THOUSAND YARD STAIRWELL

While working to promote the Custard Factory Open Studios recently, I experimented on various background designs for the event's own blog wallpaper ( mobile phone viewers are advised to scroll all the way down to the bottom of any of my blogs and click 'view web version' to see the fully-realised designs ). I have a stock of photos from around the Custard Factory buildings, and used simple repetition ( no actual filters ) to create some eerily surreal images.

NEW WORK IN PROGRESS

PROGRESSIONS

Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 60cm x 60cm.

Below: Extreme Close-Up,taken today [ 23rd Jan 2018 ].

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Below: Close Up, angle shot Dec 29 2017

Below: Jan 3rd 2018

Below: Jan 4th 2018

Below: Jan 23rd 2018

'BALANCE' : FINAL GROUP SHOW OF 2016, AT CUSTARD FACTORY

For myself and many of my colleagues, this was our final exhibition of 2016, at a beautiful space at the Custard Factory complex, Digbeth, Birmingham. I took these pictures soon after the install. Show curated by The Daphne Francis Gallery.

Below: My two contributions, now titled 'Encryption' and 'Stealth'.*

*Formerly referred to as Untitled Painting A and Untitled Painting C.

Below: Art by Zarina Keyani and Paris Christodoulou

Below: Painting by Zarina Keyani

Below: My art ( far left ) and Zarina Keyani

Below: Art by Jeannie Brown ( left x 3 ), and Paul Newman

For inquiries, please go to Daphne Francis Gallery website.

WORK IN PROGRESS: EXTREME CLOSE-UPS 05/03/2015

Reaching the final stages for these two pieces. Each one has built up substantially in texture, as each iteration is layered over previous ones.

Both pieces are acrylic on canvas, 76cm x 101cm

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#1

CLOSE-UPS:

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#2

CLOSE-UPS:

LATEST PAINTINGS: A SHORT MOVIE

Another successful show for The Cobalt Blue!

On the clip you will see a 2-minute 'walking tour' of my two latest pieces, filmed at The Custard Factory, Birmingham, as part of the Digbeth First Friday event. The droning noise you can hear in the background is Stourbridge artist Paul Gittins' guitar installation, where the guitars played autonomously, throughout the day. The constantly-changing sequence of abstract musical motifs provided a perfect soundtrack to the entire show. Beautiful!

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Below: Our friends and associates of The Cobalt Blue

Stephen Earl Rogers: Portraitist and associate of The Cobalt Blue.

( Detail )

Wayne Attwood: Impressionist painter and member of The Cobalt Blue

( Detail )

Hannah Honeywill: Sculptor

Paul Gittins: Sound artist

Nita Newman: Art & Installations

Our organizer, and The Cobalt Blue CEO, Zarina Keyani, in front of her new time-based experimental piece.

MK 78

Current abstract ( centre ). This is the 78th iteration of the same piece, and it is still not finished. You see the blue & white striped section? That's gone. That was the only concession to 'chocolate box' and it stood out like a sore thumb. Everything else is entirely ad-libbed. I'll do an article on all the different versions of the same piece next week. Until then, you can see the finished 'final-final' version at The Cobalt Blue show on July 4th at the Custard Factory ( scroll down for show details ).

Note: Art at top of pic, by Robert EV Walsh

A KIND OF BLUE: Birmingham Photo Diary

Art seems to be imitating life, lately...or maybe the other way around. My photo diary from around Birmingham over the last few weeks, with some 'detail' shots of my current abstract painting.

Work-in-progress, acrylic paint on canvas, 101cm x 76cm

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Empty pool below my studio at Custard Factory, Digbeth

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Birmingham Scooterists meeting, Custard Factory, Digbeth

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Bluebells on the Clent Hills, Halesowen

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Graffiti wall next to BOXXED, Floodgate Street, Digbeth

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Closeup of current work-in-progress ( acrylic paint on canvas )

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Wall of engineering company, Floodgate Street, Digbeth

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Graffiti next to BOXXED, Floodgate Street, Digbeth

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The ubiquitous Selfridges Building, Birmingham centre

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Closeup of current work-in-progress ( acrylic paint on canvas )

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Graffiti, Little Anne Street, Digbeth

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'Yeti' watching over his neighbourhood, Little Anne Street, Digbeth

SCALE IT UP

If you scroll back down a bit, you'll see some closeups of my last abstract ( March ). Well, those closeups actually look better than the thing itself, so from now on, all the stripes on my abstract pieces will be scaled up times three.

Here's a start - the white lines show the new scale, and the previous, thinner, lines will become background texture:

THE COBALT BLUE'S INAUGURAL 'DIGBETH FIRST FRIDAY' EXHIBITION

From this month, and hopefully on every First Friday of the month until October 3rd, The Cobalt Blue ( the art group that I co-founded with Zarina Keyani ), will host either an exhibition or networking event. Here's some pics from the May 2nd inaugural event at The Custard Factory.

The next event will be at 6pm on Friday, June 6th. See The Cobalt Blue website nearer the time, for details.