I’ve made an encouraging start with my new project.  Let me explain.  I have become fascinated by the experience of Italy during the First World War, and this group of three images is the first among what I expect will be a series, reflecting on different aspects of my acquaintance with the area of the … Read more

Yesterday I thought that I had discovered the measure of my true commitment to art, in that I sacrificed a day’s walking in the countryside with friends in order to paint.  Just how much more than that is it possible to be committed? Today the relative strength of that commitment was revealed. I went into … Read more

I determined that nothing would stand in the way of my making progress with painting today, so I actually pulled out of an event in which I had planned to take part.  Looking back over the day, I probably spent six hours in front of the easel.  (It certainly feels like it!)  The result, however, … Read more

Well, I’ve never tried this before, but there is always a first time.  The first bit of my new Italian project in fact consists of three canvases of identical format.  As I began to think about just how I would tackle this, it struck me that because they are in effect three components of one … Read more

In one sense it’s not all that “new”, in that I’ve been churning it in my head for nearly a year. I’ve poked at it; looked at it through my fingers; peeped at it when I thought it wasn’t looking; tried to glimpse it sideways on, remarking loudly that I’m doing something else entirely.  I … Read more

There has been a correspondence recently in the pastel artists’ section of LinkedIn, about how and when people discovered their affinity with art. This has connected for me with other discussions about the attractions of pastels as a medium. Comment on the tactile quality of the medium, as one of its attractions, is common.  In … Read more

A chap who tried pastels, named Rust, Was really put off by the dust. It was fine on his fingers, Where dust often lingers; When it got on his nose then he cussed.

I attended the opening on Friday evening of an exhibition at the South Square Centre, in Bradford, where this month’s exhibitor is Pat Belson, a long-term colleague associated with the Unit 9 Gallery there. I was really surprised to discover that Pat’s show consisted of works in felt, as I have known her previously as … Read more

I can’t decide whether that is a good idea or not.

Thinking about how to (re-)start a project, shelved to make space for the windows, it suddenly struck me that we often get hold of the wrong end of the stick with art.  People often talk about art in terms of communication, with an emphasis on what the artist wants to communicate. I have found that … Read more