Where the rust and water went...

Well, I've put my fear and fascination of rust and metal in water into my recent paintings.

I'm a bit of a fiddler, so these may not be quite finished...or they might be...I have to live with them for a bit, but I've really enjoyed the process of creating them, which has taken some time: because there are so many layers, I've had to be really patient letting each one dry, whilst trying to keep them looking wet...

...and this is one below I've been playing with for a while, (some of you might remember it in a slightly different way, from an earlier post 'Up Close and Underneath');
It's become a lot murkier over the last few weeks!

Routine, Lists and Nothingness ...

Well, I've cheered up since my last post!

My life is just in a state of flux at the moment, for one reason and another, but I have to say that the return of the school drop-off and school pick-up has felt incredibly beneficial to an up-tight Summer sufferer.

I've started running again, I'm doing a bit of boring work again...I have routine again!

Routine, for me, is the essence of accomplishment, and as long as I have a ridiculous, fat marker- pen list, blue tacked to a wall in front of me, I can accomplish!

Now, this list sometimes even features:

05.30. Wake Up

People are often shocked at this (possibly by the time) but usually by the fact that 'Wake up' is part of my list...

Well, if I am only able to cross one thing off a day, it makes me feel better than if I'd crossed off nothing at all...lists should be achievable, in my book (and my fat marker pen).

Actually, I have other sorts of list too, which are much more serious and ambitious, and slightly unachievable, but they are my 'long term' lists and, crikey, when I cross something off there, it feels SO good!

Over the last week or so, I've also been tidying and sorting (and yes, I managed to cross off 'sort piles of papers at the end of the bed' well and truly off!)...so my mind has become a little freer, which I'm sure has helped spark an idea for painting, which I wont write much about just yet, as it's still in a sort of infancy...

Last week I had to speak about synaesthesia at the British Science Festival in Guildford:

I played Judy Garland singing 'Over The Rainbow' (a '50's recording), and Elvis singing 'In The Ghetto' whilst the audience looked at my two paintings of the sound of the two singers' voices. I also handed 'round oranges, Maltesers and English Mustard for people to taste whilst they were looking at my paintings of those tastes...

(If you're a bit bewildered, you can visit my website)

Anyway, I'd done some of the paintings a while ago, and this talk I had to do, forced me to think again about sound, and how I paint it.

After doing a lot of voice portraits, I felt that I'd lost any 'feeling' for it; I felt my paintings had slipped simply into artistic notation.

So that's why I've been concentrating on painting things which I feel something strongly about inside: (the fear of the underneath of boats, shipwrecks, and of course telephone boxes)...and then last week, my feeling for sound and paint came back!

...and I'll hopefully keep you posted about that in the near future...

But just for now, I'm enjoying a bit of nothingness: Nothing amazing, nothing absolutely gorgeous, nothing particularly anything really...I'm just waiting...

amongst some of my sweet nothingnesses...

...all rooted by me!

It's a wonderful feeling to paint or create something you have a real passion and feeling for, even if it involves an element of nothing!

More Words Outdoors...

I'm watching British, solid rain

and feeling like a child...again.

Havn't cleaned my brushes,

Havn't cleaned my shoes

Have felt rather sorry at the Micheal Jackson news...

The rain is going crazy now,

(the cat is hiding by the door...)

the condensation's cosy though

It's good to watch it pour

Ghostly K8 with a new job...

Weird Westminster

Amazing to see this at a tube station...it's like disused underground prison cells: really odd

Here's some more collage advice...

And another...

I'd quite like to be a bar maid there...or maybe meet the supervisor!

Synaesthesia in the Loft and Bindweed out the Back...

It's been a very busy Brighton Festival Festival weekend, and I'm a bit knackered, so I'm providing a more visual diary this evening...

I was up very early cleaning the whole house, which meant going into the loft at one point where I keep some of my canvases. I'm a synaesthetic artist too; ie I paint sound, and I reminded myself of two of my paintings I hadn't properly looked at for a while...

Close-up of the actor/writer Michael Simkin's Voice...

Close-up of the actor Timothy Spall's Voice...both incredibly charming men, when they 'talked' for me!

There was also The Brighton Children's Parade on Saturday...with lots of angler fish playing the drums...


A massive and very impressive whale shark....

...and LOADS of people!



Later in the evening Queen's Park was variously lit up with fire, tea lights, mirror balls...and chandeliers...

and fiery water lillies...

Sunday, I did early morning gardening, which consisted of removing a lot of bindweed...

guarding seedlings from snails...

feeling proud of my minature lilac...

The Naughty One...

but not so proud of rather barren pots...

I enjoyed the rust outside...

and the smooth inside...

Am going to London tomorrow...and so glad of my Oyster card: I love it!!!