At the moment I’m working on a piece for the summer collective exhibition at the Unit 9 Gallery, in the South Square Centre. The title of the exhibition (chosen at a meeting at which I couldn’t be present!) is Urban. At first I was dismayed by this. My landscape work is almost invariably rural …. and pretty wild rural at that. Then, as is often the case, there was a happy accident. Trolling through my photographs with an entirely different purpose in mind I came across a couple of shots I had taken while on a visit to the northern Italian town of Chiavenna, many years ago. It was a view into a small courtyard, aside from the main street.
It then occurred to me that our stereotypical images of “urban” life are generally pretty negative, focussing on crowds, busyness, and isolation from anything natural. This is certainly not the impression I have brought away from the small urban settlements of northern Italy. Here, the alleys and courtyards around which many dwellings are set yield quietness and privacy. They are a refuge from the bustle of the main thoroughfares, and because there seems to be a cult in this region of the potted plant, they are a welcome reminder of the natural world. Suddenly, I realised what my contribution to Urban ought to be.
I am approaching the end of work on the project. (Of course, in painting one never knows when that will come.) It rather pleases me. I think that I will find some way to recognise, in the title, my friendship with the late Pete Lund, a local painter, asrelwho persuaded me to go to Chiavenna.
As usual, completion of a piece of work involves ages spent sitting in a chair, looking at it on the easel, and wondering whether it really is finished or not. Any additional work, at this stage, involves no more than the tiniest scratch of a pastel. I honestly think that we are not many scratches away from completion.