December

RDH: DECEMBER 2024

01/12/24

It’s been a long weekend - no studio but that is understandable considering the circumstances. Adjust / Adapt.

SURPRISE SURPRISE!!

03/12/24

… application? Glutton for punishment?

04/12/24

Focus! F and A. That is all that matters! The rest is bullshit.

08/12/24

Studio! Part 1. ‘M.C.’ facial tones - hair detail. (Purples / Greens?)

Timely progress on commission. Baby steps - not getting too carried away.

Started well on ‘moss piece’. Think the texture will work well - albeit awkward to get detail and control the paint in the really layered elements.

12/12/24

Has the penny finally dropped? Hopeful that it has. Over Christmas, take a look at [redacted]. Why not!

13/12/24

Submitted!

18/12/24

Didn’t get the P.P. opportunity. But as S. says, it was a strong application so I’m proud of it regardless of the outcome.

22/12/24

Keep forgetting that December is usually a write off - when everything else is taken into consideration.

23/12/24

NT5’s gave an idea. snippets / stills from videos taken out of context. There’s something here (not literally I hope). +

25/12/24

26/12/24

It’s been a month and a half! Art has taken a back seat. There’s plenty to be doing, just zero time to do it. This has been largely out of my control lately.

BUT - in saying that…

When it IS in my control, it is making sure that I’m getting the most out of it.

Energy Levels.

27/12/24

Carving time. Need to get on top of these fatigue levels. Certain points of the day, I could easily pass out and I have caught myself sleeping not long after waking up several times.

Get to the bottom of it.

28/12/24

RDH’s are all well and good - keeping stock of where I was to help where I'm going. But what if, in the new year, at the start of the month, a list was made for that coming month. A target list. Things like:

  • works to start / finish (setting deadlines)

  • upcoming application opportunities

Continued in diary.

29/12/24

Last studio day of the year probably.

Top tone - violet yet still dark.

“…embracing darkness as a tool to shed light on something.”

Hank Willis Thomas (on the ‘A Brush with…’ podcast)

So bloody close! The green background is upsetting my happiness but what to change it to?

31/12/24

When researching ideas for creating a new target list, one thing that came up and, I’ve noticed this in real time, is having or setting a deadline to finish something.

having a time limit to have work completed for the Catalyst opportunity has definitely been helpful. Piece is all but complete.

New Ideas project - NI M’s and S’s. (pandering?)

Target list should include a chance to take my own advice - do the research and contact …

Some resolutions: cull the scroll time - cut out certain habits.

So long 2024. You’ve been good to me,

RDH: DECEMBER 2021

01/12/21

OMG! ARRAY have only gone and won the Turner!

Amazing!

02/12/21

Make the most of tomorrow.

03/12/21

brian kielt painting

Sadly just a short stint in the studio.

05/12/21

Infant Terrible” finished. - Less is more.

09/12/21

Dire.

14/12/21

Tinnitus - bit of a surprise.

Great to finally see John Rainey’s ‘SLIP TANK’ in the Naughton Gallery today. Hands down, the best sculptor in the North.

15/12/21

“The impulse to discover and re-contextualise rather than to generate a picture reintroduces questions of intention. Why did they pick that? What did they do to it? To what end?”

‘World of Art: Contemporary Painting’ by Suzanne Hudson

16/12/21

Fractured narratives.

Sketchbook time. Good to do something creative for the first time in a long while.

18/12/21

Light at the end of the tunnel?

21/12/21

‘The Sky Gives Way’ Solstice performance by Méabh Meir and Emma Brennan with Array Collective.

22/12/21

New year will be a fresh start. Exciting!

23/12/21

Christmas Eve-Eve. News from yesterday have just evaporated the angst that has been looming overhead the past few weeks. Can now settle down and enjoy the holidays with the family minus the worry.

27/12/21

A Clean palette and tidy studio.

28/12/21

Very early rise. Studio time FINALLY!

Topography of Man - surveillance?

30/12/21

With two pieces at a treacherous crossroads, there is that leap of faith needed. If they go sideways then that’s alright. It can be rectified or started again.

There is that strange debilitating fear when work is at a junction like this. It’s easy to kick the can down the road and avoid messing any work that has gone before.

Last day in the studio for the year. Maybe this added to the frantic energy but “Label” and “Under Surveillance” have changed beyond recognition. Darker and Simplified.

Fresh eyes will know whether to continue working or not. A good day.