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 didn’t think that it would be difficult to recruit a model for a composition I have in mind, but it is turning out to be more problematic than I expected. The need arises from my re-engagement with the poetry of T.S. Eliot. There is a particular passage in The Waste Land that has ignited … Read more
You might have guessed that it would not be too long before my perennial interest in T.S. Eliot reasserted itself, especially in view of the fact that this is the centenary of the writing of his great poem The Waste Land. Re-reading it (and watching a TV presentation about his life and work) it might … Read more
We’ve just finished listening to a radio adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. It was certainly an interesting experience, although it has left me with mixed responses to it. I know the poem well, as you will appreciate if you have looked through my “galleries”. The first thing we noted was that my wife’s … Read more
“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity, Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,” Regular readers … Read more
I was prompted to think about the passage of time during today by the sad news of the sudden death of a friend and former neighbour. We got to know each other first when we moved into the street in which they lived more than fifty years ago. (We both had small kids of about … Read more
The natural way to approach the interpretation of any work of art is to start at the beginning. This might well appear to be natural, but in fact that is not necessarily what actually happens. Where we start is, in fact, normally the end. What do I mean by this? When we confront any piece … Read more
Today I managed to get outdoors for some rock-climbing, for the first time since we were all hounded into isolation. It has been a truly beautiful day, and I have been feeling throughout the week that unless I did get back to climbing soon I might never manage it. So, I packed all my gear … Read more
Something about a “rough beast” that “slouches towards Bethlehem to be born”, if I remember it correctly. W.B. Yeats’ line comes to mind when I think about the progress of my current picture. It certainly merits the description of a “rough beast”, and I reckon that “slouches” is not a bad description of the manner … Read more
Throughout the day I’ve been giving more thought to the task set for our life-drawing class, during the current isolation regime, of copying a figure drawing done by a famous artist. My initial response was to suggest that I selected something by a well-known pastellist, such as Edgar Degas or Mary Cassatt. Last night, however, … Read more