Inspiration does exist…
Inspiration does exist but it must find you working. Pablo Picasso
New Painting: A Bigger Station (Holyhead)
This painting of Holyhead Station was completed in response to further reading of David Hockney’s various musings, specifically in Hockney on Art: Conversations with Paul Joyce, and A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney by Martin Gayford, on the need to resist the ‘tyranny of the lens’ in painting. Shamefully, I missed Hockney’s 2012 exhibition at the …
New Paintings: Southstack Landscapes
The following two paintings were completed in fairly quick succession, again in a grisaille style. The first was painted from a very loose sketch carried out in a very fine drizzle, which soaked my sketchbook and obscured my view. The ‘fingers’ of rock reminded me of a giant’s hand as he was attempting to claw …
If you hear a voice…
If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. Vincent Van Gogh
New Painting: Aimee’s portrait
This is a portrait of my daughter, painted in a looser style from a black and white photograph of her, perhaps explaining the slightly surreal colours.
New Painting: Still Life – The Death of Painting
This early attempt at a coloured oil painting was inspired by a documentary on Russian art by Andrew Graham-Dixon, in which he discussed Constructivism and made reference to Alexandr Rodchenko’s declaration regarding the ‘death of painting’. The title is intended to be ironic in suggesting that there is ‘still life’ in painting, whereas it is …
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New Paintings: Self-Portraits
I’ve painted a few self-portraits over the past couple of years, despite the fact that my family always mock me for portraying myself with a double-chin. I think the most commonly used phrase is ‘Dad, you look like a frog…’ but to my way of thinking, I’m just trying to earn myself the right to …
Picking Up Brushes Again
I painted this for my Dad’s 70th birthday, having been inspired to pick up my paintbrushes again by David Hockney’s absolutely fascinating book, Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the lost techniques of the Old Masters, in which he posits that there is clear evidence in the work of the Old Masters that they made great use of …
The Second Best Time…
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is today. Chinese Proverb