It’s all over. The one hundred days and nights project by Anthony Gormley using the fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square has come to an end. It’s certainly been interesting with 2,400 people enjoying their one-hour of fame. Which is forty-five minutes more than Andy Warhol thought they’d get. Of course, many have asked if it’s really art. Gormley certainly thought it was.

"This is a piece of 19th century art furniture we are experimenting with, and whether it's art is irrelevant. We are asking very important questions about who can be represented in this extraordinary square of patriotic value - it's become a place of protest, it's become a place of celebration."

Which is all well and good I suppose and you could certainly argue that the multitude of people who’ve used it to raise awareness of issues close to their hearts or their favourite charity have perhaps achieved something worthwhile. But surely it is relevant if an art project is artistic. It would seem to defeat the purpose of it if it isn’t. Certainly it’s had its controversial moments with the usual reaction to any degree of nudity from some of the more repressed parts of our society, although again it was hard to see the artistic merit in Gunter leaping naked from the plinth leaving only a chicken behind. Strippers, a woman in a wheelchair dressed as a Nazi, people in fancy dress and sundry other exhibitionists gave it more of an air of Big Brother for me I’m afraid.

As one participant said "It allowed people all over the country to have not just 15 minutes of fame, but a whole hour. Is it art? I don't care!"

I do.



In a couple of days I’ll be going under the surgeons knife which will hopefully be the beginning of the end for what has been a year a pain, inconvenience and irritation. And hopefully after a couple of weeks getting bored I’ll be able to get out and about again with the camera. Had a couple of little test shoots recently and an ongoing idea with a friend near to me, which will be fetish based. Still chatting to two or three other models so hopefully if we can get ourselves in the same place at the same time we might get somewhere. And I’ll be into the studio towards the end of the month. Revamping my gallery just now, so some pieces will go, others may come back and hopefully the whole look and feel of it will be a little more professional and easier to get around. Bring it on!

The lyrical winner this time round was a dear friend, the lovely ~JesscaBadfish who identified the Hazel O’Connor lyric and therefore gets the feature. Go and give her some love. Identify the song and artist that gives this journal its title first and as always the next one is yours.

Thank you to all who entered the self-nudes competition. It was lovely to see the efforts and ideas that went into this, although it did make picking a winner difficult. However in the end I did manage to choose one, Lazy Morning Breakfast by ~ModelCass which you can see below. In her own words “I feel this is my best nude for me, in my own home, relaxing, eating grapes of the table, as you do. I enjoyed having this picture taken. I really felt great laid there, and I didn’t want to move after.”

Both of her accounts are stuffed full of lovely work so do take a look. I may have to hire her myself. There will be another competition towards the end of the year – details to be announced.

_{Silk by ~JesscaBadfish}
















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9/11 - In memorium



Every so often you see something that reminds you of the strength of the human spirit and the value of art. In 1995 Keith Jansz suffered a broken neck in a car crash and was left paralysed from the neck down. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have been like and I’m not sure I’d have had the courage to carry on living never mind anything else. He however is made of stronger stuff and after six months in the spinal unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital he returned home. After being given a book by his wife entitled " Painters First ", a collection of biographies of the Mouth & Foot Painting Artists Keith started to paint himself, holding the brush in his mouth. His paintings now sell as reproductions worldwide, he’s held a number of solo exhibitions in the UK and his paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world including Lisbon, Madrid, Copenhagen, Shanghai and Vienna.

“It is difficult to express the importance of painting in my life, because it affects everything I see, feel and do - I can’t escape it, and I have no desire to. Before 1995, when life forever more changed in a split second, I don’t think that I really saw the world around me. I had no time to appreciate the changes in nature - the nuances of light even on a dull day, the reflections in puddles after the rain, the recognisable shapes of distant figures walking towards me. Now I revel in these simple pleasurable sights but at the same time try to keep them in my memory until I can use them in my painting. I find it hard to look at a scene without thinking ‘How would I paint this? What colours would I use?’ My surroundings give me the sizzle of wanting to explore what I see in paint.”

To take something positive from such a horrific experience is truly inspiring.

It’s good to see dA is reviewing the whole share-links issue. Hopefully this can be sorted out sensibly and without some of the unpleasantness and abuse that has been apparent on both sides.



Had a telephone call at work earlier today telling me that my operation on the 23rd has been postponed to an as yet unknown date. It’s a real pain in the backside – although put in perspective by the experiences of Keith Jansz – but I’m hoping that I’ll get the surgery out of the way soon. It’s starting to get me down. The shoot with Tara fell through this month but hopefully we can rearrange it; she has a wonderful opportunity to shoot some great models at a workshop later this month and I can’t wait to see the results. However on a positive note I’m shooting some stone monkeys rock climbing near here soon which will be fun and I’m hoping to get some other work done as and when I can. I miss having a camera in my hands.

The lyrical winner this time round was ~kinkyk83 who identified the Jeff Buckley lyric from last time around and gets a piece featured. Identify the song and artist that gives this journal its title first and as always the next feature is yours.


A lot of people I chat to say “I’d love to try art nude but I don’t have the figure for it”. For me one of the nice things about a well-shot nude is that it shows the personality of the model, unencumbered by clothing. You see the real person. In the hope of encouraging people to give it a go I’m offering a three-month subscription as a little prize in a fun competition. The theme is “Happy in my own skin” – you can shoot the image yourself or somebody else can take it. You’re the model and the rest is up to you. The prize will go to the photograph that to me best sums up the theme and you can make use of the subscription yourself or pass it to somebody else. Entries to be submitted to dA and noted to me – winner in the next journal. Good luck.

_{Moth to the Flame by ~kinkyk83}















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Update - Artistic nude.



Share links update - [link]

I will update this properly soon!

Sorry - all my art in this category is now in storage as a result of the recent dA decision to enable it to be shared on social networking sites without my consent. I am looking at alternatives including my own site currently currently under construction. I believe this decision is wrong and the images are very unlikely to return unless this issue is addressed. It is also probable that I will not renew my subscription or continue to use the site at all under these circumstances.

This is a matter of principal centred around my right to control my work. In addition, I have made it clear to my models that this is my primary outlet for these images. dA has changed - without consultation or the right to opt out - that agreement. Out of respect for my models I cannot allow those images to be easily posted elsewhere without my permission. If I wanted them on Facebook or Twitter I would post them there. I do not. I am still interested in working with new models; please get in touch if you are interested.

Please if this is something you feel strongly about make your voice heard in the suggestions forum - [link] This has to be addressed - already many fine artists are taking down their entire galleries over this issue. is this really what dA wanted?

I watched a documentary this week about an American photographer. I forget his name but he is apparently one of the most influential of his generation. And for the life of me I cannot see why. He seems to shoot with little thought to composition or have any interest in following the “rules” of photography, and whilst his images were undoubtedly interesting I’d hardly have described them as great. Yet there was a queue of people lining up to explain how wonderful he was, and what a great artist. I was reminded of his work yesterday when I saw painted on the wall of a pub “That which we consider to be true art is that which appears not to be art at all”. Which is I suppose one way of saying that beauty (and art) is in the eye of the beholder.

Whilst we can be influenced by others and appreciate their work, I think that the greatest pleasure and the purest form of self-expression is to follow your own path and do your own thing. It may not lead to fame, fortune and international acclaim but then I doubt very many of us are seeking that anyway. It’s very easy to compare ourselves in a negative light with others, or to think that what we do has little merit or worth. But the value of art is not measured in those terms. It’s something much deeper in each of us, and should be cherished and encouraged.



Got a phone call from the hospital this week; apparently despite being an urgent case the date for my operation is slipping which is a bit of a nuisance so we’re currently exploring an alternative solution to get the problem resolved as soon as possible. I spent part of yesterday in Brighton at a small devMEET organised by =Alomie. It was really nice as always to meet some new people, although as always I was fairly quiet at first. I couldn’t stay right to the end, which was a shame, but nevertheless it was good fun and I hope everybody had an enjoyable day. Luckily for me it wasn’t that far away but some made the effort to come some distance, which was nice.

Cornwall was fun, and the next few weeks are a busy mix of more work on the flat – my bank manager will have a hit man out for me soon – a wedding and several parties. Oh, it’s a tough life sometimes. Been able to get a bit more done with the camera (although not as much as I’d like) and I hope to start to make some progress on a small project I have in mind. More details can be found here - [link]

The lyrical winner this time round was *YamiChi whose work is always a joy. Spot the artist and song that gives this journal its title and the next feature could be yours if you’re quick enough.

_{Games Without Frontiers by *YamiChi}















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