The last few weeks haven't been particularly frantic on the art front. I've mostly been fixing up furniture, painting some silhouettes on plates to brighten up the kitchen and general housey stuff.

Also, i've been trying to get a good fox print. The trouble with paintings on dark backgrounds which have gloss varnishes is that all of the flaws and bits of dust show up in the scan. So there was nothing for it but to cut the fox and all of the branches of the tree from the background...It's not that bad considering....I can sit on the very long train journey to work and do it slowly. It is tedious though, it's so far taken 4 hours and i'm only half done.

Hopefully it'll be worth it eh?

Also, I was very kindly asked if I would submit something to the indiefixx 'Feed your soul' Free Art Project. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's a really nice little project whereby each month several artists submit a piece of art especially for the project which is free for people to download and print for themselves. Go here to find out more!

Here's a small peek at the piece i'm submitting - it's a digital collage - heck i'm on the computer cutting for so many hours I might as well get some art from it :)


Hope you all have an excellent weekend...

EDIT:
Oh yes, and I forgot - the fox flowers have added to even more collages. There's now a print available in the shop using them - It is in a limited amount since i'm doing some gold highlights over it, and it takes a bit of time.

I kept meaning over the last few weeks to post about the death of John Martyn. He's one of my, and many other people's, all time favourite musicians. There were a few times when I could have gone to see him live but I never did. I regret it now.

I was put off because in later years his performances were patchy and sometimes excruciating to watch - at least that's what some of my freinds told me - and I didn't want to watch it. Now I wish, at least i'd gone....a lesson for next time.

Some classics:

[埋込みオブジェクト:http://www.youtube.com/v/stRmPH0PbPs&hl=en&fs=1]

[埋込みオブジェクト:http://www.youtube.com/v/kPb1OX8bbeY&hl=en&fs=1]

I packed all of my pieces up to go to Berlin tonight..It took me so long to make them, and now they're going. I feel quite....hesitant. I managed to get some pretty rubbish photos before they went...I wish i'd remembered the camera batteries at the weekend....Another win for absent-mindedness.


The big puppet


Although the pictures aren't great, I think it's essential to see the frames...The toad painting's frame is made up of several different parts of frames...they work quite well. Take a pediment from a clock and the front - and maybe snaffle a few finials.

I am writing this currently with a very persistent cat wedged between me and the laptop. His entire head is obscuring most of the view, so i'll try my best.

Here's the full version of the Intoxicated painting I posted about last week. I have wrangled honestly. This is just a scan but once I remember to buy batteries for the camera tomorrow (what a dolt!) i'll take a photo of it in it's frame! Which is made up of several different clock frame parts and i'm completely in love with!

So, the clue's in the name. It's a still life of an opium poppy, aminita muscaria (the fly agaric mushrooms), a cocaine plant and a tobacco plant. As well as the king of intoxication, the colorado river toad...I am not sure how realistic the toad looks. I could only find vaguely trippy photos of them....

Anyway, they are meant to be sent tomorrow but now I have to get photos tomorrow night. Also, I finished the big blue faced puppet...Finally!

Hope you're all having an excellent weekend.

For a group show i'm taking part in I was asked to do one piece on the theme of intoxication. I decided to stick with a similar colour scheme as the fox and took the week off work to do it....I picked a simple idea and thought it'd be fairly straightforward...which was a bit daft in hindsight.

It has taken this week every day from morning till gone midnight to get 80% through and i'm still not happy...It needs more work, and perhaps the entire background needs to be darker. I'm at that hating everything stage which I just need to work through...I have yet to go over it with oils so I am hoping they will add the depth which I think it's lacking at the moment.

Here's some sneaky peeks anyway




I'm going to keep going tonight and perhaps tomorrow give my eyes a break and do something else.

Hope you all have an excellent weekend!
x

I was able to scan in the fox today. It still needs some touching up - the only problem with oils and glossy glazes is that tiny particles show up in the scanner against very dark backgrounds like this.

Clicking the image will show you a much larger version

I'm not 100% sure what this looks like on a regular screen as i'm on my elderly laptop. It may be a bit dark - I can change that later though.

One thing I was going to mention is that I will be outsourcing the printing of the paper theatres in the near future (not the dolls yet), it will no longer be on the etching paper which is incredibly expensive, but rather on thick 350gsm satin or matt card - one or the other. It'll bring the cost of the theatres right down. I'm wondering what people think about that idea?

This is a really quick post to say thanks for everyone's lovely comments about the fox, it really does mean a lot to get feedback. He's pretty much dried now so he'll be scanned and photographed as soon as time (and battery charging) permits.

Meanwhile I am having a bugger of a time trying to get frames I like for my paintings. I have so far tried to bid on around 10 different frames on eBay only to watch in horror as their price soared to some ridiculous level....What happened to the good old days when we found bits and pieces in our attic and sold them at the car boot for £10?

Once upon a time, you bought old things in order to save money..Of course not in the case of fine antiques, but it was possible to buy something second hand at a reasonable price - not anymore. Old things are now 'vintage' and with that label you might as well double the price.

So i'm having to resort to clock cases. Even they seem to be selling for very high prices at the moment.



Picking through the stash of old clock parts i've managed to fashion a new frame for the next painting and have made 2 new frames with the help of my scroll saw...It's not fine sawing honestly but it has a rustic feel to it - hopefully I can swing it.

It's not a bad thing to make do and mend in fairness.

Also, a quick note about a new book released this month by Norma Toraya aka CrankBunny - It's called Paper Puppet Palooza and is full of great paper engineering projects. I was priveleged to have 'The Heart Revealed' featured in the gallery pages along with some other artists I love like The Pin Pals.

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