Monthly Archives: December 2016

like a stonechat on a furze bush

I got up quite late but I was unusually fired up once I got going. Maybe it was coffee, or perhaps a sugar hit from all the Christmas chocolate

Things started off fairly sedately with lots of greys and blues and muted tones on the huge new canvas


After working for about 2 hours I went inside for a break. The range had got lovely and hot and the spud I’d put in was crispy and delicious. Got cleaned up and thought that was it for the day. Then had more coffee and chocolate and decided to go back out for a bit

Worked on the big piece some more. Then all of a sudden decided to go all out in red and pink on the 2 canvases that had been on the wall earlier, AND the little muted ones on the opposite wall AND several others






A stonechat is a small bird with a black head that makes the sound of 2 stones knocked together. They flit about madly from the top of furze (gorse) bushes, which are yellow and spike.  My surge of energy felt a bit like a transmutation (?) – like in the old tales when a person is magically changed from person to hare to bird

The header image is the railing in the bedroom – perhaps the initial spark for all the stripes – who knows where it all comes from!

laying the groundwork



I was priming a large piece of coarse jute canvas today with gesso. A long piece 3m x 120cm, rolled out on the mucky floor of the studio.

I took photos as I worked as usual. Of the process and the light and shadows. Of me working. Of the canvas up on the wall. Of the fire.Pondering all the while on what I’ll actually paint once it’s ready



Messed with the photos on Instagram later. Cropped. Negative. Brighten. Contrast. The wee pebble embedded in the rough cement render. In blue. In yellow. The fire. The different rectangles. In triplicate.



The studio is always a painting. In a painting. Of a painting. During a painting.

2016 retrospective

Painted end of 2015

Sold early 2016 and paid for my trip to San Francisco and New York! 


Working on my ‘Rock in the sea’ paintings in February


Some huge pieces on unstretched jute in March



‘Tis calm indeed’ and ‘Moon rising’ from my Spring residency at Stiwdio Maelor in Corris, Wales 


The huge, rather surreal piece on unstretched jute ‘Clouds’ from May




The 5 piece orange and blue and black canvases – can’t remember their titles! June




The two big (120cm sq) pieces, ‘Stateside’ made in anticipation of my  big US trip in June



Small works on paper (these 2 are ‘Berkeley’ & ‘5th Avenue’) made on the go during my fantastic, life changing USA adventure in June and July



Some of the big bold pieces I made in July as soon as I got back from New York 




‘The path’ & ‘Convergence’

August works in the back kitchen in Wales




‘The dance’ & ‘Columba’ also from August in Wales



Works from my second residency in Stiwdio Maelor in Corris, Wales in September 




November




December!

Looking forward to 2017

shibui

​I have been playing with these ideas and tones, this extract is from Wikipedia:

Shibui (渋い) (adjective), shibumi (渋み) (noun), or shibusa (渋さ) (noun) are Japanese words which refer to a particular aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty.

The colors of shibusa are “muddy” colors. For example, in interior decorating and painting, gray is added to primary colors to create a silvery effect that ties the different colors together into a coordinated scheme. Depending upon how much gray is added, shibui colors range from pastels to dark. Occasionally, a patch of brighter color is added as a highlight.

The seven elements of shibusa are simplicity, implicity, modesty, silence, naturalness, everydayness, and imperfection. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibui

without you can’t get in

It started with a search for something to paint over because I’ve run out of canvas.

I chose these 2 as they are rather boring and not too textured or lumpy

They are each 70 x 50cm on board

I laid down some first layers and decided to turn them sideways

I was thinking about people out on the street during these cold winter nights and started to make some loose marks with solvent and a palette knife. I have some new gold Winsor and Newton oil. Added some of that, mixed with wax, with a roller. The shapes are clumsy and awkward

The song from Paul Simon’s new album, called wristband, the third verse running through my head. The bit about riots and how not having a wristband to get you in the door becomes a metaphor for the excluded and disenfranchised. Thinking about the election of Trump. And Brexit.

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=40220

Add more colour. Roll over and obliterate most of the scraped marks. Make some new marks with a graphite stick

Thinking too about the desperate situation in Aleppo. And David Wolfe’s moving and horifying before and after photos on Facebook 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1290315790990889&id=100000374406030
It’s not about pretty pictures

What is it about? Painting? What do we do it for? Why? How? Is there any point?

Darker and deeper

More confusing

I don’t know. But I keep painting

(Header image is another stage on the journey, not the finished image – I signed it then changed my mind)

Blood and concrete




2 canvases each 100 x 80cm (39 x 31.5″)

As 2016 draws to a close I’m trying, against the odds, to look ahead to 2017 with hope.

Hope that we will all be mindful of anything we can do that helps rather than hinders. In so many areas. For Peace. For People. For the Planet 

The paintings above are called ‘blood and concrete’.