Flexion Quadrat

This painting was made on the surface of a glossy calender and although it hasn't quite worked, it has opened up some more pathways. It's reminiscent of an old map and the texture is like that of the skin of a baked potato.

The 'paint' is strawberry with salt, overlaid with patches of strawberry, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Pieces/slices of strawberry were also added, giving textural 'features'.

X marks the spot.

April Summary: Volcanos and Paintings

Since I last wrote two unguessable events have occurred, both beginning on Thursday 15th April. Firstly Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, was judged to have 'won' the televised partly leader debate, boosting the LD ratings to unprecedented levels. Brian Eno will be pleased. Secondly, an icelandic volcano called 'Eyjafjallajökull' erupted sending clouds of volcanic dust into the air, causing most of northern Europe and elsewhere to suspend all aircraft travel.


And so with the echoes of this in mind here are some photos of my most recent work to date:


Fragaria Bed


Fragaria Bed (detail)



Fragaria Scale Study

I think the above piece from the latest batch is particularly successful. It comprises strawberry pieces and liquid, salt, bicarbonate of soda, on printer paper (20.5cm x 20.5cm). Unusually, photographs don't do this piece justice (I think a lot of my work exists best as either time-based i.e. short duration paintings or derived photographs). It pulls together a lot of my interest in macro/micro worlds, references to SatNav images, geology, biology etc. while retaining a good colour balance and composition. I look at this piece and it just chimes with me.

Have made some other pieces which I will detail soon. Very refreshing to get feedback from my friends Nomi and Sarah on consecutive days.

Bought some second-hand, 'adult' joke cartoon books to feed into my mourHu bookwork (more of which later).

Carla has sent me a file for use in our new PMusic Single which I shall work on over the weekend.

I have made pages for the new invited Consembles H, I, J and K.

Currently listening to 'Dream Theory in Malaya' by Jon Hassell.

Riders

Rather appropriately, on Saturday - the day of the Grand National, I noticed another peripheral painting or two, generated by the process of working on the main canvas. I call these pieces 'Riders' and they are edits made from the newspaper underlining the recent strawberry painting.

My first thought was to mount them with a white card surround, as depicted, (which I may still do) but soon realised they won't last too long in their current form as the newspaper will yellow - so I scanned them at high resolution for possible later printing.

Lots of food for thought here.

13th Reflection

The edges of this painting again prove interesting - this time with what I term my 'icicles' forming and drying to produce mini sculptural forms: something I will develop in future work.

------------------------------


By itself, I felt the composition felt rather empty thus exemplifying how I judge this type of work to operate effectively at different scales (a smaller square canvas would have enough visual interest for me using this recipe). And so after much deliberation I decided that another element needed to be introduced into this canvas and so I attached a plastic lid (a carefully chosen green) to be filled with the strawberry/salt solution.

The location of the lid was suggested by the way the mix had pooled in the last pouring giving a nicely off-centre, yet balanced position.

9th Return

Back from my hols on the 9th April - out of the taxi, up the stairs and into the kitchen, dropping my bags off on the way. Painting not completely dry but one more day with the central heating on in the evening and early morning should see it completed.



The painting is a lot more orange, and yellower around the edges where the egg white mix was applied, than when wet. This makes the colour less dramatic. Also, I'm not sure about the composition now; it seems to need more... but I don't want to 'fiddle' or over-complicate.

I'll return to it Saturday morning with fresh eyes.


P.S. Methinks I should have an exhibition called: 'Watching Paint Dry'.

4th Bridge

Painting obs just before I go away for my Easter break. You can see here the darker margin continuing to persist while the liquid in the centre of the pool has yet to dry - longer drying time often yields larger crystals.


The edges shown here provide a good example of the accidental (or hitherto incidental) places where the painting may be found. As the frame of mind in which I approached this work, in particular, was very open, it could be these edges provide the inspiration for future exploration.

3rd Layer

Bit of a flat day today so back to the painting.

> The left-hand side with the canvas is drying darker (and more purple) than the side with the printer paper, which is interesting and makes me think perhaps the canvas or its primer are more acidic or alkaline.

> I poured some more liquid strawberry/salt onto the surface of the canvas so forming a kind of pool. After having done this I wondered whether I should have as it disturbed the purplish margin of the canvas side - nevertheless the more liquid the larger the crystals. I do have an intuition that this painting is going to be successful and a move forward.

> The very edges of the painting are beginning to crystalise.

Second Coat

Back from meetings at the Uni and as a counter to a rather grey, drizzly day - more work on the painting:

> with the pink, egg white containing surround almost dry, I applied a red strawberry/salt layer all over, so that the margins were covered and the liquid began to pool in the centre, which was my intention (so that larger crystals will form there).

> currently uncertain as to what the difference will be to those areas underpinned by the printer paper sheet as opposed to the bare canvas but it may be that the vermillion colour is held more fast.

> hard to photograph the painting under neon light (I began work on it around 8pm) so I have provided a couple of images. You can see from these the beginning of compositional features.

> prepared a mix of salt/strawberry tops containing foliage as a separate liquid, but haven't used it as yet.


As always, look forward to seeing what happens next - I'm one of those odd people that finds watching paint dry fascinating.

'I'm painting, I'm painting again'

As the song says*


Just for the hell of it rapidly assembled a painting:

> glued an A4 sheet of printer paper to the right-hand side of a square canvas. Placed canvas flat and face up on my kitchen table, wooden supports and newspaper underneath.

> took half of the strawberry/salt mix I prepared a couple of days ago and whisked it with three egg whites to produce a pink froth (idea I've had for a while - want to see if the egg-white gives a more viscous, therefore more crystal-encouraging medium). Mixture was pinker than I had anticipated. The fried egg yolk sandwiches were delicious.

> applied pink froth to the edges of the canvas (see photos).

> will revisit tonight.



* 'Artists Only' by Talking Heads

'I'm painting, I'm painting again.
I'm painting, I'm painting again.
I'm cleaning, I'm cleaning again.
I'm cleaning, I'm cleaning my brain...'

Fragaria (prelude) - slideshow and thoughts

I have now put up a slideshow of images: www.paulramsay.co.uk/fragariaprelude/slideshow.html relating to my 'Fragaria (prelude)' show, prompted by a talk I gave yesterday (21st Oct.) to the Land/Water research group at the University of Plymouth.

Preparing for this show has made me focus on how best to present and articulate my work and so has been very useful. I've had some very positive feedback and I am looking forward to developing some bookworks and the next event (the 'prelude' in the title is intended to suggest this show as a forerunner to a larger exhibition).

***


On another note, I am posting out the latest CL Consemble newsletter on the 25th October:
www.chameleonlectra.co.uk/newsletters/CL_Newsletter10.html

Fragaria (prelude)

Fragaria (prelude)
a small show of paintings

from 18th September to October 28th 2009

Scott Building Foyer,
University of Plymouth,
Drake Circus,
Plymouth,
Devon PL4 8AA

Paintings (on wall):
1./ Raspberry with salt on 12” record painted white*
2./ Blueberry with salt on 12” record painted white*
3./ Blackberry with salt on 12” record painted white*
* with acknowledgements to Ellie Parker for providing these records, ready-painted with emulsion.

Work on plinths:
4 Paint tins [pitara, red plum, strawberry, raspberry]
Fragaria (island)
Periodic Review
Cerasum

These speculative pieces have grown out of my previous explorative practice of combining sodium chloride (salt) with water-based paints - a practice which enables me to work in a space between chance and control in my artwork (and runs parallel to my work with indeterminate music composition).

During the Summer of 2008 I began to use fruit, first as an admixture to my acrylic/salt mix, then eventually realising that fruit alone provides all of the essentials of commercial paints for my purposes: hue, texture, a covering medium etc. while also returning paint to its roots: poetic yet fallible.

The application of fruit/salt to a variety of surfaces has generated the possibility of my developing a vocabulary of objects in relation to form (e.g. the square, the circle) and content (meditations on chance and composition, the poetics of the gramophone record, the act of painting and in the case of ‘Cerasum’, sexuality).

Proposition (Cherry; Raspberry) v

Above is an edited snapshot of the painting, now dry. Not completely finished, as I am going to paint the edges, but nevertheless a version of the 'finished' work.

Proposition (Cherry; Raspberry) iv

A cherry vocano with a large raspberry seed prominence.

A serrated coastal edge boardering two large, deep red territories. To the South West, a paler ravine harbouring clearer crystal structures.

A weather of changes soon...

Proposition (Cherry; Raspberry) iii

Another miserable day weather-wise, the complete opposite of the spirit of this painting, Summery and playful.

Added more layers today and attended to the edges of the colours, although I am waiting for the central stripe to dry (pink with blue) before I fill in the remaining white. Although not shown in this photo, I have now filled in the top left of this painting which unfortunately overlaid some delicate blue pink crystals - which is why I am being careful to preserve them in the centre, if possible.

Working in this way one is never fully in control so you have to be prepared to accept the changes as they occur. I've tried to adopt an improvisational frame of mind working on this piece to bridge the gap between experiment and control - not an easy balance but at the moment I think things are developing well: I get a certain charge when looking at this painting, showing some of the possibilities of cherry and raspberry in terms of colour and texture. The salt both preserves and crystalizes - in many senses of this word.

This is the first fruit painting I've made which fully draws on my previous fascination with geologic-type layering. I'm particularly interested in what happens at the edges of the layers, the connecting 'micro' layers with their small details - food for 'small looking' (more of which later).

Proposition (Cherry; Raspberry) ii

Typically uninspiring English weather this Monday; a constructive day nevertheless.

Spent the morning planning out the Fine Art stage 1 Critical Studies programme with my colleague Sarah. We are trying to get the balance right between covering what we believe to be important areas (politics, semiology, feminism, psychoanalysis etc.) while appreciating that many students are encountering these topics for pretty much the first time. Lectures therefore need to be broad and inspiring without compromising the complexities that arise. Not easy, but I believe we made some progress.

Especially in our discussion of Prog Rock*.



Added some more to the painting and noticed that crystals didn't begin to form until around 12.30pm i.e. about twenty four hours from initial making (see below) -which goes to show that even with central heating, these things can't be hurried.



Looking forward to adding more lines to complete the surface when the first ones have dried.



*BBC recently screened a program on so-called 'Prog Rock' which we both enjoyed but found rather contentious.

Proposition (Cherry; Raspberry)

Above is the prepared canvas, primed with a white emulsion/pva mix, with diagonal strips of faun matt paper, photo gloss paper and some yellow cartridge paper glued to the surface. The joins are unimportant as my intention is to eventually cover the entire canvas in fruit/salt solution.




Here are the initial stages of painting; I'm using dark cherry and two varieties of raspberry: one redish and one with a more pinkish hue (at least when wet). I'm going to allow these first applications to begin to dry before adding more material, this evening or tomorrow.

Culturally, cherries and raspberries are an unusual combination - not impossible to assemble, but like most fruits each having its own separate world.

---------------------------------


Talking of unusual combinations here's 'Stardust' and 'Black Coffee' by the lovely Sarah Vaughan being stirred together in the cup of chance by Jim Andrews: Stardust & Black Coffee

Auger

Well June (Joon) melted into July melting into August.

Teo arrives next week and I can't wait.

Been ill for a sustained period now -but thankfully feeling better even as I type. Going to do a Lightning Technique course soon, so will report on its effects. Have noticed good quality of sleep really makes a positive difference. This year has been a slog, though, so far.

Degree Show has been and gone, but with a group of students continuing to show their work at the DegreeArt.com gallery, 30 Vyner Street, London from 6th to 16th August. Go and see some beautiful work.

Have had many more submissions from Consemblers including Ted Houghtaling, Emma Payne from fedbybirds, Steve Moshier (excerpts from his 'Brief Encounters'), Cem Gurney, Jukka-Pekka Kervinen and Dave Dellafiora: 'Hi Paul, you should get the cd in a few days as it was sent last week. As I said before please feel free to cut the music up. The method used was one I copied from one of the autistic guys I work with, playing youtube with a number of windows open, all playing at once and rolling back the sound almost like scratching effect.'

-and more, with more sounds promised!



Painting has focussed on exploring the effect of using different papers (often to make birthday cards for family and friends). Have recently been using gloss printing papers and matt card with cherry, raspberry, blackberry and strawberry salt solutions. In fact, I'm all ready to go with a prepared canvas this evening. In fact, the reason I am writing this blog is to escape from the noise of kids outside my flat so I can pass the time until they disperse. In fact, they're gone now...

Sat All Day

After a very full and tiring week at work, Saturday - time to rest and catch up.

Consemble Son count is very healthy with a couple of months to go:
Consemble C2 - 54
Consemble E - 35
Consemble F - 39
Consemble G - 31
(all out of a maximum of 60)
Quite a few of the recent ones are from composers via NetNewMusic.
I plan to add some wah guitar to E and some drawing sounds (the sound of stylus on papyrus) to G quite soon.
*
Finished the Bourriaud and enjoyed it, then discovered to my delight there is a book called 'Non-relational Aesthetics' by Charlie Gere (and others), who I knew at Middlesex and who has gone on to great, if unrelational, things. Not everyone is a fan of this response but I will certainly seek it out. Also found some interesting online perceptions of RA. One criminal omission is any real discussion of sound or music - it seems to me that an average, intelligent Rock concert fulfils many of Bourriaud's requirements for an art of contact. Should also mention that RA is no longer all that contemporary and the debate has moved on. A few more coffees and I may chase after it.
*
Small painting show now moved to early Sept. though the 'canvasses' continue to build up. It's recently occurred to me that a 'Fragaria' accompanying bookwork could contain some scans of sketches for work, as well as text and photos. Still thinking about how to represent it online (without being ripped off).

Spring Cleaning '09

After a fairly relaxing but poignant Easter I return to report on current developments.



Since I last blogged my painting practice has continued to flourish and grow, with my current work centering on the record and variations upon it (taking, for example, the idea of a label surrounded by a circular lake of sound). I need to confirm but I believe I am setting up a small show of work very soon, in the Scott Building in Plymouth University where I lecture. I want to use this as a spring board for a larger show this Summer, which will also include some form of bookwork. As I have been working with strawberries for some of these pieces, the tentative title of the Plymouth show is 'Fragaria - towards future variations'. As my friend Sarah commented (who teaches an MA Fine Art course) my recent work is complex, with apparently disparate strands being collided, but I feel an effective display of my work will lead the audience through the brambles to the fruit ;-)


I am still thinking how best to represent my work online and need to reflect further on how I want to structure paulramsay.co.uk so that I achieve a balance between old and new work. Rightly or wrongly I always feel I want to do justice to earlier material, particularly music, as the work didn't have much exposure at the time it was made and I think there are some good pieces there - things that I listen to as much as I listen to anything else. It is also coming up to the 30 year anniversary of 'Photographs of Sound' - an album recorded and released by PGRS, the first improvising band I was a member of - and so it would be appropriate to mark this with some form of interweb celebration I think...

This round of Consembles has been very productive, with a number of new participants getting involved, and the promise of sounds from many more. I am pleased in the way that this project has put me in touch with many interesting artists/musicians (and I intend to develop this further, possibly into the territory of 'Inlets' Daughter' and certainly for MAAKOF).


I am already collaborating with the delightful Carla Cryptic on a new PMusic Single and this is an exciting development for me, being able to work internationally across the web, with like-minded people.


Another encouraging sign has been the inclusion of an overview of PMusic and Consemble by Peter van Cooten in his blog 'DreamScenes'. Peter is also involved in Folio Radio - a radio show in the Netherlands and we are talking about the possibility of PMusic featuring in a half-hour slot on the programme in June or July of this year.

I still have several things I need to attend to:
'Inlets Daughter' and/or 'eTudes'
A bookwork on Parallel Music
MAAKOF
Beatrice Harrison project
'Red' painting project
my website (as mentioned)
and more...

Spring cleaning my art while time flies by...

First in 2009

Hopefully, a multi-coloured year with the release of:
Albums,
Bookworks,
Consembles
and the
Development of
paintings and
other visual pieces