I have known about the work of Mary Cassatt for a long time. I think that she turned up first in my reading about Degas’ pastel techniques. A large proportion of her work was undertaken in this medium. A friend of mine has recently loaned me two DVDs about her work which I have found … Read more
Before yesterday my knowledge of Walter Sickert was thin indeed. I had some awareness of the general regard in which he is held in the history of British art, but that amounted to very little. As a consequence, when Tate Britain announced a major retrospective review of his work I decided that this was an … Read more
I remember that, when I was in grammar school, the art teacher laid it down that the foundation of watercolour technique was one’s ability to paint a wash. We spent what in recollection seems to have been hours attempting to produce that perfectly even layer of colour. This I now remember with some amusement in … Read more
I drove over to Sowerby Bridge this afternoon in order to pick up the copies of prints ordered by visitors to my Ilkley Exhibition. (I must say that it will really be a relief to be able finally to draw a line under that venture, however good the experience was.) The printer and I fell … Read more
I decided to take seriously my annoyance expressed in the last post, and I contacted the Pastel Society. They will be looking into it. I am amazed constantly by the relative lack of interest in and respect for pastels as a medium. Certainly I don’t work only in this medium, but I have to say … Read more
Recently I’ve been toying with the idea of attempting more portraits. I was reasonably pleased with the little sketch I did of my wife recently. The announcement that our regular life-drawing class will be restarting very soon has re-enforced that interest. Having been loaned a book about Egon Schiele and Jenny Saville recently my thinking … Read more
I expect that the controversy currently raging in the UK at the moment, about there legacy of slavery, will not have passed unnoticed in other countries. The dramatic toppling and defacing of statues and other public monuments is the kind of thing that secures headline treatment in the press the world over. Perhaps something similar … Read more
My tutors at the Ilkley Art School are constantly presenting us with new challenges in the life-drawing class I attend there. Well …. “attend” is now, of course, something of a euphemism. Under the current “lockdown” regime they are emailing the students suggestions for tasks that can be done at home, and the results emailed … Read more