on art fairs, and squares

some forthcoming art events that i will be involved in, leading up to christmas...i've sent in my three art postcards to The Royal College of Art's RCA Secret 09 exhibition... but i can't show them here as.. shhh, it's a secret..! all the cards are for sale at £40 and the artist's identity is only revealed after purchase. sales of the miniature artworks raises money for the RCA's Fine Art Fund. some famous names announced as contributors to this year's event include: grayson perry, julian opie, anish kapoor, cornelia parker and gerhard richter. according to an article in the telegraph newspaper, a damien hirst drawing from a previous RCA Secret resold for £15,600 at Sotheby's, and a Peter Doig postcard artwork fetched £42,000. the exhibition is open daily from friday 13 november to friday 20 november 2009, and the one-day sale of the postcards is on 21 november 2009. heavy queues are likely, and you will also have to register as an art buyer to be in with a chance of bagging a bargain basement modern masterpiece.i was also contacted by troikaARTS (who i had not heard of before) to contribute to a similar RCA-style postcard Small Art Fair at dragon hall in norwich, 11-13 december 2009, with the mini-artworks for sale at only £11 each.troika art postcards norwichnext month, i am contributing a couple of paintings to the NCAS Art Auction (Norfolk Contemporary Art Society), scheduled for 27 november. 50% of proceeds from sales will go towards the Sculpture for Norwich project, more details on the NCA website...targetfollowarts has invited me to participate in their Winter Art Fair at the artfactory studios on 5-6 december 2009... (i exhibited through targetfollow arts at centrepoint tower in london last year)..the group show at southwold's mark elliot showroom has just finished, but we will be back there exhibiting in the month of december...lastly, with some time on my hands, i used up two cartridges of polaroids (original sx-70 film!) just to see what happened… the films were years out of date so some unexpected outcomes were likely...sx-70 polaroid photographs[sx-70 polaroids...]they inspired some thoughts on how i can progress with the air/water ephemerality idea...Robert Polidori - After the Flood - photography book[after the flood - robert polidori...]i finally succumbed to buying this photographic tome, after the flood by robert polidori (having borrowed it from the library)... resonant, poignant, haunting, tragic are just a few of the superlatives one could use to describe these after katrina new orleans photographs; but such words would not do them justice right now... i have read a few interviews online, polidori talking about his work - much to think about, for another time...

everyday is like sunday

[on not painting...] but today is saturday, not quite silent, but none the less grey... and i discovered this in my studio...crackled paint[evidence of non-painting - dried paint residue in a water jug]

it's a sign that i have done little painting in the last month (a few hours in all, but i have been drawing)...

still life photography - a jug[still life of a painter's jug...]discarded masking tape stripes on the wall[discarded masking tape stripes on the wall...]here is one of the farmscapes paintings on the easel (a work in progress, delays likely)...abstract textured painting stripedi stretched the ten canvases for the farmscapes back in december 2008 - and they are still not finished...and i have begun to re-work the painting fenn because i wanted to...abstract painting - fenlands[edgescape : fenn]i am not a born-again artist... the artist that thanks [insert name] who blessed them with the gift of creativity, that art is their passion, their life, that they paint all day, every day - and take endless joy in sharing their unique creations with the world...paint textures in paint potinstead of painting, i have been scrutinising trees, contemplating clouds, watching water... i have been drawing inspiration from far eastern aesthetics on art and life... haiga, ukiyo, shibui to name a few... i have been looking at images of natural hazards and disasters, reading about others' visions of utopia, the philosophy of idleness and the concept of the flaneur, of the environment and the paths made by walking...using the analogy of the shark; to survive you have to keep moving, moving forward, even if slowly at times... and drawing is a means to regain a sense of my own little world, as grey as it may appear today...