PAINTING IN THE SOUK

yo!.. knowin when ta stop... innit! 

This is the very first painting in the series.

Virgin canvas.. 

I work with oil paint directly onto the canvas and mixed there upon..

The paint is thinned and spread around without concious thought. 

There was no 'Figures In A souk' series at this point.. 

Just a very happy artist with a few blank canvases and lots of time and oil paint.

 What you see here is genesis..

of a series which is still running 8 years later. 

The work has continued to develop..

some of the orinial canvases have bee worked upon..

sometimes for the better and sometimes not..

This canvas is as it was on the first day..

It is fresh and full of innocence and hope.

 It was a sunny day in the souk.. 

I hope you will see this and feel as happy as I felt painting it.

Influenced by Rothko, Turner and Rembrandt.. 

and Richard Parkes Bonnington.

'Figures in a Souk' is a series of experimental oil paintings.

 

I start out only to paint..

 

The figures emerge from the canvas as the process develops.

 

I usually like to paint over existing works of mine..

as that provides a unique starting point and pre-existing texture..

 

The Souk is always... imagined..

always experimental..

www.figuresinasouk.com

TRAVEL IN HOPE

 yo!.. raining in ma heart... innit!

HOPE 

here in palookaville..

we are sitting in out of the rain..

and it feels good to me..

we had a lot of sunny days..

but now the rain feels fresh..

and a change is..

as good as a rest..

innit..?

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW IS A TREE

 sharing this view with you..

 15. 29. gmt.. today..

listening to carrickfergus..

soon the hibiscus will be in bloom..

 

THE FIRST LAW OF BUBBLES

when you find yourself in one....

STOP BLOWING.. 

 

  

here in palookaville..

all bets are off..

 

WAITING FOR THE MAN 

rumour has it that..

the stock market will crash again..

some day soon..

and one day the rumour may be true..

but fucked if we know when..

THE MAN WHO FIXED THE WORLD SERIES

has fixed the news..

has fixed the market..

has fixed inflation..

has fixed the plunge..

has fixed the rates,

has fixed the junk,

 

ALL THE ASSET LESSONS

 

have been prepared..

but not learned..

a false sense of securities..

is the only sense in town..

 

STRIKING IT RICH

 

here in palookaville..

we are short..

but we are not happy..

we long to be long..

 

we long to belong..

 

but we are short..

man we was lonely..

could have been rich..

at least on paper..

could have used that paper to buy stuff..

 

CAUGHT SHORT

read the disclaimer.. 

this is not advice..

advice is cheap..

but seldom timely..

 

COME THE DAY

 when securities..

are fully insecure..

we may well be long..

and yet still be wrong..

 

PETEY SAYS

jus my own opinions..

an all fo fun.. innit!

y'all be careful out there..

https://realinvestmentadvice.com/technically-speaking-if-everyone-sees-it-is-it-still-a-bubble/ 

 

 

 

 

IT'S THAT GUN MAN AGAIN

 meet mr cut-out gun..

he is not a lot of fun..

but he's only just begun..

and he ain't just out to stun..

do you wonder..

that he will..

shoot to wound..

or make the kill..

either way..

it's not your day..

because he's here to stay..

oh please mr candidate..

please make him go away..

THE JOURNEY TO THE SOUL OF THE SOUK

 imagined Morocco..

imagined light..

imagined people..

imagine what's going on.. 

imagine the rage..

imagine the bargains.. 

imagine the guile..

imagine the plans..

the plots..

the gains and the losses..

the employed..

and the bosses..

the good and the bad..

old and the young..

winners and losers..

religions and stuff..

everything for sale..

and where..

anything goes..

seek and you'll find..

is it all in the mind..

the pleasure..

and the pain..

have you seen the soul babe..

hiding in the shadows..

figuresinasouk.com   

JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE SOUK

at first I thought it was washday..

in Marrakesh..

later I would change my mind..

they call this one the red door..

this one they just call..

the heart..

figuresinasouk.com                                                              

 

 

 

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE SOUK

three canvases from 2014..

and the new style is developing..

with the square..

and then the figures..

 

 

 

everything is still fluid..

 

 

things were just coming together..

 

 

soft focus and gestural..

 

figures in a souk..

 

oil on canvas 30x20 inches..

 

figuresinasouk.com

TERRACOTTA WARRIORS

 

oil paint and gouache on arches paper..

drawn in the 'survivors' style..

 

if only all armies were all made of only terracotta..

instead of..

scorched earth..

and airplanes built with paper wings..

and drones and missiles..

were only kites..

to decorate the days..

and sleep on the wind..

 peaceful nights..

 

if only men..

and women too..

could make only love..

and never war..

or if they must..

create a proof that they once were.. 

make terracotta armies..

to bury in the ground..

to guard the peace..

without a sound..

 

BRING BACK MY GLEN-BOTT TO ME

    so it's 1980..

             

graduated in 1975..

into a big recession..

but up and running as a graphic designer in 1980..

when guess what..

yep another recession..

we got a16% pay rise one minute..

due to inflation and 15% mortgage rates..

so my lovely job just upped and died..

anyway..

here in palookaville..

when the going gets tough..

the tough start a new canvas..

IT'S THAT SPIDER-MAN AGAIN

the central figure is from spider-man 27..

'bring back my goblin to me'

just love that ditko artwork..

the scene is a recreation of my old school..

margaret glen-bott..

note the uniform and tie..

the radiator and the see-through panel in the door..

my style at the time had all these diagonal gestural marks..

the large diamond shapes were something I just wanted in there..

I guess that is me..

self portrait..

eat your heart out rembrandt..

school is tough right..

coming of age in wollaton park..

(pronounced woolaton)..

even when I had the job..

I was longing to be back in school..

talk about ambitious..

REJECTED FROM THE JOHN MOORES

like so many of my other master works..

this too was refused by the judges..

I took it all the way to Liverpool..

on the train..

60 inches high and 96 inches wide..

I had to sit in the guards van with the other parcels..

John lennon was not there to greet me..

but could only wave goodbye..

I was 16 when I first entered..

the Liverpool exhibition..

I believed I would win first prize..

16 will do that for you..

THE MADONNA DE MILO

 

flipping through an old 1950's magazine..

I came across this advert for a milky bedtime drink..

Milo..

mother and very healthy child..

one of the great images of western art..

great art as pop art..

madonna and child..

on the tv..

selling stuff..

guess all the kids these days think..

that's not madonna..

and anyway..

which kid is that supposed ta be anyway..?

tv's were smaller then..

and funny shaped..

'the madonna de milo'..

 is a limited edition screen print on arches paper..

1986..

edition of 25

VARIATIONS ON A SCREAM

 

 

following on from yesterday..

more variations..

 

 

 

click on any image to enlarge..

for another movie click here

THE SCREAM

this is my take on 'the scream' by edvard munch.. and this limited edition print was created in 1980..

 

it has two sheets of arches hand made paper..

 

top sheet printed on both sides.

 

with the 1950's ad for vim..

 

the second sheet underneath..

 

is from psycho..

 

ICONOCLASM

click on any image to enlarge

 

so this is janet leigh on the shower floor.. 

 

 

 

in 'psycho' by alfred hitchcock.. 

 

 

I had a screen made from the still..

 

 

and worked on the screen prints with inks and..

 

 

 paint stripper..

 

 

 

and then worked on the reverse side..

 

 

cut out flaps and folded them over..

 

 

 

there is more to see of course..

 

and more to tell..

 

 FORTY YEARS ON

 

 see my movie of this..

50 YEARS ON

FOUNDATION 1971-2

 

 

 

steve willets..

 

told us at our first fine art seminar..

 

that painting was dead..

 

and that the thing we should be looking at was..

 

 

CONTROL  

 

 

which was his thing at the time..

 

and he had a magazine that he published under that name..

 

I listened to what he was saying..

 

stuff about cybernetics and message boards..

 

information exchange..

 

I think now he was into an internet kind of idea..

 

but had not a clue of what it was..

 

or how I could use it..

so after a while I tuned out..

and went to do some screen printing..

 

BRUCE DAVIDSON

 

 

I was taken with an image of Bruce's..

 

from his 'east 100th st'

 

it was the little girl..

 

behind the net curtain..

 

at home alone?

 

in a slum tenement..

 

in harlem..

 

new york..

 

I had a haltone screen made of this image..

 

and proceeded to make screen prints of it..

 

someone had spilled filler..

 

over my screen..

 

but I printed it anyway..

 

on both sides of the paper..

 

then cut shapes..

 

and folded back the flaps..

 

overprinted them..

 

some folded over, some not.. 

I shot these with my old zenith B..

3.5 lens..

just thought I would share them with you..

 

today..

50 years on

see my movie here

RED SQUARE

 

AND THEN THE SETTING SUN

yo!.. surf's up...innit!

 

 

so carrying on from yesterday..

I was swimmin inna sea of oil paint..

big brush in hand..

an what did I sea..

a sundown moment in the history of art..

thought I would share this with you..

 

OIL AND WATER

yo!.. ocean view ...innit! 

 

 

sometimes when you are painting..

there has to be a change of plan..

and what you thought you were painting..

is not going to happen any more..

because something else has occurred to you..

 

 

A LITTLE MORE PACIFIC IF YOU PLEASE 

the ocean has made it's appearance..

complete with swimmer and sail boat/windsurfer..

the carpet from the souk..

has become the sun..

you have to pause..

and look carefully..

and before you know it..

you are unemployed..

there is nothing more you can do..

the ocean has trumped the souk..

all you can do is look and learn..

 

 

ON THE BEACH WITH EUGENE BOUDIN

 

mr turner and mister rothko..

are on the beach..

abstract impressionists..

take a bow..

TRIPTYCH

THREE FIGURES

 

FIGURES IN A SOUK

is really all just the one painting..

each is part of a whole..

one work of art..

one painting in a hundred parts..

some are lighter and some are darker..

but they are all one work..

best seen together..

 

it's context..

 

innit!

 

ALL ONE PAINTING

 yo!.. heart onna sleeve... innit! 

 

 

here in palookaville..

there is the studio..

an everything else..

all the bollox is out there..

inna media, onna telly..

only in palookaville can one person remain..

an artist, a painter and a believer..

we try to be sincere and stay sane..

it's not easy..

but we try..

IN THE SOUK THERE ARE MANY PAINTINGS

it occurs to me today as I sit..

with banana and wholemeal sourdough toast, coffee..

that the many canvases that make up..

FIGURES IN A SOUK

are really all just the one painting..

each is part of a whole..

one work of art..

one painting in a hundred parts..

some are lighter and some are darker..

but they are all one work..

who knows this may be my mature style..

magnum opus..

whatever..

 

THAT GREAT DAY HAS GONE

 yo!.. nostalgic... innit!

on a cold but fresh first day back at school..

in january 1966..

the fresh snow lay melting in the road..

as docile and bruin and I..

took the number 39 bus from middleton boulevard..

to denman street in radford, nottingham..

it was during the long school lunch break that we set off..

to find rare old marvel comics..

in the junk shops there..

the old shop keeper had a pile of old american comics in the window..

and we would divide it up and rifle through..

to be the first to find a rare comic..

I found the incredible hulk no.6 that day..

cover by stevie ditto..

price 3 old pennies..

after that we went into the old man and woman's chip shop..

and bought fish, chips and peas for one shilling and sixpence..

the day was cold but the snow was white..

the air was pure and clear..

I was 13 years old..

we had no money then..

but we were wealthy..

OH YEAH !

AN ANGEL IN THE MEDINA

yo!.. Christmas present... innit!

out here in the cold.. 

 in the artist's winter studio.. 

I'm wondering why there is an angel.. 

 hiding in plain sight.. 

 on a canvas.. 

 in the rain.. 

 NOBODY MUST KNOW 

these days you cannot have an angel in a painting.. 

 it's bad enough you paint at all.. 

 but angels are not modern.. 

 not post-modern.. 

 not even contemporary.. 

 it's OK for balloon dogs.. 

 tins of artist's shit.. 

 plaster casts of house interiors.. 

interventions.. 

 installations.. 

 but angels? no way.. 

 maybe that's why it's so cold out here..

 

can you see the angel?

click on the pic for a larger image..

 NOBODY SETS OUT TO PAINT ANGELS 

 that there is an angel in my painting.. 

 is not my fault.. 

 I blame the past.. 

 and claim immunity.. 

 and plead the fifth..

BREXIT MUTATES

 yo!.. pear shaped innit!

as we speak..

here in palookaville..

things are changing fast..

LOCKED DOWN AND LOCKED OUT

don't panic..

it's only the flu..

thank fuck El Duce is on his way out..

because we need real leadership here..

DEAL OR NO DEAL

the euro union has pulled the plug..

the airports are closing..

the Chunnel is shutting..

freight is stoping..

roads are blocking..

people are opening presents early..

and on the railway platforms..

the msm are up in arms..

how can they cancel Christmas?.

and happy a hanukkah to yous all..

THAT WAS THE BREXIT THAT WAS

a new strain of the Brexit virus..

has come out of the south east..

and infected London and all the pubs..

time has been called on Christmas festivities..

and we must all stay home and watch tv..

except for the panic buying..

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY POST

we must all now got to bed..

to lie awake..

and dream of Christmas past..

to be continued....

THE EUROPEAN THEATRE

 yo!.. pantomime... innit?

here in palookaville..

tis the season to rejoice..

tis the season of goodwill..

to one an all..

an every year at this time..

we feel the need..

to put on make-up..

an dress as women..

or dress women as men..

put the pussy in boots..

an take the piss..

 A CHRISTMAS LIKE NO OTHER

this year in a bid to out do our competitors..

we have arranged everything just so..

the covid is spreading hard and fast..

the king is in his counting house..

the Brexit deal is bubbling up..

the pubs are shut..

the music's over..

the sport has had an early bath..

THE MAKE-UP ITCHES

nerves are on display..

back stage..

 fright and flight fight..

plenty of villains..

no shortage of suspects..

BUT THE COSTUMES FIT

the fruits de mare..

are up for grabs..

the autos blaring horns are loud..

the wine an cheese are warming up..

the audience is all agog..

EL REY PESCADORE

is playing in the pit..

scrooge is fighting with the ghosts..

Christmas past and presents..

but what of the future?

ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES

Humpty Dumpty has had a great fall..

little jack Horner..

must stand in the corner..

little bo peep..

has lost her sheep..

it's widow twankey in the study with a crowbar..

clueless in Seattle..

the foreigners look on in disbelief..

he's beeehiiiind you..

they call as with one voice..

loud an clear..

oh no he's not..

replies the slapstick lead..

I'm on my bleedin own out here..

IT'S NO GO THE FOREIGN HOLIDAY

please make it all go away..

call the crowds..

oh please lets us go away..

we did not mean it all at all..

IT WAS THEM WOT DUNNIT

the blame game has never stopped..

I guess it never will..

but whoever is to blame..

will it ring the bleedin till?.

ONCE MORE OUT OF THE LIMELIGHT

as the curtains come down..

the cast must all hold hands..

to bow and fac..

the audience..

to get the clap..

they so richly deserve..

OUR IAN

this is our ian on the right with ronnie at the oars in dumore east.. and this is pat, willum, ian, granny, ronnie and paulie outside paulie's..

 

on William street

in carrick-on suir, co. tipperary, ireland..

circa 1968

ian was mad for his cousins..

see the bags of spuds..

we used to think carrick was heaven..

OUR FRIENDS IN BRUSSELS

 yo!.. an they friends here... innit!

here in palookaville..

we may not know shit from sugar..

but we know the sound of old farts..

THE BACK STABBERS ARE BACK

the loyal thatcher colleagues..

are being wheeled out by the msm..

to rail against the folly..

of the disunited kingdom..

trying to leave the European cartel..

WE'RE ALL DOOMED

the bollox is on full volume..

the ports will be blocked..

we can't go on holiday..

our currency will crash..

socks will fall..

investors will run..

covid will reach new peaks..

the army will shrink..

the sky fall in..

it will rain every day..

and the earth will grow hot..

the weather will change..

pubs will stay shut..

FEAR IS THE KEY

we must be stopped at all costs..

nobody leaves the union..

it cannot be allowed to unravel..

make an example of the palookas..

'shoot one - scare 10,000'

WHO BUYS MOST STUFF FROM WHOM

after brexit new deals will be made..

they have to move their shit..

we will still be here in europe..

just not in the cartel..

an the rest of the world will go on..

yes it will suck for a while..

but will it suck forever..

probably not..

IT'S THE SOVEREIGNTY STUPID

yo!.. party time again... innit!

here in palookaville..

all is not what it seems..

the bollox about a trade deal..

gets louder..

as it always does..

to drown out the truth..

IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

this was always about getting out from under..

this is not about economics or trade..

this is about..

who governs Britain..

I VOTED IN

in 1975 I voted to join the common market..

I was 23 and liked the idea of passport free travel..

I did not vote for ever closer union..

not for a superstate..

not for assimilation..

NOBODY ASKED THE COMMONWEALTH

we already had  world-wide trading partners..

the old empire had seen to that..

but we just ignored it..

or were we just ignorant..

TOO LATE TO STOP NOW

things will go pear shaped..

get used to it..

it's already fucked up now anyway..

but if we are going to go through this..

we should get on with it properly..

and not be cowed..

back under the euro thumb..

IT'S FRANCIS DRAKE AGAIN

freebooting, swashbuckling, fleet of foot..

you can laugh at that..

or you can cry..

fat's inna fire..

it's not the money..

it's not the jobs..

it's the future..

SO

here we are..

from near and far..

together again we meet..

to see our dear old pals again..

it surely is a treat..

we've made this jolly party guys..

so what more can we do..

we'll keep the music going..

and leave the rest to you..

so do as you please..

up with your knees..

it's party time again..