RDH: APRIL 2024

02/04/24

Utilise own advice! Get pro-active!

04/04/24

Not being idle within practice is key.

LNAB

Éabha Campbell - DEPICTA MUSCA in Catalyst - beautifully macabre.

Stephanie Loveless - “This Street is a Song” - part of Sonorities Festival.

Blue Whale/Maeve McGreevy/Tom Hughes - “Last Immediate Moving Image” at VAULT.

07/04/24

“A Brush With… Nalini Malani”

“…slippage of imagery…”

Clothing detail work on “Last Fancy Dress” and a promising start on “They Had It Coming”. Keep it raw - how do you describe that?

11/04/24

Submission 1.

16/04/24

Submission 2. Ran out of time for drawing work.

17/04/24

Sketchbook work.

S.A.W.E.D.

18/04/24

Submission 3 - an open call.

21/04/24

Studio - pre paint notes:

• Headscarf - maroon?

• Background - a sickly yellow / green (not unlike “Amy Study”.

Now that the canvas is covered (no more blankness) - it’s show time.

24/04/24

Dublin bound. Really bad that I have gotten out of the way writing in this. [slaps wrist].

S.V. confirmed! Class!

Popped into the LAB Gallery to see “Emergency Knowledge: The Missing Archives - Vagabond Reviews”. Great to see Save Our Sperrins highlighted among other important causes.

25/04/24

OK, so I’ve been putting this off for a while and now, it seems that bus time is usually RD time these days.

Project idea I had maybe ten years ago: record a sitter - up close in portrait whilst asking questions - mix of mundane and psychological. Between each question - leave around 20 - 30 seconds. The sitter remains silent throughout - more of an introspective process. The idea was to then take still of video and convert to painting.

What if…

test demo screenshot from 2014

instead of a static camera on tripod (that I tried back in 2014) - the footage moved in, out and around the sitter?

And…

instead of working off individual stills on separate works - merging onto one surface. Showing a variation in composition, scale and method of painting depending on the image taken throughout the test?

So, let’s take stock…

Four submissions done in past 6 weeks plus an SV!

Sketchbook work tonight - since brain is firing on a few more cylinders than usual.

27/04/24

Four years. Surreal.

28/04/24

Studio time.

Well, after nearly losing it on the skin tones - “THIC” turned out better than I could have hoped. A strange feeling.

30/04/24

“mother tongue” in the MAC - GREAT!

Dorothy Hunter’s work took breath away! Bloody brilliant.

Upper Gallery view of "mother tongue" in the MAC

'Formwork (Nervous Systems)' by Jane Butler

'as much as one can do' by Dorothy Hunter

RDH: AUGUST 2022

02/08/22

Getting a little anxious as word gets closer…

03/08/22

“Girl with Red Hair” has been preselected!

07/08/22

Work dropped off to the RUA.

Visit to the MAC for Ron Mueck exhibition.

14/08/22

15/08/22

Can’t just be sitting around waiting…

Some sketchbook work started.

16/08/22

Drawings finished up from yesterday. Studio time now and some painting with the niece.

GOT INTO THE RUA SHOW!

17/08/22

‘A Brush With … Lina Iris Viktor’

“I think using a limited palette gives you more freedom.”

L.I.V.

Another layer on ‘lovers’ piece and a clean palette needed.

18/08/22

One Year!

20/08/22

Studio. Bit of burning on “Catherine Study”.

21/08/22

Good progress on “A Lovers’ Harvest”… man’s face works and doesn’t at the same time. Need to come back with fresh eyes.

There are aspects about “A.L.H.” I need to jot down:

• Fracture

• Loss vs Hope

• Memento Mori / Passing of the Seasons

27/08/22

Adam Pendelton on “A Brush With…”: “Masks conceal and evoke.”

Studio time: Grass - too much? Go lighter? Lovers - more sculpting? Background - more solidity?

A lot more questions than answers at the minute. Less writing, more doing. Retrospective analysis is much more succinct and compelling (?)

PTO…

Although, in hindsight, creating a short, concise list of things to look at, attempt / rectify seems to pay off more often than not.

“A Lovers’ Harvest” finished.

Detail of “A Lovers’ Harvest”

31/08/22

Submitted… finger’s crossed.

Never far from thoughts.

RDH: APRIL 2021

01/04/21

“A Brush With… Ali Banisadr” - audio-visual synesthesia.

02/04/21

Palette is cleaned and managed to get some good work on “On Gilded Steps”.

03/04/21

Added some gold aerosol for the edges of the steps. So close to finishing it up. Very frustrating as last week one of the figures that was working the best is now the last piece of the puzzle yet to fit.

05/04/21

“On Gilded Steps” finished!

09/04/21

…apparently it was coming but it was a jolt and now a growing sense of uncertainty.

10/04/21

“Seven Types of Ambiguity” by William Empson.

Ambiguity has to be purposeful, holding multiple elements in suspension - that’s when the ambiguity works and has a function.

11/04/21

Such a leap from what was happening last year.

12/04/21

Catch up on webinars. Is ‘brand’ a dirty word?

13/04/21

Episode 27 of “Jo’s Art History Podcast” is live! Always strange to listen to yourself back but I really did enjoy the chat with Jo.

Some good sketchbook work tonight.

14/04/21

Re-watching Rego Documentary.

“Gathering Thoughts” gathering momentum.

16/04/21

Quick run to Belfast to lift “Hotel ‘78” from the RUA.

17/04/21

Studio work: less will be more with “G.T.”. Progress made but very slowly. I could have ploughed on this evening but I thought it was best to quit for the day while I was ahead.

19/04/21

“Leonardo" on Prime. Fast and loose with facts but still fun to watch.

22/04/21

Yesterday saw a long overdue clear-out of the office and the start of a fresh lick of paint.

25/04/21

I think I’ve taken “Gathering Thoughts” as far as I can go.

27/04/21

A solemn anniversary.

28/04/21

Submissions made. Fingers crossed. Primed large canvas today which took several coats. Barrow + woman with dogs / butcher?

Starting to get excited by a piece that hasn’t even been started yet.

29/04/21

Decided against ‘woman with dogs’ and ‘butcher’ imagery and opted instead for early biplanes of the RAF. This way I can instead swap scale instead of orientation and hopefully not overcrowd the composition. The red container behind the medics should be kept and then adding the planes using tonal differences / slightly different register. There and not there. Pillers - might be best to paint them out. There will probably be remnants of them as layers are added.

30/04/21

A broken up sort of day.

RDH: SEPTEMBER 2020

01/09/20

Power is out.

02/09/20

The Rashomon Effect: When the same event is described in significantly different and often contradictory ways by people who were involved.

03/09/20

I do feel a little stuck with the Crimean Painting. Some sketchbook work - get back to the drawing board.

06/09/20

Death Masks: bottling the soul, bottling the trauma.

08/09/20

Very strange few days. ‘Taking Orders’ painting - just not sure where to go with it. Leaving it aside for now and having a look at adding a recent sketch and incorporating it into an old abandoned piece. The only good thing I can see in the failed ‘St. Lurach’s’ work is that weeping willow to the left. It should stay in some capacity.

Very lethargic for some reason.

Thoughts = NOT A REALIST PAINTER!!!

Lifelike/ reality isn’t what I’m aiming for in drawing or painting. Yes, sometimes a more realistic application or approach is required depending on what the image dictates. EG: ‘GO’K’ works in that it hints at realism but ultimately leaves the majority of the portrait minimal - barely any detail. This is not just limited to composition, but especially colour I think.

10/09/20

Belfast bound.

Saffron Monks-Smith

Stephanie Tanney

So good to get to the MAC for the degree shows from the Belfast School of Art.

‘Confessional’ reopening was great! It’s a show I’m very proud of.

12/09/20

Some good progress on ‘The Voyage Home’. Less is more - even on this scale I think. Suits the image and composition well.

13/09/20

Finished!

15/09/20

Halfway through September! HOW?!?!

Figuring out ideas for next steps and possibilities. Good to get some sketching done tonight. Forgot how accessible sketching smaller than A4 is.

18/09/20

‘The Week in Art’ podcast.

Guston and de Kooning - both developed making works with a ‘formula’ able to commercialise work / work that could be made in their sleep and sell no problem. Both rejected this formula and started again.

Integrity.

‘Elizabeth’ and ‘Mary Ann’ studies - the looser the better.

20/09/20

Detail of ‘Elizabeth Study’ - work in progress

I think I’m coming close to a mini burn out as far as studio work is concerned. Might be good to take a step back, read and research for a few days and see where we are.

22/09/20

Finished the little portrait studies. Really different approach but that’s no bad thing. Started some new canvases.

“Art is a wound turned into light.”

Georges Braque

‘Elizabeth Study’ and ‘Mary Ann Study’

23/09/20

Research - that’s about it.

24/09/20

Some good progress in the studio today.

25/09/20

Got scared very easily.

Sketchbook work.

26/09/20

Five canvases on the go at the minute. Best to focus on one or two at a time. First up., ‘Waiting Room’. It’s been a while from I attempted this image.

Seats / Symbols?

‘The Waiting Room’ - detail

27/09/20

What was light at the end of the tunnel has turned into a dark abyss. Shrug it off and keep going.

28/09/20

Sketching

29/09/20

So the past few days have seen a real drop in productivity and drive. Reasons or not —> focusing on work will help. Taking a mini break will also help. Easy to fall into old, procrastinating habits.

Meaty questions.

30/09/20

Studio all clean and tidy!