorts...

The actual playing was fine, better than in rehearsal as is usual, although there was a technical hiccup with the Allreli player which, for a reason I still can't explain, decided to play one track and then immediately the next. I tried to reproduce this afterwards to attempt to understand why, trying every option, but I couldn't make it happen again. I could add long blank spaces between tracks to stop this problem altogether.

I've been exhausted today. I gave a first piano lesson to Peter, a new student and hopefully collaborator in some way who we met last night. He was and is already brilliant. I wish I had more time and energy today for him but it was a very busy and ache-laden morning. I've now unpacked and repacked artwork from Galleria Balmain, and prepared an entry for this year's Bickerton exhibition. I missed their entry email due to a change of email address, so contacted them with urgency last night. They have managed to find me some space and I'll be showing two paintings there.

I expected a day of recovery and filing today. The hours have flown. Deb's car is in for an expensive but essential repair, so we should be able to make the opening of the Macc Art Fair on Thursday evening. I will aim to work on the book again tomorrow. I already have a wish-list of leads and other audio equipment to make things a little better.

Storms

Spent yesterday rehearsing and refining our performance, this went as well as could be expected.

Today has been difficult, hit with breakdowns, bills, and other losses in this year of woes for the country and world. Our tiny show feels, our tiny lives feel, like a shell afloat in a turbulent sea, reaching for the sun, tossed and beaten by random currents. We are all drowning; the artist's job is to gargle a pretty melody as we struggle to breathe.

The delivery of art for the Art Fair is in jeopardy and will need re-calculation. So often I've had to carry armsfuls of paintings on trains and buses to different events. After 15 years, this process is as Sisyphean and physically demanding as ever. I wonder how much carrying Vermeer and Leonardo da Vinci had to do? Doing this on Sunday, with more paintings than I can carry in one trip, and with strict 20-minute time slots for artists makes public transport impossible.

The show must go on. Let us play.

Props, and Piano

So tired today after a very full yesterday! Made 18 Stars and a Moon on a Stick for Thursday's performance, which itself meant a 4 mile round trip for the supplies:

The stars were bamboo skewers stuck with hot melt glue. The process didn't take long. Blessed be my knowledge of glues! The moon was jigsawed from 3mm MDF, and stuck both sides. This was blue. I then thought that I could make a sign for the keyboard stand and use the off-cuts of glitter foam from the moon to make some lettering:

It's not green, but it will suffice. Again this was jigsawed from 3mm MDF, then painted. All of this meant a lot of running about. I seem to spend all of the money and twice the work on every performance! But so it should be. It's odd how I thought, at the start, that each show would be about the same, that we'd evolve into a way of working, with certain set equipment and leads, certain lights, certain instruments, yet after nearly 20 shows this is not so. Each one is unique, each instrument setup, and even the music. This will be our first show with the Stars on Sticks for 'She Comes More Near The Earth'. The instrumentation will be different, and sounds better than ever. In the past we've used a projector for this, a huge moonrise, but now, it will be the audience which will (hopefully) rise to the proverbial occasion.

I woke today aching and already exhausted after yesterday's constant running, then decided to work on the new script for the Ragtime Ragdoll Robot. I needed a new robot voice, but also a stand for the mic. So far, with the Microkorg I've used a full sized mic and stand, but this time I'll need that for my vocal performance. I have used a tiny mic directly plugged into the Korg, but I can't do that on a tiered stand, so I needed to make a rod which will clamp to the keyboard stand via a Smallrig camera clamp. This was a tricky job... I need a gripper for the mic itself, and a way to fit the holder to a camera thread.

In the end, I used wood and managed to drill a 5mm hole into the base of the 6mm dowelling, using a tiny 2mm bit as a guide. I used a crocodile clip to hold the mic lead.

This was more a complex job than it appears. It had to look good as well as fit in the correct place on the stand.

Tomorrow we will complete a full rehearsal.

I feel so very tired at the moment, and still overwhelmed with jobs and tasks. I need to complete my book and practice piano. How crude my playing is! I need to improve my scales in particular. I've hardly played piano at all in nearly 3 years. I didn't need to and never expected to need to play again, but now I must! I need to learn, master, play better than ever, and must practice. My simple scores desperately need more complexity.

I almost always play with more complexity than I score, but this is a form of laziness. I was pleased to play and add this little baroque curl to the otherwise simple Salome music today.

But I must get Thursday out of the way; the book, the Flemish Painters album, and the Salome project. One thing at a time.

Admin, Microkorg, Eurovision Song Contest

A long day of music admin, updating the 400 or so music tracks registered with various authorites. This is day four of slowly correcting data, a tireless grind. I'm reminded that nearly all of the work I do is unrewarded and unnoticed, the end marked only with a relief that it is over.

But such is life! I also managed to back up the presets on the Microkorg for the first time using MIDI-OX. The Sys-Ex messages didn't receive at first, I tried lots of things, even locking out the computer, but then tried again as before and it simply worked. Also transcribed a few more of the Salome tunes. I have some costume ideas for the performance, but we'd need something for the performers to actually do. Only one of the 12 scenes involves them as yet, and there is the cast themselves.

Everything feels poor, unsatisfying and nowhere near my potential at any stage.

We watched the Eurovision Song Contest last night, so much awfulness, the sad state of music now. The presenters too were wooden, the Tony Blair-like Mika by far the best of the three mannequins, and his music was by far the best part of the night too. Even Måneskin, an act of great musical blandness, outshone the entries. Many of the subjects were dark and about personal loss and isolation, either a deliberate or coincidental Covid-19 reference, but also a consequence of the self-absorbed nature of popularity today. Many of the acts seemed to be pitch corrected or overly electronic in vocal processing, another negative trend of this era.

It seems that popularity on social media is now the only criteria for success in life in any area. The United Kingdom act was chosen in this way. It was, as heralded, among the best, but perhaps this was luck. The hard work of mastery in any area is as absent as fairness in a world which rewards a minority so arbitratrily and so richly.

I'm tired today. I miss Cat and remember how she was present during all of my life as a painter. I've painted hardly anything since she died. I'd like to paint more, I feel I'm only just at the start of painting in terms of technique, subject, only just trained, and that everything before is inferior; an ideal feeling for an artist. I feel this in every media. Oh for more time, money, security, peace.

Ragtime Ragdoll Robot

Today I wrote some words for our Market Hall performance. Deb's look is was envisaged as a rag doll, with elements of Aunt Sally from the 1970s/1980s Worzel Gummidge series. Today I noted the interesting link between this and the music, clashes of black and white in more ways than one (except perhaps that, I think, The Entertainer uses only white notes).

I worked on the mask for this today, and transcribed two more Salome piano tunes. I noted with sadness that Burn of God has not yet been reviewed or acknowledged by Alex from Macc Nub News, despite his initial optimism and interest in the music. Will I revisit this epic prog-rock sort of style? Sue came to visit today and she said how good The Spiral Staircase performance was in The Electric Picture house back in 2016. It was indeed.

Ragtime Ragdoll Robot

Ragtime ragdoll robot
Alabaster aunt-sally
Ragtime ragdoll robot
She moves for your amusement

Ragtime ragdoll robot
Cheerful charity china
Ragtime ragdoll robot
She moves for your amusement

Lou Salome, Market Rehearsal

Two days of music work.

First, the outlines of 3 pieces of the 12 for the Lou Salome performance. I have most of the tracks sketched out, after that, a second draft... so three of thoise are done. Then, together with Deb, I'll refine again for a third draft which will fit the words more. The process is very slow, like carving some driftwood down to the exact shape to fit. I feel very Beethovian working on this. My playing abilities (or sight-reading, or lack thereof) are limiting my composition, I want to add more than I can play.

We had a good meeting on the evening of the 10th and have confirmed a lunchtime concert in the Lyceum. It was really nice to meet pianist Treona Holden, who also performs regularly on the public pianos, and Lucy from the Lyceum. I and we can but hope of a Salome performance at the theatre, or even some for of regular ArtSwarm event. Several performance arts venues are coming to Crewe over the next decade.

Deb and I have spent today rehearsing the performance for Thursday 19th, which will be 45 minutes. We're keen to do interesting things... as ever. At times our show crosses many boundaries between music and performance art... the difficult part is making this unusual combination really good, attractive, popular, while being new, different and exciting. Surrealistic energy is the key to this, a sense of wonder, the humour of amazement.

I'm exhausted now after three run-throughs of the show, we'll use three synths plus the main piano, with Deb on jaws-harp and harmonica for Everything For A Country Song But A Country; plus online promotion and a newsletter. I also need to decorate a mask for the Ragdoll-Ragtime-Robot dance, and make some Stars on Sticks for the audience to wave.

Frenetic Times, Lou Salome Starts

A couple of difficult days, working non-stop, exhaustingly so in these difficult times. A times I feel like Vermeer after the Year of Disaster, thinking of death and legacy, but no! I'm full of positive energy and ideas, and more ability than ever. Everything I've done seems poor and inferior compared to what I can achieve now, so I must make as much as I can while I can, but it must be the best I can muster, too. Life feels short, desperate. Five years said Bowie. I feel I have two.

I'm thinking of finally making the Dadd Cabinet II with oak and expensive materials, and yesterday completed the frame for the Oncology painting. I also designed lots of new MODX instruments for future Fall in Green shows, which I'm sure will sound better than ever. We must begin to perform live again. I need a residency in some performance venue to stage regular ArtSwarm-like events! The world needs this!

Today I rehearsed some of the music for the Market Hall event on the 19th, and started to compose the music for Stefano Santachiara's Lou Salome project. This is the very early stage, improvising by mood. How useful it is to have the words. I can match the mood and the flow of these. I'm trying to use a general theme of D-minor and a couple of alternating notes. In the night, at 2am, racked with another night of awful stomach agonies I started to write and play an opening theme, a waltz.

Today I've sketched out 7 of the 10 needed works, all on piano, but these will need harmonising, much refining and unifying across the whole project. Each feels like a bigger work than ever before. Cycles and The Anatomy of Emotions were just six tunes each, but now I have 12, and unlike the Apocalypse of Clowns pieces, these must have a unity of form. Adding unity of form to 12 tracks, like an album, has been a long-term quest of mine.

I can't afford the time for an unpaid project and must rush and use my wits and genius, but all of my projects are probably unpaid, until they become a smash-hit, and all art deserves to be made in the best way I can manage. We may tour this show internationally one day, one distant day.

Onwards we charge.

New Photos, Busyness

Two extremely busy days. Spent yesterday taking two sets of photographs of myself, for the new computer book...

And also some new profile photos, which more closely match how I'll generally look, and indeed act, at live events or art previews. I wear the gold coat sometimes, most often for musical performances, but my bycocket and suit are increasingly my preferred choice of outfit as it has the flexibility of smart and unique. The surrealists always worse smart and expensive suits, and I exactly understand why, and always felt the same way. The frilly shirt looks good, but the cuffs (and the crown) make guitar playing impossible.

There are a variety of looks, from this, which has something of Dali about it:

This this, which has something of the Laughing Cavalier - or a surrealistic gangsta rapper. This is now (or will be) my official Apple Artists' Image:

I did a lot of work on the book cover too, and re-wrote some parts.

I also de-framed an older painting, You Must Report To Oncology, as its current frame is very old and not good enough. I sawed the panel down to this:

I made a new frame, but the angles were cut incorrectly, due to lack of practice or care (or bent wood, this is always a possibility). I used two offcuts of wood, so the grain mismatched badly, but this couldn't be helped, as the longer offcut is years old and doesn't match anything. These problems instantly limited my frame decoration choice to using thick paint. I spent many hours today making up some custom gesso, painting and sanding the frames, but the result was too poor for my liking. It was, smooth and the grain of the wood was totally suppressed, but the painted colouration was too strong for this delicate painting.

So, I re-cut some fresh pine and will use that.

I've spent the evening making lots of new MODX sounds, in preparation for Fall in Green gigs. I had only made a few to date, but we will need lots. This evening I rapidly made 5 or 10 to cover our most commonly performed works.

We need new things to play. My ideal as a performer is to play only new work, but, it's odd that, despite this desire, we often perform our favourites ourselves.

Money is short. Time is short. Life is short and precious. I must work twice as hard and ten time human speed. On we rush.

Walls, And How To Hit Them

This will be a difficult year. The future is uncertain and at times looks bleak. Will 2022 be like 1672, or the darkness before a new dawn? I'm full of ideas and must work harder than ever. The answer is always art. Art or death are the only options.

Today I tried to create some Reface DX sounds on the MODX7 for live use, but this doesn't seem possible. The Reface sounds far better than the MODX. The Reface's 4 operators are more than enough; the MODX is more complicated and sounds worse. I also wrote a new song in the night and started to sequence this, a process which takes longer and longer these days.

I visited Simon in the afternoon, which was and is always nice. My next jobs are to photograph myself for the new book cover, work on these songs and the Dutch Golden Age songs, and the new Salome music for Fall in Green. I could do with painting something too.

I have an idea for two new philosophy books; one on finding peace and happiness in times of difficulty, and one on the anti-Platonic nature of the universe, where life must heal the damaged universe. Oh for more time, more money, more peace, some stability, some help. I could produce a lifetime of wonders if I only had some resources and some peace.

Here are the words to today's song:

Walls, And How To Hit Them

When I was young
the universe was scary
spent my time
putting up defences
wasted time
trying to protect myself
from the crushing social forces

I only wanted happiness!

starting to become an expert in
walls, and how to hit them
walls, and how to hit them
walls, and how to hit them
walls!

walls, and how to hit them
walls, and how to hit them
walls, and how to hit them
walls!

And now I'm old
and everything is holding
on to hope
and money really matters
trying to cope
scraping for stability
in the cruel confusing world

I never wanted money!

all my life I've been an expert in
walls, and how to hit them
walls, and how to hit them
walls, and how to hit them
walls!

walls, and how to hit them
walls, and how to hit them
walls, and how to hit them
walls!

Computer Book Work

A full day. A good day of good emotions and great ambitons. First some basic initial promotion of the two Fall in Green events scheduled for May and August, then formatting my computer book.

My ambitions for three albums this month are a little unreasonable considering one-a-month is my best speed when not doing anything else. I must work twice as hard at everything. Life is short.

Cycles, Joy and 17th Century Painters

Two busy days. The Cycles performance at Crewe Market Hall took place at 2pm yesterday, the piano didn't sound too bad, have played worse, have played better. The hall closes at 2pm, so a booking at that time was not ideal.

It was a good opportunity to practice Cycles and play in the hall. Deb and I now have two future events lined up, in the Market Hall on the 19th for a one-year celebration of the hall, then an afternoon concert at the Lyceum in August.

I'm still redrafting my book and must finish this soon.

I have three album projects in mind now: Lou Salomé, a Marius Fate album about technology, and... I realised that my joyous and effervescent personality comes across in my live events, my books, and in ArtsLab on the radio, but my paintings are typically dark, paranoiac, and anxious, and some of my music too - although I love both the dark and light tracks on The Dusty Mirror. The inspiring essence of art itself is the expression of absolute personality, and my surrealistic joy and energy is one of my greatest assets. As a result of this conclusion, I thought that it is a good idea to revisit my old idea for an album about 17th century painters.

Book, and Cycles

More work on my current book, How To Organise Your Computer Files. The first draft is now complete (this, as writers know, is only the beginning) and I've started work on the cover. I have practiced piano in-between, ready for the Cycles performance tomorrow:

But, I'll be in my Arazmax Kane wig. I need to re-insert, into my art and presences, the energy and fun inherent in my personality.

Styles

Two more days of writing here, but things are slower, spending more time on refining than creating. I'm trying to finalise a standard way of writing dates and times, and this had led me to re-write large parts of my own filing. Word count now 10,610.