NIGHT CLOSES IN

The foggy scene in the photo has cleared and now we are merging into night. I always find myself pushing against the image in front of me, trying to turn it into something else. I think its because I like a gamble and its becoming increasingly obvious that the painters who have always interested me follow the same course, Soutine, Bacon, Auerbach and others. There is more drama in an image that emerges out of a struggle, and more surprises. I have no interest in the straight rendition, and to be a figurative painter with an understanding of the ‘abstract’ is the best combination in this world of dull image saturation and AI. This painting is going well and has been suitably knocked about.

Llansilin. Day 3

ALWAYS AN APPROXIMATION

Before I start a new painting I am always confident I have the finished picture in my mind but as soon as the first brushstroke goes down I realise this is not the case and I enter into a frantic phase of correcting and re-correcting. It never ceases to amaze me how far I am from the finished picture when I start. Judging the tones does not seem to be problematic but finding the overall colour scheme is. Anyway, I feel confident with the start of this picture.

Llansilin. Day 2

A WELSH LANDSCAPE

This new painting was a view from our accommodation in the Welsh countryside. The house was 3 miles from the nearest road and even for me, you can have too much isolation. I chose this particular photo because it has some signs of human habitation with the big farmhouse in the foreground and an odd shaped building in the mid ground. It has the appearance of a Welsh chapel. There is a magical quality to this scene as the foreground forms are sharp and clear yet behind the chapel the whole landscape is monochrome and shrouded in mist. This is the quality I am aiming to capture.

Llansilin. Day 1

JUST A QUICK RETOUCH

This was only meant to be a 5 minute retouch before starting the next painting. Four hours later, it was more than a retouch. The good thing about going back into a painting when you have called time on it is that you attack those areas that you weren’t sure about the previous day. All those ideas I had about what was needed I put into the repaint today. The test is, has it got better?, in my opinion, yes. Tomorrow, a new painting.

The apple tree

TIME SLOWS DOWN

This is the point where an inordinate amount of time is spent making small adjustments. I find that at this stage my first thought is, what can I possibly do to improve it, and is it worth the effort?. I literally have to slow my mind down, which is normally racing, and paint very slowly and deliberately. Its surprising how all my thoughts change as soon as I start painting again. I have learnt the longer I am away from painting the more my mind spirals downwards. I think painting gives me the sense of infinite possibility and freedom. The last half a dozen paintings have given me the realisation, maybe obvious to some, that stylistic interpretation is the most important aspect for a painter. This maybe an obvious conclusion, but how to do it is less clear, this painting is finished.

The apple tree

AN EASY CHOICE?

This afternoon I had the option of moving several thousand kilograms of soil from the end of my garden to a skip or paint in the warm comfort of my studio. I put on two pairs of gloves and two coats to save me from the sub zero temperatures and started wheel barrowing the soil into the skip. I figured I would warm up but after 20 minutes I settled for the sensible choice of an afternoons painting. There is something contrary in my character that doesn’t go for the easy option. However, no regrets. This painting has started to become something more than mere illustration. I have avoided painting every single leaf but I have opted to really explore the detail and rhythms in this tree. A few apples appearing, which is nice.

The apple tree. Day 4

FINGER PAINTING

and desperation were the tactics used this afternoon when my usual approach of a brush and a ‘competent’ application failed. At times I was seconds away from destroying this painting in sheer frustration at not being able to render this lovely apple tree. Despite my manic state the end result this afternoon is close to where I wanted to be. It has taken a lot of intensity to get it to a state where there is a good structure to the tree and rest of the painting. I now have something to work with.

The apple tree. Day 3

NO APPLES YET

Despite a bumper crop of apples none have appeared yet in the painting. I hope they don’t look like an afterthought once I start to paint them. I have been down this path before where the main theme of the painting never makes it to the final stage. This is the appeal of allowing the painting to take you along on a journey rather than trying to impose your will on it. I have an entirely open mind as to how this painting may be finished. Despite another short 2 hour session the painting now has enough work on it to show to me, at least, that there is an interesting painting waiting to be discovered.

The apple tree. Day 2

THE APPLE TREE

I sense there is a sentimental, nostalgic, inward looking turn to my painting. I think this was something that was lacking from my landscape painting. I don’t think I was ever a ‘landscape painter’ whatever that really means. I think my subjects will be literally closer to home, like the apple tree in my garden. I like the start to this painting, I think I have got the light more or less where I want it although at this stage its all sketchy and big brushes with no signs of apples. These will come.

The Apple Tree. Day 1

A RETURN TO THE STRUGGLE

Strange how I regard painting as a struggle. Most outsiders see it as an uncomplicated pleasurable past time that is good for your mental health! An artist like Frank Auerbach has said that one of his main motivations to continue is his intense dissatisfaction with what he is producing. Simple, stop doing it, problem is some people cannot, myself included. My recent absence is due to a different kind of struggle, one that is purely physical (see my page, ‘The Landscaped Garden’). Moving literally thousands of kilograms of gravel and soil is a fairly uncomplicated process, move x from A to B until bag of x is empty. The end result of these projects is always satisfying and final. Not painting, anyway, for the rest of this year I will have much more time for it.

Fishing for roach. Day 6

A PEACEFUL IDYLL

This painting has settled down now. Generally there is a mood of a balmy summers evening, and I have made no attempt to return to the original icy cold tones of earlier versions. Surprisingly, the biggest change I have made is to the figure. In the photo, which is a very poor one, the figure is in silhouette and almost a flat black. This just didn’t fit with my idea for the picture, I think it needed bringing to life with a more naturalistic, full bodied treatment. I like how some of the far side trees and bushes have become detached from their surroundings due to the way I have lit this area. It gives the forms a lot of space to breath and is an interesting effect that would benefit the rest of the painting This picture is nearly finished.

Fishing for roach. Day 5

A SEASONAL CHANGE

Why wait six months for the seasons to change when you can fast forward summer by adding a bit of colour? It seems to me that I was feeling a little bit sorry for this lonely figure freezing by the canal side. I could have stuck with a wintry scene, its not that I dislike cold colours. I think once I started to introduce some warm light I pushed it further than planned. No regrets, its a different kind of picture now, maybe I will paint an accompanying winter scene, a Breughel like theme of the seasons.

Fishing for roach. Day 4

AN ENCHANTED SCENE

No longer the bone chilling experience that I imagined, I am beginning to appreciate the beauty of a still, crisp winters day, fishing by the canal. Maybe that’s what this painting should have been about. The painting is beginning to conjure up that magical atmosphere that I saw in this poorly photographed YouTube video. A clear early morning sky has turned to approaching twilight, I just pushed it in this direction from the beginning, not sure why, but it seems to work. The figure, although imprecise, has a bit more form that the photo which is like a silhouette, I just think it needed a bit more information, and the canal bridge on the left is working in the way I had hoped.

Fishing for roach. Day 3

A SYMPHONY IN GREY

Only a fellow artist could look at a painting composed of muted muddy colours and call it beautiful. That’s all I have to play with in this picture and its going to rely on subtle colour shifts and a good understanding of the tonal values. There really isn’t much warmth in this scene, its pretty bleak, and that’s what appealed to me about this subject. This is enhanced by the fact that someone is sitting next to this icy canal doing his ‘pleasure fishing’. Pleased with this start I think its pitched about right in terms of colour.

Fishing for roach. Day 2

FISHING FOR ROACH

The previous painting was the departure I was looking for, this painting pushes me further in that direction. With a low boredom threshold the notion of being a ‘landscape painter’ was a straight jacket of my own making. I have realised that what I need is a great deal of uncertainty in my work, both in terms of subject and my treatment of it. The image for this painting was not premeditated. I photographed it from the tv screen, it was the opening scene of a random YouTube video. What struck me about it was the idea of someone getting a simple pleasure from fishing in isolation, in the middle of winter, sat on a muddy canal bank in the cold. The photo is so bad that areas of the figure are very uncertain, as are some areas of the scene, but there are some beautiful effects of trees and reflection in the cold murky green/grey water. Just to the left of the figure is, I think, a canal bridge, and there seems to be a ‘double rainbow’ effect of the bridge caused by distortion of the photo and other objects that are either trees or man made structures. There is an atmosphere of a magical realism, not quite Daliesque, thankfully.

Fishing for roach. Day 1

THE PRESSURE IS OFF

A warm studio, Schubert piano sonatas, a rainy October day, and a public declaration to do more painting meant an easy decision to do a consecutive days painting. I think I am back on track and properly focussed again on things that mean more to me than shovelling mud. Although there is a certain satisfaction in these DIY projects, one element they don’t have is the mystery of the painting journey. I could tell you exactly what my garden will look like in a years time. If you asked me the same question about my painting I really wouldn’t know, and wouldn’t want to know. This painting is now finished.

The secret garden

SHORT TERM PAIN

Six weeks of shovelling tons of gravel and soil around the garden has not been a pleasure but it means 3 of my big projects have been ticked off. Certain aspects of my life have been put on hold, including painting, but I am now winding down the year and trying to get a bit more of the unnecessary stuff back, ie painting, and other activities. This painting continues to improve, and I am hoping the next few months are going to give me a bit more time for it. I am moving away from pure landscape and this will become more apparent with each new painting.

The secret garden. Day 7

TOO EASILY DISTRACTED

I have an endless list of projects that are taking up most of my time. I could put painting at the top of this list and nobody would object. The truth is I view painting as a luxury activity to be indulged in when you have nothing more pressing to do. My strategy is to get through these projects now to give me more time in the future. Unfortunately this leads to a fall off in enthusiasm to paint, this evening was a short lived affair, some improvement but lacking enthusiasm.

The secret garden. Day 6

PLAYING IN THE MUD

If anyone was wondering why my productivity levels have somehow dropped even further, check out my ‘Landscaped Garden’ page. Two weeks of hard labour, including weekends, shovelling tons of soil and gravel. Importantly 2 big garden projects ticked off which means a low maintenance garden for the future. Now I am playing again with mud of a different variety, a bit more colour, hopefully, and no spade or wheelbarrow required. A late painting session ending close to midnight but I needed to break the cycle of manual labour for something a bit more refined. Good progress.

The secret garden. Day 5

CHANCE, ACCIDENT OR MIRACLE

I don’t think chance and accident are going to get me to where I want to be, I think I need a miracle. I am relying on intuition, chance and accident to move my painting forward but its a really predictable and slow process. I am creeping forward, I can see the progress but its all so painfully slow. Will a dogged determination and a Sunday painter mentality get me anywhere. I suppose I will find out in due course, lets hope I am satisfied with the outcome. This painting is starting to work in some areas. It is taking on that other worldly quality that I saw in this scene, but it has some way to go yet.

The secret garden. Day 4