Saturday

Computer trouble and a dull persistent headache and probably due to a cold have slowed my progress over recent days. I must generate morale so I will think of what I have achieved. First I've primed an 80cm square canvas, ready for a new painting 'Abandoning Someone Who Was A Friend When I Had Nobody' which is drawn out and planned for the most part.

I've partly finished the study for Christ in the Garden Of Gethsemane, which is also a big picture. Even at this stage I'm making compositional changes and referred to the original automatic drawing to add an iris into the distance.

I've reprogrammed some mass file renamer software which was very useful in updating my website, and also updated my music software NoiseStation II a version, the first update since Dec 2007.

I finished a tune too, a simple game theme for IndieSFX. I hoped to start something grander and more impressive but I heard only silence in my head, or at least a cacophony of chaos instead of firm emotion. I have listened to some classical music to get me back into the swing of that. I've also finished another layer of a nuclear butterfly, a small painting about chaos that relates to the Apocalypse Of Finance.

Cards

Visitors looking for a surreal creation this Christmas can now buy a card for that special occasion that features my artwork. I've added a few card designs to a new page on the PhotoBox website. PhotoBox are an excellent company that I've used for many years, and the site makes it easy for artists and designers to put their designs up for sale.

Canvas Stretching

Stretched a canvas today. Important lessons;
1. Use two people if possible, one to pull and one to staple.
2. Pull then lever with the canvas pliers.
3. Once done, you can remove and retry staples to get them perfect.
4. Don't staple into the joints! The stretchers should be allowed to move.
5. Cut the corner material... not sure when the best time to do this is. Folding and stapling the corners would violate rule 4, so it seems that thick canvas must be cut.
6. Insert wedges (see note).

I was not sure how to manage with a central crossbar. It interferes with the principle of stapling in the middle first because the bar gets in the way of the levering when using pliers. Today I stapled just to the right of it, then just to the left, treating those two as one.

The results are now very tight. I inserted the wedges before priming and painting. The correct method is (apparently) to insert them after painting to tighten things up, in case the priming and paint caused slackening, however the canvas wasn't tight enough without them, and I'd like a taut surface for the Golden GAC400 I'll apply. GAC400 is an acrylic medium that makes surfaces flatter and more rigid. Applying that to a slightly loose surface that is to be stretched later seems like a bad idea because the GAC400 will want to fix the canvas in shape.

2002

All the world's a sage and all the men and women merely onions.

The Web

I've been updating my website over the past few days, adding style sheet support and lots of programming to make it easier to add pages and maintain current ones. Visually the site is the same for the most part although the menus have slight "hover" boxes behind the mouse when you point to different items.

Lessons

Artists are constant learners, as are all craftsmen for each new object presents new challenges. A painting isn't like a chair, built the same way each time, it's a mix of engineering, communication, love making, skill and imagination. I feel that my paintings have dipped a little in quality this year after a good start, but now I feel back in the swing of things.

Examples of lessons I've learned since last year.

1. The Albion picture last year taught me that complex scenes need proper staging. I learned that for a complex painting, a detailed study saved time and was less work than painting the final picture and trying to correct it.
2. The Nine Ladies taught me that phthalo green in a glaze could look near black when toned down and was sufficiently opaque for details when liquified.
3. Perfection and Necroamoria taught me that acrylic resin varnish cannot be applied over gilding until the size is totally dry, and that wet sanding an acrylic gesso surface with alcohol creates a smooth slick surface. I also learned that a study should be repainted from the start if it is not an accurate representation of the final work, and that final varnishing should be done with absolute care and that it cannot be removed in part.
4. The Lightning Of Creation taught me that a painting that is considered "finished" can still be revisited and improved. I also learned about the application of gold pigment as glitter.
5. The Death By Explosion Of Moons And Keyholes taught me a lot about plaster of paris and that gold and jewels can improve a painting. This painting is recently complete and was developed for the Sue Ryder Art Liberating Lives exhibition. I will submit it soon.
6. Money Just Running Out taught me that abstraction can sometimes look better than reality, and that when glazing, flat synthetic brushes can be more effective transmitters of flair and panache than round sables.

I'll stop here because each painting has taught me something. The underpainting to The Apocalypse Of Finance is now complete, it is the last major work I will start this year.

Flatspace Mobile

The iPhone version of my game Flatspace has been submitted for publication on the Apple App Store. This new conversion is expected to be on sale to the public later this month for a bargain $2.99. It's a big game for such a small machine and credit must go to Wasp Games for the conversion work.

Still Painting

Painting the figure today. I used fairly realistic colours, yellows and dark reds even though this is just an underpainting. It gives me more flexibility during glazing and if smooth and pretty means I can finish with a flourish in one layer. A painting should look good enough to be called "finished" after every layer, even the first.