The Park Road Studio

Tranquility broken

2012-01-30T07:33:00.002Z

Not surprisingly, the creative path for a pictures is often far from straight and on occasions ends abruptly without warning. Such was the case for the badly conceived and badly named 'Tranquility' which after serious doubts and a violent attempt at a re-working, has now been scrubbed back with turps and thoroughly erased - and we are all feeling a lot better for that!
It is unsettling to find yourself engaged in such ill judged ventures but the sooner we see that its a failure the better and then to act accordingly. Gone, move on.
Working to set patterns for work does reduce such failures but such calculations make for dull pictures - when risk is so much more exciting!

Tranquility

2012-01-26T16:18:00.000Z

How to paint is a great mystery.

How rough can it be? There is a beautiful rough, a sort of lightness that is very pleasing. Looking back to earlier blogs that reference this piece, I see I spoke about 'transcribing the energy of the drawing' which probably what has happened as I try to combine ancient and modern.

At this point I will leave off painting. There may or may not be more to do, but that will be clear to me after a few days have passed when I will examine it again - for now it rests against the wall.

The procession of time

2012-01-25T08:33:00.000Z

The room dedicated to Prints and Drawings in the British Museum is an old haunt of mine. Always quiet, free of queues and razzmatazz. Always full of amazing things, things in displays furnished with a shelf in front on which to place a sketch book - such a grown up place.

This drawing was made there some years ago, its a vigorous rendering that carries the spirit of procession, I would have been attracted to the lovely arrangement of figures with pipes and drums (did you notice the drum?) and no doubt, could not help but make a copy with my book on that shelf so thoughtfully provided by an earlier generation.

The reason this line drawing comes to light is in the shape of a piece canvas covered plywood, ready primed that I found alongside the plan-chest in the studio. Who knows, it was probably made about the same time as the procession drawing! I know they are made for each other. Last thing yesterday with the remaining pigment of the day I dashed in some Tiepolo colours to kill the white primer. All is set - let the music begin.

A warm evening

2012-01-23T06:10:00.000Z

Evening

That's it, this picture has engaged me for quite a while. I have taken it to a point where I can bear it - its power and subtlety are tuned as far as I can manage.

Like any offspring - I can only only release it and let it make its own way in the world.

Troubadours

2012-01-20T08:32:00.000Z

Harmonic sounds

This painting was completed yesterday. It is satisfying to bring a piece to a state that I feel is conclusion. It has been slowly developed over a month or so from a neglected charcoal drawing that came to light while I searched for something else. The painting is oil on canvas and slightly bigger than A3.

Troubadours were French wandering minstrels from the 11th - 13thC, singer songwriters of a past age who wrote complex pieces of courtly love. The three figures here, while rustic in a way, show a formal quality in their stance.

This gentle harmony of colour and composition is pleasing, it carries a sense of contentment, that is in itself attractive to me.

Movements of the spirit

2012-01-18T09:48:00.003Z

A first stage detail from 'interior'

OK, its 9.16am. Ruth is making marmalade in the kitchen and I must scribble a few words about the day.

I am very aware of my need to engage with work a pattern, so many 'important' interuptions prevent time alone to concentrate on the work in hand. A week or so ago I dashed this high keyed oil base image on a canvas. I liked the colour resister and the rough composition, to me it seems worth spending time more time on.

The arrangement is a well worn path for me, namely a central section with figures and two 'wings' containing in this instance some abstract structure/garden suggestions. The brown walking figure calls for revision and will be the first area to adjust, that in turn will guide me forwards.

This analysis of the work along with consequent action is the essence of painting, consciousness of these movements of the spirit are at times clearer than at other times. As I will no doubt sit and review the progress, its value will then be apparent.

Next up : some fresh coffee

Isadora comes to me again

2012-01-16T06:37:00.001Z

Isadora Duncan

I am sometimes amazed by the past.
This charcoal of Isadora Duncan came with its owner to visit me on Saturday. There was mild concern about the surface of the charcoal as it seems to be peeling. It is nothing serious.

When I saw it I had no recollection of it, or drawing it - but I had signed it and it is definitely by my hand.
It is a wonderful piece of drawing, and I can say that because of a sense of removal and distance. The paper, cheap soft paper, has an abandoned drawing on the back, it is liberally washed with water over the charcoal and then more charcoal added with such passion the surface has suffered considerably.
For all that it looks effortless and I am amazed.
It is a lesson for me, a message from the past - an encouragement to feel, to go on and not be frightened.

Not hampered by habit

2012-01-12T17:17:00.000Z

'Artists would paint better if their wrists were broken' Picasso

As I remember, that is what he said in the context of habitual dexterity. Growth and creativity are hampered by habit.
I have a damaged tendon in my right arm and told complete rest! This is when I recalled the words of Picasso.
After only one days rest I need to move on.
Tying my drawing arm into an improvised sling I test the theory to see is I can paint better.
I return to Psalm drawing #033 and try a coloured mixed media painting. (shown above)
I am surprised.
With oil sticks, Indian ink and some rough gouache I persuade the colours into this shape with my left hand, one that reflects the sense of #033.
The experiment was worthwhile. Somehow, the energy is concentrated and more vigorous; a plus for this sort of work.
Even after such a tricksy art game, I would prefer my arm back!

Russell and Chappel

2012-01-10T16:30:00.001Z

New year decisions

Every few years I buy a roll of canvas, a roll of 50M is quite an investment! The first roll was cotton duck, bought a long time ago when I called into the old Russell and Chappel shop in Monmouth Road that is now sadly closed. The old shop was amazing, unchanged for decades with wooden floors, rolls, racks and sacks of everything under the sun. It smelt of various glues and fabrics supplying the theatre and artist, it was just a wonderful place as I remember it.
My last two rolls have been linen and looking on the website I see Russell & Chappel stock 15 types of canvas I am rather keen to re-order the same type, after all 50M x six feet wide of the wrong type would be very annoying. So it looks like a trip to the new shop in Drury lane to choose linen that will match my sample plus any other treasures that take my eye. It is so good that these old trade suppliers are there where one can see and feel the goods - long may they last.

No rush

2012-01-09T08:50:00.000Z

Appraisal

Some may recall an earlier blog about this image called aiming at the moon. I can report no progress!
This is an A4 size gouache sketch that has been propped up in the corner of my studio for about six weeks now. Having revisited Poussin in the Twombly exhibition last year at The Dulwich Picture Gallery that in turn had reminded me of Cezanne's large bathers being his attempt at 'a Poussin in nature' made me wonder what I could do.
In my mind is more space given to trees and I seek the power of the figure group to have a real presence below. It must draw from Poussin yet be clearly 2012.
I have a canvas ready, 1.2M high and opportunity this week but am at a loss as how to proceed. It seems that the weeks have not magically informed me of the way forward, neither has the compulsion to proceed abated - therefore - deep breaths, confidence building conversations with myself and suitable music are required!
Watch this space.

How to paint

2012-01-06T12:43:00.006Z

Art teaching for Spring 2012 NOW SOLD OUT

Following a number of requests I have devised some new art teaching days for March 2012.
I find teaching art beset with problems, for the artist is easily swamped with quick ideas and other peoples solutions and consequently finding an authentic way forward that is valid takes us longer than we realize.
With this in mind I offer three sessions, these one day workshops address colour, creativity and figures. These modules will attempt to draw out the creative spirit in the individual as we engage in these universal subjects.

These one day sessions will be 9.00 - 4.30 at the village hall in Crowhurst Surrey and each at the cost of £40.00 a day payable by cheque when booking.
Bring a packed lunch with you (there are no shops nearby) and note there will be tea and coffee available free during the day.

Some previous experience will be needed for these lessons, but enthusiasm will make up for some lack in ability in many cases! Do email me about suitability and expectations if there are any doubts.   (john@scarland.co.uk) ,

SHIFT 01 NOW SOLD OUT    friday March 2:2012
Primary Colours remixed   Colour for the thinking romantic
Think about a new colour pathway and redefine the word favourite. Ditch old Colouristic habits and think fresh thoughts on colour composition that will shape picture content.

SHIFT 02 NOW SOLD OUT                     friday March 16:2012
Old Masters recycled     Plunder the past - borrow the best
What did Henry Moore take from the Mayans and Picasso from the Iberians, see how follow their creative paths and borrow from the ancients as well. See an infusion of past genius appear in your work.

SHIFT 03 NOW SOLD OUT friday March 30:2012
Figure Painting re-configured     A new graphic language for figures
Creating a distinctive style is as hard as drawing the figure. Time here to re-establish what is natural to us when representing our fellow beings in our work. Fiendishly hard – hugely rewarding – worth a try.

Unfamiliar Rhythms

2012-01-03T15:56:00.000Z

Gentle Music

My inclinations for these players are soft colour combinations on a background of pigeon grays. Such gentle shades invoke the beautiful sounds of Early Music like that of Guillaume de Machaut or Perotin. I play it now and then for its simple grandeur that can in turn elevate my spirits.
The painting is taken from an archived drawing set that featured players in small groups, drawings that were flights of imagination and journeys to another place of musical experience.
Look at them for a moment, hear the strains of unfamiliar rhythms that draw you in - are they sacred sounds or those of a Transylvanian gypsy wedding?

Matters of the heart

2012-01-02T09:57:00.000Z

This is a small painting, about A4 in size and not shown on this blog until today. It has been at this stage for a week or so and left for me to review. When to leave a painting is difficult - yet as soon as I say difficult - that makes it a matter for the intellect and I question such a statement when one paints from the heart. The question I pose to my mind (intellect) as I analyse the painting is 'is this image true to the sensation of my heart?'
From experience I find my mind is more tuned to public opinion, reason and reputation while the heart is a little on the wild side. The mind is not best placed to judge the work and therein is the difficulty for one is so easily ruined by the heart!
The older I get painting becomes simultaneously easier and difficult. Thinking less makes painting easy, thinking can cloud the issue so maybe wisdom is a friend who will judge the work of my heart.

New year

2011-12-31T21:49:00.002Z

Happy new year to everyone - xx

Chamber

2011-12-30T19:10:00.002Z

Working Drawings

I am always surprised when looking through old work files, that sort of year-end activity that happens easily on a damp afternoon. This one, 'Chamber' was a rare thing, sold long ago, I wonder where it is now.
I had some old drawings that I had acquired in a junk shop many years before, and this one, in pre-scanner days was taken to the library to be photocopied over 12 sheets to make up a large size. I soaked them and pasted them on to stretched paper. Gouache was worked over to colour, obliterate, enhance, change and mystify!
Now this gives me some ideas again - there is more mileage here . . . . . .

Polke and Tiepolo

2011-12-29T09:53:00.000Z

Yesterday afternoon I made this drawing of two figures. Its not unusual for me to draw such a thing and having read a lot of Roberto Calasso's book Tiepolo's Pink, to make a drawing that reflects late 18thC composition is to be expected. Although I am always drawn to the wonderful side of Tiepolo, is only a late flowering of a decadent wealth that I really dislike which makes me wonder why I emulate this style.
Another unfinished book by me is Sigma Polke: We Petty Bourgeoise, an artist to whom I am equally drawn and whose every stroke is to subvert and attack the establishment.
My drawing was made as a compositional study for a new work and from the series of studies it seemed the most satisfactory. Looking at it now it displays those 18thC characteristics of line and design that I admire while drawn in a rather jerky abrupt manner strangely at odds with the design. As I study the lines there is a distracting violence about them as they describe beauty that is not apparent at first. This I believe has always been part of my drawing and it is only now that I begin to see it.
Next I will have to transcribe this energy to the canvas and devise colour and tone schemes to complement the line type.
Can I really combine Polke and Tiepolo?

A white Christmas

2011-12-23T08:53:00.002Z

Where Monet meets Constable

Some years ago I was called on to do a painting demonstration, and in order to give structure to the lesson took a copy of Constable's 'Hay Wain' and proceeded to translate it into a winter version with snow using a Monet reproduction as a colour reference for the winter weather.
The result as shown still pleases me, replacing the obvious wagon with a fallen bough helps and Monet's colours are always wonderful.

'tis the season of new books

2011-12-21T14:14:00.000Z

Lucien Freud on paper

We are just back from France with early Christmas presents! This new book of Freud's drawings came my way as a present, wow, all those early drawings in one book with etchings as well.
From my reading newspapers on the boat from St Malo it seems that drawing is gaining favour, what with Tracey Emin's new marriage to the RA as professor of drawing and Royal Acadamy's new show 'Driven to draw' it seems drawing may be all right after all.
My new book contains all sorts of drawings by Freud to revive the spirits and full of links with the past, including the Watteau inspired drawings that are so wonderful. My weakness for books continues, but here it pays off as it fires up my mind and motivates me to draw much more.
2012 could be good!

Nativity

2011-12-15T07:53:00.002Z

Mary and Joseph come for Christmas

Last week I posted some thoughts on 'Direct Painting' that featured a couple on a yellow ground. Recently I took up this canvas again to make some adjustments to it, the adjustments turned out more radical than expected!
Not only has that Indian Yellow ground been almost completely over painted but the woman now appears to have a baby! My revisions are usually driven by overall abstract qualities in areas of the work that are unsatisfactory. These revisions are a series of testings that enable me to find improvements to the grand scheme. Babies were not the idea, but a revision test that I approved of had a real suggestion of one and it has remained in the work.
The temptation to encourage this seasonal context is possible, that Jesus Christ should have a place in my work is OK by me.

Sketches of Spain

2011-12-12T10:27:00.000Z

Los Remedios in Veher de la Frontera, Andalusia.

This oil painting hangs in my bedroom, I rather like it.

I have some habits when working, but I am not bound by them. The embryonic drawings are shown below are taken from the travelling sketchbook and show the source material. From my notes on the next page I was unsurprisingly much in mind of Matisse while in such heady surroundings. and looking at the drawings you can see I was not drawing what I could see in front of me but my experience of being there instead. I took no photograph, for the knowledge that I have a photo, stops me seeing and feeling.
In the studio, as I begin, I have the drawing and a strong sensation with the memory. It is enough.
After some warm under-painting had dried, I began to establish a layout that followed the R/H drawing that itself imagined an elevated viewpoint, the oil drawing was now a sort of second generation imagination.
The key colours are the top ribbon of sky and trees that took time to co-ordinate, the worked down maintaining the harmony and creating interest within the colour/shape register already agreed in the top ribbon.
The loose foreground always pleases me.

Hotel

2011-12-09T20:21:00.001Z

Thinking aloud

I call this piece 'hotel' or away from home

away from myself

amid silent expectations

I found this in my archive

a recurrence

a beckoning

new year is like a new day

after the feast

will I listen?

Finding a hot beach in the winter

2011-12-06T22:02:00.000Z

Finding a hot beach in the winter.

This picture is is warm to the touch! It is a theme I have worked on before, and as the weather turned cold I felt the need for some hot colours.
Assembled from figure drawings made while in Spain (see below) they take on the 'wall of figures' type of composition I saw in the British Museum recently.
Seen here in an unfinished state more colour revisions are called for to offset the rather simple blue orange combo that is in evidence here.

Direct painting

2011-12-05T06:04:00.002Z

Couple on Yellow

Today (Saturday) I have worked on two paintings, this one in the afternoon. I like to clean the palette between pictures to keep the pictures fresh, old colour can influence me and taint the new colours - at least I find it so and that is how I work.
I favour a bold approach in order to achieve the most spontaneous effects working wet colour over dry. This piece has been worked on twice now and will need another session at least to solve all the remaining problems. The conflict is between simple and complex, time brings on complexity in the piece and then eradication occurs with swathes of new colour that reshapes things and so the cycle continues.
Once a colour combination with acceptable forms are arrived at finer issues can be addressed but with the same method.

in the British Museum

2011-12-01T19:22:00.001Z

The ancient halls in the British Museum

I love the British Museum. Filled with visual wonders from all time and all places, beautifully presented for all to see. Free.

This tiny Ivory relief has that figure composition that was common from 500 - 1500AD and a composition I use and need to study more to exploit its real power. The drawing below is an example of a recent use of this 'wall of figures' not unlike these ancient masters.

I find the quality, the sheer excellency of these work invigorating, a spur to do my best. Privileged to carry their ideas forwards in our time, these latent pieces of beauty can be resurrected to speak our language in our time. Understanding them is the first stage in recreating them.

Self awareness

2011-11-30T07:21:00.000Z

Self awareness

This painting has just been sold, it has found its place to be.
It harks back to the early days when I sought to describe the sense or feeling of being alive. The unconscious gyroscopic ability to remain upright without apparently thinking, of seeing, respriation and the mental reconstruction of three dimensional space. More function than features. Thus to paint myself with this in my mind must result in a fairly unusual piece.
One can no more explain such a work as explain a love letter. It was an editing and a re-editing until some aproximation of my self awareness was reached. It contains no rational deduction, only a mapping of feeling in colour.
If you stand and focus on 'awareness' you will feel how this looks - try it.

Aiming at the moon

2011-11-28T07:27:00.000Z

Homage to the past

So many painters look at the past as the way to the future. The effect Poussin had on Cezanne and more recently Cy Twombly is remarkable. From my little side street I also dare to look at Poussin with a view to learning.
Below is an initial step towards an oil sketch that may in turn take me to a larger canvas, while feeling after that timeless master of classical painting. It is not a matter of copying things and colours, it's identifying with his purpose, one that is sublime and elegant.
Again, I aim at the moon - will I never learn!

The eloquent figure

2011-11-24T19:03:00.001Z

The quest for an eloquent figure

This is drawing #49. Yesterday afternoon I prepared 54 pieces of paper 21cm x 7cm and worked steadily drawing figures until something happened. This one sort of did something but more is needed.These new figures need to be succinct and enduring - no small brief for the artist. I remember Braque complaining about art that had no longevity and calling it journalism! Longevity in art, that lasting classic quality seems to have fallen out of fashion.
One could rest easy and do what one knows, but where is the fun in that. I catch a glimpse of a better thing - I just have to persevere, at least for the next week or so!

Desperate measures

2011-11-22T16:57:00.000Z

The sluggish painter

I suppose sluggish has to do with slugs. Today has been an uphill struggle, I have a few day to get back to painting after about seven weeks off which has resulted in a rather slug-like attitude. Far too much coffee was made today and far too much cake was eaten - a little work occurred later in the day.

I ask myself, should I leap into uncharted waters with brave new colours - or do what I know? In order to do something I opted for the latter and made three beginnings from old drawings because the old pump needs a little priming and any painting at this point is better than no painting. One can't re-invent the wheel every day so an old drawing served to kick start some action. This effort took place around 3.30pm when some pinks and greys were applied over an dry blue ground I found beside the plan chest. The black lines over the colour is the drawing below overlaid in photoshop for us to 'see' what's happening.

These forced starts are a real effort, with unpredictable success rate as far as the pictures are concerned but the spirit is coaxed into life by the sight and smell of the colours.

Tomorrow may be better.

Susa: the triptych

2011-11-21T10:35:00.000Z

The Susa Triptych

One of the gallery sales for October was this small tripych (88cm wide) painted in spring 2010.
I found this piece quite satisfying and it hung in the studio for some time which says quite a lot for it. Made from four primed plywood panels, the back three joined with linen hinges and the flat 'table' stitched to them with copper wire.
The emblems represent three people at a banquet. Esther according to the biblical narrative was queen at the palace at Susa, Queen Esther is on the left, her husband the king is central with the villain Haman on the right as per the drama played out in the text (see bible, Esther 5-7)
This narrative also prompted the video 'paper banquet' I made in April 2010.
This same Susa as represented by many interesting artifacts at the British Museum

The Cage paintings

2011-11-17T20:52:00.000Z

I get to see Gerhard Richter at Tate Modern

I have read quite a lot of Richter's writings and it's bleak, very bleak. But todays visit to the 'Panorama' show at Tate Modern of Richter's work stirred me - this is good because I nearly did not go.

His approach is to undermine established art statements. Like the monumental impasse that Duchamp set up, Richter will attack it head on to demolish it. He is very irreverent. I admire this in a painter. I encourage you to see the show in order to see this mindset in action.

The big finish to the show are the six Cage Paintings. Named after John Cage, (pictured above) the American avant-garde composer, whose work Richter greatly admires.

Perhaps this shows when he (Richter) say 'I have nothing to say and I am saying it'. Engaged in what may be the philosophy of seeing, he introduces doubt that can enhance clarity. Addressing the problem of knowledge he assembles clear glass to challenge the apparent. An old fashioned painter of consummate skill, he is a modern master.

Diversity

2011-11-16T09:50:00.000Z

Hearing a story for the first time is very different to hearing it a second time, and making a story up is different again to reading it. Knowing the end affects the experience in various ways depending on the situations just cited.
For me, painting in some measure includes a known objective, like the story ending. This primary objective is not about colour or style, it is about sharing a subconscious or spiritual experience. Colour and style are just instruments, vehicles that will best communicate the designed sensation to the viewer.
I well remember Picasso saying the idea/form of a tree, a goat or a girl demands a different approach for they are different ideas and insist on being treated in different styles. Finding these diverse pictorial truths about the idea is the stuff of art.
This sketch is about just this journey, the search for a vehicle to carry an idea.
This approach maintains a genuine diversity that in turn prevents a monotonous voice.

Hobby Horse

2011-11-14T07:16:00.003Z

Art for all

After ten years away, this rather battered Hobby Horse came home again. My five grandchildren no longer need it, all that imagination, energy and laughter has moved on to other things and the painted wooden horse was no longer needed. I made it years ago and it has served them well, for that painted broomstick has been on many journeys in their imagination that we will never know about.
I am pleased to see it again, very happy for all the enjoyment this little piece of art has given.
Now its in the loft, perhaps one day other children will need a horse and come looking for it.

Wild fruits

2011-11-10T19:51:00.006Z

Henry David Thoreau's last document

A late manuscript by Thoreau, of 'Walden' fame, is about the observation and experience of fruits found in the wild. An exquisite assemblage of material in a handwritten form was transcribed to form this unusual book, a book that passes on to us a suspension of time, of smell and taste. We sense the land and its orientation to wind and sun, of saplings striving for space and gnarled specimens in rocks strewn with fallen fruit.
I took a walk this evening in the spirit of Thoreau, leaving my car when the sun was low in the sky. After thirty minutes walking I left the path and entered a wood I know, pushing into the interior to where a large yew spreads over dry pond. I sat at the base of this tree for some time in the fading light and silence. I say silence, but when you stop for any length time in a wood its never silent, all manner of sounds become apparent to those who will listen. The wind in the trees, roosting birds and cows three fields away blend in gentle symphony.
I walked home as the moon rose in a clearing sky and I spoke to a man unloading keep sheep from Udimore.
It seems 'wildwoods and fruits' are still only 30 minutes away if we find the time to look.

Turner Contemporary

2011-11-09T18:55:00.004Z

Three days in Thanet

I do like unexpected places. We have had three very interesting days staying at The Royal Harbour Hotel in Ramsgate.
Beaches were walked on at Pegwell Bay and North Foreland, S/H bookshops were rummaged through on damp dark afternoons and a very acceptable French Restaurant close to the Hotel fed us superbly.
. . . . . and we went to the Turner Contemporary in Margate. Their current show 'Youth' picks up on the connection Margate has with rampant youth in the past with Mods, Rockers, Skinheads and Punk gangs who descended on dreamland in the past.
I found it a surprisingly moving show (and I have been to a few). The memory of adolescence, those days now gone, protest and suffering all returned at this cleverly curated show.
Looking back at all that youthful energy vented on the rich and the establishment that proved a such a potent mix was one thing, but looking at Margate now it's all rather dreary and deprived. So I did a double take while walking near the Turner Contemporary and overheard a man say to his toddler son while nodding at the Gallery 'it's the building that wants burning down'. Perhaps the arrival of all this new art and new money threatens the old guard, the slogans reproduced as 'art' inside may appear with more virility on the outside where they will not be viewed as art!

Testing my head

2011-11-07T07:33:00.002Z

Drawing #005 gets the treatment.

One of 45, #005 was a Psalm response drawing, abstract ideas generated after thinking about the Psalms in general.
This clay maquette stands about 15cm high and is a careful scale copy of the ink drawing. Made for purpose of assessment as it is translated into three dimensions before I commit to the Oak piece. I expect I will add some primitive colour when the modelling clay is dry, colour markings as suggested by the original drawing.
This is slow deliberate progress, careful, measured and scaled - no wild experiments - I need to preserve what I was moved by.
When complete I will put it where I will see it and judge my response over time.

New Head

2011-11-03T20:08:00.000Z

Embryonic head drawing

It is my intention to make a three dimensional representation of this drawing in Oak. Beyond that things are unclear, except to mention I see the lines burnt on and some colour added. Also it not be carved from one piece, instead a number of pieces will be jointed to create the form.
Next I will make a wire and Plastacine model to examine 3D possibilities.
I have known this for months. a mental gestation. it will not go away. it insists on being made. it will come out.
it is possible my hands will spoil the idea because they run on rails.
Is the idea strong enough to circumvent the predictability of my making habits.

Jenny Holzer

2011-11-01T19:01:00.005Z

Postmodernism at the V&A

As showmanship goes, it is absolutely brilliant, a dazzling showcase of all we know as 'postmodern' and a lot more. There is text, film, ceramics, architecture, fashion and design +.

Earlier radical movements such as Impressionism and Punk have turned a profit as the protest becomes mainstream, adding the spice of rebellion to the dreary mediocrity of middle class living. For the V&A to catalogue this rage against the aesthetic and to invest in its icons proves that its power has peaked and it is now being subsumed into the establishment that it sought to undermine.

But I think not all, and these were the most memorable.

One for me was Jenny Holzer's words in Times Square, PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT. It is so true that our whole planet destroying, soul destroying momentum is driven by our wills that makes this cry is so desperate. I wonder, just who is she addressing with these words?

Woodland wonder

2011-10-31T11:07:00.002Z

Dwellers in the land

Bringing Friday's woodland memories and merging them with my figure language brings me to this point. No more than an idea movement, this embryonic colour sketch needs work over more sheets to test its worth. This may see a sub-division into different genre's to extract the full content: pattern and abstract design continue to appeal to my thinking.
Open on my table are books on 11^thC low relief and Byzantine architecture, this, joined to tomorrows visit to the Postmodern show at the V&A leaves me wide open to new influence alongside my core thoughts on the woodland experience.

Seeing the wood

2011-10-28T19:56:00.003+01:00

Internal movements

For hundreds of years there has been a tug of war between the poetic/emotional and the systematic/scientific approach to many subjects. No less is the case when we look at landscape painting, my current hero Paul Nash being the poetic champion over against say Monet as an analytic colourist. It needs more than an eye, however great that eye maybe, it calls for a sensitivity and a deep feeling for the land that in turn reveals a rapport that an open heart understands at once. This has little to do with the majority of conservationists and protesters, but is more in tune with the woodmen and the crofters of our day who live hourly in a physical harness with the soil, the weather and the seasons.

I was fortunate to grow up alongside woodmen and farm labourers whose intuitive reading of their earthy mistress was uncanny. Can I still tap into that harmony between man and earth, that served our forebears so well, to find a language in line and tone to reconnect us again.

Late this afternoon in the damp October air I made a few charcoal drawings while standing on a lightly wooded hillside. I determined to reject preconceived solutions and known artistic language in order to allow a current response to occur. I saw no 'composition', I saw in front of me a mass of interactions over an undulation pierced by the burrows of small mammals.

Shadwell curry

2011-10-26T08:52:00.003+01:00

Taking in the sights.

A sparkling autumn day is an Architectural viewing day! We are scheduled with our French grandchildren (8+10) to visit London. We use the Jubilee line to see the Hopkins (deepest) stunning new tube station, then popping out 112' from Big Ben + hot chocolate in a back ally cafe, back down to the Jubilee line to Fosters station at Canary warf, coming up through these amazing portals from the earth to the brilliant light was well appreciated ("like Star Wars Gandpa"). The elevated Dockland Light (driver less) railway was too much to resist, quick as a flash we are all aboard - and then the spontaneous alighting at Shadwell, yes Shadwell (above) were we entered wonderful Asian markets and an equally wonderful architectural skyline. A curry here was a must - on Commercial Road- then round the corner to The Whitechapel Art Gallery (free) stepping inside changed our horizons again. A final tube to Tower Hill where we examined the workings of Tower Bridge with an enormous soft ice cream to finish our day.
The eagerness, the diversity, the wonder fed my artistic spirit - and the curry was brilliant as well.

at the movies

2011-10-24T08:05:00.001+01:00

Attitudes

I am immersed in a world of eight year olds, with five grandchildren staying for a few days my days are not as they were.
Apart from continuous chatter and laughing I notice a huge variety of attitudes as they eat, climb, squirm, jump and wriggle. Then I saw them watching TV, as bodies matched their response to the drama - this reminded me of a photograph in a newspaper I was compelled to copy some years ago as reproduced here. The old cinema shot says everything about watching a film, of being completely entranced with the action.
As I debate in my own mind future work this liveliness, this motion of the body so much seen in history painting that I notice has largely disappeared today. Now surrounded by bodies in motion, by drama and urgent streams of words I wonder how it could work in paint.

William Morris

2011-10-20T20:11:00.005+01:00

The Red House by Philip Webb

With a bit of time to spare, and after a pleasant lunch - we visited The Red House at Bexleyheath this afternoon. This National Trust Arts & Crafts flagship building has been on my list as a place to visit for some time and sunny October day was perfect.
Bought recently (last ten yrs) for 3million it has been barely touched by The Trust. It is beautifully run down and shabby, without heating, a ramshackle garden and wonderful staff. Alone in an endless conurbation by the A2 the red brick house nestles behind the original garden wall looking totally at odds with the surroundings - but once inside the wall you step back in time.
Following the eccentricities of Morris the orientation of the house is to the north, and 'pilgrim way' facing - on the one hand, very cold and unworkable and on the other hand it bows to Chaucer and his world. This duality continues throughout the house. Beautiful ideas and dropped arches, novel fitted furniture and a heavy brick oriel window, delightful 'pricked' and painted ceilings with recent white gloss panelling and so on. I am in two minds, although it has survived intact, it is in a bad way, If 'The Trust' sort the problems out, much of its homely personality, its honest failures and its integrity may be smothered in the worship of the A&C movement.
Go and see it now, it is intruiging as it is.

new life

2011-10-19T08:52:00.007+01:00

Nurture

I painted this oil (see below) earlier this year, to capture the essence of a mother's love along with the security and comfort I remember experiencing as a child - precious things. The warmth of colour, simple patterns with searching tentative lines join in the song of love.

After three showings this year I heard last night from Fancis Iles galleries that it has been sold, which is good, for it has found a home where it can emanate its warmth from day to day. It can loose its price tag and its status as a commodity and begin its role as a friend and maybe a mentor.

I hope my sentiment is not too grand or fanciful, I hope it lives now on its own

Death

2011-10-17T13:32:00.002+01:00

Crossing the river

The older I get, the more funerals I attend: death is very real and this afternoon I am reminded again. My work has often incorporated 'the ferry' as shown in the gouache above, and in my mind it has always referred to crossing that river we call death.

This afternoon I pay my last respects to a dear friend, David Obbard, an old man who lived very close to the land and to God. A wonderful man who was above all, a peacemaker, full of love and compassion. An unsung hero of faith who had no fear of the last enemy - he really was, just going home.

sleep mode

2011-10-14T19:15:00.000+01:00

The sleeping artist

I am at present slumbering, having worked flat out for months now in order to meet my October deadline deadlines - the artistic zones are at present rather flat.
While idling I want to research Tintoretto and El Greco to study animated figure grouping that I may be able to make use of later. I am prone to have these flashes of interest and need to follow them up. Added to this is the notion of dusk, half light interests me, where colour fades and light slows. I will do some landscape studies in fading light to test the water.
'The coolibar tree' (above) hangs in my bedroom - made from painted scrap wood on cerulean blue - is easy on the eye as I sleep in the afternoon.

2011-10-11T15:59:00.001+01:00

Atlantic Beach video clips

Ten years ago in March 2002 I went to the North Devon coast, and booked into the Hartland Quay Hotel that stands on a wild headland with a slipway down to the rock strewn beach. It was here I painted the 'Atlantic Beach' series in watercolour, working on the open beach in March alongside some heavy surf and dramatic surroundings. In the film that I have assembled from a number of rather low grade clips taken at the time you can how I worked and some glimpse of the wonderful landscape that inspired the those wild and memorable watercolours.

working and not working

2011-10-05T15:15:00.000+01:00

At present I've stopped working, a holiday from painting. Although painting is not far from my thinking, rest from actually painting is very much needed.
This painting above is titled 'working' from the the manifestation series, a piece that I recall was in itself hard work. Getting that sense of labour was problematic - not returning to period solutions, but turning to my own experience of labour and toil. Relief as experienced by the central figure describes weariness and ache that is central to labour, there is something good about physical weariness, giving rise to the joy of rest, of sitting and eating.
I am pleased that this piece sold at Meller Merceux last month so my work was not in vain!

aquisitions

2011-10-04T09:33:00.005+01:00

A meeting of the sublime and the ridiculous.

My figures look ridiculous - swimming in the sky with shopping baskets.
Paradoxically they are sublime, unfettered, free as birds from the weight of care.
To shop, to acquire things, attaches us to material things.
We cannot rise - we cannot fly when fettered with the weight of material things.
See - their baskets are empty - are they sublime or ridiculous?

3D drawing

2011-09-29T19:20:00.001+01:00

About ten years ago I made a small figure in copper from a series of drawings. After paper and wire mock ups I cut sheet copper and copper rod, used silver solder to assemble the 20cm maquette shown below. They were really made to use as models to draw from in the same manner as Daumier used figurines for composition arrangements.
There been suggections that to fabricate her x4 would be interesting.
Well, here she is, life size. I am finding it strangely haunting, like a living drawing. A drawing that changes as I walk past. The size and depth is disconcerting for my mind that no longer has to construct depth. I am coming to terms with this phenomena rather slower than I expected.

Elysian fields

2011-09-28T09:24:00.004+01:00

I find it difficult to account for my paintings, it is like saying something I didn't expect.
As this one materialized I saw Antoine Watteau in it, maybe not surprising as I often browse reproductions his work. When in Dulwich Picture Gallery recently I was arrested by one of his paintings there, such a lovely experience to see the work that is so underrated today.
I worked for some time on this piece, untroubled by the 'pop up' nature of the individual main figures, indeed, it amused me as they reclined on the red ground in the heavenly spirit that the French call 'Champs-Élysées'

metanarrative

2011-09-26T11:51:00.004+01:00

The big story

Here is a new picture, I widen out a bit to image overarching structures.
Having respect for empirical thinking - the idea of God is embraced along with related incoming concepts.
The scale and perspectives change, it's a big view.
Just glad I am not alone.

Red Bull

2011-09-23T09:30:00.004+01:00

Energy shot

I wonder, what it is our pictures do for us? Are they friends that comfort us, or as one client told me, his pictures made him 'feel alive'.

What power does a drawn line or applied colour have on us as we see it daily.

Some time ago, following Motherwell's lead, I did a series of ink pieces on coated paper and put them in a drawer. On the odd occasions that I looked at them this one always worked on me, it energized me.

Now it is framed and available for anyone who who needs an energy shot now and again.

The smell of the earth

2011-09-20T16:38:00.002+01:00

The land forms near Buxton

When ploughing or working in a newly dug trench the earth smells beautiful, as pungent and new mown grass but different. The folds of the earth always speak to me as do the workings on the surface by generations of people past. This painting is of the land near Buxton in Derbyshire and features a remarkable diamond shaped field on the side of a rising bank. Seeing this in conjunction with the diminishing road as it descends into the valley demanded my attention. Simplicity and earth colours compound the effect as I try to evoke a sense of place here, a place unmolested and settled with gradients and boundaries unchanged for centuries.

Chloe comes home

2011-09-19T10:38:00.000+01:00

Friday I had the call!

Peter at 'Just Metal' tells me the steel figure is ready for collection. I found him and his neighbour sitting in plastic chairs drinking mugs of tea with the new sculpture between them and complaining that she didn't say much.
They asked what her name was, and at that time she was 'seated woman' - on the way home 'Chloe' came to me and has remained unless a better one occurs.
Although only x4 it has been surprising to be introduced to her suddenly all finished life size. Peter had been busy creating her from the patterns I had given him over many hours and was I think a little reluctant to part with her when finished.
Now set up in the studio I will attend to the surface finish. I become familiar with it - The steel as a material has to be embraced and maintained, its painted surface will celebrate its nature as it speaks with a soft voice.
A site has been selected so I must lay a concrete foundation this morning if it is to be in place by the 8th October show.

Twombly gets our vote

2011-09-15T19:30:00.004+01:00

Twombly and Poussin at the Dulwich Picture Gallery
Ruth and I travelled up to Dulwich (thats Southern Rail to East Croydon and a red 197 via Penge) then we walked in the September sun through Dulwich park into the Dulwich Picture Gallery. We found the show absolutely fantastic, wonderful. Not too big, not too busy, Look, Lunch (fish pie) and back to look again - very civilized indeed. The information was very helpful - differences and similarities abounded - loved it x. Both artists in different ages moved to Rome at the age of 30, both Arcadian painters steeped in the poets. A sensitivity that is stroked and smeared, drawn and dribbled, written and removed on paintings and palimpsests of sheer pleasure.
Go and see it while you can at Dulwich Picture Gallery -

making visible

2011-09-13T22:04:00.001+01:00

A fleeting glimpse of the spirit

My Psalm Project has been rather neglected. This painting is one of the few that been kept, it is one of three painted on thick card with gouache. Reading Psalms generate on the one hand a sense of some very robust thinking and speaking that is balanced out with extreme vulnerability. Trying to identify with this and to externalize the felt sensation is the brief I gave myself in the painting reproduced.
Within the small painting is immense strength and power, yet flickering in the colours and the mode of application is a sensitivity verging on the romantic. This is, I guess, why it has been kept. This is the invisible made visible, a fleeting glimpse of the spirit.
These pieces occurr in an unconscious moment and cannot be summoned on demand, I am looking to recognize more of such moments and make them visible.

enclosed garden again

2011-09-12T07:00:00.000+01:00

Enclosed Garden 2

I completed the figures (see previous) by adding colours to the spaces, the later colours became much more difficult, like finishing a game of Solitaire, but in the end quite pleasing. It was my intention to work further into the painting but on reflection, left it in this simple state - finished. The gray-scale version above shows up the colour choices, this is a good test on picture colour, it checks it from a different point of view.

Pastel Pigment

2011-09-08T16:58:00.004+01:00

Pastel pigment hits the button

Given an afternoon - I will draw figures. For a while I ponder my options given that I am working on black photographic foam core. In the end I settle on pastel and array the colours that excite without fail.
I tape down 6 pieces of board and work them in series.
Although I repeat the figures they are always different, I commence using thin grey crayon to make approximate figure forms then with thicker colour I expand on the ideas. Stopping is all important.

Hans Cranach

2011-09-06T16:56:00.002+01:00

Hercules at the Court of Omphale : inspired by Cranach

This painting is now complete, it has rested at the side of the studio for some time so that I can become accustomed to it while it dries. I resist any temptation to tidy it up, now with its little shelf in place and the objects painted it needs no more attention. Using old paintings and painters is very instructive, These early painters come across in a 'modern' way when reworked, by catching what for me is the essense of Cranach through re-drawing the power of his concept is retained.
I must be a bit pleased because I have chosen it as a leading picture for the forthcoming studio exhibition on the 8th October. It is a relief to complete a work of art, they are often resistent to closure, so reaching some sense of equalibrium along with a satisfying level of tension in the work, it allows me to move on to other pieces that need my attention.

enclosed garden

2011-09-05T12:40:00.000+01:00

new painting inspired by an earlier etching

Last Friday evening while looking for paper I came across the etching plate that printed the piece below, 'five virgins' from around 2005. This reminder overlapped the current drawing exercise I was engaged in and gave rise to the beginning I have reproduced above. Friday evening I coloured a ground with a sort of Veronese green for we to work on the next morning, and on Saturday I managed to bring it as far as you see it now.
The figures, the enclosure and arrangements are a remix of past discoveries, here re-invented in new colours and new combinations that prove to be of interest to me. The work was left for this morning as the problem of colouring the remaining figures successfully was difficult. I needed to clean the palette and make a fresh start on a fresh day to 'see' it more objectively. I enjoy the flat chosen colours and will seek to complete the puzzle in the same way, that old saying comes to mind - 'any fool can start a painting, finishing is a different matter'.

Kinetic babe

2011-09-01T17:31:00.006+01:00

For me, setting out to paint well is not the way forward, better to lay down an honest mark in a colour that reflects the objective, this may be good in the end.

Painting never gets any easier, because creative statements answer me back all the time, but this dialogue helps develop a necessary tension in the picture.

The power of a flower

2011-08-30T17:08:00.000+01:00

Larger than life,
this oil painting is about 1M wide, and delivers quite considerable impact.
I held on to the compositional grid as mentioned in a previous blog. After the turquoise layer came a green-grey layer with crimson flowers, much of which is still visible. Looking long and hard at this I needed a little guidance, Chardin came off the shelf, after a few moments I alighted on 'woman taking tea' . She has a grey-green background, lightened with pale blue behind a red chest of drawers, an Idea I thought I could adapt for my flowers.
I worked much of the crimson out with some brighter red, then lightened the back with blue towards a cold pink, all to good effect. I resisted the temptation to add detail to the central leaves while keeping a very broad treatment with these final colours. Adding lines (pale blue and raw sienna) with oil sticks earlier on gave divisions and segments roughly suggested by the grid underneath and that now kept me on course.
The bare wood frame has been ordered, I still need to varnish the painting and do a proper paint job on the frame, then after assembly by the framer - it will be ready for Oct 8.

Old town

2011-08-29T07:31:00.006+01:00

The past plays tricks with me.
Last February I visited Rochester Castle with my grandchildren, we looked at dungeons, we climbed the ramparts, from the tower we viewed the town, and the cathedral. I took a photo for it looked so grand.
I write this on Saturday, for today I painted an interpretation of that photo. Last evening I prepared a large sheet of paper and today I painted in watercolour a picture of Rochester, laid out in ancient splendour. Above is a detail, showing my method of paint distribution adopted in order to create the illusion of houses and streets. This in turn needed to describe the underlying landmass on which it is built, for I wanted the land, the river and the town to co-exist as a natural form. This to me was more important that a narrow accuracy of street and path.

It portrays a pre-Renaissance hierarchy of thinking that has been largely abandoned in our age, but here stands a noble monument to that grand idea.

a vigorous aside

2011-08-25T20:33:00.000+01:00

Torso - form

The recurring demands of a series of drawings from five years back forced some action yesterday. Having no beautiful hardwood blank to hand I quickly glued a great wadge of chipboard, MDF and scrap timber together and left it in the vice overnight,

At the end of work today I took it out with a view to making a 'torso'. Here then is my baulk of assembled wood forms on which I have made some suggestive marks to for me to follow. Tomorrow is earmarked for watercolour so this will become a 'vigorous aside', a relief from the pressure of that most delicate of activities

Paint job

2011-08-24T12:10:00.002+01:00

A frame for 'Figures at Mamra'

Last weeks post 'The waiting game' showed a picture with three standing figures, this work needed a title and a frame. Figures at Mamra worked for me as a title and the frame was already made as the previous post indicated, but in white lacked any connection to Mamra. I opted for a very simple pattern worked into the paint in two shades of grey as shown above. Using household emulsion I use layers to integrate the pattern and here I cut it back with wet & dry to find a super smooth finish. All this effort builds on the image, pulling it away from convention to an ancient modernity. Varnish for the painting and polish for the frame will see it completed and I will be rewarded.

The waiting game

2011-08-22T09:01:00.002+01:00

There is often quite a long period between the inception of a drawing and the paintings they generate. There was about a year in this case, with a series of charcoal line drawings being shuffled into drawers, rediscovered, pinned on the wall, ignored and then one day a moment comes as was the case here. That moment occurred when I drew them on a canvas that had a dirty green base. Drawn in a dark tone with a rigger I saw potential, yet again they were left, this time for about 3 months, not knowing how to proceed.
'Indian yellow' came to me one morning in association with this drawn image and I immediately set to work and added two other colours and left it. Again weeks passed. Then, with a book of traditional Saransatic Japanese fabric samples on one side, I worked the white patterns, Mixed the turquoise and the pale mauve to over-paint earlier mistakes and it came together. A matter of waiting and knowing - then working.
Shown here is a mock up frame in white that is awaiting completion, the white seems unfinished, perhaps another wait . . . . .

Picnic at La Gacilly 2

2011-08-19T09:26:00.004+01:00

In Praise of Sensory Perception

Sensory perception, or Empirical thinking, has lost out in our age. Discredited, seen now as base and unreliable, it is a far cry from those pre-renaissance days when it was regarded as a noble thing. This change tends to weaken our ability to be elevated in a serious way by art and poetry (and faith), but even so, as my last post on this Picnic piece indicated, I set out to communicate the experience of our interaction with each other and the natural world on that afternoon in July in line and colour.
So, the work is done, and shown here is a detail. Ruth and I on the bank of the river Aff below La Gacilly suffused in drifts of green and blue. I have kept to elements of realism that disintegrate into overwhelming colour saturation not dissimilar to the way our senses are worked on by these situations.

Finding Rima

2011-08-16T22:41:00.000+01:00

Jacob Epstein and the Hudson Memorial in Hyde Park

London is very busy in August. The National Gallery was full to overflowing, I was glad to slip down to the basement to see the current free Exhibition 'Devotion by design', a beautifully presented collection of pre 1500 altarpieces. They came alive in the half light, music and flickering candles added to the powerful atmosphere. Away from the crowds I could gaze at that superb Mantegna, along with other memorable pieces in peace and quiet.
Leaving there I called into the Mall galleries and had an expresso with a custard tart.
Then, with time to spare I took it into my head to find The Hudson Memorial. I had examined reproductions in my books of Epsteins remarkable relief carvings of the Venezuelan goddess Rima.
I walked up the Mall past the palace to Hyde Park Corner, scrutinizing the public map I saw way off in the middle of Hyde Park 'The Hudson Memorial', skirting the Serpentine I walked on up the wide sloping paths on a summers afternoon among the deckchairs and picnics. after 40 mins I caught sight of my Epstein! I approached with anticipation. Almost better than I had hoped, Perfect proportions, immaculate surroundings, a peaceful sanctuary and perfect memorial for the naturalist Hudson. A small panel, about 3 x 4 foot, but with such power joined to ascendant lightness. I think it superb, unbelievable that when unveiled in May 1925 it caused uproar as the personification of ugliness! Some 90yrs on it has worn well, and I was glad the crowds were all round the Hay Wain, I had Rima to myself.

A table for Hercules

2011-08-15T06:57:00.000+01:00

Thoughts on 'Hercules at the Court of Omphale'

It was clear from the beginning that this shaped unframed panel finished uneasily at the bottom, it needed 'something'.
The garden studio was awash with summer light, Maria Callas sang, and I made a shelf. Well, a sort of shelf, more like one of Cezanne's sloping tables on which I;ve placed some objects. Now as I continue to paint, I will include this quirky addition, colouring it as I go.
The objects cannot slip off the shelf as they are made to fit in a locating hole, this will mean the client can rearrange the objects over time to change the composition as they like!

Figure(s)

2011-08-11T19:44:00.000+01:00

Figure(s)

There is some authority about this piece, both in what is painted and how it is painted.
I have studied it for some time, even though it has taken on a new level of immediacy or what may be construed as roughness I cannot bring myself to make any further alteration. It takes the viewer with a degree of force that is satisfying.
This work will yield a number of readings (hence the title) and I have no wish to authorise any particular view be it gender or attitude. It is certainly multi-layered and complicated in its message and all I can say is, that as usual my thinking has a metaphysical bias.
The pale Turquoise and Naples yellow make an interesting base for the palette and its 'flatness' in rendering takes me to those Assyrian low relief's in the British Museum.
Any thoughts on interpretation are always interesting - do let me know . . . .

Picnic at La Gacilly

2011-08-10T07:52:00.006+01:00

While in France during July I went with the family to a picnic on the bank of a river, a few photos were taken, there were waterlilies, kingfishers, wine to drink with cold meat and a french loaf. All quite memorable.

I thought it may translate into a painting, and to that end I made a drawing or two, a detail of one is reproduced above.

That same day I had in my hand an old discarded painting that was predominantly Cobalt blue and bright green with a little red ochre. This I retrieved and quickly made the gouache sketch shown below that will guide me while painting.

Now the six foot wide canvas is ready and today (wed) is free of interruptions.

Can I, with swathes of colour reproduce the sensation of sunshine, white wine and kingfishers?

Flowers 2

2011-08-08T09:00:00.009+01:00

Degas still speaks to me

Recently I painted some flowers on a wet afternoon.
I thought they were an aside, a diversion.
While looking at them today I wondered, how would they look if they were reworked much bigger, and I wondered about those four divisions that I recognized in the smaller work.
Degas also came to mind, for one of his students recalled that while copying in the Louvre, was told by the master to be sure his prepared ground was coloured with a strong viridian, nothing else would do.
As these thoughts converged in my mind I resolved to paint a new ground for what will be 'Flowers 2'
This canvas is around 1M square has received the strongly coloured ground it deserves.
I think it rather handsome.
In Photoshop I test the idea with a simple overlay, - interesting, but not quite how I see it in my mind.

Flowers on a wet afternoon

2011-08-05T09:19:00.001+01:00

Painting Flowers on a wet afternoon

One of the important discoveries for me when examining reprints of Picasso's sketchbooks was the way he returns to realism every now and again, just as you would whistle a tune or drum your fingers while waiting for the next move. So yesterday when nothing was happening, lunchtime passed and the rain continued steadily, . . . it was then I noticed these flowers on the table.
Making a satisfactory arrangement of colours on a board is not easy, and coupled with the representation of surface type and the engaging quality of summer flowers, the job was quite demanding.
The picture has formal qualities, retrospectively I see a grid, four section horizontally and four sections vertically that have predominant colour types.
Although concerned at the time the vase base was barely visible I felt no compulsion to change things and now the rightness of that judgement asserts itself as I view the work today.
The separation of abstract and realism is a thin one. A wide range of view and practice will widen our ability to translate the appearance of things into a reality with some truthfulness. How abstract or how much verisimilitude will be a matter for our translation on the day.

Cezanne & Noguchi

2011-08-04T09:48:00.001+01:00

One song from different masters
Development, the growth of understanding in an artist, interests me. This interest is either as a comfort - a sort of identification with them where I can find encouragement or a mode of simply learning from their discoveries in perception and technique. A recent literary acquisition is Roger Fry's 'Cezanne, a study of his development', A title I could not easily pass by, and written by a man was both and artist and a critical writer. I am reading this alongside 'Isamu Noguchi,a journey without borders' and finding surprising parallels. Both knew from childhood that they were artists and both having to work through false expectations in order to extract what Fry calls 'that reality under the veil of appearance'. This unlikely couple had a mutual sense of not belonging alongside reclusive working with a remarkable purity of vision.
Noguchi's pared down Japanese modernity that he draws from ancient traditional values entrenched in the craftsmen he worked with seems to resonate with the labours of that grand old man in Aix.
This is a thread I think worthy of emulation, that simplicity, rhythm and vision.

Hercules begun

2011-08-03T09:25:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I spent time revising the figure group in Cranach's 'Hercules at the Court of Omphale'. My renewed interest in the period and my love for Cranach took me back to this piece. The arrangement of figure groups, the pictorial forms created in medieval paintings is very powerful, I want here to draw on that heritage and translate it as well as I can into the present moment.
This is a few colours laid in as a base, I have two or three pencil drawings to guide me when the painting begins in earnest.

Hans Cranach 1537

madcap

2011-08-01T11:14:00.002+01:00

At the back of my garden shed there was stored this shaped ground, four feet wide with 1993 written on the back, The date I made it. In a moment of enthusiasm I thought it worth a bit of attention, brought it in and prepared it to paint on.
It will need some panache to carry this one off, I think a shelf at the bottom with purpose made items and a little decoration on the top to play the game fully.
. . . .and I have a picture of Hercules at the palace of Adolphe from around 1400 in my mind . . . . . . more later

London calling

2011-07-29T09:10:00.002+01:00

What a resource, two days in London take a lot of digesting.
for instance . . . .
for quickness and size I slip 'Fables by Schedrin' in my pocket, (an old 1941 ed) written before the revolution they were radical and forbidden, passing Riddlesdown I am in the window reading 'The Ram who could not remember'
Coffee and cake in a side street family cafe and soon I am drifting through Nash's grand rooms in that Royal pile at the end of Pall Mall. excited by Topolski in a corridor, the scale is biblical, then Titan, Rembrandt and Rubens wash over me unexpectedly in the picture gallery; they are profound. The whole p(a)lace and garden is a removed and distinct other world - suddenly we are spat out under the watchful eye of a policeman on to Constitution Hill.
We catch a bus in Piccadily to Aldwych and buy brushes in Drury Lane, Russel & Chappel sell me 'Scenic Fitches' , flats with IL FAMOSO PENNELLO on the black gloss handles and new 'da vinci' riggers that I love.
The view from the ninth floor is of the city and beyond, I read a little more Schedrin. Supper is French in an open window off Longacre before Chekhov at The NT, walking back across the river we watch people, and take in the night air.
We delay breakfast and eat scones and coffee in the Morris room at the V&A. then bathe ourselves in treasures, more wood than gold, and more Terra cotta than silver - so is my preference.
I select 'The life of Isamu Noguchi' from the bookshop after lunch, wander in the Early Medieval aisles before catching the C1 to Victoria.
I am now very full.

Woman with red hair

2011-07-27T07:30:00.004+01:00

This piece has been unfinished for weeks. Just lacking . . . something. It was lacking a face for a start and that was a major obstacle - a face or not?
To begin my re-entry into the painting I squared up the dress and the sofa arm in pencil and painted the white dots. I tried colour on the sofa but in the end wiped it leaving only the stain, that in itself was enough.
After a number of attempts I settled on this face, making it as direct as possible.
Simplicity is the power of this painting and the muted colour is lifted by the subtle whites that work unnoticed.
It's about 60cm square and will be shown at the autumn studio show. For now though, I think I'll hang it in the house!

Interior light

2011-07-25T08:52:00.001+01:00

Clearing up studio's can be a good thing.
Today, while on a mission to reduce the muddle that has accumulated around me I found this painting in a folder of old work. Probably painted about five/six years ago and at the time unsure of its worth. Seeing it again I am still intrigued by it, so much so I have pinned it up in the studio to see it over time.
The balance of colours and forms are quite agreeable.
As I stare at it, light, with considerable luminosity flows from within a form that enjoys considerable ambiguity. Without any reason for adjustment, it will be left to itself for now.

Temporary homes

2011-07-21T22:01:00.002+01:00

The Arcadia series of eight paintings is at last complete. Now with their wings attached they were finished but rather vulnerable, so some storage and transport solution was called for.
I acquired some large sheets of thick cardboard from which I made eight trays and eight lids, where, for now the paintings can sit snugly until they find a permanent home.
Two have been selected as part of a special showing of my work at The Redleaf Gallery in Tunbridge Wells in September and when I last spoke to Nicholas Hills 'Arcadia 09' was to feature on the invitation. Meantime, I have cleared a space on a shelf for all of them, knowing they are safe in their own custom made, brown cardboard boxes, and I can move on.

A bold move

2011-07-19T22:20:00.000+01:00

This drawing pleases me.
I have just had it framed in a thin dark aluminium frame with a thick museum mount and it looks very handsome.
Strength of design and a confident line carry the idea with simplicity. No line is superfluous, no more is needed to explain the idea. I can follow the lines and intersections without disappointment. The left hip and thigh is drawn with precision showing bones and muscle with utter economy, then lines zig-zag up to a diagrammatic head and shoulders that in turn speak volumes.
It's a one off.
If only I could do this more often and then have the courage to frame them.

A working head

2011-07-18T08:41:00.001+01:00

The earlier state of this is 'the gentle head' and after some initial revisions it was left to one side. Today, with most of my Redleaf show work resolved and images for the exhibition invitations settled with the gallery, I could turn my attention to other things. This wooden low relief called me and I dabbled around with paint reducing the rather strong tones. In this way I re-entered the Psalm Project to which this piece belongs. The summer plan is to revive work on this for the October Studio show with a real attempt to develop ideas that were conceived earlier this year.
This variety of working methods enables me in a creative way - allowing movement of thought and unclogging mental blockage.

32 pins

2011-07-15T08:15:00.000+01:00

The Arcadia series have stalled bit. At the last mention I planned some wings instead of frames, and these had been made in a flurry of workshop activity. Now the 16 wings for the 8 pictures need 32 copper pins to join the together. I have some copper rod in the workshop and proceed to drill the wings to accommodate the pins, then glue pin and wing together. I must do this before finishing the wings in case I damage the delicate surface putting back to square one.
First it is grain filler, rub down, then a couple of coats of white emulsion and rub down again checking for missed flaws. After addressing these details I strain some emulsion using a nylon stocking into a clean dish. I am using the colour 'soft antelope' which I then thin with water to minimise brush marks. The drawback of thin paint is lack of coverage so three or four coats are needed and coat of thinned acrylic varnish. This will be 'knocked back' with fine wire wool and polished for the final look.
I like to expand my work in this way - it is needful in order to maintain the excentric nature of the pieces - making them extraordinary, and a little wonderful to see.

Dancing Girls

2011-07-13T07:47:00.001+01:00

Even when I'm playful - I'm serious.
I roughed this in the other night just for fun. Looking at it later it stood up quite well, well enough to tinker with it some more. A minor adjustment to the upper half backgound colour and a tweak to the tonal range of limbs and heads. I believe the pay-off for working in series is the deeper understanding of the motif that allows play to be serious all at once.

six dancers

2011-07-11T07:40:00.001+01:00

This is the final state of a canvas that was featured earlier with the title 'cloud nine', but has seen considerable reworking. The linked hands in a ring take one straight to H. Matisse, but apart from the hands, the figures and the colours belong to me as the result of a long journey of revision. There is a strange weightless feel about the piece and I am unable to place the music they are dancing to.
The figures are now softer in treatment and the space is stronger in colour while simpler in design, these changes make the picture somewhat curious and difficult to judge as to its success, all I understand is that I see no further adjustment neccesary, I can only assume it is now complete.

trio on blue

2011-07-08T08:35:00.002+01:00

This is the latest version - the Ultramarine tint setting up the simple browns and grays in the figures. By interlocking the arms I insert emotional content into these altered dancers that speaks of humanity. But primarily it is a play of line and colour - a game for the eye, a conversation with reality that catches me every time. How the colouring arrangement fails to describe anatomy and yet explains everything I find entertaining for the mind.

Antidote

2011-07-06T09:38:00.002+01:00

Art can get very serious.
In order to defuse this overblown 'importance' the injection of fun is great - especially here where I paint R.& J. over the top of an cerebral abstract that had become a little boring - and I can laugh again.

Grand Rond de Jambe

2011-07-04T06:53:00.000+01:00

Ballet is a precise business - constant reference to the textbook line is of the essence. Yet like playing music and drawing the figure, to be bound by the detail is to remove every ounce of life from the result. Finding the balance between accuracy and lightness of touch is the nature of the work, so it is with this painting.
I do hope the lively brushwork and the outline sit happily together.

Arcadian wings

2011-07-01T09:51:00.000+01:00

My series of small oil panels 'Arcadia' had run into framing problems as mentioned in an earlier blog due to the rounded edges and unusual nature - they defied framing and needed some additional finish.
Yesterday it occurred to me that wings could well solve the problem, and mocked up some cardboard to judge effect and sizes. It looked good, and even better when the external corners were given small rounds to reflect the rounded panels. The panel measures 10 x 15 cm so it seemed natural to make the wings 10 x 5 cm. They will be attached to the panels with copper rod drilled and glued to give a 5mm space between panel and wing. Made of plywood with a chamfered edge to reduce apparent bulk they will have a satin off white paint finish.
With sixteen wings to make it became a mini production line in the workshop, all made, rounded and pre-drilled before coffee. The paint finish will take a little longer.

More trio development

2011-06-29T07:04:00.000+01:00

This morning I make six new explorations on large paper with oil, ink and watercolour. Keeping them as powerful and uncomplicated as possible by working on the floor fairly quickly with generous brushes. The results are as expected rather uneven but as yet only one has been destroyed. These have focused on the pelvic girdle I will spend the evening increasing the scope by including the shoulders and arms. Building up in this way my understanding develops with the drawings and confidence grows with knowledge.

Trio element

2011-06-27T08:03:00.004+01:00

These three dancers have been the object of my attention for some time. This rapid oil sketch tests the central horizontal section to see if it holds up as a work in its own right. Apart from the enjoyable result of the 'urgent' application of line and colour I am disappointed with the left hand curve as it lacks interest and the remnants of simplified thighs clogs my appreciation. I look for a sense of the power and control that exists here in the thigh and stomach of the dancer with less of that anatomical remnant. Below I try a reversed gray-scale version, I feel there is more here for me to do.

New Trio

2011-06-24T15:41:00.007+01:00

Unwilling to relegate my recent 'trio' to a throwback from the '90s I continue to work on the theme. Redrawing it a number times and towards the end working directly on primed ply in pencil. By reducing the legs to major on one vertical leg per dancer the formal qualities are increased and the rather cute girl angle is diminished. The drawing and coloured zones around the hips defines the new piece and it may be the subsequent work on this theme must pick from this point in order to take it further.

presenting Arcadia

2011-06-22T12:17:00.003+01:00

This no. 3 in the 'Arcadia' set - there are eight in all and they can all be seen here
Painted in thin oil with a gloss finish they also have a rounded edge to the panel they have as a ground. This makes them unusual and subsequently an interesting exercise to frame. With quite a clear idea about this I visited the framer but was unable to convince him that this idea would be the best for the picture - and was not encouraged to go ahead with it!
The works look a little paltry when unframed, when framed they look overdressed or overloaded. What to do? With the innovative picture format I am now faced more innovation in the framing, more thinking, more mock ups and more scratching of heads.

Trio

2011-06-20T16:27:00.001+01:00

Escaping the past is so difficult. Escaping the sheer prettiness of dance is also difficult.
But it is possible that finding myself here will drive something new. If I can pull this composition out of my head, then other things are possible.

Dance energy

2011-06-17T09:42:00.001+01:00

To dance is an effusion of emotional energy, a natural release of feeling that cannot be contained. The Ballet on the other hand is a carefully planned and prescribed discipline that is mobilized as an art form to be a vehicle for an emotional drama. When I come to draw the ballet, this catalogue of movements however beautiful, limits the 'joy' of the expression. Learning 'steps' and sequences is all part of learning how to dance, or should we say learning how to be seen dancing.
Should my drawing be controlled by set methods of likeness or am I allowed to express joy. Dancing figures drawn in abandoned joy will have an energy that will not conform to the 'lines of ballet. Are they less beautiful for that?

dance development

2011-06-15T20:54:00.002+01:00

A confession. This scrap of joined paper is the result of 4hrs work.
It is a universal 'known' that development is invariably slow, that progress is hard won. Last week ended with me having a canvas on which were some crude dancers along with two sheets of paper carrying the same idea. This arrangement contained drama, but was in itself unsatisfactory. The afternoon has been employed with watercolour and ink working and re-working the figures over and over with little sucess. After supper I returned to work and with a pencil and after an hour assembled this piece, on reflection it was regarded as worth transferring to the canvas. There is always work, but work I believe is more to be trusted than the lucky break!

Cocktail

2011-06-15T15:35:00.002+01:00

This tall painting is, or almost, finished. These oil paintings seem to lurch forwards in unequal steps and then without warning, I see nothing more to do and I assume it is finished. The iconography in the figure structure is familiar - but that is the way things are, a sort of graphic handwriting that only changes slowly. This piece stands about 1.2M high and is quite powerful when seen . . . . . . . the next excitement will be in the framing.

Making templates

2011-06-13T10:03:00.000+01:00

The new steel sculpture see steelwork s
The first task in hand is to transfer the flat patterns from the maquette to templates for the fabricator to use with a plasma cutter on the steel sheet.
First I used 'photo mount' to make some thin paper tacky and laid it on the curved sections and marked out the actual shape. These I scanned at 100% and using Adobe Illustrator drew 'nice' curves over my traced lines and then overlaid the patterns with 1cm squares.
To achieve a life size figure I need to expand the maquette x4 times. On a sheet of white painted hardboard I draw 4cm squares and plot the curves on to the hardboard. The plasma cutter requires a 4mm inset on the line so I cut the hardboard 4mm small and clean up the edges.
Various folds and weld lines are marked up and all is ready for Peter the fabricator!
Now I need to redesign the plinth and choose some colours.

Warming up for dancers

2011-06-10T19:52:00.000+01:00

To revisit old places is dangerous, they may not be as you remember them! My revisiting dance as a subject has brought on some serious conversations with myself. Here is a charcoal, gouache and ink study of two classical dancers and I find the demands of accuracy make the need to return to my old style of work overwhelming.
This exercise will push me into a new place if I am to remain true to myself, bringing this familiar source material up to where I with my current work.

Dancing Melinda

2011-06-09T12:15:00.001+01:00

As a little light relief, I am working on a series of dance pieces, a series that will be shown at the Redleaf gallery later this summer as an interim one man show. My objective again here is to rework old ground to see how my views on dance work now after a few years away. Always the balance, movement and correctness is important while imbuing the painting with energy and life - this is the brief. How they work out will be seen in the next four weeks!