ArtMagic

Progress report on my "Bathers" woodcarving

2012-02-10T19:09:00.000Z

These are two of the five nude figures in this carving and the main part of the work on them is finished, apart from the final smoothing. I will have to complete the modelling of all the figures before I can finally work out all the details of the background.

My latest Skyscape!

2012-02-07T09:16:00.000Z

"Newtownards Road Skyscape", Jan. 2012.

Oils on canvas, 101.5 cm x 81 cm.

I finished this painting, the third in my series of "Skyscapes", last week. I see this view on my way back to my home in Bangor, from the road between Bangor and Newtownards. I intend to create at least one more in this series. As a painter, the wide-angle perspective of these views and the effect it creates for the viewer is what interests me most. The canvas forms a flat plane, but I treat it as if it was curving over me at the top.

My new Sculpture Studio

2012-02-06T22:28:00.001Z

After I left my studio at Studio 23 in Dunmurry, I created anew studio space in a shed in Ballynahinch (where I stay during the week). Ihoped to carry on painting there, but I found it unsatisfactory. For somereason, possibly the lack of company from other artists close by, I found itvery difficult to settle down to paint there. So when an opportunity came tomove into a studio in Market Square Lisburn, I jumped at it!

So far, I have been extremely happy with my studio in Lisburn but, for family reasons, recently I have been unable to be there asmuch as I would like. By way of compromise, I have revamped the studio inBallynahinch for use as a sculpture studio. Perhaps because sculpture is a muchmore physical activity than painting, I find that I can work well on this. Ithelps that my time for working on art can be split evenly between the twostudios! In fact, my sculptural work has been neglected in recent years, sothis represents an important opportunity for me to develop this aspect of myart.

I particularly like wood carving, although it can take a long time to complete a piece. Some years ago, I sketched out the figures for a "Bathers" scene on an oak panel. I have decided that the time has come to complete this carving!

Windows and doors!

2012-01-01T19:54:00.000Z

"Drumlin Skyscape", December 2011

Oils on canvas, 101.5cm x 81cm

I have always loved the rounded shapes of the local hills (drumlins), having grown up surrounded by them. In many ways, the landscape in the painting is very typical of County Down; the drumlin itself, the small fields, the rich greens. But in addition I wanted to create the feeling of the sky extending over the hill and above the viewer. Hence the title of "Drumlin Skyscape".

There are many reasons for creating paintings. But, for me, each one acts as a window and sometimes as a door. As a window, a painting allows the spectator to look inside the mind and imagination of the artist and, more importantly, if they can relate to it themselves then it allows them to look inside their own mind and memories. But sometimes a painting can also act as a door. By this I mean that a spectator can relate to the painting so intensely that it acts as a means of stepping through to another world of experience, leaving them emotionally in a different place to where they were before.

Skyscape

2011-10-26T10:45:00.001Z

“Slieve Croob Skyscape”, October 2011.

Oils on canvas, 101.5 cm x 81 cm.

Thisis quite a large painting. The intention is to draw your view into looking atthe mountain, but leaving you with the sensation of the sky over your head.

Two new paintings!

2011-09-27T22:07:00.000Z

“West Street, Castle Coombe, Wiltshire”,2008-2011.
Oils on canvas, 70 cm x 50 cm.

I sketched this scene, to scale, when I wasin Wiltshire from a nephew’s wedding, It was then completed from photos and acolour reference sketch.

"Mountain Landscape", September2011.

Oils oncanvas, 61 cm x 46 cm.

Not of a specific place, this sums up anumber of my memories and experiences.

Market Square, Lisburn

2011-08-17T15:01:00.002Z

"Market Square, Lisburn", August 2011.

Oils on canvas, 61 cm x 45.5 cm

Just finished this painting. The Island Arts Centre in Lisburn has invited submissions for an exhibition, so I thought I would try for it with a scene of local interest. Apparently, the city is building up a permanent Collection, linked to The Anna Cheyne Visual Award. But even if they do not purchase my painting, there will be an exhibition of as many of the submissions as they have room for, so there is a good chance it will be exhibited at least.

Teaching’s end!

2011-07-22T10:06:00.001Z

Last night I had a dream. Many dreams are very confused and it is difficult to read them in a meaningful way, but this was different and it appears to me to have had a clear message for me!

I was an art teacher for 26 years. On the whole, I loved teaching. Sometimes pupils, and even whole classes, could be difficult and this created problems to be overcome. But it was a wonderful feeling when you felt that pupils were actually learning – particularly if they were not promising material and you had had to overcome their own lack of self-belief. But the last few years were difficult for me and I was suffering from a great deal of stress, which eventually forced me to retire on the grounds of ill-health. Nevertheless, a part of me was always very reluctant to let go of being a teacher.

In the dream, although still employed as a teacher in my old school, I was being offered a new post as art teacher in the school in which I had been educated myself. The school was an extremely good one and had an excellent Art Department, which I would have been very keen to work within. But, in the end, I found myself going to the Principal and apologising for wasting his time. I explained that I had been suffering from stress and that I now realised that I would be unable to fulfil the post in the way that I would have wished and would have been required.

Since I retired, I have occasionally had nightmares about teaching, but I always knew that I had to put this part of my life behind me and concentrate on making a new one for myself as an artist. As part of this process I even created a painting, which I called, "An Art Teacher’s Memento Mori", which was intended to sum up my experience as an art teacher, both the good and bad. I think that the dream was telling me that it is now time to let go of the last vestiges of myself as teacher, that this part of my life is finally over!

"An Art Teacher’s Memento Mori", February-May 2008.
Oils on canvas, 70 cm x 50 cm.

This painting and much of the rest of my art work is on display in my web site at http://www.artmagic.uk.com/

Fauvist leanings

2011-07-21T09:59:00.005Z

This is an early painting of mine, from 1974 when I was in my first year of my B.A. course at Art College. At the time I was having considerable difficulties with the head tutor of the first year students, who did not like my work and seemed incapable of understanding three-point perspective (where the picture plane is tilted either downwards or upwards). My interest in this painting was primarily in investigating how the diverging vertical lines created the sensation of looking downwards into the painting. I deliberately shaped the edges of the canvas to match the perspective (although in later work I found that slanting the edges in the opposite way actually enhanced the perspective effects more).

However, a secondary interest was in the use of colour, the colours becoming naturally exaggerated as I concentrated on noticing the minor variations of shades. What I did not realise at the time, pre-occupied as I was with the perspective and my tutor difficulties, was that there is a strong connection with what I was doing and some Fauvist work. For example, several of André Derain's paintings, notably “London Bridge, winter 1906”, incorporate a wide angle of view, including some perspective effects created by the spectator looking downwards. However, the colouring of the French Fauvist work is generally so extreme that I think that was what prevented me from making the connection at the time. More recently, I encountered the work of some of the Belgian Fauvists, such as that by Willem Paerels and Rik Wouters, where the control of colour is much closer to that which would interest me.

I do not believe that it would be correct to say that my concept of Experiential Realism was influenced by Fauvism. It is more that I recognise some common concerns, for example, recording perspective as experienced, rather than as required by formal rules. Also that my colour, whilst not as intense as that of the Fauvists, nevertheless becomes intensified through the process of concentrated observation.

New Art Gallery!

2011-05-17T08:29:00.000Z

To call this an Art Gallery may be a bit of an over-statement! What we are doing is using the area of the landings and stairs as a gallery space, open to the public.

This is just the way you come up from the ground floor. The blue door leads up to Dennis Crawford's picture framing premises, "Simply Frames", and the studios of Clinton Kirkpatrick and Pat Callaghan. The painting at the left is one of mine, then one of Pat's and a couple of Clinton's.

Coming up to the main, broad landing area, these are another two of my paintings. A door here leads to Jill Graham's jewellery business.

Next to the large window overlooking Market Square, three more of Clinton's paintings.

Next long wall, a couple of Pat's.

Heading up towards the second floor, this is some of Andrew Cranley's work.

Further up the flight of stairs to the second floor there is quite a bit of potential display space still being developed.

This is along the final stretch of corridor, to Andrew Cranley's studio and my own. These are a couple of my own paintings.

At the moment, the display of work is a bit haphazard, but this should improve. When we are properly organized, it could be a good idea to have some sort of open day, when members of the public could visit our studios, as well as the exhibition.

Painting in my studio at 49 Market Square, Lisburn

2011-04-11T11:18:00.004Z

I feel really happy and relaxed working in my new studio. There is a really good atmosphere there which is very conducive to being creative. There is an informal gallery area in the building which is open to the public. I will publish some photos of that soon.

"The Long Lake", finished March 2011.

Oils on canvas, 101.5 cm x 75.5 cm.

New painting, just finished!

2011-03-29T21:09:00.001Z

"View from Saintfield Road, near Lisburn", March 2011.

Oils on canvas, 101.5 cm x 75.5 cm.

My New Studio in Lisburn

2011-03-15T21:38:00.001Z

I am now working in a new studio, in Market Square Studios, 49 Market Square, Lisburn. I have a great view of the square and its statue.

I have finished getting the room fixed up and have settled down to work. Just completed one painting, "The Offering of Flowers", that I actually started years ago and then left aside. It's good to get back to art work, for most of last year I let myself get side-tracked into building a canoe!

Clinton Kirkpatrick's, ‘Through The Eyes Of The World’ exhibition

2010-08-01T13:47:00.000Z

Clinton with his painting,

"The Road Ahead", oil on canvas, 75 x 100 cm.

Went to see Clinton's new exhibition on Friday, 30th July (missed the opening unfortunately). Very impressed. I like Clinton's abstract work, but his figurative work has more appeal for me personally. "The Road Ahead", with it's image of death on a road under a burning sun, is very powerful.

"Fires Rage", oil on canvas, 100 x 150 cm.

This painting is another one inspired by Clinton's recent visit to Australia. The split between the massive image of fire in the background and the cool foreground with its isolated house, gives the painting a tremendous feeling of threat and fury.

The exhibition is on until 6th August 2010 at the Safehouse Gallery, Donegall Street, Belfast. Open every day from midday, but Clinton will be there in person from 4.30 - 7 pm every evening. Well worth a visit, if you can get there.

See http://clintonkirkpatrick.com/

Change of Studio

2010-08-01T13:14:00.000Z

A while back, for personal reasons, I decided that I had to give up my studio at Studio 23 and to work at home. Since then, I have made a new studio out in a shed in Ballynahinch, where I stay for most of the week.

It is quite a good space for both 2D and 3D work, although a bit more cramped than the previous one.

Art, Music and Poetry at the “Noughtie” Exhibition

2009-11-18T16:08:00.002Z

Saturday, 14th November, I was at the Reception for a group exhibition by Clinton Kirkpatrick, Emily Mannion and Kelly Ratchford at Studio 23. Very enjoyable! In addition to the paintings, there was some music provided (sorry, didn’t get their names) and poetry by Séamus Fox.

"As Far As I Can See", by Clinton Kirkpatrick.

Some work by Kelly Ratchford

A few of Emily Mannion's drawings.

Séamus in full swing, background hangings by Kelly Ratchford.

The Exhibition is on until 28th November at Studio 23, The Cutts, Dunmurry Industrial Estate, Derriaghy, BT17 9HU.

Merging "Studio 23 NI, Creative Collective - The Blog" into my ArtMagic Blog

2009-08-30T12:46:00.002Z

I set up a blog about activities linked to Studio 23, which was open to all members of Studio 23 to contribute to. However, that hasn't really taken off, so I have transferred my writings from there to this blog, where I will put all my future comments about Studio 23 activities.

Originally published: Sunday, 9th August 2009 in the Creative Collective Blog

2009-08-30T12:35:00.008Z

Elements
Unfortunately, I am a bit late with this as the preview is already over! I have only seen some of Jill's jewellery at her place in Studio 23 but, judging from this, the exhibition at The Fountain Centre should be worth a visit. Below is the information about the exhibition that I received from Jill.

ELEMENTS
The Craft & Design Collective presents ELEMENTS, an exhibition of contemporary jewellery featuring new work by Fiona Kerr, Garvan Traynor, Jill Graham and Rachel McKnight, at Space CRAFT, the group’s Shop/Gallery/Exhibition Area, up the escalator at The Fountain Centre, College Street, Belfast, from Friday 7th to Saturday 29th August 2009.

The Preview takes place on Thursday 6th August 2009, 6pm to 8pm.

Four of Northern Ireland’s leading Jewellery Artist/Designer/Makers have come together to make new work based on their own unique interpretations of the four elements; Air, Earth, Fire and Water, “We decided that we would like to put together an exhibition that not only challenges us to make new exciting work based on the elements, but would also challenge the viewer to think differently about jewellery.”

Fiona Kerr will explore the element ‘Fire’. Fiona combines beautiful stones with precious metals to stunning effect. The primary themes in her work are light, colour and movement. There is a discreet kinetic element to many of Fiona’s pieces.

Garvan Traynor will explore the element ‘Air’. Garvan specialises in hand crafted, custom designed jewellery. He uses platinum, gold, silver and precious stones in a distinctive and ingenious way. He transforms geometric, manmade structures into contemporary jewellery design.Jill Graham will explore the element ‘Earth’.

Jill works only in precious metals mainly sterling silver and 18ct gold. Her main source of inspiration is from organic structures and elements of plant life. She also likes to explore the themes of layering, movement and texture.

Rachel McKnight will explore the element ‘Water’. Rachel uses polypropylene, perspex, rubber and silver to produce original and innovative jewellery. Simple and uncomplicated shapes and the idea of duplicating these shapes also form the basis of Rachel’s jewellery.

Venue
Space CRAFT
Shop/Gallery/Exhibition Area
9b The Fountain Centre, College Street, Belfast, BT1 6ET
GO UP THAT ESCALATOR!

Dates
Friday 7th to Saturday 29th August 2009

Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday 10.30am to 5.30pm

Further Information
Contact: Jan Irwin
T: 028 9032 9342
M: 0779 327 9161
E: jan.irwin@virgin.net

About Space CRAFT
Space CRAFT Shop/Gallery/Exhibition Area is a non-profit taking social economy enterprise managed by the Craft & Design Collective designed to enable the purchase of work made by emerging and established Artist/Designer/Makers.

About the Craft & Design Collective
The Craft & Design Collective is an independent membership organisation formed in 1997 by Artist/Designer/Makers for Artist/Designer/Makers, to help raise the profile, manage and facilitate the development of Craft, Applied Art and Design.

With over 130 members the Craft & Design Collective is the biggest Craft Network in Northern Ireland. We are dedicated to the promotion, representation, understanding and development of Craft, Applied Art and Design in Northern Ireland and beyond.

Visit our website for further information about us, our members, and the events that we organise
http://www.craftanddesigncollective.com/

Originally published: Sunday, 21st June 2009 in the Creative Collective Blog

2009-08-30T12:07:00.005Z

“Yesterday’s News”, Clinton Kirkpatrick: Safehouse Gallery, 25 Donegall Street, Belfast

Clinton in front of his paintings, Colour Field(s) 1-8.

I went to Clinton’s Reception Evening at the Safehouse Gallery on Friday, 19th June. I had seen a few of his paintings before at his studio space in Studio 23, Dunmurry, but this was the first time that I had seen his work properly presented and “en masse”. It makes a major difference to see work in the right setting. I particularly liked the display of eight of Clinton’s painting that I photographed with him in front. Each of the Colour Field paintings is for sale individually (and good in its own right), but they would be stunning if they were kept together and displayed in the same way in a modern, possibly minimalistic, room.

The exhibition organiser, Danny Burke, giving a brief talk introducing Clinton’s work. He is standing in front of two of Clinton’s paintings, “What Lies Beneath” (top) and “Slightly Ajar”, (bottom).

A lot of Clinton’s work is semi-figurative and powerfully coloured, making reference to the visual culture of today, its news flashes and headlines. I would consider that it is well worth a visit before it closes on the 9th July.

Originally published: Sunday, 3rd May 2009 in the Creative Collective Blog

2009-08-30T11:52:00.005Z

James Millar, at The Whalley Gallery, Holywood, Co. Down.

James Millar, in front of one of his works.

Last Thursday, 30th April, I went to an exhibition of work by Jack Pakenham and James Millar at the Whalley Gallery, Holywood, Co. Down. I like the work by Pakenham, but my main reason for going was to renew a friendship with James Millar, with whom I had lost touch over the years when I was teaching in Cookstown.

I met James first when I was just about to leave art college in 1976 and I got to know him quite well (in 1978, I painted his portrait), but a few years after I had to move to Cookstown I lost touch. However, I still retain my admiration for his work. James was deeply interested in pyschology, particularly the work of C. G. Jung, and this has inspired much of his oeuvre. The show is of particular interest because it is exhibiting important pieces of his work from 1975 to the present. Of his more recent work, I particularly liked a linocut, “Circus Act II” (so did someone else, as it sold very promptly). James appears to be gradually acquiring the recognition he deserves, but I would still consider that his work is grossly under-valued - which makes it a good time to acquire some of his pieces!

"Circus Act II", by James Millar. 24 x 36 inches, linocut.

Originally published: Sunday, 5 April 2009 in the Creative Collective Blog

2009-08-30T08:54:00.018Z

“Passion, Love and Revolution” at the Grand Opera House, Belfast

In the evening of 1st May, I went to opening of a group art show in the Grand Opera House. Two large, dramatic paintings on paper (plus one smaller one) should have set the opening mood for the exhibition but, unfortunately, these could only be displayed on the walls of the restaurant at the back of the foyer, so they were easily missed on the initial entry into the building (I only discovered them on the way out).

It’s a long time since I have been in the Opera House but, on inquiry, I was directed up the stairs to the second floor. There I was greeted by a young lady who marked me as attending the exhibition by tying a strip of red cloth around my arm and I received a red stamp on the back of my hand, all very suitable for an exhibition entitled, “Passion, Love and Revolution”! I was then shown through a black curtain into a large darkened room, where a short, grainy black and white film was endlessly repeating. Shortly after this, the show was duly opened by the curator of the show, Liam Brendan de Frinse with a few, well-chosen words and his reading of a short poem written by another member of Kult Pulp Productions, the group behind the show.

Kult Pulp Productions is a bunch of professional artists, some well-established, some just emerging, coming from a wide range of different specialities. They desire, and I quote, to demystify art by “making it more accessible, beautiful, affordable, exciting, fun, different, and above all radical.” One nice little idea, which certainly made it more fun, was the availability of badges, all different, which were available for purchase. The badges were sometimes witty, always decorative, and generally unusual. I liked the badges which, at only £2 each, allowed one to pick up a small, but meaningful souvenir of the exhibition.

The main group of pictures are exhibited in the Phoenix Gallery in the Opera House, so to get there I had to leave the darkened room, cross the landing and into a small corridor towards the front of the building. In the corridor outside the gallery were another couple of quirky touches. To the left, a small bag invited one to take a small piece of folded paper from it and to follow the instructions contained within. To the right, another bag, containing a small nest with some strange looking eggs, hung from a red ribbon.

In the Phoenix gallery itself hung about ten pictures, some figurative, some non-figurative. Several pieces appeal to me because of their references to Constructivist art, at the time of the Russian Revolution (before the communists hijacked it). Constructivist art broke new boundaries with regard to graphics and typology. The fact that the paintings were anonymously priced at £500 meant that the paintings were affordable as well as potentially a good investment (work by some of the participating artists normally sell at well above this price).

I enjoyed the exhibition. I enjoyed the quirkiness and inventiveness, the unusualness of a number of the things that were done. My worst problem with this exhibition is that it left me feeling hungry for more. Perhaps the only thing that would have satisfied me is something like the Frieze art fair in London, something capable of attracting large crowds of people for its entire duration. One where this show would only have been one of many and, as a result, have attracted an even more diverse audience. The feeling of excitement could be continuous and sustained. At the moment, if you want to get the “buzz” at an art exhibition, you really have to attend the opening night, full of people and chat (although not necessarily with the best view of the actual paintings!) However, this is when most art exhibitions are most truly “events”. Perhaps, someday, something like this will happen in N. Ireland.

At this stage I am going to digress somewhat. I am going to live dangerously and venture in some detail into one of the pictures that I particularly liked (which is not to say that my understanding of the painting is at all the same as that intended by the artist).

After Ché Guevara’s violent death in Bolivia, in 1967, he became something of a cult figure for students in particular (who were suitably distanced from the reality of violence and death in South America). The reference to “dissidents” gives the painting – possibly – a reference to modern day politics in N. Ireland. The word “questionmark” written out in full, rather than as a conventional question mark symbol, adds another little element, indicating – perhaps – that the statement has to be read visually, rather than literally. The use of stencil for the lettering, plus the deliberate distressing of the writing and of the surface – which makes it look ancient – gives another little twist, distancing the statement in time, even when other aspects touch it with a sense of the immediate. The little red star, like a signature, is the only element of bright colour, dragging the view down to the bottom right. Finally, a shiny black border, like the black border around an old-fashion funeral notice. What does it all mean? I suspect that you are being invited to weigh the elements for yourself, before you decide if it really means anything or if it is simply meant to puzzle you and to make you think! In any case, I found it an interesting piece.

In a blog I wrote some time ago I said that I thought that the language of much modern art is constructed the same way as most jokes, from statements which seem familiar and even banal – and which are then twisted to give a shock value. We laugh with surprise because we have been lead in one direction and yet suddenly find ourselves understanding the words as conveying a totally different meaning from the one we understood at first. I don’t mean by this that art is necessarily meant to be funny or should not be taken seriously, but it works in a similar way. Individual visual elements frequently appear familiar, straight-forward, even uninteresting – but are given new meaning and a “shock” value by being combined in unusual ways. You, the viewer, are invited to puzzle out the meaning, which may be subject to personal interpretation and is rarely obvious.

Does the artist, in this case, approve of Ché Guevara? Does he approve of dissidents in general or in particular? We don’t actually know. Is it meant to force the viewer into forming an opinion of their own? Again, we don’t know. That is the thing about much art, it doesn’t set out to give precise answers, but it may be designed to provoke discussion and to give an opportunity to form opinions and to exercise taste and judgment – to like or dislike! Is this piece in any way about real politics or revolution? Or is it just tongue in cheek, making you wonder if it is about real politics or revolution and it is about nothing at all to do with either? Perhaps it is only about the qualities of paint and surfaces and the purely visual? I don’t know. You must form your own opinion!

New studio space at Studio 23

2009-08-16T00:09:00.004Z

I have just moved into a new studio, a little bigger and better lighting, but it will take a little time to get it properly organised.

Go Figurative

2009-06-28T10:49:00.002Z

My attention was recently drawn to a website for figurative artists called, "Go Figurative". I am not against abstract or conceptual art as such, but I do feel that much of this type of work has alienated the general public from art generally. Work which uses a "realistic" visual language has a much better chance of communicating to a wide audience, so it seems to me that a website promoting figurative art would be worth joining (which I have done).

Exhibition at the Canvas Gallery, 76 Stranmillis Road, Belfast

2009-03-29T00:06:00.011Z

On Thursday evening of the 26th March I went to the opening of a group art exhibition at the Canvas Gallery, in Belfast, as I know one of the participating artists, Andrew Cranley (he has an art studio on the same premises as I do, at Studio 23). The gallery was crowded and there was an excellent atmosphere. The five participating artists were very different in their style of work, which helped to make it an exciting exhibition, but – for me – the most interesting work was that by Andrew.

What I find particularly interesting is his vibrant use of colour. The backgrounds tend to be made up from dabs and streaks of brightly coloured paint, with a layer of contrasting colour underneath, which gives a sense of movement to the paintings as a whole. Figures are painted much more broadly, which gives them a solidity which makes them stand out from the background. They tend to be static, frozen in a moment of time, while the surroundings shimmer and move around them. The result is a dream-like, magical quality in the paintings as a whole.

Andrew, in front of one of his paintings.

"Sunset and Twilight", series of paintings

2009-02-26T15:49:00.006Z

"Sunset, Rath near Comber", February 29.
Oils on canvas, 30cm x 25cm.

The first of the series has been completed. I have about six others already started and I am making good progress on them. Working in a proper studio makes a massive difference to me, so more in the series should be finished soon.

A new series of paintings

2009-02-14T20:52:00.005Z

Being in the new studio is proving to be a considerable stimulus for my work. I still have a number of older paintings that I have to finish, but I have decided to primarily concentrate on a new series, all sunset and twilight scenes. My most recent paintings have nearly all been in a style I term "Experiential Realism", because I felt that my first priority had to be to "ground" myself and my art by working primarily from observation for a while. However, my original way of working had drawn on my imagination and unconscious mind for source material. This is still very important to me. If you like, they can be seen as two sides of the same coin. my internal world and my external one, both equally vital to my art. Twilight has always been considered a very unsettling period, neither day nor night, when anything could happen. It seems to me to perfectly symbolise my own need to balance and intertwine my external and internal realities. My intention is to put together a major exhibition of the series when it is completed (venue, as yet, unknown). I'll use this blog as a means of reporting on progress.

Moving into a new studio

2009-01-25T16:35:00.005Z

First day with bare walls and floor!

My first blog in quite a long time! Things have been very busy for me and I have been finding it increasingly difficult to get on with my own work without having a proper – and permanent – space to paint in. So I decided that it was time to rent a proper studio! Studio 23 is an artist’s collective and I came across them when they ran a “Salon des Refusés” for work not accepted by the Royal Ulster Academy. I liked the setup and, as a new set of studio spaces were becoming available, decided that it I should take one of them. I started to move in two weeks ago. Very bare and uninviting at first! But since then, I have got the walls covered and I put picture rail around the top to make it easier for me to hang pictures and to vary their positions. The spaces were actually created by dividing up a large warehouse and so there is no ceiling, as such, to the studio. This means that, without further measures, it is almost impossible to heat! I have now put a “ceiling” of clear plastic over the top, supported by a grid of fishing line underneath. It still lets in the light but traps the heat. I am now very comfortable!

No ceiling yet, but getting there!

Since moving in, I have only just started to work. But I am very optimistic that being in the studio will help my art to develop better. It makes such a difference being in a place where there will be no interruptions, surrounded by your own work and being able to completely concentrate on painting! Hopefully, in the future I will have more to report on what I am doing, so I hope to get back to blogging regularly.

An Art Teacher’s Memento Mori

2008-09-21T09:32:00.005Z

"An Art Teacher's Memento Mori", February-May 2008.
Oils on canvas, 70 cm x 50 cm.

The original “Memento Mori” paintings were also known as “Vanitas” (from the Biblical quote, “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.” They were intended to be a reminder that all the glories and riches of this world are transitory, and so you should prepare yourself for death and the after-life to come.

One day I was discussing still-life paintings with a class and made a reference to “Vanitas” paintings. To make it more relevant to them, I made a point that the same idea could be applied to any point of transition, such as from school life, as a pupil, to independent life, as an adult. A still-life life along these lines could comprise items such as school books, uniform, awards for achievement at school, etc. The intention of the painting would be to point out that,eventually, all the things to to with school would be behind them and there is a life as an adult to look forward to.

Having now left my teaching career behind me, I decided to apply the same idea to my own life. This “Memento Mori” is thus about the “death” of my own teaching career and a reminder that the things that I thought of as important then are now behind me and that I should look forward to my new career as an independent artist. It is not all negative though, as it is also a celebration of many things that I achieved as a teacher and of the excellent work produced by many of my pupils.

For a larger view of the painting, click here. For a fuller description, click here.

A General Manifesto for Experiential Realism

2008-06-15T08:58:00.003Z

The Experiential Realist:

Uses their skill to recreate the actuality of what the eyes can see.
Renders everyday places, characters, situations, dilemmas, and objects, all in verisimilitude, as being of interest and importance.

Finds and depicts beauty (and ugliness) through their own experience.
Allows their awareness of the situation and circumstances of the subject to influence their perceptions and the way that they express them.

Experiential Realism is not a label to be put on just any painting based on observation. Specifically, it is used to declare that the painting is important and relevant as a documentation of a place and situation. It lays claim to a particular form of “truth” as having been recorded and declares it as having value.

Of these, it is the first two that make a direct connection with traditional Realism. However, I think that it is the stress of the next two which marks the difference between Realism and Experiential Realism. In some ways it, nudges Realism (just a little) towards Expressionism.

The earlier forms of Realism, Social Realism, etc, made a form of political (with small “p”) statement. For example, one major point behind the original Realist Art Movement was to say that great art was not necessarily about “major” people or events. It claimed that a great painting did not have to depict a king or noble lord or even people of wealth and influence (for example, Courbet’s, “Burial at Ornans”. In other words, Realism was a reaction against the prevailing art of the time. From this, I reason that, if Experiential Realism is to have any real importance, it must also be seen in the context of being a reaction to the prevailing art of our time.

There is presently a dichotomy in the important means of visual communication. The most pervasive form of visual communication is through photography in all its forms. But, because the images are almost infinitely reproducible (especially now that most photography is digital), whilst the image may be highly esteemed, the means of reproduction has almost none. Films can win Academy Awards and can make the owners of the reproduction rights rich, but the individual video or DVD copy of the film has negligible value. It is only the experience of watching the film that is considered to be important. The DVD or video artefact is merely a convenient form of enabling this experience. On the other side of the split is the fine art object, a painting or sculpture. The experience of viewing the object may be highly valued, but the experience can normally only be gained by visiting the one example of the work and, because of this, the object itself may become worth a great deal of money. Hence a Vincent Van Gogh painting of sunflowers becomes worth millions of pounds in the present day art market.

In 1812 Jacques-Louis David painted the Emperor Napoleon, one of the top celebrities of his day, in his study. If it ever came on the market, the painting would now be worth a great deal of money. Present day celebrities, are recorded in film, usually shown on TV, and in photographs, usually published in magazines. A photograph cut from a magazine is worth very little. If a celebrity hired an artist to paint their portrait, the portrait would be worth rather more but would probably only be seen by a very few people. The fine art object which becomes worth a great deal of money does not normally now rely on portraying a celebrity, rather it relies on providing a unique primary experience which can be gained only by visiting the object (and/or a vicarious second-hand experience which can be got from the popular media, usually discussing how ridiculous it is that the object is valued/cost such a great deal of money, e.g., the crack in the floor of the Tate Modern or Damian Hurst's diamond-coated skull).

I would see Experiential Realism as closing this gap. It does not mean that other forms of art are “wrong” or worthless, but it is art about normal, average places and people. And it is for normal, average people. To appreciate it, a specialized art education is not required, just some visual sensitivity and awareness. It cannot be produced cheaply, because it is time and skill intensive, but neither is it unaffordable. Hopefully, it will also be of such a quality that the viewer will return to it again and again and still discover new aspects of the work – for that is what differentiates it from a mass produced image where only the straight-forward perception of the image is important.

Experiential Realism is also a “Modern” art – and will continue to be so. The Modernism comes from the fact that the artist will always be an artist of their own time, painting the things of their own time. In its own way, each painting is an historical document, because, working within the strengths and weaknesses of the medium, it records the truth of a place and situation.

A bit more towards a General Manifesto of Experiential Realism

2008-03-23T10:55:00.006Z

Making up a personal Manifesto is dead easy! All you really have to do is list your likes and dislikes! Making up a General Manifesto is much trickier as you really have to think about what the words mean.

Take the word "Realism", for a start. Realism links up with previous Realist art movements. According to Wikipedia, "Realism is a visual art style that depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see. Realists render everyday characters, situations, dilemmas, and objects, all in verisimiltude. They tend to discard theatrical drama, lofty subjects and classical forms in favor of commonplace themes." It also states, "Gustave Courbet is credited with coining the term, which pins "Realism" (capital R) down to the 19th century. However, realism (without the capital) links with "realistic", which now links up with every artist who as ever depicted something which looks like the "real" world! And this is far too broad a definition to be useful.

"Realism is a visual art style that depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see."
This, at least, is of some use. The advantage here is that when the content of the picture depicts - or appears to depict - the real world, the the artist is using a visual language with which most people are familiar. It makes the artwork instantly accessible to the majority of people, not just a few, specialist, "art trained" connoisseurs. I want my work to be accessible to the majority, not just a tiny proportion of the population. So I can use this to make up a clause:

"Experiential Realism depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see."

However, note the use of the word "depicts". An artist uses paint, reality uses real light, real trees, real grass, etc. So an artist has to use his skill and knowledge of his medium to persuade the viewer that what he is painting really exists. I would go slightly further. If an artist paints an apple and the viewer sees a painting of an apple, then the artist has failed. When the viewer looks at the picture and sees an apple, then the artist has succeeded! The medium is not the message, merely the means of transmitting it.

So I think that the clause can become:
"The Experiential Realist artist uses their skill to represent the actuality of what the eyes can see."

The Realist art movement of the 19th century also links up with a number of other "Realisms", which are worth looking at as part of a general search for enlightenment. Note, "Realists render everyday characters, situations, dilemmas, and objects, all in verisimiltude." This is something I have a lot of sympathy with. It also links up with "Social Realism" and "Socialist Realism" (which was more specifically linked to Communism). However, both Social and Socialist Realism were linked to particular political aims and ideals. For my own part, in depicting everday places and events I have no motive other than I think that they are worth celebrating. So if I was to use this part of the definition of Realism as another clause, I think that it must become:

"The Experiential Realist renders everyday places, characters, situations, dilemmas, and objects, all in verisimilitude, as being of interest and importance."

Note that this definition does not exclude the painter of the natural landscape. I enjoy - occasionally - the world of nature. But as a painter, I am more more interested in the way that people interact with their environment! That is just my personal bias, so it has no part in a general definition.

"They (Realists) tend to discard theatrical drama, lofty subjects and classical forms in favor of commonplace themes." Classical Realism is a late 20th century art movement which placed "a high value upon skill and beauty, combining elements of 19th century neoclassicism and realism. My problem with this movement is not that I decry skill, but that the classical style makes you too aware of it. Hence the skill, rather than the subject, becomes the message. It is the same problem as the one that I have with Photorealism. Also the "high value" placed on "beauty" means, to my mind, the acceptance of pre-existing ideals of beauty. I want to challenge the viewer to see beauty where they might not always have previously considered it to exist, frequently in the ordinary and mundane. So it might be fair to add the following:

"The Experiential Realist finds and depicts beauty through their own experience."

Another art movement worth considering is "Magic Realism". In some ways, René Magritte is a good representative of this style. The paintings are incredibly realistic - at least, at first glance - but then involve surrealist/magical/mystical elements. The bit which I find useful is the notion of a mystical or transcendental element. I do not feel any need to introduce incongruous elements into my paintings of the Experiential Realist type. For me, the magic is in my own awareness of the original scene or situation and in my attempt to transmit this to the viewer. But I am not sure that, as yet, I can define a clause to properly express this! However, perhaps it is possible to say that:

"The Experiential Realist allows their awareness of the situation and circumstances of the subject to influence their perceptions and the way that they expresses them."

By this I mean the sort of thing that I wrote about some time ago, in my blog, " Thinking about Painting", the manner in which we "scan" a scene, focusing on different things at different times. Things that we pay particular attention to can appear brighter and sharper, etc.

In all, I appear to have ended up with four clauses for the General Manifesto that I think I can stand by:

The Experiential Realist:

Uses their skill to represent the actuality of what the eyes can see.
Renders everyday places, characters, situations, dilemmas, and objects, all in verisimilitude, as being of interest and importance.
Finds and depicts beauty (and ugliness) through their own experience.
Allows their awareness of the situation and circumstances of the subject to influence their perceptions and the way that they expresses them.

Of these, it is the first two that make a direct connection with Realism. However, I think that it is the last two which tend to mark the difference between Experiential Realism and pure Realism.

Towards a General Manifesto of Experiential Realism

2008-03-16T13:28:00.004Z

I was reasonably happy with what I wrote last week as a Manifesto for Experiential Realism. Later, however, I realised that, although it reflected my own views, it would not do as a General Manifesto - which would include other artists who think the title of “Experiential Realism” sums up something important about the way that they work. This was prompted by my making a search for the term on the Internet. I already knew that the term was being used in philosophy, as that was where I adopted it from as the name, potentially, for an art movement! However, I also discovered that a couple of American artists had spontaneously used the term with reference to their own work. An American artist, Aaron Schuerr, used it as a title for one of his blogs and another American, Dough Rugh, used it as a descriptive term within another blog. I cannot be certain that either would agree with the way I think about it, but it seems to me to be worth considering in greater detail my own understanding of what “Experiential Realism” means.

In order to do this, I am going to start with what I have already written, expand and clarify it, as best I can. It is, perhaps, easiest to start with the negatives. I wrote:

I reject:

Art as decoration, as wallpaper.
I remember watching an interior decoration programme, I think that it was called “60 Minute Makeover”. The team needed something to add a splash of colour to a wall, something which would match the furniture and the rest of the colour scheme. Someone took a blank canvas, splashed some paint on it to form an abstract pattern and, voilà, instant piece of Abstract Expressionism - which matched the wall perfectly! This may be rather an extreme example, but a lot of people do buy art because it will match in with their décor. It may be rather arrogant of me, but I want more for my art than that!
The possession of art as a means of establishing intellectual status.
I am not opposed to the various other movements of modern art, such as Conceptual Art, Minimal Art, Post-Modernism, etc., as such. However, I am left with the uncomfortable feeling (hopefully untrue) that many of the purchasers of such work do so to establish, at least in their own minds, their status as intellectual beings, capable of the superior aesthetic understanding required to appreciate such work. I believe that the only genuine reason for purchasing art should be the depth of the feeling that the piece evokes in the prospective purchaser. Provided that such depth of response is present, the type of the artwork is immaterial.
The Media as the Message and The display of skill as the purpose of art.
In the end, I decided to lump these two together. I suppose that I was very much thinking of the Photo-Realist and Super-Realist art movements. There is a good example by Richard Estes online.
“Diner”, (1971) Oil on canvas, 40 1/8 x 50 in. (101.7 x 126.8 cm.) It is of course, beautifully painted! But I find myself asking, what would be the difference between this and a photograph produced to the same scale (if one such a photograph existed)? It does not seem there could not be that much difference, since the apparent object was to paint in a photographic manner. Therefore the value of the painting – as art – had to be in the fact that the medium was changed from photography to painting. In other words, this was the painting skill itself being presented as art. It could also be said that, in this case, the media, paint, was the message. Looking at the painting, I do not find myself interested in the place represented, so much as the means by which it represented! I am distracted by the quality of the painting!
The idea as art.
Essentially, this is Conceptual Art, but also the work of artists like Damien Hirst. I would consider his diamond covered skull, titled “For the Love of God” to be in the same vein as the Dadist Marcel Duchamp's “Fountain”. Duchamp's piece was a ready-made urinal which he elevated to art by signing it “R. Mutt”. Damien Hirst's skull was a ready made skull, which he elevated to art by having it covered in diamonds! Duchamp mocked the establishment by the cheapness, in both price and effort, of his “readymade”, Damien Hirst mocks it by intrinsic value of the diamonds with which he decorates his own “ready made”. Duchamp was outside the Art Establishment looking in, Damien Hirst is inside the Art Establishment looking out. In some ways, complete opposites, but on the same line! However, the most important part of both items is the idea behind them.
Other people's conventions of beauty and ugliness.
I think that a large part of the value of any creative person is their individual viewpoint. So what I mean by this is that every artist has to find out for themselves what they consider to be beautiful or ugly. Truly original work makes new conventions, rather than simply repeats old ones.

I have one major problem with all the points that I have listed above (even though I believe them to be valid) – and that is their very negativity! In the end, I think that it is more important to know what an Art Movement is for, rather than what it is against. So I hope to explore this next week.

My Art - A Personal Manifesto for Experiential Realism

2008-03-08T15:24:00.010Z

"Quoile River, near Downpatrick"
December 2007-February 2008.
Oils on canvas, 70 cm x 50 cm.

For some time I have been trying to form my own ideas about the “why” of art, the role of art in today's world. Then I realised that this was far too big a question for me, since art covers such a multitude of activities and fulfils an important role in such varied circumstances. In the end, I decided that the question I needed to answer was, “Why my art?” What is it that I am trying to do, what is it that I think of as being important and what do I reject.

In a previous attempt (18th, February, 2007, to be exact) to understand my own art, I considered the way we look at things. We do not see objects and scenes in the rigid way that a camera records them. We move our heads (and we have two eyes, giving us stereo vision, which means that sometimes one eye can see what the other can not), our eyes can appreciate a much greater range of colours and shades than a camera normally records and we look at different parts at different times, mentally blending our observations into the one perception.

Although not intentionally distorting what I am seeing, when painting I quite automatically incorporate this way of viewing into the result. Perspective - whilst appearing to be essentially correct - will be "adapted" so that vertical lines may no longer be precisely vertical, angles may change to make the view more dramatic or to reveal a greater area (as from a different viewing point). One of the rules of human observation is that one "notices" more that which one is interested in, so colours can appear more vivid and objects larger! Everything one is interested in is in focus because one automatically focuses on the part which is being observed. Based on this, I have named the way I work as “Experiential Realism”, meaning that the realism of the painting is tempered and modified by the way that I experience the scene.

The result of this thinking is:

A Personal Manifesto for Experiential Realism

I reject:

Art as decoration, as wallpaper.
The possession of art as a means of establishing intellectual status.
The media as the message.
The display of skill as the purpose of art.
The idea as art.
Other people's conventions of beauty and ugliness.

I embrace:

Art as the conveyor of meaning.
Art as a stimulus to feeling and emotion.
The use of the illusion of depth in painting.
Depth of meaning in art.
Art as a teller of stories.
The beauty that I perceive and experience, without reference to the strictures of others.
I embrace the beauty of the ordinary, the every-day activities of people in their everyday surroundings, the beauty of the ordinary street, the ordinary house, the ordinary shop.
I embrace the portrayal of landscape as it is, part natural, part man-made.
I embrace the portrayal of the world of today as it is, a mixture of old and new.

Thomas Spencer.

Historical Comment:

In art history, Realism was a late 19th century art movement which was concerned with the accurate and apparently objective description of the ordinary, observable world. The Realists attempted to depict the lives and appearance of ordinary people. Social Realism developed from this, in the early 20th century, as a movement particularly concerned with depiction of the poor and thus it criticised the social environment that caused the poverty and misery. Essentially, whatever their value as works of art, Social Realism was a form of propaganda endeavouring to change social attitudes. The original Realists were also propagating a view, although a rather simpler one, that the lives of ordinary people were just as suitable a subject for major works of art as the lives of the rich and powerful.

Both were reactions to prevailing viewpoints, as is my own. My point is that the realistic depiction of every day life and places is still worthy of depiction in serious works of art. It is not simply the domain of the hobbyist and the part-time painter. And has certainly not been made defunct by the advent of photography! However, I think that such painting has to rise above mere mechanical recording, which is why I prefer the term, "Experiential Realism", as referring to my type of art. My depictions are influenced by my experience of the scene and this is determined by both my physical and mental characteristics.

Nb: This Manifesto should not be taken as meaning that I consider other types of art as necessarily unimportant and unable to fulfil important functions – or even that I cannot appreciate them! Just that they are not important to me, within the context of my own work and intentions.

Downpatrick Exhibition

2008-02-14T12:29:00.005Z

The exhibition in the Downpatrick Library Gallery opened last Wednesday (6th February) night. It is in support of the Harmony Community Trust, Glebe House, Strangford, and was opened by one of the local politicians, Margaret Ritchie of the SDLP. It went well, but I was a bit disappointed with the attendance, only about thirty or so. However, two of my five paintings are sold, so that is a start. It is a good exhibition space, basically one large, well-lit room, at one side of Downpatrick Library. Hopefully, because of its position next to the library, this will help there to be a reasonable number of further visitors.

Because of the need to get my paintings ready in time, I went for producing five small landscapes. They were quite successful (and I am pleased with them), but the exhibition made me aware of how many others are producing work in a similar format. I think that I need the larger formats in order to stand out. Also, paintings of towns and buildings are relatively rare, so I think that my paintings of town scenes also stand out for that reason.

The more that I see work of local artists, the more convinced I become that the truly memorable work is nothing to do with either skill or technique. It seems to me that most of the work which has reached the history books has done so because it encapsulated something personal about the artist's life and times. Much of the work I see is attractive, some of it is highly skilled, but I am not convinced that it rises above the decorative. It is not that I am knocking decorative work as such, but I feel the need for something more.

For more photos, see ArtMagic; Downpatrick Exhibition.

Just a note!

2008-01-27T14:54:00.000Z

I don't have much time for a blog this week. Rather annoyingly, I had some problems with the computer. First, my computer couldn't work my DVD drive. It turned out that this was because I had updated my iTunes player, which I had to uninstal. Problem fixed! Next, day, I found that I could not connect to the Internet. Suspecting that this might be connected to the previous problem, I reinstalled my broadband connection. I managed to mess that up a couple of times before all went well. I love computers - but sometimes they can be very annoying!

Two new landscape paintings.

2008-01-20T11:04:00.000Z

"Corner on the Newcastle to Ballynahinch Road",
December 2007.
Oils on canvas, 25 cm x 30 cm. (11 hours working time)

There is a small, local exhibition coming up and I agreed to submit five paintings. Just got the last two finished, to my relief! There are, I think, quite nice, although not what I would consider major paintings. The weather has been poor recently and does not encourage much work outdoors. I am very much looking forward to warmer weather, when I can start spending much longer outside working on paintings.

I have quite a few paintings I want to get finished. At the beginning of January we had - for us - heavy snow (i.e., about 16 cm, which fell in the one night and lasted about a day). As always, it caught us unprepared. My wife and I were travelling to Ballynahinch and were about 15 miles away from there when it started. So, naturally, when we were just a few miles from Ballynahinch we got stuck (with a lot of others) at the first serious hill. It was only when some of us drivers got together to give cars a push that we were able to get moving again. No chance of help from the police or the road service as they were all snarled up around the town itself, nobody able to move on any of the roads leading in or out of Ballynahinch. The one good thing about being stuck where we were was that when, after several hours, we got moving again, at least the traffic chaos in Ballynahinch itself was beginning to clear and we were able to get to our destination! The other good thing was that the snow was still there in the morning, so I took several canvases up into the town and was able to sketch layouts on to them. I think that I should, potentially, have a couple of good paintings, although they will have to be completed from the photographs that I took at the time.

"Horses in a Field", December 2007.
Oils on canvas, 30 cm x 25 cm. (14.5 hours working time)

Wavy Lines and Op Art

2008-01-12T23:12:00.000Z

This is an exercise I found useful with first year (secondary school) pupils, both to hammer home lessons about colour mixing and to link it up with a little art history. The exercise starts by drawing a very wavy line down the middle of an A4 sheet of paper.

Further lines are added, trying to keep them evenly spaced from the first one. If a loop is particularly big, a section of the new line will have to be "broken off" and left inside the loop.

This process was continued until this side of the page was completely filled with lines, as evenly spaced as possible. The process was then repeated for the other side!

The next stage was to fill in one of the spaces between the lines down the middle with either a primary or secondary colour. The next space was left blank and the one after that filled in with the next secondary or primary colour in sequence, ie., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple (and back to red and through the sequence again if necessary). It doesn't matter where the sequence is started or in which direction they are gone through, as long as the colours are kept in sequence.

The process is then repeated to the other side. (Note that, although I have completed the sequence on the left side, it could just have easily have been completed by going through the same colours again in the same order - so instead of purple, I would have filled in orange again, etc.)

The final stage is to fill in the remaining spaces by mixing the two colours on either side of each space.

Some pupils would put in the colours a little differently than others and sometimes interesting results were created when pupils misunderstood the instructions somewhat. If the results were visually interesting, I never told pupils off just because they did not follow my instructions exactly.

The exercise could be done with paints or colouring pencils and I would set a version of this for homework, which could be completed using different shades of lead pencils and no colours at all!

It should be obvious that there are strong connections to Op Art and the work of artists like Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely. I encouraged my pupils to investigate this for themselves and to experiment along similar lines. I gave all pupils a small handout on Op Art and encouraged those who could do so to search the Web for more material.

These are some useful links that I have found.

Op Art:

Artcyclopedia

About.com: Art History

Wikipedia

Bridget Riley:

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Tate Gallery

Queensland Art Gallery
Victor Vasarely:

http://www.vasarely.com/

Wikipedia

Fondation Vasarely (in French, but excellent pictures)

Thumbnail Sketches

2008-01-05T15:39:00.000Z

If any one is seriously interested in Art History then, to my mind, a really important skill to master is that of creating "thumbnail" sketches. This doesn't mean that it is not important to get good quality images wherever possible. There are many sources available online. (One excellent one is Olga's Gallery. For a full colour version of William Turner's, "Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway", see http://www.abcgallery.com/T/turner/turner26.html.) However, a thumbnail sketch is not merely a reminder of the painting, it also helps you to analyse it and understand its composition. For it to be successful, you have to think about what you are doing, about what it is really important to show, yet it is also fast to do!

In order to improve your understanding of a piece of art work, it can also be useful to make a large, detailed study of it (as in my study of the horse cave painting). But sometimes this is unnecessary, even a waste of time, when (in some cases) a much simpler thumbnail sketch would give you all the insight you need and would get across whatever point that you wish to make!

Colour Theory

2007-12-29T15:31:00.001Z

As I described in my last blog, I found it useful to start Junior pupils with a look at pre-historic cave painting. This lead naturally on to a discussion of how paints are made and then on to a discussion of colour theory. In primary school, some (but not all) of my pupils had completed colour circles. However, I never found the colour circle a particularly good way of explaining how colours mix, so I came up with my own system inspired from Venn diagrams. I gave my pupils an A4 photocopy of the above blank template. The Venn diagram at the top had to be filled in using just three colouring pencils, a yellow, red and a blue.

As with oil pastels, if the colours are to mix well it is important to start lightly. I told my pupils to fill in the lightest colours first, starting by filling in the yellow circle lightly, then the red and finally the blue. Then this was repeated several times until the pores of the paper became completely clogged with colour. Done in this way, the mixture which created the secondary colours worked well. (NB: If a pupil filled in the first colour heavily then, where another colour was supposed to overlap, the pencil tended to skid over the first colour and very little of the second actually stuck to the paper!)

For the middle section, pupils were also allowed to use a black and a brown pencil. In the final section pupils were allowed to use orange, green and purple pencils, simply because of the "cleaner" quality of manufactured secondary, colours compared to their own mixtures.

Note for teachers (in particular): If you wish to use copies of the above sheets, go ahead! They are copyright free for private and educational use. However, it would be nice if you would let me know if you find them useful.

The full Colour Theory lesson (and better quality images) is now available at my website (http://www.artmagic.uk.com/) at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/artmagic/page169a.html and the one on Cave Painting at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/artmagic/page170.html

Art History – Cave Painting

2007-12-23T17:18:00.000Z

My copy, in oil pastels, of a cave painting of a horse. The original is in the Lascaux Caves in France and dates from around 15,000-10,000 BC. I picked oil pastels because I thought that the broad pastel effect would be the closest to the results produced by the original, pre-historic, artists. When working with oil pastels, I like to start by using the colours in a very light, sketchy way. I keep going over the drawing lightly with different colours until the grain of the paper is largely filled in and the pastels begin to “skid” over the surface. I then use a conical “stub” of paper, rolled to form a hard point, to blend the various shades together. (If you work too soon and too heavily with one particular colour and the paper grain becomes clogged, it becomes difficult to modify it by blending in other shades.)

When I first started my website (http://www.artmagic.uk.com/), I intended to include a series of art lessons, for the possible benefit of both students and teachers, simply because my retirement seemed to otherwise waste a great deal of my experience. (Whether or not the lessons are actually any good is, of course, another matter entirely.) The problem was that, as I became increasingly busy with my own painting, this project has gradually been falling by the wayside. So a change of strategy is called for! What I intend to do is to write up my thoughts on these lessons, as they occur to me, as part of this blog. Afterwards I will tidy them up and incorporate them into my website as time allows.

With regard to Art History, what I hope to do is to take personal “snapshots” of the various periods and movements of Art History. In particular, I hope to provide links between the sections, to show how one influenced or grew out of another - or, sometimes, simply how similarities exist without there being any other connection at all! There is no intention to cover movements in detail - others have already done this and much better than I can! My intention is to create a series of “pegs” that a more detailed study can be hung upon at a later date. For this reason, I am including links to web sites that I found particularly interesting and useful (if you can suggest others that would be particularly appropriate, I would be grateful if you would e-mail me with your recommendations).

This is my first attempt – a look at Pre-Historic Cave Painting. I found this to be a useful introduction to art history for my 1st year pupils (Secondary School). The French Ministry of Culture provides a great virtual tour of the caves at http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/, which, with the aid of a data projector, I found very useful – and the pupils loved it. The site also has a lot of good follow up material.

Paintings like the original of the horse (at the top) have only survived because they were created in nearly inaccessible places which have been protected from the ravages of the weather. But these places would have been even more difficult to get to thousands of years ago, with no more than primitive lamps and torches to show the way. The paints were created from the materials available at the time, such as coloured earths, charcoal and chalk. The effort involved in collecting these, carrying them down narrow passages deep into the earth and then creating the paintings at the other end should not be under-estimated. To justify such effort, the paintings must have been of considerable importance to the people at the time.

It is likely that there was a 'magical' purpose behind this act of creation, although not perhaps not in the way we might think. I cannot believe that people who were intelligent enough to create such works of art were simply indulging in wishful thinking, i.e., that they thought that by showing the animal pierced with arrows and spears, this would guarantee a successful hunt. I think that the process would have had to have been one of identification with the hunt and the animal being hunted.

When a person totally immerses themselves in a subject, the creative process swings into action. Solutions to problems come to mind without the need for conscious thought, both mind and body tune up for action. I am completely certain that the process of creating these paintings resulted in the participants becoming better hunters - because we still make use of essentially the same process today! This is exactly what a sportsman does when he 'psyches' himself up for a competition. He devotes himself to thinking exclusively about what he has to do, he may run through the act repeatedly within his imagination and, usually, he is surrounded by the paraphenalia and trophies associated with his sport. (Evidence of past success helps to create a mental environment favourable to future success.)

When we do something like this as a group, we often go to a special place dedicated to that purpose. This may be a clubhouse or even a place of business, but whatever its ostensible purpose, its ritualistic aspects are likely to be revealed by its furnishings. These are quite often portraits of earlier sporting or business 'heroes' or perhaps framed certificates, the equivalent of battle honours in military establishments. At one time or another, often without realising it, most of us have been in such environments and participated in group activities designed to promote a group identity and to enthuse us to greater efforts. I doubt if we have really changed that much from the days of prehistoric man.

What Happens to Prices?

2007-12-16T12:21:00.000Z

In my last post, I included a jpg of a small painting of mine, which I priced at £120 plus P&P. But that is not the end of the story with regard to pricing. When I first started, I calculated the price purely on the actual working time. Since I was working directly in the street, I didn't even consider preparation time or time taken selecting my subject, working out my idea, or anything else. This gave me the freedom to sort myself out at my leisure, but is not a practical way of working out how much one needs to make from a painting, simply because the actual painting time is so intense. I certainly could not keep up a 40 hour week consisting purely of painting! However, in reality the painting time is interspersed with the need to sort out canvases and materials, to travel to a specific site, to get set up, to clear away and even for things like eating and drinking! All of these have to be allowed for as well.

The example I gave, "Drumlins near Ballynahinch, Co. Down, N. Ireland" was a particularly simply one to create. The site was close by, the painting very straightforward, expenses incurred were minimal. Hence the price calculated is also a very basic one. If someone living nearby saw it and bought it at that price, P&P would also be eliminated and, with a minimum of inconvenience I would receive a sum of money which, whilst not going to make me rich, would be a useful aid to my general maintenance and well-being. (P&P costs to somewhere else in the world will depend on the type of secure packing needed, carrier costs, insurance, etc. But since I have not yet sold any work in this manner, I have not yet got a clue as to what this entails. Essentially, I will be waiting for the demand to arise before I worry about it!) However, I am also getting together a number of landscapes for a group exhibition in February. Already started, these required me to go out of the way to select my subjects, so some extra time will be added in. Some will take longer than others, so this will also effect the price. In addition, I will have to get the work framed, allow for the commission charged by the gallery and the effort and time involved getting work to and from the show. Some of the work may not sell, so I have to allow for the fact that I will have to keep this work until sometime in the future when another opportunity for a sale may arise. So (a lot of guesswork is involved), here is an attempt to recalculated the selling price required for the same small painting if I put it in as part of an exhibition.

£120 - to cover working time in production
£50 - average cost of framing
£40 - to cover an averaged 2 hours collecting and delivering times (guestimate)
_____
£210 total so far.

Galleries charge differing amount of commissions. A local show might only charge 20% of the final price, but a commercial gallery commission could be 60% of the list price. At 60%, the final list price would be:

£525!

Some galleries would charge less commission, but I believe that this sort of estimate gives a ball park figure for the sort of pricing that a painting of this type and size would require in the general art market around here.

But I am still not going to get rich - at least if my work is all sold through galleries on this basis! However, on a more optimistic tone, if substantial amounts of my work start to sell at gallery prices, this will start to increase the value of my work generally. The main advantage of selling through galleries is that my work can, potentially, reach new buyers that otherwise I would not have access to.

Pricing one's artwork.

2007-12-09T12:43:00.000Z

"Drumlins, Near Ballynahinch, Co. Down, N. Ireland", November 2007.
Oils on canvas, 30.5 cm x 25.5 cm. (6 hours working time).
£120 unframed, plus postage and packing.

Pricing one's artwork:

This is not an attempt at advising others on how they can price their own work, just my own musings on the subject, with an invitation to others to comment.

It seems to me that this is always going to be a thorny subject. Price yourself too high and you are unlikely to find buyers. Too low, and, effectively, you end up subsidising your buyers. You can, therefore, only continue to produce artwork if you have other means of support. This also makes it difficult to raise your prices in the future because you have firmly set yourself in the bracket of amateur artist. Of course, one way out of this dilemma is to find a dealer who likes your work sufficiently to promote it, but this has the disadvantage of meaning that you have to be able to fit into a recognised slot in the art market.

My own case is slightly peculiar. Because I taught art for many years, my skills and knowledge of the subject are quite highly developed. However, because I was concentrating on my teaching career, I have built no reputation for myself as a professional artist and established no slot for myself in the art market. Indeed, on leaving teaching, my morale was so low that, at first, I had difficulty in believing that anyone would be interested in anything that I might produce!

Because I have a pension, I do not rely on selling my art to cover basic living expenses. However, as a mature person with commitments, neither can I completely devote every moment of my time to my art career. Essentially, the two aspects balance each other out. My pension covers my non-art commitments, but my art work has to sustain, through sales, my ability to produce more art work and to develop my career as an artist. I also have no desire to subsidise my buyers. If my work is worth buying, then it is worth the buyers paying a realistic price for it!

I decide that, as an entry level-artist, without an established reputation, that the best initial policy was to price myself as a skilled and professional craftsman. However, I also had to allow that non-commissioned work, which might not sell immediately, would involve marketing expenses which also had to be covered. I therefore decided to that the price of my art work would be calculated according to how long each piece took to be produced, at a basic rate of £20 per hour. Since commissioned work brings in cash as soon as it is completed, I give a discount of one third on all commissions.

This is not great money, but it has been adequate to allow me to establish a local reputation - which is keeping me busy with a steady flow of commissions. This , in turn, has meant that I have started to build up a reserve of non-commissioned work for sale at exhibitions. For the immediate future, commissions take priority, because these are what allow me to keep going. For the longer term future, the non-commissioned work is vital, because these will allow me to establish both a wider reputation and higher prices.

From a pricing point of view, non-commissioned work can be split into two categories. Relatively quick work, such as small landscapes and people studies (which therefore carry relatively low prices) and more elaborate and impressive pieces, such larger landscapes and studies of towns (which are time-consuming and thus have to carry larger prices). Landscapes have proved popular in the local market and, as they carry the full price tag, are more profitable - providing I can wait for the financial return! Larger, more elaborate pieces, have to sell between £1,400 and £2,000 if, even on my present pricing system, they are to be worth doing. Since a smaller percentage of the population is prepared to pay this sort of money, this means that I have to gradually become better known to attract the right sort of buyers. However, by their nature, the larger pieces are more impressive so, eventually, this should happen.

There are limits on how much work that I can produce so. hopefully, a point will be reached when I cannot fulfil the demand (to a small degree, this is already happening). This means that I can afford to discourage some buyers by asking for higher prices. If I am getting higher prices, than the value of existing pieces is also likely to go up and so my work should acquire an investment value, which in turn should boost sales. This is clearly a delicate balance, but the big advantage - to me - of higher prices is that it gives me more freedom to select the sort of work I want to do and to experiment with other media (for example, I have planned some pieces of sculpture that I would like to be able to cast in bronze). Greater financial freedom should also bring me more freedom in terms of where I can exhibit and thus widen my potential market.

All of this is calculated entirely from the point of view of the money required by me, personally, in order to be able to continue to produce work and expand my own art career. However, a time should come when established, commercial art galleries find my work desirable purely from a business point of view. The difficulty with this is that galleries have to factor in their own profit margins, so an increased selling price will not necessarily immediately reflect in more money for myself. What would make this worthwhile would be if the gallery was promoting my work into new markets and could reach further afield. It would also lift the burden from me of having to organise my own exhibitions! In the longest term, this is probably the way that my career has to go, since eventually it would result in the greatest freedom to concentrate on producing the work I want to. However, it is not something that I am feel any urgency about. Galleries have their own concerns! If they see a profit in promoting my work, I think that this will make them keenest to do so!

From an artistic point of view, I am happy with what I am doing. I know my work to be unique and I believe that it offers something special to the various people who have bought my paintings. I just want the financial freedom to be able continue expanding the scope of my art. The above writing encapsulates my thoughts on how I can establish this greater financial freedom. If anyone reading this is also a working artist, I am would be interested in their comments and curious as to their own approach(s) to promoting and financing their careers.

Jokes and understanding Contemporary Art

2007-12-02T12:58:00.000Z

I was just reading an article, "Young at Art", from the Sunday Times Supplement (2/12/2007). The main part of the article was about how the paintings of a young girl of four had been fetching prices of about 300,000 dollars. Later, some evidence came to light which seems to indicate that it was not simply all the girl's unaided, unprompted work. However, it does raise the question of how the value of items of art can be established - which also raises the question of how they can be understood, particularly if they are non-figurative.

It seems to me that an important tool is to apply the same rules to understanding art that you would apply to understanding humour. Much of the best modern work – that I believe is liable to last – I would associate with inventiveness and a sense of fun (whether or not ostensibly meant so by the artist). A joke shares something with a work of art: it twists things so that you look at them in a new light, often juxtaposing things that you would not normally think of as going together. In this light, Damian Hurst's diamond-coated skull can be thought of as a rather obscene joke about the art market - and how much some art collectors are prepared to pay - rather than a profound statement about death. The crack in the floor of the Tate Modern works well as a visual joke - which is why it appears to be attracting many fascinated visitors - but perhaps not so well as a deep statement about the separation of developed and under-developed countries and alienated minorities.

Jokes - like art - can be thought-provoking, witty, simple or complex, cynical, satirical, in good or bad taste, offensive, upsetting, re-assuring and - sometimes - just plain bad! I think that this way of understanding art is obtained from one's first reaction to the piece - without reference to what the artist might say about it. Just a feeling about what the piece is saying based on what the piece looks like, the materials it is known to have be made from and the context within which it is presented. Looked at like this, Duchamp's ready-made "Fountain" (a ceramic urinal which he signed (R. Mutt"), can be understood as being a work of art, but also a rather unpleasant and deliberately offensive joke on the art-going public of the time (1917).
If you decide that you appreciate the "joke", it is then worth considering other factors in order to decide if its purchase (presuming it is purchasable) represents value for money. In a recent TV programme about the Frieze Art Fair (“Imagine: How to Get On in the Art World”), the presenter, Alan Yentob, bought a sculpture, one of an edition of three, by George Henry Longley, at £3,500. It represents a play on the idea of a ladder. Longley transformed it by sealing off the ends and changing the five rungs by using a diamond cross-section. The final piece in, presumably, welded metal is painted bright red. When you take it that the dealer is probably getting at least half of the final price and taking into account the difficulties of making the piece, the cost does not seem unreasonable. Displayed against a white wall in a room of Alan Yentob's house, the ladder made a striking display and, to me at least, made art historical connections with a whole type of contemporary art. Hence I think that it was a very reasonable, if not earth-shattering, purchase. Witty enough to be interesting and decorative enough to work in the context of a private house. Not the sort of work that I would want for myself, but one that I can appreciate in someone else's house.

The big question, I think, is to establish whether or not you can laugh with the work of art, or whether the joke is on you!

Contemporary Art and Exhibitions

2007-10-28T11:15:00.000Z

"Two Women Talking", October 2007.

Oils on canvas, 30 cm x 40 cm.

My art exhibition is now over and I am pleased with the results - some sales and enough commissions to keep me busy for much of the year to come! Perhaps more important, in the long term, was that the reaction from visitors was very good. This is important because it encourages me to think that I am on the right track with regard to the type of work I am producing.

However, I have reservations with regard to the number of visitors that I was able to attract. I had about 130-150, which wasn't bad for a one-man exhibition in a small town. Some of my visitors either knew me personally or had a particular interest in art already, so it was not surprising that they enjoyed the exhibition. The particularly encouraging part was that I also had a number of very casual visitors, not particularly interested in art, but who reacted very favourably once inside. The discouraging part was that I did not have more of these casual visitors! I suspect that this was not to do with me personally, but rather that there is a general reaction from many members of the public which prejudges an art exhibition as likely to be boring!

A lot of contemporary art relies on its ability to shock, puzzle, bewilder and/or intrigue the spectator. But these effects are subject to the law of diminishing returns, which means that the increased search for the new and novel nevertheless has a decreased response from the viewer. This, I believe, has resulted in an alienation of the public. To some degree, the gap is filled by hobbyists and by those artists who are prepared to paint simply to suit popular tastes – primarily decorative landscapes. The difficulty with this, is that the quality of the work is often not high. Even if the painting is technically good, it is rarely intellectually challenging. The result is that the popular art going public tends to be confined to the artists themselves, their immediate friends and relations, and buyers who are simply looking for something decorative to hang on their walls.

I do believe that the way forward is a re-engagement with the familiar. By familiar I mean traditional media, oil and watercolour, etc, and traditional subjects, landscape, portraiture, etc. But a painting should not simply be a demonstration of painterly skill. Within this context, the role of the artist – I believe – is to make the viewer re-examine and re-evaluate the subject matter. The apparent familiarity is the tool which persuades the viewer to consider the artwork in the first place (instead of dismissing it out of hand, the “I don’t know anything about art, but I know what I like” syndrome). But it then needs to take the viewer further. Above all else, it needs to build the expectation that the viewer will find future work interesting – and worth the bother of going to see!

Preview Night

2007-10-14T09:53:00.000Z

The Preview of my Art Exhibition was held on Thursday, 11th October. It went very well, approximately 20% sales on the night, but more important was the feedback I got (very encouraging) and the general "buzz" (which was excellent). I also got several commissions for new work. All in all, a very successful night!

My Art Exhibition

2007-10-06T14:03:00.000Z

I have been very busy this last couple of weeks. I am putting an exhibition of my art work for the last eighteen months. Hard work, but also quite good fun.

On Thursday, a photographer from one of the local papers came to get some photos for an article on the exhibition! I have put up posters around the town and, of course, a lot of individualised invitations have been sent out, but getting the local press onboard is likely to be critical to the success of the show.

"Experiential Realism" as a modern Art Movement

2007-02-18T12:26:00.000Z

I have been looking for an art term or title that describes what I am trying to do. The best that I have been able to come up with is, "Experiential Realism". The term already exists in philosophy as developed by George Lakoff, of the University of California at Berkeley.

In philosophical terms, Experiential Realism accepts the existence of the real world and that its nature determines much of how it is understood. But the philosophy also reasons that our understanding of the world develops from the nature of our own bodies and our upbringing. For example, (if I understand this correctly) if people from two different cultures looked at a tree, they would both be able to accept its reality, but at the same time - influenced by different cultural attitudes and personal experiences - they would also perceive it somewhat differently.

In art terms, Realism was a late 19th century art movement which was concerned with the accurate and apparently objective description of the ordinary, observable world. The Realists attempted to depict the lives and appearance of ordinary people. Social Realism developed from this, in the early 20th century, as a movement particularly concerned with depiction of the poor and thus it criticised the social environment that caused the poverty and misery. Essentially, whatever their value as works of art, Social Realism was a form of propaganda endeavouring to change social attitudes. The original Realists were also propagating a view, although a rather simpler one, that the lives of ordinary people were just as suitable a subject for major works of art as the lives of the rich and powerful.

Both were reactions to prevailing viewpoints, as is my own. My point is that the realistic depiction of every day life and places is still worthy of depiction in serious works of art. It is not simply the domain of the hobbyist and the part-time painter. And has certainly not been made defunct by the advent of photography! However, I think that such painting has to rise above mere mechanical recording, which is why I prefer the term, "Experiential Realism", as referring to my type of art. My depictions are influenced by my experience of the scene and this is determined by both my physical and mental characteristics.

Slieve Croob sunset, Co. Down, N. Ireland

2007-02-10T22:51:00.000Z

“Slieve Croob at sunset, from the Saintfield Road, Ballynahinch." Oils on canvas, 20” x 30”.

It has been awhile since my last post, but I have been thinking a lot about what I am trying to do with my painting. In one sense, my aim is completely straightforward, I am trying to record what I see as "realistically" as I can. But the realism is the one of my perception and experience of the scene, not as a camera would record it. The above example illustrates the point. I decided to create this painting after seeing the sunset from this spot whilst driving between Bangor and Ballynahinch. I took photographs to assist - but these could not actually record the play of light the way I was seeing it. If I photographed the sky, the ground was under-exposed, and even if I allowed for this so as to photograph the land, the contrast was still too great between parts which were illuminated by the setting sun and the areas of shadow. However, I could see details within the shadow, the highlit areas and the sky as I scanned the scene. Hence my experience of the scene was as a whole.

I started the painting by, as is my custom, sketching in the composition from observation - but under normal lighting conditions. Some of the filling in was then done with the assistance of photographs - but modified by my memories of the scene. When a similar sunset occurred, I returned to the site to attempt to check details from observation - but I found that the way the light fell on the canvas was so extreme that it largely made this impossible. In the end, I simply used the experience to refresh my memory of the colours and shading and then completed the painting in the studio.

In fact, I am very pleased with the result. I believe that it portrays the "truth" of my experience of the sunset in a way that is impossible for photography to do.

Latest paintings!

2006-10-07T09:19:00.000Z

I have been rather busy since my last blog, so this is primarily an exercise in displaying my latest paintings! They are all on 24 x 18 inch canvases, as I find this a very convenient size to work with. I am continuing to get requests to do paintings, but it is going to be more difficult to work from observation now that winter is approaching. For one of the paintings that I am working on at the moment, I found that I had to work from the back seat of my car, parked on the opposite side of the street from the building which is my subject. I have a variety of lightweight shelters (the most useful of which is a large fisherman's umbrella), which can cope with rain quite well - but not when combined with strong gusts of wind!

“Charles’ Papershop, Ballynahinch”, September 2006.

“Market House, Ballynahinch”, September 2006.

This last one was a commission from the Ballynahinch Regeneration Committee.

“Ginesis Café, Main Street, Ballynahinch”, August 2006.

Thinking about painting!

2006-08-13T10:10:00.001Z

“38 Main Street, Ballynahinch”, July 2006.
Oils on canvas, 24” x 18”.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the "why?" of what I am doing. Initially, when I started painting again, it was simply to get myself, without stress, back into the habit of working on my own art. But, as I became involved with the mechanics of what I was doing, it became clear that straightforward "observational" painting is really not either straightforward or simply to do with observation!

A normal photograph of a scene will do three main things:

It will record the scene with strict regard to linear and aerial perspective - the view is recorded from one precise point, straight lines will appear straight, objects will diminish in size with mathematical precision according to distance and more distant objects will appear to be hazier and bluer.
Colours, because of the limitations of film design (or printing ink, if using a digital camera) will be be distorted. Some colours, usually the most vivid, will "out of gamut" and cannot be reproduced exactly - and so will be muted.
There will be variation according to the depth of field. Anything at the same distance as the object focused upon will appear to be sharp. everything in front or behind will appear to be blurred. (By using a very small depth of field, a photographer can deliberately use this to isolate his subject from the background, so that his subject appears sharp and everything else will appear hazy.)

But this is not actually the way that a scene is viewed in reality. We move our heads (and we have two eyes, giving us stereo vision, which means that sometimes one eye can see what the other can not), our eyes can appreciate a much greater colour range than the camera can record and we look at different parts at different times, mentally blending our observations into the one perception.

Although not intentionally distorting what I am seeing, when painting, I quite automatically incorporate this way of viewing into the result. Perspective - whilst appearing to be essentially correct - will be "adapted" so that vertical lines may no longer be precisely vertical, angles may change to make the view more dramatic or to reveal a greater area (as from a different viewing point). One of the rules of human observation is that one "notices" more that which one is interested in. So colours can appear more vivid - and the perceptions can then be reproduced by using the full range provided by good quality paints! Everything is painted in focus because one automatically focuses on the part which is being observed.

The final result of all these adaptations is that, I believe, a painting can be much more "alive" and truer to actual perceptions of a scene than a photograph can ever be!

“Kitties Entry (Harmony Way), off Main Street, Ballynahinch”, July 2006.
Oils on canvas, 24” x 18”.

The start of my Ballynahinch Art Project.

2006-07-29T17:42:00.000Z

A couple of months ago, after leaving teaching, I decided that I needed to get back to my own art work. Since I was spending a lot of time in Ballynahinch (Co. Down, N. Ireland) I decided to create a series of drawing and paintings about the town, working from life.

My first painting was only a quick study in oils on canvas, completed in an afternoon, a view along High Street towards Dromore Street. However, the response to my working in the street, even for such a quick study, was very encouraging.

My next painting was a view along Main Street. The big shock here was that it was bought by someone, as a present, before it was even finished! In addition, I got a commission for another painting whilst I was working on this one.

“Main Street, Ballynahinch”, June 2006.
Oils on canvas, 30” x 20”.

“Stewart & Gibson, Main Street, Ballynahinch”, June 2006.
Oils on canvas, 24” x 18”.