Can There Be A Refuge Day 2, Electric Spouts, Plate Spinning

A full day. First, painting the angel figure and hands, bone hands, small teeth, red mouth, butterfly, and heaven insert of the Refuge painting. In the evening, some quick work on the Electric Spout project with another artist coming on board, and contacting the amazing Carol at Creative Crewe with regard to a public cover creation day. Our small part in the Morecambe Poetry Festival opening is confirmed, so we need to work on some publicity for that, and Deborah now has two dates for her poetry book launch and readings (which need posters). So, a day of spinning four plates.

Of course, I am spinning more at the moment. 'All Controlled By Someone' is released on the 26th, and the album on Oct 31st, so I need to make 13 music videos in 6 weeks, and I have three songs to rehearse for John Lindley's charity performance event too. I must list this! I also have a painting to collect from Chester Museum soon, and three to enter into Castle Park; plus 3 wall cabinets to build (design work complete), a ceiling light to fit in the storage room, and new camera pedestals to design and build for my art photography rig. These are not urgent.

It will take at least one more day of work to complete my current underpainting. Onwards we charge.

Can There Be A Refuge Day 1

First day of underpainting 'Can There Be A Refuge From The Terror?'. Why do I paint these complex mixes of objects? They can be tedious and awkward to paint or paint around. I have a butterfly which defies perspective, so it must be symbolic. Also, more work on Sprout 2. If I include myself and Deb, we have 5 confirmed/interested artists.

Backups, DIY Plans, Sprouts Assemble

A productive day. Monthly backups completed, then designed some CD and box shelves for me room, and some for Deborah. All would use two large sheets of MDF, so it's optimal to design and build all three structures at once. Much was planned here, and I realised I needed a new, 80mm long, 2mm drill bit for precision drilling pilot holes for the 6mm shelves, so I ordered these.

In the afternoon I made soem initial enquiries about a new charity Christmas album, a sequel to the 2023 Electric Sprout Foundation project. No replies as yet.

Then, collected a second M-Audio expression pedal. The keyboard has two pedal inputs, one for volume, one for super-knob, so I thought two wouldn't hurt, and it would give me the chance to see if a second pedal would also range 0 to 125 rather than 0 to 127 as it should. Alas, it does also range 0 to 125, and requires, ideally that it remains at maximum at all time, so if connected I'd really have to keep it at the annoying 98.5% of maximum at most. Well, at a mere £11.50, I don't regret the experiment, and it's good to have a backup, so I'll disconnect it, and keep it as a backup.

New new album requires a new song and time spent organising, and I have paintings to complete, Morecambe to attend and perform at, and a music video to make this month alone. I must work and rest efficiently to manage this. I've decided to enter the, as yet unseen, Descartes painting into the Castle Park Open, so I'll need to frame this month, as well as frame and photograph the other two entries. Ideally I would upgrade my photography stands too... I must observe and note wood and bracket options when I visit B & Q.