Monday 30 July 2012

Where did the time go? Oh no, it's August and...
naturally I wanted to get more work done but various things have  slowed production down -  the good news is, I finally have my new studio annexe without any furniture stored in it, so...


At last space, space to be able to walk around, space to be able to lay the work flat, ...space!!


This is the latest version of "Pain", it has been on the wall for a while now and suggested the changes that have taken place - I know that it was practice of Braque to have his paintings 'sitting' around so that they would speak to him, an old tutor of mine witnessed this first hand when having tea with him, in mid conversation Braque suddenly stood up, grabbed his palette and proceeded to work on a  painting! He said that it was when he wasn't thinking about the painting, that the painting spoke to him and said what it needed. 




The next image did not start out as one image, it began as two separate canvasses and this is what occurred - it really is refreshing to make work in this way, it is without boundaries but not without intent, it still requires openness and at the same time, control.




The 2 canvasses are 4ft x 2ft - I wanted to work with double squares after hearing Albert Irvin mentioning this was the proportion favoured by Van Gogh - however, I ended up with a square! This made me make another square 4ft x 4ft with the possibility of an 8ft x 4ft triptych.
Naturally this was never the intention as there was no intention, only a response.
The image below is the first 2 stages, it has been worked on since ...





Again, this is an innate response without any preconceived direction, so even the notion of the triptych has not controlled the outcome - it is important to point out that all this freedom is not without doubts; doubts about my own ability are ever to the fore, just what exactly am I doing? What is the relevance of all this? Why don't I just paint something, that looks like something, that demonstrates a skill and where people will not be made to feel uncomfortable in their understanding about the paintings and their intent .... steady now, steady. As Pissaro said "I recall that at the Academie Suisse there were students who were remarkably skilful and could draw with surprising sureness. Later on, I saw these same artists at work; they were skilful, but no more than that. No, no, no, that is not art!"


I need to remind myself that in order for me to develop I have to push my boundaries of my understanding and in order for that to happen I need to do this or do I? 

Wednesday 4 July 2012

By default the process of painting throws up the unexpected. The very act of making and that of the idea are, for me, poles apart. It really is about striking up a conversation in which there is a very loose opening line deliberately delivered sound in the knowledge that it will go off on a tangent and, does it really matter if that conversation deviates? If it does deviate,  surely it becomes a much more interesting one, one that can be sustained in a free flowing dialoque devoid of ... hopefully, formulaic responses - it is so difficult to avoid and yet it is a necessity if this project is to sustain itself. 
As artists we can fall into cul de sacs of our own making, the temptation to pull our rabbit out of the hat - to truly move forward is an incredibly difficult thing to do - fear of it looking crap results in ... repetition/ safety/ comfort/ tricks, however you label it, it is difficult to break free, especially if we believe that "style' is what others know us by or indeed, like. 
Rejection - fear of failure ... the artist presents... 


Creation                                                                              6ft x 4ft


This is where 'Creation' currently stands, for the moment it will sit around ... until it either confirms this is what is needed to be said or a sentence needs rephrasing.


The next image is response to pain, pain caused by the sudden loss of a friend, the hopelessness of the situation that materialised. This is what emerged.


Pain                                                          6ft x 4ft