There is a significant difference, as I discovered last week, between the meaning of these two phrases. I think that it is no exaggeration to say that I have been down with the worst cough I have ever experienced. The constant hacking at my lungs left me feeling weak and without the ability to engage … Read more
I am happy to say that I am emerging gradually from the morass of distraction which afflicted me for a time. This is odd, because we are just embarking on the process of selling our house, and one might have expected that the distractions would have multiplied. Anyway, let’s just be grateful for the way … Read more
…. if I might be allowed to misuse the famous quotation from Marshall McLuhan. It came to mind while I was thinking about the group of paintings on which I have been working recently. Ordinarily I regard pastels as being my medium of choice, but here I am embarked upon a series of images all … Read more
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 …. … Read more
I’ve barely finished clearing up after my Worcester exhibition today when, as I sat down for a few moments of relaxation with one of the art magazines to which I subscribe and a coffee, I noticed the section advertising forthcoming events. The main interest of this is, of course, the notices of open competitions into … 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
I have just been asked to complete a survey relating to my activity as an artist. It was run by a reputable national (perhaps international) network. Among the questions to which I was asked to respond was one relating to the media in which I work. To my astonishment pastels were not included at all. … Read more
I’ve just done something I don’t remember ever doing before. I have abandoned a picture after a relatively short period of struggle with it, simply on the basis that I came to hate the paper I had chosen to use. Normally I relish the experience of adapting to different surfaces, but on this occasion the … Read more
…. sometimes you’re the bug. Sometimes it all comes together ….” as Mark Knopfler used to sing. Well, I’m glad to say that today it has “all come together”. It is strange the way in which, on some occasions, it is possible to wrestle with a picture, feeling that you are getting nowhere. There have … Read more
My wife and I will be making one of our “raids” on London next week. It seems ages since last we did so, and we are both looking forward eagerly to the trip. One of the principal reasons for my going is the retrospective exhibition of work by Paula Rego, at the Tate.* I think … Read more