THE BEAR DRONES ON

yo!.. seize the dough.. innit!

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

russia to build own Iran drones..

yield curve inverts..

sticky inflation..

crapto collapse..

buffett rule - stocks still 166%

fed hawkish..

qt..

recession warnings..

stagflation threat..

eps falling..

8 billion souls..

climate change..

zero covid policy..

challenging world order..

santa rally surely..

gamblers still buying..

IF NOT NOW WHEN?

some think that..

this time it's different..

that the fed will stick to it's guns..

others think..

what are the chances?

ME

I think I will wait and see..

I was too early in 2000..

on time in 2009..

but never got fully invested..

I made a good call..

in 2020..

but again failed to fully profit..

I don't have the time left to mess around..

with this casino..

where the house has got it rigged..

we are all awaiting..

some great puke..

you can feel it coming..

but nothing happens..

FALSE BOTTOMS

and..

political meddling..

interest rate suppression..

and ever expanding debt..

bail outs for all..

NEXT YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT

at any rate it is possible..

if earnings per share..

fall..

and interest rates stick..

and currencies correct..

and politics keeps out..

and yields rise further..

and demand dissolves..

buyers disappear..

the great pundit says..

wait for it..

the bottom ain't yet in..

then maybe a real buying opportunity..

will come along..

again..

but..

THIS IS PALOOKAVILLE

and any day now..

slowly then suddenly..

sooner than we think..

we may wish..

we had been more careful..

about what we wished for..

NOBODY EXPECTS TO PAINT VENICE

 yo!.. reflection.. innit!

You never set out to paint venice..

I did set out though..

a long time ago..

GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY

you start out standing..

proud to steel her anything she sees..

bright colours..

loosely applied..

in harmony..

and fresh..

and then a day comes..

when you feel..

that that work..

is unfinished..

lacking in some way..

so you give it a make over..

maybe some of it survives..

maybe not..

usually though..

you can see some of what was there before..

and it may be that..

the new version is better..

maybe not..

but anyway..

time moves along..

and the painting is still there..

and you feel like..

it still needs more..

so you give some more..

sometimes the mood..

lightens..

sometimes not..

you find yourself..

a longways from where you set out..

and it's getting dark..

KNOWING WHEN TO STOP

is part of becoming a painter..

and that point changes as you live longer..

and work..

sometimes looking at a painting..

is like an..

archaeological dig..

you have to dig deep..

and brush away the..

dust..

sometimes..

sitting in the studio..

you just want to talk..

and share..

some of the thoughts..

and ideas..

that linger..

in this lagoon..

figuresinasouk.com

THE LOST SUPPER

 yo!.. just sayin.. innit!

I was going to paint over this..

I thought..

what a f*ckin miserable image..

who wants ta create misery..

well..

sometimes misery just appears..

you don't set out to paint miserable paintings..

who would want them..

who would want to sit in a gallery and look upon them..

and it started me thinking..

a rare event in itself..

WHAT IF THAT CHAPEL IS NOT A CHAPEL BUT A TOMB

my pal mark..

is one of my greatest influences..

I listen to what he has said..

and I believe and respect him..

but anyway..

just sayin..

those seagram murals..

great art..

really great art..

but did he really think that people could..

dine in peace..

celebrate their good lives..

raise a glass and say cheers..

while looking at those paintings..

IT'S A GREAT STORY

how the great artist..

could not stomach..

having the rich and powerful and famous..

look upon his work whilst spending more than five dollars..

on lunch..

BUT WHAT IF 

and we need a little imagination here..

his guy paying the bill..

says to mark..

on the qt of course..

mark my old meat an tatey..

love the stuff man..

love it..

but it's going to give the diners indigestion..

so no..

do us all a favour..

and let us out of this deal..

just give back the dosh..

and we'll pretend that you thought they were too good for us..

and mark god bless him..

is cool with that..

because he has become attached to these profound works of art..

they are his best stuff..

his most potent images..

heavy innit..

f*ck em..

he may have thought..

I will give em away to..

the great museums..

so alla plebs can see em..

whilst sittin in the those rothko rooms..

eating they sammos fo lunch..

AN IMAGINARY SCENARIO

obviously..

but think on and look again at those paintings..

and ask yourself..

do they celebrate life..

are they life affirming..

 am I sitting in a chapel..

or am I sitting.. 

in a tomb..

figuresinasouk.com

HANCOCK'S HALF HOUR

THE CELEBRITY PARTY

yo!.. get them outta there.. innit!

here in palookaville..

the famous boring party..

has at last found a way..

to be relevant..

AND POPULAR

the hero of the plague..

has found a job..

as as a tv celeb..

at first..

 the sad people..

took agin him..

and sent him packing..

U TURN IF YOU WANT TO

but now as we all knew would happen..

he is become interesting..

as in interesting times..

through him the party has discovered..

the way ahead..

THE DAVY CROCKET HAT

or ..

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A QUIFF GET A HAT

learning from boris trump..

and davy crocket of course..

the party has decided that celebrity..

is the only way to win..

and that..

by looking daft and playing the fool..

popularity..

and therefore success..

will be assured..

WHO HAS THE BLONDEST QUIFF ?

that is the question..

because..

the bigger, the blonder..

the louder and dafter..

gets you the votes..

as well as the laughter..

KNOWING WHEN TO STOP

 yo!.. just when you think it's done.. innit!

so there I was..

thinking that this was a painting..

that was finished..

and ready to go out into the world..

SLEEP ON IT

then the next day..

or the one after..

I look again..

while eating my toast..

and it bugs me..

I hate the pale brown colour..

I hate the diagonal figure..

I hate the red square..

I hate the big pink figure..

but most of all..

I hate the yellow spot..

SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION

out come the paints..

and on goes a new coat..

that gets rid of the brown..

and the big pink figure..

and the ugly red..

and it's centre..

I REST MY CASE

still don't like it..

I have kept the shadow figures..

and feel the need for a big statement figure..

you know..

like a riding to the rescue thing..

but nothing happens..

I sit and think..

and look..

and think..

then..

I get up and approach the easel..

with a rag..

and I rub out the yellow head..

on the diagonal figure..

and sit back down..

now I am happy..

not at first maybe..

but after a time..

it becomes obvious..

this sucker is done..

or is it..

what have I done.?

figuresinasouk.com

FIGURES IN A TOMB

 yo!.. knowin when ta stop.. innit!

I was watching this tv documentary..

about ancient Egypt..

and the professor was inside a pyramid..

a big-un I bet..

anyway..

there she was sitting the floor..

in front of the sarcophagus..

and I was struck..

at how much this was like..

she was sitting in the Tate..

in the Rothko room..

all those Rothko chapels..

are just like the inside of the great pyramids..

SOME TIME DURING ETERNITY

some guy shows up..

and starts telling all the gang..

that he is a god..

same old story..

all love and glory..

it's a pantomime..

MEANWHILE

back in the pyramid..

demon hurst..

aka citizen Kane..

says that..

the biggest idea in art..

is death..

FIGURES IN A SOUK

is an ongoing series of paintings..

even though painting has been dead since 1968..

in which I conjure figures..

from oil paint and canvas..

and having created this stuff..

after viewing..

rothko, turner and rembrandt..

I realise that it's..

richard parkes bonnington..

and his painting..

quentin durward at liege..

that informs the work best..

but the view from the tomb..

 keeps peeping out..

SCOTT-FITZGERALD

so we beat on..

boats against the currant..

borne back ceaselessly..

in to the tomb..

figuresinasouk.com

Quentin Durward at Liège

Quentin Durward at Liège

LIGHT FANTASTIC

yo!.. my trip.. innit!

 middle class people an toffs..

tend not to like the funfair..

the noisy, smelly fairground..

with all it's teeth rotting treats..

and expensive rides..

BUT

I have lived with the annual track down to the forest..

to trip the light fantastic..

with my fellow plebs..

because if you tune out..

the crap and concentrate on the..

spectacle..

you will see a nocturn..

PAINTED WITH LIGHT

the painter likes to blur..

softer edges and glow..

you can't video it in focus..

it just looks ordinary..

but out of focus..

that's a whole new thing..

You can see here that ..

I have tried to share..

my vision of this spectacle..

with oil paint..

speed blur and gesture..

vivid colour and selected details..

or rather..

no details..

DISCO : DANCE

this is where the disco..

comes from..

the night clubbing experience..

it started with dances like..

the waltz..

so we have waltzers..

and waltzers require loud music..

rock and roll..

the twist..

and we must dress up..

or down..

piano by prank parlic

https://www.saatchiart.com/peterthepainter

STUDIO VIEW OF THE FED

yo!.. bollox.. innit!

here in palookaville..

we await the news from the fed..

where the wizards of oz..

gaze into their navels..

WAITING FOR GODOT

all the palookas..

are running around..

expecting a slowdown in the rate of rates..

and are prepared to bet paper money..

on the wimp out agenda..

WTF

this whole raising of interest rates lark has only just started..

after years and years of zirp..

inflation has yet to even droop..

and yet they cry uncle..

AND YET

we are all so bamboozled..

by this bunch..

that we don't know what to do..

what you think should happen..

and what will happen..

have fallen out..

probably..

independant central banks arn't..

and probably..

they will be called to heal..

but surely not just yet..

and yet..