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!