Back on 1 August I mentioned the current project in our local gallery, Unit 9, which will consist of accounts, by members of the group, of how they went about creating a piece of art. The show will rotate items over a couple of months, but yesterday it was hung, displaying the work of four … Read more
Yesterday night we watched the excellent TV programme by Andrew Neil, on the likely consequences for the rest of the UK should the Scots vote for independence. That was a really thought-provoking experience. I fell to thinking throughout today of the possible consequences for the world of art. The arguments seemed to point in two … Read more
It is curious how the passage of time, and a slight shift of one’s angle of vision, can make such a difference to the way in which things appear to us. A couple of days ago I remarked that I was rather dissatisfied with one of my pictures because it seemed rather flat. The emotional … Read more
I really do wonder sometimes what goes on in dreams. Last night I had an inspiration relating to a problem of composition that had been troubling me. I have been working on one of the pictures in my series dealing with Italy in the First World War. It has to do specifically with the alpine … Read more
Every Tuesday, as far as is possible, I go climbing with a friend. It’s the main form of physical exercise I get, and in many respects assures my sanity. (After having broken two arms last year, several of my friends reckon it must be the key to my insanity, but that’s another discussion.) I was … Read more
Just when I was beginning to think that August and September were going to be a leisurely period in which I could settle in to painting, developing ideas from my Italian trip, I had a diary session …. and realised that I am committed to showing material at a gallery in Norfolk during October. The … Read more
Imagine that you are reading a written description of a picture, and it describes the image in minute detail …. the composition, brushwork, dimensions, colours etc. Everything is spelled out meticulously. Then you are given a chance to actually see the picture. Wouldn’t you expect that in this encounter with the real thing, you would … Read more
My six-month-old grandson is on a visit. I have a keen sense of priorities.
There is an extended discussion running at the moment, in the Pastel Artists’ group on the LinkedIn network, about the choice of paper on which to work. At first I thought that this was an excessively picky discussion, and my response was to point out that a good part of the fun of working in … Read more
I’ve reached that dreadful stage with my latest picture when I seem to spend far more time looking at it, and trying to decide if it’s finished or not, than I do actually painting. Sitting there, staring at it earlier today, I fell to reflecting that in many respects it is unlike most of the … Read more