Granite Whispers and Painted Echoes

I applied towards this years Summer show at Penwith gallery. Here's the two paintings..

rains over Constantine bay

whirlwind clouds at Helford

 
Thought I'd stay clear of a figure this time but they both didn't get in. Probably not the strongest of pieces. I'll try my luck at next years summer RA and maybe this years Bristol

Also I put in a proposal to Radio 2's artist in residence which if you are one of the lucky ones you get to have an interview in London today. Of the many Radio 2 outdoor broadcasts and events I chose to submit toward their Cheltenham Jazz festival. With an idea to do a 'live' free jazz drawing of the bands and their music on an ipad. Hockney style.

      I was going to then use the sketches and painted music to produce a large scale finished painting. Does anyone actually paint from music..? Hold on - I'll google it...(a few seconds later)  O.K there's a fair few. It got me thinking for the other three as well and when in the mood I thought of making a Pyramid tent from the 'Pyramid' stage at Glastonbury. Either using canvas tent material and letting lots of people write messages in it and or using the left over tents and make a patch work quilt of a Pyramid. Which would then include a Glasto - soundscape once you stepped inside.
    There was also Carfest and I wanted to somehow link up the engines noises to an amplifier and have paint splash around (for a video) and even to paint a 'dazzle' car. Like the old warships of WW1. Then lastly staying with what I know..the 500 word story event for children. There's a top 50 stories chosen and each one produces an ideal concept for an Illustration, painting, ready made, etching...(note. they would count as one work)  
        Producing four works with £20,000 and no cashing in the money that you weren't going to use was a shame. All four of my pieces would be under £10,000 at least. That's a real saving for the BBC in these spend thrift days.

      The Collection date for the Bedroom Tax Redwing gallery show in Penzance was Thursday 28th. I got there with a lift from my mate Ivor in a flat bed truck. The best time to get there was after work for my mate who wanted to coincide it to collect some granite gate pillars. Another clear but windy evening the traffic was neck and neck until we got near the Chiverton roundabout. When we got there It was already taken down to make way for a new exhibition however Peter Fox was keen for one artwork to stay, the Wheelchair readymade is still on exhibition at Redwing Gallery
      Link to Mary Fletcher's blog about the art post. (more on the exhibition 30/4/15)

Chair at Redwing gallery Penzance

We arrived just before the African dance classes began and we had to be quick as the parking zone is not great for deliveries and didn't want to get clamped. I did stupidly stumble into the print room where all my stuff was to collect without knocking.. just as the dancer was mid way through her change. She was kind enough though to praise my work. Sadly I could not stay to praise her dancing and I made a hasty exit as I'd already seen too much of her already.
     The Shard looked flimsy on top of the pallet and King Richard III's White Rose had all but dried now and as I lifted him onto the truck a few comments were made from the Crown pub drinkers opposite.."Off to the tip are you?" "Recycling day!" Some people make no bones about art..poor old Richard III

        I was in charge of the road map App on my mates phone for the collection point and it just went dead as we entered Hayle. Luckily he'd already made a phone call while we stopped to have fish and chips near St Michaels Mount and I had a secondary hand written directions. Always good to fall back on pen and paper. Where would we be with out.

      There were four large and I mean massive 6-7feet long granite pillars a good forty foot away behind a newly built house. We only needed to collect two and the builder used a mini excavator with a bucket to scoop and drag the granites up between the side of the house. The second one was so heavy it was nearly tipping the mini digger over and the caterpillar treads were skidding on their front ends. Before it did topple my mate jumped on the back to try and weigh it down and I just gave artistic directions. And made sure the granite wasn't going to swing out and hit the side windows of the house. (Thankfully I forgot my camera and didn't ask to borrow my mates camera phone to video any of it..you had to be there really)
      We had just made sure the positioning was right on the truck as the bucket scoop had to have enough room to curl outwards when Ivor said while we're here why don't we do a deal for the other two! Sale agreed..and one was a little smaller and had rounded edges. Could of been a marker post.
      Then another monster one and on finishing he asked about my artwork as he'd bought works of a few local artists. Having glass and ceramics made for the new builds he'd completed. He used a few tonnes of Chinese granite on this new build and saved a few pennies. And we were there collecting old Cornish granite...
        Offloading looked easy enough, a few scaffold planks to slide them onto and we considered if we should roll or slide them off..in the end we let gravity decide.

ps note. I did join twitter for about two weeks and I could have given you lots of nice by the minute updates. But my ten year old imac computer can't even set up a profile page and software is out of date. That's why you've got this long winded version of events to enjoy instead :)