Hellooooooooooooooo my chums,

I was enjoying some lovely sunny weather but thought I'd best bung up a blog lest you forget me. I am a martyr to my "art" to be sure....

Well I have finished the commission and delivered it to the client. Thankfully, he really liked it and seemed fairly moved by it. I admit to being a tad worried as commissions are always a little unpredictable...mainly because I tend to always paint "warts and all" with a portrait...not saying that the subject had any warts...infact a more handsome fellow you could not meet...it's just that I do love painting "detail"...mmmmm. I really wanted this one to be successful as it was commissioned from so much love and was full of symbolism relevant to the subject. I think it worked...I hope it worked. It also helped that the clients were so bleedin' nice.....thankyou Dave 'n' Stu for trusting me with your beings, it is much appreciated.

I am well into the new series of paintings...it still hasn't a title and I continue to refer to it as the "Fairground/Burlesque/Circus" series...which is a right gobfull. It's a much darker set of images than the shapeshifters...mind, that may well be due to them being set indoors and with un natural light. I'm endeavouring to capture the vunerabilty of the bods who work in this form of entertainment......it amazes me how most of the masses judge these folk. Hey hoo.

I'm trying to go for the raw, shabby and slightly forlorn look to these images...it's more to do with survival of the art and being constantly on the move than glitz and glamour. Oh and I apologise to all the purists out there....I'm painting a "feeling" rather than perfectly engineered circus/fairground equipment.

I reckon any one who can go out night after night wearing lycra and hanging from things deserves to be immortalised in acrylic...I also admire any bod who can wave feathers and jiggle their bits. I myself have tried it on occassions and am still receiving the doctors bills from all the people I traumatised....apparently the sight of a wee man waving feathered fans about whilst expressing himself through the medium of dance wearing a sparkly thong can give folk recurring nightmares....ho hum.

I'm now working on the second image...this one is proving to be a real challenge as it is so removed from the way I usually paint a piece. I've had to come at it from a completely different prospective and learn as I go. Mmmmm...fingers crossed that it proves successful...it seems to be going ok so far. Mind...that's no guarentee with me...I usually get so far in and then decide it's all a pile of poop. After that it gets quite messy with tantrums and tears and wringing of hands and threats to become a nun and all kinds of carry ons....hey ho...it's a right doings creating "the art".....

I'm off to the printers tomorrow to get some greetings cards printed...ooooer. I shall let you know how they turn out...

Thankyou for taking the time,

Ivor x