30/07/26

Two MAC openings this evening. ‘Reconstruction: A Room for Mike Kelley’ by Mary McIntyre and Robert Anderson. Performance, documentation and memory - recreating Kelley’s studio environment minus the human. Liked how the room was shaped; almost like following the camera’s viewpoint from the initial source photos.

01/02/26

Canvas priming. Such a dirty floor… and then my pen decides to implode on the third line of a new art journal!

In between priming layers - want to try and finish ‘Melina Study’. It’s the robe that annoying at the moment. Too smooth - lack of texture…

‘M.S.’ finished - added subtle hint of texture and line to robe.

A strange sort of nausea…

02/02/26

…chilling.

04/02/26

Still trying to process…

On a personal note, I feel I’m getting better at distancing… …yes there are still some late night checks but it is definitely an improvement.

**‘Considering Art Podcast’ - Joanna Whittle.**

05/02/26

LNAB

Atypical

Platform

GT Gallery

Catalyst

PS²

BX Gallery

DAS

Catalyst Members’ Show - happy with placement of ‘BWoatS’- up high, looming down on the viewer. Nice choice.

On the way home, hit in the face with milk. Stank to high heaven.

07/02/26

Third and final coat of primer on canvasses ahead of studio session tomorrow.

08/02/26

Mapping out works. Image from ‘Masque of the Red Death’ culled from seven figures down to three and a bit of fun mixing the scale of the Tirnony Dolmen. Feels huge. Medium canvas has three acetates on it. Sounds a bit much but for now, its working compositionally. The trick will be what elements to recede and which to bring forward.

11/02/26

When I’m tired, my right eye closes involuntarily.

12/02/26

Sketchbook work

19/02/26

Lunchtime visit to the Golden Thread Gallery - ‘Insight into the other’ - a collaboration with UH Gallery in Boston. Particularly fond of Nancy McCormack’s paint-manipulated photographs.

20/02/26

I had started thinking about painting ‘strategy’ when getting kids to bed last night.

Particularly the ‘Dolmen’ and the small (slightly doubled) portrait. Now, I did fall asleep mid way through something of a little eureka moment so I will try and recollect.

Want to try something with the Dolmen piece:

work on night sky first - furthest back
- Build up with thin washes, skits of stars (toothbrush) and a light fade.
- Elements of colours from the sky washes (pthalo, prussian, indigo hinted at in the ground / grass.
One of the hooded figures - carrying a lamp - adding energetic brushstrokes to the illuminated ground, edges of robed figures and ancient stones. DRAMA
The trick will be making the trees disappear - how they do in life when looking up at the sky at night. They aren’t a silhouette but almost an echo of what’s there - waiting to be lit or to come into focus.
Slightly thicker paint on light edges - loosen control of the brush a little.

For the ‘double portrait’: Off skin palette - again loosen grip of brush in areas, tighten in others.

Relinquish control to gain unexpected moments in the process…

22/02/26

The other night was writing - today was doing. Pretty much did what was hoped to ‘Dolmen Gathering’. Now there is an itch to possibly include something else… hint of nature / danger. The only word that seems to matter with this piece - atmosphere.

02/07/26

A bumper Late Night Art Belfast after missing out on the last few sessions.

05/07/26

‘A Brush with Pio Abad’. Seduction through experience. Spent the first half of the studio day working on little commission. Plenty of textures to keep it interesting.

Second half was building up layers, colour swapping and facial details added on the now titled ‘First Encounter’- and yes, it might be the first meeting between a woman and a child OR that i recently watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind recently.

Bit of both perhaps.

Evening time and stumbled on an interesting video that explored haptic vs optic visuality. Yes, it might have been looking at it in terms of film, but it’s struck a chord with where my head is creatively at present.

Got me thinking (dangerous, I know) some of the best work lands in a space of psychological tactility and there’s a unique indexicality (new words). Brushstrokes aren’t just visual marks, but a physical imprint and ‘trace’ of a moment/touch/memory.

Will try and lean more into this new notion of sensual/tactile weight.

07/07/26

Lest.

Lunchtime dandering through the Golden Thread to see ‘The Ignorant Art School: Outside the Circle x Belfast’ curated by Sophia Y Hao from Cooper Gallery. Wonderful use of the space and kept finding little gems/artefacts/text that meant you could keep coming back and pick up something new.

08/07/26

“The aim of art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul.”

Andrei Tarkovsky

12/07/26

Boiling Hot! Commission finished I think.

A good go at ‘First Encounter’ too. Actually, a couple of minor tweaks and it could be there.

Submitted to RUA - it’s an even year so worth a go given track record since 2020.

16/07/26

18/07/26

The first overcast day in over a week and I get sunburned.

19/07/26

‘First Encounter’ finished in the studio today.

Less is More

21/07/26

No RUA this year. There goes my ‘lucky’ even year streak.

26/07/26

Studio and new beginnings on a couple of small canvases and then the palette was in dire need of a clean.

30/07/26

‘A Feeling in the Blood’ by Susan Hughes. Lively fun - made my glasses glow in the UV light!