11.25.13 - T-Day, Drawings, and a whole lotta cotton going on.

First and foremost, Thanksgiving is a mere 2 days away.  !!!  I felt that it needed to be said.  And while no one I've met here seems to share my enthusiasm, there will be a Thanksgiving feast in the old ArtFunkl abode, Thursday November 28th.  The guests have been invited, the menu has been decided, there will even be candles.  Excitement is not a strong enough word to express how I feel.

This week Gloria and I decided to tackle the Manchester Gallery scene.  After a lot of backtracking, stranger asking, moderate swearing, and crappy map consultations we managed to find a few of the locations on our list.  The Center for Chinese Contemporary Art had a really cool exhibition on by artist Cao Fei.  It was a zombie film called "Haze and Fog".  It was funny, disturbing, and stunning.  Here is a LINK to CFCCA.  We also got to see an exhibition called "The Vanity of Small Differences" by artist Grayson Perry. Here's a LINK to that.  A group of six vibrant tapestries hung on the wall.  Each one was filled with sarcasm, humor, and hostility.  They were huge and expertly crafted.  They made me LOL and I loved it.  One small side note to our gallery and museum adventures in Manchester is that they were all free to the public.  Yup, FREE.  It blows my mind.

I took a few photos from this adventure.  That gorgeous building is Town Hall.:

Gloria!  The artist at the residency with me.

This is an image from the antique and craft section of the Manchester Art Gallery.  It made me "heh heh heh".  Maybe you'll get a kick out of it too.  By the way, this is the only part of the museum (apart from the gift shop) that you could touch.  Heh heh heh.  

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I also got to venture into an old cotton mill called Quarry Bank Mill outside of Manchester.  It was SO COOL.  Not only do they have all the old cotton cloth making machines, they also have live demonstrations.  That part was mega interesting, while being a little disconcerting at the same time.  At one point one of the demonstrators kept switching from speaking as herself (a middle aged, collar-t-shirt-clad demonstrator for the machines) to some fictional mill worker from the early 1800's.  You could only tell by the slight lowering of her voice and subtle lack of expression in her face when her role-playing began and ended.  It was oddly terrifying.   I also got to witness a woman spinning thread on an old spinning wheel.  Afterwards I felt like I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life:  Pick up another antiquated hobby.  Let me know if you hear of any cheap spinnin' wheels about…

They started a new tv series on the BBC about this mill, surprisingly called "The Mill".  I wasn't feeling good later that day, so I ended up watching 4 hours of it.  From what I picked up from the show and my time at the mill, life was grim.  Now I feel a real respect for that kooky demonstrator.  She is bringing history to life.  I just didn't understand.

Quarry Bank Mill

 The Big Ole Water Mill under the Cotton Factory.

A Magical Cow living near the Quarry Bank Mill.

And now the reason I am really in Manchester: to work on my art.  Here are a few photos of what I've been messing around with this week.  I'll put little descriptions underneath each photo to give a little background if needed.  Otherwise, you're on your own.  As always, feedback is much appreciated.  Thanks to everyone who has let me know what they think so far, it really helps.  

9x12'' 

Maunsell Sea Fort Study No. 1  

I am in love with them.  This study is in pencil and ink.

Unfinished: Messing around with the Conwy Castle and SHEEP from last week's Welsh castle adventure.  It has an awkward feel to it right now.  Can't tell if I like that or not.

Below are a few color studies that I've been working on with a fall theme.  

9x12'' 

Fall Study No. 1

9x12''

Fall Study No. 3

9x12''

Fall Study No. 2

(aka subconscious Thanksgiving study)

10x10''

Alexandra Park - Autumn 2013 

Below are the two photos of Alexandra Park which the above drawing is based on.  This park is right next to where I am living and I like to run in it every so often.  The photos are taken only one week apart in the same area. 

 Lesson of the Day: Leaves fall fast in this part of the world.

And to finish off this post:                            SOUP

I hope your fall is warm and welcoming.   Wishing you a very, very Happy Thanksgiving this week. Let's make it one for the memory books, eh?

11.19.13 - CASTLES!! SHEEP!!! SHEEP AND CASTLES!!!!

It's the beginning of the second week of my artist residency, time for a recap of the week at hand!

This week was pretty tame and pretty awesome.  I've been working hard in my studio for the most of it with a few little breaks that I will tell you about a bit later (hint: CASTLE!!!).  Highlights of this week included lots of soup, beautiful weather, a trendy burger bar with new friends, and... getting to see my first of Henry Darger's work in person.  I almost cried when I walked up to it.  His use of collage, line, and color are inspiring.  Coupled with his uncanny imagination, life story, and the scale of the work, it was  a bit of an overwhelming experience for me.  In a really amazing way.  Darger's work was part of the Alison Goldfrapp curated exhibition at the Lowry Center here in Manchester.  The exhibition was gorgeously done with a heavy concentration on contemporary work which was refreshing.  The Lowry center also had an exhibition of Lowry's own work.  That was quite a surprise as well.  I always enjoy seeing the contrast between an artists work at the beginning of their career and at the end.  I couldn't take pictures, but I did check out the Imperial War Museum here.  WAR…. UH…. da na da na na… WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR…. ABSOLUTELY… well, photos in this case.

Okay, now onto what occurred this past weekend.  If you haven't crossed the moat of enlightenment yet, let me lower the drawbridge for ya….  I WENT TO SEE A REAL DEAL CASTLE THIS WEEKEND!!!!  My trusty british sidekick lead the way to Conwy Castle in the north of Wales and together we climbed up to the highest tower, ventured into the darkest dungeon, and even had time to visit  Britain's smallest house!!!  Here is a link to that if you're interested.

Later that day on the way back to Manchester we stopped in a town called Chester.  It had Roman walls, beautiful architecture, and a fully functional exact replica of the CENTRAL PERK COFFEE SHOP IN F.R.I.E.N.D.S.!!!!!!  Compelled to order a latte, sit on a couch, and then break into a verse of "Smelly Cat" I decided it was best to just calmly and cooly admire from afar with a moderate amount of gawkage.  An instagram photo was taken, it had to be done.

Alrighty.  Here are some photos of what I was getting into this week.  Feel free to comment on this post and let me know what you're thinking; whether it be about art, love, or castles.   BTW None of these photos are tampered with color wise.  Ready?!

This is a sculpture from the Imperial War Museum, I thought it was pretty rad:

This amazing color-splosion is from the park next to where I am living.  Lucky me.  

I want to make a coat of these leaves and ride my bike around Florida, spreading fall cheer.

Below are a few photos of my new work this week.  Some of them are finished, some of them are not.  I haven't really decided yet.  My apologies for the glare & reflection. I haven't quite figured out how to photograph the plastic sheeting, if you have any suggestions I'm all ears.

These are taken from photos of the abandoned Maunsell sea forts off the east coast of England.  If you haven't seen photos yet, just google "Maunsell Sea Forts".  They are gorgeous and terrifying.  More studies on these beauts to come, I imagine.

This structure was in the parking lot behind the Manchester City stadium where Joe and some of his friends ran a crazy 10k obstacle race.  I'm not sure what the structure is for, but it made sense to me.  

Another study of that metal mountain:

Here's the real photo. 

And that was a hail storm behind it which I discovered rather abruptly. 

Here is an update on that mondo painting I was working on with all the layers.  I am not sure how I feel about it.  (Any comments, criticism, etc would be ultimately helpful.)

 I'm going to stop fussing around with it and look at it again in a week or so. 

A detail of the above image:

And now for the CASTLE PHOTOS!!!! 

(with beach photos tossed in there to keep things spicy)

Where do castles live?

heh heh heh.

Yes. These are real pidgins.

I am under the impression that everything looks fake in Wales, I mean look at this.  And to top it all of I am a terrible photographer.  The place looks like it's straight out of a fairy tale.

Also, when you're driving through the countryside there are just castles and sheep everywhere!  It's sheer magical madness!

Cue sheep:

 Always up for a good time.  Love those guys.

Yellow leaves peeking through. 

We are now inside the castle:

On top of the King's tower.  This was a tricky photo to take as the other hand that wasn't working the camera was clenched to the railing, my knuckles as white as white can be.

So this is the Welsh version of a beach: 

This reminded me of Florida and warmed my frozen little heart:

Joe had an ice cream like a crazy man.  The temperature couldn't have been higher than 40 degrees F.  ...But, it's tradition.

Here are a couple photos from the town of Chester:

A wall from a Roman fighting pit:

Church:

 Pub:

And for now I sign off.  I miss all of my friends and family like hell.  I hope you guys are enjoying these little peeks into my time here.  More to come!

11.14.13 - Painting - A day in the Life

Sorry for the lack of posts,  y'all!  I've been living under a rock since I got to the residency.  I think I've been sooo excited to make to new work that I can't really think about doing much else right now.

The ArtFunkL residency is located in a quiet neighborhood in the Whalley Range neighborhood of Manchester.  There are lots of families around here.  It's a short walk to shops, food, and peeps.  There is a bus stop a couple blocks away so the city is at my fingertips.  It's a super big beautiful house that a woman named Ju renovated into a few studios and some bedrooms/common space/etc.

I'm here with only one other artist, Gloria Hernandez (the Azerbaijani artist couldn't make it because of visa trouble).   Gloria is from Mexico.  She's super nice, super cute, and super funny.  Although I was a little bummed that there wouldn't be three of us here at old ArtFunkL, I am totally not disappointed by any means.  It should be a raging good time.

I've had a cold for the past few days.  First one in about 5 or 6 years actually.  I blame the mega-bus-splash-zone event.  I should probably also blame myself. I have been on a steady diet of cheese and toast.  It's just soooo good!  And the cheese here is crazy cheap and stupidly yummy.  But, ginger tea is happening. So I should be alright in no time.. right?!

Ha. I found out how to use a radiator yesterday.  That was exciting.  I was freezing cold in my studio for a couple days, but it turns out you just have to turn it on… and then you won't be cold anymore.  Who would have thunk.

Here are some photos of the work I've been messing around with:

This is my studio:

This is a smaller piece that I made with the plastic Clear-Lay and some pens and acrylics.  It's a map of the area I've been exploring with some of the brick patterns I've seen in the background.

This is a big piece that I'm working on.  It's not finished, but I figured I would show you anyways.  "Progress in Process", right?  So far I think there is about 5 layers of Clear-Lay.  Soon to be more.

This is just a close-up of the painting above:

This is a silly little drawing I made.  For some reason the leaves here remind me of a bunch of paper airplanes.  It was windy today.

The next two  are my "fall" studies.  I never really get to play around with autumny colors.  Now is my chance and I'm going to grab it by the handlebars. No looking back.

Okay!  Back to the studio.  Man, this is the LIFE!!!!