Daniel Solander Carpark

 

I've been playing around with this painting of flats and fig trees in Waterloo for a few months now, and got back to it today. The people around there have been very supportive, it's a great place for audience participation, they take an interest.

Early versions of this are here

Light Industrial Sofa

 

Most of the ground is done now so I can start painting a few figures into the clutter, (and start fixing up the room). I'll use a UV pigment(something clashing!) for sketching Andy and any other people in, and add some photos shot under blacklight. The little 374nm LED strip I'm using is fine for painting, but not much chop for photography

 

Photographed in daylight. There's only a few cushions and bit of blanket representing the sofa so far. My Light Industrial Sofa has to be comfortable! Sometimes I work with a model.

I want to leave space for portraiture. Lots of people come and sit down on the couch. So I'll paint someone in here. I'll leave it at that for now, and until they appear.  A little bit of suspense, and I don't pin myself down

 

under UV

 

Outdoor Light 

I had to disappear all my clothes to prove my studio at the Junkyard was light industrial usage, or something, so all I have hanging for a moment are a few flouro workshirts, which happen to match a couple of the UV pigments I've been mucking round with. I'm not sure who'll be on the sofa yet

Golden Flea

 

A closeup shot in daylight. I've been attempting to fix some errors in the carapace and working up the flouro midtones and highlights, I'll get some more UV shots soon once I can set up a blackout in my studio

 

Another flea from electron microscope imagery for the Museum of Fleas. In the photo above it'ss mostly illuminated by a 375nm LED strip, and in the second entirely by daylight

Flea Rider

 

Under a 374nm LED blacklight

 

The same version under daylight alone

 

Another fluoro flea for the Museum of Fleas at the Imperial in september.

I just got a bunch more pigments - fluoro yellow, pink, blue and violet to go with the green and orange I had already and I'm getting used to using them in paintings like this. The colours are much better than the cheapos I used as glazes in theatre backdrops years ago, so the blue actually flouresces blue and not the almost white it acted as in Flower to Furnace.

One problem - the fluoro violet I have doesn't appear to do anything under the 374nanometre LED strip I'm using for blacklight. I'm guessing the wavelength is too close to the violet the pigment emits for it to be able to excite its electrons to fluoresce. The Stokes Gap, apparently is the minimum difference between the emitted photon energy and that of the exciting photon for some fluorescing substance.

If anyone can point me to a primer and technical info about fluoro pigments and UV sources, thanks in advance

Centrepoint from Martin's

 

The is just the very beginning of of a big view of the city - centrepoint with JP Morgan( well of course) from Stephen St Woolloomooloo with the 80s Houso terraces of Forbes St in the mid ground

Flea in Flouro

Under 374nm UV LED strip

 

the same under daylight

 

Peter and Luke have chosen this handsome critter to be the poster image for the Museum of Fleas so it'll be in the Sydney Fringe guide and  on posters around town, so that's a thrill. I've just uploaded them a higher resolution version of this image.

The painting itself I'll continue to finish a bit more when I get my UV striplight back from Martin's

The Museum of Fleas are holding a flea painting workshop extravaganza in early July, so flea painters everywhere, stay alert for further details, then leap forth

 

I'm painting some images for the Museum of Fleas, a week of cabaret, music and performance downstairs at the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville in September, organised by Peter Urquhart and Luke as part of Sydney Fringe Festival.

The space is a blacklight dungeon so I'm getting flourescing pigments (lightfastness "very poor") to mix with my palette.

These shots here so far are in daylight, but I've also painted a night scene of the carpark next door which can be seen under UV etc

Salon at Martin's

 

Rob Kennedy and I spent the last few days cleaning Martin Walsh's house and rehanging the walls for a gathering. Martin's a lifelong collector and artist who's lived all over the world. You can see my Harbour Bridge and Night Carpark behind him that I lent for the day

We exhibited recently together in There's No Place Like Home at Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown

 

The walls at the front loaded with artworks

 

Night Carpark under UV light ( and a bit out of focus)

 

A mix of natural and UV light

 

Rob

 

Back wall

 

A drawing by Madj Kingston from !990, when we were both at the Gunnery.

Watching Vampires on TV

 

Binge watching some (hilarious) sexy junkie vampire hep-V armageddon in baptist churches and Louisiana swamps

Stripy tabletops

 

The double sided floorboard table top after a sand and ready for a final once over with filler in a few spots I missed, and where the edge has been planed off . After that a sand with a brand new disc and a coat or 2 of polyurethane to finish.

I'm making this without a client so in no hurry. I've settled on a basic design for a base that holds the top either way up, to show off the different timbers and pattern

 

A light worktable or cafe table - its on a metal cafe style base with a few of the palettes I've cut from busted cabinet panels from old furmiture, all with a thin coat of polyurethane

 

2sides of a tabletop, almost filled and ready to sand off and varnish

 

2 stripy floorboard tabletops that have been lying around for a bit. I've just started filling the gaps with fake wood(sawdust and glue). The top one is double-sided - 2 layers of floorboards, the other is backed on a piece of plywood.

When I have time I'll find a link to earlier pics of these pieces. You can see other woodwork from the junkyard studio here

Jack and Adam

 

Adam having a beer with his dad at Redbar while the band plays behind

 

Outside the polling booth in Redfern while Xanth went through the candidates

Figs over Daniel Solander Carpark

 

There's aplan to pull these towers down so a lot of residents have been stopping to admire the picture, tale photos, and sometimes tell me  a bit of their story

 

I keep arriving too late but I've managed to get some more windows and walls painted

 

I started this painting last year of this these Housing Commission towers which beautiful Port Jackson figs around their bases and have finally got back to it - I want to try to get it done before the weather gets too cold

The Impressionists at RedBar

 

A band I drew a few nights ago but had to run after before they finished their set

Palettes and Breadboards

 

Laughing paint palettes for the market

 

breadboards and a palette

 

A stripy tabletop after a fill and sand, I'll fill the remaining spots and sand again a bit more carefully and give it a coat of polyurethane 

A short bartop for Redbar on top of the stripy table covered in filler, I've painted it with raw umber polyurethane mixed with a bit of flouro orange to give it faint glow under blacklight

 

A shelf for RedBar

 

A bunch of palettes from on old cedar board 

 

Tom and the Gang at the Mission

 

After lunch at Newtown Mission people sit in the narrow courtyard outside and chat with a cuppa and maybe a cigarette

I'll also be posting this on the Newtown Last Supper blog. I'm back working on a couple of the murals there at the moment, painting leaves of a Tree of Knowledge on the ceiling of the waiting room. The mission is a free cafe and service provider for the poor and disadvantaged