The Bully Frame

I'm working on 6-8 frames at the moment, 3 of which are complex sculptures like the God Being Killed frame. I thought I'd go through the process.

The first is for a painting called The Bully that features an exploding volcano. The frame was incorporated into the painting design and would look like rocks being blasted away by the volcano.

The frame will begin with a wooden base, L shaped bits cut and glued. That will hold the picture. Then I designed the rock shapes on paper, my first frame featuring a drawn plan...

I traced those shapes and marked them on 3mm MDF, then used a jigsaw to cut them out. Then I glued 21mm square lengths of wood to the edge of the frame, that will make it strong enough to hold the plaster I'll be coating it with.

Here is the pine frame so far, with the cutouts lying on top...

You can see how the painting would fit inside, slotted in from below. Those cutouts will be stuck underneath/to the back. I left some space at the sides in the middle so that I can attach mirror plates for hanging.

The design also has parts that lean into the picture, showing through the cracks painted elements. The painting is complete, so I put that in the frame and made sure the design fitted with the painted parts. It didn't quite, so I changed and adjusted and when happy cut out those inner pieces too. These will be held from above by second flat parts, like a sandwich. Here is one inner corner glueing.

That will tuck into the inside of the frame.

The next step is to glue the lot together then screw and staple it to make it really strong for the step after that, application of plaster...

Of the other frames, one will include a curtain and a second painting incorporated into the frame. One will include a stained glass window. One will be burned to cinders, one distressed like old oak or ash bark and one stained I think... I did start with a porcelain effect with that but it failed, then considered Hessian then pink puffed silk! But after that I might just stain it turquoise. The frame should complement the artwork and show it in its best light, and there are engineering elements to consider too, but it can easily be more than mere decoration and become part of the artwork itself.

Giant Update

Sorry I've not blogged for a while! More of my online time is spent on Facebook these days.

Quick good news update! Ten points:

1. There's a new art cafe opening soon called No. 159 which will show local arty things and will balance upon its shoulder the hope of the town. Delighted to have it here and it looks like my work will be on show when it opens which is a nice bonus.

2. My Tiger Moving Nowhere At All painting has won the £250 Barracks Trust Prize at the Three Counties Open. This is my first proper prize win, which made me very happy. I say proper because I did win the Migraine Action Art competition when I first started painting, but there were very few entries for that.

3. Art Up Close is holding a small three day event at the end of the month. Artists will be demonstrating and selling in Nantwich Town Centre on the 29th and 30th with an exhibition on the 1st. I'll be in town on the 30th with my Paranoid Schizophrenia of Richard Dadd cabinet.

4. My first limited edition giclee print has been printed too, of that very Dadd painting above. A second print will be displayed for the first time in the Barker Street Studio, Nantwich on the 1st Dec.

5. My novel, The Many Beautiful Worlds of Death (henceforth TMBWoD) is complete but I want to extend parts. Must do that in December, a good month for finishing things, yes?

6. I've spent the last couple of weeks finishing the last of the year's paintings. A few smaller works. On reflection, my policy of a few "big" intensive, detailed works has been more successful than a large number of good/average ones. I've sold a few watercolours and prints this year but only one original oil. This is better than last year however and the quality of my work is better than ever and seems to be increasing. Must avoid being complacent however and push to greater heights!

7. The major project of the moment is framing, all new and highly decorated woodwork. If you have a bad picture, make the frame good and the result is likeable. If you have a good picture and a good frame the result is even better, and make both great and the result is spectacular. In other words, there's no reason to ever settle for a mediocre frame.

8. Three new works beckon for early 2013: For the Jobling Gowler competition with the theme of Labyrinth (I expect lots of mazes which is why I won't paint one). For the Derbyshire open in Buxton which I've tried a few times but never had a work that was frankly good enough. And perhaps for the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait contest.

9. I've listening to Brahms and I like it and am humming at the moment the first movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. I'm going to redo the first track of The Love Symphony in December, making the current issue a limited edition. The Death Symphony is my next music project, a sequel of sorts.

10. I've updated the Gallery section of my website. It seems that I spend hours updating one website or another! Here's a white rabbit from the new paintings. None of the paintings mentioned in "6." are there yet...

That's it for now. Tick tick!

No, wait.

Here is 11...

My Soundcloud Page has some new "nocturnes". I'll add more in a bit. I want a new Yamaha CLP480 digital piano so that these sound better! In the mean time I hope you like the Staircase Nocturne on my current synthesizer.

Writing vs. Painting

I've been writing over the past week, trying to finish my novel, a short novel, The Many Beautiful Worlds of Death. I'm finding it rather fun and much more enjoyable than expected. Comparing it with painting and music is fun too.

There are as many ways to write as paint, and I find I write like I paint. Since the start I had a plan, an outline of the story that, in paragraphs, gave the plot direction. This is like the basic composition, preparation before you paint. The story and characters are as imaginative as anything I paint too! One character, 2me, is a gaseous cloud of glowing colour, a child of infinite empathy who experiences everything emotionally.

Some writers write roughly and then refine more and more with each draft, just as some painters paint roughly, adding more layers to pin down the fine edges. I tend to write pretty finely from the outset, placing each word as carefully as possible like the delicate strokes of a brush, although I often dart back and forth, refining old work as I write new, trying to ensure that the pace and colour are uniform.

However, I've not stuck totally to the plan. The overall plot is simple, a man is dying and decides to use his transportation machine, a portal, a magic door, to search for a cure. In Chapter 4 George, the moribund protagonist, decides to visit the wisest man in the universe. Originally this was a mad hermit who advised that he should be content in his lot. This was unsatisfactory for many reasons, firstly, nothing much is conveyed either emotionally or practically; the chapter didn't really affect the rest of the story. It was also rather telling rather than showing because much of the information was conveyed by conversion rather than metaphor.

Show don't tell is true in all art forms but most obvious in writing. There are different degrees to this, and it's a problem because it's frustrating and even rude to tell people what to think. Art should be a dialogue. For example:

"Fred saw a meek woman huddled on the edge of the sofa. Her name was Sandy." is a blatant telling, just blurting out that her name was Sandy like that, as though we are to just accept it from the God-author!

"Fred saw a meek woman huddled on the edge of the sofa. A badge on her lapel said 'Sandy'" is much better because it informs the reader in a less commanding way. However, there's no indication whether Fred read the badge so this is still written from a privileged third-party position.

"Fred saw a meek woman huddled on the edge of the sofa. "What's you're name?" He enquired. "Sandy," she replied in a trembling voice." Is better still because it's written from Fred's point of view. This character empathy can extend to other elements in the scene too. Perhaps Fred would see the sofa as a settee, or he might use the word furniture, or describe the woman differently from meek. There are many degrees to showing and some information must be told. A relationship between the writer and the reader must be built, and the reader must grow to trust the writer. At one point I wrote, as a sentence. "Maria Andrade was a genius." An almost inexcusable sentence in any work. However, the preceding paragraph explained why, and more crucially it was written as another character saw her, therefore excusability crept slowly back. However, the sentence was extremely judgemental and gave the reader no room, which I don't like, so I changed it to "She was undoubtedly a genius." which was much more polite and gave the reader room for an opinion of their own.

All of this potential complexity makes the process of character writing complex, and as most stories are character driven and involve relationships it makes writing a skill that demands empathy and understanding of relationships. In fact it's that process that makes writing more enjoyable than other artforms. Imaginary statements on philosophy are less fun than imaginary people.

In my new Chapter 4, the hermit is a hedonist hippie, who lives in ragged chaotic conditions with a clutch of wives and a gaggle of urchin children. The chapter shows, or tries to show, the consequences of a hedonistic lifestyle and why the old saying of "live each day as though it were your last" can't really work... well that was the plan.

The first draft is complete. I'm excited about the whole thing and am now convinced that Terry Gilliam will want to make this into a film starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. And why not?

The picture is a quick illustration of George looking through the portal.

Mork Calling Orson

And really that title is little to do with anything. Sorry I've not been blogging much these days. I've become more of a Facebooker but sometimes one needs to put down more than a brief idiom.

I've not painted much this year but have five or six paintings in progress. That will end the ones I had planned for definite competitions etc. plus a few for arts sake. It's ironic that the art's sake ones often turned out as good as the ones that I put a lot more time and thought and work into. Predictably, pictures like the Octopus Attacking a Lighthouse Before Being Assumpted into an Angel painting which I didn't much rate before I painted it, turned out rather well.

It's an idea from a few years ago at a time when I was painting lost of pictures about isolation and sexual frustration. I got bored with those so decided to paint the opposite thing.

Now I'm getting back into writing and have written a flash fiction entry for Salt Publishing, just for fun but I enjoyed the experience. I've finished reading Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton, a book that was only moderately good. It was very good at conveying an exact mood of frustrated anger at being romantically rejected when obsessed. The whole book suffered for being too embittered at times, and not brilliant in language, often repeating the same words and rambling. It reads as though the author was an embittered drunk at the time of writing but it's mastery is that fluidity, reading like one stream of feeling which is not easy to maintain for the length of a novel.

I'm working on a new short story about an artist whose works remain unseen, an author whose words are unread, a musician whose music is unheard, every frustration of mine of the last few days. In this way, it is like that story, but no bitterness here, only inspiration. I think I'll love this tale already.

It's been my busiest year ever. I've released The Love Symphony, composed and produced another pop album, Black and White (frustrated that I can't find a singer to sing it with me, but when I do it will be waiting, I won't become Orson Welles and wait forever for one project when I can write new things so easily). I've updated my game Flatspace IIk and released that, then in March painted over 200 watercolours for my poetry book 365 Universes (the poems are mediocre, but I'm pleased with the illustrations) and then published it, founding Pentangel Books. I've painted over 20 oil paintings, made the Bedlam cabinet (post below) and the elaborate God Being Killed frame (perhaps my best oil painting to date), entered about fifteen competitions and exhibited lots including at Crewe Hall, Jobling Gowler, and two solo exhibitions, given three radio interviews for the first time, organised a poetry night, illustrated all of William Blake's "Songs" at my first trade show (the Tyger pictured below), designed some fantastic objects including several (wonderful) brass and marble letter racks and a robot donation box, and lots more mundane stuff such as recording lots of sound effects and writing music for IndieSFX, and created a few music videos.

Yet I find I'm penniless and have no hope of owning a house or car, my art seems to be terminally and frustratingly unfashionable to juries so few people are seeing my work except in local shows I organise myself. I haven't sold any music all year which made me sad because I know how good some of it is (although Celestial Radio honours me by broadcasting some - thank you to Parveen). Still, at times it seems that the more I try the more the world seems to push back!

Fortunately I can easily overcome such difficulties with a mental switch. The rest of this year will be at least as productive, starting with the completion of my first novel, composing a new first movement for The Love Symphony and then writing all of The Death Symphony. I also have lots of oil paintings to complete, a major solo exhibition in Shrewsbury (my largest of the year and my first in that great town - poster below) and, well, lots more than a normal human could possibly achieve. Or me.

In preparation for future literary glory I've decided to attend the Cheshire Prize for Literature Awards ceremony.

I expect to win this, and then find a publisher to publish my novel... but if I don't I'll invent some other expectations. I like coming up with ideas.

Keep well. If you want to enter the Salt Publishing writing competition I had a go via their website.

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.