Thursday 12 October 2023

PALETTE EARTH

 yo!.. dark clouds gatherin.. innit!



 I was painting today..
 
and saw my palette and thought about stuff..
 
you know..
 
gaza..
 
ukraine..
 
an it don't look good..
 
 
 
 

 

Saturday 23 September 2023

COVENANT

yo!.. xanadu.. innt!
 

 so this is the first time..

that this circle..
 
with the quatrefoil..

appears in any of my paintings..
 
I have painted it many times since..
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 


 


 

 

Thursday 14 September 2023

AN EARTHQUAKE IN THE SOUK

 yo!.. after shock.. innit!


 

we are just as nothing..

here in this world..

everything can just fall apart..

in an instant..

in our sleep..

 an earthquake in the souk..

or a river runs through it..

and all we can do..

here in palookaville

 is watch on tv..

in horror and dread..

earthquakes and floods..

rubble and dust..

and lots of local people..

searching..

bereft..

KITCHEN SINK REDEMPTION

yo! .. portrait of god.. innit!
 


long ago when I was a young boy..

I came home one evening..

from playing out in the snow..

in the winter darkness..

I was freezing cold and soaking wet..

my knees were black..

from the dye of the cheap black jeans I had on..

my mother sat me on the draining board..

in the kitchen..

and bathed me in the kitchen sink..


I thought of this much later in my studio..

at the general hospital..

in 1984..

I thought of painting a portrait of god..

I was younger then..

anyway..

I look at this painting now..

(above is not the finished painting)

or at least a jpg of it..

and what I see now is not a deity..

but a pope..

a figure at the base of a crucifixion..

a screaming pope..


WHERE'S THE SCREAM ?


well look at the face of this teddy bear..

not all screams are alike..

this one is more like a smile..

or a look..

it's a sunburst..

a grind..

a smirk and a chaos..

it's not an ever fixed mark..

it 's a moveable feast..

a great notion..

it's an anomaly a gap in time..

warped space..


I had used all the colours that I had available..

to make this odd..

unnatural..

cosmic..

different..

it's an ecstacy in paint..


NOBODY EXPECTS A HANGING


this painting was bought by Leeds schools art loan scheme in 1986.. 

and was on my page at artUK..

but that scheme has closed and the painting..

is awaiting adoption by the Leeds city art collection..

this has been going on for some years now..

so I sit here in the sink..

in the cold kitchen..

here in palookaville..

and it's beginning to feel like..

an eternity..

Tuesday 29 August 2023

INFLATION 1980

 yo!.. look back in wonder..innit!

                         


here in palookaville..

we think the mortgage rate @6% is high..

but when this photo was taken..

the rate was 15.5%..


NOT JUST THE JOB WALTER


sitting here with my boss standing next to me..

I was 28..

It was a good job..

graphics and photography..

we all had a 16% raise in 1979..

and 21% raise in 1980..

then the job was made redundant..

me out first..

then the boss..

then the whole drawing office..

I moved house..

into the centre of the city..

sold the car..

we brewed all our own beer..

switched off the hot water and the heating..


I had to sell all my marvel comics..

for £500  that's £2,743.18 pounds today..

that's $3453.

to pay the mortgage arrears..


SOCIAL SECURITY


there was help with mortgage interest payments back then..

and grants for students as well..

I went back to college..

qualified as a teacher..

mortgage rates went down..

eventually..

but 10.5% was still normal..

our actual mortgage amount was for £14,000..

the new house had cost us £23,000 in 1980..

our previous house we bought for £11,500..

in 1978..

we sold it for £21,000+..

in 1980..


THE VALUE OF PAPER MONEY


people here in palookaville..

talk of getting on the housing ladder..

they think houses only go up in value..

but the truth is..

it's the money that goes down in value..

it's all just inflation really..


MIGHTY MARVEL MELT UP


I wonder what my marvel comics are worth now..

the first 36 spideys..

(all the Steve ditkos)

first 20 x-men..

first 24 Conan the barbarian..

many more..







Tuesday 22 August 2023

ROBOTS READ MY BLOG

 yo!.. come all ye bots.. innit!



here in palookaville..

viewing traffic has gone apeshit..

google stats show viewing spikes..

all over town..


I SMELL A BOT


when you get 82 visits from Japan in one day..

or 199 from singapore all in a day..

you know the bots are back..


TEACH YOUR CHILDREN


instead of teaching our children..

we are training machines how to say and write and draw..

dumb stuff..

they think that  now that we are all dumbed down..

by the clever politics and media..

we will need machines to entertain and inform us all..

with ever dumber stuff..


ANSWER THE F*CKING PHONE


the robots not answering the phones of the business and government..

are so crap that they are to be promoted..

just like in real life..


when the bots come to palookaville..

they at least get a laugh..


MY FINE ART


the bots are also..

all over my stuff on faa..

it started with beverley hills..

but is mostly new york..

with some from riyadh..

some 2500 - 5000 a day or more..

it makes it difficult..

to see the real visits..


FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH


If you think that what you are reading, watching or listening to..

is created by a machine..

just turn it off..

shut it down..

do not buy it..

it's..

your future..

your choice..

Tuesday 15 August 2023

MISTER PITIFUL

yo!.. los angeles 3.. innit!


this image above is from psycho..

it's not marilyn..

it's Janet leigh..

apart from the appalling attack in the shower..

I have given her the warhol treatment..

to make her look like marilyn..

a soup can marilyn..

like pop art..

innit!


ICONOCLASM


the destruction of icons..

that famous and beautiful face..

has had some art worked on it..

I am sorry for my part in this now..

at the time I was only thinking of myself..

and my little screen print..



so here you can see..

my cunning plan..

one print with  the image on both sides and with cut out and folded flaps..

with the second print beneath it..

clever innit!


I SAW THIS AND THOUGHT OF YOU




andy had given her the soup can treatment..

pile em high and sell em cheap..

mass reproduction..

just like elvis or the mona lisa..

15 minutes of lame..


on reflection..

I feel now that this was..

a poor show..



in 'marilyn reframed'

we are introduced to a great person..

the greatest photographer's model of all time..

she ran the whole show..

she had all the guts they ever made..

possibly the most famous face in the world..

and a great actress..




I was ten when she died..

she was the most beautiful woman in the world..



you can spend a long time in Hollywood..

and never see the part they put in movies..

farewell my lovely..







Tuesday 8 August 2023

LOS ANGELES TWO

yo!.. closer than that walter.. innit! 


So..

angelinos..

here is the missing image..

the painting with the angels..


EVERYBODY KNOWS THEY AIN'T NO SANITY CLAUSE


nobody believes in angels..

yet here they are..

not observed from life..

obviously..


but here in art..

they appear..

and reappear..

sometimes in the great paintings..

of the old masters..

(how long before that name is cancelled)


THE OLD MISTRESSES


are always the best..

and there were often angels..

with messages..

or immaculate..

concepts..


LATER THAT SAME DAY


get to the f*cking point..


I am dawdling here..

because I am awaiting..

divine inspiration..




ah that's better..

here at last..

better late than never..

evidence..

yes there are angels..

but only in art..

and only before modernism..





when you are painting..

things happen..

figures reveal themselves..

sometimes immediately..

sometimes they emerge gradually..




sometimes they appear darker..




sometimes they appear so cool..




no two angels appear the same..




sometimes they look just like ordinary joes..

like waiting for the walk sign..

walk..

 don't walk..

believe don't believe..

free will an all..

your choice..