Back... and more planning

Well - I have been away for a few days for reasons in general too dull to mention... apart from a fun trip up to London.

The gallery situation is good - I now have a bunch of pieces working for me in a gallery in Gloucestershire and with a wee bit of luck more to come.

The dilemma I face at the moment is colour - glaze or not glaze. Opinion seems to be divided on this front between those who like the coloured caricature pieces and those who prefer my more serious unglazed comment pieces. I am in the latter camp... it makes a neater tie with the pure portrait stuff.

Thoughts oh invisible reader....

More Interest

Well - another week, more mailshots and another hint of interest in my work. Good gallery good location.

I am wondering about some things though - sale or return, I know some, admittedly established,artists who wont touch it. Coming from a commercial background I am used to a term of credit like 30 or 60 days before payment but not an ongoing investment. Mind you the normal retail markup is higher so I imagine it pans out.

More worrying is insurance and ownership - if for example the gallery went bust - how do I find out and get my property back? If the piece has not been sold then it is difficult if not impossible to insure, so if it is damaged in the store I lose it. Not ideal.

Still, on the bright side, if I can get seen in good places it makes a start in the right direction!

David Cameron

Awesome. Simply the best political speech I have ever heard. It was what politics is all about. I didn't believe that anyone in politics actually thought about it the way I do - about hope, helping people to realise their dreams, about freedom, respect, self-reliance and mutual support.

There is no doubt that this was not political nuance - he believes this, this is his credo and he has told us what the thought process will be and where we can go. Nevertheless there was a trail a mile long of Labour foxes well and truly shot. It is the triumph of principal over mean minded calculation.

If he can help us remove the blight of the green-eyed suspicion and overweening interventionism of socialism from this country and bring about even a small part of this vision then Britain will be a great place to live and will have a great future.

See it - www.conservatives.com

Technique

Well its always handy to learn new tricks - or old ones presented well. This one is I think a good start point for my re-education.

Casting Experiments

I am attempting to get quality results in cast paper - for low relief wall mounted sculpture. It is proving surprisingly difficult thus far!

First mistake appears to be have been to try and produce a full 'box' form in one cast - the paper doesn't shrink away from the mould as much as other things and is not as robust when you are trying to remove it.

Second mistake might have been to be too cavalier about undercuts.

Third mistake - well I don't know quite what the reason is but I can tell you the result: pitting in the cast surface. Very poor resolution of the mould's texture.

This raises a couple of questions I think:

1. Am I being true to the material, trying to get a smooth hard surface finish, is it actually possible?
   
2. Does the dilution of the pulp, at least for the first layer matter? Should I go thinner with the mix?
   

Another example to us all...

Ah Harriet Harman, you don't have to invent her because she exists but to do so would require at least Orwell and probably Kafka. She has exceeded herself this time - and added to the list of actual criminal offences committed by members of this government that will go strangely unpunished.

To crash into another car is something that can happen to anyone, even the most attentive driver. She was apparently on her mobile and then drove off with a breezy "I am Harriet Harman you know where to find me". Well I could claim to be Donald Duck and therefore readily findable but I should still have to provide a full name address and insurance details to the injured party. Failure to do so is a criminal offence. As is using a mobile while driving - she should know, she helped pass the legislation. The chances of the law being applied to her? In this country? Slim to nil.