01/10/18
… of interest. Attainable small steps to reach big goals.
02/10/18
Delivery mix up.
05/10/18
Booked VAI speed curating slots for November.
…LA… fingers crossed!
06/10/18
initials in ogham
Experiment in the studio with a degree of success. When a fine layer of fixative is lit on the paintings surface, areas of the canvas that are predominantly charcoal or thin layers of colour are singed and blister - creating an interesting effect. Safety first though.
Jan is right —> the lighter background to “Pioneer” was more unsettling. Rectify.
07/10/18
Staring at “Pioneer”. I think I’m hesitant because its… I don’t know. I think the colours are too similar between light and shade. By the same token - you don’t want it to become too contrasting and cartoonish. A foreign colour introduced into the third panel may point a direction.
Flying by the seat of pants but you can’t control the spontaneous. Some detailed work today. It is getting there. Attention directed towards other matters.
… paintings and clusters of drawings - like a shotgun spread of memories. Jumbled - linked yet conflicting. Fighting for dominance.
\\\THE TRAUMA PARADOX\\\
08/10/18
Just realised a connection between “AMATGS” and the ivy crown. Oedipus plays would have been played during the festival of Dionysus - who is associated with a crown of ivy.
09/10/18
“ I gave myself permission to follow my voice and that’s what my whole career has been. I still give myself permission and no compromise. I compromised before but not when I became an artist.” Mark Bradford
10/10/18
11/10/18
13/10/18
“Into The Void Magazine” submission successful!
Sketchbook work and now watching the original ‘Suspiria’ for the first time.
14/10/18
Notes finished for presentation. Pleased with burning effect on triptych.
… was suggested something on Friday. Well it was more of a dialogue regarding “Pioneer”; the first and last sections work. They’re strong but the one that should be the strongest and the anchor, the middle piece is way behind. Changing from a triptych to a diptych? Leave it for a while - continue working on all three before abandoning the middle piece.
Using ash as a painting/drawing medium. Religious links? Why do ideas come in the final minutes of the day? Processing process.
18/10/18
On way to Dublin. Looking forward to talking about work in DLR Lexicon. Not nervous. Yet.
Just saw the most beautiful fox casually strolling across a field outside Armagh.
I’ve been skirting around issues. The ‘recall’ notion might be worth exploring again. Drawing. Painting. Video. Audio.
The DLR Lexicon is stunning. Really enjoyed the other talks - especially work of Cecilia Bullo.
19/10/18
Yesterday’s trip and talks were great. Just wish I had more time to go around some of Dublin’s galleries when I was down. Decided it was best to drop the middle canvas in “Pioneer Studies”. Finished the other two pieces and happy with the results.
20/10/18
A little tweaking to “Afore the Stoop”.
Dad suffered a bleeding eye following his operation.
22/10/18
Have been neglecting practice and methods during the week. Ards - it seems a long way off but it will fly in.
Keeping your finger on the pulse is no bad thing.
24/10/18
Personal history is a source - not the explanation. ‘imagine…’ with Tracey Emin on iPlayer was insightful. Have a new found respect for Emin’s practice and quite like a few of some of her new paintings.
27/10/18
No paints were used today but three canvases were started. The smallest piece - I don’t think will have legs. As a drawing it is strong but I feel it won’t work on canvas. I’ve drawn up “Bereft Clown” again - a different size to the previous square stretcher. Will see how it goes. The third canvas is the one I’m most excited about. It’s a merging of two images but in a slightly different way. First is an image of a German officer stationed in a concentration camp. The other is a negative of a confession screen. The idea is to project light through the lattice onto the portrait. Fright Night in the jungle was great fun!
28/10/18
Slept so much. Slow progress but progress nonetheless.
31/10/18
Spacing error.
“I’m really interested in creating moments of ‘push and pull’ in paintings and having different registers of imagery with different surface qualities - so one thing might be compositionally in the foreground but materially might be being subsumed by whats behind it.” Helen Johnson