A friend of mine was very proud recently of his newly-acquired palette, which was a facsimile of the one used by Turner. I fell to thinking about this as I was cleaning up this afternoon, after finishing a picture. It is beyond me why anybody these days should want to use a wooden palette. For … Read more
…. for how long it is possible to look at a picture wondering whether or not it is actually finished. I know that I’ve banged on about this before, but it does constantly surprise and irritate me. Thank goodness for a few days of fine weather, during which I have been able to get into … Read more
The piece on which I’m working at the moment reminds me of one of those crazy fairground rides such as the “Big Dipper” at the Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, where I spent part of my childhood. It is a series of exhilarating ascents followed by truly worrying descents. I commented a little while back on … Read more
I gather that in mathematics an “asymptotic” curve is one which is always approaching zero but never actually gets there. Today I realised that this idea could describe my current experience as an artist. On several occasions in this blog I’ve referred to the common problem of artists of trying to decide when a work … Read more
The piece on which I’m working at the moment has reached that annoying stage when you’re pretty clear that it is not yet finished but not exactly certain about what it is that needs to be done. I have a feeling that somewhere around the middle of the composition is a rather dead spot which, … Read more