Frag mints

follow blog on my website please

2011-01-29T18:44:00.004-06:00

My blog is now inside my website (www.johannwessels.com)
this is the direct link...please follow it there and pass the site around if you would
http://johannwessels.com/index.php?pageid=Blog
I am still around...just in once place now.
cheers

new website and blog

2011-01-11T20:13:00.001-06:00

My regular website has been redone and has new furniture and style... and will have my blog on the site
PLease take a look and add comments and opinions!
www.johannwessels.com

moving soon

2011-01-09T16:03:00.002-06:00

This blog will move to my eponymous website in the near future. I have been rebuilding my site and made it cleaner and more professional so I can show all my work on it.
Meanwhile work goes on... my solo exhibition gets ever closer.
Its going well. this is a little something

fake show

2010-11-17T16:34:00.003-06:00

there you are, in conversation, and get asked a question about something you mentioned. You begin to talk about this and try to create a complete concept, adding in some important information that will function as a backdrop to the main details. You tell of the bigger picture and try to recreate the atmosphere and situation, your mind tries to focus on the vital details that will bring it into sharpest focus, allowing the listener to grasp the full story.
In my memory the story is clear, but what have I recreated for the listener? Have I become a side show busker trying to sell my story?
The work revolves around these aspects and the notion of fakery and deception.... inadvertent deception. By emphasis I may have made the story more colourful or different.
The camera is a metaphor for recreating reality, albeit in a different medium and only containing certain visual information.
The pigeon holes are parts of stories, like treasured family photos, shared between two people.
I have been having fun with this piece... especially the camera. I made it from cardboard and glue and used a metal based paint to let it rust realistically. Also a small tip of the hat to Miroslav Tichy and his marvelous photos and fantastic cameras.
Its snowing and the sky is gray. Hoarknockle will be doing the barbeque tonight. A fine pinot noir from Oregon should warm the cockles tonight.

voy who?

2010-11-15T07:57:00.003-06:00

making small talk and someone is talking about an occurrence, are we voyeurs in some small way? Are we intruding or peeping into an event that we had no part in? Why are we interested in what is being told? Many reasons....
To what extent do we beguile and seduce in the telling of a story? Do we colour and embellish to gain the attention of the listeners? Do we facilitate their voyeurism?
What kind of thrill do we provide by the recounting of a story? Is it like finding a fresh motor car accident along the highway of catching a glimpse of exposed skin in a crowd?
Do we play this game intentionally or is it a subconscious reaction to hold the listeners attention?
Imagine opening a box of possessions and lifting out objects one by one...things you know nothing about...they enthrall you and there is a frisson of discovery... Why? What is it we get excited about?
In the work I am doing right now, I am playing off different images and trying to confront the viewer with images that may trigger predictable reactions and then contrasting the imagery with something unexpected.
Here are two views of two different pieces. The upper is a glimpse of a figure through a small window and the lower image is ons of the "magic" boxes with the various sliding panels and dead end storage spaces. They are both only aspects of the entire work and are still in process.

suggestion

2010-11-05T11:27:00.003-06:00

subtlety, a hint... a whisper, they all conjure something mysterious and secretive. In the collection of work I am making for the exhibition, I have a few boxes which were purpose made for me and have various sliding panels which protrude from the sides and a hinged lid which opens to a very shallow depth. The idea is similar to the old Russian doll concept of magical unexpected opening parts, my version of the "Transformer" toys children play with.
The boxes are made in such a way that you cannot see all of the pictures at any time. You have to choose by opening or sliding some out which in turn obscure others behind it. These boxes require a number of individual works and a lot of time... making it a collection of pieces in one. I hope buyers will understand why I will ask a fair chunk for them....
These boxes allude to the way we tell stories and relate events about ourselves. Some stories change narrative order and might obscure other information through emphasis or even omission. The boxes will each have a loose thematic concept.
The one I am working on right now, will explore the idea of voyeuristic eavesdropping. Thus some nudes and some suggestive imagery. Hoarknockle will have to be chained up while I work on this one. Or blindfolded (I cant be expected to get my own tea can I now?)
The image up here is a suggestion. I have long had a fascination with drapery and the way cloth folds and wrinkles. This rumpled cloth with be used inside the shallow box with a figure in the lid, seeming to look down at it when the lid is lifted.
There is work to be done.
Lady Sandra is occupied all weekend and I shall be working too.

creepiness

2010-11-02T13:35:00.005-06:00

oddly enough this comes just after Halloween... although this was not my intention. Happenstance.
In my piece titled "Mimesis" its a large panel with a rhino-horned self portrait which hinges apart in the center to reveal the dark inner section of the door panels and these small unsettling images of insects and skulls. A reference to the 17thC "vanitas" concept. I like the idea of having creepy scurrying things lurking in the crack, unseen whilst the main image is dominant.
I have drawn some of the images in silverpoint. Its an interesting change of feeling to graphite, the metal point has a different feeling...less creamy and slick than pencil, but it has a directness which is refreshing. It either seems to make a mark or not, unlike the wide range of tonal value graphite gives. I also thought the notion of drawing insects in silver was an interesting notion.
I have prepared some more small panels for silverpoint by applying a ground which accepts the metal. Most other surfaces dont make marks when using silver, although some house paints seem to have whichever the ingredient is that makes the silver leave marks.
Once drawn, the silver tarnishes a bit and loses its dark intensity and becomes a warm gray tone. I prefer to keep the darker tonality and use an acrylic varnish to prevent the tarnishing, by painting it on right after I finish. This seals it but also precludes any further work as the silver does not take on the varnish.
The silverpoint itself is an annealed silver wire, slightly softer than regular silver and clamped in a clutch pen. It wears fairly slowly.
I have sent Hoarknockle off to collect various different pieces from our collection of sterling silver flatware and I shall be trying these out to see what kind of effect they give. I shall have to try and see if they make marks on a starched table cloth...

sisters

2010-10-27T08:38:00.002-06:00

two sisters painted. Tried to keep it light and loose and fun. Thank goodness for digital photography which allows me to shoot as many pictures as I can of children...they can be so fickle and difficult to get a good shot. In this case they were two angels and really worked hard to give a smile with mom coaching them off camera.
I used an oilpaint wash with turpentine which I rubbed off in places and gave a lovely tonal range. Lots of glaze as always.
Now back to the main work of getting my history story done.
Snow has fallen and I can more easily stay indoors and work. Less distractions.
Also working on my new website with the crew of Squareflo.com They are helping me build a fine and refined new website which will host my blog and everything else. Now my illustration work will be side by side with my fine art stuff.

believing

2010-10-17T08:37:00.003-06:00

my friend Ivann asked me how I started each work and until that moment I had not quite realised how I went about it. For that moment he took me to his perspective and showed me myself from a different angle.
I had not sought it out and it was only when I had somehow stumbled into it, that I intuitively approached every new piece in this way. Like a swimmer standing on the starting block, smelling the chlorine and breathing in the pre start hush, feeling the jangling anticipation of the race... thats how I try to shape my mindset when I start each new work.
Its not easy, please let me dispel that thought. Its something that one needs to feed, like a yeast plant that can live from one bread to the next, but needs attention to live on and on. I feed it enthusiasm and thrill and in return it breeds more. I receive this with gratitude. Its a synergy.
There have been times where the horror of a blank surface has paralysed me. I have no guarantee that it wont happen again, but I do believe that the enthusiastic pursuit will have enough momentum to keep me rolling...trick is not to come to a halt.
I try to summon the feelings of triumph and the knowledge and experience of previous works to infuse me ...to find that child-like thrill of starting something new, Dare I say it...its like the Force. I dare not ponder the negative possibles of anything I begin...Its a positive image that sucks me into it. The last three pieces have flowed from one to the next and drawn me in and taken me along...and I have to keep the momentum, carry the speed. Its rather like mountain biking over rolling terrain.
I have worked at so many dreadful things and for so many thoughtless people that I make a conscious effort to remember that and to feel the rush of working to the call of my own ideas. Its a great big thing of wonder.
I recently overheard someone saying that work was only for money. Its quite scary to hear someone say that...and to know that there are so many people who live like that. I have found work to be something that propels me and forms me. It gives a certain meaning to who I am as equally I give meaning to what it is I do. Even awful jobs have been like this. I have always tried (tried...not always succeeded) to make the work part of who I am...and not only for the money. For now, I work because it is what I do, its more like breathing and I know it is a very very special opportunity. I work because I feed off it beyond the money. My condolences to those who don't.
The triptych is a digital representation of the work I will print and mount in a frame of sorts...each piece will be around 12 by 18 inches and I will glaze and paint into them as well...
What are they about? Imagine that you are going through an old box with pictures and letters, you may or may not know whose they are, but you form some kind of idea or opinion on what all these differing bits mean. These images have some things that connect them, and also not. How do my stories relate to each other? Maybe they do, maybe not.

creative journeys

2010-10-16T07:32:00.002-06:00

the point of going on a voyage of discovery is not to decide beforehand what it is you will discover, you have to be open to whatever you find. I believe there is an ancient Zen concept of not arriving at a spring with a full cup since you already have a filled vessel, you cannot take away anything from the spring.
Its in this spirit that I try to voyage and find ideas. There is no point in censoring yourself before you even find anything. There is no point in forming a mental construct of anything until you have found and studied it. As artists its our job to look and find and amplify. Is there any difference to finding a beautiful (yes, define beauty?) butterfly in a rain forest or a scary looking fish in the crushing black depths of the Marianas trench? You can never tell which creature may have a bigger impact or surprise.
I try to explain my work to myself and I try to follow some kind of logic, but there are times when solutions present themselves and there is no going back or rational explanation to be made. Isnt it equally irrational to paint a bunch of flowers slashed from their natural surroundings and jammed into a vase (purely for our own pleasure) and then painted? Why not then make a still life of 20 rashers of bacon draped over a door handle? It all comes down to what we regard as the norm. There is little rational about this.
Is there anything really rational about classical music? It must be the ultimate in abstraction, yet we regard it with the utmost reverence and awe. Why should visual art be anything less? (well okay , I do find Jeff Koons and Tracy Emin rather silly)

To me the camera is another way of telling a story. The old adage of: "The camera never lies" has somewhat faded with the arrival of Photoshop, yet there still is a tradition of looking through albums of photos as a kind of story telling. Even if it is a blurry image on a cellphone. This picture is part of my conversation about story telling. I think it will be the middle piece of a triptych, the one side being the fractured portrait in pigeon holes, the other being an image I am currently working on. It feels good. It doesn't make perfect sense, but there is some kind of kinship and connection among the images.
I am not discovering new worlds or continents, I am navigating the smaller fissures on and around them.

missive missile

2010-10-15T09:37:00.003-06:00

if one had to visualise the emails and traffic of the internet as missiles, it would look like planetary intercontinental warfare, like a cloud of electrons blurring the nucleus of the globe. Its quite staggering to imagine. I thought of it this morning after the dog HAD to go out and I was waiting for some time and then my brain would NOT go back to sleep.
As an artist, visual stuff is so important. The whole notion of gathering visual fodder and looking at everything becomes such a focus of one's attention. I often forget that others around me don't share this ravenous gathering of images. Furthermore, many don't follow the way one often takes an idea for a walk and finds the strangest routes to explore... it happens. Without the very strange travels and diversions from the normal, it would all remain so predictable and ordinary. In order to find the new world one has to go forth and travel, to go boldly...
In my work I have been looking at how we communicate and how, when we do, we recycle stories and tales and connect them to one another according to the company and the situation. This means that ideas resurface in new and interesting ways. In just this way I am using digital images in my actual paintings by using a transfer film from Digital Art Studio Seminars, and also using photographs of my paintings in my digital work.
I am finding this very exciting and it allows the re-use of imagery and making interesting images.
In the included piece above, I have re-used part of the Sir Cornelis painting and incorporated into a digital work I was making. It extends the narrative I have been pursuing.
I am currently making a companion piece which should go next to it. Work in progress.

look through

2010-10-03T08:49:00.002-06:00

working on the billboard style "mimesis", I kept feeling as though I wanted something more on the main picture...to suggest that there would be more hidden elsewhere. I painted an eye looking through a hole where the right eye would be.
Meanwhile I have been working on the preparation of other pieces and experimenting with some technical ideas, adding digital imagery by using a transfer film and getting some smaller pieces covered in silver point ground for drawings.
Nothing much to show there...only the new eye which I thought was worth looking at.

mimesis nemesis

2010-09-30T14:10:00.003-06:00

mimesis, the old Greek concept of copying. The thought was that art was mimesis, it copied nature. Art could invent nothing. Its an old debate.
But in the stream of what I am working on, its a reference to the copying or almost miming of stories and history which one tells in social interactions. I "copy and paste" stories into a conversation from my memory.
When one is faced with explaining about yourself... telling about who you are and not just peripheral framework regarding yourself... one is faced with the rather large question about how you portray who you are. Do you under state in the belief that the cultural system of the audience is able to process understatement? Or do you inflate and colour the story for effect, knowing that the listeners will desaturate the story as with most media they come into contact with. (one hopes!)
The way one loads meaning into or onto the verbal picture you create is so easy to miscalculate and change the true nature of the point you are making.
In this image, a billboard style picture of myself,I present myself as a face one would find on a sideshow advert. Its the well worn sign board that is put out to attract the curious to come and see the freak show, the bearded lady, the tattooed man, the lizard creature. I have a single rhino horn growing from my forehead. Rhinos are pretty dangerous and lack good eyesight, they tend to rush in horn first, ready to gore any shadow, more bluff than lethal intent.
Its also a reference to the famous self portrait of Albrecht Durer in which he presents himself as a sophisticated gentleman, his long hair in carefully painted ringlets.
The halo.... so many people unconsciously want the artist to be fired into creativity by the Furor Divinus...divine madness... as though its a fragment of greatness or a touchstone of magical power. This is my worn and damaged and rather tacky halo which is worn on ceremonial occasions only. Hoarknockle dragged it out of the vault for this performance. Specially.
The whole surface of the image will be degraded and aged and faded to make it look old and worn. Rather a has been billboard.
The surprise will lie in the center of the work...which is in fact two narrow doors that hinge in the middle of the piece.
On the narrow faces of the two edges that meet when the hinges are closed, will be painstakingly painted insects against a dark background... once again a reference to the concept of Vanitas...the insects taken from 17th Century still lifes.
But thats still not there...for now its the billboard..getting older by the minute.. paint peeling and flaking off.

pittsburgh entry

2010-09-28T07:58:00.003-06:00

a brief flurry of urgency in the studio as I rushed to get this ready for shipping to the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators exhibition.
This is a work I originally created digitally to explore the concept of packing and unpacking as a metaphor for telling stories. The idea of blackbirds escaping from a baked pie is wonderful and has the magical and surprising quality I look for.
These birds are packed in boxes along with various other references to them and what they do.
I printed the piece on watercolour paper and pasted it to a thin sheet of plywood, sanding off the corners to emulate the way old photos are worn away, corners go missing and they develop all kinds of irregular shapes.
The frame is built to look like the top of an old box, now opened, showing some of the wooden slats that closed it and nails where the wood would have been broken away. Beneath the main picture are a few other old papers as though this would have been a box containing old memorabilia and now opened to reveal a picture of birds in boxes. The frame and wooden parts are made from old cedar fence boards al grey and broken down from years of being outdoors.
I took a brush to the digital print and added some darker areas and highlights and glazed it to add depth.
What I like and aim for is the contrast between the dry aged wood and the satiny glow from the picture inside it.
Like stories told, there are all kinds of unexpected revelations that emerge in the narrative. You find out things from places and people you often least expect it from. They have been packed away in boxes for years.

gun again

2010-09-21T17:54:00.004-06:00

just a short posting.
Mostly finished the two pieces I have been working on and have been doing a lot of glazing and over glazing...slow going.
There are so many things that rob one of time to paint.
Its interesting to me that my grandfather, Johannes B Wessels, had to sign a paper promising allegiance to the British Crown after the cessation of Boer War hostilities. In becoming a Canadian citizen I too had to pledge allegiance to the British Crown. After all these years!
The rifle barrel is the front end of the rifle trigger...the more business-like end of the tool. I have often wondered at whom it may have been pointed and if it ever found its mark. Sobering thought.
These pictures have had numerous layers of over glazes to develop the depth of darkness and colour I was striving for. Its slow going but it certainly does achieve results.
The other pieces I am working on are all in such an early phase that it seems pointless to show a bare piece of wood.

empty space

2010-09-17T14:05:00.005-06:00

rather like waking from a coma, and not quite knowing where you are in space and time. Having just arrived back from installing my youngest son in university, a week of preparation and driving and making sure he is okay.
I walk back into the studio and feel like I have suffered a brief spell of amnesia, the pictures look familiar but I feel I need to re-establish my connection with them, slightly awkward.
Hoarknockle (Why did I want to call him Horseradish?) is away visiting his sick auntie (I suspect there is a comely niece or cousin once divided, erm I mean removed, who may be hovering there). This means that I am currently living a life devoid of ethanolic joys as I cannot seem to find the wine cellar. Lets call it amnesia.
This has allowed me a giant stride in my work. I have taken up the brush again, a heroic moment. Now if only I can remember what one does with it.
My eldest son has returned from hunting tigers...or whatever it is the young men do nowadays. He is thin as a rake and has an extraordinary preoccupation with bicycles and Belgium. He intends to go peddling in Tobago... not quite sure what he'll be peddling. As long as he isnt trying to sell off the cars..... or my wine collection. Oh correction... pedaling.
Here are the most recent iterations of my work too.
The large painting featuring Sir Cornelis is almost done.I added parts of a rifle to it The red phone is coming along and is part of something more. The Cuca refers to a Portugese beer "Cuca" which was sold in Angola and after which illegal drinking places were named during the South African Angolan war. I found the bottle cap during a sojourn in Angola.

trigger

2010-08-27T15:52:00.004-06:00

times when one manages to complete things in a satisfactory way... one always seems to remember those breakthroughs rather than the long slog to get to the point where you decorate the whole things with a final cherry on the top.
The large piece with Sir Cornelis is getting closer to completion and I finished a smaller panel that will be added to the large piece, a very satisfactory moment.
This trigger is an actual rifle part from an old .303 rifle that came into my grandfather's possession toward the later part of the Boer War. There is quite a long story behind it. Its a wonderful metaphorical component to the image.
Positive, very positive.

artist?

2010-08-23T15:37:00.003-06:00

just what do people imagine one to be when they discover that you are an artist? Is it registered as a kind of condition, much like being blonde or flat footed? Could it be that because there are so many people who claim to be artists that it has lost any kind of meaning? There are those who have bought a pad of paper and a set of pencil crayons and have the urge to draw.... but dont. They claim to be artists.
Its time they regulated this title. Not that many fakers claim to be doctors or space scientists.
It leaves me dumbfounded when people see my work and utter "I never realised you did that..." I make art...I paint...I am not sure what they imagined. If I were a wine maker...would people be surprised if I produced a bottle of wine?..."I would never have imagined that you ACTUALLY make wine...fancy that!"
I rest my case.
Meanwhile I have been making art. Much to everyone's surprise. I know.... "and for my next trick..."
Sir Cornelis continues...gets darker and partially disappears. There are other things happening to that piece you cannot see. Its a surprise. I am doing something using paint. Completely unexpected.
I also began work on a red telephone. It may cause people to lose consciousness when they find out. Please show it around responsibly.
Hoarknockle is back and I suspect that he may have become contaminated by liberal ideas from his visit to Lord Pfaff.
Lady Sandra is packing the Maybach in anticipation of sending our boy off to university.

where from?

2010-08-18T10:46:00.003-06:00

where do ideas come from? I have no idea. Really. Thats why the relationship with the muses is so important. One does not want the muses to cut off your ideas. Ever.
Ive often worked on pieces which have not cooperated ... resisted my best efforts and seemed to have a mind of its own. And then, without warning something will happen...Ive seen this a lot... and I can tell when its happened, but never how to make it happen. An elusive thing it is. Its a thrilling feeling to suddenly see it come to life.
Here is a close up of part of the picture... its the image of Sir Cornelis fractured and inside small square spaces. Its still in process...but close enough for it to look like something.
The progress is positive.

insurrection and paint

2010-08-16T14:40:00.004-06:00

A friend and fellow artist called me from one of the old colonies, the United States, in fact. He has been having some awful trouble with his servants who seem to have formed a union and refuse to work. Seems they are under the impression that they have rights of some kind!
I immediately got Hoarknockle to pack emergency relief supplies and commandeer his friend Alphonse Gorefinch to travel to the distant land and offer my help. They have packed cases of claret and some of my burgundy and a collection of fine hunting guns...my WW Greener matching pair as well.(I do hope they remembered to pack some foie gras for dear Kurt)

I havent heard back from them as yet. They set off a day or two ago in the Maybach.

Meanwhile I have been working like a trojan, doing everything myself. I have even discovered the kitchen, but did draw the line at making anything myself. I now have a scullery maid who waits on me.. she carries a small portable radio device from which I dispense orders for her to comply with. Not quite dear Hoarknockle...but she will do for now.

Here is some actual painting I managed to do. Its Great Grandfather, Sir Cornelis. (Lady Sandra says I look just like him..without the beard of course.)

crackle...etc etc

2010-08-15T10:23:00.004-06:00

the studio is full of pieces in differing stages of work.
Bad paint flaked off a large panel and there was some swearing and scraping. New primer turned out to be a solvent based paint and is a reminder that spectacles should be worn when buying paint, even when the can is among others of the acrylic persuasion.
The image of crackled paint is something I did... its not actually old.
Household enamel paint is horrid stuff. I'm not perturbed by the solvent....it's due to consistency and stickyness and its unique ability to hold a static charge and flick off the brush and land in places its not wanted.
On the conceptual front there has been steady progress and ideas keep turning up and knocking on the door. Who knows where they come from? Right now I dont care, as long as they keep coming.
Its going well.
I quite like the look of the Diana Dors 1949 Type 175 S Delahaye going on the block soon. I am tempted. It would look quite lovely if it were covered in paisley design....Its such a beautiful car... Lady Sandra would just love it...I can see her in it, her blonde hair blowing in the wind....

lots of white

2010-08-11T12:47:00.005-06:00

it takes time to layer on enough paint to approximate the kind of build up found on indoor surfaces that takes years and constant abuse. Old enamel paint used to drip and dribble and leave marks and then eventually dry to a glassy finish which cracked or splintered and chipped to reveal ghastly older colours beneath.
This is all part of the concept I am working on for my exhibition.
Imagine arriving in a different culture and trying to explain yourself. Even if you get the language right, you struggle to convey ideas because there are many small obstacles like words having subtle differences and accents which have all kinds of meaning inside them.
If you come from a different culture, even simple things dont necessarily hold the same meaning or value. The ability to use a verbal shorthand is lost because the whole construct of understanding is based on very different values and historical knowledge.
My work deals with the issues and obstacles of telling my history story. Every time I am in a situation where I need to explain or tell about who I am, I figuratively unpack all the boxes I travelled with. Sometimes the stories follow a different order and different things are emphasised and there are subtle differences in meaning from one occasion to the next. The configuration changes although the essential truth of it all remains the same...but the constant reconstruction of the larger story allows the nature of it to change.
My works revolve around this "telling of history story"
To show this I am working in and on boxes...painting objects which will go into boxes, painting onto actual boxes and special boxes which have been purpose built to show many ideas, but the panels obstruct each other. Other works will be built from collections of loose bits, rather like a quilt. (no...not a quilt!!) There will be repetition of imagery and sly trompe l'oeil trickery to add a confusing element.
Right now I am in the process of making and preparing the various objects and surfaces onto which I want to paint. The want to look old and used and I am going back to my recent career as scenic artist in film and TV to use techniques of breakdown and aging which will make everything look used and well travelled.
It is taking some time... be patient....Hoarknockle is trying his level best.

paler shade of white

2010-08-08T11:54:00.003-06:00

its takes time to build a good layer of paint thick enough to look like years of paint build up. Hoarknockle has been faithfully working away at layer after layer, day after day.
The image of the squares with the surfaces set into them are a box with pigeon holes into which I have set small pieces of card and layered on thick paint which has now cracked rather delicately and beautifully. Onto the smaller card surfaces I will paint an image which will collectively become one picture. The pigeon hole box will be mounted on a larger wooden panel which I have also been working on.
The other image is an old piece of board with a door cut into it...and this piece is also currently undergoing the layered paint treatment. There will be an image on this board and another, possibly contradictory image inside when the door is opened.
I have also been working on sketches and concepts and more priming of boxes with mysterious hidden panels.
The preparation is tedious but allows much time for thought and making of plans. Working on a number of pieces at the same time also avoids time spent watching paint dry.
Lady Sandra and I took the yacht out on the lake last night, sipping a delicate Gosset champagne while watching the sun set . Most soothing. I highly recommend it.

layers

2010-07-30T08:05:00.003-06:00

the work before starting on the actual painting is less romantic and just requires a brush and paint applied to a surface to prepare the surface. This gives me time to reflect on the concepts and techniques I want to use and refine the imagery I have in my head.
As I sit here watching Hoarknockle scrape and paint the boxes and boards I will use, I can sip a beautiful wine and marvel at the tenacity of the human body as it works to paint and sand, a tedious and exhausting cycle of steps that will allow me to work on a velvety smooth substrate.
I am also using an old scenic painting trick of painting acrylic onto PVC plastic in layers and then peeling it off and then sticking it to a board or other surface... this gives the effect of thick old paint which can be peeled back or cracked and splintered off, giving wonderful textural effects. I also plan on using chips and sheets of this paint to draw on in silverpoint.
I havent really thought this whole thing through properly... now that Hoarknockle is painting, I have no one to minister to my demands for libationary sustenance....and I cant seem to remember any of the other servants names, how do I call for anyone?
I wonder if Lady Sandra knows?

...and once again...from the top...

2010-07-29T13:16:00.004-06:00

back from the land of chocolate and wild yeast beers...and the famous Fabrique Nationale weapons factory! Yes Belgium.
Hoarknockle is holding me steady as I plunge recklessly into my HISTORY STORY project. (Although the title may change depending on my mood and whim)
The grant I received from the Saskatchewan Arts Board will allow me to work almost exclusively on this project which will deal with the notion that I have to explain my background to the people I get to know in the country I now call homeland. Because I was born on a different continent and have boxes full of real and metaphorical stuff to share and explain, my work will deal with the concept/metaphor of boxes and the contents.
The white boxes shown in the photo were custom made for this project and have all kinds of wonderful hidden, sliding panels on which I can paint. So far its all priming and getting them ready...quite a lot of preparation before one can get to the juicy stuff.
I now have red and white wine piped to taps in my studio, a large supply of cripplingly expensive cigars and a new collection of artistic cravats and berets to wear while I paint.
Lady Sandra is out tending to the poorly as she usually does. The boy wonders are individually either flying a kite or riding a bicycle very quickly.
Rather exhilarating!
Its about time for my snack of crepes and melted Belgian chocolate...

grant

2010-07-06T08:31:00.002-06:00

DELIGHTED!
Rather like finding a lifetime supply of champagne hidden in a dark part of the wine cellar. The Saskatchewan Arts Board was generous enough to offer me a grant (a fistful of dollars in real terms) and this will allow me to pursue more personal work without concern for commercial return.
It will also mean that Hoarknockle will be able to devote his full attention to my every need while I paint for every waking hour.
I shall be pursuing work for an exhibition themed around the idea of how we explain ourselves and how stories are re-used and retold and how they can change and vary and suffer changes in narrative order. How does this affect the verity of the story?
This is a wonderful opportunity...my thanks to the Arts Board!
And now... entering from stage left is Hoarknockle, resplendent in a black velvet and leather ensemble, bearing libations for the long suffering artist....an artisanal gin I believe? Life can be demanding!
Cheers!

live from a screen

2010-07-05T16:52:00.003-06:00

an interview done recently.
The cat image is visible during the creation of the art .
Hoarknockle managed to stay off camera.

is that the sound of antonio banderas?

2010-06-26T16:16:00.003-06:00

I suddenly hear the voice of Antonio Banderas and it strikes fear in my veins... and this image looks like one of those sad eyed cat pictures sold in furniture stores. But the real cat looks like this... I may need to retire for a massage and a stiff gin and overnight rest before looking at this again.
Hoarknockle likes it. Lady Sandra has not yet seen it in this most recent state.
What will the dogs think of me if they find out I have been drawing a sad eyed cat?

growing kitty

2010-06-25T09:08:00.003-06:00

sometimes the work just seems to grow from its own volition. Its like catching a perfect wave and holding on as you surf it, unsure if you'll manage to ride it all the way. Occasionally a work does this and you are left slightly breathless by how it propels itself along and you only seem to be sitting by watching.
This cat drawing is going that way..... so far.
I have been putting down washes and working into them to model the forms and its been working well. Often even simple tasks will seem to be thwarted by inane little details and irritations, but on other days things seem to flow without impediment. This sounds so terribly Jedi.
I am having fun with this.
Hoarknockle has a TV interview with a local network this morning to cast some light on life on the estate and working for us. He has dutifully dusted off some inconsequential paintings he has done, hoping that they may ask him about them. I'll try not to interrupt the interview by calling for tea....athough, then again........

hairless

2010-06-24T12:14:00.003-06:00

The debate over genetic engineering is often mere hysteria. Occasionally there are things that give me pause to consider why they exist. Rather like the BMX X6. Fainting goats. Chihuahuas and miniature Dobermans. Hairless cats.
Its rather as though some person was bored and decided to push the limits of sanity. "Hmmmm lets see if we can cross breed a blind mole with a horse?"
IN this case it seems as though the cat was cross bred with the skin of an elbow. (Anyone familiar with Billy Connolly's elbow skin joke?) Its an interesting animal but I'm not sure its a very good idea. This is not the kind of thing nature would have come up with without some hallucinogenic intervention.
No matter.
The cat exists and its a challenge to draw the millions of little carunculated little folds of skin. Hairless is still okay...but the wrinkled skin is not a characteristic I would have added. But as an artist, the thrill of drawing it is huge fun.
I wonder what would happen if you rubbed Oil of Olay Anti-Wrinkle on it?
The image is still in early stages, so watch this space. It will improve.
I have my very own opera ensemble warming up for their performance of the Ring Cycle while I work. I do believe its an opera about the Tour de France. ALLEZ!
Hoarknockle is shaking his head at me.
Lady Sandra is sunbathing in her Lady Godiva outfit.

baked in a pie... er, box

2010-06-16T12:45:00.002-06:00

The birds are all in...done, cooked.
I wish I could see this image from the outside... as a person who stumbles upon it without having made or thought about it.
I have contacted artist's representatives and over a long time have done so many times... and never had anyone show interest.
Is it too far off the main road...that well travelled path which feeds popular culture the pre-digested pulp they so desire. Fast food of the mind and soul, the crippling addiction to mediocrity.
OKay...what's next?
Lady Sandra took the yacht out to get the mail. Have I mentioned how much rain we have been getting? I do believe I have seen a submarine at the local airport.
Hoarknockle is getting moldy...either that, or he is wearing a green velvet suit.

tin bird too?

2010-06-12T13:34:00.003-06:00

this image is begging for some kind of explanation...I think. I shall abstain from stating the obvious.
As the rains continue... or has it ceased? (it has!)
Farmers were exchanging their tractors for submarines.
I have continued my exploration of this flying creature in my picture as his kin tug fat earthworms from my sodden lawn. I think I was first drawn to draw them after seeing a pelican covered in iridescent black BP spilled Gulf oil. The poor bird so entirely coated in blackness was a powerful graphic image... unsettling and inky wet. Maybe it reminds me of Mickey Mouse's foe from many years ago...The Blot! (yes...a very long time ago)
This picture is possibly a rather surreal collection of ideas... but then I do wish to avoid the obvious and easily digested literal "smack you in the face with a baseball bat" kind of concept. Or so I hope.

tin bird

2010-06-09T16:18:00.004-06:00

Legerdemain ... trickery!
Yes... its not a real bird. Hoarknockle was aghast!
The story of the grackles continues with this rusty impostor pretending to be a bird.
After the rain the handcrafted tin cutout just had to rust...even digitally.
At least the cool weather and moisture is good for the wines in my cellar.
Red wine is a fine antidote to the damp chill.

boxing

2010-06-08T16:50:00.002-06:00

It keeps going. The rain confines me to my studio rather than getting outside and riding with the hounds on my bicycle.
Lady Sandra has been driving indoors lest her car gets rained upon.
The grackles are behaving in their boxes.

baked in a pie...

2010-06-05T10:13:00.003-06:00

well...in this case put in boxes, not pies.
I have laid the base of boxes in this digital drawing and am adding the birds. Its part discovery process as I look at the birds on my lawn and see how they move and act, then try and find something about them that is interesting and use in each bird in its box.
Its like carrying memories of events of experiences or people in your mind, there often seems to be some illogical memory hidden amongst the categories of things... and I often wonder how this particular memory may have become lodged in a specific group of dissimilar recollections.
This is progress thus far. No birds were injured during the making of this image. Hoarknockle was subjected to repeated tea-making.
This image still has a way to go yet. I'm curious as to where it will go. Fingers crossed.

early birds

2010-06-04T11:42:00.003-06:00

The rain had blackbirds hunting earthworms trying to escape the soggy soil and brought the proverb, "Early bird gets the worm", to mind. Followed quickly by "opening a can of worms".
The blackbirds have quite an ominous stalking stride and their graphic yellow eyes with black centers give them a very evil look as they poke around the lawn in search of worms. Like some avian opera without singing. Equally incomprehensible story line.
Possibly the best word to explain the feeling is ominous.
Either that or I would have to say they remind me of Hoarknockle skulking around the corridors with a hangover.
These are all going into boxes I have drawn. Lots of textural patina and atmospheric marks.
Lady Sandra has been baking peasant bread. There is a certain irony in this. The house smells delicious. I need to investigate.

just a house

2010-06-02T10:36:00.003-06:00

just a house this time. A house from the past where memories were made.
No afterburners or the smell of jet fuel.
Its for a friend who will give it as a gift to the person who lived there for a long time. I wanted it to have a feel of something well worn and well known. There are a few birds and a squirrel near the tree. There is an old push lawnmower rusting quietly.
Nothing grandiose. A peaceful drawing.
I should ease up on the relaxing herbal tea and have an espresso. Maybe give Hoarknockle a whipping.

roaring afterburners

2010-05-23T07:02:00.003-06:00

I am still shaking the noise out of my ears. I had the good fortune to be next to the runway at the Maple Flag exercise when a whole lot of machines leapt off the ground. Miraculous I tell you! This new flying machine invention will change things a lot.
I don't get out of my studio enough, that is evident.
It was quite a thing to watch F16 and F18 planes rocket off the runway of Cold Lake air base. The sheer intensity of the subsonic shock is exhilarating. Lady Sandra was on hand to hold my camera bag (occasionaly) and also to snap some photos with another camera. She was also one of three ladies there and drew enough attention to cause a pilot to wave at her while he was taking off! She is the type of beauty who would have been painted onto war planes as a pinup girl. She has decided that her life wont be perfect until she buys and flies her very own F18 Hornet. Seems I will need to sell a few paintings.
There were quite a few planes from distant lands as well as their crews. Interesting to see and experience. Apart from the jets, there were also some transport Hercules and Transalls from Germany, France and New Zealand.
I have been at work on a digital piece that shows most of the planes I saw on the day. Its a collage of sorts
with a drawing as main image.
I have yet to devise a way to show the roar of the engines. Meanwhile Hoarknockle has been tasked to make jet noises in the background to inspire me. (Just between us...he isnt really succeeding)
"Hoarknockle!"

reflections

2010-05-13T07:28:00.003-06:00

there is a lot of staring and pondering at times...and its not the kind of thing people should see. I mean.... its just the kind of thing that brings people to believe that artists stand around, doing nothing.
In spite of the problem, I do stand and squint at the work a lot...its my method.
This is the current state of the Snowbird painting.
To me, the reflection on the shiny skin of the plane is so seductive and the challenge of making a flat piece of canvas look like shiny metal is just too good to pass by.
The work is something of an abstract because its not immediately recognisable as a plane.It is a collection of colour planes (no not the aero-plane kind... this sounds too pun-like and not intended). Then hopefully it will lure the viewer in to look and see or be beguiled by the illusion of volume and reflection. In a perfect world it would.
Hoarknockle has been hard to work with...his simple mind sees nothing of this and his opinion has been of no use to me. He keeps asking when I am going to paint a nude. Suggesting that we call on Mr Gorefinch's niece to model. I see a pattern developing here. Fortunately for us both, Hoarknockle still possesses the ability to make tea and relieve my thirst with suitable libations.
This work is almost done... some last touches here and there after some intense staring.
Imagine a small plastic trumpet fanfare accompanying my announcement.
toot!

jet in abstract

2010-05-07T13:35:00.003-06:00

My head is still ringing with jet sounds after going out to the local air force base to see the national display team, the Snowbirds, fly their official first display of the season.
They were great. I snapped hundreds of pictures. So far so good. I want to use the images for artworks.
I am currently working on a large painting, canvas stretched onto an old door. Normal size person door, not a Hollywood size portal.
I have taken an image from a photo and reduced it to something closer to abstraction than a pretty rendition of an aeroplane.A Snowbird display plane. It doest have any recognisable wings or engine...or pilot for that matter. What I am hoping to do it paint the sexy reflections on the highly polished paintwork and use the actual colours of the surfaces to take it to the edge of abstraction.
It involves some large scale brushwork and some fiddly smaller stuff...a good mix to prevent me from getting bored.

caught in trap

2010-04-28T09:24:00.002-06:00

The child portraits have been delivered. The parents like it. Nothing like painting a child portrait to bring out the utterly defenseless, insecure artist in erm...uh...Hoarknockle...yes..thats it...Hoarknockle! He was just so worried about the children looking perfectly as they should... I had to give him the afternoon off.
The idea of seeing children's faces on milk cartons is something distinctly unnerving. The thought that each photo is actually a person who is missing. Its so pathetic and desperate... the kind of situation one never believes yourself will ever have to face. It brings all kinds of horrors to mind. Lots of "what if?" questions.
When you read of dreadful persons keeping others captive in a dungeon or a cage... always makes me wonder about who might be in a situation like that right at this moment... one day we may see the story in a paper and try to recall what you were doing at that moment...and how horrid it must have been for the victim while we continued obliviously with our lives.
Milk cartons are so democratic. The lowest common denominator which we all seem to have in our homes. The milk carton is a symbol of the common place and the ordinary.
What if the concept was changed and what if...?
The longer I worked on this, the more creepy and disconcerting the wire cages around the corks became. The twisted, torqued wire suddenly had a whole new voice.
No wonder I had to give Hoarknockle the day off.
Now I'll have to go and mow the lawn myself. I often don't think things through so well.

wrestling with children

2010-04-26T11:43:00.003-06:00

I do believe this one is done.
I am always ever so careful when I wrestle with young children. They are delicate and one has to use small brushes and a lot of glaze to achieve a good likeness.
I know there are some portrait painters who achieve the finish by using bold and powerful marks...but I really cant do it. I find the faces of children to be composed of most delicate shading and shape. I admire those who can capture it in fresh quick strokes... but since this is my style and my work.... "Aah, tea, why thank you Hoarknockle!"
All this one requires is a last coat of preserving varnish.
I wanted this painting to reflect the personalities of the children and to give some idea of who they are and what they do.
Its been a demanding time, and I'm happy with the results.
Now on to some digital drawing.

forging it ahead

2010-04-19T08:31:00.002-06:00

Awoken from slumbers after the weekend I see the portrait is as yet unfinished.
Hoarknockle has been taking it easy. He has been out tending to lady Sandra as she burns the oils all day and night in her efforts to assimilate a number of heavy and large textbooks. She is writing a large examination soon and it requires a huge quantity of information uploaded into her brain.
The servants are living the good life and I shall have to bring back the lash. Next thing they'll be wanting to be remunerated. Rats!
I shall have to drag myself away from the trout pond and life of leisure to complete this painting. I cant see it doing so by itself.
Never let it be said that I dont give my everything in my efforts to achieve perfection. For the greater good and all that!
Hmmmmm brushes..let's see...
"Hoarknockle! I require tea!"

love of excuses

2010-04-15T12:00:00.004-06:00

It was Hoarknockle!
It was a horrible wind storm!
It wasn't me!
Okay..having got that off my chest and out of the way....
I am working on a portrait of two beautiful children. They are on the canvas together so that they wont be able to take it away from their adoring mother once they grow up and leave home. The mother reasons that if they were two separate portraits, it would be simple for them to take their child images and go. Now it seems they will have to fight one another for ownership or decide not to have a picture with their sibling on it too. I'll tell you the outcome of this in about 18 to 20 years.
I have tried to adopt a playful approach to this piece and keeping the brush marks free and loose and quick. They are children and fill of spontaneous actions and energies. The one is a small male person and the other is a female and I want to try and show some sibling connection as well as the difference in their styles.
So far so good. Alternating between glazes and big brushstrokes in strong colour.
I have forsaken the joys of fortified (reinforced?) beverages during the week in a vague hope that it might increase my ability to consume body fat. Thus Hoarknockle is plying me with tea rather than my usual libations.
Due to my use of acrylic paints, I have no recourse to sniffing solvents. 'Tis a hard life I tell you.

got it

2010-04-01T09:28:00.005-06:00

My blog did continue, but Hoarknockle was the one diverting it to some other site and I think it may have spoiled some persons fun by having my blog where they didnt expect to find it....yes...those of you who visit the dark side will know!
I was wondering about the notion of spoiling a porn site with good art works....My question is...can porn be spoiled? Isnt it sort of spoiled already? Dont think about this too long...it really is only a passing thought and a provocative one at that.

On the menu today is the board I did for my son. Its a board used on water, rather like a wake board...only for kiting. You get pulled along by a kite rather than a boat. I dont really like generic things, so I painted the board in this flourishey swirley design for his birthday. It was a wonderful variation to my normal stuff.

fits and starts

2010-03-31T10:04:00.002-06:00

Most distressing the lack of blogging.
I'm looking for someone to blame it on. There is a shortlist.
For want of a better reason, I can only say that I was working on two pieces which I had to keep secret. One was for Lady Sandra and the other for my younger son. For special events.
The first one here is of the piece I made for Lady Sandra... its a picture of her parents from long ago.
I painted it on cedar fence boards which had weathered beautifully. They hinge inwards and close with a slide bolt. It looks like a piece of fence or a gate. When you open it, it reveals the painting.
I'll post the work I did for my son in a following blog.
Right now I'm working on a piece for a competition, the logo design continues in the background and I am painting a large portrait of two beautiful children.

digital rarotecha

2010-03-14T09:00:00.004-06:00

Not often do I plunge recklessly into work without a good idea of what I want, but this time I have. I havent had the time or the opportunity to try something experimental and for some reason I have found barriers in my head. Artificial lines in the gray matter , barbed wire with "Perigo minas" stenciled crudely onto metal signs hanging forlornly from the rusty strands. And for some odd reason I obeyed my own decree.
What do I know? I know better than to listen to myself. I should have learned it from my sons, they never seem to.
It was a journey of exploration into a well known territory, hoping to find something new.
It was different and familiar at the same time. Rather like cobbling together a being from friends' body parts. (I have just been reading about Mary Shelley and her famous book)
I hope to enter this in a competition.
I have given Hoarknockle orders to keep his fingers crossed.
Right now most of my brain is elsewhere in Belgium with a cyclist racing Omloop van het Waasland...a 194km race at frightening speed. The cyclist is racing for Fuji Test Team from the Cycling Center. He is my son.

quo vadis?

2010-03-12T10:48:00.004-06:00

what a pregnant statement...cliched.
Who knows where this might go?...I am making something and will be entering it for a competition... fun being able to recycle one's own work like a collage. Um yes...I guess I'll have to start producing some real new work soon before I wear these older ones out completely!
Ive recently sent off an application for a grant from the arts board...fingers crossed. It would be fun if I got it.
Meanwhile forging ahead and havent really done anything fantastically creatively new. Sad. But such is life...one has to take care of the mundane and the tedious too.
I have been working away at the logo too. Some fine tuning and revisions. Client had some concerns and I have been smithing the designs a bit more and feel they are getting more refined and improved. Polish.
Good to feel like an artist today again.

logo pogo agogo

2010-03-05T11:54:00.003-06:00

Couldn't restrain myself from making bad rhyme above.
I am still carving the logo and design thing.
Its a departure from my normal kind of work...but due to the intelligence of my client, she has given me carte blanche to develop, create and grow something unique. A true bespoke design that does not come ready packed from a font machine. It's difficult but vastly more rewarding to do. I can just feel all the little gray cells applauding the exercise they are getting.
Its a wonderful opportunity to wander into less familiar territory and get to play with things I dont often have the chance to do so.
Hoarknockle is managing to keep the generator going (by pedaling the generator, galley slaves are fun to watch!) ... so my electric equipment all works. I do believe the uncouth oaf is getting rid of his expanding girth. Jolly Good!

time hiccups

2010-03-04T11:56:00.003-06:00

Time has not been flowing, rather coming in irregular burps. Which is why my blog has not been regular...all due to the time burps.
I hope time-space continuum has been restored.
Its been busy. Packed my eldest off to Belgium to race with the Fuji Test team at the Cyclingcenter.
Also trying to whip Hoarknockle back into shape by making him ride my indoor bicycle trainer every day. He bleats like a baby.
The wind has been blowing on occasion and that means I am out with my younger boy, holding his equipment while he flies about beneath his large kite with skis on his feet. Exhilaration by proxy... or vicarious prairie skiing.

I have been jerking around rather like a ferret on espresso.
Sometimes everything gets in the way. (its my excuse)
At last have returned to being creative... dusted off my favourite ivory tower and taken refuge in it, making squiggly things on paper and the magical screen connected to the electrical socket. My friend in England likes her logo and now its time to turn it into letterheads and all kinds of things.
This most recent thing is a heading to be on her website.
I just need to lash Hoarknockle again...he is pedalling the generator to produce electricity for my machines. Slacker!
And I want lunch and tea.... NOW!

...I think we've got it!

2010-02-19T10:54:00.002-06:00

Sometimes the break through is small yet significant. A subtle movement around a corner gives sudden new perspective and then you see things anew.
After obsessing about aspects of the logo, I sort of lost sight of the goal and ended up trying to force the green marble background to work. Walking away from something is hard, especially when it has presented a challenge. But enough.
I went back to the brief and thought about the function of the logo within the thoughts set out by my client.
One has to think clearly and only focus on the nature of the piece.
This starting to sound terribly zen... maybe it is. Whatever it might seem, it has worked.
Maybe I should approach doing laundry in the same way.
There is beauty in purity.
Now most of the work is done and the client needs to ruminate over the suggestions and examples and make the call. Then the letterhead and other children of the logo icon can be brought forth....I see a procession and pageantry , banners and music... fanfare!
Hmmmm...what is in this tasty herbal tea that Hoarknockle makes?
Which reminds me......

logo developments

2010-02-18T13:33:00.003-06:00

The logo continues and has had a few interesting iterations. My friend, the client, loves the lettertype and the design. I am happy!
Its been fun working with this logo/name. I have been tweaking it in al kinds of ways and making it do things for me. When it goes well, its exciting.
The green background in
this image is a photo I took of a bucket of waste paint that was being mixed together before being recycled. The colours and the swirls were enchanting and I took a photo. It rather looks like stone...onyx or green marble.
Back to work!

logo jiggle logic

2010-02-17T14:22:00.002-06:00

Some jobs come flying at you out of the blue... this one was one of them...
A dear friend of the family called from London (yes the English city!) and wanted me to redesign her business name and logo.
I don't really do logos, not in the graphic design sense anyway.
After reading her the whole forty page proviso and health warning, she still wanted me to do it, knowing full well that this was not to be anything clean and clinical like any good type software could offer. This would be hand hewn from the finest paper and ink made from 100% natural organic hand grown materials (tended to by children deep in the Abscondian Forests).
She designs fine interiors for refined clients in a rarified atmosphere of elegance and interesting people and also does stupendous floral installations for persons and companies who can afford the last word in excellence. She is to be found at www.cornecopia.com .

There is an elegant atmosphere that oozes down the telephone line from from someone like this, calling from London. I wore my burgundy velvet smoking jacket for the occasion and had Hoarknockle bring me a snifter of Cognac.

The term for this kind of thing is "bespoke". Handcrafted. Original. One of a kind, made to order, only! The logo and lettertype will be entirely, uniquely crafted and not taken from a plastic boil-in-the bag, instant noodle dish.
After some thought and several pencils, I came up with some ideas and started the to and fro which is typical of this bespoke business. I wore a cravat for the occasion and had Hoarknockle smoke a cigarette in a long silver and ivory holder.Outdoors obviously, I cannot abide cigarette smoke!

Tea was Earl Gray and served in the Spode bone china. Was there ever any doubt?

ghost of crutches past

2010-02-16T10:33:00.002-06:00

There are a lot of amazing systems built to support cameras...and with the DSLRs that can now shoot video, there is a bigger need than before. The DSLR camera format isnt as ergonomic as the purpose designed camcorders and this causes the DSLR to be less stable when shooting video. They are great when shooting stills...but can become really wobbly when doing video.
The rigs built by mainstream camera equipment companies are very expensive...one can deduce why....its built for an industry that is known to have masses of production money. In my case, not the case.
I thought about this for quite some time and was stumped about possibilities. When trying to find something in a storeroom, I happened upon a set of crutches and they seemed perfect for a basic skeleton. I built and modified and sawed and cut and added bits with cardboard until I had something I thought would work.
A local company welded and fabricated the cardboard into metal and now I have a shoulder rig at a much lower price than anything I could have bought. It works well too.
Briliant!
Oh...the documentary I am making is about the dreams of a young man who is trying to make it as a professional cyclist in europe. It may take a year or two.
Meanwhile...I shoot footage and make art and tea.

the nest that started it...

2010-02-12T16:55:00.003-06:00

Thanks to the magic of digital photography, I found an older photo of the plover nest I painted onto the floor at the Deltacrest home of our friends when I was there quite some time ago.(many many beautiful memories!)
Our friends now live in Australia and no longer have a plover nest with two eggs hiding behind their back door...which was why I painted a more portable version for them.

nested

2010-02-12T14:45:00.004-06:00

The soup and the wine made an incredible supper last night combined with fine company. Hoarknockle outdid himself.
The nest is done.
I tried to keep it loose and quick. Added a last coat of satin varnish and now it waits to go away to its new home.
The rig I had built by ProMetal is proving to be a good one. It holds the camera well and seems steady enough. The new camera is well designed, heavier than my previous one and has a massive increase in quality.
The HD video it shoots is amazing. It doesnt look like video...it has a filmic look to it which makes it seem richer and more beautiful. Fingers crossed!
Weekend is here and with it promises of Valentines day and some fine, fine wine to accompany a morsel of foie gras. I know the winter games start tonight...but the thought of some good wine thrills me more.
Hmmmm.... what shall be next?
Tea.....

nesting

2010-02-11T14:57:00.003-06:00

Sweating on the stationary bike as opposed to sweating on a stationery bike is an interesting concept. A Stationery bike would be an elegant thing printed on ivory card, small and easy to carry with you.
A stationary bike is a lot less elegant. I try and spend at least 2 hours a day on mine in order to avoid the dreaded cabin madness and to fight off the million threats to my heart. My heart may be benefitting but my bottom is certainly having a hard time.
Right near my stationary bicycle stands my work table with the most recent piece, a painting of a Crowned Plover's nest.
When we were visiting the fairest Cape in South Africa, we lived at Deltacrest near Franschhoek...pure undiluted beauty. The plovers breed everywhere and happened to have a nest close to the house. There is something about the courage of a small bird making a nest in plain view and keeping anyone away by dive bombing predators. The eggs are brilliantly camouflaged and really hard to spot if you dont see the birds sitting on them.
This piece is for very dear friends who no longer live there and have moved to a distant land. I painted a similar piece directly onto the concrete floor of their kitchen, behind the backdoor. (difficult to remove and take along) I am hoping this will take its place.
Hoarknockle is making a delicious smelling lamb and bean stew for tonight... to be enjoyed with a fabulous Diemersfontein Pinotage and good company.

long quiet...

2010-02-10T09:12:00.003-06:00

It was Hoarknockle, I swear. He was supposed to fabricate a credible blog about art while I was sitting and doing nothing.
I see now that he has not been doing this and for al intents, it looks like I have been doing nothing.
Which is not true!
It's been a busy time.
I have been working on the beginnings of a documentary, buying equipment and reading books and harvesting knowledge from anywhere I could find it. Isn't the internet a wonderful place to research and find information?
So far....
I have bought a Canon 7D camera which can shoot HD video and a beautiful little GoPro HD camera which is smaller than a pack of cigarettes (and a lot healthier too!) and shoots full HD video with an incredible dynamic range.
I have been getting a post card made to send out to clients and publishers.
I have been making lists of everything I need to do and keep track of. Making lists of lists....(sad isnt it?)
I have been living with snow. Lots of it.
I have been out and about with my younger son for his speed skating season. He did brilliantly and is now done with his speed skates. Went out on a high.
I have found a wonderful wine shop which sells excellent wines...nearby! Oh Joy!
I have been chatting to possible producers and broadcasters who might advise me on the direction of my documentary and ultimately where it will end up.
I am making a painting of a crowned plover's nest with two eggs in it... for a friend who lives far away.
My eldest son and I baked a magnificent chocolate cake from scratch, just because he saw it on TV and wanted to do it himself and we will share it with friends as its just too rich for only us to consume. Hoarknockle is cleaning the kitchen aftermath.
I shall be posting the image of the plover nest soon.
It was the winter blues slump...nothing more.

doldrums

2010-01-14T07:47:00.002-06:00

...well not really, more like a gusty breeze blowing me in circles.
I got some work off to a publication and then started work on an image for my son's high school end of year program. Its rather tough going when there is no brief, yet the recipients have all kinds of requirements and no one "knows" what is going on. As I am doing it as a freebee, one would imagine they would be on top of it...?
Meanwhile I have been doing research into all things technical. More to the point, matters pertaining to the new Canon 7D camera which shoots HD video and we are hoping to use in the making of a documentary. Its rather like having the ingredients of a very complicated cake all whirling about in mid air, like the particles in an electron cloud. You know there are there, but you have no idea what they look like or where they are.
The past few days have been educational. I have been learning.
Also cut up an old pair of aluminium crutches to form the structure of a camera stabilising rig I am building for the new camera. It needs to be welded together...I dont think the masking tape and hot glue is enough...not to talk of the cardboard mock up adjusting junction I made.
Busy without too much to show for it all. Satisfying though.
Hoarknockle is nursing some hot glue burns...I cannot imagine where he got them.

slimmed down

2010-01-05T19:24:00.002-06:00

Throw out the clutter; I dont know what I was thinking. Was looking at the image for a while and decided to simplify it. Lower calories. Maybe it was the sound of "Biggest Loser" in the background. I think Hoarknockle was watching, he has a thing for tubbies.

dream dream

2010-01-05T10:34:00.002-06:00

After some hard hatching, the image is developing some depth and then I may do some more.
Painter has so many little aspects one finds over time... well, I do. I keep finding things I didnt know were there and they make work easier. There certainly is something about developing an image and seeing it grow...you plunge into it and lose yourself at times.
Thankfully Hoarknockle has me attached to a safety harness and can pull me back if I go in too deep.
Its snowing today...light fluffy like meringue....hmmmmmm meringue.
Time for tea?

fading jangle

2010-01-04T13:49:00.003-06:00

....and as the jingle jangle of the shopping mall music fades mercifully...
I'm here again, at my warm computer, a cooled teacup at my elbow. Hoarknockle is almost fully recovered from the abrasions sustained during the festive hurly burly.
Lady Sandra bought me a delightful Picasso, although I was hoping for a swath of Monet's Waterlilies. The only thing that prevented it was finding a large enough wall for it to hang on and her Ladyship was not going to allow me to move her collection of rare and unique snow shovels. Thus for now, the Waterlilies remain in Paris.
My wrestling contest with designer chairs continues.
So far so good. I may have to get into it with some more ink and pen and really give it some wellie. Not sure if anyone will comprehend the subtle humour of an ejector seat. Nonetheless.
Cross hatchings and more hatchings. Next is the completion of the tin chickiola. Both of these images have to be done by wednesday.

marcel duchamp in barcelona

2009-12-30T13:50:00.002-06:00

Christmas was wonderful. Lady Sandra gave me an old pair of gutta percha waders which belonged to Winston Churchill. Cigar burns all over it. They smell like only old rubber objects can.Toasted it with Taittinger.
What happens when a genuine Barcelona chair daydreams? What would it dream of?
For now I have the chair done and the dream/thought bubble. The shape and design of the bubble should be recognisable to disciples of Dada as the shape found in Duchamp's "Bride stripped bare.." It has a beautiful colonic sausage irregularity which I found hard to resist.
The premise for this image is the preciousness of interior design objects and how they have become icons of taste and elegant living. As beautiful as they may be and as often as I have coveted these things, just so I have my doubts about their credibility due to overexposure and gaining de riguer status as emblems of success. No matter.
Thus we see a Barcelona chair sitting happily in a well appointed space, daydreaming of other objects much as a teenager would do. It makes me wonder what kind or erotic thoughts a chair would have and which images would be erotic to a chair. Obviously this kind of thinking is couched in ironic reference to well known symbols and their meaning.
I dont want to give away the punchlines to this image too soon.. and will show it as it goes along.
Its fun.

weather outside is frightful...

2009-12-23T15:00:00.004-06:00

Sheets of horizontal snow, driven by a vigorous wind and numbing chill. I hold a mug of restorative tincture of sugar cane in an attempt to banish the dismal picture....and by Horace, it really works!
The jingle of merry festive bells can be heard over the unrelenting howl of the blizzard and I can see from the calendar that it is the season to be jolly although nary a sign of global warming to be welcomed.
I have been hammering at the tin picture and have been bumbling my way to a new version with more clutter and accessories.
I feel like a jolly old man giving gifts to this vacuous spring loaded girl. Boing! I wonder what she would really want if she could tell me? I have to guess and have come up with a few different heads that might be helpful in her quest for attention.
Have the sketch more or less sorted out and now to ink and then colour it up prettily.
The tractor is rumbling through the snowdrifts as it clears pathways and roads that Lady S and I may take our late afternoon sleigh ride through the estate, fortified with cognac and good cheer.
Jingle jingle.....

tinny revisited

2009-12-22T12:55:00.002-06:00

The snow looks like a storm of polka dots or a flurry of halftone spots, badly arranged. Once they hit the ground, they lose their individuality and become a beautifully smooth homogenous blanket that hides the unsightly drab of bare trees and brown foliage. Footprints are healed and like sand in a desert, the breeze sculpts soft undulating curves... poetic.
Hoarknockle has been looking after me, adding restorative extract to my tea.
I have decided to revisit the tin girl and bring more to her and her situation. She seemed too alone and without any motivation. She has been haunting me for a while (ghosts of Christmas passed out?) and I had to come back and see if I could help to complete her. Sketch added to the original and more to follow.
I was wondering about this girl...
I think she is typical of a species of girl named after foreign hotels. Lacking in nothing except for insides and mind. How desperate must this not be? How utterly lonely and empty. What do wind-up toys dream of? Can tin girls remove their underwear?
Who winds them up when they are run down?

The polka dots are intensifying, there is a winter storm warning out. I smell mutton stew from the kitchen.
Here comes Hoarknockle with some more restorative extract.

in a pear tree...

2009-12-21T11:53:00.002-06:00

A slight change of pace in this festive season. The partridge flew off leaving me with some pears. Hoarknockle is about to do them in red wine for later tonight.
This is nothing huge or clever. Its just a piece because the pears were beautiful and I liked how they stood obediently in line. I wanted them to have some gravitas and to tip my hat at the 17th C still life artists who did such inspiring work. Plain and simple. No special effects, car chases or exploding spaceships.
The Christmas tree has gifts beneath it and a wonderful feeling of anticipation permeates the house. There is enough snow outdoors to make it look beautiful, without disrupting our lives.
I want to get back into the deep again soon and rework the tin chick image I made. I think it needs something to make it more convincing and add some layers of meaning to it. I may have been a little premature in finishing it. Okay, okay...it seduced me.
Here's to all my friends...
Cheers

website refreshed

2009-12-17T11:47:00.004-06:00

My eponymous website (www.johannwessels.com) is newly refreshed and refurbished with most recent work.
After some time of neglect while I slaved in the film and TV industry, I had to clean it up and make it pretty.

For the picture today it is a photo of the three books I did cover and inner illustrations for. I think they may only be available in Canada.

Its time to get more traffic through it and generate some interest.

Now I can get back to making some more art....after I have tea.

ah!

2009-12-16T13:20:00.002-06:00

This is the return of an old friend, my collection of eyes from some time ago.It has brought me some joy!
The most esteemed publication, Creative Quartely, has chosen to offer me a Merit Award in the field of Professional Illustration.
SooJin Buzelli just destroyed the field, winning almost every conceivable prize, I thoroughly agree, her work is wonderful. I'm just thrilled to be in the mix.
The work will all be published in the CQ Journal in April 2010. A nice birthday gift.
Hoarknockle is in the cellar finding a suitable wine to go with a Merit Award.
I am trying to fake understatement and a deadpan expression.
No time for a bed of laurels. Tempus fugit.
cheers!

framed

2009-12-14T16:24:00.002-06:00

Here is a shot of it framed, as I am about to walk it out of the house. Hoarknockle is all bundled up against the ...the ...the...the... I am at a loss for any word strong enough to describe this most malevolent and rapacious chill that sits outside the door in wait of some poor creature. I don't know how the squirrels do it.
I keep looking at this piece and wondering about that narrow line between the technical details of the plane and my artistic interpretation. I believe fellow artists will support my artistic rendition. Its all about who you ask. I have planed an interview with myself for later tonight. I hope to shed light on the exact thrust and thought of this concept and what I had hoped to achieve by it. I have a pad of paper and a few sharpened pencils and feeling quite unusually nervous about the interview. Not sure if I am more nervous about interviewing the artist about this recent work or nervous at being interviewed by a probing person wielding a notebook and sharpened pencil. Lady Sandra may be able to defuse the tension by sitting in on the interview in her red, skin tight leather suit. (I do believe I feel the tension dissipating as I write this)

There is a powerful aroma of mutton soup from the kitchen. Anything to battle the agony of this pernicious chill!

I hear the baying of sled dogs and the crack of a whip. Seems like Hoarknockle is ready to go.
I do believe a bold libation of brandy is justified.

plane threesome

2009-12-12T17:22:00.002-06:00

Eventually, after some tough negotiating with myself, I got the threesome sorted out. The three planes drawn in fairly small format, almost more of a sketch and trial than anything major. The planes took center stage and the clouds a close second. I think its evident I had fun with them.
There is always the issue of detail and accuracy when dealing with technical objects like planes. They do so need to look like the real things and have sufficient number of parts...wings, tails, propellers (or not). I was trying to come up with satisfactory combinations of all the vital parts, in correct proportion and also using the right balance of artistic flair. The old content versus form issue.
To me these images firstly need to sing of flight and exhilaration, before the pundits can come and count the rivets and wrinkles. I wanted to create a poetic justice to these fabulous craft that do the impossible: Lift free of the earth and move into the air in almost any way they choose. To me THAT is still a magical thing. No matter the physics and the mechanics of how it is done, its still a marvelous impossibility that happens in front of my eyes. Rabbit from a hat, all over again. And again.
I have framed the three pieces, they are smallish, about 15cm square (thats 6 inches, more or less) in a long rectangular frame with three windows through which you can see the pictures.

Lady Sandra gave it her approval. Enough said. Hoarknockle has been plying me with Campari and orange since early today and I see a new bottle of untasted French Sauvignon Blanc chilling.
Tora! Tora! Tora!

hawk trainer jet

2009-12-11T08:48:00.003-06:00

The problem with having different screens and printers is that they too often dont speak the same language or use the same reference on which colour is darker or more saturated. The images off my screen dont seem to have the same quality as those spewing from my printer. After some tweaking I think I have the prints the way I want them.
After some revision of the Hawk image and adding some more to it, the picture finished itself late last night. The clouds seemed happy and the slight background gave it just the right amount of depth. I discovered a small detail in Painter which has made work a little easier. Thanks to Don Seegmiller's book on Advanced Painter. Thats the shortcoming of teaching yourself a a software system, you might miss out on the basics you should know... and because you don't know it as you should... you don't teach yourself the stuff that will matter. This allows one to learn something even years after learning to use it the first time. Note to self: Remember to learn things properly before teaching yourself.
At least now I can still fall back on the old excuse of having had a stupid teacher. I should refrain from explaining who the teacher was.
Here's a toast to all gifted teachers who have the knowledge to teach and inspire. They are jewels to be treasured. To the awful teachers who leave scarred and bored students in their wake: "You suck!" (I am compiling a list with names of awful teachers)

Cheers

Hawk trainer jet

2009-12-10T14:57:00.002-06:00

I have been enjoying the process of the Hawk picture. As it progresses, I keep finding things to add and do to it. Wonderful.
Not often does a picture allow me to have all the fun, they can be cantankerous and difficult and wont allow me to have my way with it. Maybe this one realises I will respect it, no matter what.
I am working on the clouds and this is only a process image to show where its all going.
I have a final addition which I will be throwing into all three images after I complete this one.
Lady Sandra is having fun with her collection of snow shovels.

jet whoosh in full digital appreciation

2009-12-09T14:29:00.004-06:00

Sitting here with my feet wrapped in a warm blanket while Hoarknockle massages my shoulders, I can occasionally hear the planes rush overhead. Working on the delicate details of a Hawk jet trainer tailpipe, I dont always have all the detailed information I need to make sure it is anatomically correct.
In the past I would have had to dig out the trusty Nikon F, full manual 35mm camera and get myself out to the base and spend an entire afternoon trying to avoid frostbite and getting a decent photograph through the imperfect window of the Maybach. In all probability I would not have managed a perfect photo of the part I would need. After having the film processed and only two days later would I discover that I would have to go back and repeat the exercise. Thank goodness for digitality and the wonderful webbed world which will now bring the images to me in delightful crispness. My thanks to everyone who puts beautiful photos online. Although I would never dream of any possible plagiarising of such images, they are useful to confirm the existence of detail which my own photos may lack. Every darling little rivet is plain to see. (although how some racy pictures manage to find their way into my search for a Hawk trainer I cannot fathom. If I had searched "rivet"...well then maybe....)

What it is about the glistening surface of an aerodynamic object that appeals so powerfully, I cannot say. But there is a true visceral thrill about the nature of beautifully crafted objects. Michelangelo would be proud of some of these sleek shapes.

This Hawk will be the other bookend to the three craft triptych. Harvard, Snowbirds and Hawk. A quick sketchy image which I hope will capture the fast nature of these dart-like objects. All I have to do is complete the entire image now...so far only the lone Hawk hanging expectantly in a undrawn vacuum. All I need now is a quick spurt of Instacloud from a spraycan. If only!

Lady Sandra is oiling her collection of snow shovels.

flying cloud tag

2009-12-08T21:33:00.002-06:00

The image I posted seemed rather wan and colourless alongside the richer one with the Snowbirds. I couldnt let it go.
Hoarknockle boiled up a cauldron of marshmallows and threw the sweet lava into the frigid air (minus 30C, minus 22F) and they solidified in a perfect towering mass, which I drew into the waiting image of the 3 Harvard trainers of yesterday.

All 3 the Harvards came over and thanked Hoarknockle for the beautiful marshmallows. He is a prince.
Obviously I had to use a little poetic license to change the marshmallows a bit, had they looked exactly like marshmallow, too many prints of this image would have been eaten by accident, and as we all know, Harvard trainers can cause serious indigestion if eaten with marshmallow. ( no ice cream was harmed during the making of these images!)

I have developed a lot of respect for artists who paint beautiful cloudscapes. They are pretty difficult to do well. I also suspect that my rendition of the Harvards dont have quite as many rivets as the real ones. (all aviation buffs please excuse this)

Next is a picture of a lone Hawk jet trainer. (I may draw another one to keep it company)
I am thinking of a new way to draw dramatic clouds for the background. Hmmmm, shaving foam?

jet trails

2009-12-08T12:58:00.003-06:00

I came across the work of Brian Despain. What a wonderful surprise! Rich intense and beautiful. When someone does something that well, it inspires.
I took one look at what I was doing and immediately added "Instant Cloud" effect from my collection of clouds from a can. (part of the "Landscape from a can" collection) Just one spray and you are smiling.
The small red and white aircraft are the Canadian display team, the Snowbirds, who fly out of the airbase nearby. I had Hoarknockle carve each one from a rare hardwood, starting from a cubic meter of wood and ending up a small model about the size of my hand. They were painted and hung from invisible strings. (OBVIOUSLY!)
This image will be the centerpiece of the triptych I am working on. It has an apocalyptic glow to it.. an ominous golden resonance that I quite like.
Its rather cold out still. Axel the hound couldnt find his feet after going out for his early morning, backyard visit. He came galloping through the backdoor in a rather uncoordinated way. Thirty below zero in centigrade isn't funny.
Lady Sandra is using an electrically heated snow shovel in her daily shoveling adventures. Hoarknockle walks behind her, carrying the batteries.
Cheers!

flying around

2009-12-07T14:02:00.003-06:00

In the spirit of flight, I decided to continue and make a three part image of planes taking off and landing at the airport. They will become three smaller panels framed together as separate images which all belong to the same idea.
On the one side will be three Harvard trainers, center will be the Canadian show team, the Snowbirds trailing smoke and on the right side will be a Hawk trainer.
I'm working from a series of photographs I took myself on a rather cold day when my fingers ceased to function effectively and refused to tell me when they pressed the shutter button.
I'm doing it in a loose style...sketchy and quick.
I occasionally hear the planes overhead although the current outdoor temperature of minus 26C (minus 15F) discourages me from running out to wave at them.
Hoarknockle has been forced to accompany the dog outdoors to prevent him from becoming frozen to the spot when he undertakes his communion with nature.
I very much want to get out and capture some different photos of the flying machines. Not in this chill .Hoarknockle is too busy polishing up the brass sleighbells to come out and keep me covered in electric blankets.
A parcel arrived today, addressed to Lady Sandra, which looks alarmingly like a Zonda sportscar.
Time to soothe my nerves with some tea....

flight of planes

2009-12-04T12:05:00.005-06:00

After some time in process, the first 25 prints of the aeroplane arrived from Squareflo printing. What lovely prints they are. Done beautifully on watercolour paper.
A small issue was raised concerning copyright. Hmmmmm. Not something that fills me with unbounded joy, having to defend my right to make art of something in full view and of an object that my tax dollars fund. I guess they are just being careful about who and how imagery is used. But I do find dealing with burocracy tiresome. Even more so when it is something I know is within my rights and I dont need to defend it. The notion that I should be challenged on this is irritating. Raises blood pressure.
Anyhow, this is being processed at high level and I hope to get the green light (even though its my artistic right to make images!) to continue.
I have consulted with some established and renowned aviation artists on this issue and they have all chuckled at the challenge saying that this has been explored many times and the artist is within his rights doing just this. But it seems that the powers that be dont tire at this game. A game funded by tax dollars. Hmph!
Ah well.....
Lady Sandra has added another snow shovel to her fine collection and Hoarknockle is converting an old violin case to house her new high speed, low volume, front pathway shovel. We may have to add another storage room to the east wing of the manor.
Overnight temperature dropped to minus 26C and I am thankful that my wine collection is below ground in a thermally stable environment. I may go down and visit them in a while....just to chat and see how they are.
The wolf painting is being presented tonight at a dinner in honour of the recipients. I have wrapped it in purple velvet.
Lady Sandra has just called for me to attend tea in the drawing room.... I cant keep her waiting.

last wolf howling and a jangle

2009-12-03T10:11:00.002-06:00

Give it one last howl I say. Got the varnish coat on to protect the painting. After buying rather an expensive special artists varnish, I found it gave a rather dirty and smudgy finish... not at all what I had hoped from an expensive bottle of "special" varnish. It left my work looking as if someone had spilled a cup of tea on it. Not the kind of professional finish I strive for.
Ended up giving it the well proven polyurethane floor varnish with satin finish. It brings out amazing depth and clarity in a piece...even small brush strokes wake up and play.
As a final flourish I decided to give the banner at the top a small bit of fake flaking and cracking. No reason other than I wanted to give it something, a goodbye gift from me. Might be too subtle for people to notice as being fakery, but then that is also the whole idea behind the trickery, isn't it?
Also did all the boring stuff like screw in the hardware for hanging, so pedestrian after having fun. It gets worse...now I have a small list of administrative details to take care of... backing up files, tidying up and making sure I have my stuff all neat and tidy and up to date. I should get Gorefinch from the neighbours to send his niece over to be my filing clerk. If only to see how she drives Hoarknockle to distraction. Gratuitous distraction.
Lady Sandra is perfuming the manor with delightful baking scents. I imagine there will be something delicious with tea today. (apart from herself!) Tis the season to be jolly!
There is a generous layer of snow outside and I should get the carriage and horses out for a jingle jangle down to the village.
Alert the stables, Hoarknockle!
Aaaaaaaaah yes...

wolf painting

2009-12-01T13:27:00.002-06:00

There are times when an artwork takes on a life of its own and wont happily submit. This one was a fighter.
I think this one is done. Maybe one or two small tweaks.
Unfortunately my photo was a little fuzzy... it is sharp in reality.
We had snow overnight and I have been doing some recreational snow shoveling as well as having to go out and buy another shovel. Lady Sandra is a connoisseur of shovels and has one for every possible kind of snow, all kept in velvet lined oak cases next to her collection of medieval truth extraction devices. I bought her a rosewood shafted, titanium bladed, left handed, wet snow shovel to celebrate this new fall of whiteness. A thing of beauty.
Hoarknockle is building her a storage case for the new addition to her collection. The scent of freshly milled oak!
NO tea.

cold water

2009-11-30T09:05:00.003-06:00

I thought to post the obvious in a note on the painting. In a style befitting the litigious obsession of the average north american consumer who has to be warned against any and every possible threat, many miles or hours ahead of time. Even the most obvious dangers require shouted warnings to discourage any possible chance of accident. Ever.
I wonder when the mountains are going to be painted with health warnings? I shall let this remain here, rather than pursue the rich vein of irony and stupidity that it offers.
In this painting which recounts the adventures of a married couple into the wilds of northern Canada. They shunned the warm safety of suburban life and the comforts of retirement age, to leap into the unknown wilderness where wolves and other WILD and DANGEROUS creatures have no hazard labels. Neither do the rivers or cliffs. Irresponsible!
I enjoyed the focus of fussing with the demands of a small patch of paint masquerading as something else.
Only part still to do is the hummingbird.

woodpecker effort

2009-11-29T09:56:00.003-06:00

Fussing with details in different parts of the painting often bring progression and no great feelings of doing much. Incremental change is visible but nothing dramatic. Its so much nicer to get a part or a piece to a level which gives a satisfying feeling of achievement. A milestone.

This little woodpecker is from my very own garden. He has drilled a hole into a Russian Olive tree and I have seen him there quite often. I managed to fire off a few photographs of him sticking his head out as he is here. I can't quite determine if he (she?) lives there, but do see it around the yard pecking away at suet I put out. I'm quite stunned that a little beak like that can drill such a perfect hole into that hard wood.

This smaller part of the wolf adventure painting is in recognition of the bird watching the couple does. On the other side of this work is a hummingbird to balance the woodpecker. The hand with the scalpel is in a box between them.

I have about a week to complete this work which has become quite a bit more complicated and time consuming than I originally thought. Lots of fine and detailed work. Although if I woodpecker can excavate such a beautiful hole and cavity from hard wood, I too, should persevere. (quiet moment of profound consideration)

Quiet day. Hoarknockle is reading somewhere.

May have to make tea for myself.

into the fray... unafraid or unfrayed?

2009-11-28T07:54:00.004-06:00

The flu shot has hurt my left arm a bit. Lets hope I dont get the flu, although having had it in spring, I may be immune anyway.

The wolf painting seems to be finding its sweet spot. Sometimes one just has to knuckle down and do it properly with a small brush and a lot of intense concentration. No fakery.

After leaving the piece last night, it has several areas of need right now. Some of those look intimidating and I know are going to require some deft brushery.

When in doubt put on a glaze layer. I have. Then get back in there and work on some highlights.

I often doubt my own methods, using photos to refer to and taking numbers of photos to use as I build the images. I saw a book on photos taken my the master Norman Rockwell. He used photos extensively. He had people pose in exact poses for him. People who looked just like the characters he needed for his illustrations.

And there I was thinking that the great ones just drew from quick reference sketches or memory.... This is a small relief. Even Vermeer drew with a camera obscura device. Rembrandt occasionally used a grid system to assist composition.

Even with all these devices...and I have a clever computer to aid me, I still cannot find a method to fake genius. But I am working on it.

Hoarknockle will be so glad he can take off the wolf fur suit now that I am using photos of a wolf. He is doubly pleased with this new development, I was planning on a rotund female nude next and he was quaking at the idea of having to dress up as a naked woman.

Thank goodness for digital photography. My father spent many many hours inside his darkroom getting black and white prints done. Hours developing films.

Im consciously thankful every time I unplug the flash card from my camera and download the images in seconds. Here's to you , Pa, I often wish you could see what I'm getting up to.

Time to put paint to canvas. Here's Hoarknockle with the tea.

actual paint and panic stuff

2009-11-27T09:19:00.004-06:00

Sometimes I get lulled into a comfortable haze and forget to panic at the beginning of a new piece. Sure enough the panic will be there, if only a little later when nothing wants to work out. The brushes go on strike and the paints all become chameleons and wont stay true to to the names on the tubes.

Fortunately panic restores normality to function and I reset to default levels.

The wolf adventure piece I am working on lulled me into thinking that it would be quick and easy. It was supposed to be. It isn't supposed to be a magnum opus... evidently the work itself has other ideas on this matter.

None of the usual tricks and devices want to work. I think its called a learning curve. Just when I thought I was done with curves.

It has become more of a collection of small individual images knitted together like a group of friends who look out for one another. I get the feeling they will gang up on me as I add to their number. I may need Hoarknockle to be in close attendance at all times to spot me, much like a weightlifter has. Just in case they become belligerent. Can't have that.

The surgeon's hand goes into the little box at the bottom of the work. Cannot allow work to intrude on adventure, which is why the door can close and lock.

The woodpecker is almost done. The hummingbird, the fish and the warning note need some urgent attention.

Time for my five minute, pre-tea, panic.

Hoarknockle is wearing his rubber leggings today.

Lady Sandra is on the prowl.

Swine flu shot later.

Panic.

cottage, small, lake side.

2009-11-24T08:18:00.005-06:00

Just done a picture of a cottage on a lake nearby. The cottage exists no more and has been replaced by a larger one with more. More.

The picture will go into the MORE house as a nostalgic reminder of less. I believe there is a wonderful irony hidden in that. Rather like when I think back to my days in the army while I drink a fine Sancerre and miss being slim and strong. Its all about contrast and setting. Nothing exists happily in a vacuum. Except maybe the particles in the Large Hadron Super Collider. Although none of those have been granted interviews to express their feelings.

The wolf adventure picture is next. Rather like a good desert after a meal and I'm looking forward to it. There is a lot to be done and the deadline is in sight.

On top of that there is a possibility of a large animation job full of challenges and a very steep learning curve. The Mont Ventoux of my craft.

I am plagued by lower back ache and the thought of standing in front of the easel is better than sitting at a table with a computer.

Lets hope Hoarknockle may have something in his arsenal of pharmacological delicacies.

artification

2009-11-23T10:37:00.002-06:00

A week away from home whilst M skated on the old Olympic Oval, such pristine ice bearing the memories of powerful skaters and their blades. Lady Sandra and I visited temples of commerce and fashion while she recuperated after her surgical modifications. She is doing well.

The time away was to have been entirely without work, but I was tracked down by work and had to busk some images in very unsatisfactory conditions, thankfully I was able to cobble together some technology and fashion some drawings for a hasty presentation to a client. Maybe it will pan out and bring an avalanche of work in this lead up to the festive season. Fingers crossed!

Back home finds me at the drawing board again, this time making an image of a lake side cottage, a quick piece that has to be done in a day. As is often the case, its from an old photo bearing insufficient visual information, so inventiveness is a key element. Lets hope I dont get overly inventive beyond the reality of the structure. As is also often the case, this structure no longer exists, but in the minds of those who lived and visited there. Those memories are so often coloured by events rather than fact. One could get quite philosophical about this. I shall resist it.

The portrait set I made was well received, even by the girls whose faces it features... always a good sign. The ongoing wolf adventure painting is sitting quietly for now, tomorrow will be its turn again.

Thank goodness for technology and tea. Hoarknockle approaches.

portrait peek

2009-11-13T15:12:00.003-06:00

Nothing like spending a good part of the day dealing with the vagaries of digital printing and the inability of a machine to render colours accurately. Or is it the machine? Could it be the machine operator who may not have told the printer what it had to do? This could be a long debate.

It did remind me how much more fun it is to mix paint and apply it to canvas and not have to deal with intermediaries like computer, printer or the printer operator in the case of having work printed elsewhere by people who "know better".

Time is running short and this portrait piece needs to get done, no later than tomorrow. There are currently two more paintings waiting... like planes waiting to land at Heathrow airport in London... circling around patiently waiting to get all clear from the tower.

Lots of layers of glaze and more adjustments.... and taking care not to overwork it... although I believe I may have already. My inner critic is a mean person who is never happy with the work I do....Enter dear Hoarknockle with gin and tonic which always quietens the critic down a lot. Either that or G&T makes me deaf. Who knows?

I have added a last trompe l'oeil effect in the form of a sticky note which seems to be attached to the painting. Rather like a fun dessert after a big meal, I'm enjoying this last little tweak. The critic within seems to have lost the battle temporarily.

The wolf painting is watching me from the other side of my studio table. Lots to be done and I shall be away for all of next week on a skating retreat with Michael who will be perfecting his technique of speed on long thin tongues of burnished steel, shimmering across 400 meters of flawlessly perfect Olympic ice from Games long gone.

Lady Sandra is recovering well.

Here is a tidbit of the portrait piece. Not wanting to show too much before I deliver it into the hands of T and D... the proud parents.

Hoarknockle is coming down the passageway to my studio and I can hear the surreptitious clink of glass and ice. Good Heavens! Its friday!

wolf adventure

2009-11-12T11:39:00.003-06:00

Lady Sandra is back from the surgeon in one piece and wont be racing the Bugatti this week.

Meanwhile I have been working on the wolf painting.

The thinking behind this piece is the recollections of an adventurous couple who have travelled and seen great many things. In this piece is an abbreviated catalogue of their adventures and in the lockable box at the bottom of it, a reminder of his career which has to be kept out of the times they spent away, not intruding as it would have in day to day life.

The wolf, the northern lights, the canoe and a big orange fish are all part of their peregrinations to distant places. On either side of the lockable box will be images of a hummingbird and a woodpecker, indicative of their energy and also her passion, birds.

This is still early in the development of the picture which is why the colours are still rather intense.

The four portraits which I have been working on wont be on display for a while as they recipient might be able to see them on the blog and would nullify my attempt at a surprise. But it will be shown sometime next week.

I have been reading Ben Shahn's book "The Shape of Content", a wonderful piece of work regarding visual art. Certainly most highly recommended. Thanks to my esteemed and talented colleague Ilene Lederer for suggesting it.

During Lady Sandra's absence (only a day, but things went downhill at a frightening rate without her steady hand on the tiller) we ran out of all manner of vital things and were reduced to eating caviar on toast. Hoarknockle is seeing a therapist.

adventure painting

2009-11-05T09:13:00.003-06:00

Recording the adventures of explorers isnt easy.

To better capture the atmosphere of frigid northern exploration, I have had Hoarknockle dress in furs and sit in a large freezer, pretending to be fishing for pike through the ice.

He has brought a number of stuffed animals into the studio to add to the ambience... although in his eagerness he brought a few unsuitable species which my ancestors brought back from all over the world. I dont think tigers of ostriches are endemic to the northern tundra. I didnt have the heart to order him to return them to the storerooms. They look quite heavy....oh yes... just occurred to me, the elephant must have been difficult for one man to manage.

I want the painting to recreate the feeling of exploration and the hardships associated with it. Textures and colours too.

In that spirit, I am painting onto an old piece of faded wood, planks boarded together to form a surface and on top of that I have placed some other smaller pieces.... sounds complicated, just look at the accompanying picture.

The lower center piece is a small box, an old mailbox with a rusty door and a small window.

I could tell what I am planning on painting onto the various panels... but thats a story for another day.

The atmosphere in the studio is wonderful...I hear the stentorian bellowing of the bull moose.... oh no, its Hoarknockle calling from inside the freezer! Time to let him out, he needs to serve tea.

state of studio

2009-11-04T08:31:00.003-06:00

The studio has a life of its own. (or maybe its Hoarknockle who adds his personal touch overnight?)

During the making of work, things get used and put down, often not touched again and left to stand where is came to rest. Work will sometimes move to another part of the studio and the table will be left as it was for some time. It becomes rather like an archeological dig...layers of things telling a story of something that took place, offering clues but nothing certain.

I'm back at the studio table and easel again, working on the portraits and another piece which has been commissioned for a couple as a memoir of their adventures. How does one really capture many and diverse experiences into one piece without making less of an important moment or diminishing the intensity?

This couple have been exploring the length and breadth of Canada, especially the great outdoors and far off and desolate places few human feet have walked. (which is why they often took a canoe... not many feet get to walk on water)

I'm considering painting elements like a canoe, a wolf, a fish and birds... many different elements and objects which will allude to their travels and experiences....and avoid making an image which might end up looking like a bad collage of holiday pictures.

Hoarknockle has been sent to find the ingredients for peyote infused tea. I'm hoping that a cup of that will bring on visions of what I need to do. The regular Earl Grey has not been of much use.

Ah!...I hear his well modulated footsteps, he aproaches! Hmmmm Tea!

soaring above

2009-11-01T12:29:00.002-06:00

I think Ive got it!

Some more tweaking and fine adjustments and I do believe its almost done.

flying off the paper

2009-11-01T10:17:00.003-06:00

The smell of jet fuel in the morning. It wafts off my drawing board all warm and fragrant. The little aeroplane that could...and does...and will!

Its still not complete and requires some delicate tuning, but its on track.

cheers!

chick chick wind up

2009-10-29T13:44:00.003-06:00

It went right to the line. Thank goodness for email submission. (although I have no idea how a pile of pressed tin plate fits through those little wires!)

Gisela Stolzfotse has left the building. (Although truth be told I still have her identical twin sister with me)

Hoarknockle had to apply warm poultices to my aching back as I slaved away. Regular infusions of cognac helped too.

I am riveting the aeroplane together next. After all the experience with tin toys, I think the aeroplane will be much easier. Its only tin riveted together...I think. Different paint job.

Lady S arrived back at the manor with a new Lamborghini Murcielago. I have no idea what she did with the Enzo. Hoarknockle is currently looking into that....after he gets me tea.

wind up and enjoy!

2009-10-29T09:00:00.002-06:00

It has been a good day and the image developed well. Its a good day when a piece goes according to plan. An even better day when it goes according to its own whim and draws itself. Even better if I happen to like what the drawing board shows me.

Every new piece I start always brings the same kind of mild dread, a feeling of slight nausea and bewilderment. A feeling not unlike when you jack into the matrix and for brief moment have no idea where you are.

I have known where I wanted this image to go and what I wanted it to look like. Often the image wont cooperate and is intent on following its own direction.... and its hard to have to discipline it back onto the right path.

I really wanted this to look like an old tin toy...one that could have existed and something you might find in an antique store in Prague, a place only serious collectors would know of. Right there next to the wind up leather clothing and tin whips. The owner's eyes twinkling merrily behind his pince nez spectacles as he proudly shows you his special pieces.

You wind it up and let the key go. The motor inside whirrs and the figure moves her hips alluringly. Hand built by a toy specialist (Gunther Holzbanane) who lived in the old Weimar Republic and was forced to flee to America where he designed wind up dentures and hamburgers. His design for a wind-up politician (you could wind it up all you liked and it never did anything) never sold.

So...this is Gisela Stolzfotse, wind up dancer. She may have lost her head but she will always be a chick to me. Rest in peace Gunther H.

There is work to be done! Gisela is not finished yet.

Lady S and the Enzo are still out on the road. There have been forty hand delivered speeding tickets at my door so far. They make a good doormat....at the tradesmans entrance.

Aaaaah yes...the delicate whirr of an old clockwork motor.

tin toy chick

2009-10-28T14:04:00.002-06:00

I love contrasting unexpected combinations of things.

An icon hiding in a toolbox.

An artwork painted inside a suitcase.

A sweet antique wind up, pressed tin toy with an adult twist. The antique toy market is a big thing and there are a large number of old children's toys for sale at inflated prices.

The idea of combining this innocent and simple concept with adult thinking brings all kinds of possibilities to mind. The removal of the original head and replacement with that of a chicken... isnt that what a lot of men do in their heads? Don't chickens mainly lay eggs and breed?

In this version some of the toy has come apart exposing the inner wind up spring mechanism.

So far so good. Nothing has broken so far.

Outside snow is falling and adds to my dedication to staying indoors at work while Hoarknockle feeds the fire and trickle feeds me some restorative Cognac to ward off chills.

Lady S is out driving the Ferrari to see if it still sticks to the snowy road as well as in the dry weather. Im not sure if its the sound of the engine howling in the distance or the wind.

tin chick

2009-10-27T14:18:00.003-06:00

The portrait is simmering quietly while I attend to something that fell by the wayside for a moment. The aeroplane is also doing well.... out flexing its little wings and buzzing around happily.

Project of the day and next few will be an image of a wind up tin toy in the antique tradition, all suitably worn looking but also of a more adult nature, not at all the type of real toy that may have existed to amuse children. Queen Victoria would NOT have been amused at all.

The toy will be like the european pressed tin figurines topped with the chicken head shown.

The rest of the figure will gradually emerge as I draw it. I dont want to give it all away right now.

I have had a model posing for my drawing; Gorefinch of our neighbour, has a willing daughter who needs no winding up, and I had approached her to model poses for me. Hoarknockle seemed very interested in having her pose for me. However Lady Sandra didnt feel it quite proper for Hoarknockle to gaze upon her rosy flesh and has decided that she would pose instead. Hoarknockle has been banished from the studio wing whilst most fabulous Lady Sandra does her Lady Godiva.

All this means that I have to arrange drinks before Lady S goes into pose mode....although I may just forget to drink......

emerging aeroplane

2009-10-26T16:29:00.003-06:00

Its happening at last! The digital birth of a delightful little aeroplane.

So far the propeller has emerged and seems to be swinging happily.

There is still quite a lot of work to be done... ultimately it will result in an 8 by 11 inch image.

I think the swarm of planes senses that this is happening and I heard a lot of them flying about today. I may go out and capture some more for other images.

D-Man showed me how to catch and handle these beauties. He has since left on a hunting trip to capture some rare twin rotating machines up north. Its migration season and he said he was optimistic about getting one.

The portrait is still going along nicely too. After some loud profanities today I managed to get the images closer to the quality I want. I dont know why I still try and paint without a large container of profanities ready and waiting. Lady Sandra feels that too much profanity can be bad for my health. Nothing like a finely applied profane-urethane glaze to bring out depth in a painting.

I hear Hoarknockle bringing the tea....

caught!

2009-10-25T14:46:00.003-06:00

After stumbling around without getting any results, I called in D-Man the aeroplane hunter.

He is a consummate professional who set traps scented with jet fuel and hung out sticky strips of fly paper. The very next day we had ourselves more than 300 aeroplanes! The work on the aviation pictures can begin!

I have been hard at work on the portrait piece. Lots of glazing and underpainting and lots of intent and patient gazing at the work in progress. (as it certainly behooves an artist to do)

I am still smitten with Van Dyke brown and Raw Umber.

The Bluthner grand piano seems to have been affected by damp and Hoarknocke had to invite Gorefinch over for a session of replacing the damp piano with the concert Bosendorfer, a fabulous deep black instrument with remarkable accoustical aesthetics. I think Murray Perahia is supposed to come by for a recital tomorrow. I shall have to remind Hoarknockle to chill a magnum of Taittinger for the occasion.

My list of pictures to start on has suddenly grown alarmingly and I may consider bringing in a suitable apprentice. I should start interviewing possible candidates.

Lady Sandra may be visiting a health retreat to refresh herself and I shall be without my inspiration for a while....or the Bugatti.

I think I need some tea to soothe my psyche.

painting faces

2009-10-21T12:41:00.003-06:00

The studio is filled with the scents of paint and tea again. Blissful to be back after hunting for aeroplanes which still have not been captured! RATS!

I am doing a double portrait, twice. This means four faces across a piece of canvas. So far got the drawings down and some first layers of glaze to give it some depth and also kill back the unbearable glare of white gesso. (yes one should tint the gesso beforehand, but why do it the easy way?) Glazes give a softer glow rather than a flat surface.

While the glazes soak quietly in the background I have Alfred Brendel playing Beethoven. Hoarknockle and his friend Gorefinch brought the big Bluthner grand into the studio for the occasion as I do find Beethoven very soothing. Brendel plays awfully well.

I am also designing some tin toys for adults. Rather more risque kind of wind up plaything. Strange what one thinks of whilst hunting aeroplanes!

Ah! Here is Hoarknockle with some Taittinger, just in time!

empty nets

2009-10-02T08:37:00.002-06:00

So far the expedition to capture an aeroplane has not been successful. One pair of dragonfly wings and the skeleton of a magpie with a lot of feathers still attached, the only concrete results.

But the picture of dozens of people stalking around the clearings and woods with butterfly nets and more recently joined by relatives trailing fishing nets (the entanglements have been spectacular!) has been something to behold. Terry Gilliam is the only movie director who could pull this off.

The highlight of the hunt has been the Lady God Diva the third, running around naked with her butterfly net streaming behind her. The paparazzi have been out in force and not managed to snap their shutters on her pale form. The Pale Pimpernel? The rain we have been having brought out a fine crop of goosebumps.

Hoarknockle has been hard at work removing the seeds from a large bowl of fresh strawberries. They stick in my teeth and I dislike it rather.

For now I shall sit here staring at a blank canvas as I sip a Howling Bluff Pinot Noir.

catching aeroplanes. literally

2009-10-01T15:33:00.004-06:00

I think we may have brought the entire village to a standstill.

I was under the impression that the aeroplane would be brought to my studio in order that I might do my sketches in preparation for the images I wanted to create, but it turned out that the aeroplanes don't just come willingly, one has to capture them. (bugger!)

I have employed a number of local peasants along with my entire estate staff, to catch me an aeroplane. They have all been running around the woods and clearings brandishing butterfly nets in an optimistic manner. So far no aeroplanes caught.

To assist, I have been playing Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries". Loudly.

I remain optimistic that we will soon have one for me to draw.