The Burial of the Dead

Another New Studio

‘April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.’

TS Eliot: The Waste Land 

April has been a great big steaming waste of time. Everything I’ve tried has turned out badly and in the end I’ve had to put everything away and start again. I ended the month reading an article online that takes a very jaundiced view of the art school in the UK and is extremely difficult to argue with. 

d’Alancaisez, Pierre. ‘Art School Hotel California’. Elementy, no. 6 (2024). https://doi.org/10.52652/e.6.24.12.

The succession of photographs that follow present a view of my efforts over the month to prove to myself that I was active even though the evidence will be destroyed.

Horse Parts Template 04 April 2025

I drew out the parts on insulation foam

Horse Parts Cut Out 04 April 2025

Cut them out

Leg Parts Bandaged 09 April 2025

Wrapped them in plaster bandage – the mummification never mind the burial of the dead

Horse Body Bandaged 11 April 2025

Assembled the body, the problem is becoming more apparent I think

Horse Parts Positioned 14 April 2025

Positioned the parts, held them together with steel rod

Horse Parts Assembly 16 April 2025

Bandaged them again to hold the legas together as individual units

Horse Parts Head 18 April 2025

I’d already made the head and tail. Watched the whole piece fall apart because the joints won’t hold

Horse Parts Fixings 21 April 2025

Strengthened the joints so I could tighten them together

Horse Parts Connections 23 April 2025

Assembled the horse again and watched it collapse.

Horse Legs Remade 25 April 2025

Decided to join the two legs from each side of the horse together to see if I could build it differently

Horse legs abandoned 28 April 2025

Stopped flogging the dead horse when this failed, tidied the studio, reorganised so I could reach the blue foam.

The month wasn’t a total waste, I did this drawing at the satart of the month,

Mare and Foal 02 April 2025

and I made a small version of the horse to illustrate what I’m aiming for.

Circus Horse (after Seurat) 02 May 2025

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The April drawings can be seen here

…and the March images here

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

Or you can go the Galleries page on the top menu

The drawings are posted to  Instagram each day.