I haven't been posting much here over the last while - been quite busy with other stuff.
One thing I finally got around to was moving my blogging activity over to the Wordpress platform, which just seems to allow a little more flexibility. Blogger seems to be attracting more spam too? So, from now on, I won't be blogging here, I'll be over there. The Scaldervillage Voice has hereby closed shop.
Hope to see you over at the new spot. Its a work in progress at the moment - plenty of tweaking left to be done. I'm also going to be on Facebook over here. As for Twitter? We'll see.
I've enjoyed the run here - and, in truth, the content will probably be quite similar at the new place - it'll just be a bit more integrated with my artwork etc.
Thanks to all the visitors and those who left comments - it's been fun! If anybody has me bookmarked or blogrolled, I'd politely ask you to please update your links to my new abode? I'll aim to reciprocate asap.
Ciao fer now!
This is the latest painting (I think) I've finished.
Entitled Limen it is painted in acrylics on box canvas (maybe a little graphite and shellac ink in there too) and measures 40 x 40 cm. A lot of glazing en route.
As with poems, I find I need to live with / attempt to ignore paintings for a while before deciding if they're actually finished. The temptation to re-visit is always there - to keep working it - sometimes into overworking - and I've slaughtered a fair share of paintings in that way. At least with words you can retain the early drafts. More difficult with paint. But a period of 'living time' generally sorts out whether equilibrium has finally been reached or not.
This one has been lurking in my sitting room for a couple of months - just at the edge of peripheral vision. It's there. Done. Hope you like it. Some more recent paintings here.
This week's poetry bus prompt issued from NanU The Sciencegirl. Her prompt involved taking note of those nuggets of nonsense, blogger's own verification words - a linguistic mystic in its own right, which brought some great responses. So with a tip of the hat to Lear, Carroll, Milligan et al - here's my bus pass;
Odditty
In the still of morning
a-frabing I will go
along the banks of Sumet
down to the frozen shore
to search amidst the gravel
for gleaming diagoo
with rake and sieve and mopokip
my fortune I will gather
my freedom I will purchase
and return to Icitemo
to sip on silk and beermemp
and never more stir.
© P Nolan 2010
Speaking of Edward Lear, I wasn't aware until recently (University of Wikipedia) that he was also quite the accomplished artist and illustrator. His work as 'ornithological draughtsman' was favourably compared with Audubon, and he even briefly gave drawing lessons to Queen Victoria. Which allows me to segue sinuously to the image above, entitled 'Demon', my own 'demonological' contribution to a group exhibition by IGI members, launching this Thursday at the United Arts Club. I'm not sure if any of the illustrators on show have ever given lessons to royalty, but several (or rather, their art) have definitely appeared on stamps.
Your invitation to attend is hereby decreed.
I've quite a few paintings in progress right now - which are very slow in coming to a conclusion. Time is tight, but that's not the whole story. The Whole Story is the whole story, I guess.
Anyway, a few are nearly there - hopefully a tipping point is in reach - and this one is 100% Done! Entitled Homeland, it's mixed media on card, 21 x 30cm. Hope you like it.
This weeks driver of The Poetry Bus is Nevada-based writer, librarian and blogger Terresa Wellborn (great name). Hi Terresa! Her prompt was this remarkably theatrical photo by Keith Carter shown above.
I found it a tough enough prompt to start with, but the resulting piece took its own angle on things;
Noon
Saturday in May and summer arrives
the back garden a suntrap baited
with newspapers, birdsong and beer
In the cavecool kitchen I remain
a shuffling pale caucasian caveman
slicing through an orange block
of what we buy as cheese, four cut
slices snugly fit to blunted squares
of white bread licked with mayonnaise
I hover on the doorstep of kissing sun
blossom breeze, turn instead to monochromes
of costume, tragedy, reveal
the flipside of this page - another world
asleep, where now a person stirs
blinks awake, listens to the night
© P Nolan 2010
Worth noting too that fellow Poetry Busser and Connecticut-based blogger, Jeanne Iris Lakatos, is in Dublin at the mo and (I'm pretty sure) is appearing at The Glór Session downstairs in The International TONITE! (Can anybody confirm this?) Hope to make it along to this.
** Update : Jeanne's flight was delayed - it seems unlikely she'll be arriving in time for Glór tonight after all. Jeanne, drop me a line when you arrive? **
What the... ? Where was I? Where am I?
Haven't been doing much blogging in the last while - been a bit swamped with one thing and another. That's not to say I've been mad busy, or anything like that. Just gridlocked amid the tangled logistics of the self and the occupied space. Or some such something. Hooped by 'The Fallow'. Frozen in the headlights of time. It happens.
Nothing much gets written at times like this. Nothing much gets made at all. Except, bizarrely enough, mistakes; errors of judgement rattling like seeds among the wilted vegetation of the mundane. And then - just like that - green shoots! We hope.
Nick Laird had an interesting piece on 'The Fallow' (I'm getting to like his occasional columns more than his poetry - almost - but definitely more than Utterly Monkey) in last Saturday's Guardian, which somewhat relates to the above. See here.
I still have a little more to write about Poetry Now - hopefully I'll post that soon. But for now, I'll clock in and out quickly with a mention of an interesting reading at the Irish Writers Centre this Wednesday, featuring Kevin Barry (who I haven't yet heard read his wonderful short stories) and the serene Catherine Phil MacCarthy (one of a number of individuals working steadily to turn the fortunes of the centre around). Should be well worth a visit - hope to get there myself.
The image above is entitled Estuary I and is one of three paintings I've just submitted for this years RHA Annual Exhibition. This is a study for a finished painting (which, for some reason, ended up bearing little enough resemblance to the initial studies). Fingers Crossed!
Finally, best wishes to blogpal Emerging Writer aka Kate Dempsey, who's nominated in the Emerging Fiction category of the Hennessy X.O Literary Awards, to be announced at TCD on April 20. You can check out all the shortlisted writers and their work here. Go Kate! You can catch the talented Ladygirldiva herself reading in Trim this Thursday.
Soooooooo - the auld brain's a bit fritzed since Sunday - so this will be somewhat scrambled.
The image above is my contribution to the DrawErs project mentioned in the previous post. This was painted from scratch last Friday 26th March, between 11am and 5pm at South Studios on a cheapo, flatpack set of drawers from IKEA (which I'd assembled beforehand).
I was heading out to the DLR Poetry Now festival to hear Justin Quinn, Luljeta Lleshanku and Philip Gross read at 6.30, so I had to miss the exhibition and social shenanigans that evening. Which is a bummer. Because there was free beer. And nice people. And good craic. And the Drawers all looked brilliant by the look of things - as you can see here.
BUT! (and its a big one) Poetry Now delivered yet again, with a weekend of striking and diverse voices. Which is why my head is still a-bit-a-babble. Of that particular reading, Philip Gross stood out as a remarkably concise and measured communicator - meticulous, almost hesitant, in the formation of ideas - drawn from the closest inspection of the simplest details of the world, natural and otherwise. Quinn worried me a bit at the outset. Poems about his home turf of Blackrock (the park in particular) felt a bit pedestrian to these ears. He was on better territory when he moved to inner landscapes - more physically immediate than nostalgic - like a great wee poem about being punched in the balls by a four-year-old who states (love this) "that's the Batman way". Striking indeed.
Lleshanaku seemed to have some gem-like ideas coming through, relating to the person and the person-to-person, but her grasp of English wasn't the best (helluvalot better than my Albanian, obviously) and her mic technique combined to let her down a bit - moreso on the poems themselves than when setting context, unfortunately - so most of what I got was fragmentary. So, a fitful start to a smashing festival.
More later - still decompressing.
Lots happening at the moment. Not much time for blogging of late.
Looking forward to the upcoming dlr Poetry Now festival which kicks off this Thursday. Not, alas, contributing to the graphics this year - can't win them all - but the line-up is cracking, including this year's TS Eliot winner Philip Gross and The Man Muldoon (who was speaking on RTE Radio the other night).
Delighted to have landed a place in Vona Groarke's writing workshop! I very much enjoyed Groarke's recent-ish collection Juniper Street and her overall tone in general, so quite excited about hearing her read AND getting some tips (hopefully).
I'll be busy this Friday daytime, taking part in Drawers - an exciting collaboration between the Illustrators of Guild of Ireland and South Studios. Organised by IGI colleague Steve Doogan, this event sees a whole bunch of illustrators, artists, designers etc. coming together to customise a wee chest of drawers from IKEA. Not the same one, mind you - we'll do one each.
Friday evening, you are all invited to drop into South Studios for a beer and to check out what all these drawers look like after the creative frenzy. All (?) will be for sale - so this could be a chance to pick up a genuinely original piece of furniture for your bedroom, office, studio, friend etc. I'll have to dash off to Dún Laoghaire for the 6.30 reading, but my piece will be on show.
The drawers are on show/sale for one day only and should be well worth a look.
Anyone interested in retro book design, illustration or the history of Irish publishing would do well to check out this nice little show curated by Niall McCormack’s blog Hitone: Vintage Irish Book Covers.
“The good people in The Winding Stair Bookshop have been kind enough to ask me to put together a small exhibition of Irish book cover design. The exhibition, which will feature a small selection of books published between the thirties and seventies, will be on display in the shop for two weeks from Saturday 13th March. All of the books have been selected for their striking cover artwork. The Winding Stair Bookshop is at 40 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1.”
Details: Irish Book Cover Art 1930s – 1970s
March 13th – 27th, 2010
at The Winding Stair Bookshop
40 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1
Niall does a nice job of book cover and poster design himself - check out his work.
Via The Small Print.
I've spoken before about the Thursday Life Drawing group at the United Arts Club, which I attend as regularly as possible. This Thursday, March 11th, sees the launch of our annual exhibition of drawings at that venue. It's always a fun evening - an enjoyable and interesting opportunity to view (and purchase) a selection of drawings by a wide variety of artists. Consider yourself invited!
The show launches at 8pm and runs until March 29th - viewing Monday to Saturday from 5.30pm (as the UAC bar / gallery only currently opens only during the evening).
The piece above is one of two drawings that I'm exhibiting, and there'll also be work by Comhghall Casey, PJ Lynch, Aisling Dolan, Michael McWilliams, Eoin Coveney and many, many more talented people, including Brian Gallagher, who runs this drawing group.
Brian also has an interesting solo show launching next week at the Signal Arts Centre in Bray.
** UPDATE ** My IGI colleague Mario Sughi has posted some photos of the life drawing exhibition launch here.
As I've said elsewhere, the current post over on Scamp.ie is sooooooooooo good!
This selection of recent work from members of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland shows that Irish illustration is alive, kicking and running laps with aplomb, all the time reciting poetry aloud in several different languages with charm, grace and a splash of tabasco! I love the image above, by Belfast illustrator Jonathan McHugh - but there's a shedload of other varied and beautiful images too - so check it out!
Hey! Hello! Hoopla! (....sounds of tumbleweeds dustily bouncing down one deserted backroad of the interweb).
Where'd January go? Between winter blues, landscapes white and deadlines aglow, the month - or at least the will to blog - kinda got away from me there. For a while there I wasn't even sure if I'd keep it going here - but then, what the hell. The sap is rising and stuff, so here I am again.
I haven't been wasting my time though - lots done (with more, as ever, to do). First finished painting of the year up top. Entitled 'formburn', it's a small canvas - 195mm x 150mm - and will be for sale in The Little Picture Show, a fund-raising exhibition for the Crow Gallery in Temple Bar. The show features loads of small works from artists including Brian Gallagher, Aisling Dolan, John Nolan and many, many more, all at very affordable prices. Opening 6pm this Thursday, 4th February.
Well now, that was a year-and-a-half, eh? You don't get many of them to a pound, eh? Bethahokeythatwasaquarewan? etc.etc.
To be honest, I'm quite happy to get to the end of 2009. It's been a fantastic year in so many ways, but fantastically stressful in so many others - and I'm still counting myself among the lucky ones.
Its been a hectic run-in to the festive season, so I've been neglecting the blogging in favour of... life and stuff. Still, here we are now - misc seasonal ailments in hand, coldcuts a-plenty awaiting mustarding, the world outside a whiteout, inner space rehydrating, resting and resigned to the midwinter torpor. Hope you're all enjoying the break.
We launched Crossroads back on the Feast of the Immaculate Anthology and it was a resounding success. Julie Parsons, in particular, was THE most gracious speaker - and one who had actually read the whole thing! As the various members of the group stepped up and gave diverse voice to the book, I was very proud to be part of Deansgrange Writers. (Promised copies will be winging out in the New Year). We celebrated our achievement with a get-together at Barney's house just before the holidays. More reading, much craic, wine and song (did I really play the spoons?) as well as a delicious apple tart (see above) by the multi-talented Declan. A great send-off to the year and beginning of the festivities, all of which went well.
Not many books in the stocking this year (vouchers, even better!) - but I did receive Beginners and The Mirror in The Sea - both gems of the highest order, even more special when received as thoughtful gifts.
I'm headswamped at this stage - retiring with hot water bottle for a quiet night of rumination and dozing. I may not be posting again until New Year. Of my cultural highlights from 2009, allow me to leave you with Doves and the London Bulgarian Choir, recorded at the Electric Proms last October. Only got to see this on the box - still had my sparse hair standing on end. Well worth letting this video run for both tunes and the full damn-near-nine minutes.
Happy festive midwinter wishes to one and all. Blessed be.
Busy, busy at the mo. I'm putting finishing touches to the artwork for the Deansgrange Writers Group anthology 'Crossroads' , of which more anon.
Went into town on Monday to crack a bottle across the bow of OFFSET, a week of celebration, debate and inspiration among the creative community at large. The opening event was the launch of Peepshow, which sees the walls of the intimate Monster Truck Gallery filled with images exploring dark, erotic, sexy thoughts and weird fetishes. Be warned - this is a strictly over 18 show and not for the faint-hearted. Wellll, its not that dangerous really - there's a lot of humour and some beautiful, smart imagery. Only running until Sunday November 8th - so get in there! My own piece is firmly in the humour category - sort of. If you're up for it, you can see it here. No Freudians please.
The image above is my contribution to another OFFSET gig - a group exhibition by members of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland. This opens tonight, Wednesday 4th November at SOLAS Bar on Wexford Street, Dublin 2 at 7pm and will also run until Sunday 8th of November. If you're in Dublin, why not come on in - should be a fun night! What else would you be doing on a chilly November Wednesday?
OFFSET culminates in a weekend conference at Liberty Hall, with presentations by some seriously inspirational names from the Irish and international creative communities. I'll be chairing one of the break-out sessions, a panel discussion about the illustration scene in Ireland and beyond. (Gulp) Big topic!
Ciao fer now!
Well, the Crow Gallery show was a resounding success! A great turnout for the launch itself, with plenty of interested bodies through the gallery over the course of the exhibition. It was a real treat to get the work in front of a new audience - and the paintings got a great response all round. I sold about 70% of the work - which is remarkable given the CEC™ (current economic climate). Huge thanks to all those who purchased, attended, sent good wishes etc. It's been memorable!
I also had the opportunity to attend 2 really excellent exhibition launches last thursday; Comhghall Casey at the Merrion Hotel, courtesy of Solomon Fine Art, and Joe Dunne at Ib Jorgensen - two serious painters in fine fettle and full flow at the mo.
Also, due to being in town, I got a chance to take some photos of those Edward Delaney sculptures I mentioned earlier- that's them up top - epic work!
I missed TFE's poetry bus this week - but hope to have something for next monday's challenge. Should be a good one.
Off to the Crow Gallery again tonight, for the launch of Cloudburst - new paintings by Helen McNulty, also curated by my colleague Tony Strickland. Looking forward to this one - the work should be good, and I'll be off-duty :-)
So, the stuff is stuffed, the deed is done, the walls may not be altogether plumb, but then neither is my head. Finished hanging Ecotones last night and it's looking decent, if I may say so. Launch tonight at 6pm - feel free to drop in. Should be fun - maybe moreso if the rain that's bucketing down on Dublin today goes away for a while.
I've been a bit hectic between this, that and the other - so didn't get to post my Monday poem yesterday - so here it is now. Reacting (not quite sure how, though) to Totalfeckineejit's photo prompts, resulted in something a little different, voicewise;
Sage
Tell once again the strange tale of the talking dog
how one day he raised his head and said
"I've only been quiet all this time
because I've been so busy watching you all
and couldn't believe my eyes."
think back to the various expressions of surprise
among the small gathering who happened to be there
to witness the burble of unbelief, self-doubt, fear
then finally the growing chorus of blame
and how that dog ducked and spun through a forest of legs
avoiding most of the blows, until finally disappearing from view
obscured by the dust of the disturbance
leaving behind a streaked crop of twist-legged hunched backs
scouring down into the settling dust, sweating, grumbling
finally meeting each other's eyes and seeing there
accusation, defeat, suspicion, confusion at the supernatural occurrence
that nobody really believed had taken place anyway
until the silhouette on a nearby hill
howled
© P Nolan 2009
