Animation.

 They say a change is as good as a rest. Seeing as I don’t do “rest”, I opted for change.

Towards the end of September, I decided to attempt some animation. I don’t have an animation program on my computer, so I drew all the frames by hand, scanned them into Photoshop to add colour and then dropped all the frames into a very basic Windows Movie Maker.

Lulu “Here Comes the Night”.

 At the start of October my animation for Lulu’s “Here Comes the Night” was ready to upload to Youtube. Why I chose that song I don’t really know. The title was probably suggested by the oncoming dark nights of the UK’s winter months.

You can see the finished video on THIS LINK

 Goose Fair, Nottingham.

 Goose fair is a big event in Nottingham each October. I gathered all my resources with a small camera, recording sound files as I went along. My process is basic, but I like basic.
You can see the finished video on THIS LINK.

 Woodpigeon Translation.

 Drawing so many animation frames provided the distraction of activity I always seem to crave. Motivation is high. I go to bed at a reasonable time thinking about tomorrow's work, and get up looking forward to a day in my sunny South facing studio, listening to music as I draw. November produced my best animation to date, a promo video for the same musician I’d worked with in the recent past. Our mutual admiration for John Lennon meant he made a thinly disguised appearance, whilst a sequence from a Fred and Ginger movie informed the dance movements.

Outside my studio the snow (and temperatures) reached record levels as November became December. Bad news for heating bills.

You can see the finished video on THIS LINK.

 All text, pros, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Life is just a slice of pizza.

 Life is just a slice of pizza.

Life is divided into slices, like pizza, and one can never predict when the next cut will fall. Life’s more unpalatable slices only seem to last longer because they are harder to swallow. But that last 5 years slice of my Life passed quickly, because it was everything I needed it to be.

From Skegness beaches to
Matlock’s highest reaches.
Transatlantic bloggers.
Feeding midnight foxes.
Glue gun theatrical sets,
Video shoots by a water’s edge.
Tune a day music,
By the light of full moons.

Three pinta sessions, Jazz in the Bell,
Hockney in town, (he didn’t like it too well).
My work in a gallery on the A614,
Had to ask for the key, never been there before.
Edinburgh sketches (when I’m lucky to view),
Serve to remind I can still learn from you.
Oaks in a clearing,
Lidl isle of dreams skipping.

Singers’ nights and after-hours bars,
Jelly baby dashboard, country bound car.
Handstands in the park,
Walking home after dark.
Twig making sculptures,
Dragon soup lunches.
Market Square helter-skelter
Forfeit snakes and ladders.


All text copyright ian g craig.

 An updated version of this poem would be published in my book "46 Contemporary Poems".

Summer stress & higher spirits.

Spent the end of July and the first weeks in August, wiping off as much paint as I applied. Much retreating to the duvet ensued.

 Rusty Pearl came by again, a city fox I call my animal spirit guide. She stood on the patio and pointed to the empty space where I used to put out raw chicken for her, but what I think she was really doing was pointing out the empty space in me compared to how I was when first we met. She always communicates so clearly. Seriously.

The last week of August found me playing guitar and singing in an after-hours jam session. A very casual affair, but it felt good after so many years. Never thought I'd be doing that again.

All text, pros, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

summer snapshots 2010

 One to remember.

All images and text copyright ian g craig

Sketchbook Summer.

 

 

Although very disappointed to find that access to Thoresby Lake has now been fenced off, this has been the summer of the sketchbook, involving several visits to other favourite locations in which to laze, chat and sketch in the sun: Clumber Park, King John Palace, a Papplewick pub, and of course good old Skegness.

All artwork & text copyright Ian G Craig.

Skegness is So Bracing.

 Skegness is So Bracing.

Once, every working class family
From Nottingham town UK,
Come summer, emerged from their factories,
Impatient to get far away,
And spend the pennies they'd been saving
To be beside the seaside for a day.

In clattering steam train carriages,
Industrial packages, all looking the same,
Third class tickets and yesterday's sandwiches,
Ciggie stains on the window frame,
Communal singing, all knowing the lyrics,
They shook, rattled and rolled their way.

Their agreed destination?
A holiday camp for the nation,
Billy Butlin’s first site,
Red coated persuasion.
“Skegness Is So Bracing!” said the slogan,
And it was So true.

Donkey ride magic,
Sticky candy floss chew,
Food cartons of plastic,
Caravans just for two.
In rock n roll bunk-beds
Radio Luxembourg phasing through.


All text copyright ian g craig

 
An updated version of this poem would be published in my book "46 Contemporary Poems".

Malt Cross Open Mic.

 

 

At the end of March, 2010, I took a few small snapshots of the Malt Cross Open Mic Night. Music being one of my main interests I thought a series of paintings of Nottingham musicians might prove successful. The acrylic painting above was completed this month.

I’m really happy with it. Yet, as with previous paintings of the Bell Inn jazz band, and the Jam Café reggae group, although the musicians seem as pleased as myself with the work, no-one ever asks if they’re available to buy. Similarly, the Malt Cross didn’t even reply to my request for details about hiring their gallery, whilst the LeftLion newspaper, keen at the outset to publish some of my work for free, I never heard from them again.

All artwork & text copyright Ian G Craig.

Winter changes into Spring.

 

February was too cold to remember what I used to do in February. But I'm sure it didn't involve keeping warm in one room, as the snow piled up outside. It only encouraged me to get up late, put a fire on, and be too easily distracted by menial tasks. Before too long it was time for bed. I hate dark nights.

March began by being bitterly sunny. Last year’s geranium on my bathroom window stretched its neck to impossible heights, trying to reach sunlight, and needing to get new roots into New Year soil. No chance of that yet. I re-assure my hot water bottle it won’t be long before it can return to its summer hibernation spot under the kitchen sink, but every evening further rubber particles from its decaying insides spill out onto the white porcelain basin. I think it’s terminal.

Above: Spring Daffodils. Acrylic painting on brown wrapping paper.

All text, pros, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Jam Café, Nottingham.

 

 Above: Jam Cafe, Nottingham. Acrylics with collage mixed media.

Out on the town last night. Big wheel on the Market square, Nottingham Contemporary Gallery, and various pubs. Ended the evening in the Jam Cafe listening to a small white reggae combo. Today I stretched some paper ready to do some paintings based on the night.

I walked home afterwards. When I turned the corner into my street who should be there under the streetlamp but Rusty, my spirit friend the fox. She always turns up at significant times. Always a good omen.

Above: Stuck in 2nd, reggae band.

Below: The Jam Cafe sofa.

 

 All text, pros, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Into the New Year.

 

Latte in the Contemporary Art gallery, before hot soup and bread rolls in the Dragon, then Jazz Night at the Bell Inn, where I wanted to give a photo copy of my Jazz Night painting to the band. (Above). It was received really well. Even the pub management wanted to pin it up. I granted them permission to use it, and provided an internet link where they can download a much better copy. Handshakes all round. A good time was had by all.

Above: An attempt to produce some "commercial" projects. A design that might go on mugs? T-shirts?

All text, pros, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.