Steve’s visit in order to photograph my work yesterday was interesting because it enabled me to get out and see, in one place and at one time, all the work I have been doing over the past six months. Suddenly, it made me see things in a rather different light.
It came to me that perhaps what I have been doing here is not painting trees, but painting me, “disguised as a tree”. Maybe all of this stuff is actually a series of metaphorical self-portraits. It’s not a particularly happy thought (if you see the pictures) but it does make sense of what has been going on.
I came to this idea when we were preparing the room for his work, and the settee and the easel both had to be moved to make room for his lights. Under the settee was a large portfolio I have recently rediscovered and sorted, of my very early work. I remarked to him that in the past I had paid much more attention to portraiture. I wondered if I have a natural tendency towards portraiture, although I have not indulged in this very often. I have been aware, nevertheless, that a lot of my work at the regular life-drawing classes I attend does have a tendency to concentrate on the face. Perhaps this is what is going on with my trees.
Then, as I travelled back from Bradford on the bus this morning, it occurred to me that the stimulus which set me off along this track in the first place is the fact that they are all old trees. For a variety of reasons I have to confess that I have been rather preoccupied with the ageing process of late. No doubt those who know me will find this quite natural, given my age! I can’t help but ask whether what its going on here is not an interest in trees, but an obsession with age, masquerading as an interest in old trees