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