SQUIRREL WATCHING

Exhibited as part of the exhibition , ‘The Skin I’m In’, these works on paper feature multi image portrayals of an elderly man in a Wee Willie Winkie nightshirt. As in all my current work I am very aware that rather than portraits of the model they are my own thoughts and feelings projected onto the model in an attempt to explore the real lives of others. In this particular case I am obviously looking forward (with much trepidation) to my own old age. The photographs were taken indoors but I first moved the characters into the back garden , where much squirrel watching occurs. The title of this first piece came from a sign on the side of a builders van which of course referred to brickwork. PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT WHAT MIGHT APPEAR TO BE BOOK ILLUSTRATION ARE IN FACT 5′ X 4′;

traditional pointing

awaiting winter fuel payment

detail winter fuel

NHS Recycling

NHS Recycling; detail

I am currently working on further pieces in this series; Wilson Kepple and Betty set in Egypt and a new character, Counting Bees.

Squirrel watching by candlelight

counting bees

Burn Baby Burn

All the following pictures are of work in progress. In my last exhibition I showed several works which featured dresses applied to the paper surface. I was disappointed in attempts to integrate the clothing into the surface of the pictures but eventually succeeded by burning the surface of the clothing.

OZ Summer Fashions

Back in the studio I decided to pursue this process but also to make the burning a part of the storytelling. I decided to use the story of Miss Havisham from ‘Great Expectations’. I arranged a photo shoot in which I was to portray Miss Havisham but invited my usual male model and decided that he being Jamaican could portray the 1st Mrs Rochester from , ‘Jane Eyre.’ Both women were burnt to death, Miss Havisham in the wedding dress that she had worn for forty years.
Miss Havisham, mixed media A2
Miss Havisham, mixed media A2
The 1st Mrs Rochester, mixed media A2
The 1st Mrs Rochester, mixed media A2The 1st Mrs Rochester, mixed media on plywood 3’x4′ with applied and burnt wedding dress
The 1st Mrs Rochester, mixed media on plywood 3’x4′ with applied and burnt wedding dress.
The 1st Mrs Rochester, mixed media on plywood 3’x4′ with applied and burnt wedding dress
Detail of Burnt Wedding Dress

In a large enough exhibition space I would like to create an installation in which the train of the wedding dress extended into a table top with place settings and wedding cake, all decayed and burnt.

This could possibly include the works of other artists along the lines of, ‘The Dinner Party’ by Judy Chicago.

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party