Susu's challenge -

"Birth of A Painting II: The King"
tempera-on-paper painting by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

One of the Finnish Sisters, my good friend SusuPetal, has thrown down the gauntlet so to speak, with a documentation of one of her fabulous mixed-media paintings. Over at her blog she says, "I challenge you to document your process of making something you like." Okay, here's mine.

Works-on-Paper -

"Work in Progress"
tempera-on-paper by Mick Mather

"... the studio is less important than other things,
like the burning desire to paint;
if you don't have this disease,
you can't catch it from a nice studio ..."
- Warren Criswell

Rear window -

"Back of the House"
tempera-on-paper by Mick Mather

"... when you're safe at home
you wish you were having an adventure;
when you're having an adventure
you wish you were safe at home ..."
- Thornton Wilder

Pack 'em in -

"Sardines"
tempera-on-paper by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

"... life is rather like a tin of sardines,
we're all of us looking for the key ..."
- Alan Bennett

Toot, toot, toot -

"Susu's Little Toy Trumpet"
tempera-on-paper by Mick Mather

"... he seems determined to make a trumpet
sound like a tin whistle ..."
- Aneurin Bevan

Will annoy for food -

"Seagull"
tempera-on-paper painting by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

"... one meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull's wings would be enough to alter the course of the weather forever ..."
- Konrad Lorenz

Further back -

"Peanut Butter Cup"

tempera-on-paper by Mick Mather

One of my own personal favorites from a series of small paintings I did more than a few years ago. I've sold a few of the others that were painted around the same time as this one. Anyway, one more oldie before the "Buried Treasure" post tomorrow.

NEW from The Toys Series -

"Tricycle"
digitally manipulated tempera-on-paper painting by Mick Mather

I'm in bit of a flurry as I move forward with my attempt to have 2-dozen images from this series for my upcoming exhibition. This particular piece is actually one of the first to be completed and I've been sitting on it, undecided about the look of it. As often happens over time, my view of things has softened; or, could it be that a few others that followed were also a bit on the edge? In any case, sorry to dash off, I have some painting to do!

A playful evening in the Lab -

"Miracle Seekers"
digitally manipulated mixed media & collage by Mick Mather

I tend to pay attention to things like splatters, brush cleaning papers, paint mixing swipes on scraps and other throw-a-way materials. Here, for example, I've fallen into the habit of loading a brush with more than one color of paint. I like to test a few strokes on the newspaper photo's that happen to be adjacent to the print areas where I'm doing my tempera-on-paper paintings for The Toys Series. There was absolutely nothing special or intriguing about these until I started sending them into the secret array of plug-in filters and manipulators. I'll be showing a few more of these as time passes and I highly recommend little diversionary tactics like this to keep the mind fresh during those times when the more important work seems stale, dry, forced or impossible to move along.

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse III"
digitally manipulated tempera-on-paper painting by Mick Mather

No one would be more shocked than I at the way this piece came about, considering that the tempera-on-paper painting was nothing more than a throw-away. I was, quite simply, using up the extra paint on my brush as I switched between colors while working on another piece from The Toys Series. As you may or may not know, these simple, quickly made paintings of children's toys are done on newsprint, scanned and manipulated. Here, with today's image, there was little attempt to obscure headlines or text as paint was cleared from the bristles followed by simple washes to get back to clean ... anyway, the various plug-in filters and super secret manipulation tools made this one a fun surprise all around!

(A day later, I've added the alternate version of this image at No Matter What Shape - The Archive. You can see it here.)

NEW from The Toys Series -

"Toy Soldiers"
digitally manipulated tempera-on-paper painting by Mick Mather

I've fallen headlong into this body of work. My most recent notion, albeit an improbable one, is to get enough of these completed for my imminent 1-man show at The Weiskotten Gallery at Upstate Medical University here in Syracuse, New York. I don't have a problem with output and I'm certain I can accomplish 2-dozen new works without any problem; getting the digital work printed and all of the work matted and framed is a BIG issue. Anyway, I did mention that there was more to say on these paintings and manipulations, this was part of it. Well, back to work!

Another manipulated painting -

"Jacks"
digitally manipulated tempera-on-paper painting by Mick Mather

I have to rush off this morning and have no idea how long I'll be away today. So, for the background on these new paintings and subsequent manipulations, have a look here. I do have another version of this that is just fabulous (if I say so myself) and may post it soon with a link to the original painting once I have a few minutes to put it up.

Thursday Challenge: Emotion -

"They Loved Jazz and Champagne"
photograph of a tempera-on-paper painting by Mick Mather

Emotion is this week's theme at Thursday Challenge. What you see here is a poor photographic documentation of this tempera-on-paper painting when it was last in an exhibition. The good news is that the piece was sold and now has a home with the way fabulous Kiki Lowe. In the end, my hope is that the even better news is that she had this re-matted and re-framed - if not, I'm afraid that the Urban Art Rangers may have a serious intervention to undertake!

A house for HPY -

"Chez HPY"
tempera-on-paper by Mick Mather

I've been thinking a lot about the request that HPY made at her blog last week. The original post begot two lovely drawings, the first by Isopeikko and the other by Susupetal. Above is small painting I did a few years ago that seems to fit the bill here. As I recall, there's been some mention and a little conversation about keeping things affordable. So, here you go HPY! It's what we call a fixer-upper over here. :D

Better documentation -

"They Loved Jazz and Champagne"
digital photograph of original tempera-on-paper by Mick Mather

When I say better documentation way up above I'm actually not talking about the piece as it exists here. It has its own charm of course, having been straightened, sharpened and smallered to fit my usual working frame...but, I really need to scan it properly once the buyer steps forward to claim it. The actual painting is a bit larger and quite a lot of detail has gone missing. I'll post this again when that day comes. For now, something easy for me to post and for you to enjoy I hope.

Stormy weather -

"Blue Water Sail"
tempera-on-paper by Mick Mather

Today's post is allegorical in some ways. I've been struggling and restless with my artwork lately and this old tempera sketch has a lot to say about the way I've been feeling: at sea, rough and unfinished, flying in the face of danger, unsettled, fearful that all of this may go under, away, sinking out of sight! At the same time, there's no meaningful gain without some risk so I set sail every day, ploughing through choppy waves without a compass. What this usually means is, the wind is about to change - that I'm close to another series of meaningful work or on my way to a change in style. We shall see, one day at a time, yes?