Kickstart Project: Draw ideas, get back into art. Here I illustrate my plans with computer art, figurative art, sculpture, doodles, and one etching (this was induction into the print room).

Pencil, charcoal, markers.

I did a “one off” painting in 1999, (see my “self with famous art paintings"). This was before any art education but I sustained the duration...........many many hours.........and personal challenge and enjoyment.

Inspired by Patrick Caulfield’s “After Lunch” (Tate Modern), I wish to explore this in a totally different manner. My initial theme is Interiors...........Illustrative and Realistic............a juxtaposition between an illustrated scene and paintings on the wall/walls. My central media choice will be acrylic on canvas/mdf with etching on steel plate secondary. The etching process would mean juxtapositioning famous (out of copyright) prints framed within the interior. Silk screen and etching would also be another option. The areas of research would entail studying art for reprocessing and content for the interior scenes. Using content from life or sketch books The illustration process would be worked with computer art before taking the work to canvas. It could be possible to bring humour and surrealism into the work. It would allow me to learn illustrative art, something I have no experience of doing at the moment...........but I am interested..........whilst having the fun of detailed work within the juxtaposition. The interiors would not be houses or buildings where you would be likely to find an old master, more likely my local pub with a Picasso hanging on the wall. People would figure in all work.

"After Lunch"

Patrick Caulfield 1975

Acrylic on canvas

224 x 213.4 cm

Tate Modern

Folowing this theme I hotch-potched up my first experiment, shall we call it "Disco"?

But using my archive of personal photos, i made this as a line drawing, scanned it and worked it in ps with fills, added some pop art to the walls and then put light hues on in painter.

Thinking about it, I've changed my idea of interiors in my village to looking down on the centre of village and observing the little boxes we live in. After I will zoom in on some of the boxes, especially the pubs. Then I will paint interiors.

I thought an etching, but just to let you know we have failures, this one failed. I waxed the plate with soft ground in error, and working at the top of the plate, my sleeve wore off the ground. So it's back to a new plate and start again for this work. Ok.......this gives me a second bite of the cherry and an opportunity to improve my work.

16h January we commenced life studies on Thursday afternoons for 5 weeks. Unfortunately I will miss the next two because I've chosen computer art, with a new artist coming in for two Thursdays.

But this first afternoon I did these three studies in chalk and charcoal just to get back into it. Hopefully I will go on to other mediums.

These are on A2 paper.

21st January saw this 40" canvas completed.

1st in ordinary acrylic paint. Then I painted over the principle figures with luminescent paint. The shine does not show here, but it gives it a surreal effect.

People think the backgound paintings of a Renoir and Toulouse Lautrec are stuck on. But they are painted. But they juxtapose Victorian dancing with modern disco.

Click here to see an enlarged version.

My tutors suggested I should go bigger, so I have. I have made two canvases 10'x8', they can be used as a whole to make a 20 footer, or in a corner or opposed. The large stuff does give total immersion to an audience. First I had to make my images. I took loads of pics on a very joyful new years eve, 31/12/02. I selected 7, "cut out" what I wanted in PS, and put them all together on one image in PS. Made a line drawing of them with "smart blur" filters, printed it, traced it how I needed, scanned it back in, coloured it and added RGB light filters. Here it is:

I've yet to finally chose the placing and background "real art" I wish to use, but this one is Marc Chagall's "I and my Village" from about 1912. Which is where I am coming from.