It's been a long time since my last post.... having literally worked myself into a corner with the last series of work I was left with not much to say. I turned to the landscape as subject for the second part of 2006 as a way to continue making art, exploring new ways of working without being too focused on subject matter or outcomes. Yet I would be less than honest if I said that I didn't care that I only made a handful of finished works over this time. At the beginning of 2007 I turned back to the nude as departure point and the work finally started to open up. The new work is like the work I made in high school, only underpinned with a 20 years' experience.
The new series 'Simulacrum' is an (unconscious) nod to many artists whose work I admire, Bret Whitely, Picasso and Bacon. The works are organic in nature, there is no planning, no sketches or working drawings, as the work takes form I am inevitably reminded that we cannot escape the influence of artists before us and that these influences are recontextualised in this contemporary setting. A different friend has sat for each work, the intimate, open environment and the interaction with each person informs the final work and this also makes the creative process charged and special to me. I continue to work toward a show at Simmer in the Bay, The Rocks, Sydney at the end, Opening 29th May.

Patrick's wore his 'King Geek' t-shirt to work yesterday sparking much conversation about geek shirts. His wife has a pink one that says, 'Nobody knows I'm a geek.' I think mine would say, 'I don't know if I'm a geek.' Michael says his would be, 'Geek girls are hot.'

Circumnavigated Ruapehu last week. Took a final road trip by myself in the FIAT. The mountain pulled out spectacular weather complete with snow fall.

Spent a couple of days at Talisa's with Tarbon at 'art camp' throwing ink-dipped tennis balls at paper in the 35 degree heat.

Talked about all the art-making confusion (unknown surface, material, imagery, subject matter, and promimity to me) and in doing so started to get a sense of direction.

Moved my studio downstairs, there is more space here and it is less a destination, more a transit lounge. I am back in the usual place, painting in the room next to the kitchen.

Spent the night on the couch following a fairly intense session at the osteopath that afternoon. Stumbled across a documentary on Sonic Youth followed by Monkey Dust, I recommend both. Loved the way Sonic Youth doco made their constraints their strengths. They could've very easily given into the fact that they weren't (all) musicians and didn't know how to play instruments in the classic sense, instead this became one of the things that really enabled them to open their music up. Similarly they could've been hamstrung by not having enough money to do exactly what they wanted in the beginning or later ironically, by having enough money to do whatever they wanted.

Showed Michael the exhibition space for the show next year, he said, perfect for me - mix of industrial and snobby makeover, should I be offended?
Showing with my boss, James Robertson (his first show), he's just starting to realise that planning an exhibition is a little like any other undertaking, making the work forms a very small part of the whole proceedings and planning and marketing is a very large part of the whole thing. Plugged away at the easel most of the weekend, with no end in sight. Check out James' photos.

I am driving Michael crazy with my repeatable CD, Somersault by Decoder Ring. I warned him but he didn't quite understand that a repeatable is so named because it gets repeated. It doesn't mean that I play it interspersed with other discs, it means that I play that disc and only that disc until I don't play it any more. Repeatables generally have a life span of 12+ months. They are very difficult to come by and the in-between times are torturous. I haven't had a repeatable for about 18 months. I wish I knew who invented the 'repeat all' button, I'd like to thank them in person.

Here is tonight's work (not finished). I am having a really hard time with the work at the moment as I transition from the last to the next series. (I am experiencing technical problems loading images up, in the meantime, check things out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/famousyet/

We moved on Tuesday night, so just come over for a cup of tea in the weekend. We have a phone on now - text me for details.