Brogues, daydreams and wish fulfillment.

This day is now over, thank goodness. I am wondering what it is all about, why do we think at all ?

I am still hankering after a few things though, boys in Brogues ( I do like a proper shoe), sea-gazing, the wishing for more people to write to ( I am a postcard sending obsessive) and a desire for the idea to descend easily. I am not sure what I mean by any of these statements, if you could help out I would be immensely grateful. After my day the smallest crumb (preferably one from a custard cream) of comfort would be gratefully recieved.

I now need to explore the idea of dreaming, I feel I don't do enough of that. Day dreams are blissful if done right.

Satsuma, Clementine and Tangerine

Why are satsumas so awkward to find ?
They appear briefly over the Christmas period, and then disappear. No other citrus fruit is so seasonal, you can still buy Clementines, Tangerines, but you dare to try to find a Satsuma after 12th night. It's harder to find than the Argos Christmas adverts where to avoid. I feel that the humble satsumas are the only truely "seasonal" thing about the season of goodwill. Well as I've started on this , those bags of mixed nuts do redistribute themselves back to the cake baking isle by mid January from their prominent front of house, beyond the proscenium arch, placing at the front of the 'store' ( thats a shop to you and me). And those oversized pumpkins that appear in Ocotober for our newest festival of Halloween, or as we have to now call it trick or treat or drive by in day-glo orange , whats that all about ?
I now think the title of this section is like a Dulux paint colour chart listing from 1968, all it needs is Chocolate, Avocado and Parma Violet and the whole food/colour combination thing is complete.

new Queens, old JFK, new correspondences

Its the end of the year, things have moved on, things have stayed the same, things are the different and they are the same as well.
The festive period is over, the new year is still to come, but I know that it will be great. I am a firm believer in living each day to its fullest, work hard and play hard.
I have chosen to show the aerial view of JFK's funeral as it is one of my favorite images from this year, it captures my idea of the idea of the sublime.
I am planning big ideas for 2011, I have been obsessing over the idea of correspondence, and what this means to us all, the idea of actually writing, not emailing or texting but actually writing; putting pen to paper, to feel the ink flow, the nib pressed into the surface, absolute bliss. Not quite as good as drawing on the soles of your slippers with a Bic Biro when you were a kid, but nearly.
The year ended on a high with the Au + Ag show at Trove in Birmingham, with Justine Moss, the show looked great, glitter, gold, candles. I have also started to think about pushing the Queens further, maybe taking them to Queens, New York, I live in a certain dream world sometimes.

Au + Ag , Show at Trove, Birmingham

The show at Trove has just opened, it was so exciting. I went up on the Thursday for the opening, it was the coldest night I have ever experienced, it was -7 degrees, but this didn't deter the art viewing public of Birmingham. I was really happy with how the glitter on the floor worked, people walking through it and then walking it across the gallery, one of Justine's old friends footprints are a great memory of where he walked.
I am obsessing about the idea of the trace, a memory of where you've been, that has a physical reminder in place. There was glitter tracked out to Newhall Square and beyond. I would love to have covered the gallery floor completely, but that would require big sponsorship.
The glitter took on a life of its own, it behaved like a liquid under your feet, almost like a safe version of mercury.
I thought the candle lit framed images where representational of family portraits on a sideboard or pianoforte, very Victorian.

The Royal Family and Sequins.

Here are 2 new Images for the show Au + Ag at Trove, Birmingham, with Justine Moss. I am very interested in interfering with the surface of imagery, these are just 2 examples of this idea. They are found postcards (my friend Annabel Dover found them, thanks Annabel !) with silver sequins on the cards and then another layer of sequins on the glass, the sequins are deliberately miss-placed, off-centre in the second layer. I have always liked the heightened/altered/adulterated colours of postcards, the 1970's is a particularly rich source of inspiration and colouring. I have put them in some of the cheapest frames I could find, the dodgy chrome-look really appeals to me. The idea that traditionally, images of Royalty are painted in oils and in Baroque hand-carved and hand-gilded frames and I am re-inventing, to a certain extent, these ideas.
I have made a few of these and reckon I have stuck on a couple of 1000 sequins, the smell of glue pervades my studio now.

Lawrence of Arabia and the snow

My partner loves the snow, always wishing for it, waiting for it and then being over excited when it arrives. He was out and about in it at 7.30 this morning, he has made snowballs, snowangels and I guess, any minute now, a snowman. The cat and I hate the snow, we are trying to stay warm by sharing body warmth snoozing in bed. I am reading books about the desert in a vain attempt to conjure up some warmth in my bones, I dream of the Namibian coast line and of Lawrence of Arabia. In particular the scene where Omar Sharif's character rides out of the desert in one long shot that takes about 5 minutes from its mirage-like starting point to his arrival at the camera. I can feel the shimmering heat now, bliss.

Trove, Goldsmiths and Dust.

I spent the weekend on a gallery site visit to Trove in Birmingham, had a great conversation with Charlie Levine. We spent ages talking about our love of glitter and, my own personal love, postcards and how the postal system is a complete mystery to us, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Often not working if you try to post anything with HRH Princess Diana on, I have discovered, anyway I digress. The visit was very productive, we talked about the placement of the works and the use of the original plinths that have been left behind from the Old Science Museum exhibits. My friend JR remembers that this room contained a full size railway engine, I can only imagine the wonderousness of this.
Charlie and I also talked about how when the Gold and Silversmiths of the Jewelry Quarter sold up, they would sell the floors separately as this is where the slivers of precious metal end up. The floors would then be burnt and the metal salvaged. They also banned the use of Brilliantine on the goldsmiths hair as the workers used to wipe their hands full of gold dust on their hair, the dust would stick on and when the workers got home they would wash the gold right out of their hair, supplementing their income. I like this idea of trace, moving a miniscule amount of the world around.