Frames in the kitchen

Okay; this is going to be kind of bad timing; I'm in the living room trying to blog and Stu is in the kitchen painting frames. In between us is the radio playing an interview on Plantet Rock (house soundtrack courtesy of Stu) with Ian Rankin. So... I can't concentrate as I'm listening to Mr Rebus and Stu's commentary on the interview, one in each ear.

Been a good day on the art front; I spent the morning finishing a painting in the studio - after breakfast in bed prepared by the invalid I am meant to be looking after - which is kind of the last of the angel series. There is one small one to do which I started later, but this morning's saw me basically come full circle. When I happened upon the Ritchie Collins gallery back in the spring my first exhibits were for the Leith Festival, so I did a piece called 'The Harbour Arms', which was based on the idea of the guardian angel of the waters holding boats in her arms. The first piece was just that; angel holding boats. What I really envisaged was 'angel as harbour' with her arms forming the walls and big hands joined against the forces of nature without. Quite a few months and many angels later, I now have two versions of the harbour angel, with this latest probably the closest to my mental image. As I write this though I am thinking how cool it would be to do a purely monotone, drawn version; really stony and solid. Maybe I am not as close to completion as I thought... This 'last' one I have called 'Small Blue Haven' and she has the biggest hands - I was going to say 'ever' but then, with the last sentence in mind, who knows. I had already used up the title 'Angel Haven' which is also the title for the forthcoming show, on the previous incarnation, which is a little brighter due to the fact that I had just been reading about the Ballet Russe designs and so had a lot of pattern and turbans (?!) in my head.

Stu has been reworking the ideas we had for the frames as he goes along; different brushes, rollers, grades of sandpaper and wire wool... Briwax... it is all very satisfying and all the more so as I don't have to participate apart from pointing and suggesting. The first two big ones done are lovely and 'battered' but polished to hell and back, so there is a great contrast between the distressed state of the paint and the loving polish applied. Part way through I realised that what they remind me of a lot is the old much-used guitars of Jimi Hendrix and the like, where layers of paint and polish have been gradually demolished by years of play leaving bare wood in places and various graduations of colour elsewhere. Makes sense when Stu is a bit of a guitar geek too.

I am going to sorely miss this little workshop world we have been in for the last few days; I can't wait until this becomes the norm. without any annoying cashdayjobs to get in the way. I'm quite confident that we will work well as a creative duo - nay, magnificently! It's awesome getting to consult on the frames for each painting layer by layer, sand by sand; we hope to offer this kind of service to other artists as well as myself in the long run which is, I think, pretty rare.

Frames in the kitchen, paintings to the left, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.