Rhino

A poem for the Rhino painting:

Through his eye we see
a wilderness,
grass,
dry bones,
the sky.

We see a tree,
born,
then die.

I see you,
through his eye.

New Frames, New Music, New Inventions

Framing today and new frames for The Art of Painting, Spear of Destiny and one of the medium sized ones, either Dead Bird or No Good Ideas. The second glazing layer to the curious Judith Beheading Holofernes picture has been completed and tomorrow I begin work on a large painting of Albion.

The exhibition season is here now too with my first paintings of the year on show over the weekend in the Cheshire village of Marbury. Soon after that I'll be exhibiting in Bunbury, and entering a picture for an exhibition in Birkenhead.

Things have been quiet regarding music and game development although some new music tracks and sound effects for IndieSFX are being compiled; it's normal for such things to be constantly in progress with a steady train of new sound content there.

New inventions include a sonar proof coating for submarine equipment that consists of lots of fine hairs, like a sea cucumber. A slow but quiet engine would be important, a hydrodynamic drive perhaps.

Fifty Seven Channels

My latest song. Actually I wrote this a few months ago but had to reconstruct it from the chaotic pile of 100+ papers of unedited music fragments! Musically it is a four chord punk rock song.

Fifty Seven Channels

I liked to watch the goggle box when I was young.
I'd stay up late,
and it was great.
We only had the B.B.C. and I.T.V.
but I was hooked.
I sat and looked.

But now the times have changed.
I stare with shock at the digital age.

Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's no-thing ev-er on.

I didn't mind the adverts when I was a kid.
They were not long,
or am I wrong?
But nowadays it's bloody adverts all the time.
It drives me mad!
It makes me sad

at how the times have changed.
Is this the choice of the capital age?

Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's no-thing ev-er on.

What happened to the dramas that were written well,
with depth and scope.
Today's a joke,
for now we only get things with celebrities
who no-one knows
on "talent" shows!

Yes how the times have changed.
I check the guide and then cry with rage!

Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's no-thing ev-er on.

(spoken)
Right that's it!
I've had it with this rubbish.
No more set top box.
No more scart leads.

But wait, what's that I see...
a million new channels for a one off fee...

Now I have a million there is surely something on.
Now I have a million there is surely something on.
Now I have a million there is surely something on.
Now I have a million there is surely something on.
Now I have a million there is sure-ly some-thing on!

Art of Painting Progress

Work is still stalwartly continuing on The Art of Painting, with one more day's work of this layer remaining. My next task will be to complete the underdrawing and initial preparation for a new Albion figure, then start on the Judith painting, which will be my largest and most complex painting to date. With luck, I'll try both of the figures for the Threadneedle Figurative Prize, but time is against me. I'd rather produce one good painting than rush one though. If quality demands it then without question I will miss the deadline and not bother with the contest.

Painting Update

Alas! My 2D/3D self portrait was not dry enough to allow the necessary layering before the RBSA competition deadline, so I must revisit the picture at a later and more leisurely time.

I am now glazing the art of painting picture, which, because it features a self-portrait at its heart, I may just enter into the RBSA competition itself. The Art of Painting is perhaps too bold a title though, so I might rename it.

Spear of Destiny Glazed

My schedule for the next 4 weeks is on track. Spear of Destiny is glazed with it's primary (first) glazing layer. It's not a big picture but has taken 7 painting days so far, mainly due to the large amount of detail. The transhumanic picture is signed too, so that's one for the website when it is dry enough to scan. This is rather a simple picture, and like Waiting For B.T. was painted from one instant-flash type idea, so could be called truly surreal (although I was musing on a specific theme... I'm not sure if that counts. Breton can you help?)

Next up, an intermediate glazing layer of the RBSA portrait painting which should take Sun, Mon and Tues. Toc toc toc.

M. C. Escher

I will start work on the underpainting of my latest painting tomorrow, a complex portrait that explores perspective which looks a little like an M. C. Escher image (as such, adding emotion to negate that awful "cleverness" that his pictures solely emit was important).

That, and seven other paintings are now in varying stages of completeness; three have been sketched and await underpainting, four await the first and most important glazing layer, and one, The Joyous Birth of the All-New Transhumanic Super Beings is in need of the merest and most zephyrous and translimnetic of top glazings.

Busyness

Well it's been a generally depressing week. A foot injury and stress over the need for a quick but impressive R.B.S.A. portrait design has meant a delay in completing other paintings. I've not finished a picture since January despite working on pictures solidly since the start of the year. Today I've transferred the sketch to the new Judith-Holofernes painting (eight and a half hour's tedious work), and also done the same for the quickly envisaged RBSA picture. I plan to start the R.B.S.A. picture this Friday. Now I need £70 worth of painting supplies. No matter how much I buy I seem to be short of supplies. Am I alone in this?

To do: Underpaint the R.B.S.A. portrait (7-10 days), first glaze to Art of Painting (8 days), underpaint Judith (7-10 days), top glaze The Joyous Birth of the All-New Transhumanic Super Beings (1/2 day), glaze Rhino (2-3 days), glaze Christmas painting (1-2 days), plan The Death of Cleopatra by her Own Hand (6 days - at best - ideally spread over 4 months but I haven't the time because ideally I will enter this into the Threadneedle competition due in June), trace the Crucifiction underdrawing (1 boring day), and Escape (1 day).

There's lots more beyond that too. It proves that advance planning can be stress inducing. I'm left with no freedom, despite having as much as I take. At times like this I glance at Raphael, who died in his 30s after painting loads of huge pictures. I wonder if stress and anxiety like I feel caused his premature death; and conclude yes.

So, the choice for tomorrow is to trace something or paint the Christmas one.