Medicine - 4

The Cello Girl seems to be taking her medicine with stoicism...the Vicar pinches her nose..not necessarily to lessen the taste, but to cause her to open her mouth..probably against her will, but she does not seem to be fighting. Being force fed something is what this area concerns...here the protagonists are The Medical world and the religious world versus the Musician/ artist...is this how 'orthodoxy' and 'normality' would have us believe or eat to make us comply/ conform...how often as artists do we actually do that?...More often than I'd care to think...how often do we produce work that seeks approval and acceptance rather than it being from the gut and from the soul...how often do you create purely for the sake of creation/...for the need to satisfy the passionate drive within you regardless?...are you content to have the dream of expression, but stand in line too be force fed the 'Medicine; that is given to make us 'better' that will cause us to become acceptable and thus just one of the many?...ummm....I'm enjoying this line of thinking!

Medicine - 3

Nurse Doris is beginning to take shape...a few tweaks of her hair and hat position had to be carried out, and attention to the jaw line needs to be addressed tomorrow...but essentially I'm happy so far with the way it's progressing.

Medicine - 2

 Here's a close up of the pencil work on my Mad Vicar ( he needs a name!)...it's important to get the base drawing correct before beginning the dot work. I've always been taught, and hence teach others that good draughtsmanship is the basis to all art....even abstract art....understanding your subject is paramount! So below you can see the refined drawing I've completed on the Nurse and Cello Girl too...as an added dimension I had the idea that I'd surround my figures with bubbles...! don't ask me why...it just seemed a good idea at the time!

So the dot work has now begun..I proceed with caution as faces are the most  critical element of the work...get them wrong...then the picture is ruined!...anyway, glad you're here at the beginning...thanks for joining me...!

Bleurgh!

Many apologies for the non - posting these last few days...we were out on Monday visiting the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, since then i've been laid low with a cold. All being well I'll get to work tomorrow !

Medicine - 1

Subject of course to much change..here is the pencil drawing that I've transfered to water colour paper this evening ( I prefere 300lb cold pressed watercolour paper to work on) the figures you see here are 100% of my own creation and will form the basis of a (as usual) enigmatic and symbolic composisition. I have many details to iron out, such as the nurse holding a spoon full of medicine to the Cello girl's mouth...you'll also notice the Mad Vicar is pinching the girl's nose too! his hand is visible behind the Nurse's back...at present he is holding the floating orb from the earlier picture 'Tables'. The Cello girl will possibly be holding the neck of her cello...behind her will be a queue of other Cello Girls all awaiting their medicine. I am planning 5 Cello girls in all.

At time of posting, the above description is of course open to radical change and interpretation and will mean different things to different people. what will you find in it?...Time will tell. Welcome to the begining of what I hope will be a far quicker piece of work than the one that came before!

Sketch book...ideas...nurse!..no pics..but very excited!

Below is a picture painted by one of my favourite artists. Paul Delvaux was considered a surrealist..which he didn't recognise or accept, and considered himself inferior to fellow countryman Rene Magritte.

I chose to show this picture because I identify so strongly with Delvaux's recurring themes..the reverence and esteem in which he regards woman...the dignity he regards education and learning...the heroism he regards exploration and engineering development and the pioneers who designed and built the great railways of the world which we now regard with almost resignation that be part of our environment and landscape.

I too have recurring themes similar to this...however I'm not a painter..but I can bask in the moonlit blues and dreamlike landscapes that Delvaux produced knowing that on face value, they are odd, slightly disturbing works whilst simultaneously being peaceful and full of  symbolism...characters and locations..that draw the eye and imagination to question and wonder.

Painted in the year of my birth...it is one of a series of railway and academia themed works which represents the female nude as pure and dreamlike despite the stayed formality of the intellectuals.

LES ASTRONOMES

(1961)

As far as my work today goes...I'm very excited about my next piece...the sketches I showed you yesterday have undergone further development and I've arrived at (for me) a quite remarkable scenario which I will wait to share with you as you shall see it as it develops on the page.

I'm really looking forward to sharing that with you...very very soon!

Sketch book...ideas...nurse!

Well...after the absolute anti climax that was 'Teatime', I've set about refining the already advanced ideas for my next piece. Like I said before..I'm going for a smaller picture. My sketches so far have brought me to the stage of needing to find the right resource for a nurse who will be giving medicine. I trained as a nurse back in the early 1980's and like the idea of using that theme in my picture. It always used to amuse me that when I told people that I was a nurse, they'd often ask.."What!..a male nurse?!" 

Anyway...for this picture I'm using my profile...I took this photo on my phone.this will be the basis for my nurse....I'll call her Doris! i wanted a sort of haughty sort of an expression....so this was the one I settled on.

Below, I've used the photo as a basis for my pencil sketch...a bit of tweaking , hair and a hat and nurse Doris is born!

 I need a face for the next figure...yes , it's the Mad Vicar yet again!! I originally drew this face as the basis of the violinist in 'Quintadagio'...so I dug out this sketch...but I didn't want the raised eyebrow.  so worked on a sketch without it.

Below I've used my nurse and mad vicar sketches and combined them. the idea is progressing quite nicely....but the Mad vicar looks to bulky...to muscular...he needs to be much much older and wizened. So that will be part of my job tomorrow...and of course...the rest of the scenario!

Teatime - A closer look.

Here are a few close up shots which you may or may not be interested in. It was back in Early May that I began work on this piece....322 hours later, i'm fininshed...but more than that, the photo session for which I took pictures of myself for this work inspired and horrified me so much as to my appearance , that I embarked upon a regime of self improvement. Now, , 5 months later, I am over 3 stone lighter and have progressed from 20 mins of brisk walking to 6.5 miles of running on alternate evenings. I am truly 'fit' and have achieved something I never thought possible and a heritage for my next 50 years!!

'Teatime' is more than just a personal motivator for personal betterment..it is a statement of peculiarity..a surreal version of my state of being...an underlining of progression..so far.
reluctant as I've become to making interpretations of my work, I'd like to draw your attention to the stream of tea falling from the cup.....I intended ( and hopefully successfully) to depict a double helix which represents the DNA strand. I based this composition around a quote made by British pop star David 'Boy George' O'Dowd..who when asked about his sexuality and what his attitude to sex was, replied " Sex?...I'd rather have a cup of tea".

Whilst the phrase still lingers in our ears, the organic and bestial instinct within us decrees that we seek a mate of compatibility to our facets and needs....the obvious ( naked souls) are a distraction to the nurtured and refined sensibilities of our desires are revealed ( the Can can dancer exposed ) ..whilst We ( I ) can claim our interest is NOT the evelation of the erotic...it is within our DNA that we find the attraction of sexuality unavoidable.

Teatime - Finished.

 'Teatime' (2011)

70 x 41 cm.

Teatime - 95

This is the only section I have yet to complete! I could easily have finished it today, but I've decided to save it ...I'll probably finish it on Monday...but I have to take a trip out to the art shop to buy a new sketch book and an A2 pad ( in which format I'm intending to base the next few 'large scale drawings) I can't tell you how enjoyable I find working on a large long term project, but I'm challenging myself ( at least for the next year) to increase my output by reduction in scale.....I wonder how long that resolve will last?

Teatime - 94

Sorry for the slope!...this side of the picture is just about finished!!...unbelievable I know..it seems like I've been working on this forever! My plans for my next 'major' piece are well in progress and at time of writing, it will be rather smaller than this one!

Teatime - 93

Not long to go now!...Having completed the flying Crow, I've made a basic layer for the sky then started the process of darkening it from right to left...you'll easily see where I've got up to! I've yet to put a line of grave stones beyond the trees...adjust the shading to my legs and head..then move onto tweaking the other flowers not shown here then the area around my signature which always is the last thing to do!

Teatime - 92

Teatime - 91

Teatime - 90

Have now completed just over 300 hours work on this picture...nearing the end though. I like my little running men...the chaps on the left have been finished..the trio on the right have yet to be worked on.

In other news,  continue to run...having lost over 3 stone (42 lbs) my weight has remained the same for four weeks now...so some sort of equilibrium has been achieved. I've run six miles on a few occasions last week, but managed to strain my right calf muscle whilst doing an aerobic workout on Friday..so I've rested over the weekend and resumed training today with a gentle two mile jog around my local park...the injury feels OK and should not prevent me from resuming regular runs this week.

Teatime - 89

Here's a close up of the final group of running men..I apply a basic layer of dots then develop shadows which will add definition to arms, legs and heads. I still have work on my legs to blend away any hard edges.

Teatime - 88

Gradually coming to the end of the Dandelions in this section at least..I've next got to refine my legs then I can begin work on the runners..trees etc..

Teatime - 87

Teatime - 86

A long hard day working on the (what have become) Dandelion clocks in the grass..I like them...in reality they would not be even..they would be clumped.....but this isn't reality!

Teatime - 85

You're watching the final big area on this piece..there's always a moment in a pictures progress when things speed up and the end comes quickly...or at least gives the impression of hurried arrival....although how the word 'hurried' can be attached to something was was begun in the early days of May is a little over stated!

In case you're wondering...I originally had no intention of idea that I'd be adding another image of myself into the composition...I originally sketched plans for my Cello girl to be sitting in that place...just goes to show that the best laid plans even when working to such a fine degree can be altered at short notice!

Teatime - 84

Have now progressed well with the running me....it's slow going getting the face correct...I still look as if I've been down a coal mine...but this should look OK one the very dark back ground is added in.

Run,run as fast as you can....

Pardon me if you cross over as a Face Book member for the repeated images, but I was surprised by them this morning. I needed some reference images for inclusion in Tea time...so this is one of a series . I've done some work on the picture today, but I'll show more of that tomorrow.

This evening I went out to run and managed six miles ( which is just short of 10K !) non stop...it felt good and is another step up in my regular running regime!

Teatime - 83

 Working my way across..the little fella on the right has now started jogging!...I've also refined the ground cover with lots more there to do. the grave stones ( which often feature in my work) are there policing the horizon mapping the journey of the train and the walkers/runners..as in deed the we are all bounderied by the limits of our own mortality..in everything weather we are aware of it or not...it is inevitable.

Below are a couple of detailed close ups.