I have just begun to re-read Lawrence Durrell’s “Alexandria Quartet”. Like Stella Gibbon’s Cold Comfort Farm, it is one of those literary creations to which I feel compelled to return every now and then. It only occurred to me today that, like Cold Comfort Farm, Durrell’s Alexandria is a very untidy place. The difference between … Read more
Recently I awarded myself one of my periodic “art retreats” in order to recharge the creative batteries. I spent three days in the Dales village of Kettlewell, walking and scouting for new themes for paintings. In some respects it was disappointing …. mainly because I had been unable to find suitable self-catering accommodation, as I … Read more
In the past I have found it very effective, when I have been seriously stuck in the attempt to create new work, to go away for several days on what I have come to call an “art retreat”. These involve my renting a small cottage somewhere in a relatively remote rural area, and staying there … Read more
So Charles Dickens opened A Tale of Two Cities. It seems to be an adequate description of the past four months. The move of house has naturally brought with it a sense of new beginnings and possibility. On the other hand, simply the task of creating a new home has turned out to be immensely … Read more
In the spring I moved house, and the transition to a new home has turned out to be very disruptive of my art activity. I am now beginning to re-establish something like normality, and hope to continue this blog in the future. I hope to be with you again on a more-or-less regular basis from … Read more
At last it appears that I might be returning to a kind of artistic normality. Over the past few days I have managed to do a couple of drawings which give me some kind of satisfaction. The first was a kind of “homage to Georgio Morandi” and the second an informal self-portrait. Neither of these … Read more
Well, perhaps that is a little too melodramatic. My silence on this blog for the past month is actually due to the fact that we have moved house. This has been, as you might imagine, a lengthy and traumatic process. The more severe part of the experience has been moving into a place which is … Read more
Certainly that is what it feels like, to return to my blog after a long absence. The reasons for this silence have been connected. We have moved house, which has been a substantial disruption of life, and a distraction of my attention. More significantly, I think (although connected to it) I haver been suffering from … Read more
Every now and then I entertain the fantasy that I might do some art. Of course, this is an illusory state of mind. The preparation for our house move ensures that there is no possibility that I might have either the time or the mental freedom to do any such thing. Packing seems to be … Read more
It will be no surprise to any colleague that in the process of preparing to move house I have discovered that there is really no point hanging on to a large proportion of the work I have done over the past thirty years. Phrases about “new brooms” have been heard with increasing frequency and volume. … Read more