The day started with news that our, Fall in Green's, Lyceum Afternoon Concert has been cancelled as we 'do not match what the current audience are looking for'; a judgement, perhaps, of our show based on the Market Hall Event. Who can say? This frees up time to work on the Salome premiere, which is/was due to take place a week or so before this. We had hoped to perform some of Salome at this concert. This cancellation, and the lack of reply to our enquiry on the matter, confirms that approaching the theatre is as futile as it has always been, despite my optimism at our last meeting, which is the greatest sadness; but isn't hard reality always so?
Generally, today was a first day of visual art, reviewing the work from the end of the 2021 season. This was annoying at first; my new ideas are so much better than the old ones that tie me to the past years and past moods. The easiest option would be to destroy all of the old ideas, throw the canvases away, file the unfinished work - but that's brash... there are some good things here, and all prepared, so I must try to finish as many as possible as quickly as I can, then restart. I traced over the underdrawing for a painting called 'You Know How It Is When You Remember A Friend', and photographed and printed the underdrawing, then used that for a pencil tone study and glued a second print to wood for an oil study.
Then an oil study for a painting called 'Mama Mia Here I Go Again'. There were many options here and I wasn't quite happy with it, the mood of it felt too strange and introspective. Then, a colour scheme of a stormy landscape, with the sun breaking though, appeared in my mind and the quote from Watership Down 'All The World Will Be Your Enemy'. This suddenly transformed the painting, in my mind, to one of a lone figure in a storm, but with melancholic remembrance, the mood of Elgar's Cello Concerto. The recollection of a lost England, somehow. At 5pm I worked on the colour study:
In other joyous news, I've had three paintings confirmed in my first online exhibition as part of the international group, The Society for Art of Imagination. 'Sacred Realms' will open on June 26th.
I've ordered some paints too; Blockx Titanium Zinc White, and the same by Charvin, who also use poppy oil (I'd prefer safflower myself, it is even more transparent). I have enough whites now to compare many brands.
