The Paranoid Schizophrenia of Richard Dadd 2

The painting was a lot of work and took every day. My original deadline was one week short of the absolute final deadline but in the end I had to push it!

The underpainting came next and I decided to paint lots of detail. In underpainting I've often wondered about just how much detail to paint. Generally the more detail the better. In fact whenever I've painted with lots of detail I'll add even more detail later and the results are fantastic. However, there are some occasions when it's inefficient, with fine details like eyelashes or thin tree branches best painted later instead of once in underpainting, and then again later.

I started with the leaf...

Then moved over the painting from top to bottom, moving in tiny sections, each taking a day...

Underpainting colours must be permanent, opaque, fast drying, and dull in colour. Fortunately many colours fit this. Some like cadmium yellow have the opacity but are not permanent enough or dry too slowly. Transparent colours like ultramarine are not appropriate. The best are titanium (or any) white, mars (or any) black, yellow/red ochres, nickel yellow, chromium oxide for green. The only blues that are appropriate are cobalt turquoises which are permanent enough but only just opaque enough. They will do.

That layer took ten days. When complete I glued the brass to the cabinet and attached the hinges. That was done.

Then, after a few days to dry, the glazing. Glazing should use transparent colours, or opaque, or any others you like. The foundation of the painting has been set by now. Transparent layers will darken, as light is absorbed.

With a day left until the deadline, the cabinet was complete..

Here is the finished painting, The Paranoid Schizophrenia of Richard Dadd. Oil on panel, 400x400mm.

The Paranoid Schizophrenia of Richard Dadd 1

Well that's the longest blog post title I've had in a while.

About a month ago, on July the 4th I decided to paint a painting I'd had in planning for years, and I decided to make a cabinet for it. I decided to make it in time for the Salon Art Prize, which has a deadline of the 25th of August. I knew it would be difficult to make that deadline. Here's a rundown of the process so far...

First I bought the wood for the doors and cut them. This was pine and cut into three identical frames that sandwich together so that I could fit glass in between. Two were made and placed onto a square picture frame that would hold the painting. These were lined up on day one and clamped down. The doors also had vertical metal bars which would become trees, conveying a forest and the prison windows of the insane asylum that confined Richard Dadd. Here it is at the end of the second day.

And a few days later when the glue had dried. This shows the general idea.

The hinges on my Love Reliquary last year were a bit ugly so I decided to style some (or make some, but that would have taken a while). I bought some large ones and cut them to shape. For the corners of the box I wanted to add an artistic element, so I decided to make some brass designs for those too. Here are the hinges.

Those were brass plated steel and hand cut with a jeweller's saw. The hard metal make these a lot of work and it took an hour at least for each edge.

Next came the most crucial part of all, the painting. Here was the idea sketch from about 2008-9.

The cabinet though required a square painting so I prepared the panel and began the composition process, starting with some photographed and modelled elements to use...

The composition proved to be very complicated, probably my most complicated and busy painting ever, closer to a Hieronymus Bosch than anything else I've painted. The drawing process took a week and transferring the underdrawing to the panel took about 10 hours, which is a good indicator of the painting work involved, about 10 days per painting layer.

Once the drawing was done I could use elements from the painting in the cabinet, so I designed and cut the brass corners.

Before this I also added the bark texture to those metal bars to make them look like long thin trees. I painted the cabinet black first because I thought that painting around the trees later would be difficult, but that was a mistake because the nice black finish was messed up badly by the Milliput I used for the trees.

Then I began to underpaint the picture, which took 7 days in the end. That part, at least, was straightforward. I began to wonder if the cabinet would be too small and unimpressive for the high quality painting because I loved the gigantic gold frame my tiger painting ended up in!

After that I did my best to clean up the black surface and repainted and revarnished the cabinet. And that is the stage we're at now. I have about twenty days left until the final deadline. Of course I'd like to finish a lot sooner AND I'd like to take more time on painting instead of rushing one layer. Decisions decisions! I won't rush. I'd rather miss the deadline than compromise quality.

Part two later...

God Being Killed

Lots done recently! My new great challenge is a new painting in a new cabinet. My original target was to make this in time for the Salon Art Prize, the deadline at the end of August but it will be very difficult to make the deadline. I've made most of the cabinet, but lo! First the results of my last project.

Here is 'God Being Killed By Theists And Atheists', oil on MDF panel, 300x450mm.

The full nature of the painting and its concept is related in an earlier post. It shows religion on the left side, the glaring face of Pope Innocent X and atheists on the right, represented as Darwinian monkeys. Both play chess. Bishop and simian monoliths facing each other. In the centre on the horizon is a crucifix, peace, divinity and holy understanding above such discussions, but at the same time a grave, and death, depending on your viewpoint, and so the painting shows holiness and unholiness, life and death in one image.

Here is the painting in the frame.

The frame is rather top heavy, so I should have put the attachments for hanging higher up. Apart from that it's rather tough for a plaster frame.

Here is a closeup of the scene with the lugubrious figures. Those are air dried clay. The rest is plaster or epoxy clay. The vines are polymorph plastic and the lot is painted in acrylics with metallic finish.

Welsh Tiger

Hi folks! Here's the painting I was talking about; Tiger Moving Nowhere At All, oil on panel 56x32cm.

I painted it with the theme of "Moving" for the Tabernacle Competition held by MOMA Wales. Today I took the trip to Machynlleth to drop it off.

The day was too long and too hot. It took about an hour to pack it, and I had to make (bend) a handle from aluminium tubing so that I could carry the heavy work to the railway station (interesting note; young people these days say train station. Is it just me that uses the former? I'd like to think so. I'd like to be as Victorian as possible or even Edwardian, even better!)

Here it is framed. It's very heavy.

As ever on these Machynlleth days I left the house at about 9 and came back at about 5. It's a long trip, mostly sitting on trains, or waiting on platforms. I always get a headache (which, last year I considered to be "depression" after a certain person told me that another certain person had a headache and that the doctor told him it was depression, and then later antidepressants made it go away, I've not knowingly experienced depression, and thought that the miserable day last year was a taster, but it turns out it was dehydration and motion sickness because I had the same headache when I went on a subsequent train trip during happy times). The air was hot and viscous and there were tiny flying insects about, perhaps due to recently headline grabbing floods, although the rain as predicted did not occur, as I predicted (because the BBC weather is often wrong, even more so when it matters, knowing the weather is so pointless, except for extreme professions like fisherman or gardener).

I arrived, dropped off the painting and strolled up the Owain Glyndwr walk to the bench where I ate my cheddar and grape sandwiches (tip; grapes are ideal for this, the best sandwich has a sweet fruit component like tomatoes, kiwi fruit or grape, a creamy component like cream cheese or mayonnaise, and a meat or fish part) and continued the walk for a few minutes before I had to catch the train back. There were few attractive single looking females on the train or on other eye catchable places. The train was mostly empty anyway. I began drawing hinge designs and then stared at the clouds.

In Shrewsbury, waiting for the change, I walked three times around "the block" in an attempt to exorcise the feelings of being a crushed ping-pong ball which didn't really work. The air remained jellific and I put on sunglasses due to reflected sun although I knew that this would hinder any eye communication, should it occur. The last train was one of cloud stares again, but these were good and I thought I even saw a baby Kelvin Helmholtz. In Crewe I bought some more hinges (which come in packets of three, when I need four, hmm) and a brass rod which can be a cane for my steam-punk outfit.

I limped home, drank and ate. Tried to console two friends and hopefully succeeded. I typed to my long term pen-pal...

"Tired of imaginary conversations with imaginary people. On the other hand, these emotions only exist to populate the planet. Is that even a worthy cause!!? I count myself lucky in my ability to rationalise my emotions. No matter what the world throws, those that can use logic to successfully ignore their feelings might be unhappy inside sometimes, or happy inside sometimes, but generally are blessed because they can intelligently choose what to do and why, not have their genes and/or neurology and/or whims choose for them."

This year I've felt more at peace than ever. More blessed. More grateful to the universe and the people I know. I've encountered lots of gifted people, and the most gifted seem to self-destruct via apathy, negativity and giving up early. I'll never do that. I'd be bitterly disappointed not to have my painting selected. I'd be overjoyed to win. But either option wouldn't hold back any future actions. Prize money would certainly improve my art though! I've got a big list of "hopes" to buy when I can afford it, from a CD by such and such a band, to an iPad, to a house, a studio and a concert grand piano!

The M.O.M.A. Wales exhibition, whether I'm in it or not, runs from the 16th of July to the 1st of September. Machynlleth is such a nice town that it's worth a visit.

Frame Update

Well the painting is drying. I thought I'd post an update of the frame work. We left our intrepid hero half naked and covered with shards of epoxy clay. I added some crosses (crudely hacked from some rolled out bits - I used a silicone rolling pin so that the clay wouldn't stick but actually it did stick so I waited an hour then rolled it again and it was fine). Then I painted the whole thing in a thin coat of chocolate brown. Here it is...

And here is a closeup of the scene in the arch. Are these figures mourners or are they reverent monks? The answer is both at once, depending on how you feel at the time.

The next step is decoration. I used Golden Fluid Acrylics for that brown. I like these a lot, and they can be watered down a lot too, handling loads better than the thick acrylics that come in tubes. I've not got many colours (they cost about £20 a bottle!) but I don't need that many to decorate frames. I still want them all though. Naturally.

Here are some plaster casts I've made to experiment with. More are on the go. I've learned that watery grey is good for simulating "dust" but I've not perfected anything yet. I've got three iridescent colours; bronze (a good opaque goldy colour, perhaps best used on it's own), bright gold (very light yellow and transparent, this is very shiny and metallic and wonderful for highlights - my favourite but has to be carefully layered because it's not strong on it's own and looks very sickly and yellow) and silver (disappointing and useless so far - best mixed with blues or pinks to make a nacre effect, although pearlescent white might be better for that).

Here are my first results although it's hard to see what they are like on screen. Most have lots of layers.

The rich reddy golds (Venetian red? light red? terra rosa? something like that - Golden simply call it red oxide) probably look better in this photo (although actually the golds are so wonderful that in real life these all look loads better). The centre is plain brown and light gold. Rather delicate actually and very metallic, almost like cast iron. I'll keep these samples for future reference. I'm still not that happy with any one and will cast another six or more before deciding on a colour for my precious frame.

I'll post a picture of a new painting soon. The leaping tiger is nearly dry enough to scan! That one is being professionally framed by Bailey's near Nantwich. They do an excellent job and I like to have a mix of styles of frame. It's so important that each painting looks its absolute best.

Moulding for Dummies

I've been busy this month working on the God Being Killed painting that will feature an elaborate frame. I thought I'd share the process I used for making it. I've enjoyed working with a few new materials so far, and today I've been playing with silicone mould making material.

The first stages of the frame were quite straightforward. As with any frame I began with a wooden frame that fitted the painting. On top of that I added an arch, which I made by layering lots of sheets of MDF. to make a thick block of wood, then jigsawing the arch hole from it. Then I glued it to another piece of MDF to make the back.

When fitting it, it was essential that it remained flat and in the middle so I attached it in two stages. First I painted the top of the frame and the bottom of the arch with dilute PVA. The plan was to make it less absorbent and make a good hold for the next step, an idea I got from wall plastering. Then I glued the two halves together using acrylic mouldling paste, which is essentially acrylic plaster. I thought that acrylic would make a good glue and act like a filler too, making the imperfect join fit well by filling in any gaps. It worked as planned and a few hours later I found I could lift the frame without the heavy top falling off, which is important!

However I'd be foolish to rely on glue to hold something that heavy so I then drilled and screwed the top. It was important to glue first because If I'd have drilled and screwed first it might not have been straight.

Here it is at that stage...

Next, was an easy but messy step, to pour plaster all over it. After that, and trimming off the edges it looked like this...

That's pretty much how it is now. I've painted it with epoxy casting resin today, which will toughen it up a bit and help stick it to the frame (I covered the wood with PVA first to help the plaster stick, but every little helps). I'm not 100% sure about the epoxy being ideal, although it must surely toughen things up. In tests it seems to sink into the plaster and not toughen it too much, at least I've managed to smash it when trying! More tests are needed I think...

I want to add some moulded shapes of chess pieces and other bits so I got some silicone to make moulds from. It was really gloopy stuff. It's mixed with a catalyst with a simple 10:1 weight ratio so I used my trusty digital scale to measure a plastic cup full out and stirred it up with great difficulty! It pours slowly, but sets just like rubber. I wonder if I can make rubber stamps with it? It might repulse the ink. Maybe that's a good thing for a stamp?

I began with some chess pieces and set them half in plaster in plastic boxes. I topped these up with the silicon and the results were great. The only problem was removing the lot from the box! I also wasted quite a lot of the stuff, casting a big block of rubber for some quite small objects.

For a second bacth of objects I improved the process by using Lego walls to hold the silicone. That was much easier, and the stuff wasn't so fluid that it seeped out of the walls (unlike the watery epoxy, which would have I just know it!). Another advantage with Lego is that you can build the shape you want, saving waste and it's easier to dismantle.

I'll use epoxy clay to make my mouldings, because I want to bend them when setting them in place. The rippled frame would make it awkward to stick a solid flat object down with ease too.

For now I'll leave this for a few days. Tomorrow I'm painting the last stages of the tiger (if it's dry enough), off on Saturday to see the Shrewsbury College end of year art show, then some more end of year shows in Manchester on Sunday, back in time to paint the second layer on this god painting next week... if the last layer is dry enough. We have the light but this summer has been so cold that it feels forever autumn (now if this was a radio broadcast then it would be time for a song).

Ta ta for now.

The Mechanauts (and Other Stories)

Greetings blog humans! I've not blogged in a while, caught up with the more socially intense world of Facebook but yes it's now time to reblog.

News part one! My exhibition in Sevens in Macclesfield took place. The opening was scant and/or spartan but I sold a watercolour and a poetry book on that day, and two prints over the course of the exhibition. The biggest benefit was that I was forced to calculate the prices and appropriate print size for each painting. I did this by typing the width/height of every painting into a spreadsheet, and calculating the aspect ratio to eliminate the most unusual shapes. Then I tallied this with a list of standard print sizes (12x10, 16x12, 20x16 etc. etc.) and typing those, their cost and other factors (like a commission value) into a separate sheet. More to do on this, as it's a complicated formula.

News two! I've added a shopping cart system to my website. It's crude but wasn't too hard using $SESSION variables. This was created to make it easier to buy sound effects on my sound effects website IndieSFX, but should prove useful. My music is now available to buy that way, as are digital prints.

News three! Painting! Here is Triumph of the Mechanauts. This for a competition with a theme of a dystopian future. An alternative title is Two Victorian Time Travellers Discovering Technological Lovelessness in the Year 2791. It's about the death of emotion.

It's been a disappointing month regarding competitions and entry into exhibitions, however my faith in my abilities is stronger than ever, and my work and mindset is back to the good days of 2006, 2007, 2008 which were better years than 2010 and 2011. My ultrafaith in future artworks is undiminished. In 100 years time I'm sure that the most famous and renowned artist of this time will be me, and yet to be in this exact position of obscurity and freedom and the correct modicum of insanity and isolation is ideal for creativity to flourish. I have three other paintings underpainted and awaiting completion; a leaping tiger, a flagellation of Christ (which took about a week but I might throw away as I never really liked it) and a third painting which was to replace it called God Being Killed by Theists and Atheists. Both of those are on the theme of religious violence for the Religionis Violenta competition. How more violent could we get than the death of God?

The painting was inspired by a epic tragedy related to me by a stranger, one which caused him to deny the existence of God and then become fervently religious. I'm atheist myself, although I do not object to religion because I think it's good for society and exists for logical social scientific reasons, because a stable society demands it. I don't believe anyone really believes in God. The thought that there might actually be a giant invisible man controlling everything is obviously ridiculous. Moved by the story and urgently needing a new painting I idea I spent a day alone and later in darkness the idea appeared in one; God dying in the sky, as evil priests (and initially demons) faced monkeys (representing atheists) over a chess board. On the horizon was a small crucifix. In the sky circled many crucifixes, in panic and stabbing and swirling. The calm cross on the horizon gives a contrast to the rest of the painting and as a representation of Jesus makes the painting devoutly religious; amidst the confused monkeys and corruption of the earthly church there is Christ. Yet, a day later I realised that the crucifix was a gravestone, God was dead and religion was dead, so my unconscious had magically made a painting with simultaneous dual meanings, devout religion and devout atheism in one.

I will complete this painting this month. It would work best on an epic scale but I don't have the time or storage space for something like that.

There are lots of other things to tell, like One Moment In Time, a community art project for Jubilee Monday I'm doing, music news and other things but that must come later for it's time for a cup of tea.

Competitions

A busy few days, and weeks! A few Monday's ago I helped host a poetry night at the local community centre and our guest poet Jim Bennett was brilliant, not only as a poet (he was clearly way above us!) but as an inspiration and as entertainer. He even got us singing along to one of the poems! He was clearly a true artist, he wrote his first poem aged 8 and he's been a poet all his life, but despite his years of experience and many achievements he was really down to earth and still passionate about language and society.

The night was a busy rush for me. My singer friend Tor and his manager Honey came along so I met them in person for the first time. They came back here and listened to tune after tune while I bamboozled them with offers and begs to record more songs with me. They said yes.

That excitement aside I've been painting stalwartly for the most part. I've also entered and been turned down for the Stockport Open. I was commenting that competitions can boil down to the judges taste. Trying to second guess judges though can be a nightmare. I was disappointed last year when one of my best paintings, at least a good one, I thought, was turned down, so this year I entered paintings that were different but both of those were turned down too, and the judges were different anyway! That said though, the two I entered were perfectly fine. We can but try.

In other news I've been ordered to take down two paintings from my Crewe Hall exhibition on the grounds of nudity. This annoyed me somewhat. For a start it could easily cost me £50-£100 to hire a van to take them when the only reason for me to remove them is that they don't like them, and they've been there for a month and I at least supplied a price list with titles etc. months in advance. My works aren't like Lucien Freud's or Francis Bacon's, but Crewe Hall isn't an art gallery either. This happens in many venues with my work and now I must ensure that I check in advance. About 25% of my paintings are unshowable to the public, apparently. I expect this is entirely a matter of fashion and that if I were as famous as Lucien Freud, Crewe Hall would happily show them and not bat an eyelid.

These events have made me think.

My plan was to paint for competitions. Now I think I might as well paint for my own whims, the reasoning being that trying to please a judge is like a cat chasing its tail or that uncatchable fox being chased by the immortal hound. Stand still and you have more chance of the fox jumping into your proverbial arms. Yet, whims are limitless. Why paint every day for every month forever? Is that a question to ask every artist?

Well we'll all live until we get old and then die. We can do anything in between. Anything we want. The ultimate reason I enter competitions is as a goal, a point in time that motivates action, the fun and the challenge of the creation process against imaginary opponents. Mentally, the prize is filling in the entry form because that announces the end of the process, and victory.

On that note I've just entered this into the Threadneedle Prize. As a London competition, they should notice the reference to the B.P. Portrait Award last year.