01/03/20
Focus turns to show opening.
03/03/20
Spend a little time looking and you might find a way in. Now at that limbo stage with “No Remorse”. Compositionally solid but colours and painterly gestures are off.
Surprising bound forward on “Self Portrait with Sketchbook”. Face is mask-like (maybe a good thing?)
05/03/20
Nervous as hell. First stop - Ursula Burke in the Ulster Museum. Wonderful scope and the wall mural is stunning. A quick jaunt into town - in GT’s “Dissolving Histories” I especially liked Stuart Calvin’s work. Great to see Dougal McKenzie’s project space show “More Bad News”. Beautiful little touches.
Next onto the MAC for Mark Garry’s “Songs and the Soil”. Placed over the three galleries, the work is immersive and stunning.
Helped with the last little touches to the show prep. Great turnout for Late Night Art and the feedback has knocked me back - in the best possible way. Really not good at taking compliments. Marcus Keeley came by for a chat in the store room for his “Instant Feedback” podcast.
06/03/20
Wee stay with Jane. A beautiful house and a beautiful soul. Finally got to visit QSS for “Four Female Painters” exhibition. Amazing space and great work. Alana Barton’s piece “Blossom” made me cry and not even ashamed to say it. It struck a nerve. The delicacy of the child’s little fingers touching the adult’s hair. Beautifully painted.
Took myself back to re-watch Mark Garry’s videos in the MAC. The close up recordings of the horses is haunting and strangely intimate.
08/03/20
Few days off but little updates online here and there.
11/03/20
Sketchbook work
14/03/20
Scary times. Back to the looking phase. It seems to help.
Self Portrait: face is still very mask-like. Reminds me of a still from “Les yeux sans visage”.
…knowing when to quit for the day is important.
15/03/20
Slow burning day but when I eventually got to studio and began making real progress, the power goes off!
Serves me right for getting ahead of myself.
“No Remorse” in progress
16/03/20
The “In Conversation” that was to take place with the show in Atypical has rightly been postponed due to ongoing circumstances.
18/03/20
Have to self-isolate for 14 days. The worries mount.
22/03/20
Sketchbook work for the first time in 11 days. Feels like a lifetime.
Is there a better, more cohesive way to go about the drawing side of practice?
I think immediacy, or the notion of immediacy, is still important.
24/03/20
Transferred some recent drawings to acetate.
STEP UP!
25/03/20
Studio time with Radiohead.
26/03/20
A bit of sketching but mainly organising imagery.
“There’s no point in worryin’ what ye can’t control.”
BAK
“No Remorse” is finished. There are parts that still annoy but all in all pleased to it’s best to leave it and move on.
28/03/20
Pushing and pulling with “Self Portrait with Sketchbook”. Frustrating but really fun at the same time!
29/03/20
Cleaning palette and studio up. Also stripped the background of “SPwS”. Too similar to the skin tones and made the canvas seem quite flat.
30/03/20
So bloody close!
31/03/20
Last day of quarantine.
Great to take part in the VAI online café and to get an insight into Tinka Bechert’s wonderful work.
“SPwS” finished. It is very wonky as it’s taken from a very wonky sketch from a few years ago but there’s something about the sketch that made me want to try and develop it into a painting for quite some time.
