#studiodiary

ART JOURNAL — What Remains When the Fire Goes Out

A quieter week in the studio—less structure, more reflection. From unfinished canvases and creative blocks to sea air, rituals, and the slow return to painting, this issue explores what’s left when momentum fades.

Featuring studio notes, works in progress, original art, and a look at spectacle and violence through Those About to Die.

A zine for artists in the in-between.

Studio diary

These are pages from my studio diary. I had every intention of having a full studio diary about everything from beginning to end. However i forgot to do it once and that lead to be forgetting about finishing it.

This is the first list of artists that I came up with. As at the time I didn’t know what direction my project was doing in so I just got artists that I liked the look of and fit with the abstract theme.

This was on one of the days that I did acrylic pours at the very begining of the project. This was very interesting as that I was able to find out exactly what I had done that day as I hadn’t gotten to the stage of taking all the pictures. However the way that I had written about the pours and everything wasnt very helpful as I only wrote about that I had done, nit what they had looked like, so I had a bit of trouble piecing together the pictures of the final canvases with the right words that I had written.

This is a to-do list that I wrote for the begining of the project. All the things I need to do I wrote down on a piece of paper then I folded the paper to create space and a column for me to write the when the deadlines for each piece was. I started off writing them in pencil so that I could change them, if I had either finished them beforehand or I had gone over and needed more time on them. Now I know that it isn’t the purpose of a deadline list to change them but I don’t like having to write now lists out every time I finish something, it takes up to much space. It also makes me overthink and then I wonder why list is so short, that it should be longer, then that makes me find more things to add and then I go over on my deadlines.

This type of to do list is different as there is no deadline list and also that it is on different paper to help it stand out. I did this because this list is just for my idea list. So If I am researching and I suddenly think or see a thing I would like to try or remember then I write it on this list. And they don’t have a deadline as I alway go in and further look in to each one and actually see if it is possible before I add it to a definite list. The fact that it is on different paper is so that I don’t over look it and that it doesn’t get lost, it I wrote it normally in with all the other writing.

These were the last 2 additions to the journal, I thought that I should use it when I got home in lockdown especially for the online tutorials that we had as I didn’t know if I was going to be able to type and use the software at the same time. I should have written more information about the tutorial and about my feedback so that I would actually have something to go on, but at the time I didn’t have many things posted on the blog as I would have liked so there wasn’t much to do feedback on.

The next task was going to be a personal favourite of mine - the guitars. 

I knew I wanted to try something new with the amplifier setup, something I hadn't tried recording before. I decided that a stereo-amp setup was the route for me, not only would this allow for greater versatility for tonal options, but would allow me to achieve a richer and more unique sound. 

The perfect match came in the form of my VOX AC30 and my Marshall Plexi clone. These amps combined with the double tracking from my trusty Fender Telecaster and Jaguar provided a rich and full sound which was sweet to the ear.

Of course this setup didn't come without issues; it required a complex signal path using effects pedals which would allow me to send different effects to an individual amp. I elected to send time based effects and modulation effects to the VOX, as I felt the cleaner sound of the amp would compliment these sounds more effectively. Conversely, I ran the gain based effects such as fuzz through the marshall for the same reason. 

With 2 microphones on each amp, I had to make sure I took the time to ensure that phasing was never an issue, thankfully It never was thanks to the help from my handy tape measurer.