Pressure Drop

I’ve been working on the next free art drop, and I can’t seem to shake the excellent song ‘Pressure Drop’ while I’m painting. Originally by Toots and The Maytals, I’m aware the song has also been covered by The Specials and The Clash, and doubtless many more bands too. The version I hold in my head is the performance by The Clash (and/or a live version by Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros).

The song got into my head this week during a period of mindlessness. I’ve had a busy, productive week and as a way of release/relief from a busy schedule I’d been seeking to do something which didn’t require thought, something I could just…do. That something arrived in the form of a run yesterday morning. I’d not run since April 2017 and I knew that doing so would quickly utilise my resources and take me to a place of no thinking, just doing. The run started and so did the beat. I huffed and puffed my way home and at every step along the 2.67 mile jog, Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Topper Headon and Paul Simonon accompanied me.

Back in the studio, I couldn’t shift the song, so I decided to abstract it out of my head, onto paper.

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Part of this work harks back to my earlier Elemental Art series, something I thought I’d left behind, but it turns out I am enjoying letting it sneak back into my thinking and making again. This piece will be hidden soon.

Gold Against The Soul

This week’s free art drop emerged while reflecting on a hectic week of (just) meeting deadlines. It’s a postscript to a small body of work I completed earlier in the week, which I will write more about in the next few days.

Gold Against The Soul is a small abstract, made with gold leaf, and overlaid with silver paint, spread onto the leaf using an out of date Tate Modern membership card. Gold leaf is a very fiddly medium to work with, and one thing I enjoy about it once applied, is how the surface responds to different light sources. Here are a few photos of the work, shown indoors and outdoors, and in partial shade too.

If you live in the Wallington/Carshalton area, keep an eye out for this piece over the weekend.

Record Store Day : Free Art Drops

Saturday 21st April 2018 is Record Store Day in the UK. I’ve made some free art drops to mark the occasion. These are the first pieces of art I’ve made using acrylic sprays and stencils. Trust me, all the cutting is hard work! I think its been worth it though, and I’ll be hiding these in the local area over the weekend.

The vinyls have no obvious connection to the designs I made, with one exception. Happy Talk is sprayed on to a copy of South Pacific on the Music For Pleasure label. Captain Sensible covered this song, and the title of The Damned’s second album is…Music For Pleasure 😉

Update: I’ve added one more vinyl into the mix – heh heh.