New Studio

Spent the last few days relocating my studio space. this is probably the tidiest it will look for the next year, so here's pics;

a boyish child called emily

sketchbooks. lots of emily notes. things i might call "art".

my tele. love my tele.

rhino's kitty

This book was in a box of old things of my grandmother's. It holds a hundred or so pages of measurements for people, local people and family members that my granny would have knitted/sewn clothes for. the name has nothing to do with it, the book was originally used to keep kitty records for a band of my uncle's. But i like the idea of this bit of personal history, a snippet of these tiny seemingly trivial interactions of this person with hundreds of people. time has a way of adding weight to the most unassuming material. plus i'm always fascinated by fastidiously economical record-keeping, squeezing so much info into little pages (the book's about the size of a postcard).












and for my own brand of record-keeping;

strange beautiful 18cm x 27cm paint on reclaimed wood

bands, beaches, bears

Was a pretty busy week of travelling and music. First off, Pearl Jam in the O2. Can't beat a bit of nostalgia, these fine gentlemen provided much of the soundtrack of my youth. I have early memories of playing Why Go and Even Flow so loud the glasses in the cabinet would crack and break. And they still put on an awesome show. Its very rare these days that i feel compelled to throw my body into a crowd of sweaty hairy men. but they were a worthy crowd.

After a brief break in Glendalough (including some Last Of The Mohicans style adventuring over the rocky and wooded terrain of the Sally Gap) i hitched a ride with some friends down to Cork for Grizzly Bear, Camera Obscura and Villagers in the Marquee. An absolutely wonderful show all round. Save for the brief interlude of Midlake, who, as impressive a band as they are, with 5 guitars, 3 flutes and ridiculously over the top drum soloing, all reverbed to the hilt, it was somewhere between fleet foxes, battle of evermore and spinal tap. was expecting frodo and sam to come bounding on stage at any moment. First two acts were brilliant, will definately be checking out more camera obscura. But Grizzly Bear had me grinning constantly. Have honestly not been so inspired and delighted watching a band since first time seeing radiohead. One of the few bands at the minute that i feel are making truly great new music beyond gratuitous experimentation. and i totally fancied ed droste by the end of the night, very humble sweet guy.

Spent the next day going along the south coast, getting in as many beaches as possible, from cork to waterford. lovely part of the country. i didn't take my camera with me, so as to avoid the need to document everything. i did bring home a few pocketfuls of shells, stones and driftwood though...cause surely thats useful. i do get excited in such places. i believe there were threats of putting me on a leash. and then there's some drawings, largely unrelated to happenings in the real world...;






have a lovely week :)

Development?

i'll not talk much about Offset, i think the main thing i got from it was just how much work these people put into their craft. despite what projects they might be working on that are in the public eye, they're still working on personal projects, still honing their skills, stretching themselves into whatever mediums they can. as a fellow offsetteer put it, it has given a much needed artistic kick up the ass. and i have opened myself up to that most dubious of prospects; developing an idea. highlight would probably have to be David Shrigley, for pure entertainment and reaffirming my personal faith in him. PJ Lynch's talk was great, as was the discussion with himself, oliver jeffers and dave mckean. missed dave's main talk. possibly a blessing in disguise, may have just depressed me.

oh, naming things. i tend to not name things cause my arms don't like me enough and i'm stupidly fickle about my...intentions, but might make more of an effort. anyway, here's random bits over the past day or two.

i have a thing for interesting branches. i tend to find things, think "surely that could form part of some sort of sculpture", peel off the bark, sand it down and then use it as a spool for thread or just leave it sitting in a forgotten corner.

after a litre of gesso i just about got one coat over half a canvas i have covering an entire wall in the studio. if my conscience has any say in it, i'm going to dream of many screaming skinless rabbits... have i mentioned i'm considering veganism? not sure how i'd live without cheese...

i drew this eye about a month ago. it's, like, my favorite thing i've ever done.

little gold fish heart.

things from today and blog hunting

i stumbled upon this via booooooom, an awesome blog by Meighan O'Toole, with a ridiculous amount of lovely things to see, and also in possession of a most wonderful title;

my love for you is a stampede of horses

also, loving volcano choir.

this is for colin, to help with our understanding;

whatever happened to blipp the happy stone?

caeser

from out there

a certain mr colin, of the dublin audio/visual/anthropomorphic experience, Green Lights, recently left this clouded land for the neon glow of tokyo. no longer does he astound us with his musical whimsy, disturb us with his unpredictable on-stage convulsing. now he exposes the potential humour and wonder of divergent cultural oddities in his own little "lost in translation";
only in tokyo

oh, and there's origami...

also, was listening to this american life, a radio and online talkshow, and i feel the need to pass on a particularly funny and poignant story told by comedian mike birbiglia. his piece starts at 10.00, but the whole show's pretty interesting (joss whedon's musical number is a surprise);
returning to the scene of the crime

and from a different world entirely; fighting fish

peace.