August 2012

Optimism tempered by realism and an empty pocket leads to unoccupied plinths and half made moulds. Oh well... at least I got most of the bits that I was going to use for my entry to PPC. Next year...next year. As for the Thami Mnyeli Open? well entered something, its just not what I wanted to enter, thus the empty plinth.

So whats coming up? In no particular order...ME II opening on the 15th at Fried; Photographic Exhibition at the Trent Gallery  opening on the 8th September and then an Erotica show opening sometime in September, also at the Trent Gallery. Not sure when though.

Ho hum thus ends the entry for a rather glum month...mind you there is the opening for Sasol on the 29th so you never know...

May 2012

9th May: Sometimes you get involved in something and find yourself what am I doing here? Well in my case it was why have you submitted this? This is not the right place. This was the case for me yesterday. I had been asked by 'Art with a Heart' to donate some work for a charity event. I was happy to do so and without thinking about who the potential audience may be I dropped some prints off. It was only when I went to help out did I find out that what I had submitted might not have been appropriate for the event (later proved by the fact none of the images had sold). Yes yes I hear you saying but how is that possible? At R500 a pop they would have been a steal but but but.... I guess next time I will find out what works for them and see if I can dig out somethig that may sell. But then sometimes you really don't know.

April 2012

23rd: This is a pic I took of the Voortrekker Monument last year, I was going to say November but it turns out it was April last year. Wow. Anyway Adele an Interior designer has bought it from me. Which was nice. It got me thinking though. You make something that is viewed as magical. You then sell it which is a real bonus and in it's own way is just as magical, and then you end up using the money for something completely mundane such as paying the lights and water bill or the rent. Gordon Froud though has a great way of ensuring the magic continues. With the sales he makes he tries to buy another piece of work. How fantastic is that.

12th: These are the results of a process that only be described as genius. How did I achieve this: First I dropped all my test strips on the floor. I made sure that they fell into a liquid that I wasn't too certain about. I picked them up, shrugged my shoulders and thens stuffed them up my jumper and walked outside. I stood in the sun for a couple of minutes and then processed them. Developed, washed them, felt pleased with the results, put the strips back into the developer, switched on the light before walking out the door before returning after 20 minutes..........Amazing the resuls that can be achieved.

I am glad though I didn't make the same processing mistake with the pic that I took with Chantall. Have posted a pick of Chantall in front of her muse for the day, Cheugnette, a steam train which is run and looked after by FOTR (Friends of the Rail).

November 2011

24th: Wow its almost been a month since I started work n my latest camera. I am still just about finished. All thats left to do is the final coat of varnish and then fitting the lenses. The pic below shows camera with the back open. At the moment the biggest problem I am facing is trying to get hold of a safe light. If I was in London - no problem - just phone the supplier and I would have one within a week. I can get hold of a light bulb but they are just way too expensive for what they are. So the search goes on.

Good news from the feline show. I sold two prints of the Voortrekker Monument piece. Yip thats great but as usual after all the deductions and what not, what ends up in the pocket is just enough to cover materials for the next project.

10th: I'm not sure how long it is before I am going to melt and turn into a puddle so I thought that I had better write this message before I do. Catpals exhibition, Saturday 5:30pm at Trent Gallery @ Cameo Framers, Waterkloof, South Africa. Proceeds of the exhibition will be used for the feeding, sterilisation and veterinary costs of a feral sanctuary in Pretoria.

July 2011

19th: Three is the Magic Number. At least it seems that way. I think that the selectors at Sasol have decided that I may only succesfully submit a piece of art every three years. Since 2005 the sequence is as follows; yes no no yes no no yes. So for the next couple of years I shan't bother. In 2014 I will try again and of course get in. The pattern is so obvious.

The great thing though is that I didn't have to face the ire of the Nandi who seems to be able to make anyone who steps out of line quake in their boots.

More good news website is back online www.kritikalmass.com So yes today three is really the magic no.

18th: Well things are finally starting to settle on the home front, although is still a shed load to do, plus got a trip to the UK coming up. So what of my Sasol entry, well I don't actually know. Yes I got my entry there on time, I have to add with all the right paper work, but I just haven't got round to finding out if my entry got in or not. My excuse, well non really. I did try to phone them today but no one answered. I just hope my entry got in otherwise I am sure that I will find my self dealing with a mighterly peeved Nandi when I do finally get to talk to her.

Noticed the other day that my website was no longer online. Bloody bastard service providers took it offline for non payment of bill. So anyway, after reminding myself to remain completely and utterly calm during the whole process, I decided to pay the bills online. Despite all the old tricks of refusing to recognise my name/email address/password or giving me the option of paying over the intenet were thrown at me I managed to get there in the end. The most amazing fact is thatI got there without getting to the psycho smashing the keyboard and shouting out wankers stage. Fantastic - only problem is the link is not working - wankers.

11th: Things have been really topsy turvy the last few weeks. Had to move house, which ordinaryly is a mission but this time round the problems just seemed to multiply exponentially. A move that should have only taken a couple of weeks has evlved into a two week affair. At least the worst of it is over but it has mean that I had completely lost touch with the real world. The result of this has meant that I have got my dates mixed up. I though the deadline for Sasol was the 14th but no it is actually tomorrow. Yes so on Sunday there was an 'Oh fuck' moment - a call to the framers which garnered the sort of response which was polite but had echos of a weary school master, with his cane gently swaying behind his back, looking down at one of his many miscreants whilst they babbled some poor excuse for their failure to have done their homework. Thank you Staurt I look forward to seeing the work framed tomorrow. So to cap off a thourougly unprepared week here is one that I succesfully submitted in 2005.

April 2011

2nd: Well despite all glitches and stuff ups work on Trinny (the three panel camera) is going really well. Am onto the finishing stage of the/her body. This involves a lot of sanding and patience. When that is done I can get on to fitting the hinges that will hold the sections together. After that I will be making and fitting the holes which means that she will be ready to go in about a week or two. Hopefully no longer than that. The image below shows her closed but with the back panels of the two side sections open.

 7th: Well I have finished off sanding and varnishing Trinny. Busy with the lenses while trying to work out a system for keeping all the panels and wot nots secure and in place. I am trying to make the lenses in batches. Making them one by one seems to take forever. It does mean that you get a lot of duds but if you are careful there shouldn't be too many. To make my lenses I am using drinks cans for my lenses. They have been sanded down to make thge metal thinner. I have then used a biro point to make a slight bump which I then sand down. Usually this creates a tiny hole in the crown. To give an idea of scale the squares in the image below are 10mm x 10mm, the hole in the square in the top left is far too big.

Went up to the Vortrekker monument yesterday to take a photograph of  it with Shirley and then today went into to Joburg to take a photograph of  the Ponte Building with Helga. Going to develop the pics tonight so we will have to see what comes out.

 8th: The photo of the Ponte Building came out alright and while the one of the Voortrekker Monument came out so so. Think though I will do them both again just to see if I can get better shots. I know that the Ponte building image shows some signs of fogging. Maybe because of the covers that I was using as a lens cap, we will see.

 10th: What is it? Well 'it is a box from the olden days that people used to sit on and shit', needless to say Shirley wasn't best pleased with this discription given of her by a passing tourist. We had to go back to the Voortrekker Monument as I had forgotten the battery for my camera in the library. This provided me with the perfect opportunity to try and reshoot the monument while dodging the entry fee. I have to be honest as impressed that I am with its size, this is a building that I don't ever forsee myself falling in love with.

22nd: After a bit of a delay work on Trinny is getting on again. I have started to fix the lenses in place. 

As you can see it is an 'Uber' sophisticated bit of technology that is being used for this particular part of the process. The plan is to start trying to take phtos with Trinny next week. I still have a couple of things to sort out. At the moment the two 'door' sections are just catching a little.

Had an all new South African Experience this week - traffic fines or at least the process of trying to pay for them. The one was a breeze. The other a right pain in the arse. I tried three different points - including the local traffic department - and each of them turned me away. Now I understand why paying bribes to traffic officers is endemic to this country. Its not because the fines are expensive, its just that with the effort that is required to pay a fine it simply not worth the bother of trying to be  a law abiding citizen. Why waste a day trying to pay a measly fine when you can just get the pain and misery over with within the space of a couple of minutes. The benefits are two fold; both money and time are saved. Very tempting indeed.

October 2010

30th: Lots of ideas for stuff but no cash at the moment. Meanwhile I have built a frame for a coffee table made from the finest quality scraps of shutter ply. Its for a client who has showed me three different designs. So I decided to make something from what I had available. Truth be told in the best traditions of well thought out design, I have just been making it up as I go along. It is going to be stained a dark brown. It will get a glass top and then a shelf out of wood at the bottom thus hiding the cross struts.

Tomorrow I have to go and hang some stuff at Pandora. Not sure what I am going to do. The invite talks of new stuff by so and so artists but like I said all I have are ideas with no money or time left to do them. So maybe have to dig in the cupboard to find some stuff I haven't yet shown. 

9th: It has been a while since the last blog. the time has been well spent. Went over to England for just under five weeks. While I spent most of the time working, to be honest after the franetic couple of months that I had leading up to the time away, it felt like a holiday. So now I am back in South Africa. November looks like it is going to be a cool month with regards to exhibitions. For me at least. Jacques Michau is opening up a gallery and is keen on including some of my work in his opening show. The Pandora gallery have invited me to exhibit in one of their shows...and well thats about it for now. But it is nice to get invited.