Pop Art Patricia Pops Out

The creative train rolls on and on. Since returning from my trip 'Up North' I have produced 5 new pieces and on I go. This time I have used only the patternation.

1. 'Circle Muses' - Hurrah! the circles return and this time we have a zodiac chart. The patterned background have slightly larger pieces than usual but that is none the worse for the piece.

2. 'Good Friday' - This is my Easter 2007 picture and I lost it for a while, but it came back to me I am pleased to say.

3. 'Pop Art Patricia Pops Out' - This is straight out of the book of Pop Art ala Peter Blake. I love this piece, it is very psychedelic and came from a magazine printed in 1969.
This is a scene from one of my favourite films, 'Yellow Submarine' I look upon Patricia as a naughty Yellow Submarine girlie. I love the use of a clock in the picture. To me the image is very clever.

4. 'Life Together' - This is an image that I created about my life with my girlfriend, Kerry. the dark circle represents the darkness of the world in which we live in. The golden brown and reds are the world in which Kerry and myself live in within the dark world. Kerry is the bottom abstract and I am the top one. Read into that what you will.

5. 'A blurred moment in a girl's life' - I like slightly blurred images and this gives the impression that the girl is in a hurry and she is carrying a small suitcase. Where is she going and what is her destiny? Interesting?

6. 'Bikini Girl looks out from a busy city' - The world is getting busier. I have created a world of bright reds and yellows of busy colours to my world. Added with images of wallpaper patterns. Yet in all the business of the city, there is time to spend relaxing and our bikini girl is in an uncomfortable postion, because for some, relaxing is almost a nightmare.

7. 'World of Harry' - Harry is an interior designer and he sits on his sofa, posing. He has David Hockney glasses and a deadpan smile. I have given him a window, is that the window on his world? It is an open window that invites you to observe him from within.

8. 'Clowning around the house' - A clown stands on one leg, his way of relaxing or all part of the act? Out the window is normal surbura leaking into the picture. You have two walls and then above the sky leaking in and below the earth leaking in as well. Where are the guys that wash their cars on Sunday mornings? Clowning around means to fool around and here is the clue to the theme. Life is rubbish, get out there and make fun while you can.
This could be your neighbours!

Curse of the Blue Dream

'It's a curse, Well thy forsooth, Who is that interesting hack over there?, By Gad, verily, Cracked curse, disliked, burdened, It's a curse, and am not unguilty of using it' - Lyrics by Mark E. Smith of The Fall.
Here are nine pieces that were constructed in January of this year. Each piece is meant to be a story in itself. The influences are many, the styles are almost the same.

1. 'The Story of Judith' - A bible story - Judith means "Jewess". In the orginal painting she had cut off the head of Bethulia. I have made her into a hero of the last century with references to the first world war. Read into it what you will. One day will the Earth be water or dessert?

2. 'The Cardinal Obscura' - The title is taken from 'Camera Obscura' which from the latin means the following, Camera = Latin for “room”, Obscura = Latin for “dark”. So in this case it means that the Cardinal is dark.

3. 'The Curse of the Blue Dream' - A clown in quicksand is that? Clowns are the stuff of nightmares for some people, used in fiction as the evil side of the carnival and for others it is a clear case of finding them funny. If you see a clown in your dreams it means this:
'To see a clown in you dream, symbolizes absurdity, light-heartedness, and a childish side to your own character. The countenance of the clown is a reflection of your own feelings and emotions. Whether it is a happy clown or a sad clown, that will help guide you through how you may be feeling. The actions of the clown signifies your uninhibited nature. If you have a fear or phobia of clowns, the clown may represent a mysterious person in your life who mean you harm. Somebody you know may not be who they appear to be. Or somebody may be pretending to be somebody they are not and are hiding under a facade'.

4. 'A modern Lousie has a nightmare' - Another surreal dream piece. I felt that the girl in this picture looked like the old movie starlet, Louise Brook, mainly because of the hairstyle:
Louise Brook, a picture from the Louise Brook Society website. She died in 1985 and is remembered for that orginal 1920's hairstyle. Our modern Louise is having a bad time in my piece of art. At the top of her head is a map of Market Drayton and then a multiple exposure of waiting in a dream like state. It goes on to be scarey towards the bottom and the last image is about drowning.
I have an interest in multiple exposures, but can't seem to do them on my digital camera, which is a shame.

5. 'A Staircase Dream' - One of my favourite themes is Ladies dressed as men. I believe from the film 'Cabaret' that this was popular with ladies during the wars in Germany. In my dream piece, the sun is a watch face and the house is perched at the top of the staircase. It reminds me for some reason of Normal Bates in Hitchcocks 'Psycho'. I have a love for the artistic shapes that are produced by spiral staircases.

6. 'Ferris Halo Girl' - This is another attempt at 'Jacket Girl' style picture from last year. The halo is made up of a the slow exposure of a ferris wheel at a fairground at night. There is always an interest in the circus or the fairground in some of my work and this has come to a head here. It is a modern female Iconic image and shows an intention to collide two worlds together.

7. '5 Girls' - Another of my influence is Peter Blake as mentioned in other journal entries. This is a modern version of some of his 'Pop Art' pictures. In my work I have kept to the mosaic patterning and use circles as well.

8. 'Architectresque' - This piece follows the theme of the previous work and uses not the human form but builds in the top left is the Eiffel Tower designed by Gustav Eiffel and one of the most famous landmarks in Paris, France.
The Eiffel Tower was the winning entry in a competition for a ‘centerpiece’ for the Paris Exposition of 1889. The design by an engineer named Gustav Eiffel was selected from over three hundred entries for its striking design and for its economical structure which displayed the French prowess in metal construction.

9. 'Sunday Nude with Five Bars' - Tasteful, beauty posed for maximum control of style. As you can see it is like the bars in Peter Blake's work. I like to recycle paper and pictures in my art, which is popular at the moment. I sometimes feel that I am doing in art what Rappers/DJ's are doing with sampling past music and making them into a new piece of sound sculpture. I am very pleased with this section of work from earlier this year and I hope to bring more storytelling to my work. I love to be influenced and have an influence myself. I hope that this is a turning point in the continuing journey that is my artwork.

Half a World - Backlog 05-07

This entry is a collection of some recently found works and those not published so far on this journal. There are still an amount of art from 06 that needs to be published within this journal and they should be entered within the next couple of months.

1. '2 Ladies' - This was an attempt in 2005 to use a picture that was solid in the piece and use the mosaic patterning as a 'frame'. Is it just a picture with a nice frame or is it telling us something, is there more to these ladies than we think?

2. 'Laugh' - This is taken from a large piece that was cut down to form what was the very first round picture, I ever created. I cut it out because the patterning of the outside was not in keeping with the colours of the circle and within.

3. 'AT HOME' - A chance in 05 to use text as well as pictures in my art. It is a surreal poem about friendship that was made up of text from a magazine and reads as follows:
'At home, discarded, tossed out with the rubbish. Two worlds meet, the songs are sad, wisely we use our scarcest commodity: time. People think I'm joking when I say some species, the isolated humans have such a magnetic sense in their compound eyes to use sound echoes to detect where you are, and the direction to your destination and substitue the veils of mystery to reveal answers that surprise and, in some cases, amaze.'

4. 'Half a World' - Half a girl, half a circle, all we need in this modernist world of packaging. The hair of the girl is salon ready.

5. 'Grey Monument' - Small pictures make up the incircle of life, on the outside grey life takes a greater place than it should. Travel, follow the map to peace away from the nightmare that is everyday life. Close a chapter and get on with everything else.

6. 'Majesty of Christ' - Cut down from a larger picture yet again. The centre is the centre of an ivory Christ. He is in his temple, all is well. Prayer is the answer, so pray to Christ for some answers and all will be well.

7. 'World's best nude' - This was my attempt at the cubist images of the early twentieth century. Climb into the picture, the pieces don't mean that there is a story or is there?

8. 'Men have more balls to play with' - The humour of the title of this piece shows that I designed this with a certain person in mind and that person knows who they are. It is unmounted because I decided not to give it to them. This is a man's world caprtured in all its morning glory. Wind, rain, hail the King!

Green Map Sunshine

We open the box on yet another batch of imagination and March/April has proved that there is some interesting subjects to tackle and I wonder why that is. The major influence that is coming through is health and surrealism. That is mainly thanks to the work of Robert Motherwell:
Spanish Jail by Robert Motherwell
"To end up with a canvas that is no less beautiful than the empty canvas is to begin with."
In 1940, a young painter named Robert Motherwell came to New York City and joined a group of artists — including Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline — who set out to change the face of American painting. These painters renounced the prevalent American style, believing its realism depicted only the surface of American life. Their interest was in exploring the deeper sense of reality beyond the recognizable image. Influenced by the Surrealists, many of whom had emigrated from Europe to New York, the Abstract Expressionists sought to create essential images that revealed emotional truth and authenticity of feeling. On July 16, 1991, at the age of 76 he died: the last of the great Abstract Expressionists. From the 1949 painting, AT FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON, until the end of his life, Motherwell continued his search for a personal and political voice in abstraction. This search produced a body of work that remains a testament to the human soul and its persistence, and to the genre of abstract painting out of which it came.

1. 'White Jacket' - This 'hair piece' is taken from a hairdressing magazine and is mosaic'd on hardboard. Infact it is the first piece ever on hardboard.

2. 'Out of a grey rain moon, comes green map sunshine' - This is inspired by the work of Robert Motherwell and its the longest titled piece of my work ever. The idea was to give the whole story out of the title and not have to explain the piece if I had of called it "Cheese revenge!" or "Mountain of my soulmate's hair" I think that you get the drift.

3. 'Postive Energy' - After a day of negative energy I decided to come home and make a piece of work out of mainly the envolpes in which my girlfriend's birthday cards came in. Other sweet wrappers and crap came out of the litter bin and away we went on the Kurt Schwitters mode warp factor two.

4. 'Sunset Towers' - As the large collaged abstract moon goes down the building is bathed in sunset and it takes on a beauty of its own. The building is in Sweden, ten points if you guessed right!

5. 'The Man in the Golden Suit'. - This illustration come from a magazine sold in the 1970s and its about being shy! I thought that he didn't look that shy. As I used to be very shy (believe it or not) I could relate to the written text but not the picture, so I used it in my artworld. The title comes from the brilliant film starring Frank Sinatra and Kim Novack.
the film stars Frank Sinatra as Frankie Machine, expert card dealer (hence the title). Recently released from prison, Frankie is determined to set his life in order-and that means divesting himself of his drug habit. He dreams of becoming a jazz drummer, but his greedy wife Eleanor Parker wants him to continue his lucrative gambling activities. Since Parker is confined to a wheelchair as a result of a car accident caused by Frankie, he's in no position to refuse. Only the audience knows that Parker is not crippled, but is faking her invalid status to keep Frankie under her thumb. Gambling boss Robert Strauss wants Frankie to deal at a high-stakes poker game; terrified that he's lost his touch, Frankie asks dope pusher Darren McGavin to supply him with narcotics. When McGavin discovers that Parker is not an invalid, she kills him, and Frankie (who is elsewhere at the time) is accused of the murder. He is willing to go to the cops, but he doesn't want to show up with drugs in his system. So with the help of sympathetic B-girl Kim Novak, Sinatra locks himself up and goes "cold turkey"-a still-harrowing sequence, despite the glut of "doper" films that followed in the wake of this picture. After Parker herself is killed in a suicidal fall, the path is cleared for Frankie to pursue a clean new life with Novak.

6. 'Sukhj Purvak' - In Yoga this is I believe the alternate nostril breathing posture:
Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet on the floor, spine straight, shoulders back.
Close your eyes.
Exhale completely through your nose.
Gently place your left thumb against your left nostril, closing it off.
Using the three-part breathing technique, inhale through your right nostril slowly and deliberately.
Release your left nostril and pinch your right nostril closed with your right thumb
Exhale completely through your left nostril, then inhale through your left nostril, pinch it closed and exhale through your right nostril. Repeat this alternating pattern five times, working up to 10.

7. 'Sleeping Drunk' - Another 1970's picture. Note the difference in the colour of the drunk's coat. His hand clutches the bottle for his dear life. Nowadays its young adults that need to be watched for the fear of alcholic abuse. Binge drinking is all the rage and its this age group that are going to be suffering in later life through abuse of the body.

8. 'Kinetic 2nd Wednesday' - This is based on a famous Bauhaus art movement picture:
Bauhaus was an art movement to which Kurt Schwitters was a member, also in the late 70's early 80's there was a semi-gothic group by the same name, which had a big hit with David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust'

9. 'Movement' - A flash of "Clockwork Orange" about this piece? Well its Motherwell meets Stanley Kurbrick in a head on smash. Yet, do you see a crowd watching all around waiting? Why is the mouth open? Surprise or 'ultraviolence', bring in Beethoven and the droogs. (This will mean nothing to those of you that have not seen the film).

10. 'An illusion of beauty under a padded sun' - The blurred movement of the female nude waiting in the doorway, the beating of a padded sun down on her body to give the golden light. Is that a hint of a smile upon her lips. Waiting again. There is a sense of disappointment with the blueness of the mosaic down one side and the multicoloured excitement to come.

11. 'Black-eyed Gina' - Dennis Potter was the most challanging drama writer of the twentieth centry and good luck to him. Blackeyes introduced us to Gina Bellman and what a performance. Most recently known for the comedy series 'Coupling'. She is a deep-eyed beauty and is married to an a sculpturist. In 'Blackeyes' the plot was about "Sugar Bush," tracing the rise and decline of fictional fashion model Blackeyes (Gina Bellman), victimized by men. No easy watching believe you me, but yet very challanging for Potter. GIna's best known quote is: "I don't understand happy people. How can you just be satisfied?"

12. 'A moment's reflection' - Its that time of day when you need to give yourself time to think about what is important in your life and how you should proceed. Naked at one with yourself, the eyes are the windows of the soul. Look deeper than most.
More on the way, like the heatwave Summer.

Concerto No. 2

As promised this is a return to the Mosaic Patterning that I am famous for. There has been a willingness to use other styles but I will always return to this patterning as it I believe it is my signature.

1. 'Quiet Miracles' - This is an attempt to copy the painted style of the pieces that I constructed under the journal title of "5 Painted Pieces" from 12th Feburary. Most of the images used in this piece come from an article about the brain. There is movement in the brain and that shows itself in quiet miracles. The blue mosaic patterning is from a crumpled piece of paper and the lower green section isn't.

2. 'Concerto Number 2' - Another in the same style as the painted pieces and using a line to cut the piece into two different moasic'd patterned. The title comes from a magazine about classicial composers.

3. 'Florial Circles' - Circles have always played a large part in my art and this is an example of how the pattern of the circles in a way is hidden within the moasic patterning of the background.

4. 'Face Circle' - This is the first piece that I have done in a long time that doesn't have a boarder. The idea was to copy the style of some previous pieces, such as the ones about Marc Bolan and another about Kate Bush.

5. 'Imperial Circles' - This is all about the use of only circle to create the centre of attention and most of the circles come from a painting of Nepoleon Bonaparte.

6. 'Ceiling Appealing' - This is the clever use of two different Church ceilings being used to make a circle. Another half person comes into the scene to add to the human interest.

7. 'Maiden in Chains' - Another chance to use a black and white image within the coloured mosaic patterning. This piece was suggested by my friend Mark, who had seen other nudes that I had used in my art and said that I should do more with the female image. I am not sure that this is what he had in mind, but I am verypleased with the overtones within the piece.

8. 'Dorothy' - Created for a friend of Dorothy's. This is an attempt to improve on a previous piece that was constructed of Dorothy in 2005.

9. 'Smiling Dorothy' - From the same photo session as above this piece is for another member of the Dorothy Fan club. It is also an attempt to get back to the moasic patterning that was used in 2005 this time with images of underwater plants.

sail away pretty dreams

Another batch of pictures, this time all with the same style. I have decided that I will be taking a break from this style for a while and returning to the moasic patterning that I am better known for. I will be producing a piece for Easter and some requested pieces from friends.

1. 'UMU' - Interesting title which comes from the drum. I have been using a lot of photographic magazines in my 'Schwitters world of collage' and this is shown in the three images of the young lady posing to show the different styles in posing and lighting effects.

2. 'Apparition' - This piece was constructed from distressed pieces of paper and is one of the smallest collages that I have ever done. To show the smaller size I have given it a 2 inch boarder on the mountboard.

3. 'MENT' - The title comes from the large print word from the right hand side of the piece. This was an attempt to experiment with using text only some of which reads: 'The background Mike explained: We k's face to bring out airly dark in the final ground and his clot rwise the effect will e background he need to use". Meaningless words? More of the text that was used was from Photographic magazines and so you get "You press the button" is this random? How random is random. For those in the know 'William Burroughs' Americian author used a writting style called the "cut-up technique". Here is a quote from the use of the style:
'...All writing is in fact cut-ups. A collage of words read heard overheard. What else? Use of scissors renders the process explicit and subject to extension and variation. Clear classical prose can be composed entirely of rearranged cut-ups. Cutting and rearranging a page of written words introduces a new dimension into writing enabling the writer to turn images in cinematic variation. Images shift sense under the scissors smell images to sound sight to sound sound to kinesthetic. This is where Rimbaud was going with his color of vowels. And his "systematic derangement of the senses." ...'

4. '83' - A collection of random images, a smiley girl's face and two parts of the top of men's heads. What were you doing in 1983?

5. 'Bringing Out' - Can you see the beauty in everyday life, from signs of the future to the edge of the world in the top right hand corner. Symbols are all around us to see, but do we really see them? The green world will decay brown over time like the leaf on the plate. All images become blurred.

6. 'November' - A small piece using modern postage techniques. I like the phrase '..make a mistake'. It is an invite for us to make a positive mistake in life or in art? Is life art? I like to think that you can not make a mistake in art as all mistakes are part of life and therefore are art.

7. 'Creating better Edges' - In this black and white piece, there is a picture from Brighton at the bottom see if you can spot it. Upside down windmills ala 'Jack and Jill' and railway tracks as Brighton has many stations. The face of the girl is from a hairdressing magazine and she looks like the actress Jan Francis, better known as 'Penny' from the BBC Romcom 'Just Good Friends': Here is a picture of her, see what you think?

8. 'Primos' - This title is taken from the name of a cafe, but I was unable to find it on the internet. Local food for local people, I guess, would there be many Greasy spoons on the internet? Primos means from the Spanish 'Cousins' so I guess this place is run by a family. At least you know that you can get 'Tizer' there!
Tizer was first launched in 1926 by Fred Pickup of Manchester.

9. 'Pianogirl Skyline. Images from the early 80's make up most of this picture and I am using the same style as 'Treasure Map Skyline' for which I know I have one fan of my skylines! The face has been cut in half to show the two sides to a personality but also the use of the left and right hand side of the brain when playing the piano.

10. 'Sail away pretty dreams' - This is my favourite piece in this style and series. The large sail in the middle of the picture is use to represent the fact that in your mind you can sail away with your dreams. Lots of images in this picture come from a decorating magazine and their use is show the different ways of seeing colour in your memories and dreams. I have also used parts of other paintings by artists to show that Art can be used in the same way as modern Pop music to re-recreate a new fresher piece. One day someone will cut-up my art and make it into something new, I hope!

11. 'Windmill Face' - This piece started off life as a copy of the B&W picture "Creating better edges' but with the finding of 'found images' in my art I turned it into a face. I am not sure if I was trying to be too cleaver or not.

12. 'Align = "Left"' - The final piece in this series and it closes a chapter. Made from scraps left over from previous pieces and contains a central image of a girl in the shower with goggles on. Modern computer art crashes head on with the antique world of painted art and styles. Hear endth the verse and chapter.

I am please with this selection of March work and I will be returning to the previous world of the mosaic in the very near future. I hope that you have enjoyed this change in style, it is not gone but not forgotten....