MY MASTERPIECE

 

                                                      yo!.. blue remembered hills.. innit!

long ago..

and so very far away..

I painted this picture..

at the time..

I was artist-in residence..

at the general hospital..

in palookaville..

I had this great big studio..

a whole nightingale ward..

to myself..

I had all the oil paints, turps, brushes and canvases..

I could ever wish for..

I had a small grant..

and a free lunch..

THE RICHEST MAN ALIVE

for who could ask for more..

anyway..

before I started painting the USAAF decals..

I painted the first image at the top of this post..

WATCH WITH MOTHER

it was 1984..

and 9/11..

was way in the future..

I was using figures from children's illustrated story books..

it was a thing for me then..

I had this sketch..

in my book..

that had rupert the bear..

crucified upside down..

to his little airplane from one of the rupert stories..

that would be the airplane not the crucifixion..

micky mouse was looking in through the window from outside the house..

that this was happening in..

so..

 given that I had the means, motive and opportunity..

I figured that I may as well..

go large..

so many litres of white spirit later..

after some great struggle..

this canvas was born..

a star..

so here we have the the resulting masterpiece..

but..

sometime during eternity..

rupert the bear..

has gone blackface..

he still has his red jumper and plaid yellow trousers..

so we can identify him clearly..

so why has his face gone black?

well sometime during the painting process..

I was in the zone..

having to spin the 8 ft x 5 ft..

canvas around over my head..

to get the soaking wet canvas with all of it's white spirit..

(turpentine)

to drain off in the desired direction..

I was in a painting frenzy..

it was great fun..

if a little tiring..

sometime during this creative fog of war..

rupert's face went black..

not premeditated m' lord..

but never the less..

OUT OF THE TOY BOX

the figures on the left of the painting..

are a jolly bunch of middle class pals..

called tiger tim and friends..

they are in shock and awe..

at the sight of the innocent rupert..

in such a fix..

IS THIS A LYNCHING ?

well after watching the george floyd killing on the news..

it may seem that way..

IS THIS 9/11

that would make the painting..

prescient..

spooky no?..

MEDIUM COOL

well..

I guess the answers lie in the news..

all of the filmed and videoed..

violence and tragedy..

endlessly watched by us all..

our faces reflecting horror..

and dismay..

but watch we still do..

in sharing this with you today..

it occurs to me that some may be offended..

by the black face of rupert..

and say it is somehow..

a racist work..

that, I believe, would be a mistake..

this is a powerful work of art..

but it cannot be seen by anyone at this time..

and so cannot be debated..

as it is held in the store room..

of a UK city..

who bought the painting long ago..

but will not adopt it into their public collection..

for whatever reason..

 I do not know..

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY"S

yo!.. just another day.. innit!

 

the thing about this great sourdough wholemeal toast..

is trying to get the butter and honey..

on the bits without the holes..

and anyway..

it runs off through the holes..

and down yer painter's smock..

WORKING WITH BRUSHES

I sit here every morning..

amongst all my painty stuff..

an eat my toast..

an drink my coffee..

an look at all my lovely paintings..

 HOPE SPRINGS

I get ideas..

see stuff..

reach for the camera..

there is so much to record..

I love this place..

maybe I will add a finishing touch..

paint over some lacklustre canvas..

go inside the house..

an write stuff like this..

THE REST OF THE ROBOTS

I wonder what the new slaves..

will do for breakfast..

and how will they think up stuff to create..

surely some i.t. dude will have to tell em what to do..

the idea that silicon beings..

are being created..

to out art us artists..

intelligence and skills..

far superior to ours..

VOTING EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS

all us turkeys..

gonna be put down..

or become pets..

just saying..

 

after breakfast..

the brushes..

come out to play..

where are we going today dad?

brushes get old..

and wear out..

just like we do..

 slaves to our art..

but human beings..

all the same..

PLANET ON A PLATE

 

yo! world inna grain a sand.. innit!

 

 

I use dinner plates as mixing palettes..

 

when I paint in oils..

 

this top one was used for 'my Indian Green'..

 

cool innit!

 

This really hot plate..

is volcanic..

it's a totally tectonic plate..

it's a real toasty world..

 

GLOBAL BOLLOCKS

 

yes the climate is changing..

it always has changed and always will..

cold ages and warmer ones..

you know ice ages happen..

 is it our fault..

probably some of it is..

but really it's all up to the sun and it's solar activity

 

we are not allowed to challenge..

the current orthodoxy..

but we don't have to believe everything that they say.. 

we just have to go along..

you know..

go along to get along..

 

NOAH SAYS DO THIS

 

maybe we should prepare..

save the animals and stuff..

but maybe not panic..

because it's already baked in..

and we are but little dudes..

compared to the sun.. 

CHANGE SUCKS

I useually don't like change..

not even the changing of the seasons..

 

I'M ALL RIGHT LUMBERJACK

 

 log rollers know one thing above all else..

keep on rolling..

if you try to stand still..

the logs will roll you over into the river..

and then..

and then they roll over you..

 

 

 

 

 

 

WILL WE ALWAYS HAVE PARIS ?

 yo!.. first response.. innit!

above in the middle of this picture is the centre panel of..

DEATH IN PARIS

as a painter..

living in a safe suburb..

somewhere not paris..

I had these larger canvases..

sitting around with nothing to do..

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH

the tough get painting..

so I painted this triptych..

as part of the..

'figures in a souk' series..

'will we always have paris?'..

I asked myself..

and you too I suppose..

because sometimes..

it feels that civilisation is breaking down..

you know..

civility, tolerance, community, art..

ANYWAY

this was the effect that news had on my art..

one painting, three panels..

the souk can be a dangerous place..

as well as a place to shop..

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Will-We-Always-Have-Paris/31203/2705863/view

                       November 2015 Paris attacks

MY INDIAN GREEN

so..

I had this canvas..

painted orange..

 

and as you can see here..

orange looks good in the garden..

so green was coming to this dude..

and so it was that..

I got out the green..

and set to painting over all that orange..

hoping to know when to stop..

I mean..

you never know..

if something good will appear..

or not..

GLOBAL WARNING

I looked up..

and saw this Indian palace..

in the heat of the day..

after rain..

maybe..

I saw these people walking..

and the images of pollution..

shown on the telly..

somewhere in delhi..

some slum dog millionaires..

choking on poisoned airs

ANYWAY

I sat in my garden chair..

you know..

the one in the studio..

and looked at this painting..

and I could see dogs and cats..

and elephants..

and heat and dust and light..

at first I thought of..

the spring rains in africa..

the karoo..

and serengeti..

but no..

INDIAN GREEN

is what it is..

for now..

at least..

WAR IS PEACE

 

I read this book..

The Unfinished War: 

Vietnam and the American Conscience

Walter H.. Capps

Beacon Press, 1982

Veterans of the war..

it said..

were damaged further by the lack of a proper welcome home..

and appreciation for their service..

and that the folks at home did not want to talk about the war..

and sought to sweep it under the carpet..

at the time of writing no memorial..

had been agreed upon..

and as such..

I was attempting to respond to this using..

oil paint on canvas..

however..

there is now and has been for many long years..

a truly great monument in place..

The black granite wall of names is one of the most familiar media images associated with the war, and after three decades the memorial remains one of the nation's most visited monuments. While the memorial has enjoyed broad acceptance by the American public, its origins were both humble and contentious. A grassroots effort launched by veterans with no funds, the project was completed in three and a half years. But an emotional debate about aesthetics and the interpretation of heroism, patriotism and history nearly doomed the project.

anyway..

I steamed ahead in the studio..

with my idea for a series of paintings like the one above..

There were to be 10 in all..

and each one was meant to represent a mood or state..

of american love or hate or grace..

remember pearl harbour..

and the american resolve and response..

these paintings are not political but emotional..

emotional states of a nation..

anyway..

STATES OF GRACE

AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

obviously..

none of this got anywhere..

per usual..

still I played around with the idea..

for some time..

and also..

this url

hope you got this far..

and liked the story..

it occurs to me that all the technology on display..

in the photo above..

was not available in 1982..

and will soon be superseded by newer stuff..

technology becomes obsolete so fast..

in 40 more years..

these devices may not exist or be so changed as to make these items..

laughable..

the painting though..

will have aged hardly at all..

and the idea will still resonate..

and lastly this url

IN THE SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT

 

I used to have a big idea..

for a painting..

or for a series of paintings..

THE MAN IN THE CRIME MASTER'S MASK

was a series of three large canvases..

back in 1975..

I was still influenced by steve ditko..

and stan lee..

it was about shadows..

ventian blind shadows..

at first..

then the 3rd in the series..

was 

THE MOUNTAINS OF MOURNE

this was the shadow..

of the gun..

a child's painting on a bedroom wall..

of the mountains of mourne..

with the moonlight coming in through the window..

causing the shadow of the window frames..

to make a cross..

which falls over the child's art..

like it was the cross hairs..

in a sniper scope..

the series' were always of three paintings..

PARADISE LOST

this was about..

the loss of youth and dreams..

lost illusions..

it started with..

PUTTING ON DE STIJL

a cliff richard image..

with a drawing of an american car..

from a 'how to draw' book..

and a huge pencil drawing the car..

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

was a tarpaulin..

ripped in half..

held together by criss-crossed rope..

the universe visible through the tear..

a figure sits on a park bench to one side..

the dawn is coming up over Belfast lough..

this was a dawn after an acid trip..

a coming of age sort of thing..

anyway..

POINT PANIC

was the third in that series..

and had the silver surfer..

with his board..

and my old school tie..

a tv screen..

with the face of an aircraft carrier guy..

peering out at you..

a little boy in a camel coat..

is partly visible through another tarpaulin..

with cut outs..

I USED TO THINK BIG

but now not so much..

now I work smaller..

but on many more canvases at once..

I never know what they will become when I start them..

but they always do..

become, that is..

FIGURES IN A SOUK

did not start out as an idea..

there was no plan..

I did no research..

for images to juxtapose..

I just started splashing paint on canvas..

the large blue brush strokes just happen..

out of the blue..

nobody saw the tiger coming..

until it was already there..

BOTCH OF THE DAY

 yo!.. game over.. innit!

here in palookaville today..

 the government has scored..

a gigantic and very memorable..

OWN GOAL

everyone here knew that the top faces inna party..

wanted ta..

survive the coming electoral disaster..

by copying hancock an getting on telly..

wi a show o they own..

THE PARTY PARTY

has descended into..

celebrity envy..

it could look like they are trying  to take over match of the day..

and trying to get the bbc..

ta kick off the footballers..

an take the top spots fo they selves..

I'M A CELEBRITY GET ME OUT OF POLITICS

 could it all started when tony..

went on tv..

as a reward for his stella service..

as the hero of the pandemic..

NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE EXCESS

so now they think they own the sport..

and by kicking out the top presenters..

and taking they jobs..

they can make even more money..

by making us all laugh out load..

OWN GOAL OF THE CENTURY

but now the fat is in the fire..

an the voters are having to chose..

between the spectacularly popular salt and vinegar..

and the spectacularly inept party people..

IT'S A DIFFICULT CHOICE BUT SOMEBODY HAS TO MAKE IT

boat loads of people are trying to land here..

an nobody is sure how they will vote..

the royal navy are keeping out of the way..

and the boat owners are getting even richer..

things are not going according to plan..

some might say that they is no plan..

but trying to take over football from the top..

has brought relegation even more certain..

OUT OF THEIR DEPTH

IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN MAKING

this could run and run..

they thought it would all be over..

it is now..

THE OPPOSITE OF HOLLYWOOD

 yo!.. camera shy.. innit!

here in palookaville..

they ain't much ta photograph..

we don't have access..

ta the great celeb icons..

it's not hollywood..

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW THE SNOW BEATS DOWN

I'm bored and it's too dark ta paint..

so I thought..

I would look for something to share..

with the global hoard that is my fan base..

this is you babe..

dude, doll, whatever..

A CAMERA OBSCURA ALMOST

well one Sunday.. 

around lunchtime..

after a cappuccino..

at carluccios..

I was standing in a dark..

anteroom in the..

 palookville contemporary..

I had my camera with me..

a Sony rx 100..

and made a load of shots..

as the door opened..

and joes walked in..

and the light did cool stuff..

I uploaded the best ones to my..

saatchiart page..

and then..

I played around with them in photoshop..

adding stills from..

the misfits..

"you can spend a long time in hollywood..

and never see the part they put in movies"..

but the misfits is one of those parts..

anyway..

to put yous all out of your misery..

and save us all a lot of time..

here is a link to that stuff..

https://www.saatchiart.com/art-collection/photography/Darkroom/31203/654915/view

AN ELEPHANT IN THE SOUK

 yo! .. elephant forgot.. innit!

I looked at my google stats today..

you know..

for this blog..

the ones that tell you..

you have no followers..

or visitors today..

or ever..

WELL

it would seem that..

someone has been reading my posts..

that is unless the good folks at google..

have taken pity on palookaville..

and added some figures..

of fun..

HERE'S ONE I DID EARLER

I forgot to post this elephant..

in fact..

I had not even noticed the..

elephant in the room..

it was ginny what seen it..

and showed it to me..

and the I put the red hat on the figure and..

was happy..

ANYWAY

thanks for visiting..

whome so ever you may be..

I write this stuff..

and it amuses me..

but still..

better to share..

innit..

figuresinasouk.com