Anus by Anon

Sums up the night really.

In other news, I've not been at the studio since Thursday. I got a bit stuck on stuff and wanted to take a bit of a break so I could come back to it with fresh eyes. I've been drinking beer and reading William Burroughs (big cheers to Stephen) and Arthur Ransome. They might not seem to go together to the casual eye but they do. I should relate my theory that Arthur Ransome, despite being an MI6 agent, was one of the great anarchist heroes of the 20th century at some time.

Yet more pics

Here's a general view, with Piero and Beckmann staring down admonishingly:

Here's what's on the wall at the moment:

Astute observers will notice the same painting in two different states in the two pics.

The four canvas thing has been giving me gyp, but I think I've got the compositions sussed. With any luck, I'll have them nailed this evening. I want to get them all drawn up before starting on the underpainting - do them as a group.

State of it

Here's where we're at:

These first two are new. This one is what will be the first of four related ones (the start and the finish):

This one will be The first word: the nothingness:

And, finally, this one is coming along nicely:

Oh, and I thought I should remind you that you can click on any of these suckers to see 'em bigger.

Some more pics (in various stages of completion)

Mind body problem:

Self-portrait with Harbour Cone:

As yet untitled:

Also as yet untitled:

Studio pics

The studio-ho

I've finally got into the studio. It was meant to be vacated on Thursday night (when I started paying for the sucker) but wasn't until I was at the Puddle on Friday night (brilliant gig by the way - George played for about three hours solid - keep your eyes peeled for forthcoming albums).

As well as hangovers to contend with, we had Mum and Ben and Ang round for lunch on Saturday, so I didn't actually start moving stuff in till Saturday arvo. I spent most of today there and got heaps done. It was really good. The two small ones I was working are shaping up nicely, and I've started another. I'm thinking of painting over the new one though. I think the composition might suit a bigger canvas, and have something else that will fit this canvas better.

I was expecting to be able to post some photos of the nice sun streaming in the skylight and the nice view out the window, but they haven't appeared in the old email yet (even though the crappy photos I don't want to post and sent at the same time have - typical).

The codex

Mum brought me some really useful books back from Mexico, including a reconstruction of the Codex Borgia. I went along to the Gregor Kregor opening on Monday and kept pulling it out and enthusing to people about it. I get into my new studio tomorrow evening, and want to get stuck into some new paintings. I've still got a couple to finish off, but I think I might get started on some others first off. Nothing wrong with having several on the go at once - in fact there's something to be said for it.

Oh yeah, and Rose has finally got around to updating her blog.

Miscellaneous blither

I neglected to mention the couple of openings we went to on Tuesday night: John Walsh at Janne Land and Chris Clements at Mary Newton. I managed to spectacularly smash a beer on the nice concrete floor at the John Walsh one, and didn't stick around at the Chris Clements one cos it was so packed. I really liked the work though - particularly the way the images and titles reinforced the groupings. Go and check it out.

Went to Enjoy last night, for the closing thing of Mike Heynes' Schlock Horror. I really enjoyed Dragstrip. He reckons he's used to hiding behind a PA but having this direct and immediate relationship with the audience really worked well.

Paul, Matt, and I ended up drinking beer back here and listening to records while Rose tried to do some work (good eh?). She's got a ridiculous amount on, which is why her blog's been interrupted indeed.

Why I hate everything

Having to delete this comment crap every single time I post is really beginning to rip my tits. It just seems emblematic of everything that's wrong with humanity. The focken Internet should've been this great thing - the whole of human knowledge at your fingertips and a way for the physically isolated (e.g. those stuck in the South Pacific instead of being in the thick of it in the middle of Europe) to keep up with what's going on, among other things - but instead it's just been captured by people wanting money and/or sex. And this from a species that claims for itself the inherent dignity of human life, which is just laughable. These puffed up pompous apes strutting around pretending they're not controlled by their gonads and venal self-interest. Pathetic. Focken latrine fillers.

Sunday redux

Check out Stephen's version of events.

Catching up

Spent the weekend catching up with people. After Matt and Victor had finished verbally dissecting my work on Saturday, Paul came round to drink beer in the sun and smoke a lot.

On Sunday, Sandra, Paul, and I went to see Dutch Light at the doco film fest. I really enjoyed the film, despite some people in it saying some annoyingly stupid things. It was good to see an artistic subject being treated seriously. I won't be going to anything else at the fest but.

We hooked up with Stephen afterwards. He should've come to the film with us, and would've too if I'd knocked on his door when I was standing right outside it. But I'm stupid, so I didn't, so he missed it. We drank beer in a couple of different dives around town before heading back to Paul's (and hopefully soon to be my) studio to make plans for laying out the space to maximise usable wall area, usable bench area, and viewing distances. Sweet mate. I can feel it in my bones. It's going to be good.

Of course yesterday was the first day of daylight saving, so getting up this morning was grim, especially as it was raining to boot.

Quote of the day:

Painting, n.: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather, and exposing them to the critic. - Ambrose Bierce

Studio fun

I've just had a couple of friends come round to check out what I've been up to in the garage. They both had useful and constructive comments to make. Story.

Saturday morning

I'm about to head up to the garage to put some more layers of underpainting on. I'm taking these ones pretty slowly - just getting used to oils again.

At 11 am this morning we will apparently have the official final election results. That will be interesting.

Update after 11: Ironically enough, the Nats lost a seat to the Maori Party (they don't get an extra seat though - because the Maori Party's share of the party vote went up, the overhang is reduced at the Nats' expense). The Greens' position seems unchanged.