7th December 2006
I now have all of the studio to myself. The artist who was storing her work there has now moved to another location. So I have all this extra space to do stuff - but the rent's gone up, of course.

Nothing much else to report. Still looking for a new computer. I'm writing this on my ill powerbook which is likely to crash at any moment!

27th November 2006
Been away a long time...

My powerbook has been very ill and it is terminal. It has been to the doc but the diagnosis is grim. Basically, it will cost the same to repair as it is to buy a new macbook. Meanwhile it is back to my old G4 and system 9!

So that is what I will have to do.

I've been ill too. I pulled my back the other and it was excruciating. I was shifting a painting at six o'clock in the morning -  I'd woken up really early. I hadn't warmed up and it just went - OOooww!! I am moving my paintings so the the artist who is storing her work there can gain access. She is moving out, so I will be taking over the whole space. Wow!

Apart from that, I have been continuing with the "BLING" series. I have now completed 37 of the projected 99 - so more than a third then. Which is good.

Done other stuff too, but can't think what just now.

8th October 2006
Sitting with my laptop on my lap watching the Japanese Grand Prix. Schumi vs Alonso. It's just started. It's a lovely day and I should be outside, but I need time to do stuff like this ie: devote some time to the website. I have been so busy trying to pay the rent doing proper work work and not having any time to be "arty". I have been to the studio rarely of late and when I have managed to have an odd day off I have not been able to be creative, and just sit there like a dummy. Incapable of getting anything done.

However, I was there last night, having gone straight to the studio instead of going to a saturday night drink with the boys from work. It was a full moon last night, in fact it was the autumnal moon which was closest to earth for many years (I took lots of pics on my digital camera), and I became a lunatic and made four of the 99p paintings! I have started to incorporate photographs into these canvases, photographs that I took a few years back from the telly. The four I did last night in my creative frenzy looked good as I left this morning. A couple were still drying and I was feelin' quite fuzzy, but they look fine. I will probably work on a couple them a little bit more, but they are a slight new direction that is an evolution of the ongoing investigation in my interpretation of what is the "abstract".

Schumacher's Ferrari engine blows and Alonso gets max points - looks like the Spaniard has the F1 Championship in the bag.

18th September 2006
It's 21.01 pm monday and I'm sitting on my bed and "Spooks" has just started. It's about Britain being taken over by a coup. It's top telly.

It's now 22.57 pm and "Spooks" was kooky scary nonsense, but enjoyable.

I have just realised that the email forwarding to my secret email addy wasn't working and it hasn't  been since the website was re-uploaded. Ooops. I wondered why I hadn't received any arty mail at all. I thought I had sorted it, but obviously not. So I apologise to anyone who has sent me a message and the email bounced or if you didn't get an email back - sorry. Not very professional Bailey. Yes, I know ...

17th September 2006
It's 4.17 am sunday and I'm sitting/dancing in the studio playing loud techno/trance music. Kamaya Painters - Endless Wave. Such beauty.

The same situation still applies as the previous entry. I am unable to get to the studio much at all these days due mainly other work commitments, but hopefully this situation won't last much longer. My life is in disarray - somewhat. I have been stressed which I don't like, and I need to sort myself out. There are big changes coming soon. I will probably moving home - out of the place I've been in since '91, and I will also be taking over the whole of my studio. Both of these will incur more outlay, so I gotta think of ways to pay for them.

Some of the ideas don't involve my artwork, but other means of generating finance. Bit hush, hush at the mo. Shhh!

3rd September 2006
I'm now back at home, bubbled, 17:27. It's sunny, which is lovely because much of august was pretty grey. I come back via Brick Lane Market, somewhere that I have been going to for many a year. I bought a back copy (July) of Macworld for £2, instead of £4.99. Cheap.

It's just gone midnight and I'm in the studio. It's the first time that I've been here for some time. I'm gonna crash the night and wake up tomorrow (sunday). I'm doing a lot of other stuff at the mo - like work that actually pays the rent, unlike painting pics. But I'm grumpy about it. I had thought that I was have to going to work tomorrow, but I don't, so it gives me a few precious hours at the studio. Hopefully, this full-on work period won't last too long, because life is for living, and painting and creating and having fun.

The weekend in Cornwall was great for my friends' birthdays. It was a bit wet, but my tent survived. Up in Bodmin moor we were camping in the actual clouds one morning. My mix cds went down a treat - everyone said they were dead good - I was well chuffed! Got very smashed and had a groovy time partying. CARNIVAL was fantastic too. Life has also been rather complicated in terms of relationships. The enigma that is the female of the species. Such incredibly amazing and unfathomable creatures. I am in awe of them. And I am in need of enjoying their company more than before. I seem to be more confident at the moment in terms of relating to women of late. I think I am in a much better space now than I was last year after Matthew died. Time does heal. I still think about him every day, but I need to get my life back on track so that it is enjoyable again. And I believe I am succeeding. I feel balanced and happy. A bit stressed because of the work-load situation, but emotionally I am in a good space. Which means I feel I can relate to people better again.

13th August 2006
Thought I'd better do an update to the site as I've neglected it for a while. Just been so busy with other stuff and work recently. Have been enjoying the amazingly hot summer - a bit too hot really! Been much cooler of late, although I'm hoping it will get sunny again in time for Carnival! I was in Somerset recently to see my friends and their new baby daughter, and had a lovely time. It is good to get out of the craziness of London occasionally.

Next weekend I'm off down to Cornwall where a couple of old mates are sharing a celebration of their birthdays and all our mutual friends should be there. Gonna be in a tent in a field. I like camping. I have been to the studio a few times and have now made about 28 of the "bling" paintings. I also had a really good tidy up which was desperately needed. The good news is that I will be taking over the whole space of the studio; the artist who has her sculptures stored in one third of the space is moving here work out in december which means I have the whole square of the space, instead of an L - shaped section. However, it does mean the rent is going to go up considerably, so I guess I will have to start selling some work to make ends meet. So if anyone is interested in buying an artwork by me, then let me know!!

4th July 2006
Happy Independence day to all you Yankee peeps!!I have now added a photo of 18 of these small sized abstract paintings called "bling", which I have painted in the last month or so.

28th June 2006
Not having to make a stretcher prior to painting is a blessed relief and such a saving in time. Using these canvases bought from the 99p shop means that I can also take risks with the painting. I can really experiment - within certain pre-set boundaries. Which is what I've been doing with this "bling" series. I can make mistakes (not that I make that many, because I usually know where I'm going with a picture once if started), but I can push the limits. So I have been experimenting with colours that previously I thought would not work (and if they don't, I can always overpaint). I am using materials that I have not used before. Marbles, in particular. These have been a natural progression from the buttons and bead paintings I had done previously, and I am astonished I hadn't thought of using them before. I had been using that scoobeedoo string as well, because it was in fashion recently (like it was when I was a nipper). I was buying it the £1 pound shops (aren't they great - China rools okay!), but even they don't sell the stuff any more now the fad is over. However, the paintings are still constrained in a certain way because of the central focal point (usually a marble or marbles set on a blob of paint or pva) that is present in them all. This point in the middle of the canvas is the crux, the heart of the whole abstract - it is what makes it whole. This central point has now become a recognisable feature of a typical "Justin Bailey" abstract painting - see African Carpet for an early example of this. This point is what grounds the picture and what gives it grafitas; it is the soul, the all-seeing eye of the painting. I'm trying to make these particular paintings fast and complete in a day - two max. Many previous paintings I have worked on over a long period of time (maybe years). See Venusian as an example of this. These paintings I want to be done in an intense flurry of creativity. From the underdrawing using oil pastels, to the painted overlayers and through to the button, bead, marble, hair band, whatever top surface layer. And then to crown it with the central point, the piece de resistance. This is the really fun bit. But that's what I want my art to be at the moment. FUN! I want to enjoy making it - and I am. I am quite capable of doing serious, good-art-only-comes-thru-hard-work type of paintings. With these I want to work hard and intensely, but I want to be really free in what I do and how I build up the layers of the paintings. The intriguing thing about these paintings is that I can only guess how they will eventually appear, because of the whiteness of the pva. When the pva dries to a clear, hard finish the underdrawing of oil pastel, or felt-tip pen shows through. How this interacts with the layer of paint or beads or silly string or glitter is what makes it interesting. Obviously, I have a rough idea of how it's gonna appear, but it is usually different from how I imagined.

22nd June 2006
Been hard at work at the studio, and have now completed 17 of the abstract paintings I've called "BLING" on the 99p canvases. I now have dreams of making a huge number of these, in fact, I would like to make ninety-nine! It all depends on whether the 99p shop have as many of these canvases for sale or not.Otherwise, I have just been trying to relax when I can.Oh, I saw Lee Perry last week at the Jazz Cafe. What a legend!

8th June 2006
I have now put a "cameo" in the cameos page, as an example.

4th June 2006
Since uploading the site, I seem to be busybusy doing non arty stuff, namely real work that pays those bills. However, recently, I have been making a series of abstracts on stretchers that measure 16" x 20". These ready made canvases are primed  and packaged and I bought ten of them at the 99p store in Camden Town. Bargain. Okay, they are stapled on the side, and some of the joins are not perfect, but they are fine for these type of paintings. I have completed seven of these now - with the last one just done today. If I have a day in the studio, I get one of these done a day, straight off, complete, no going back to it. They are fun to do. They are a continuation of the type of abstracts that I have been making lately. Paintings that have a lot of surface and use materials such as scoobiedoo silly string, glass beads, bracelets, buttons and, most recently, marbles. With their sparkling, glitzy appearance, I have decided to call these my "bling paintings". So I've made this page to eventually show a selection of these paintings, but for now there is just one painting on it - the first of the 99p series, called 99p01, naturally.I've also made a page for the cameo paintings which followed on from the bitmaps, which I haven't shown as yet - this page (at the time of writing ) is a page in construction, so there is no need to look at it. I made it because I needed to add make make more pages, because I have extended the options (links) to look at in the abstraction page from 5 to 10. I will probably do the same to the other main pages, certainly information, lucky dip and photography, because it add more options and stuff to look at.

28th May 2006
I've updated the "about me" page.

23rd May 2006