"Fleurs" expo

Early first announcement:

Last Sunday was supposed to be the date for the "marché de creation"  in Les Matelles.  I had decided that I was going to just exhibit/sell my flower paintings, which various people have said they like, and have said are "commercial". However, last Sunday turned out to be the wettest day of the year - thunderstorms, 50km/h winds etc - and to top it off I put my back out. So that put paid to that. In  the meantime I had nicely prepared my flower paintings - battening them, framing them etc. o it occurred to me that as I am leaving my atelier/gallery in July (can't afford it any more - if anyone has a cheaper space in the surrounding 100 miles please let me know!!) I might as well use the gallery space before I go. So one and one does make two, and here's an announcement with regard to an exp[o of flower paintings for 3 weeks in June. Come one, come all. No vernissage I'm afraid, but if you pop by I might offer you a glass of something. Water probably!

Olympic Gold

Olympic Gold

Personally I'm not a fan of the olympics. They cost far too much money and benefit very few. The billions spent would be far better off in bankers pockets. What? Did I say that? I mean better spent on charities, education, community, health and housing. Anything that benefits people in need, not elite sports people, sponsors, and the people who get a strange kick watching obscure sports every four years. So why this painting? Why this title? Answers on a postcard...

A twopenny halfpenny or two penny farthings?

A couple of years ago at the Ganges 1900 festival i took these photos:

Some time later I painted this picture, called "Penny Farthings":

Anyway, I was never really satisfied with it. It wasn't technically good enough, the composition wasn't satisfying, etc. so I put it aside. A couple of weeks ago I got asked to take part in this years' Ganges 1900: as a street painter. There will be a few of us, and we get to show off our work in the streets and in the shops in Ganges for a month after, and we get a free meal - so it all sounded good to me! Anyway, I took out the penny farthings painting again, and started doing more to it. This is where I am up to:

Better, I think. BUT I am thinking of cutting the painting in half and rest re-stretching it into two paintings like this:

Which is kind of back to where I started. perhaps I should change them into black and white photos?

Reflections

On sunday we spent the day flogging bubble swords and t shirts at the "Fète Médiéval" which happens every year in this village. I've uploaded pictures of it before on this blog that you can see here. I guess we did ok, selling more t shirts in previous years - which is nice (want to see what they are like?: Go to my little market shop) . One of the downsides of the day was that a mirror got smashed (by my wife I should quickly add, pointing the finger appropriately). But since every cloud has a silver lining - or at least every mirror does (see what I did there?) - I decided to use the smashed mirror shards in the paintings I am working on currently. And here's the first one finished. Originally I decided to call it "Reflections".

Reflections 1 (100x100cm)

Video

Here is My Animoto Video not perhaps as exciting as it could be, but there you go!

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

Life is the same and it always will be (hey hey hey)

More paintings- all small two of them titled after a well known T Rex song, the other an old Elvis Costello number. Having finished this series of small paintings I have spent the last hour or two stretching two 1 metre square canvases. So now have two big blank white canvases sitting on easels behind me. Intimidating bastards, I'll 'ave em.

Less than zero (41x27cm)

Solid Gold Easy Action 2 (40x40cm)

Solid Gold Easy Action 1 (40x40cm)

Hey hey hey, hey hey hey
Life is the same and it always will be, hey hey hey
Easy as picking foxes from a tree, hey hey hey
But I can't get no satisfaction, all I want is easy action

Hey hey hey, hey hey hey
A stud is a lamb with the thoughts of a tiger, hey hey hey
Moves like a cat and knows how to ride her, hey hey hey
But I can't get no satisfaction, all I want is easy action baby

Hey hey hey, strule on!
But I can't get no satisfaction, all I want is easy action

Hey hey hey, hey hey hey
A woman from the East with her headlights shining, hey hey hey
Eased my pain and stopped my crying, hey hey hey
But I can't get no satisfaction, all I want is easy action baby

Hey hey hey, hey hey hey
You know my head will keep her smiling
My wondrous walk and my telephone dialing
I can't get no satisfaction, all I want is easy action baby

Hey hey hey, hey hey hey
I know you're shrewd and she's a dude but all I want is easy action
I know you're shrewd and she's a dude but all I want is easy action
I know you're shrewd and she's a dude but all I want is easy action, baby

Hey hey hey, strule on!
Hey hey hey, hey hey hey ...

Manifesto for a post-post-modern world

The Vorticists produced a "Manfiseto for a Modern World".  Are we now in a "post-modern" world? No, we're past that (or ought to be), so what we need is a manifesto for a post-post-modern world. Except the best thing about manifestos is the word "Manifesto". Lovely word. A quick Wikipedia search reveals: "Manifesto is derived from the Italian word manifesto, itself derived from the Latin manifestum, meaning clear or conspicuous". Given nothing could be less clear than a manifesto for a post-post modern world (even the sodding title is confusing - But what the hell IS post-post modern?) I think the best thing would be to produce some paintings (which is what Wyndham Lewis should have done rather than printing his objectionable racist tracts).  

Manifesto for a post post modern world (Big Eyed Bean from Venus)

There you go. This painting is 180x120cm and was previously "Big Eyed Bean from Venus" and before that many other things. It may stay like this for a while now it's a manifesto - but I decided not to completely lost the Big Eyed Bean thing - it would dishonour Captain beef heart, and we can't have that.

 (I don't wanna be) The Prisoner 30x30cm

Baby's On Fire 40x50cm

Rock the casbah 40x40

The other three (now completed) paintings from "April Experiments" all have song-related titles (now there's a surprise)  Brian Eno and the Clash. Still working on three more small pictures from the "Experiments"