Thinking about:• more of yesterday (folding yesterday’s piece in fact) selecting a single idea and taking it as far as it goes / you can.
Day XII
read more
Writing
Day XI
Thinking about:• selecting a single idea and taking it as far as it goes / you can.
Day X
Thinking about:• Schengen, Br*xit and other stuff ‘Ode’. Monoprint and gold ink on Fabriano Rosaspina, 1/1, 29 x 19cm (2023).
Day IX
Thinking about:• angles and lines over random patterns.
Day VIII
Thinking about:• imposing structures (grids) on nature.
Day VII
Thinking about: • an inspiring visit to the studio of Dara Vallely in Armagh on the weekend.
Day VI
Thinking about the thought from ‘Day 1’ again, i.e. “not letting the idea of an end 'product' constrict the creative process prematurely” and finding it articulated beautifully in the latest article on The White Pube.
Day V
Thinking about:• structures• repetition.
Day IV
Thinking about:• not thinking• doing• thinking vs doing.
Day III
Thinking about:• figure-ground relationship• an unconscious design aesthetic constraining the possibilities of the work• playing with the grid.
Day II
Thinking about:• having trends pointed out in your work that you hadn't noticed before• leaning into them• imposing structures
Day I
Thinking about:• not letting the idea of an end 'product' constrict the creative process prematurely• destroying a piece and making it anew• introducing tension• layering• finding something new or interesting in the work, investigating it, taking it as far as it can...
New work based on the writings of Ciaran Carson
'Ciaran Carson's Dream' is a new work installed outside The Garrick Bar in Belfast. It's part of a series of works created for a project involving Seedhead Arts, Form Native and Belfast City Council. I was commissioned to make three pieces (other two to be shared...
‘Mamalujo’
‘Mamalujo’ is my most recent video piece. It premiered at the Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts Festival, which took place last month – online. The video tracks my dealing with the situation I was in: lockdown with three primary school children and my wife working...
Interview with a Vaulter
How’s it going Jonathan? It’s going fine. I can’t complain: I have a garden and I have access to other humans. I know many people who don’t have these simple things, so I feel very lucky, and every time I’m about to complain, I remember what I have and I shut my...
Review of Karen Daye-Hutchinson’s ‘A Harlot’s Progress’
‘A Harlot’s Progress’Karen Daye-Hutchinson ArtisAnn Gallery, Belfast2 May – 1 June 2019 The title of the show refers to William Hogarth’s series of the same name ¬– a moral tale of the short life of one ‘Moll Hackabout’ who travels from the country to London, falls...
Fleet Foxes, Freud & ‘false memories’
Whatever you think about Robin Noel Pecknold, an essay he wrote for the liner notes of Fleet Foxes’ eponymous debut album has stuck with me and I feel is worth sharing. In the short piece, Pecknold describes some of what he calls his ‘most distinct and persistent...
Back to the Drawing Board
Like all children, I drew a lot growing up. It was an immediate medium and the tools, pencil and paper, were simple and easy to find. It was something I continued doing for years, but very sporadically. I was methodical and meticulous – too much so – but I used...
Guadalupe & Other Hallucinations at the West Cork Literary Festival
Last week I was in Bantry for the West Cork Literary festival. The Bantry Bookshop hosted my brother Dylan Brennan in conversation on the subject of his most recent collection ‘Guadalupe & Other Hallucinations’. I collaborated with Dylan on the e-book by producing...
Everything Gets Treated The Same
I've just returned from Ben Weir's book lauch of 'Everything Gets Treated The Same' at Framewerk gallery in Belfast. Artist/architect Ben Weir describes it as 'A book about the death of buildings', a rumination rather than a call to arms, a love letter...