Art Journal: August 2026

02/08/26

Studio eventually and some strange back and forth with - well - let’s call it ‘Blinding’ for now.

It has promise but it will be the usual high wire act between detail/exactness and loose expressive flow.

Mandy El-Sayegh - Louisiana Channel

“I’m trying to process this reality, because none of it makes sense.”

Mandy El-Sayegh

The Abu Ghraib Effect - intuitive association.

France-Lise McGurn - Louisiana Channel.

03/08/26

Zero power today.

04/08/26

Fleadh in full swing.

05/08/26

Dublin - Brilliant show by Nour Jaouda in Douglas Hyde Gallery - ‘Matter of Time’.

06/08/26

Vault Studios - Bedford Street

Sophia Campbell - Arcade Studios

Cameron Stewart - Arcade Studios

Marta Dyczkowska - Catalyst Arts

Belfast Print Workshop

Late Night Art, Belfast.

07/08/26

“What do you want as a painter?” - a very random question, completely out of the blue on a Friday night.

Had to really think about this…

At it’s centre, my practice is about a physical necessity to process things / experiences that resist plain language or interpretation directly. Everyone carries a personal archive / history of experience. Quiet fragments shift or chang e in atmosphere - half remembered states.

When you try and articulate this shti verbally, it often gets reduced, distorted or blown out of proportion. Painting lets that physical language test that grey zone between recall and memory.

No memory is pristine. It’s full of gaps, erasures and emotional weight or contortions that make or exaggerate. I love how material can mirror that process - specifically the constant dance between the shape and structure of a drawing mark and the fluidity of paint. There can be both a friction and a harmony in putting the two against each other - that really gets me going in the studio.

At the end of the day, I'm not trying to paint a pristine likeness or make pretty pictures. Its trying to work at it and see if that physical buildup of marks can give shape to what sits just beneath the surface of memory.

Sometimes when merging imagery from sources far removed in terms of context, an alternate, fictive narrative or a memory that could have been (or never was) emerges.

09/08/26

‘Blinding’ - good progress on this. Removed the hand, so as to heighten ambiguity… Who or what is causing the shadow?

Happy with the work on differing tomes in the shadow on the face.

10/08/26

Minimal effort - should be fun!

11/08/26

12/08/26

Solar eclipse as seen on the 212.

Tonight - wrapping for Ennistymon.

13/08/26

16/08/26

Work lifted and off to first solo show in Republic. It's happening!

20/08/26

Long trek to Ennistymon. Nice to see poster for show in a shop in town before I set foot there.

21/08/26

Long morning of installing and drawing on walls but all in all - I'm proud of the work and pleased with how the exhibition has turned out.

30/08/26

‘A Brush with… Dawoud Bey'.

…Subjective opticality.

‘Blinding’ finished with very minor tweaks, commission started and metro 7b piece back and forth this afternoon before emergency car washing in the rain.

RDH: AUGUST 2020

01/08/20

So saddened to hear of the passing of Chris Ledger. She was a true friend of the arts in NI and helped me in both a professional and personal capacity. Her tenacity and drive will be sorely missed.

02/08/20

Cleaning and priming.

03/08/20

‘Seashore Jester’ … over-painted to the point of no return - burnt and slashed. Good progress on “Enfield Study” though.

Close up of “Enfield Study”.

It’s finally happened! I’ve had a little painting accepted into this year’s RUA exhibition!

04/08/20

Wee day off.

05/08/20

“Enfield Study” finished.

Watched ‘Apocalypse Now’ properly for the first time. The real animal sacrifice at the end was disturbing.

06/08/20

Sketched out some new canvases including a narrow set for a triptych.

Object connected to the figure rather than the figure itself so may need to rethink the centre canvas.

…a few people have told me how “Enfield Study” disturbs them and makes them feel uncomfortable. So a job well done.

07/08/20

Lots of blocking in compositions today.

10/08/20

Greenberg vs Read (HANDBAGS!)

Some studio time today. Almost too warm.

12/08/20

Left up “Hotel ‘78” to the RUA today.

Sketchbook work.

14/08/20

Jenny Saville in the “A Brush With” podcast is great!

When asked what is art for, Saville replies:

“Art is for life. Art is for survival. You know it’s a shock of recognition that you feel a sense of belonging you recognise yourself in the world. I really believe it’s for survival. It’s intrinsic to being human. We either have to make marks or it’s like singing or making music. It’s fundamental to being a human being. I can’t imagine doing anything else. When I’m in the process of painting I feel very in touch with myself in a sense that nothing else I’ve ever done in my life does.”

Satellite paths

16/08/20

Nothing the past few days due to another trip to the hospital.

18/08/20

One year to go.

19/08/20

Finished “Exhibits A to C”. Good to get painting again after a little setback. Chuffed to be names Catalyst Art’s Member of the Month for August!

20/08/20

Some good studio time in today.

21/08/20

“A painting which is from a specific photograph - you have to go beyond the photograph so you have to make the paint do something and once it gets a nature of itself then it belongs to the world and it takes a long time to get be in that field.”

Jenny Saville (link for interview here)

23/08/20

“Avarice is the enemy of virtue.”

Leon Battista Alberti

Sketching and mostly failing.

25/08/20

Studio time but nothing too strenuous.

Great to have a virtual catch up with UoA folk!

29/08/20

Trauma is inarticulate.

Some good progress on “But I Don’t Get It”. Still flat in areas but it’s nearly there.

31/08/20

Finished “B.I.D.G.I.”