HAPPY 2019

I'm starting 2019 with a bang! All will be revealed in the first week of January. Meanwhile, my friends, happy New Year and may all manner of blessings rain down on all our lovely little heads today, tomorrow and everyday hereafter.

SEASON'S GREETINGS

Joy, peace and love to each and every one of you for Christmas and 2019. May you light up a bit of the gloom, wherever you are.

 NdA 2018 Acrylic on paper 20 x 5 cms

A BRILLIANT LAUNCH

Beautiful evening on Monday hearing Simon Armitage read from his translation (Middle English to modern English) of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and seeing Clive Hicks-Jenkins' joyous illustrations for this book projected hugely on a screen in the holy but not austere ambiance of St. Dunstan-in-the West on Fleet Street.

Wine and mince pies were on hand, courtesy of Faber & Faber the book's publisher, but best of all for me was finally meeting Clive and his life-partner Peter Wakelin, in real life. Clive and I have been friends at a distance for years but until now never managed to be in the same place at the same time. 

We both have been closely associated with the Old Stile Press, working with Nicolas and Frances McDowall on some of our artists' books. To actually embrace Clive and Peter last night, two gifted and life-enhancing individuals, was a thrill I won't forget.

One of Clive Hicks-Jenkins illustrations for the bool.

Simon Armitage reading from the pulpit at St. Dunstan, 10 December 2018

St. Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street

Printmaker Dan Bugg in foreground, Clive Hicks-Jenkins in the middle, Joe Pearsonat at the far end,

 10/12/18

LATEST SELF-PORTRAIT

I started this self-portrait last April, worked fast, didn't like it. Turned its face to the wall. Occasionally stared and fiddled with it. Left it to marinate for a few months. This evening I finished it.

I've been emerging all my long artist's life. Does anyone ever stop emerging?

Self-Portrait as Emerging Artist. 2018. Oil on canvas 25 x 30 cms

MOOD-ALTERING RECIPE

If I'm annoyed with myself, the world or any other temporary irritation, there's a simple remedy which never fails to banish the mood.

I put on a record and dance. The music must have a steady beat, a strong rhythm, nothing avant or après-garde. Some country & western, some rock & roll, tango definitely, samba, yes. Couldn't care less if my choice of dance music is un-cool. I'm on my own, dancing solo, and if my hip joints ain't what they used to be, so what? I can still move to the rhythm, it still frees my mind and lights my fire.

Tonight it was Waylon Jennings. If you're rolling your eyes, roll away! It's fun and it works. Choose your music and dance!

GLITTER

Way back when I was Hatshepsut, I liked wearing silver clothes. Still like a bit of glitter. Glitter today, fade tomorrow. Or maybe: faded today, shiny tomorrow?

TO BACH

This painting is finished. It's the first in a new abstract series I'm embarking on. The title of this one is To Johann Sebastian Bach because it's what some of Bach's music feels like, the movement in space it conjures up for me. I'd love to animate this painting. Maybe I'll try.

 To Johann Sebastian Bach. December 2018. Acrylic on rag paper mounted on board. 44 x 45 cms

INTERVAL

It's winter already. Pleased with myself for spending less time at the computer and more on art work. But then there's an idiotic kind of guilt. Guilty for neglecting........what? My facebook audience? Sitting in their seats, waiting for the show to start? My ongoing onewoman show. Idiot guilt. I'll post something soon, don't go away.

BACK TRACKING

Over the years, a multitude of years, I've accumulated hundreds, maybe thousands of notebooks, diaries, memos, sketchbooks into which I poured thoughts, ideas, projects, questions, answers, observations. Whenever I come across one or more of them it's like reconnecting with a long lost friend....so much to catch up with. I don't recognise some of the things I wrote, they seem to come from a part of my consciousness I'm not familiar with but intrigued by.

I'd love to find someone who could transcribe all this handwritten/drawn stuff into some digital format so that I could review it as a whole and decide whether to do something more with it. Do any of you know of such a person or service?

Tonight, looking for something else, I found this ballpoint sketch in an old notebook, based on a famous masterpiece obviously, but I can't remember which one - any ideas?

WORK PROGRESSING

Democrat gains to be thankful for in the US elections but the world news in general seem to be moving at the speed of darkness rather than light. What to do except to keep on keeping on?

Here's a new work in progress, still a lot to do on it. Am focusing on light, colour and unfamiliar space. So far untitled.

NdA. Work in progress, untitled. Nov.2018  Acrylic on rag paper.