The Beast

Now that I've got your undivided attention with this Hammer Horror title I'm sorry to have to let you down. The real subject of this posting is this most wonderful mandolin player:
Alison Stephens :

Last Friday I travelled south from Glasgow with two of my mandolinista compatriots, Billy and Ian (and laughed all the way!) to the Borders town of Biggar to see and hear young Alison give a recital in "The Aroma" cafe as part of the Biggar Little Arts Festival. The cafe was packed and expectant for this young woman is credited as being one of the very best mandolin players in Britain, if not the world. And, you've guessed it, we were not dissappointed. She has an easy and personable manner gently interpersing history and facts about the mandolin with the most sublime pieces of real music you can ever hope to hear. This is the woman who played for the soundtrack of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and while many pieces were which she called "soft and fluffy", she also played what I would call "High Classical" with such dexterity and confidence, all from memory, I was mesmerised. I can never hope to achieve these dizzy heights in my playing since I know I've started far too auld but I was lost for an afternoon in the company of an attentive audience and wonderful live music.

Which all made up for the interminable traffic jams on the way there and on the way home.

Above is the sketch I made from many half-glimpses through the ears of the big chap who sat in front of me. Alison very graciously signed it for me.

Oh, and "The Beast" was the name she gave to her Octave Mandolin which was about the size of a full-scale guitar.

Wee lassie, big mandolin - rock on!

I Like a Challenge!

Having had a good few days to consider what exactly happened with my unsuccessful attempt at getting accepted as an Artist Member of the Paisley Art Institute (PAI), and now that my chin has lifted back up to about chin level (with the help of multi-coloured braces), I have come to some conclusions {with more than a little help from my friends around the globe} which will help me understand where I went wrong and what I’m going to do about it:
1. Although my confidence was high, and I thought Mother Universe was sending me a positive message by plonking the call for new Artist Members on my doormat, I unthinkingly jumped into that application far too quickly. I had a choice - whether to do nothing and let it slide (as usual), or get my act together and have a go. I should have recognised I really wasn’t ready for this year. Ho-hum!
2. In retrospect I know I should have already been submitting paintings over the last few years into the PAI’s annual exhibition until I started getting some accepted [I have had drawings accepted before but never a painting] then after a few years applied for Artist Membership. I got it arse for elbow!
3. Instead of submitting a range of drawings and paintings I should have kept a much narrower focus that showed consistency. A flower watercolour, a charcoal portrait drawing, and a figure painting in oils was obviously too diverse. Now this takes me back to my second solo exhibition I held in 2002 where I had got together 37 diverse pieces, all properly framed. I remember the gallery owner saying how great he thought it was but it did look like a mixed exhibition! Ha! - will I never learn?
4. While I might think my work is the bee’s knees, in the cold light of day I can see that my painting technique needs to improve. I can only do that by working harder (slap about the head!).
5. My choice of framing was poor. I thought I could get away with cobbling a few different frames together and I can see now that was a big mistake. Whether I like it or not, the PAI is looking for better presentation with quality framing. I know this, so why didn’t I do it? - Idiocy, that’s why! (I hope you guys out there are also learning from this!)
6. I do not know anyone in the Paisley Art Institute, and they don’t know me because even as a Lay Member I have missed their AGM for the last couple of years. What do I expect? So if I want to do this I need to make more of an effort and try to get to know them better by continuing as a Lay Member and being seen.
7. I suspect not having a Fine Art degree is a hindrance but there’s nothing I can, or will, do about that.

Now whether I ultimately try again next year or not, there is no doubt in my mind that sitting here today I have two options:
1. Accept defeat and give up on it.
2. Consider it as a challenge and work for a year towards re-application.

The first option may appear to be the easiest - I just try to put it out of my mind and carry on the way I have been going, jumping about from one project to another. Unfortunately on this road lies perdition: I fail to make proper or sustained progress.

I know instinctively that Option 1 is not an option for me, or at least shouldn’t be. It will always be there at the back of my mind, gnawing away, as a constant sense of failure.
The second option is, on the face of it, much harder and with no guarantee of a positive outcome, but if I choose Option 2 what is the worst that can happen? I make better use of this coming year and create and develop a better quality of work which, properly framed, makes me stand a chance IF I CHOOSE to apply again. In other words - there is no harm in it, and most definitely a lot of good.
So there - I have talked myself into it and relish the challenge. Option 2 it is. Tally-ho!

But how do I illustrate this post? (because I know you have all dropped off ...yawn...reading this...yawn again…epistle..wishing there was something interesting to look at 'cause reading more than two words is awfu', awfu' hard). So, I’m going to finish off with my penultimate subconscious musing:

Neocolour II on paper, 40x30cm: "Curl"; I am very keen to pursue some sort of abstract painting but I recognise the love and enjoyment I get from figurative work, so the task I set myself is somehow to combine them. Not much to ask, so I've got a lot of thinking to do, and a lot of work ahead of me. I hope you won't be bored with the journey I have now set off on! Join me in my Great Big Adventure!
Andiamo!

Toots

Poor wee bugger - today started out great for my little feline friend, with the sun shining and the birds singing (watch out - he's got his slitty yellow eye on you!), but took a rapidly downward turn around lunchtime when I evily enticed him into the house with the promise of sweety-chewies, bundled him in to his carry-box (after a short wrestling match - two falls, two submissions and a knock-out!) then into the car for an horrendous mile trip along to the vetinarians to get him a jag up the bum and chipped to tell the world he belongs to me! It's his own fault for adopting me: if he didn't like getting petted so much and fed every day and treated to his sweety-chewies every night then he could go somewhere else to live and get none of these expressions of unconditional love. Still, he's a poor wee bugger. He came home and flaked out on the living-room floor for half-an-hour obviously traumatised from his Great Big Adventure! (he mieows in the car all the way there and all the way back again - it would break my heart if I had one, ha!) And there he is - out for the count on the sofa still having nightmares of fighting dogs in the waiting room and pointy needles in the scruff of the neck:

Oils on board, 40x30cm: "Recovery Position"; But he's a survivor. After sleeping the afternoon away he was right as rain and out to the back garden again to take up where he left off: hunting unsuspecting wee birdies. It's a cruel world!

Bums Rush!

This is painful for me (and calls for extra lashings of vino colapso) but you might as well share my tribulations as well as my joys.
The Big Submission I was being so coy and secretive about was my application to become an Artist Member of the Paisley Art Institute (PAI) which, you will gather from the title of this piece, was unsuccessful.
I have been a lay member of this organisation for some time and when the latest newsletter came through my door intimating that new Artist Membership was about to be considered I decided that rather than let the opportunity pass by I was feeling confident enough to submit the following drawing and two paintings (suitably framed):

Now I know it's difficult for any of you to pass any real qualitative judgement on what you see as cyber images but I felt that these were generally indicative of the work I do - a broad range (within the limitation of three) of bold watercolours, strong pencil drawings, and dynamic figurative painting. Alas not what is acceptable to the Paisley Art Institute.
I do not really understand why I was rejected (pours another drink). Either it has something to do with the raw nature of my work (West of Scotland Art currently tends to be pretty smooth) or my framing was inadequate: I wasn't prepared to splash out on all new custom framing hoping the artwork would speak for itself so I re-used a professional double-mounted black frame for the sunflowers, an off-the-shelf beech frame for the drawing (this would have cost me a fortune to get my framer to do at this size), and a self-made stripwood edging, painted white, for the oil painting. I thought they each looked great, and was pretty pleased, but obviously my taste is in my bahookie! (pours another drink).

Where to now?

This is undoubtably a bit of a set-back for me, but as my grannie used to say: "Whit's fur ye (for you) will no go bye ye".

Looks like the PAI wisnae fur me!

Ye Thocht Ah'd Bin Murdered....

....but luckily I survived!

I'm pleased to say that I took Melanie's advice and hoovered like my life depended on it and boy was she right! I just passed inspection by the skin o' ma teeth! I'd like to report that I've been "off air" canoodeling and making up for a whole weeks separation from my paramour, but (sadly) that's only the half of it! There's been a few other goings-on that have kept me away from the keyboard: Principally, the Plumber (and his Mate) have been wreaking havoc on our household, ripping up floorboards and knocking huge holes in the wall to fit a new combi-boiler and four new radiators (Part II of our energy-saving strategy). Bloody hell what a mess! It's been like downtown Bagdad before the 'surge'. It might be OK for them to spend their working days like demolition contractors but we have to work like the devil to recover our household into some semblance of order after they have gone (laughing with wads of money in their hands!). But as the dust settles we can see that it has indeed been worth it (although it might take me another fortnight to work out how this new heating programmer works!)

We did get one nights relief from heating contractors when we went out to an excellent concert with Mick West Trio at East Kilbride Arts Centre. Singing traditional folk music they brought a new perspective to old and new Scottish tunes. Mick has an amazingly rich voice and a brilliant sense of the romantic in his renditions of songs by Robert Burns. A lovely night which I can only support and applaud with these mediocre pencil sketches in a small sketchbook:

The man himself: a big lad with a big, beautiful, rich voice.

Mick with one of his accompanyists, Steve Laurence, on the five-string guitar, who also played Bazooka. Top-class playing!

Then there was Frank McLoughlan on guitar and the Scottish Sma' Pipes:
These guys were great, but beforehand there were some other 'folkies' doing their thing to get us in the mood:

A good night out. There is nothing (to my mind) to beat live music from top-class performers.

Still Rumaging

It's like when you go up into your granny's loft and find all sorts of rubbish (which you see as delights) and think "This is amazing - I could do something wonderful with this!" and then you get it home and sure enough...it's rubbish! Well here is the latest 'delight' for your delectation:

Neocolour II on paper 29x19cm: "The Claw"; Struggling to give it a title so just plumped for 'The Claw' because my imaginative way with words has just deserted me. Not enough wine, that's the problem! Excuse me while I get a refill....talk amongst yourselves.....Right I'm back. So what do I say of this? Actually I think it's one of the best so far (but don't dismay - there is better to come, I promise). Or is that my other delusional self talking? The truth is I'm a bit freaked out at the moment. Not just because my better half is due back from vacation tomorrow and I've still got a mountainous amount of housework to get stuck into (more later) but I see I have now got TWO followers to this blog and I'm panicking! "Help Ma Boab" as Oor Wullie used to say [ Oor Wullie is a fictional Scottish boy whom I grew up with, and was always getting up to high-jinx, but still consider my ultimate hero (not withstanding Homer Simpson, Pinocchio, and Plug {see previous posting:...}) (Note to self: must get a keyboard with more styles of parenthesis). Back to panic: Now that I know people are not only reading this rubbish but actually looking out for it gives me the heebie-jeebies. What if I let them down? What if they eventually see through it and think I'm a tit? What if I get another glass of wine and don't give a damn? What if I get back to the plot?
The plot: These attempts at abstract art seem to me to be pretty poor when I see what my other abstractionist heroes (previously mentioned) get up to. Theirs' (I was reading a book about puctuation the other day and I hope I understood enough to get the apostrophe in the right place there) (I love parenthesis because I can wander off and have a discussion with myself while you lot wonder what's going on!) where was I?... ah yes: theirs' is a much free'r expression which one day I hope to emulate. These images that I am presently coming up with are, I hope, simply the precursers of better things to come.
Housework: (Told you I'd get back to it!) Since 'She Who Will Be Obeyed" returns tomorrow I've got to make sure everything is ship-shape and Bristol fashion. I've done two washings so far, hung them out, and taken them in. Done a big ironing, and now I'm about to clear all the bottles and cans lined up along the mantlepiece after a whole week of partying (those of you who didn't manage have only got yourselves to blame - you were invited), wash every plate and pan in the house that seems to have found it's way into my sink (pretty sure the next-door neighbours dishes are in there too!) and clear all the paintings that I've got lined up on the living-room floor in preparation for the big submission (which is still a secret and don't say a word because I haven't told you about it yet). The one thing I absolutely will not do is... the hoovering. Why? Because she will only do it again anyway! Keeps her happy.

More Musings

Working up a storm here with more musings from the inner recesses of my mind:



Neocolour II on paper, 29x19cm: "Blue Ridge"; It didn't start with mountainous thoughts just a quiet meditation on how the pastel moved in my hand uninhibited.

Still on a craggy theme out came this crack in the space/time continuum:

Neocolour II on paper, 29x19cm: "Fissure"; Only joking - it's got nothing to do with the 'space/time thingy..' just me dreaming and having a lark at my own expense :o)

Putting these images down onto paper gives me a real up-lift as though I have found a voice which is just my own. Life couldn't get any better. And on top of that, after all those years in complete ignorance, I have just recently found "The Simpsons" and laugh out loud at it's truth and idiocy. Not only do I find I have a real affinity with Homer but also a great affection for Marge, whom I quote here: "Most women will tell you that you're a fool to think you can change a man. But those women are quitters!"

Talking of which - you'll be glad to know it's only two days till my darling wife returns from vacation and she'll sort me out again!

More musings tomorrow,

caio!