Sinodd - Finished

Sinodd (2012)

46 x 33.5 cm.

Sinodd - 43

You won't have to put up with this for much longer you'll be happy to know. All being well, I shall finish tomorrow! Work yet to do is to the seating...the boy's legs, and development of the shadows and creases in the standing Vicar...and that will be just about it!

Sinodd - 42

Apologies for delayed posting ... Finally entering the final stages. I will finish this week! Filling in the area at the bottom of the picture and working on the girl are occupying my time. I also have to darken the pew (you can see the progression in the photo below. I also have to pay attention to the robes of the Vicars, the boys legs and any other details that present themselves.

Sinodd - 40

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Sinodd - 38

At all times...whether we like it or not..we carry with us our mortality. In walking across the road..in taking a flight..even (we're told ) every time we sneeze our heart stops. Whether you bring your mortality before the object of your faith, or confront it in your daily activity, it does not alter the very cold reality that we are all going to die.

Sinodd - 37

 One day, I might get around to having my own life models to work from apart from myself, but in the meantime I use my imagination and resource photos.  Thankfully the many years I spent during my youth drawing Marvel Comic Super Heroes has not gone to waste...my ability to draw figures is a result of that time and funnily enough the years I spent training as a nurse.....knowledge of anatomy and physiology is certainly helpful!

Sinodd - 36

Did some work on the boiler and did some work on the girl's face...I'm fairly happy with the way her face turned out..not long to go now till this one is finished!

Sinodd - 34

Spent over 6 solid hours on the sky today...! I've been looking forward to working on the clouds because they'll create a wonderful effect when they're done. I'll be really pleased when I've finished this piece as I'm keen to move to full colour work....I have masses of ideas queueing up!

Sinodd - 32

Working on the sky today...I've had a couple of days off coping with a rather nasty cold which has now subsided. The sky here will be full of very dark wispy clouds which I'll add at a later time.

Sinodd - 31

Badgers! I like Badgers...they're getting a bad press at the moment, being blamed for the spread of Bovine Tuberculosis. Evidence suggests that a cull to dispose of thousands of rural Badgers will not impact on the spread of BTB, the answer is in finding a suitable and economical vaccine for the cattle. Examples are available but have been in some cases found to cause side effects...although rare, it's thought at present the risk is too much to introduce nationwide vaccination programme.

I include Badgers in this piece not only because of their aesthetic quality and characteristic faces, but they might also represent a convenient target , a mistaken victim. You of course are absolutely at liberty to add your own interpretation to their symbolic nature ( indeed I welcome it!) and I will therefore not attempt to explain my own.

If you would like to know more about the threatened Badger Cull in the UK, or if you'd like to join the campaign to prevent the cull, you can do so by visiting The Badger Trust page.

Sinodd - 30

Sinodd - 29

I think I'm progressing well at the moment. I very soon need to address the girl and work on the Badgers which I've added to the bottom area of the picture. I still have yet to decide on how I'm going to represent the sky...I love starry nights, but I don't think it will be in keeping with the overall atmosphere....to be sure, I'll come up with something !

Sinodd - 28

As you know, regarding my work and financial situation, I've reached a crossroads..I am however committed to complete this piece and in doing so, I've returned to reading and finishing a book I was given a few years ago. 'Surrealizing the Nude' is an essay written by David Scott and published by Reaktion Books.It is the best and most inspiring book I've read not only about Paul Delvaux  (23 September 1897 – 20 July 1994) but also about Surrealism.....After reading this book I feel empowered to develop my themes and subjects.

"Whether by manoeuvring a clash of codes, creating juxtapositions or by hallucinatory images, surrealist art attempts to open up new perspectives on experiences, especially in relation to the unconscious and to desire. It often does this by attempting to eroticise the viewing process in relation to painting, both by the creation of visual tensions or problems that elicit the full mobilisation of our responses. This mobilisation is activated by a refusal to appeal only to our more conventionally coded or monitored reactions. An appeal to dream experiences, fantasy, hallucination or suppositions based on the imagined workings of the subconscious mind are brought into play in an attempt to deal with the obsessive return to the fetishistic objects and situations that characterise the surrealist painting such demands lead the beholder of surrealist art to examine afresh his or her responses to the visual image in painting in general, and to question the basis of aesthetic judgements and the conventions that form viewing habits" - David Scott, Surrealizing the Nude, 1992 .


I love this extract which you might or might not identify with.

Sinodd - 27

Sinodd - 26

 I must explain that the delayed publication of this update has been due to my poorly laptop, which as you can see is working OK at the moment. Progress can bee seen around the mad vicar on the right and the beginning of work on the pew which the other vicars are sitting on.

Sinodd - 25

Sinodd - 24

Sorry for delayed publication of yesterday's progress...problems with ageing laptop refusing to start! So here it is! Work on the "more piratey" artwork has yet to happen....must push myself this weekend to do so!

Sinodd - 23

Here you can see the entire area of the picture..note the crow sitting on the end of the pew! Update to the artwork for Pirates of Penzance. unfortunately the client did not like the image I'd created and has asked me to produce some thing more 'piratey'...