Painted Floor, and a New Painting, Plus: Dates For My Show

The space has gone from this,

... to this in just over a week, I shall soon be moving my stuff in to start work.

I am taking advantage of the fact that it is too cold to go out to the new studio space today, it is 3 degrees, there is a wind howling around the house and it has been raining hard since yesterday. I can see snow on the moors beyond the back of our house, towards Hutton le Hole.   As I write this the rain has stopped and the sun is shining weakly but I am not going out again, it is too cosy by the wood burner.

Pete had to leave for the States early on Saturday morning, and, despite being exhausted after the opening of the Nicholson show the previous night, I was up and in Jewsons before they closed, buying more PVA to seal the second wall at the new studio space.  On Sunday I spent a couple of hours painting the floor and I am pleased with the result; not only is it much lighter, the space is now cleaner and there will be  less dust flying around.  All I need to do now is get the partition wall sorted out and build the false walls in front of the masonry ones and I'll have plenty of space on which to work.  I am getting there!

Chinese newspaper, collaged onto colour washed canvas

I spent a few hours after working in the gallery this week, in my studio at home, making another painting.  These early works are using up some canvases I had kicking around the studio from another project and I am using them to explore solutions to some of the problems I have set myself with this current work; combining tally marks with references to landscape and man made marks in order to express the age old theme of the condition of humankind- how to deal with the inevitability of death, but in a positive way.

Tally marks, Chinese ink

First layer of paint, over the still wet tally marks

The painting as it is at the moment, it is not fully resolved; I may change some of the colour and drawing elements within the canvas.  For now though, I will put it to one side and make some more work until I have decided what to do.  I put the tangled, loopy drawing marks over the gestural paint rather than have it underneath as I have placed them so far in drawings and paintings.  This enabled me to draw into and with the paint with a more continuous line.

detail

detail

detail

The dates for my show next year are:  Saturday 20th April - Sunday June 2nd, 2013, 
at The Gallery, Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton le Hole, North Yorkshire.

The Private view will be on Friday 19th April.

I am really excited by this prospect and the challenge it represents.

 

All images copyright of the artist.