Friday

A tiring day. The plan for the last two days was to paint a picture called The Lightning Of Creation but the smooth poplar wood panel was too absorbant and yesterday's sky looked ugly. I should have either primed it to ensure no absorbancy or painted Dutch style with solvent rich media, where the paint behaves like watercolours in the early stages.

Today then I cleaned the panel off and used cellulose thinners to great effect, even the dry oil paint was removed and the original gesso priming. The board was sanded down to the wood and reprimed better than the panel when new. That took over three hours because of the different ways I tried to repair the damage.

I also did my usual editorial duties for Bytten, and wrote two poems on the theme of "Opportunity" for a future photo-book collaboration project. I've sketched out two new songs too and need to get these finished tonight. I've ordered a new batch of epoxy casting resin and pigments and hope to use the poplar panel on a multimedia artwork that combines painting, collage and resin casting, and converted some CD files to MP3, cleared out my old CD-ROM backups and ordered some Lego for the casting, with the hope of using it as an experimental mould (it has the advantage of squareness but also the ability to easily change the size). I re-traced The Lightning Of Creation to a new surface, applied the imprimatura and sealed the back of that and the poplar panel with GAC100, then drew up a rough list of sound effects for three new sets. Tomorrow I'll go to Chester to collect my Albion painting.

Jobling Gowler Art Competition 2009

I'm just back from the reception for the first Jobling Gowler art exhibition. My painting The Silkworm recieved a judges commendation and I got a generous bottle of bubbly into the bargain. I'm pleased with this, that makes the fourth judges commendation in 18 months and that's one for every competition I've entered that awarded commendations. It's not a prize but I feel that winning a prize is inevitable.

Jobling Gowler have done a first rate job at organising this. The pictures are in he reception area of their offices which I think means its open to the public every day. It corresponds with the Macclesfield Textile Festival which runs for about two weeks until July the 19th. They don't ask for a commission on sales which means that my painting is on sale for a lower than usual price of £495 for a painting of this size.

Next for me is the Tabernacle competition held by Museum Of Modern Art Wales. Delivery of the painting for consideration by the judges is next week.

The Glorious Birth Of Summer 2

Well the painting is done, perhaps. I had planned on painting this in one layer for a change, my first painting like that since 2006. I learned a lot about the look of objects in ice and the different complex visual properties of ice which can be white opaque, misty or transparent like glass and contain dark cracks, reflective silver cracks, air bubbles, tiny silver shards, as well as debris. The surface can be matt or gloss, reflective or scattering. I tried to incorporate different types of ice into the picture and I'm sure that if I could try again I would manage greater realism.

Today I took down my first solo exhibition in my local theatre. My next painting to go on public display is "The Silkworm" in Macclesfield at a firm of solicitors, Jobling Gowler, who are organising an art competition. This year's theme was "silk" and future contsts are expected bi-annually.

Summer's Day

Today I'm working on a painting for the annual competition held by my art group, the theme is Summer's Day (or is it Summer Days?) Either way it took a lot of thinking out. Ultimately the painting fits into my recent "rebirth" series which mimic the rebirth of my life, love, career and panwonderful existence!

This picture is called The Glorious Birth Of Summer but it is also about the death of winter. The painting is essentially a winter scene that is thawing.

A study was important for this painting because it is too fantastical to easily stage fully. The study is shown. I usually paint one, half size. For this I use the original drawing, scan it into the computer, print onto A4 tracing paper of good weight and then trace onto a cheap surface. One tip is to print the drawing in mirror image and then use a scribe to rub the wet printer ink directly onto the surface.

As you can see the detail is minimal. This is primarily a test of colouration and several adjustments were made during painting. The final picture will be about 60x40cm.

Varnish Disaster Part 2

Well the drippy varnish went sticky instead of drying properly and it was very patchy. On day two I first tried a sponge with solvent on but that seemed to add more dust which was annoying. Worse the paint surface is become increasingly damaged and that whole area now looks a bit of a mess. This is very annoying to say the least in fact I was quite despondent about it but it can't be helped and I did my best.

After the sponge I used a rag again which was much better. It's cotton sheeting, similar to a tea-towel so is lint free but to ensure it was dust free I had to stick masking tape all over it then peel it off. One of those sticky rollers used on clothing would work too I'm sure. The result looked much more even but the paint surface remains damaged. After that, while it was wet I revarnished with gloss varnish and brush. The area is dusty and the overlap between the old dry varnish and the new wet parts on the left is visible but I think this is the best it will get.

Options:

1. Leave it. The dust looks pretty awful and the varnish is very uneven but from a medium distance people don't notice that sort of thing and the varnishing needs to be seen in glancing light to even notice it.
2. When dry apply a new full coat of varnish. That will probably even out the surface but will do nothing about the dust.
3. Carefully try to remove the dust using cotton swabs like a picture restorer. It sounds easier than it is because this varnish turns very sticky and gluey when mixed with solvent. This risks damaging things more. I don't have experience of this. In situations like this I tend to want to try it to gain that experience even if the picture is ruined, because in the long term that knowledge is worth more than one picture. However this is for a competition and I've invested a lot of time into it. Also this whole damage was caused by trying things out when I should have left it.
4. Remove as much varnish as possible, paint over the damaged areas and revarnish. That is a good option if I had the time but I don't. The deadline for the competition is too close. Also this picture has gold leaf in it which might easily be damaged when removing the varnish. I did put an extra careful coat of varnish on the gold area.

I could repaint the picture. If I had time I would. This painting is a paragon of paintings because it's been plagued by disasters and trials and new experiences yet with each one I've tried a fix and started again. Many technical lessons have been learned.

Artistically it remains acceptable. Of course I would correct and change just about everything if I could! I'm not actually satisfied with any part of it as such and could saw this up and weep only a little bit, but the idea would be there even no matter how it was implemented, provided I could convey that to acceptable degree. The hardest part of this saga is that it was better before I messed with it. Perhaps this is fate and I am destined to win this contest with a picture I'm unhappy with. I find that often happens. Onward!

Unperfection

Today I accidentally ruined my painting Perfection and Necroamoria by trying to fix uneven dusty varnishing. First I tried to dab a bit of varnish away with a rag soaked in solvent and it largely worked although more dust got stuck and the varnish went sticky and looked worse. Later when dry I tried again with more solvent and cleaned the rag first, that did help with the dust but more solvent made the whole surface drippy. This is a problem. Some paint was removed too and incorporated into the varnish. The result is a mess. I'll have to spend serious time restoring it when I have good light. This is very bad but a lesson has been learned.

I seem to be loaded with jobs! I've made good progress on the opening to The Music Box but then I had to pause to work on Summer's Day but now I have to work on a music commission and I really want to write some poems and maybe even a short story for a competition. I've finished the outline to the Summer's Day painting and scanned it ready to do a half size study. The music job comes first though; and needs six new tracks. These days are full of work and happiness but also tiredness if not actual exhaustion. I doubt that any artist of the past could have done as much in one month as I'll have managed by the end of June.

Yesterday's experiment with "Polymorph" only half worked. The epoxy resin stuck to the other plastic and in hot water "Polymorph" actually becomes more sticky and epoxy becomes more fluid too. They are stuck fast. On the plus side, when hot the transparent result actually looks just like ice, better than the epoxy alone would have looked. I also poured the left over liquid plastic onto glass and dripped acrylic inks into it and made a nice swirly pattern. I'm filled with ideas for using it.

The Music Box

I rewrote the main theme of the first track of my next musical composition today. The game's afoot! All art reflects in some way the mood and circumstances of the artist at the time of conception. Only surrealists embrace this. I've noticed that just as The Spiral Staircase relfected my logical digital personality that was embodied in the cover artwork, The Music Box will again tell a story of rebirth and sadness to joy, as much of my artwork is right now.

At 3pm I began work on a picture for my art group Art Support, and that picture too is all about rebirth. The official theme is Summer's Day.

Now I'm going to make a mould using Polymorph. I've mentioned on my blog before that it's a plastic that goes soft in hot water. I had the idea today of making a mould from it for epoxy resin. Once the resin is set the mould can be removed in a pan of hot water. I am moulding something simple, a wobbly peice of transparent plastic that when peered though would make things look like they are encased in ice.