Look, an eagle..ish thing!

Yes, it might seem like a distraction from the actual point of this blog, but given that I'm STILL trying to finish up the aforementioned Russian poultry pic, & that reading solely about prep for an art exhibition might not be the most exciting passtime you could imagine, I figured I'd add an occasional sideline of Really Interesting Cool Stuff. This one's courtesy of librarian & all round renaissance man Angus Hamilton. A while back he sent me some photos of.. well, basically what Dr Seuss got up to in his spare time in the 1930's. He called it "Unorthodox Taxidermy", and combined his own sculptural forms with real animal parts provided by the Forest Park Zoo, where his father worked. The collection includes the "Andulovian Grackler", "Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn" and "Two-Horned Drouberhannis". Enjoy.

Exciting news!

Nah just kidding. Makes a good headline though doesn't it?
So, it's been a fortnight since my last confession. Sorry for the delay, but the sound of News Radio's Parliamentary broadcasts had me lost in a swoon of depthless adoration for our representatives inspirational rhetorical sweep & breathtaking vision for a boldly egalitarian future. I imagine you're enjoying the afterglow yourselves. So to recap - previously I looked perilously close to actually finishing a painting. This time? Done. Genuinely done! Couple of tricky things on the way - air compressor rusting inside & with a valve so leaky it couldn't work the airbrush (fixed for now by winding masking tape around the screw-thread, high-tech is everything), followed by the receiving of a phone call that work was going back A WEEK EARLY. Not totally a dream come true. That was meant to be the down-to-business week. Now it just means I can buy groceries.. Anyway, crossing off the first picture makes me happy, but it's also a bit weird - finishing paintings is not something I've done a lot of in recent years, so the urge to go "Whew, thank Christ for that, lets celebrate, see friends again, go pubbing, bugger off to a movie" and so on is strong. However I need nine more works. At least. Definately not time to make pub my friend.
Next - Russian poultry fancying. No, really. Talk about cliffhangers.

Seven fun-filled days later..

Nope. Nearly, but nope. The clock has struck for the first deadline and.. I'm not quite done. Normally I'd not call that a newsflash, but I REALLY need to keep these deadlines! And this painting is the easy one! Close though.
So where did that extra time go? Well.. apart from having to tinker with my original image to balance it up a bit, I also had to go spray paint shopping. And when I couldn't get my hands on a can of lime green spray paint I did what anyone would do - I dusted off the ol equipment sitting in my bedroom cupboard and PUT ON THE MASK, as they say in the classics. I know what you're thinking, "Thank god thing's are finally getting interesting - this freak's about to bust out his Blue Velvet routine! Let the wild huffing begin!". But no. Sorry to let you down, but the compressor & the medical mask are for airbrushing. And everyone's heart sinks. Airbrushing? That panel van cheese with unicorns & hot chicks hanging ten under a full moon? I know, I know.. But I promise you, this is a tool that can be used for good as well as shite. Now I just have to resist the temptations.. OF ITS DARK SIDE. And not get sick or stoned off paint fumes. Wish me luck.