When I did my #Collage365 project I gave a title to each piece and often gave clues to strange, oblique connections in the hope that someone with the same references and a similar mental bent would see what I was on about and smile. They would smile the same smile that you might if you had just worked out a hard but almost “closed circle” clue. Recent days have seen a return to that kind of thinking with musical references. Question is, do I give the answers here on the blog? I will today.
Today’s solution is of course Len Barry’s song “1-2-3” in which he suggests that falling in love is something that you just decide to do and which is as easy as “taking candy from a baby”. Seems to me that it is a very cold, manipulative and oppressive attitude and if you watch the video you may feel, like I do, that the cheesiness of his performance is laced with a fair helping creepiness. You could believe that he has actually taken candy from a baby. There is a moment when he actually demonstrates how he did it. Now of course he could offer a defence of being a health watchdog, aiming to save the child from bad teeth and obesity, but his glee says it is just an act of bullying and the misuse of power. This could open up all kinds of angry feelings in me about politics and the suppression of the weak by the strong so I will move on to say that the artwork … well I could get het up over art or depressed about it so I will stop it now.
I half hoped that I would accidentally (or “accidentally”) find the blazing wick would fall out and set light to the envelope but I was far too controlled.
No122 means I have crossed the third of the way mark
So I have managed 122 days straight and that is one third of the year passed and I am still going strong/ Not that there is any doubt that I will finish the job and do all 365.
We went over to Frome today to check out the town (we have heard good reports of it) and particularly to see Paul Newman’s wonderful graphite works as part of Frome Open Studios. To be honest we ended up only seeing Paul’s stuff as we spent ages there and after a nice late lunch we had run out of time on the car park ticket. I’m sure there was plenty of nice stuff to see, but from the brochure Paul’s was clearly the shine out show. Instead of art we decided to drop in on friends in nearby Mells.
So by the time we got home and after cooking a very fine meal I was pushing it a bit and even got this posted (just) before midnight.
The reference to damp inside is my fear that I had chosen the wrong media today as noted in the previous post. As for the stuff on the envelope I feel I need to explain a little.
You may have noticed a musical theme over the last few days. The Morning Glory reference two days ago just popped into my head and yesterday’s Emile Ford was a bit more “manufactured” following on. (I saw Emile Ford’s band the Checkmates on the same bill as the Rolling Stones and the Hollies – a long time ago!) I had forgotten that I was going to say hi to the postie and ask if he had had a good holiday. That was because I stumbled across this post on Twitter from Helen Atkin-Roach about a mystery item:
Helen’s mystery item is of course a trouser press
As a time-served Bonzo’s fan I had to enter into a dialogue about it and ended up posting this video of the Bonzo’s:
This led me to referring to the trouser press in the “Do Not Bend” area and alluding to the album title at the other side. Sad isn’t it? Or maybe it is art of the highest kind! Certainly the Bonzo Dog Band (or Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as they were then) must have a right to be labelled art!
On the back, however, I have probably lost the plot and maybe the will to live:
On a day when I wanted to get on with some other stuff I chose to do something complicated with multiple processes needing time between! When will I learn? Who knows when it will be ready to pop in an envelope!
Another lesson learnt today. I hesitated before adding some last-minute enhancements to today’s piece. I didn’t want to risk spoiling it yet I knew it needed something. For a few moments I held back. The piece was OK and I really didn’t want to start from scratch again. Then I said to myself “Do not be afraid – it’s only art” – well that isn’t quite true: the actual words involved an expletive or two, but that is a fair summary! I believed in myself and was confident that I could create something good if II did have to start from scratch. That of course gave me the freedom to add enhancements that enhanced!
Today I have been stressed and stretched, doing things I had to do but shouldn’t have needed to do, things that gave me a headache from the start. So when I grabbed some time to go to the studio I was looking for a quick result and no stress. No way! I tried to shoehorn an idea into the wrong format with some bits I prepared yesterday for something else. Well I left it on the desk and went to the house to do the envelope (quite successfully and stress-free) and when I returned I sat and studied what I had made as I usually do. Usually I feel good, sometimes smug even, but today I was asking myself “is that OK?” I was trying to convince myself it was good; that I liked it. Whereas, in fact, I didn’t believe it to be good enough. There was a little period when I tried to tell myself it “would do” but in truth I knew I had to discard it and start afresh. Much better!
I should perhaps say that I finished a little constraint I put on myself for the month of June and am flowing freely till the next mad idea crops up.
Yeah, caught the post! I had just taken some images of me about to post No117 when the post van sped up and to give us a break from letters at the mouth of the box we have it going into the “official sack”.
But as I was saying … there are day’s when I am confident that I am pretty good at this art business. Ha! I’m not so sure about the business side of it, but with the background of my training, years of practice, years of looking, wide references, good taste and a helping of talent I can create pieces with integrity and intensity. They may not be to everyone’s taste but the work I am prepared to put out there is of good quality. (I do have a problem photographing it well though!)
Fortunately some people appreciate my work and it’s great when I get a spontaneous tweet from a client:
And of course the printer problem persists but while I mentioned it on the front of the envelope it doesn’t get a mention on the back:
First of all I should explain that I have changed the style of posting picture today because of the return of the shadow rabbit. I felt that Violet Lines and The Rabbit was a combination too much!
The piece I’ve produced today is superficially attractive and well composed but is designed to irritate the spatially astute among you. Part of what art should do is challenge us; ask questions; irritate us. I suspect that most people (who like my work) will just go “ooh, that’s nice”. If that is your reaction then you should look harder, more carefully, longer. Of course now there’s the rub, you cannot see the item in question, at least not until next March and even then only if it is sold!
There are times when I have done an especially good piece when I am close to weeping and other times I am a bit more fist in the air or sometimes, like today, when I just want to keep looking at it. The problem with that is I then start to have doubts. I wonder if it is just a superficial attractiveness or the idea is a bit facile or I am being too clever or too intellectual. But then again I couldn’t care less if I continue to derive such pleasure from looking at it: pleasure and wonder can’t be bad can it? I really didn’t want to part from this one so it will be interesting to see it again in 8 months time and see how I feel about it!
Back of No115
An unfolding artwork created a piece each day for a year
