Chab Gassie

I’ve spent too much time on the computer this week. I’m really not very good at hacking, but DASI needed somebody to help out with something in China. So I tried to get access to CCTV in Shanghai and I thought I’d done it, but it turned out to be a local community television channel. It was kind of a prank show, but they were trying to teach people lessons instead of making them look stupid. So there was a woman begging for food and the business people were shunning her. Then she unveiled a table covered in cakes with a sign that, I assume, said ‘Free Cake’. Then when the business people tried to get the cake, she shunned them.

It would appear that I’m painting Joe Hockey for my tilt at the Archibald Prize. This is because I couldn’t find enough pictures of Samantha Lane. I thought about hacking into The Age website and finding some, but if a portrait turned up that looked like a photo that only exists on their files, it might be weird. Also, it would probably be easier to write to her management and ask for them.

I just can’t paint Shaun Micallef. He’s above visual representation and I can’t attempt to recreate a higher being. It would be like a catholic priest painting one of Jesus’s many aliases.

Here are some half-arsed sketches of Joe Hockey that look nothing like him. I’m just getting the feel for his boof head. I think all his bullishness is in his eyes and his attitude is in his posture.

Here’s the background of the painting showing the ouline of the lower house of parliament. The painting is about 120cm by 75cm.

Edit Feb 12: I’ve since read the rules for the Archibald Prize and you have to paint it from real life. Stooopid…