Five pictures for five canvases
At the weekend I mostly painted. One man; five canvases (my mother bought them in a sale some time around last Christmas); fourteen days. It’s a challenge, but I needed something to occupy me for my time in exile. There are boxes of painting materials in my old bedroom, which have been collecting dust since April 2004. Some tubes of paint have now gone solid and some spray cans are irreversibly clogged, but there are still adequate resources to set a small production line going again, and I’m using my camera to document my progress. A lot of ‘found objects’* are ending up stuck on the canvases as well, which means lots of toxic glue vapours for me to inhale. Mmmm, toxic glue vapours. I’ve decided the theme is going to be beasts from ancient mythology.
Also, I got a phone call on Friday from the friend of the boyfriend of the daughter of a friend of my mother's (got that? I'll be testing you on this later), who's apparently travelled to Norway recently and been inspired to write a "slightly dark childrens' book", and he heard that I was an illustrator, so could he have the details of my website? He's having a look at my portfolio and says he might get back to me in a few days if it's suitable. Of course, I've been asked to do similar collaboratiosn inthe past and they've come to nought, but you never know...
Besides the painting, I went out to the Dev on Saturday for random_goth’s birthday celebrations, giving me a chance to meet up with loads of faces I’ve not seen in ages, plus a couple of new ones. And wear my new goggles. Unfortunately, a combination of smoke, pollen allergy and uncomfortable contact lenses meant I had aching eyes for most of the night and had to either squint at people or close my eyes completely and try to find my beer on the table by means of touch alone. Afterwards, we all headed for Decadence, which was my first visit there since it moved venue from Gossips. It could have been better, to be honest - it turns out the rumours I’d heard of how small and pokey the new club is weren’t exaggerations, and a drugged-up mentalist deciding to try and start a fight with fireblade__ didn’t help things either. We drifted off in our own directions before two, but it was a fun night at least because of the people.
Yesterday we met up with my grandmother and had a family pub lunch in Oxted, then did more painting in the evening and watched The Constant Gardener (good, if a bit depressing).
* Small metal chains and bits of wood. I did plan to use some old insulin syringes too (my parents’ old cat was diabetic during his autumn years) but then eBay probably have some obscure rule against selling medical waste on their site.
Also, I got a phone call on Friday from the friend of the boyfriend of the daughter of a friend of my mother's (got that? I'll be testing you on this later), who's apparently travelled to Norway recently and been inspired to write a "slightly dark childrens' book", and he heard that I was an illustrator, so could he have the details of my website? He's having a look at my portfolio and says he might get back to me in a few days if it's suitable. Of course, I've been asked to do similar collaboratiosn inthe past and they've come to nought, but you never know...
Besides the painting, I went out to the Dev on Saturday for random_goth’s birthday celebrations, giving me a chance to meet up with loads of faces I’ve not seen in ages, plus a couple of new ones. And wear my new goggles. Unfortunately, a combination of smoke, pollen allergy and uncomfortable contact lenses meant I had aching eyes for most of the night and had to either squint at people or close my eyes completely and try to find my beer on the table by means of touch alone. Afterwards, we all headed for Decadence, which was my first visit there since it moved venue from Gossips. It could have been better, to be honest - it turns out the rumours I’d heard of how small and pokey the new club is weren’t exaggerations, and a drugged-up mentalist deciding to try and start a fight with fireblade__ didn’t help things either. We drifted off in our own directions before two, but it was a fun night at least because of the people.
Yesterday we met up with my grandmother and had a family pub lunch in Oxted, then did more painting in the evening and watched The Constant Gardener (good, if a bit depressing).
* Small metal chains and bits of wood. I did plan to use some old insulin syringes too (my parents’ old cat was diabetic during his autumn years) but then eBay probably have some obscure rule against selling medical waste on their site.