I was having so much fun painting that I forgot to post this on Substack yesterday

Soz.

As you know, I normally post on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but I was so absorbed with painting this week, that I forgot to post.

It seems that having an exhibition motivates me to paint, especially when it’s a new theme and I have zero paintings for said exhibition.

The date is not set yet but it will be in August, the theme ‘Trespasso’ of which I owe gratitude to for the term.

It’s funny how a word, a phrase, a memory, or all combined can create a spark inside, that becomes a collection of art pieces.

Let me explain…

1. In 2008, I did a personal improvement course with Landmark Education in London, one of the beautiful exercises was what I now know as Trespasso. We stood with a partner and stared into their eyes for around 3 minutes. At first, it was awkward, some people made funny faces, some people couldn’t not talk, and some people couldn’t keep eye contact as it was too uncomfortable. I made funny faces on the first try, and my ego got a boost from the man’s laughter, but once I settled into it, it was profound. Many people had profound emotional experiences from this one simple exercise. A common comment from attendees was that the other person was ‘perfection’. As the ego drops when you settle into the exercise, you truly see the other person, not your silly judgments about them, that we’re all guilty of when we’re wound up in the day-to-day whirlwind of modern life.
   

2. Sarah Fay posted about the same topic and mentioned Marina Abramovic, this prompted me to listen to her autobiography.
   

3. I felt inspired by Marina’s autobiography. I got the idea to paint a series where two staring figures become one, reminding us that we are all connected, it’s just our thinking that separates us.
   

4. I shared post inside one of my posts, and that’s when Beth Raps mentioned Trespasso.
   

5. I had a podcast interview with Dean Jackson a couple of weeks ago (not live yet), he put the idea in my head of taking over a restaurant for some time, as Sketch does with its restaurant in London. When I say taking over, I mean with an artist’s art and décor. It’s a fun idea. So I contacted a food space in Swindon, which isn’t a restaurant, but they hire out their space for professional cooking, so an artist friend and I will transform the space with our art, and we’ll have a DJ and some nice food to boot.

Those life experiences joined together to create Trespasso, my next exhibition. It’s cool how things work, if you really reflect on it.

So, the reason for the title of this post… I have been able to squeeze in more painting sessions at the studio, amongst normal working hours, I went to the studio yesterday and painted for 10 minutes and filmed a timelapse at the same time. 10 minutes is 10 minutes and I felt amazing!

The important point is it’s breaking the routine nature of our modern lives, the mundane. If you’re reading this and you’re an artist who works a day job, you’ll know what I mean, bonus points if you have kids. You finish work and you’ll fly into the routine of sorting out the kids, dinner, cleaning etc… and there’s no time or headspace to create. That’s why these 10 minutes that I sneaked in are sacred, I fit it in between leaving work and picking up my daughter. I’ve even considered trying a 5am studio session and then going to work afterwards, let’s see if I can test this next week. I like the idea of the wind-down aspect of painting after work so I might go to work even earlier if my manager permits it 🙄.

Before I go, I’d like to share with you, an almost full timelapse of one of the pieces I’ve painted for my next exhibition recently.

I say ‘almost’ because I didn’t want to film the first part of the piece, as my friend came along to the studio for a painting session last Friday. You’ll see what I mean in the video. Enjoy!

Music by Nbhd Nick, Way Up.