Soapbox

It never ceases to amaze me when I overhear conversations, either of peoples own sad and sorrowful situations or of general conversation about 'The State of the Nation',  why are people surprised at the cut-backs, for me the only surprise is that they have come so late.


The High Tech War that is being fought in Afghanistan is costing the country millions of pounds each and every hour, the cost of the war by far exceeds that which is available through the general public, cuts in policing, health care, education, the selling off of assets, most recently the channel tunnel link, it is innevitable that there has to be a source of funds to keep our troops in Afghanistan, the reality of life at the moment is that this country is slowly but surely heading toward total bancruptsy, add the cost of war to our National Debt and the mathmatics is simple, we are spending much more than we can afford., current war cost estimated at around £2.5billion weekly, The National Debt around £960 billion, The Gulf Wars around half a trillion pounds, where is the money going to come from, why are people surprised at cutbacks, even if every person in the UK donated their entire months wages to the Government we would still be in Debt.

for a good idea of the financial cost of war, although now historical and out of date you can well imagine where we are at in the present
The Hidden Cost of War

The situation for the general public is worsening and is not so far from our heading into a situation where the homeless figures will rise and continue to rise until such a time as we see that, as a nation, we are as  impoverished as peoples in what was once referred to as ''Third World'', now called Developing Countries, while we ourselves are failing to 'develop', in the past 24 hours I have had one person knock on my door for a coffee, not because he wanted to share my company but simply that he had run out of electric and gas and was cold, another only yesterday saying that she was in a situation where she was now forced to sell her home because she could no longer afford to keep up the payments on her home.

To name but a few, we have mothers days, fathers days, we have smoking awareness days, a whole list of days where we should take stock, on the recent announcement of a Royal Wedding a Public Holiday has been quickly promised, there is no Homelessness Aware Day, not in this country, in America yes, in Australia, yes, but not here, Homelessness is a growing problem and one that will continue to grow and grow as the financial plight of this country increases; SHELTER recently announced that the Government was targeting the poorest and most vulnerable of society, this is true in one respect however in another, it is truly the poorest and the most vulnerable that now make up a majority group within our modern society; more can be taken from this majority group than the small number of disgustingly wealthy individuals, it is simply mathematics that govern a country and as much as the government hype professes to 'understand and be emphathise with the sad situations of peoples lives there truly is little that the government can do.

Homelessness will increase as will poverty as long as people take little notice of what is going on in the bigger picture and bring drastic change to their lives, in some respects the homeless minority are fortunate, they have nothing to lose and there truly is only one direction that they can go, for the remainder of society it is time to tighten their belts and to respond to the homeless situation as it now stands, they may themselves one day need the services that are currently in operation to help.

References
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2129/1/
http://www.debtbombshell.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/13/afghanistan-iraq-bill-british-military

thoughts at the end of a chapter of life

Final Video 11 minutes, or there about!
warriors walk final film cut [HQ]

The cards will all come down today though my inner self would like to see them remain in situ they have done their job, fantastically,  the comments from the public, the press and the Royal British Legion have been more than enough to leave me lingering between humility and embarassment.

I have no doubt that from today, the number of poppies on people lapels will slowly start to diminish as will, though not entirely, the strength of their emotions regarding the the sheer weight of loss that this country burdens in relation to our lost heroes, the grieving for the families will go on in the background as the country settles back into their own lives and personal issues.

Sad though it is it is a fact that there are few in this great country of around 70 million people who do not live their lives without one problem or another, each one battling their own issues in modern day stressful lives. while I move on from one awareness programme to the next I know that I will have to work as hard to tear people away from their perception that their problems are the biggest and most important in the world, how fickle, selfish and inhumane man can be when they who suffer the most are ignored as individuals get back to their own job, the pursuit of personal gain, of personal growth, a journey that is, for the most more than many deserve or will ever achieve, while their dreams. of bigger homes, of a fatter bank ballance, of a new car, of promotion, for sure many will never achieve their dreams for dreams are borne of hard work and sacrifice.

some people are never satisfied, and never will be, destined instead to grow only toward a bitter and lonely old age while for some, even a sleeping bag would be the best christmas present in the world.

I can not leave the plight either of veterans or of our lost heroes behind for that is a part of me, my loss of friends and my own post war experiences make it so, for the now however I must leave that fight of recognition to the organisations whose resources are geared to that job knowing that I will return to that fight next year, for the now my attentions turn toward the veterans who return and end up in a different category of statistics, that of mental illness, of alcoholism and drug dependancy, most of all, the homeless;


3 years ago I produced 1000 minature homeless veterans borne of the statistical quote of marketing which suggested that ''On any given night there are 1000 veterans homeless.''

Three years on the quote for today is ''one in four homeless people are veterans.''  although there are no difinitive figures for this countries homeless a provisional search suggested a figure of more than 65,000 homeless people in the uk, to me that represents around 15,000 + homeless veterans, almost as many as have been killed since the cease of hostilities in 1945 which is around 16,000.


watch this space.

video clips of warriors walk

the time it takes to download the film clips of the day to Blogger is so very slow that I publish this blog merely to notify and to direct you to my facebook site, having a camera does not make me in any way a film maker, nor can I even aspire to having the basic ability to grasp the intricasies of video editing software, so little in fact that I found it impossible on this occasion to splice the clips together for publication,  still, in the words of a great artist whose name escapes me at present, ''I am always trying something new in order to learn how to do it.'' truly the story of my life ...........

Film editing in the old days was, for me, far less time consuming and fun, there were little frames that you ran the film through cutting and splicing together tiny strips of cellulose with small sticky bits of sellotape, then, back to the monitor to wind the film through with a small handle to make sure you had cut and spliced at the right frame, absolute fun.

last night, after three hours of struggling with buttons, clips, images and text, captions and transitions, rolling credits, cutting and pasting, transferring from hard drive to software,,,etc etc etc,,, I lost everything, everything that is except the original clips, the fight with editing software goes on while the warriors walk event continues to be a daily success, 

currently the local gazette is trying to establish who was actually responsible for the installation, it is the event however that is important at this moment in time moreso than the person responsible.     

less said, here is the link to the third clip, others are at the same location.


warriors walk III [HQ]

Warriors Walk

The catalyst for the installation was a flippant and ingnorant comment overheard in a shopping quiere, while two women argued over a donation to the 'help for heroes box'.                                  '' ..... they joined [the services] knowing what they had coming, it serves them right!"
My slant on this very different of course, not just an ex serviceman myself but moreso, a brother who has been in every conflict since and including, the Balkans and a son who has just joined the Royal Artillary, my slant was that by that simple act of knowing, or at least having some idea what they might be getting into was an action that which separated the men from the boys, noone, not even an experienced battle hardened soldier can know what ti expect;, rather than get into a conversation where two opposites would never find common ground, it set me off in search of some retaliation, what does an artist do if he wants to make a point, he does it visually and with such impact that the weaker of the argument is forced into submission, the Warriors Walk was spawned through that overheard conversation.

Initial discussions regarding the Installation allowed for several locations, up ginnels, on the parish Church Gates, on trees or along the river bank, it was the latter that captured my immagination, over 800 metres of fence, a busy thoroughfare where many people walked on a daily basis and, as it turned out the final agreed location.
For the next few weeks it was finding fotos of fallen heroes on the internet, nominal rolls, rolls of honour andvarious other military and emotive images to depict, how to mount them, protect them from the weather and with six weeks only to decide and execute we had set ourselves a tough target, 6th November to be completed and to  take action as to ensure that they were completed by the allotted time, originally agreed to be the saturday 6th Nov, one week before remembrance Sunday.

There have been 5 documented wars and operations that have dominated post war contemporary society since 1982  and it was decided to alott each a ribbon significant to the war, sadly we had to leave Northern Ireland out of the project as all of the information needed would have meant that installation would not have been ready on time, they, I will have to work with at a later date perhaps in a way that is dedicated toNorthern Ireland alone.

GOLD
for the Falklands, the jewel in the crown where training and equipment were absolutely for the era of training and the tactics of historical warfare.
WHITE
for the Balkans, as british troops were there on Peacekeeping missions
BLACK
for the Gulf Wars I and II , the colour of the ribbon symbolic of the oil discharged across the dessert like snakes from the air meandering along the easiest path.
RED WHITE AND BLUE
for the afghanistan war where the British Troops fight a war with significant autonomy in an international coalition
and RED,
for Operation Barra, a less heard of battle where SAS and 150 troops from 1 PARA with their Red DZ Flashes were drafted to Sierra Leone in 2000 in a rescue mission for the Irish Rangers held hostage by rebels,

There were two lost lives lost in Op Barra, a small number some would say however, combined with all of the others there were 851 Ribbons and cards that had to be found, printed, laminated, cut, holed and threaded with a ribbon.

The entire task took some days, as the day of hanging drew close as did the information that the local council were having a clampdown on posters and advertising material being hung on ''street furniture'', why did we not seek permission some asked, it was simple, artistic licence, freedom of speech and of most importance, why would or should we need permission to lay a personal tribute to the troops who fight bravely while others at home languish in relative comfort and safety and moan about their trivial woes, no, there was no permission needed, even if applied it would have not arrived by the due date, my skeptisism dissalowed the commitment of the local council who do not even fly a flag either at full mask or sadly at half mast when the troops are killed weekly.

the first obstacle was how to write a personal message on the back and retain full dignity for the man or woman and their families, even in the first few cards emotion set in as the dates of death were quickly abandoned in the realisation that for every fatal report there are another 800 or more families who would feel their grief again, and again,,,, all cards therefore indicated that they were killed   TODAY... for that is how it is for the family.

Posters were sent around the Town, the Library one being taken down as it did not represent a charity and one other shop not putting it up deeming it, by virtue of its not appearing in the window, as  unimportant, perhaps a boycott is in order.  by the day for hanging there was talk of the council having their prechristmas clampdow on illegal use of their street furniture so a decision was made to hang them the night before.

We started to hang, accompanied by two friends at four pm and finished, unbelievably, at 6, it had started to get dark at around five pm and, with the darkness, came the fire works, not enough for a show but sufficient to bring a startle each time there was a bang as I buried myself in the task and my associated thoughts, but finish we diid, over 800 metres of fence and 851 cards and ribbons, with a few left over we walked back along the path to hang the final few at the beginning where there were a few extra fences, can you imagine the pain as we realised that in the two hours it took to hang all of the ribbons, around 20 or so had been removed at the start point, abandoned I can only imagine, into the river;  a job that started based on an ignorant comment had ended in the same way, through ignorance and disregard to any respect to the servicemen, I was less horrified than the others, for me it simply justified the statement I was making as an arrow toward the ignorant.

A revisit today found a few more gone, random ones over the entire length of the fence, perhaps by souvenir hunters, the public support remains great, one comment, though the gentleman had no idea he was talking to the instigator,   '' a lot of work has gone on here, and what a great way to demonstrate such a huge waste of life, thankyou sir, you make me know that it has been worth it for I am sure many more share his views

Job done
thanks to Tim for suggesting the location, Sheila for works contributed and Andrew who helped us hang, most of all the local media for giving us hourly reports throughout the entire day.

busy start to the week

It has been a busy start to the day, with much of the weekend taken up with the foundations for a new painting and coping with the onset of what apparently is a ‘frozen shoulder’, only on looking it up on the internet following my GPs suggestion did I realise that what I now have will persist for the next 3 years before it goes, such is life, I shall just now have to find alternative ways to do things that my shoulder simply wont allow me to.

This morning I had two interviews, one from Two Castles Housing Association PR for a piece in their residents ‘Fanfair’ publication and one from the Evening News in Barrow with their angle being the lead up to Remembrance Day, it was a good opportunity on both occasions to pitch the up and coming Warriors Walk on 6^th November, I also had fortune to bump into someone I had not seen since he was a troubled teen, now, with girlfriend and new, very new baby, he is off into the military, a career that in the current climate of warfare, an extremely brave choice.

A quiet walk along the river to collect some new paints was far from peaceful, bumping into people the entire circuit between home and, home; some not seen for some time and others going about their business as people do in their daily toils to earn a crust and ensure tomorrow is, at the least, as good as today.

Tomorrow brings two friends I’ve not seen since college days, a trip back to the workbase exhibition for unfinished business and then a foto call at 2pm, the remainder of the day, weather permitting, it will be much the same as the rest of the week handing out fliers for the warriors walk.

No images this Blog however you can find all the pics of this week on my facebook site nearer the end of the week.

Take care and God Bless

No words

what an amazing month

This Blog space is one of the few places now that I feel any space from the internet, all other sites seem to have been overtaken by people, the numbers visiting the website and accessing the studio cam has gone up to over 4000 visitors, my facebook site has shot up from 72, where it has comfortably sat for the past few years, to over 400, for me this is far too much to be able to communicate on a personal basis.

The influx of people on facebook seems to be from three specific areas, writers, dance groups and the visual arts, both individuals and groups, whatever it is that I am doing must be doing something I ponder, though what it is that I am doing I am not entirely sure, as the saying goes, if it aint broke, dont fix it!

currently my diary is wonderfully empty between now and 2011 meaning that between now and November I can concentrate fully on the 'warriors walk' installation that I am planning for Rememberance WeekIt is planned to create two sets of cards, a small photo card for each of the soldiers killed in the Gulf War and the Afghanistan war and name cards alone for heroes of other conflicts in recent history since the falklands war, it would have been nice to have included the Northern Ireland soldiers also however there was just so many that time and finance probibit such a task, instead the few I have chosen to do will be hung along a fence on the riverside walk, already there are volunteers coming forward to help with this task, originally quite a daunting one with over 700 cards to hang though as each volunteer comes forward the job seems less so.

While on the charity front I have recently heard that a charity who once helped me has come to the point where their funding is being looked at and played with, there is little I can do as cut backs seems to be the norm these day, no-one has suggested as yet that the cut backs within this country has much to do with maintaining the huge costs involved in managing a war such as we are in afghanistan, the money has to come from somewhere and can only come from the country itself, I have little doubt that somewhere along the road this will become a decisive factor in continuing to send troops to afghanistan, moreso than the death toll or the simple fact that we are achieving little in keeping troops there, and that is quite sad; until that time things will get worse I have little doubt, there seems a little irony that within a dying country, the charities that will be most needed in the future are the ones being restricted from growth now.

Back to a brighter note, if memorial services are indeed a brighter note, the soldiers foto cards project really is the only task for my coming months, I am having a bit of an exploratory phase with paint at the moment, as I have been for the past few years however on this occasion it is not so much to create any specific image but to see how the paint lies and interacts with each and subsequent layers, taking little hints from artists such as Mark Rothko, (the only person I know who is able to make a blank canvas interesting) and Turner, the combination of expression with banality seems quite interesting to me, anyway, more of this later as I dont have enough to talk about that at the moment.

Till then, thanks for following my blogs as I try to find something of interest to write about.

A Map ?? :-)

All will become clear in time, bear with me and all good things come to those who work.

this week.....

a blog of............ ponderance I suppose, for no other reason than it is 3.55am .

The warriors cards, for I have no other name for them, are slowly filling a box that I made some months ago for exhibiting found objects, while the cards fit the dimensions of the box exactly the found objects were quickly removed to make way for something more important, from this week forward the guys at www.Forthefallen.com/ keep me informed when there is sad news from Afghanistan to ensure that the cards are fully upto date by rememberance day, check out their site to see the full and up to date list of warriors killed at work.

That is the way it seems in many aspects of my life at the moment, continuation in some areas, discontinuation in others and whatever is left sits on the back burner, such as my slowly growing collection of boxes, there for another time another place.

the most marked area of movement is my creative output, the heavily layered paintworks now form a complete series and cease to be added to, the concept however has continued to move forward and now exist in the form of experimental work toward delivering layers through other means which currently rest as mixed media works, the paintworks on the other hand have moved forward into a more lively and colourful direction expressing some freedom of energy and joy of colour, I say ''some'' freedom of energy because the first piece still shows some level of intent and far less movement and freedom than that which I am seeking.

On the work front The live studio cam at Studio 8 is proving hugely popular, not unlike your average high street shop, some visitors poke their head in the door and leave when they dont see anything of interest while others remain in the doorway watching anything that happens to be going on, how many take a trip to the website as a result of logging onto the cam I am not sure however, over the past 6 weeks there have been a little over 4000 people log on, my facebook profile has also grown in tandem with my friends list jumping from 74 to 338 over the same period.

With the Copenhagen trip being the starting point of what I intend to be an artistic tour of some of the places I have been to in my past on this occasion however both with new eyes and sketchbook and camera, I was stuck a little bit on how best to chart this intention on the internet, I found a new app on facebook, an interactive map where I can place virtual pins onto the places I have visited over the course of my life and, more interestingly, the ability to add pin markers to the places I intend to revisit, with this, and a foto album to follow my journeys, I can share my travels easily with you.

Well, thats my nites ponderance, Mike, the guy that has built

www.charlesart-studio8live.co.uk/

for me is around in 6 hours so I had best head off and try to get some sleep.

have a nice weekend and, dont forget to drop in to the website, there is a chat room there where, if I am not working, we can have a chat or you can just watch me working, till then,take care.

Rememberance Day Parade

It would seem a little early to be thinking of something that is still some months away however, while out surveying the site of an installation I saw a bandsman, in full uniform and carrying his boxed instrument either returning from or going to his evening practice of which I am sure included some reference to the parade, no, it is not too early to start plans.

It was not the time left that prompted my start on this next project however but the increased news reports that bring us the now constant news of a hero who has been killed, a hero who is being repatriated or one who will be sent on his final journey surrounded by distraught family and friends, I make no secret each year that, even without constant reminder my mind clicks a switch and from that moment onward it is about me fighting with my own memories and mental health concerns so that I am able to continue to function in the best possible way without needing to have my medication increased and still able to create a suitable and respectable tribute, not only to the friends that I have lost, but also toward other heroes.

My own list of lost friends is short but nonetheless painful, those friends and comrades that were on the one hand my drinking buddies and on others the babysitters for my son when he was little more than a girgle or cry, there are some I remembered from nights out in Berlin City and the NAAFI, the Falklands War, Gary Bingley, David Hardman, Stephen Prior, and Paul Sullivan, others from Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland back in 1979, Nicholas Andrews, John Giles, Ian Rogers, Walter Beard, he was even my own CSM in Berlin, and Thomas Vance, some had even baby sat for me when my son Karl was a mere gurgle, their departure a memory.

It was a single comment heard in a supermarket queue, albeit in a quieted voice I was close enough to hear the words, ''they knew what they went out there for, dont know why there is such a big fuss'', to not reply would have been uncharacteristic of me though it was simple.

''Joining the military and knowing what they are signing up for is the very thing that separates these brave young men from the rest of the pack and therefore deserve every mention, prayer, thought or deed that is bestowed upon them when they are killed''.

The ignorant, although I am surea minority in this country, are those who do not even appreciate that it is not just the soldiers that are at war it is the UK as a Nation, a Nation who is fighting a war against terrorism that is against and would wish change in our culture, ignorance they say is borne of bliss and this is certainly the case on this occasion, they whose conversation I listened to before interrupting constantly referred to our men and women on the front line as fools, the thought entered my head that the information highway had de-humanised the victims of this war, their families loss was no longer being felt by those not connected in any personal way, this has to be rectified, the installation therefore had to reflect the soldiers as people, as fathers mothers, brothers and sisters,as sons daughters and cousins, as people who did the same things as people do but just that little more.

It is planned to produce a foto card for each of the soldiers who have given their lives for their country while fighting in both the Gulf War and the Afghanistan War, Military Associations, their Numbers, Ranks Awards and Regiments will be excluded from the cards and, on the reverse, a caption giving them the same status as a civilian.

While already having a bond with these guys, I could even smell the uniform and blanco on one soldiers white belt as I set about my task, within minutes however I started to leave out the date a closer bond with the family, it was not about a date some years or months ago, it was as real and now for the grieving as if it was today, the dates were therefore replaced in many incidents as ....... was killed at work today....and replaced it with ' today.

The original planned location was of course the Cenotaph however the choice of red white and blue ribbon is so powerful that to completely cover the chain around the monuments base would be wholly undignified even carnival like, a quick chat with Tim (Leeson) over this matter quickly gave an alternative venue of the fence that runs along the riverside.

The fence runs for about 400 yards along the river, a recce tomorrow will give me a better idea of how they will sit, I also hope that the small plastic cards will create a chime of some kind as they tap the steel fence on which they will be secured adding to the effect. In addition and for further discussion and consideration I have the role of honour for the soldiers killed during the Falklands and Bosnian Wars which may integrate quite nicely especially given another ribbon colour, the bonus here of course notwithstanding the open space, it will look far less gaudy than plan A where the dignity of the occasion and the respect for the soldiers must be at the top of the list of considerations where the location of this installation is concerned.

Coming up next week, and rememberance day aside, I am attending a Public Art Event on the 16th where the artist Evewright will be producing a new experimental Drawing - A walking drawing on Morcambe Bay, A walking drawing is a large scale drawing on a vast landscape (canvas) of at least a quarter of a mile square, heres the link if your interested. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147631045260262

well all, take care for now

no words just a few pics

All of these images are 10 x 23 centimeter acrylic on canvases, hand prepared and primed and mounted on bespoke 3/4inch plyboard, in as much as I like to refer to my work in weight that is usually in relation to the amount of paint for these however the board was necessary to support the paintings themselves, each depict a part of town in the way I feel it, ok so I lied, there are a few words but not too many.

Top Left Waterside Top Right Market square

Below Pillars and Posts I and II

copenhagen III

The area between the airport and the city centre, although only 20 minutes by metro was, on my last trip in 2001, an unknown part of town however, had I thought to venture there I would have found little more than vacant plots and building site, now however the area has been dedicated to the provision of space, space for the people, space for the sky, and space for the buildings, it is the buildings that are spectacle being in themselves massive sculptures that sit quietly in their own space.

Space is so important to the visual, when arranging ornaments or hanging an exhibition each object has its own space, above, beside, below and infront, each space is specified by the very power of the object, of course, where hanging an exhibition to its fullest impact it is only they with an intimate knowledge of each piece of work that can assess its rightful place for maximum impact; this has been achieved most beautifully in 'downtown Orestad (there is a line through the O like the phonetic number zero).

The entire area was designed by a team of architects, each employing their own vision though working closely with others in the team to create an area of sculptured buildings that, in relation to the sky can seem quite small though perfectly formed and in balance both with the backdrop of blue, or grey! sky and its neighbouring building, close up however people are absolutely dominated by the buildings unique feeling of hugeness!

I have not met with this before, arriving from a small town surrounded and dominated by hills and small grey buildings this space was all the more apparent, in most cities around the world I have found, the contemporary squeezed in and around older and more ancient buildings with only the slightest concern to the aesthetics of relationships, in many cases entire areas have been demolished to construct a new business park though on this occasion the space has usually been maximised for profit squeezing the highest number of buildings into the smallest amount of space leaving the occupant workers and residents little more than a shadowed life with only the tiniest glimpse of sky, quite stifling in my opinion, in Orestad this could not be further from this claustrophobic existance in itself quite depressing even.

My first large piece from my Copenhagen influence has to represent this and, for the first time in a while and far from frustratingly, came to me at 4 am in sufficient magnitude to waken me and prompt the unrolling of canvas and the printing out of images, even this Blog was completed at 0448, it is quite exhilerating to have this energy of work again while being absent since my return in my ponderances.

copenhagen II

I have, what is now a natural and accepted hightened level of vigilance, borne of military training I am able to scan an entire area within seconds and capture pretty much everything, at one time this was a serious problem that controlled my life to a point where it dissallowed any level of enjoyment, now, where observation is part and parcel of my work and pleasure it is an advantage.

One part of any town or city that is generally ignored by the average Joe in the street are the rooves, the sole purpose for being out in the street being either as a route between point A and B and back again, anything above the level of the window displays, unseen and deemed generally as unimportant, for me this is not the case, as modernism, renovation, advertising and corporate logos tend to alter and change even our oldest streets and houses the upper levels and rooves retain the buildings history, most notably in its tiles gutters and chimneys.

Although I was seeking new directions and inspirations in Copenhagen I was still drawn to the skyline and was immediately captured not only by the care and cleanliness of the old but also a seemingly passionate need to replace like with like where rennovation and replacement were concerned.

also there seemed to be an array of tile colours that matched the buildings, which in themselves now demand a new palette to depict the colour of Copenhagen, what a bright and colourful city it is. In stark contrast to the ultra modern architecture the old is quite striking and unique, each blending in with each other quite beautifully.

coming back down to the level of the road the pavements, pretty much everywhere the most memorable part of the city is the number of bicycles, as far as my aged memory would allow, notwithstanding there seemed to be even more bicycles than in Amsterdam a perfect excuse to prompt a return to this Dutch City if only to allow comparison.

with a population of around one and half million (http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/tourist/about_copenhagen/practical_information/population/) many people living working studying and traveling within a relatively small island I have little doubt that but for this form of transport being the norm it would be a far dirtier, more congested and traffic damaged city, functionality and care of the city aside I was absolutely amazed at the range of designs colours and uses for the humble bike with additions to the bog standard design allowing for many uses even as mini taxis ( prompting a quick memory jolt back to my days in India).

The remainder of my second day was dominated by the Copenhagen Fashion Show, my first ever, a hive of artistic activity as stage changes took rapid effect between shows, as rapid as any stage set, changed a quite realistic woodland into contemporary cat walk then into a display that was as much about the laser lights production as it was about the clothes, throughout music pumped out at a volume that even dominated my ever present tinitus and, rather than being annoyingly nauseating brought a welcome break.

Well, there is much more I could write but I will stick to painting, until the next post thanks for following with hopes I can bring more, any requests on a postage stamp please, have a nice day

lifes a glaze.

I enjoy this part of the process totally, except where two canvases become stuck together!! it is the final piece where the light becomes balanced across the entire image and ties it all together. I use an acrylic gloss medium, not only in the final glaze but as a mixing medium throughout to make for deeper and richer colour

Copenhagen the start

After the spontaneous decision to go to Copenhagen, the early days were a frantic race to ensure that all went smoothly, within the hour to go, flight, hotel, train, all booked up without either having, or knowing if I could get a passport in time, while waiting and praying I was able to ponder over my itinary knowing that such a short period in the city could only be useful if all was planned prior to departure; my fears passed as the passport arrived well in time which was more than can be said for the trains as I spent half the night in dark and deserted rail stations waiting for a 4am connection.

The night before departure was one of little sleep such was my excitement of the journey, with my bags my overnight journey to Manchester Airport was therefore extremely tiring having got little or no sleep prior to the 11 pm departure. a four hour wait at Preston and a four hour wait at the airport therefore guarenteed a sleep filled flight, not a chance

I arrived in Copenhagen around 1pm local time, the hotel fortunately was only minutes away, however by the time I had checked out of the airport and into the hotel the clock was ticking and my schedule awaited, however, by the time I got to my room the only thing that had any significance was the bed, do not disturb on the door and the trip to Christiania cancelled, sadly this was the only part of the trip that was scheduled for me time and not work; later in the trip I managed to find the time to visit, this is another story and will come in a later BLOG.

for now, 14 hours sleep was muchly needed so that I could work without tiredness interferring with my plans, breakfast starts at 0530 and I intended to be there on time and out of the hotel by 7.

More in the next blog

copenhagen calls,

These last few days before my Copenhagen trip, yes, my first trip outside of this country for around 9 years though my first busmans holiday, this is a whole new experience.

In the past a trip abroad had meant another step in my lifes goal, to find myself, now however it is an entirely new ball game, my trip has specific goals without purpose, a field trip of exploration, at the most I would hope to come home with a renewed vigour though secretly I would love to find an inner button that once switched will signify a furtherance of knowledge, a benchmark and new beginnings.

The decision to go was as spontaneous as a trip could be, unusually for me I dived straight in at the deep end, with full knowledge that I had no passport and ignorant of whether or not I could even get a passport in time for my intended departure date and time, flight booked, hotel booked, train seat reserved, taxi booked and a list of 15 or so Copenhagen Galleries to choose from, all within an hour and a half, the passport application process by the way was a seemingly easy to execute arriving only 4 days from the initial enquiry, snowy my cat, even amidst the hype of excitement and activity has been found a reliable cat sitter for those that have interest.

Now all is ready, with a full list of jobs, sketches, visits and fotografs, a list that by far exceeds the time available, I expect to have a damn fine time and will bring a full account of the visit in later BLOGS, till then, thanks for reading and have a good week yourselves.

andrew charles

one small step..........

The advent of the website (http://www.charlesart-studio8live.co.uk/ ) heralds the end of the beginning as it were.

From an internet perspective the past two years or so has been, not so much dedicated to establishing a web presence but the laying down of the proverbial foundations, it was not until the website was launched and the streaming video and exterior links became active and centralised, it was only at that moment when the physical and functional reality of my design came to light, Mike, the man who translated my creative thoughts into a technological mastery (for me a mystery!!) did an absolutely wonderful job and deserves full credit for without someone to marry the two disciplines together it would never have seen the light of day.

With my trip to Copenhagen now only days away I depart a happy man now knowing that I have something tangible by way of a website address to leave with the gallery curators that I hope to meet on my travels around the city.

In addition to the boards for the September show being glazed today the minatures also came back to the studio from Malcolm the framer, not unlike Mike he is another skilled man to whom I am grateful to both for his attention to detail and for completion on schedule making my days towards the show a lot less stressful than my life would be without such a conciensious team.

The finished minatures, they are not so clear so will post on my Facebook site, follow the link on the Right margin of this post.

Well, ramble done, 2012, another long day done and time to relax and chill a bit with the cat, if he can be bothered to awake, you can always have a look on the studio website live feed.

take care and thanks.

sneak preview of september pieces

now down to a matter of weeks before the September Show virtually all jobs have been completed, other than the dreaded admin and marketing of course, all works for the show are finalised, some with Malcolm at the framers, some framed and hanging at home and some all packed up and ready to go.

The small boards that have caused me much concern, in particular with the dimensions of each piece, are now finished and ready to go, not quite the originally intended 10 will be going as the number that will fit comfortably into the venue is only seven.

A Sneak preview of the seven finalists;

The finalised pieces are 10 x 23 cm on a raw canvas primed with gesso on a board support, Painted in acrylic paint I have mixed an acrylic gloss medium to enhance the depth of colour and overall feel of the image.

The Journey

It is said that the journey is more important than the destination, and what a journey life is when you take it as it arrives day by day.

awakening to a new dawn, summer here and a sudden realisation that I can do no more than I have done already in my current situation.

An email made me realise that my friends I left in college were now weeks away from their final piece of their degree course, has it really been two years since my leaving.

I had to look back over all of the works completed during that period and was surprised to realise that I have done over 300 pieces during that time, I also had to accept that the range of genre and styles that I had painted in during that time were much more than a mere two years work, in fact all of them I had to view as part of my learning curve, a learning curve that had to make up for the loss of many years of wearing other hats in search for self, they are my experimentals.

I knew that morning that something was different, that there was a change, not so much a change in style or genre but of a change of scale, the local suppliers of canvases had served me well bringing me from cheap and cheerful paper upto to the largest canvas that they supplied; the sad thing for me was that the canvas' that they supplied simply were not big enough for me to be as expressive as I wanted to be.

Pieces completed recently had 'stuff' missing at the extremes of the canvas perimeters which meant that there was a piece of me missing from the works, it was restrictive, it was not right.

It was very apparent, I have to grow and the only way to do this was to make my canvas' grow and that would mean now having to produce my own stretchers and find a new canvas supplier.

The images are my first attempt which by and large was successful, however I now have to strip the thing down, even after an enjoyable experience of priming with gesso the following morning I found a large canvas that showed me where I had made all the mistakes both in construction and in priming.

The canvas shrank overnight so much that it pulled the corners in from one side, the central supporting posts were too far forward and created long and raised lumps, in fact so tight had the canvas pulled that I had created three separate painting areas, each separated with a ridge where the posts showed through, Oh well, back to the drawing board as they say, I wonder what the man who invented the drawing board went back too, a ponderance though not for the now.

finalised minatures

Witth the minatures finalised comes the problem of mounting and exhibiting in the best possible way. I have tried to bevel the edges however the outcome was a disaster leaving me with little choice other than to trim the edges straight, though the trimming was less than a quarter of a millimetre on all sides the scale of the images meant that this was a substantial amount to lose, even trying to square the pieces off was a challenge in itself, once again down to the simple fact that each piece is tiny, the smallest being less than 2cm square, however alls well that ends well as they say.

Still the wrestle with the boards that they will be mounted on continues, having now established dimensions that I am happy with with regard to the overall size, 13 x 10cm, I am grappling with the content; with the original boards being divided equally in half there was insufficient content to express the whole point of the exhibition, that being to highlite the taking over and pushing into the history books the Kendal of old by way of modernism through corporate colours and logos making the high street little more than a copy of every other town in the country.

I have now further divided one half of the board allowing for a full 50% of the board to be committed in support of the old, the ancient and the man made over computer generated plasticised and clinical corporate colours under which the old town lies.

Time now in Weeks

There comes a point when in preparation for an exhibition that the time remaining changes from Months Away to a conscious change into Weeks Away, that time has now come and decisions have to be made toward the actual content of the Exhibition.

That time is now, with the decision of what to start working on now made it is time to start preparing the canvases and exhibits.

The show on this occasion is about the old town and the slow but sure take over of modernity, while the tourist related committees and groups, such as the Town Council and Civic Society struggle to promote the town as of being of historic interest, new hoardings asking those who visit to 'explore Kendal', Hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on renovation and rebuilding of the towns infrastructure such as pavements, lighting and seating in historic mode, there are those who work equally hard to bring Kendal into the 21st Century with modernity, shop signage of advertising and marketing.

The work that I will be producing for the show will allign the two , the amalgamation of the old with the new, each piece a snapshot of an entire shop front in colour .

Visitors to this historically advertised Town sadly will not be met with an old town but with a high street that is not that different from the High Street that they have escaped from, to find the Olde Grey Town as it is affectionally known they must look above the hoardings and advertising for there they will find the original (on manny occasions) woodwork, carvings and designs, chimneys and tiles, gutterings and paintwork, here is the towns history though seldom seem by many.

16 weeks to go

The work will be on 3/4 inch plywood pieces, each cut individually at a size that has, in itself, been a bit of a journey with many macquettes cut and painted to find the size that fits the purpose, each mounted with a canvas support, primed with gesso and then divided into fields of colour.