An Afternoon of drawing with Annabel

drawing 4, Whatfield, - looking uphill at sun, 16 x 18 cm

Even though it was a bit misty, the pastel colours glowed yesterday. Annabel took me to some of her favourite spots.  I had my french easel that I use as a table and my travelling pastel 'kit' -just little bits of broken pastels in two tins: hots and colds. I also had some chinese ink, a couple of brushes and my sketchpads. 

drawing 1, Semer, Blackthorn and Hill, 17x 15 cm

drawing 3, Annabel and the Sheep, 16 x18 cm

drawing 4, The Colour of Spring, 12x13cm

Spring and the Still Life

Ibbi Bowls and Green, pastel on paper, 29x29cm

Lifetimes ago when we were living in Rome I went to the market and bought some peaches.  It must have been the summer.  I had a tablecloth of blue and white that I got at an off-cut supplier in Warwickshire and apparently it was the same upholstery fabric they'd used in the BBC studio.  It was calm and perfect for our table in Rome.  The peaches spilled out of my bag and I noticed the most divine still life. I brought my drawing pad into the kitchen and drew the scene in pastel and later painted it adding some made up china. 

Today I woke ready to incorporate the divine bowls I was sent by Claire McAlpine from IBBI interiors. Claire discovered my work on Instagram and ended up buying two pieces.  She sent me the bowls after an aside comment I made about loving their china. As I started putting together my set up, I couldn't help feeling the excitement I felt with the peaches in Rome.  I sold that painting to Lena and Hennig so only have the memory of it.

Last night I was in Colchester at a talk by Charlotte Verity.  Her work is beautifully spare and she explained that her still lifes are not just still lifes. I'm not sure mine are more but I think I do my best work when I feel enchanted by what I am looking at and like Charlotte sometimes my subject becomes a portrait. Perhaps these bowls were my people this time. 

Digressing, this morning Henry Finkelstien was talking about Chuck Close's comment,  “Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just go to work”.  Everyone commenting disagreed with that. I think I remember Charles Williams or maybe Jason Bowyer saying he doesn't value 'work'. I know what he meant, the struggle is a particular way of being an artist. Then there's the playful thin. I know I'm for inspiration. and if you want to call my work nostalgic, and sometimes playful that's OK.

Drawing to fix things in time

Voluptuous Bouquet, pastel on paper, 23x22, 2019

For Mothers' day, Figgy got me a bouquet of flowers.  There were protea, some heather and some dried fuscia flowers. I had never had my own protea which was exciting. Today I combined some of the flowers with some tulips that have been in the house and were on their last legs and set up a new 'story'.  

Story suggests intentionality.  I liked the green in the kantha and found a green cup then my rubber stamp tin for the spots and for the cup to sit on … the figure is me, languishing in the scene. I suspended a fused plastic collage from a staple and then edited out the frame as I worked. The vase is a charity shop find, vintage Honiton, as I discovered.  It conjures up Duncan Grant for me. There is a deco linen tablecloth with a green, beige and ochre motif and a pashmina in the background. In the front, the kantha some velvet and the back of the velvet, a swatch of fabric from a fabric book and a mexican belt. As I drew the tulip moved and the leaves withered. I wanted to fix the bouquet and the only way to do it justice was to draw it. I had to learn a new language to say soemthign baout the protea.  

Tell me a story

Red Scholar, 23x22 cm, pastel on paper, 2019

When I was young I read The Borrowers. When our children were young I read them The Indian in the Cupboard. I wonder if my fascination with the still life as a genre comes from stories that captivated my imagination and were about things coming to life. 

Setting up a situation to draw becomes about story telling for me. I think I have a synesthesia thing about colour and stories.  I can't be any more specific than that but it's a visceral thing when the colours speak in the way the characters might.  The little blue demi-tasse in the front is some kind of blue! It is japanese and very delicate, probably not really to drink out of.  I bought two for under £2 from a Stowmarket charity shop and have been excited to draw (and share in the empathy of the colour) for days. 

Marginalia, exploration and the time all that takes

Opened Book:  My Little Bird Book, pastel on book pages, 30x19cm

 Yesterday I finished off the painting below.  It was a reaction to another painting which I began in the same spot; I added a few new things - I wanted to satisfy something that the other painting didn't have for me.  I was looking for some 'soul'. I wanted it to feel like paint. 

The drawing above is a reaction the painting below.  I set up a new still life but wanted to do something quick, spontaneous and experimental with it before I moved onto something more substantial.  It was afternoon and I knew the light wouldn't hold. I got out many books and looked for one that would be appropriate. I wanted a square format so I cut out a square piece of cardboard and put it over a few opened book pages looking for something that felt right. I prepared the book and gessoed the top pages then masked out an area with a pink/orange ground - a square in the middle. I drew and the result was a very chaotic image.  There were birds and owls on the side of each page and I selected a few words to show.  I used watercolour to create a frame around the pastel image. It didn't work.  I painted with black gouache over more of the words, some of the birds, right to the edge.  It didn't work. I extended the drawing . The end product makes me smile. The marginalia became some of the characters.  But, it was as much of a struggle as something 'more substantial'!

Oil on Canvas: Cherry Blossom Time, oil on canvas 30x30cm

This canvas is repainted over an old painting.  I began at night when the light was terrible.  I used the same paint that was already on my palette and returned to it over the course of four days.  I like it but if I go by what they say on instagram, it's not as popular as the previous one that is bright and fresh. 

A dance of colour with Doreen

Doreen in motion with sheer cloth

We began with a long very slow movement by Doreen with cloth. It was long enough to say something about the shape and movement but not long enough to resolve anything. 

On the heels of Tim's workshop, using pastels instead of a paintbrush, I worked small and directly, looking for the colour and the tone but intending colour studies rather than accurate colour.  For me, today, the goal was to create believable light by approximating the relationship between the tones and colours without being slavish to skin tone. 

5 mins 10x10cm

5 mins 10x10cm

5 mins 10x10cm

25 mins 12 x16cm

Expressive Painting with Tim Benson

45 minute oil on panel 

Yesterday was another NEAC painting session at Heatherley's. This time the tutor was Tim Benson.  I missed the opening talk as when I arrived at the train station in Stowmarket, I was surprised to find it was replacement buses.  Then the district line wasn't going to Wimbeldon so I had to walk from Earls Court - I arrived just before 11:00 (10:30 start) and had to set up the six colours Tim wanted us to use: alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, lemon yellow, white, burnt umber and cadmium red medium.  We were to use a big brush (at least 1/2 inch). Tim wanted us to use thick paint and to work expressively to capture a close up of our model.

It was interesting to work with one fat brush and took concentration to keep the colours from getting muddy. Making corrections with thick paint doesn't come naturally to me so I scraped with my palette knife to draw. Tim wanted us to find the natural colours we saw and moving around after the first pose gave me the chance to see the way the light changed the skin colour significantly.  Unfortunately I did not have a bigger canvas for the final painting (there were three paintings over the course of the day) as it would have been impossible with my transport constraints and I could see this scaling up and painting with thick paint changed the challenge significantly.

I found Tim a sympathetic and astute teacher and enjoyed the constraints of the day.

1 1/2 hr oil on canvas