record covers – BLANK CANVAS

TERMINUS: ALL CHANGE. Closed for refurbishment.

This week should have been the beginning of a super new art made in the studio by myself phase at 3rd Space on the widely advertised Open Studios weekend….

It isn’t instead it pretty much defined what I am and am not interested in going forward.

My painting career probably ended a very long time ago around 1988 when I quit London when living in a squat and working in a studio space with no roof where the snow came in (true) just about finished me off.

Then I was a full-time painter burning the midnight oil and living a pretty haphazard life. That was then this is now.

I am now 67 years old, retired and enjoying retirement and the impetus to splash out on 6 feet square canvasses and pretend I De Kooning again just isn’t there.

I proud of the paintings I did but never had the time (work) nor the finances to do it properly. So in the end I didn’t do it any more.

My paintings have appeared on various album sleeves.

https://shaunbelcher.com/canvas/?cat=25

This also coincided with a intense period of looking after my then alcoholic and ill wife who passed away in 2020. Symbolicly I painted over a large canvas associated with her and her sister and called it a day.

That hasn’t changed but my interests in other areas has developed.

I recently had old photographs used in a record sleeve for a hometown band I know and also did the sleeve layout. Along with that I read song-lyrics/poems at a launch gig in my hometown art centre. No drawings or paintings involved.

Here they are holding the album sleeve on location I took the photograph used on front cover.

Thames Valley Texas: poems and songs from Normal Town

So no drawing/painting but I more interested than ever in following in no particular order…

Politics, Writing, Real Poetry not 90% of the crap presently masquerading as poetry.

Photography especially the greats like William Egglestone and Martin Parr and the unjustly neglected Raymond Moore.

Music not just the obsessive vinyl collecting but its history and bands like The Dreaming Spires who aware of the history of music. I am trying to keep up with a monthly podcast (link below) called Trailer Star Music.

So the 3rd Space Studio is closed for a refit. Hopefully when it reopens it will be re-purposed as a Photography/Writing space. I also hoping to set up a black and white printing space I have two old Durst enlargers donated to the studio by Graham Lester George.

I will be getting rid of those old paintbrushes and canvasses ( I know somebody who more than happy to take them) and easels.

For now here why it closed and hopefully when reopens will be a lot less cluttered and useable.

As for what have I been doing go here..

https://tapeheaven.substack.com

https://shaunbelcherwrites.substack.com

https://darkweather.substack.com

My Video channel on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/@TrailerStarRecords

Second Wind: Showing new paintings at Lady Bay Arts

A new series of paintings under overall title ‘Second Wind’ will be on show at 117 Holme Road, Lady Bay on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May 12-6pm.

Lady Bay Arts Website : http://www.ladybayarts.org.uk/

I am at Venue 16 on map.

See map here : LADY BAY MAP PDF

The location is the lovely house of my old friends the Hitchmen. I look forward to welcoming people to the front room which will be 80s themed with music from that era as that what I listening to when painting the pictures :-).

Indeed the series of new abstracts take the Creation Record sleeves art of the mid 1980s as their starting point. Series are then titled 1977, 1985, etc…

Record Sleeve for Creation Records 1985 more here:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/1624419/Creation-Record-Covers

Why call it Second Wind?

Documented experiences of the second wind go back at least 100 years, when it was taken to be a commonly held fact of exercise. The phenomenon has come to be used as a metaphor for continuing on with renewed energy past the point thought to be one’s prime, whether in other sports, careers, or life in general.

1980: Music and Art – the soundtrack

It is only now that I made the connection between music and painting…which some 30 years too late as the cover to ‘She Comes From the Rain’ effortlessly did this in 1985. As I trying to be in studio actually painting as much as possible..as opposed to thinking about it..I been building soundtracks for my painting. Today I looked back at 1980 and took the above corresponding sounds for this week..last week it was 1977.

Fascinating to look back at 1980 as it was second year of my degree at Hornsey and I was drumming (allegedly) for art school band ‘Damp Jungle’ then. Music seemed pretty exciting that year with Teardrop Explodes, Birthday Party and Orange Juice all issuing seminal 45s :-).