Neighbours, China Dolls and Tennis Socks ........

We have had new neighbours for about three weeks. 

They have a dog. 

The dog doesn't bark in the normal doggy kind of way. Instead it 'yips'. 

For the first few days the dog 'yipped' all day and half way into the night. 

On the third night it woke me up at two oclock.

Then it woke me up at three.

When it woke me up at four I lay awake for an hour deciding what I would do.

By the time I climbed out of bed at half past six I had decided that if the neighbours didn't get rid of the dog I would either: 

1) sue them, or

2) kidnap the dog, gag it with some of my old tennis socks then dump it down a mine shaft.

Of course as a kind hearted intelligent man I didn't do any of these things - after all someone might see me, or worse, recognize my tennis socks when they finally found the body.

Instead red eyed and saggy cheeked, I went and politely knocked on the neighbour's door the next morning.

But that's another story - needless to say the dead rat in this  image is a metaphor for something deep in my psyche. 

Did you know that rats belong to the genus Rattus? And the black rat is known as Rattus Rattus? Who ever said that scientists don't have imagination, eh?

About this image? It's for IF's "Silent".  As you can see it works on three different levels. The top level, the middle level, and surprisingly enough, the bottom level. I think the justification for the paradigm, is found in the imposition of the persona of the rat, mirrored of course both symbolically and metaphorically by the metallic finish on the horn, which, in some ways, the horn itself is an iconic archetype of both the horn of plenty - representing harvest, lust, and loud noises - and the God of Thunder, Thor, who had an amazing lisp, and a way with his tools. I haven't even touched on the flower patterns which came with a book of Japanese patterns, on their own DVD which was marked, Copyright, nothing in this DVD can be reproduced, I mean I ask you? How can they sell you a DVD of patterns that you can't use....? I think that's why I gave them green nipples, which to be perfectly honest, was an accident, but I thought, gee if that sicko sadistic Surrealist guy can do amputee doll sexual innuendo, the least I can do is give my dolls green nipples.....

Okay, sorry about that.I just felt like raving as the kid next door has started playing with his electric car outside my window. The car goess zzzzzzzzzzzzsiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip, ssssssssssssdfagggggg, gggggggwwwwwww wwwippppppp every five seconds. The kid goes YOOOOOOWAAAAZAA and kind of gurgles occasionally in excitement. He sounds a little like a baboon in the last throws of a tumultuous orgasmic terminal pancreatisis.

I hope his mother poisons him accidently before I have to use my tennis socks on him. I know which would be the worse fate.

Err, just kidding. Actually my neighbors are quiet, well mannered and a joy to speak with.

The genesis of this image.

 Recently I went to our national gallery and saw an old book of photographs of dolls by Hans Belmer. Very surreal. A quick search on google gives me a lot of pseudo erotic bondage type photos so beware. This  is one of the photos in the book I saw. I didn't realise it was meant to be erotic till I saw it in the context of his other work. I just thought it was weird.... in fact maybe I shouldn't have bought it up.... but I think his work evokes an emotive response and so is worth examining for this aspect alone.

Thank you for those people who wished me well with my books. That means very much to me thank you. There was a small mention of one of my artists' books in the paper on Saturday - which is also very exciting! 

Meanwhile prayers for Jack Foster's wife who has been very ill recently. You can wish him well at Jacktoons if you like.

Jack's a good bloke and a very funny guy and I'm sure he'd appreciate your prayers more than you imagine.

Stripes, Yippee I Won! and some Limited Edition Books

I had great news yesterday. I won a give-away from the sparklingly talented Shirley Ng- Benitez!

So I have been walking a little taller since then. Shirley's work always make me smile. Her watercolours are fresh and scintillating, her characters dynamic and charming and, dare I say it, just so cute :)

 Thank you Shirley!! 

Shirley's work is here. She has just released two new works that look amazing.

Sorry about the long post. I didn't even tell you how Bella Sinclair of  Doodlespot was my 40,000 visitor the other day! Thank you Bella :) I made this small image to celebrate :)

And  thank  you everybody :)

PS the rest of the Zebras are here:

(Edit: wasn't comfortable with selling the books from the blog so removed that section)

Where the Wild Things Are

This one for Myles. Myles is Karen Puddle of Crumb's grandson. Myles went Halloweening the other night dressed as Max.

You can read about everything on Karen's site here. Of course Myles would have looked much more handsome than this.

I'd never heard of Sendak until last year. I bought a book about his work recently. The book delves into his influences - from Blake to Laurel and Hardy. It's amazing how much he has appropriated. And all acknowledged.

So today I have appropriated Max as Myles for a brief appearance :)

Oh and good news. I just found the spell check button :) on blogger.

Sorry to make three posts in a week. It's an anomaly! I am working on this (see below) and am practicing procrastinating. So far I am getting good at it (procrastinating).

I have some great feedback on the covers to help me select them so far. Thank you so much!

It's not two books, maybe one book with two different covers :)

The Second Scary

 

Hello thank  you to everyone who commented on my last post. Your comments made me keen to work with the scarecrow a little more. Thank you to those who suggested that as well. You know who you are :)

The Scarecrow is a bit weird really. He keeps telling me his name is 'Ralph' - and that he is not really a scare crow, just a poor chap from Tasmania who cannot afford the right brand of conditioner.

Ralph? 

I ask you.... what were his parents thinking?

Watch out! Here Comes the Bogey Man - and Boy is He Mad!

I once read a story about a little boy who goes a' wandering and meets up with a talking scarecrow.

Together they go on some wonderful adventures around the countryside. They meet other talking objects. They see the world.

The story has all the hall marks of a best seller. There's romance - the scarecrow falls in love with a straw broom they find in a barn. There's danger - the scarecrow must brave the flickering infestuous flames of the camp fire. And there's intrigue - who is the talking scarecrow? What does he metaphorically mean? Is he the embodiment of our own inner psyche? 

Or, perhaps, when every thing is said and done, is the scarecrow just a talking scarecow?

The Battle of Evermore

Oh dance in the dark of night,

Sing to the morning light.
The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back.

Bring it back.

At last the sun is shining,

The clouds of blue roll by,
With flames from the dragon of darkness,

the sunlight blinds his eyes.
 

From: "The Battle of Evermore."

For guitar and mandolin; written by Robert Plant

When I was a teenager records cost $7.95.

They were so expensive we could only afford a record every few months - so we'd share them or tape them. We'd a small library of records going, and so it turned out that each member of our social group knew all the words to a small bunch of songs. This knowledge was a unifying factor, a kind of tribal subconsciousness.

Stand and Deliver!

This week I have been revisiting the bush ranger Ned Kelly, whose bones have recently been identified in a mass grave outside one of our oldest prisons. (you can find my original post here)

Well most of his bones - his skull is yet to be found. I had heard it was being used as a paper weight by the prison warden for quite a few years - and then vanished. But that could be apocryphal. But maybe not. The victors have often treated the bodies of the vanquished with distain. Just look at the Iliad and Hector and Achilles.

But before we go on, can you do me a favour? Just start the music in this youtube video while you look at the pics? - assuming you are looking at the pics !  It's not Kelly, but another bushranger. But it sounds kinda good. :0

The Devil's Organ, Art's Fairy Tail Houses, Carousel Horse

The Absence of Pain

The first time I thought how pleasant it might be to extremum vitae spiritum edere was in 1994.

I was sitting at a set of traffic lights at the corner of Turton and Maitland Roads in the city of Newcastle. The lights were red, it was 10 past nine in the morning, I was heading off for work and I had on a starched white shirt, black pants, and a yellow ochre tie that my wife had made me.

The time of year was late winter, the morning sun was in the northern sky and beamed through the windscreen. The sun made me a little drowsy as I watched the traffic buzzing past.

The suggestion of the pleasantness of death, of non-being, crept up on me like a soft shadow. It started with a smell - the smell of fresh loamy dirt infused with the comforting aromas of rotting leaves.  

She loves me, she loves me not....

When I had the epiphany I call 'the sadness of aging' I was 19 years old and it was 11 o'clock in the morning.

Mesmerised

This is a character from the first illustrated novel I did. And never sent away. That's alright. It was all practice. 

So I resurrected him for this one and placed him near this river. He is mesmerised by his own reflection..... like The Dog and its Shadow - one of Aesop's Fables. Except this boy has no bone in his mouth - luckily. Boy, that was a hard pose to do. He had to hold it for about three hours.....;)

PS one of the scenes from the book - sort of fits in with the Mesmerised theme. Please click the images for big :D

Pushing Boundaries

Just did a kind of refresher course with Jack Foster on Surrealism and with Linda Hensley on patterns and had my  boundaries pushed. These images are the result. Thank you both :) Please click for big if you like.

PS had a great day at the gallery today. Will post review soon :)

Mysterious

A Book of Paintings

Oh dear, sorry to be away so long.

I've been getting ready for our next show here in Newcastle (painting framing getting invites done blahblah :) ) and part of the preparations have been to get this book of my paintings organised.

It's 196 pages approx and I had to go through all my old computers and notes to track down images and find out who bought the paintings for the providence and the sizes and the.... so my brain is swollen :)

Just like Newcastle, the place where I do most of my paintings. Swollen in a bad way, we're busy pulling down our history so we can build as many apartment blocks as possible. But hey, that's progress.

Andrew Finnie: Newcastle Painter by Andrew Finnie |

And in a way, that's what the book is about. Recording the place as it once was, before the 'swell' of development overwhelmed the town.

I have no idea how it will print out as I'm still waiting for the 'galleys'. I'd be honoured if you have a look if you have the time. There's even some pics of my ugly head in it. I will photoshop someone else's head on for a later edition. I'll be catching up soon, promise.

I have designed it for people who collect my work here in Newcastle.

Below is a double page spread from the book (note the gutter you have to fiddle with the image at the gutter!) and some invites to the show.

thank you for looking :)

Teddy Obsession

Thank you to everyone for your wonderful positive comments on my last post! I am afraid you have unleashed a monster.... :) And because you were so nice to me I won't even tell you about Teddy Roosevelt.

Of course, mood is sometimes all in the lighting - in this case the shadows - or lack there of .

Thanks for looking again :)

see ya, from Oz!

Ps: The next image is for my friend Karen Whitaker of Puddle of Crumbs who was looking for a hint of creepiness in the first few images - and couldn't find any. So I made one a bit creepier just for her. It's kind of self reflexive if you look at the picture on the wall. Karen and her husband have been very generous and kind to me. I'll tell you more about that soon. In the meantime, check out her art blog if you can and say hello! 

PPS almost forgot to mention that the genesis of this image comes from two of Jessie Wilcox Smith's works - "The Land of Counterpane" and (edit) "Opening the Christmas Stocking" (images below:). Amazing artist she was....

The Perennial Gosling ...

The Death of the Lewd, Knotty-Spotted, Pinch-Pated Cripple!

Warning: this post is politically incorrect.

But soft! What light through yonder window falls on my cuff-links?