Having discovered a gap in the garden, after some overdue weeding, we visited our local garden centre looking for something to fill the space. We were puzzled at first to discover that they are celebrating today “Elvis’ 21st birthday”. All became clear when we remembered that they have a parrot called Elvis, who is quite … Read more
…. rather like the legendary experience of the drowning man. Actually, all I was doing was finishing the sort-out of my old art files. Today I had the opportunity to look carefully through the portfolio of very old material, which I left until the last. It has been a remarkable experience in a number of … Read more
Preparation for an exhibition can entail some unexpected experiences. In particular, I have in mind at the moment the rediscovery of work I forgot that I had ever done. The process of selecting paintings for display has been a relatively straightforward one. (I did decide eventually that I needed to alter slightly the manner in … Read more
A little while ago (12 October to be precise) I touched on the subject of memory in art, and I’ve been returning to this over the past few days. I’m just about finished with a piece in my new bout of engagement with T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. On the whole I’m quite pleased with … Read more
I have been rather unwell over the past few days, stricken by an upset stomach. The principal consequence of this has been an acute lack of energy. Life has been a matter of getting by. Even the suggestion, from a friend, of a possible exhibition opportunity was met with a sense of horror at the … Read more
Why, in other words, do the works of specific artists bear particular significance for us? I’ve often pondered this question, for example in relation to the continuing appeal to me of the work of Stanley Spencer or Paul Nash. I don’t have in mind here the kinds of flash of connection that might lead us … Read more
While cooking dinner tonight I decided to dig out one of my old Joan Baez CDs. This was the more recent stuff, not the English folk song material she sang back in the sixties.* I was grabbed by the throat quite suddenly by her rendering of Diamonds and Rust. I believe that this is her … Read more
With half a bottle of good Italian red wine inside me perhaps I could be forgiven for seeing the world in an unusual way this evening. (We celebrated my birthday dinner tonight.) Today has, however, been a strange one. The other day I received a surprising request. Way back in 1987 I was involved in … Read more
This afternoon I read an interesting piece in Summit, the magazine of the British Mountaineering Council. It has really set me thinking at several levels. The article was about Hamish MacInnes, who in years gone by was one of Britain’s foremost mountaineers. In the 1950s he established several major alpine routes. I remember him most … Read more
A current exhibition at Tate Britain, in London, directs our attention to what happened to European art in the wake of the Great War. I wondered if there was anything new to be said about the conflict, because the past five years have seen a succession of exhibitions presenting different reflections on that period.* I … Read more