01/05/26
‘Reflections’ - new sculpture outside Belfast Central Station from artist Kevin Killen and Golden Thread Gallery
There is one thing that I have been lacking in - a new year’s resolution that has slipped way down the pecking order - carving out time to draw. The sketchbook needs dusted off - badly.
03/05/26
So bloody close to the finishing line (whatever that is) with 'Meet at the Dolmen’. Essentially, its refining the robed figures and incorporating some structure into the treeline.
05/05/26
Venice. Surreal. It’s a very dimly lit city at night - giving it a strange presence. Familiar like a dream and stunningly beautiful. Except for the rat - size of a small dog (slight exaggeration) which jumped down from a low wall while I was locking a gate. Horrible.
06/05/26
Right, day one officially kicked off with a walk in the increasingly heavy rain to Piazza San Marco, down along the water to the Giardini. Stood in the slowest moving line for the guts of an hour, finally making it in. The hunt for a tote bag had begun.
German and British pavilions - great. 11am - all of a sudden, chaos erupted: Pussy Riot staging a protest outside the Russian pavilion. Dutch pavilion - locked in. Spanish pavilion, very good. Next to the central pavilion to see ‘In Minor Keys’. Crowds were insane - a real circus to the point I couldn’t see any work. Too many people clambering and bumping into each other. Should have went earlier. In saying that, Tammy Nguyen’s paintings were stunning.
A fly through the sculptures of the Nordic space to the Japanese pavilion. Loads of babies!
Leaving the Giardini, bumped into a tall, imposing figure all dressed in black… clocked eyes… immediately recognising him as an artist that has inspired my own practice… but could I pluck his name from the ether!? “Jesus Christ!” I exclaim to my simultaneous feelings of “I know him” and “what is his name!?” Moving on , it annoyed me all through lunch. About halfway through food, who walked into the restaurant but the man in black…. long story short - it was [redacted]! Knees went weak and shook his hand for far too long! Star struck.
Next up was visits to the Holy See, Icelandic and Scottish spaces before swinging past San Marino to check Mark Francis’ work.
07/05/26
Arsenale day. Started practically at the beginning of the queue, found this viewing of ‘In Minor Keys’ a way more enjoyable experience - more room to view work. Maybe the weather helped. Central space had so many jaw dropping moments - incredible works - Alfredo Jaar, Nick Cave to name just a couple. A quick regroup before the national spaces.
Lovely opening for Ireland, Chile was unnerving but great. Bit of a detouring boat ride for Eva gathering. Palazzo Grassi - Michael Armitage. Show was just sublime. Seeing this work I’ve loved in the flesh was just a dream come true. A little chat with a critic about Northern Irish snooker. Finishing the night off with a party - meeting old friends and new!
08/05/26
Slept in! That’s what I get for trying to sit and write in bed at 6am. A double Derry adventure from the heart of Venice all the way back to Dublin. Made it home in time to see the kids before bed.
One last look.
11/05/26
Missed the opening of Anna Vidamour’s exhibition in Atypical so happy to spend time with it today. I’m the worst patient.
13/05/26
Still not fully recharged. This coming weekend:
Breathe
Take Stock
Set out Plans
15/05/26
Evening studio session. ‘Meet at the Dolmen’ completed. Pretty happy with this one.
Architecture has it’s limits. Nature always wins.
19/05/26
Tim Patrick at Arcade. Beautiful works - fluid immediacy and could just sit and look all day.
21/05/26
Golden Thread visit after picking up charcoal at lunch. Frédéric Huska’s ‘Traces of a Traumatic Future’ - beautiful intimate works.
Sharon Kelly’s ‘Disposal of Fullness’. Stunning work as always. Stitches with hair.
24/05/26
Canvas stretching, priming - seeing where to go with this 3-person piece.
*****
Well, I didn’t get as far as I thought I would have. Now, that’s not to say I’ve been lazy today. Far from it. Two canvases stretched and triple primed. Thought I would have got to draw up the commission, checking which size of canvas will fit the image best. Not to be. I did get working on ‘Lessons in Silence’ - more backwards but still work nevertheless. At the very last moment before finishing and, clearly fed up with the lack of progress, I began blocking out the figure with the hat. First in charcoal and then with a dark grey/blue. Could this be the way to go? The colour might be too ‘on the nose’. What about that sickly pink that’s echoing on the cell walls to the left of the canvas?
26/05/26
How to get drawing back on the table.
31/05/26
… posthumously …
The figure in the hat has now moved to a pink silhouette and elements of the blurred female portrait have been muted in - lightening the darker portions (hair, mouth, shadows, eyes). A slightly more ghostly effect. Sketching up smaller canvases.
