Story, Stone Compression Experiments

I've written first draft of my story, which is untitled as yet. Just under 1500 words, as required. More to do on it.

Then I charged into experiments with my dynamic compressor, Stone Compression. I use the one in Sony SoundForge often, so that is my target for emulation of operation, but it can produce odd results at times. Here is my test wave. I'm to compress at 3:1 at -6db, the grey line in the trace. You will see that above that line the wave 'shrinks' by a factor of 3, which is correct.

I set my compressor attack to 50ms, decay to 150ms:

Here is attack 50ms, decay 1000ms:

So far so good, it looks like the tail is decaying by 1 second. In the Sony compressor however, attack and decay, even wild values have a far more muted effect. It produced great results with many settings, but almost all of the attack/decay settings produce very similar results. Here is attack 2ms, decay 2ms:

Here is attack 50ms, decay 1000ms - the same settings as my second trace above, though it looks very different. How similar to the dramatically different 2ms/2ms version it seems. Basically, it's only affecting the values over -6dB, which is perhaps correct for a compressor, but in doing so it's making the results boringly similar even with wildly different settings. I'll keep my wild version for flexibility, and to be different. This, incidentally is used in SFXEngine, so perhaps I'll upgrade that too, but I'm unsure at the moment, as this change is radical to the way it currently works.

Kafka and Karen, Prometheus to v3.80

As well as the diaries of Kafka, I'm reading the autobiography of industrial designer, Tom Karen. Amazingly, I discover that the two may be related. Kafka's uncle was married to a Prague Kohn, and Tom Karen's father's family were Kohn's from Czechoslovakia.

Both are inspiring in different ways, I feel a connection to both, perhaps more to Kafka, as perhaps I share an isolation. I am beyond comfortable when alone, for me it is a refuge from anxiety. Karen was a lone refugee, but took part in many things, formed connections and forged a path. I have done this too at times. Perhaps I can again. I seem to have extreme Apollonian and Dionysian personalities, sometimes a mix, sometimes either, but Apollo will take over if a Dionysian extreme threatens health or wellbeing. I can often be manic in a busy work or anxious sense, but never in an unhealthy excess sense, and never depressive.

The Love Reliquary gold is complete. I had a thought that the God Being Killed frame might not be lacquered or varnished in entirety. Some parts are (certainly the figures in the centre of the arch, and I probably added more varnish to other areas), but I failed to record how much and when I did this. If the metal browns, it may be better, as the gold is very bright and I like the idea of a natural decay, so this may suit the artwork, providing the decay is pretty like the browning of copper, and uniform.

I should be writing my short story but yesterday diverged. I've updated Prometheus to v3.80 with little settings for the silence level and length, a setting which was called zerosamples. This feature will shut off a track after so much time of silence to save processing time. A note will re-activate it. These settings set the level and time considered silence. By default I consider one 16-bit sample or lower (somewhere around -50dB) for 1 second silence, but audiobook pauses after noise-gating can lead to longer pauses, hence this setting.

I also tried to fix some aliasing artifacts in my noise gate. Mine is a 'perfect' gate, but I hear slight distorting artifacts as the signal crosses the threshold. I think my processing it too stark and digital. The one in SoundForge seems to add some noise to help mitigate the transitions over the threshold. I also finally framed the 'owl painting' which I have been repairing. This is all a distraction. I should be forging forwards. I, like Kafka in Oct 1911, must write (he did not, the entries so far of a frustrated procrastinator; yet there was a lot of energy and literary sparkle in his diaries).

Much of the last week has been integrating into the Oil Art Advisory, and my works today appear in their newsletter. One exciting element of forging.

Onwards.

Gilding The Reliquary Edges

Started the day trying to write, well partly succeeding, a story for the Cheshire Prize. I'm out of practice.

The gold and oil arrived before lunch, so I decided to gild after. I ordered 250ml of oil. I have in the past ordered more, 500ml or even a litre, but it's one of those products which thickens or sets in the bottle, and the old tin was poorly packaged and a nightmare to pour from. I only used 50ml or so before the rest spoiled, so I elected for a smaller batch. I made a plastic funnel from lighting gel, and poured into 4x30ml solvent-tight amber bottles from Baldwins. This should keep the precious stuff in good order. The rest I left in the tin and sealed it, plus much clingfilm.

Then, gilding, which was also nightmarish when I first tried it many years ago. For my first ever attempt, in 2008 or so, I applied the oil too thickly and didn't wait for it to grow tacky. I applied the gold, which broke and let through some oil. This stained the surface and make my fingers sticky, making everything worse. The oil never set, making all of the gold break, ruining it with yellowy oil, and creating a disaster.

For my second attempt, and the first reliquary, I decided to use epoxy resin as my size, knowing that this sets chemically not by exposure to air. In many ways this was much more successful, though of course, epoxy can yellow, so shouldn't be permitted on the top of the gold. I used a casting resin designed to be more stable. Applying it thinly was very difficult, and of course it grew thicker by the minute, even though it was 12-hour resin. Being a resin glue it had the power to stick everything, such as the work to the floor permanently.

Other problems include the opposite to the first attempt, waiting so long that the oil dried and the gold would not stick. So, I learned that there is an element of exact timing involved. Another problem was the gold itself. The loose leaf took huge skill to handle and manipulate. I was determined to learn, and made my own little bed, and obtained the correct gilder's knife and soft brush for lifting the gold (a gilder's tip). I managed it in the end, but once I had I started to use transfer leaf, which is a joy to use by comparison. One downside to transfer is that it can't as easily cope with lumpy textures and pits, which loose gold be be prodded into. Apart from this, transfer is always better.

I've also tried using PVA, which can be simply called water-based oil size. This works, but isn't brilliant because it dries so quickly. For this, one must apply a little glue, then gold, then glue etc.

So now, I use oil size. The first trick is to make sure the surface is non-absorbent, or else the oil will sink in, so I may apply a sealer first (like acrylic medium or paint). I mix a little oil paint with the size, to more easily see where the transparent oil is applied, and to aid drying, then paint it on the area to gild. I paint it very thinly, as thinly as possible, almost scrubbed in. In no time, a 15 mins, it will be sticky, like the tack on Sellotape, then it's ready to apply gold.

I cut the gold with a rotary blade of the sort used for fabric. This is easier than using a gilder's knife. For transfer leaf, it's a simply matter of picking up the leaves on their backing and applying. For real gold, tools are needed to pick it up. I seem to have better luck with metal tools than the gilder's tip, on which the hairs need some slight grease, traditionally rubbed on from one's forearm. Once set down, real leaf is tamped with something like cotton wool, but the wool strands can glue onto tiny holes where the glue remains and white hairs start to appear, so this is a pain compared to the joy of transfer leaf.

Today I used transfer leaf (23.5kt) and Handover 3-Hour Size, which seems very good. Prior to this I used Robersons Fast Size, and also LeFranc; all equally good.

Now, another lesson (or trick) is to leave it all, complete with flappy bits of gold on the top. Everything should be left for a day or two to fully dry and only then can the bits of gold be brushed off, and perhaps little holes (these are inevitable, and sometimes even part of the aesthetic, allowing organic fragments of undercolour to show through) gilded yet more.

The Love Reliquary Updates Day 2

More work on 'The Love Reliquary' today. Started by neatening the 'tree' stands for attaching to the base, then applied a brown base layer to the door edges.

After that, started some experiments with Laropal A81. It needs a rather strong solvent. For Paraloid B72, I can fill a bottle with crystals and pour in acetone to the top to fill the gaps, and everything will dissolve. Here it seems that half or 40% of crystals are needed, so about 2:1 solvent to crystals. My Diall White Spirit, with about 30% aromatics, didn't seem quite strong enough to dissolve it. I've tried a mix of 2:1 White Spirit:Isopropynol and it seems to be having a better effect. It seems stickier than Paraloid, perhaps a better glue.

Gold is a a record high price, not a good time to be buying gold leaf, though it makes all of my works with gold more valuable. I'll probably gild on Wednesday. I have a small list of art supplies to buy when I can afford it, none are vital.

Meanwhile I need a new job, and perhaps writing something for the Cheshire Prize is a good target. I'm reading Toymaker by Tom Karen, and Kafka's diaries. Both are inspiring. Tom is inspiring me to declutter. Kafka will aid my short story.

Love Reliquary Adjustments

A very full day yesterday assembling lots of art paperwork and 80Mb or so of images for my exciting debut with Oil Art Advisory. I've supplied information about every artwork, written more than perhaps ever about them. I keep lots of technical information, but not so much analysis of the artworks as art, only a few hints about inspirations.

Today, adjusted my website to reflect the new gallery, then went out early with Deb for some shopping. My main job of the day though was an update to The Love Reliquary. I've made a few changes:

First, removing the 'tree' plates which were designed to screw the cabinet to its oak base. These used clay to cover the screws, so this needed to be removed. These plates are now optional, to be fitted when the base requires them.

Then, fitting mirror plates to the rear. I've chosen 4 plates, not 2, as opening the doors means motion, and I don't want the cabinet to wobble.

One final change was working out how to secure the paintings, as these can fall out at times. All three panels (today reminded me) are fixed using magnets, but the magnets are not quite strong enough to hold them firmly. I pondered many different solutions but the simplest was to add another magnet. This is perfect, it's not even permanent, as it can be removed as required.

I've made a special 'key' tool to hook behind the left painting, allowing it to be pulled free. Without this, there would be ne way to remove it. The central panel uses a hole in the rear of the case, and the heart-shaped hole in the right panel can be pulled to remove that.

The extra magnet now means there is a gap between the panel and the box. the wobble annoys me, so I'll need to cut a surround to calm it. I've also ordered more gold size to go with the new gold leaf I ordered on Friday. The gold leaf is now 3 times more expensive as it was the last time I ordered it; for the price of 75 leaves then I now have only 25.

I need to cut this surround (something like a spacer, from board), and some arch-shaped bubble wrap for storage. Then, paint the inner edges with a base in preparation for gilding, which I'll probably do on Wednesday, as I expect the gold and size on Tuesday in the day, which may be too late to begin in these dark days.

Knutsford, Love Reliquary Adjustments, Gold Leaf

A wonderful, memorable day in Knutsford visiting a new gallery partner yesterday. It was simply a joy to be in the company of truly artistic souls for a few hours. I have much to do today, compiling information and images, and preparing the way for this exciting opportunity.

I'm working on technical documentation for all of these freshly delivered artworks today. I have some slight adjustments to make to The Love Reliquary, to make it more easily wall mountable and make the base truly optional, and to apply gold to the edges. I also want to do something about holding the side paintings in place, but this is a complex challenge. I can't stick them in, they need to be removable for possible future restoration or care. If I use pins or similar they will encroach upon the painting. I can't use a magnet as with the central panel; the magnet there is concealed in the back and I can't conceal one in the gilded doors. My idea is to use a tiny rubber wedge.

At the last moment I remembered that the God Being Killed painting used imitation gold for the frame rather than genuine gold leaf. In almost all cases I use and prefer real gold for everything (this might be the only time I've ever used imitation gold), although there's a visual and textural difference between gold and imitation (imitation leaf which can include brass, aluminium or other metals). Non-gold can crisp, crackle and form sharper ridges, and is available in many shades including blues and greens; it looks and feels slightly different. Real gold is smoother, softer in the way it folds and flows, and can be found in shades from silver to rich gold. I use palladium leaf or white gold too, at times. Anyway, here I will gild the inner door edges in 23.5kt gold.

Time is short. Tick tick.

Painting, Story, and Album Thoughts, and Kafka's Diaries

Today I packed the paintings for tomorrow's visit. How I wish I could paint more. There are several reasons why I paint less now. First, I lack space, the space for completed works, as well as the incentive to paint. I'd love a regular place to exhibit, though I've never had one. To date I've painted for competitions or open exhibitions (near or far), or, after a spell of work, developed my own idea for an exhibition and staged one in a venue of my own hiring.

Covid acted as something of a stop to this, which brings me to the second reason, of diversion into other arts. I've made more music since 2020 than in perhaps the 20 years prior, so music served as my artistic obsession, stolen from painting. Artists must follow their whims, and perhaps mine will shift back to painting (or elsewhere, my artistic drive is as strong as ever). Though, the key lack of physical space is still an important factor. When I started painting I'd happily paint large works but I have no space for that now, too many paintings are in storage, and this limits the sort of painting I feel like doing. Now, I feel like I should and could paint more, again, better than ever, so it's important that I find a way.

Enough deep thought for now.

I spent 45 minutes listening to an excellent Radio 4 programme about liberty, and John Stuart Mill's essay on the subject, and later and equally good programme about chocolate. I eat chocolate every day; a drink of cocoa every morning, and a couple of chunks at least later. It appears that chocolate has no direct health benefits, such as a medicine might convey benefits, but benefits in food are relative. Chocolate may be more beneficial than another food we might eat instead. To some extent all foods are harmful, food wears our bodies down, so the health benefits of food should only be considered in relative terms.

In the afternoon, I went out with Deb, to at least take some fresh air. I bought a book, Kafka's Diaries. I'm reminded that now, after my recent audiobook reading that I'm evolving towards the literary. Last night I wrote out the plans for a new story about an AI chat-bot, but the plot is large and complex, as good as a Film Noir, yet too large for a 1,500 word story. I may be able to do something with it, but I have only 14 days to complete my Cheshire Literature Prize entry, so it may be more efficient to develop a new idea.

I also have sketches for a new album, with two tracks; the Radioactive theme to start, and 'Written on Rice' to end, but with no other tracks. The sketched story outline reminds me of the importance of structure, and I must endeavour to plan the album structurally, primarily. Above all, I must not rest. There is much to do, and I must strive to do it all, and well.

The Intangible Man Audiobook Version 2

Completed and submitted the second version of The Intangible Man Audiobook today. My new process is much simpler, editing the plain waves in 24-bit, then applying dynamics, then feeding everything into Prometheus for filtering, any special effects like reverb, boosting the volume to ideal levels, then limiting.

I'm already tired of this and ache to move on, though I have five other books I could read! I wish I had the drive to promote anything I do. I have a huge and unstoppable drive to create, to move on, to charge into the new, yet I have no drive to promote the old, to tell the world, or share anything. Quite the opposite, my instincts are to shrink from the very prospect of sharing anything. Years of this has also led to a complete lack of knowledge of how to promote anything.

Still, I use all of my brain, so that which doesn't promote is being used elsewhere. One thing I do and can do is enter competitions, and last night I had the genesis of an idea for a short story for the Cheshire Prize for Literature. I worked on The Intangible Man partly for this exact reason. The old book may well have done (though it does feel neater and better to re-read it with more skill and control) but if I'm to write something new, I need to enter that literary world. I have only two weeks to write it and enter.

I will start tomorrow, but I must also pack some of my best artworks for a trip to Knutsford, and the anxious delight of a visit to a gallery. In other happy news, I've finally been refunded by wonderful Amazon for the expensive but useless 4G phone I ordered in November. This was so out of date it had no hope of working (could not connect to data, would not update, could not use VoLTE). The 3rd Party Seller did nothing, not even a message; it was Amazon's appeals process which led to the resolution. My mother is also awaiting a refund from the same seller for the same model of phone.

Onwards we charge with new-found glee.

The Intangible Man Audiobook Second Edition, Substack Ends

A full day working on a second version of the audiobook for The Intangible Man and Other Strange Tales. Seven stories were read in draft yesterday, and the remaining today. This is a lot of tedious work, most of it the editing process. The next big step is processing the audio, limiting and volume checking, and adding any audio effects. I expect this will take another day, perhaps longer.

In other news, my Substack 'appeal' has been rejected, which is something of a blow. It was a huge amount of work to join Substack, to transfer this 20-year old blog to that more up-to-date platform. I'm still in the dark as to what the problem was. I didn't tend to email out posts. Perhaps the platform wanted me to do this more often, and so gain more readership - or, perhaps the opposite, that Substack objected to me using my external mailing list. Or it could be another reason. To say that I feel unsupported by a platform, which currently holds over 3000 posts of my life's work, is an understatement.

Perhaps I should be fortunate that this suspension occurred only a few days after a backup from that site. I can't now create a backup, and I don't appear to have any control over the site at all.

Well, onwards I march alone. My heavy boulder calls. Time to push it a little more, around this stony corner, down a new little pathway.

21st Century Surrealism Audiobook Complete

Two days of solid work on the 21st Century Surrealism audiobook. After each chapter recording, each need editing and checking. Then, boosting the volume, adjusting the dynamics, clipping, and conversion into the final format. This was completed today, and the 3-hour book submitted for publication within the next week or two.

I immediately began work on a second edition of The Intangible Man. Using Prometheus for the filtering, limiting, and other audio effects, is a much better (non linear) way to edit than using SoundForge, and I feel I can read better too. If I can complete this, and The Many Beautiful Worlds of Death this month then it would be a good month, I think. Perhaps, one day, I could work on The Burning Circus, or Deep Dark Light, or the computer book, or even the Blake poems.

Still, even after one book I feel the call to create something new. I can't dwell for too long on this current, tedious task.

Here's the audiobook cover:

21 Century Surrealism Narration, Refund Frustrations, Substack Suspension

Day 3 of recording the spoken text of 21st Century Surrealism. By the end of the process my speech rhythm and audio quality had changed so hugely that I found myself re-recording the entire book! Several sections were already recorded a few times, thus the entire book was read twice and some sections four or five times.

Other aspects of the moment are frustrating. The obsolete (and expensive) mobile phone, which was unable to be updated and unable access 4G voice calls, bought from an Amazon seller for myself (and a second phone for my mother) in November has been returned, with no response at all from the seller. My phone was tracked and delivered to them on Christmas Eve and I'm still awaiting any response. Amazon are ususally brilliant at this, the problems stem from the third party seller.

Similarly, I've ordered a part for my router in November, and each inquiry pushes the due date back, always about two weeks in future. The cost of this part is low and I can perhaps find it elsewhere, so this is a minor annoyance, but annoyance it remains.

A third annoyance is that my Substack blog, which took weeks of intense work to set up is now suspended in entirety due to their doubts about my 37-strong mailing list! I care less about the mailing list than the blog, but it was (and remains) convenient to combine the two. It's easy for me to run the mailing list via Sendy, as before. I don't mind at all deleting ALL Substack subscribers, and using it purely as a blog, but it seems I have no option, and that the whole 20-years worth of posts are now set to 'dead'. I can but appeal.

At least this blog remains.

Good Vibes 2026, and 21st Century Surrealism Narration

The snow miraculously cleared, so we visited Good Vibrations as planned. I've spent a lot in the last few weeks on some art materials, some silicone trays and mixing bowls for plaster, some Laropal A81 resin (which I'm excited to test in painting, as a varnish/stain, or glue), and some paper rolls for cleaning; a regular essential.

Today, started to narrate 21st Century Surrealism as an audiobook. I've narrated about two thirds add have spotted a few errors on the text to be corrected later. In between this, Deb and I went to Frodsham to collect my open paintings. A storm is due to hit the country tonight, so I thought it prudent to go today rather than tomorrow as officially scheduled.

Onwards we charge.

Lyric Videos, I Seek My Solace Plaster

Have spent the last couple of days recompiling the 50 or so YouTube 'lyric reading videos' for my albums, and moving these back to the music channel, all helping separate music, visual art and computer games.

Then, a little work on the 'I Seek My Solace' artwork. I've now cast three plaster sheets with different methods. There are many ways to make this backing for the painting. A plaster and slightly wave-like finished was in my mind when conceiving the idea. The ideal way would be to model it in a clay like Plasticine, then make a silicone mould and cast this. This is ideal for mass production but perhaps overkill for one work, and silicone is expensive, and I have none. The reliquary doors used epoxy clay, which is ideal too, but it's very cold for such a material (it's always hard work to mix, but especially so in winter); and it's hard to carve the lettering into epoxy.

In the third sheet I carved the poem while the plaster was semi-dry. This looks good, but the sheet is very delicate. I may be able to do better.

My next task for the month is to record audiobooks, so I may do this. I'm unsure if it's worth it, whether I'll sell a single audiobook, but 21st Century Surrealism has sold over 400 copies now, so it is perhaps worth a try. I'm not particularly looking forward to the job, it feels more like a chore than creative or artistic.

Everything feels a little uncertain, the normal mood for a self-employed self-motivated artist. What is best? I must do my best, every day. Grow, learn. Do better than what has been done before, and keep producing good works to an uncaring world.

It's too snowy to travel, so I can't see Deborah, and we may not get to visit Congleton on Wednesday, though I suspect those ever-busy main roads will be clear.

Video Filing, Castors, Owl Restoration, Billy Squier

Started the day by making updating the new videos on the Cornutopia Software YouTube channel, then filing the newly converted videos.

Then, fitted castors to my father's chair. It needed a height extension, and we had some spare castors with an M8 thread, so I ordered some M8 rivnuts, and these arrived today. I needed an 11mm drill bit for these; 11mm! This is such an unusual size, most drill bits over 6 go up in twos. I used a 10mm drill an shifted the bit around to enlarge the hole, this worked well. Then glued the rivnuts into place with viscous super-glue (cyanoacrylate). Then screwed in the castors.

After this, worked on the repair and restoration of the owl oil painting started in November. This required thick paint, more like a paste. Oil paint will not gap-fill easily, so I added chalk, an ancient solution. The results were good, this restoration is complete. While working I listened to a new album acquisition, Billy Squier's Don't Say No. I thought I might like it because it's a 1981 album (my favourite year), was produced by Reinhold Mack, and was a hit in America at the time. Billy Squier is pretty much unknown in the UK, but sure enough, I like the album, it's so like the rockier Queen of the era that if Freddie Mercury sang these, people would assume it's an unknown Queen (or at least Brian May) album. There are however some Americanisms in the riffs, bluesy/country sounds, such as the riff in 'Too Daze Gone' which wouldn't be in a British album. It's a very good album, will definitely be an inspiration and remain part of my collection.

In the afternoon, a dash to shops to buy some essentials and important luxuries.

It's time to consider new creations. I must work on the Strawberry painting and on audiobooks. Things feel somewhat cluttered and untidy, but I've made progress here. With each new thing, something old must be cast out too. Sometimes growth is cutting back.

Onwards we charge!

I Seek My Solace

Today, compiled images to send to a gallery, and once done did some work on 'I Seek My Solace Where Love Lies Lost'. I found a branch of dried wood, very mossy and pretty. I sawed this to make a flat base, then cut and glued it to make a gallows for the panel to hang from. Once dry, I'll preserve it all with Paraloid resin.

Then, cut and drilled a piece of lime wood for the painting panel's rear, and drew out the poem. My plan is to gild this. I may need to enhance the lettering with a dark colour.

My gums are aching aching, despite weeks of meticulous cleaning. The problem which became evident in December seems to be no better.

New Year, New Cornutopia Software YouTube Channel

Yesterday, a full day of my annual computer backups and system tidying, which I perform every Dec 31st. This took until 17:00, and was thwarted by the Windows Recovery Drive creator not recognising my new 128Gb USB stick. It worked fine last year for the 64Gb stick (but not with 32Gb, which isn't big enough). This forced me to order another, feeling ripped off. I also received a USB plug, ordered as a twin pack, but this was time limited and it appears that I missed out by a few minutes - also inspiring feelings of being taken advantage of! The Amazon page hums and tums with eyes skywards, showing just one plug, no sign of the twin-pack offer.

Later, a nice evening of board games with Deborah and my parents, and today the day of new starts. I watched 'Letter From An Unknown Woman' by Stefan Zweig, whom I'd read a year or two ago in 'Beware Of Pity'; a true romantic in the mould of Goethe.

Then a look a new goals, and I decided to create a new YouTube channel for Cornutopia Software, to separate out the 20 or 30 gaming videos from my artworks channel. My visual art really needs a separate channel. This work involves recompiling all of these videos and updating all of the YouTube text, as well as creation of the channel livery. I should manage it by the end of today.