I’ve been hoping for some time that I would be able to produce one more picture for inclusion in my “Green Man” exhibition, at Lincoln Cathedral in July. Try as I might I could produce nothing coherent. I started several sketches but they all fizzled out before I had confidence in them. I must have spent hours just allowing my mind to roam in the general area, hoping that something would emerge with sufficient clarity to merit development. Quite a bit of time was spent over several days, going back to the several books I have which deal with the theme of the Green Man. Any idea that presented itself as a possible seed of something was just too literally derivative from one of the illustrations. I was on the verge of abandoning the idea yesterday until, quite suddenly, when I was in bed, a phrase came into my head.
I am not sure why that phrase should have struck me as relevant at the time, as it was without any kind of visual content. It was only this morning, when Steve, who photographs my work, came to the house that I began to actually see something (actually, the bark of an oak tree). This was still a long way from providing enough to call “inspiration”. Nevertheless, as the afternoon wore on more and more details came into view. I began to wonder whether mistletoe should figure in the picture, and looked once more at what Robert Graves and others have said about the symbolic associations of the plant. Finally, I have been able to put together a rough sketch, which at least has the potential for development into something.
Parallel to this process, incidentally, was another thought-process in which I reflected on the medium I might use. I was guided really only by the idea that I would like to produce something with a strong feeling of texture. Finally, I have to admit that I did spend a certain amount of time wondering which of the pensioned-off frames and mounts I have in store might be re-usable on this occasion. While pondering the possibility of returning to work in acrylic I did go as far as to get out a canvas which I had marked out for a second (actually, a third) lease on life. That didn’t feel right.
We are going out to a restaurant tonight because I want to thank somebody who was extremely helpful with my Ilkley exhibition, so it will be tomorrow before the project can be advanced at all. Even so, I do feel a great deal more settled in my mind. I can’t help must marvel, however, at the devious and obscure process by which artistic ideas seem to come into being.