hackwork

Hackwork

Another New Studio (although its getting old now)

This last month was not nearly as frustrating as last month but hasn’t involved a lot of development of theory.

Beginning with the completion of the ‘Circus Horse Model’ with the acrobat.

hackwork

Circus Horse 09 06 2025

Tumbler 020 06 2025

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Tumbler 04 06 2025

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Tumbler 06 06 2025

Tumbler 09 06 2025

Tumbler 18 06 2025

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Tumber Detail 20 06 2025

Tumbler 20 06 2025

The ‘Tumbler’ was taken to a finish by the 20th June, the finish inspired by Picasso’s ‘Harlequin with Glass‘ from 1905.

The previous images show the process as it continues through sanding, filling and priming before the paint finish and eventual varnishing.

The effect I want to achieve is that the rough finish with an imprecise pattern and a messiness that reflects the character of the figure.

Most of the month was spent on this sort of hackwork.

The next set of photographs show the building of the ‘Large Harlequin’ and the simpler parts of the installation.

Large Harlequin 06 06 2025

Large Harlequin 09 06 2025

Large Harlequin 18 06 2025

Large Harlequin and Bowl 25 06 2025

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You should always look down on a circus 27 06 2025

More views of the Circus development and drawings are on the website

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The June drawings can be seen here

and the May 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.

 

MASS OBSERVATION DIARY

MASS OBSERVATION DIARY

12 May 2025

Introduction

I am a 65 year old Male, retired, and I live in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. I’m married and have siblings who live in Lancashire, close to my Mother and Germany. I worked in Further and Higher Education ending my career after a succession of jobs ass Head of Department. Since retirement I have continued to make Art because that is what I do and I have the luxury and privilege to do so.

I donate my 12th May diary to the Mass Observation Archive . I consent to it being made publicly available as part of the Archive and assign my copyright in the diary to the Mass Observation Archive Trustees so that it can be reproduced in full or in part on websites, in publications and in broadcasts as approved by the Mass Observation Trustees. I agree to the Mass Observation Archive assuming the role of Data Controller and the Archive will be responsible for the collection and processing of personal data and ensuring that such data complies with the DPA.

Mass Observation Morning

This morning I woke later than usual, at 7:45 am. This might be the single greatest benefit of retirement after twenty odd years of 6:00 am starts. I have my routine so I feed the cat whilst my wife wakes up and then shower and dress. I had toast and the last of the marmalade along with my cup of tea. I read the Guardian on my iPad and listen to 6 music on the radio. At 8:40 am, as I was late, I went into the garden to feed the birds and open the greenhouse for the day. I’m growing a lot of tomatoes this year which are still mostly seedlings and encouraging the native wildflowers in the garden alongside judiciously placed perennials. I returned to the kitchen for a second cup of tea and to do my daily drawing.

A drawing of a chopping board behind a tap made in coloured pens for the mass observation blog post

12th May Drawing ‘Chopping Board’

I have drawn sitting at the kitchen table at around 8:30 to 9:00 am since 6th May 2020, a lockdown activity that has become a ritual. The drawing is always something I can see from my seat, the sink, the dishes, the windowsill or the whole kitchen and occasionally an ornament bought to the table and placed next to me. I take between 20 and 40 minutes depending on the drawing, today’s was the short end of twenty minutes.

When I finished the drawing I left the house and walked the two and a half miles to my studio in the centre of Doncaster. I rent a unit in the former Art School that stands next to St. George’s Minster. The first I did when I arrived at 10:30 am was put the kettle on.

A model of a white horse with a truncated torus on its back for the mass observation post

Circus Horse after Seurat

Through the morning I set to work repairing a maquette for a sculpture I’m developing. One of my many freedoms now is the ability to do what I want when I want which is as much a curse as a blessing. The lack of a need to make things for exhibitions or to sell can put you in a place where where your natural dilettantism comes to the fore and you end up producing little that challenges. The solution is to try to enjoy the process of making for its own sake, well, it is for me. I stopped for lunch at 12:45 and eat a salad I bought on the way into the studio, I should really make it at home but I’m far too lazy. I usually take 30 to 45 minutes for lunch and read the paper on line while I eat. The news today centred on Kier Starmer’s determination to appeal to the lowest common denominator with an appalling assault on immigration, and therefore immigrants, with an ill thought through policy with so many holes you can only despair of the intellect of his spads and his own venality. It does not help my digestion. I have found that the only way to maintain your own equilibrium in the face of our collective exceptionalism and ignorance is to ignore. I have always voted but the last couple of times I’ve been very tempted not to. The salad, though probably unhealthy, was very nice.

Mass Observation Afternoon

In the afternoon I continued to work on a larger model of the horse. The piece combines strands of work I’ve been pursuing over the last couple of years and is impossible to articulate except through this media. The image shows the revised version sitting on a balustrade I painted for a photographer, Richard, who has the space next to mine. At a quarter to four I bumped into him while I was washing my hands, I don’t have running water in the studio and gave him the balustrade and had a chat about his studio equipment and the state of photography education. I’ve reached an age where I try not to lament but I find it hard to look backwards without rose tinted spectacles.

A model of the white horse of uffington made from polystyrene for the mass observation post

(Uffington) White Horse

As usual I left the studio at four thirty with the intention of walking home, but today it was 24 degrees C so I caught the bus. 12th of May 2025 it costs £2.50 to travel two and a half miles and you don’t even need cash, just swipe the card.

I arrived home at five to five and fed the cat before checking my greenhouse and pond and making sure things were watered after such a hot day. The soil where I live is clay so water is retained very well, too well in the winter, so only plants in pots need watering very regularly.

Mass Observation evening

My wife and I had tea at six thirty, a seasonally appropriate chicken casserole, and I read the paper while I ate and we discussed the news in a piecemeal way. These days it’s difficult to get into big discussions without getting upset with the way things are so we tend to avoid big discussions about current affairs unless we find a point of difference or one of us needs to unload.

At seven thirty I washed the dishes and we settled down to watch TV. Monday is quiz night so we watched Only Connect on BBC2 followed by University Challenge and then turned to Netflix to watch an episode of ‘The Four Seasons’ after which we retired to bed and read for a half hour or forty minutes before going to sleep. An that is my day, fairly typical and infinitely varied.

Quicksand

Quicksand

Another New Studio

There is a way in which applying for funding sucks the life out of you and makes you perceive your practice as lacking any kind of progress. A lot of applications, anything in ACE projects or DYCP and most other that arrive without fanfare require a well defined project that hasn’t been started yet and won’t be started until the grant is approved. The problem with this is that you spend so much time waiting for the decision, I know you how long you’re going to wait and I know everyone writes that they follow the rules but nobody does, that you can’t summon the energy to do anything once you’ve been declined. Needless to say I didn’t get mu grant funding! Sigh!

The only thing to do is carry on regardless. I’m also getting a bit pissed off with funding providers who will only comment through social media channels. I don’t won’t to be on LinkedIn anymore, I really can’t be arsed with Facebook and obviously I ditched twitter years ago (feels like it anyway). Why they can’t put their posts on a blog on their websites is clearly so technical it is beyond my ken.

Anyway this last two months have been about applying for funding and reaching a point where I couldn’t progress while I awaited an outcome and the subsequent come down. Hence the quicksand, I was already slowing down but the rejection sent me stuttering to a halt. Then there has been the prep for an open studio event next week.

Quicksand

scene notes

At the beginning of the month I had a lot of notes like this one in my notebooks, this one a scene list for woolgathering.

Quicksand

Horse and Fox

Fox

And I decided to build a fox, and then a horse based on the Uffington white horse.

White Horse

Stress Free Living

After painting both and spending a lot too much time working on animating the fox model I realised I needed to build an articulated version of the fox to make the animation easier.

Articulated Fox

In the end I split the body to make the spine articulate.

Fox Drawing

Then made a drawing from the fox model. That will resolve into the scene below.

Fox in the Moonlight

Articulated Fox

I found I would need to build the fox out of something stronger to enable it to stand unaided and for me to change the position.

Flowerbed Drawing 17 03 2025

I also decided to do more work on the flowerbed drawing after it was rejected for the Jacksons Art Prize.

The current state of “Woolgathering” is in these two videos, the second one reduced to five minutes for a competition entry.

 

The rest of time has been spent framing and hanging small paintings in the studio for the open weekend coming up. The hackwork is always like trudging through quicksand and gives surprisingly few rewards when looking at the slightly older work.

Peppers and Fruit

Primrose, woodland plants, leBrun bather, Dunnock

Small Foxes, Apples, Candles, Interior and Glassware

Prints from large drawings

woodland, pigeons and sparrow, still life.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The February drawings can be seen here

and the January images here

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

The drawings are posted to  Instagram each day.