Digging Deep / Wilsons Prom (part 5)
Hi there,
I’ve painted one small acrylic painting a week for most of the last 100 weeks. They have selling steadily at the market. So much so, there’s a less than full stand on the table now. Nearly time to get them happening again -plus the big ones.
Here’s a couple framed & ready for the market (mostly they ship in an ivory coloured mount, ready to frame).
You can see the the beachbox, 2nd from the left, has been painted since I painted this big one in the studio:
I’m having to dig deep, presently, here in Melbourne. Markets are quiet, teaching is coming back, gigging is just starting again…so income is sketchy, even as we deal with the consequences of nearly 2 years of very little work. Covid has been tough for everyone, tragic for many. We artists and musicians are now expected to bounce back all full of energy, but to be honest, I feel like I’ve just staggered in from some sort of marathon…
Lets see how it all unfolds between now and Christmas. I’m an optimist -and a realist. We’ll see how it goes.
Here’s this week’s
Painting
I’ll enjoy painting a Wilsons prom series. First I’ll do small studies in acrylics, then large realism studio paintings. It’ll be further down the line, though. I have to focus on local scenes, for the upcoming exhibition.
Here’s what I wrote after I finished this sketch :
‘We’ve just returned from a walk out to the point. It was good. Goodish -hot dry dusty tracks far above the water are not particularly my thing.
I seem to have an aversion to sandy hot walks – and heights. Fairly quickly, I withdrew from the edge of the cliff at the point & retreated up the track a bit.
Highlights included: the skinks, the bright green beetles, the seal playing in the waves next to the rocks (the rocks in the painting).
I do like swimming in the waves, like the seal – not for long though (no wetsuit), so it’s a bit of a dip , really.
The breeze is up again, today. But the sun is out, shining between the clouds moving overhead, so it’s quite comfortable in the shade (I’ve been here in past years when it’s been 36deg in the shade – a bit more extreme!).
Australia is a land of extremes. The pointy end of the grass in the dunes even pricks you. The smallest life forms on the the rocks in the ocean wash will cause your skin to welt.
Today, whirlwinds race along the sands, like spirits, fields of energy giving form to the air.
The birds are quieter today. A young kookaburra is learning to…whatever they do in the morning (laugh? Yodel? It’s a great sound). There’s a few gulls floating about.
and the breeze continues to whisper in the trees.’
Here on this blog, it’s all been about my online efforts for the last 100 weeks. It’s nearly time to get out and gig again.
Looks like I’m going to do an Elton John tribute show. It’ll be a hoot to put together.
These songs are in my dna – I’d be mad not to play them from time to time.
It’s something I’ve been thinking a bit about, lately. With covid lockdown there’s been no gigs.
So I thought: why not do some Pete Pascoe shows, Pete Pascoe and the Patient Hum shows…and some Elton shows?
People would come along knowing exactly what to expect… I’ve even got a bit of a gap between my front teeth like Elton, so that’s part of the costume / presentation sorted..
I’m happy to play covers for people. I’m happy to play my songs. I don’t mind mixing it up.
The idea of an Elton John show makes me smile. So that’s a good thing.
I just belted out 6 Elton classics in a row on my old piano…as I imagined I would play in the opening set. It felt good. That was all on the acoustic piano. I’m thinking I might program some drums and record bass to give things a lift with my stage piano.
It’d be all about the piano and voice, though. Maybe I’ll look at adding a guitarist further down the track…
Hmm I’ll keep you posted.
Now, back to my music. I have composed a lot of songs. As I continue to compose, I’ll keep on finding ways to advertise my songs ..‘the bark’, as it were. It doesn’t come to me naturally, but I have to get over that…like this:
Here’s another song, featured in this week’s…
Song and A Chat Podcast
Episode #101 Thin Air
(Song starts at 4.18…you can always fast forward to the song easily, if you like).
(from the show notes):
The lyrics to Thin Air were written in 2007 and the music a year later. It’s interesting how art and music can be relevant or even strike more of a chord ( ha) – resonate more strongly, if you will – years after the works were initially created.
OK, what’s the song about? Why is it relevant now? In the lyrics, I’ve written about how disconnected and fearful we can be. That rings true for right now, as we are starting to emerge from lockdowns. Work is starting to come back, it’s understandable we are anxious as we adjust, yet again, to our new set of circumstances. read more / listen
Here’s part of the process of creating the art for these episodes. This is so much fun to do.
Here’s 3 photos (superimposed, semi transparent): clouds, face, recording gear on computer screen.
and here it is a few steps along…colourised, exported, reimported and words added.
Here’s the studio version of Thin Air (there’s a piano vocal version on the Podcast episode).
It appeared on this album (the opening track). The Man In Blue (also on Spotify, Apple music, etc).
There hasn’t been much fishing going on for me lately. Might have to change that soon. Some crumbed calamari rings sound good…
Feel like drawing a cow playing a saxophone? Here’s your chance (a video from a while back)…
The video is of my hand drawing one line at a time. It’s easy to do -and you get to listen to music from this album:
OK, that’s it from me this week. Hope your week is going well.
Pete
PS, here’s the lyrics to the song featured on this week’s Podcast episode
THIN AIR Words & Music © P. Pascoe
IT’S A MYSTERY HOW WE’VE
HELD TOGETHER SO LONG -NOT WHY IT’S FALLING APART
WE’RE SO LONELY HERE IN THE DARK
DON’T KNOW WHERE WE BELONG – GOT TO GO BACK TO THE START
*
NOW WE’RE HERE WE’RE LIVING IN FEAR
YET EVERYONE CAN DO GOOD
AND THREATS HANG IN THE AIR
LIKE A WASP AT THE DOOR
GIVEN CREDENCE BY THE MEDIA
ANOTHER CHANGE ON THE WIND, A DIFFERENT KIND OF TACK
WE’LL FOLLOW OUR NOSE TO THE END OF THE SHOW
LONG FORGOTTEN DREAMS STREAM INTO OUR MINDS
DONT YOU WONDER HOW THEY SEEM TO KNOW
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE
DO THEY COME FROM THIN AIR?
SO FRAGMENTED A HOLY DUDE
COULD LIVE OVER THE FENCE AND NEVER AFFECT OUR MOOD
AND WE DAMAGE OUR SELVES HURTING EVERYONE
FOR ALL MY OPTIMISM AND ANALYTICAL THINKING
I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO CLEAR THIS SOUP
DO THEY COME FROM THIN AIR?
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
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