creation of maurice

so its been a while that i've been wanting to make a puppet that paints. so the past two weeks this is what i've been at

he had a dry run at culture night (see previous post) to see if it works. it did!

this is him pretty much finished. for the next 2 weeks he'll be painting at leons enchanted garden at botanic. last night was first try and to be honest was a little awkward so tonight a few minor changes and hopefully he'll be on ball.

what worked though was the audience engaged with him. i'll add some photies of what he painted. he is a lot of fun

 

http://writenoiseni.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/leons-enchanted-garden/

look someone even put maurice in their blog...

culture night

maurice at work

 

me as the trapper and matt as a beekeeper promoting culture night

 the kind folk of the black box asked me to come along on culture night to do a bit of sketchin and also to maybe do some puppets.

i've been doin a fair bit of puppet work. workshops with sock puppets...several festivals around ireland and i'm happy to say a busy and enjoyable life as well.

this is a prototype for a larger live in puppet like the trapper. the function of this one though is to be a painter so i really needed to have an attempt at creatin artwork with it half made to see if it would function. paintin one handed and puppet with left was a challenge.

result...it worked

sometimes when you public sketch people are a little nervous of approachin but with the puppet it was so obvious a performance that folk seemed very keen to come over and watch. the place ended up bunged and i gained a good load of attention.

 a few people were really taken by it and one person in particular spent a lot of time comin back to chat. she asked if she could have  a picture and i thought. sure why not? i had sold one but i ended up lettin them all go at the end. its better for them to be on walls i guess and i gained good experience with this performance. its only half started like and it looks great doesn't it?

the whole performance lasted around 6 hours goin from paintin to readin books to chattin to dancin and general muckin around. i enjoyed myself so thanks sarah from blackbox for askin me to do this and for takin these great photies.

willowstone - ruby colley and katie and the carnival

i found this picture up on the ol' interweb machine. i know i pull funny faces when i sketch but jeez look at the hack of me down there. willowstone was a lot of fun and i got well and truly mangled but managed to get 2 good sketchin sessions done too so not all a loss. the colour on my face was the colour of heartbreak. or raw pigment rubbed in off the skin from waterballoon. you never know what you may find in a field on a sunny day.

first was ruby colley. a great belfast based musician. http://www.myspace.com/rubycolley
i've seen her play a few times and really enjoy what she does. def one of the best local live acts she'd remind you a bit of zoe keating if you've heard of her. the sketchin went pretty good i'm happy to say and the gig was lovely. as soon as i saw her i legged it up to stage and got me wee pad out.

violins are fiddly things to get right

 

its been a bit of a cursed pad this one with everythin goin in it shite. the drawins are quite raw but i'm pretty chuffed with them. if i could find my tones i'd add them on to it to give a bit more depth but they are hidin today - so may well update this post when i find them.shame on me for losin me printed safmat. the shadin on these is crap but i just wanted to get enough down to suggestion - figurin that i can tone later. its these wee decisions you make at the time that keep it so excitin and leads to my facial expression. how any musician is able to concentrate when my tongues wedged out at them i don't know

next was my fave katie and the carnival.
http://www.myspace.com/katieandthecarnival
i don't know ruby but i know katie well and have worked with her doin puppets in italy and belgium. she's easily one of belfast's busiest performers and it is class being friends with her because she is just so damn good. i've tried sketchin her a few times but always kinda failed.

i think i got closer this time round. all that ale was kickin in strong. my pen broke. the rest of the day is somewhat lost. if you look close at these ones you will see i was actually rippin into the paper and alas with broken pen i went off on a spiral with no sketchin left to do. how people tolerate me i really can't fathom.

her music is great...she made me cry

sketchin in tracy's livin room

just before i went to belgium tracy let me sketch at a gig in her livin room. some guy from new york called xavier was doin a wee acoustic set and a local guy from omagh too (i think he was from omagh)
well the gig was good and fun and i reckon there was about 30 folk there. i did some alright sketchin too and sold most which is a bonus. people really seemed to enjoy me bein there doin this and some where like kids on xmas day.
this is good for my ego it must be said...when folk pay for your work it really makes a difference to me. there is just somethin more...sincere to it.

well this is one which noone went for...and in my opinion its the best. ah aesthetics hmmm? just look at the faces in the background...they're class. if only i was always this good...well i guess noone would buy then...eh?

zinneke 2010 with boite a clous

i was a lucky wee ducky and invited (well i kinda invited myself ) to brussels this May to make a puppet with phillipe evens and his crew then perform at their seriously awesome parade zinneke . in typical style i didn't document my input into this but did shoot a wee video of the main parade and the detective in you may indeed catch evidence of the puppet.which should be that wee link just below



...its a bit long and badly edited but HEY!!!!
i ain't no movie makin machine please and i'll blame the camera work cause it was the puppet doin it too so.

anyways in this video you will see the openin of the parade from our perspective. boite a clous the arts group who invited me over and their crazy metal death machines...then matteo's blob (he choreographed our italian performance last year) and then the parade finale. the entire event lasted about 2 to 3 hours so i only filmed a wee bit. the sun was shinin and the work was tirin (well for those in the parade...i just stood and waved and shouted) but i did my time at the partot in bologna last year....about 5 hours in the sun in a full puppet that time.

makin a puppet in 2 days is a funny challenge. its time enough but not time enough to go backwards. as it started to go skew wiff i had to go along with it...all in all. it was ok. a wiley coyote physhadelic pirate thing.

on the fri night we did a short parade through brussels centre. it really suited me as i could get in peoples faces and even though they were mainly french speakers i heard enough "what the fucks?!?" to know a job was well done. a universal term.

for the main event i was put up on a balcony with claire a great puppeteer i worked with 2 months ago at a caberet we did in brussels. she is great fun to work with and makes me laugh! she even dropped a crepe on some woman's head and from the look of her face it may as well have been a meatloaf cd.

it occured to me while i was out their that you must be doin somethin right in your life if you go on holiday only to have to work nonstop and still feel like it is a holiday. how many people feel the same about their job i wonder. i did manage a wee holiday in the middle to leuven with fantastic sunshine relaxation and festivals galore...polaroid memories

i have never quite had hospitality like this before (except for my mammy and daddy of course...oh wait and minnesota was pretty jamie accomodating as well) and i cannot even express my gratitude to the belgiums and italians for the joy and heartache they have caused

this is all good shite for a painter's fuel i tell you!!!

the hyena and other men

it seems fittin that as i'm movin back into my old studio i'll post the first pictures i did  2 years ago taken from the book "the hyena and other men"

also i love my new camera...how great are these photies?

glitter and sparkle

was meant to get a whole set to do portraits at this fabulous ball - leather sofa lamp, the works...but it never arrived...alas
it was a great job this. the thing about sketchin is it is quite paparazi in that you steal images from people without askin. there are all kinds of methods to use to decrease your chances of bein clocked but always there is a sense of voyeurism and slight perversion which makes me feel a little awkward,
for this however it was so different because people approached me to get the picture done. in a way it reversed things and i guess was quite like speed datin. i got such a buzz from this it was great just meetin complete strangers and chattin on like mad with no fear of...am i doin their head in should i leave...that kinda thoughts.
i don't pose people for a portrait i let them just sit and do whatever they feel like. the key for me is everyone is relaxed. over 15 minutes people tend to let their natural bodylanguage show so even if they think they are all posed i see somethin else entirely.
i only have one image from this night (as everyone bought them) and that is the one posted here of a performer.

she was my first portrait and i asked her to pose so i could warm up. the image is very sad and i think that shocked her as she was all dressed up as a showgirl and lookin very beautiful and glamourous. she didn't like it and left...but over half an hour she returned about 3 times drawn to the image. eventually she told me she was actually sad as she was just back from new york which is better than belfast in many ways. i wanted to give her the picture but she vanished at the end of the night. several people have offered to buy it off me but i want her to have it.

2 other interestin portraits were done that night. one couple just snogged  the whole way through and it was amazin just sittin a couple of feet away and watchin this...a real intimate moment and as the picture took 15 minutes maybe 20 i saw all kinds of odd body language goin on.

the third interestin one was another couple. when the woman came back for the image and looked at it she commented on how it looked like her boyfriend was talkin down to her in it and she looked...suppressed.

a little later she came back to me and said that's how the dynamic of their relationship truly was and mad how i captured that.
as i said the true body language shines through....it was truly a fascinatin project

carousel

carousel is a night of jammin in the black box. how it works is the musicians (about 20 or so) sit on the edge of the scene in a circle and then inside that are seats for the audience and then right in the centre of them are 2 artists who work inspired by the music and there work is videoed and projected as the visuals.
i love the idea of sketchin as performance and so was really excited to be invited.
lookin back on the images maybe not my best work but still some worthwhile stuff...maybe its a bit messy
the srtist i was paired with is the great helena hamilton
www.helenahamilton.com
she has had some great exhibitions recently i recomend checking her work out
it was an interestin pairing too as i reckon our work is completly opposite
where as i take my influence from the enviroment around me hers is very introspective.

afterwards she got tonnes of positive feedback and i got little...ah to be beautiful

some songs are only heard once

this took a wee while but was worth the effort i think...am goin to start workin on board but...not that into the canvas anymore

speedracer will never be the same

title choice is difficult for me and is always on my mind while workin on a piece.
at first i wanted to call it "like diehard in a jamie" and although the idea of me bein overrun by terrorists and some sweaty action hero killin them off one by one appealed - its really just silly. too personal and not really anythin to do with the paintin. so then i thought.."like diehard in a wilhelm scream". this i liked a lot and although it is closer to what the image is at it just isn't right. i guess the idea that action media is a kind of terrorism

wha?

just because somethin sounds cool doesn't mean it is.

so speedracer will never be the same?

on which the novel is based

in 1999 a friend of mine Catherine Walsh was completeing her MA in music technology. one night she happened to say she was creatin a piece for her final show and wanted to add a visual element to it. at the time i had been thinking i wanted to do a similar thing with one of my paintings...that is to turn it into a kind of animation. like the way they use to do in bagpuss. remember how emily would find an object and they'd tell a story about it. focusing on details of whatever the antique was and then pullin back to show the entire thing. well havin a wee look on youtube it would seem its not done quite that way. i guess our memories from childhood change things...how bout willow patterns on china sets...same thing really

catherine was up for the idea and so the project started. what was meant to take one week ended up takin like 3 months. as i listened to music that catherine was puttin together i  had different visions and as catherine saw the paintin form then her own sounds adapted. slowly the  piece started to form and the story evolved.

what i liked about this format was it gave me the chance to lead the viewer through the paintin and so the story of celebraty obsession, elitism, denial, demons and reincarnation could be hinted at. also i suppose the beginnins of my understandin of the term "fear friday" a now monthly torture i put myself through.

the paintin has a lot of the themes which often creep up in my work and i was very satisfied with it. sadly it has dissappeared along with the film. but just yesterday i found the video amongst all my old cds and with a little modern wisery have managed to get it up here for youse all to watch.

paul smith was a film student who kindly put his energy into it.  me and catherine didn't have a clue how to go about somethin like that i'm sure i could lend my hand to it now...how technology has came on in ten years.

the title was somethin catherine heard on the radio about the clockwork orange and it became a theme runnin through both the music and the paintin.

eventually it was shown at the crescent arts centre

its amazing to look back on this old collage work i use to do. it has an energy that the canvases are missin. i'm currently waitin to scan in my slides from art college so you can have a wee look at them soon i hope. it requires a holiday to donegal which is gonna be a delight now spring is here.

i'm really glad to have this peice of history back and able to let it be seen again. it is for sure the kind of project i'd like to try again although i don't think a reunion between the original trio is gonna happen any time soon.

we're a complex lot us humans for sure

www.knittykitty.org.uk this is some of what catherine's up to now as for paul i've no idea - last i spoke to him we were still goldeneye obssessed - ah those halcyon days

ad hoc - wreckage

this here's the new room i abide in

and heres the next part of that there previous painting...workin title is some songs are only heard once

so i've added in some lootin haitians and the top left is a muck around at the mo in an attempt to make it look like a busted billboard. the tidal wave bit has been turned into a city/oil refinery.

hhmmm lookin at the last post i can't help feel i've buggered this one up. but up close it really needed more. i think the crowd at the bottom left look great though. twas listenin to koyanisquatsi (i wonder how close i got the spellin right on that one) a few times while doin this stage and i reckons its like that film all rolled into one.

i mean that in the most humble manner possibly i must add.

 -

ad hoc...my new studio

 

well i've just moved into a new studio about one fortnight now in belfast. its great havin this space to come and i have got a lot more work done. its also nice have some other artists to see - i'm not so lonely.

i wish i had kept more of a track of the stages but these have about 2 layers of work on them. at the minute i'm not too happy with their direction and they are a little too abstract for my likin. but thats the way i am. i push my work as close to personal critical perfection i can...i guess if at this point they were perfect they'd be finished. i don't really know what they are about or of at this stage. but even though i feel depressed bout them i'll keep at it. sorry for poor photo quality but it'll be interestin to see what direction i go here. i don't really plan an end result with this stuff - i think thats why they wreck my head so much

out to lunch - sam baker

a good lesson is to have no expectations. the poster for this show had a scruffy lookin man sittin down playin guitar in an energetic (near punk) manner. this seemed ideal to me. first energetic - that's what i love to draw! and secondly sittin down. it is a much more pleasin (and easier) image to capture than a standin guitarist.

he was a well presented slow playin standin guitarist. the first act went badly for me...i had chosen an awkward angle and had got myself hemmed in as well so couldn't escape to change that, every sketch was a failure and my esteem was droppin somethin shockin. here's the most valuable lesson any artist needs to learn

push through

never give up. instead of gettin disappointed take that energy turn it into whatever and let it come out on the paper.

as i was standin there this man's music started to get to me. he was charmin with the crowd and the lyrics were really movin. i'm not totally opposed to country. howe gelb has a room in my life.

first act done, repositioned and although i don't feel i really got the pics i was after i walked out with my head up proud at least of what i managed.

a weird thing is quite often the musicians aren't at all interested in my sketches and i feel a little embarrassed about the whole brief affair i've had with them. but i would have liked to have shown these to mr sam baker. not that they are particularly great. i had just spent maybe 2 hours really studyin him and bein frustrated by him and all the while he slowly got into my head

i had to leave to catch a bus that wasn't there

but this post isn't about our awful public transport network and film crews who are more important than me