The Zen of archery

When I was young, like a lot of kids, I played with crudely made bows and arrows. I briefly got to try out proper archery when I first went to art college, but it is only recently that I became seriously interested (one of the advantages of being retired and having time on my hands). Instinctive archery (shooting without conscious aiming and without mechanical aids) is what appeals to me, probably because I see it as similar to the way that I create art. For that reason I think that it is worth writing about my progress and what I am attempting to do.

I am shooting 33 inch carbon fibre arrows using an American style flat bow, pulling at approximately 40 lbs. However, to develop instinctive skill, the one recommendation that I believe to be true is that it takes a lot of practice! This is why I have developed my own particular way of doing things.

I use a back quiver as this enables me to reload quickly after shooting (after releasing an arrow my hand is already in position to lift out the next one). This means that without particularly hurrying the process, I can release an arrow approximately every seven seconds. This is not really all that fast, skilled speed shooters can do much better. My own purpose is simply to cut down on practice time. l also carry 25 arrows in the quiver. Since at present I am only shooting at a range of 10 metres, this means that shooting the 25 arrows and recovering them takes just less than 5 minutes each time. Two half hour practice sessions each day means that I shoot 300 arrows per day. To avoid unnecessary damage to the arrows, I divide my shots over 8 target faces, three per target - with one extra shot so that it is easier to work out my accuracy as a percentage!

My main concern now is to improve my consistency. If a shot is off centre by 6 inches at 10 metres, it will be miss by 12 inches at 20 metres, so I need to learn how to consistently hit the centre. Since I started I have improved, but I still need to get a lot better. At present, I score myself according to how many arrows I can get into or cutting the centre gold.

This is the first time that I achieved 6O% accuracy (15 arrows in or cutting gold) a few days ago. Unfortunately, most of the time my average occuracy is more like 32%, but there are signs of it improving!

THIS is what I need to be getting regularly (the rest of the 25 shots were only average)! However, if it can happen once, I can do it again! It is the mental process of getting up to this standard that I believe is of interest and that I am primarily concerned with writing about.

Some more Inspiration from the Past

The original inspiration for this painting was Claude Monet's, "Women in a Garden". There are three women in his painting, but I was a bit short of women, so this is:

"A Woman, a Dog and a Bird in a Garden", July-Dec, 2016

Oils on canvas, 69.5cm x 49.5cm.

Painting Labour

After the shock of the Brexit vote, I found myself wanting to become involved in politics. However, it was not until I discovered Jeremy Corbyn's policies that I found anything to really motivate me. So I found myself a part of an anti-austerity Party with the biggest membership in the UK (and still growing), Labour!

I have now been to a few of the meetings of the North Down Labour branch at the Funky Penguin Cafe, Bangor and l started to think that it would be interesting to base a painting on the meetings. If it works out, it will not be to claim that this particular branch is any more important than any other. Rather, it is to celebrate the importance of ALL grass roots members, meeting in little groups like this.

Last night at our AGM I did a few sketches, almost at random, depending on who I had a good view of. There will be a lot more work to be done before I would be ready to paint. For me, this is just part of the process of developing ideas and getting to know the people participating in the meetings. But this is what I have so far!

Inspiration from the past

I have been busy with a renovation project at home and have been neglecting both my painting and blogging. But it is time I got back to both!

I decided to take inspiration from some of the artists of the past, not by copying either their techniques or compositions, but creating a contemporary equivalent of their subject matter.

This one is inspired by Édouard Manet's "Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the grass)". There is still a lot of work to be done to it, but I am happy with the composition. The original "Déjeuner" is usually taken as showing two young, fashionable, parisian males with their mistresses. I wanted mine to show an intimate family group. The images are not of anyone in particular, I drew on a variety of sources for help with the detail.

My most recent paintings!

"Small Skyscape 7", March 2015.

Oils on canvas, 40.5cm x 50.5cm.

"Small Skyscape 6", March 2015, T. Spencer.

Oils on canvas, 40cm x 50.5cm.

"Snowy Slieve Croob Skyscape", February 2015.

Oils on canvas, 49.5cm x 70cm.

"Misty Sunset Skyscape", February 2015.

Oils on canvas, 45cm x 63cm.

"Skyscape near Comber, Co. Down", January 2015.

Oils on canvas, 49.5cm x 69.5cm.

"Mourne View Sunset", January 2015.

Oils on canvas, 49.5cm x 69.5cm.

"Small Skyscape 5", Dec. 2014.

Oils on canvas, 25.5cm x 30.5cm.

It can take a long time to do a painting!

"View of the Mournes from the Dromara Road, near Ballynahinch, County Down, Northern Ireland", 2014.

Oils on canvas, 50 cm x 70 cm.

The painting was actually started in 2007, when I completed the sky and basic layout. Then I got stuck and left it, just returning to it in the last month. As often happens with me - after I have left it long enough - the final stage is quite straightforward!

Recently completed paintings!

Since I have been working in my new studio, I have completed these paintings:

"Welsh Mountainside near Salem, Caernarvon", 2014.

Oils on canvas, 50cm x 40cm.

"Ballygowan Road, near Saintfield, Co. Down, Skyscape", 2014.

Oils on canvas, 25.5cm x 35.5cm.

"Sandy Shore Skyscape", November 2014.

Oils on canvas, 22.5cm x 30cm.

New studio!

For several years I have rented a studio in the nearby town of Lisburn. But this has ceased to be a practical arrangement, so I have been fortunate in being able to get a custom made studio built in my back garden. I have been very pre-occupied with getting everything moved and sorted, but I have been able to paint there for the last month. My productivity seems to be on the increase!

Catching up on my Blogging!

I have been badly neglecting this blog for some time. At any rate, these are some paintings that I have completed since my last entry!

"Landscape with river", November 2013.

Oils on canvas, 81cm x 101.5cm.

This is what I term an "Inner Realist" painting. It is imaginary, a sort of dreaming on canvas, but uses the language of Realism. After that, as you can see, I have been concentrating on my "Skyscapes"!

"Medium Skyscape 1", December 2013.

Oils on canvas, 49.5cm x 69.8cm.

"Small Coastal Skyscape 1", December 2013.

Oils on canvas, 25.5cm x 30.5cm.

"Small Skyscape 4", February 2014.

Oils on canvas, 25.5cm x 30.5cm.

(Since sold and now residing in Germany!)

"Lisburn Road Skyscape", March 2014.

Oils on canvas, 59.5cm x 79.5cm.

Small Skyscape Series

I have started work on a series of small skyscape studies. Three finished so far!

"Small Skyscape 1", November 2013.

Oils on canvas, 25.5cm x 30.5cm

"Small Skyscape 2", November 2013.

Oils on canvas, 25.5cm x 30.5cm

"Small Skyscape 3", November 2013.

Oils on canvas, 25.5cm x 30.5cm

New painting!

"Renewal, Market Square East, Lisburn, N. Ireland", June-Oct 2013.

Oils on canvas, 50cm x 70cm.

The painting shows an area of Lisburn from just outside the door to the studios in Lisburn. I worked on this from observation, approximately for two or three hours, three times a week, over the summer. It took a long time to do because of the detail, which I felt was important for this painting.

Because of the depression, many businesses in Lisburn have been experiencing difficult times, reflected in the number of empty commercial premises to the right. But the city has also been going through a process of renewal. Bridge Street, the road straight ahead, was falling into dereliction, but has now had many of its buildings renovated. As demonstrated by the posters, the city has been making considerable efforts to promote itself. However, that was not really why I particularly wanted to do this painting. I am interested in the nature of reality and painting from observation represents a conversation between myself and the subject being observed.

The most common remark I had from onlookers was that the painting was beautiful, that it was just like a photograph! But that misses the point! What is important is why the painting is NOT like a photograph - because of the distortions that crept in quite automatically through the deliberate act of working directly from observation, because of the changing and enhancement of color that came about from the act of concentration! As a result, the painting represents how the scene was experienced, rather than merely being a record of what was there! The same reasoning applies to the most important painting that I did last year, of the "Farriers", who are local musicians.

"Farriers", October-November 2012.

Oils on canvas, 76cm x 102cm.

I attended a concert of theirs, where I was able to make some sketches and take some photographs. But whilst the painting illustrates moments from the concert, it also includes images from a previous performance that I had already tried to create a painting from and which I had to abandon.

New landscape painting!

“Hillsborough Road Landscape”, September 2012

Oils on canvas, 30.5 cm x 25.5 cm

Blackberry jam!

Not everything worthwhile is to do with painting! Over the last few weeks I have been spending quite a lot of time gathering wild blackberries. Quite a lot has been made into jam, more has gone into the freezer and some I have bottled! Why is it that bought blackberries are large and beautiful looking but have almost no flavour, whilst wild blackberries are full of flavour? Well worth the trouble of gathering them, in spite of a few scratches and nettle stings!

Dimensions of Thought

Some time ago, I noted the following:

• That while space exists, the three dimensions of space (formulated as being at right-angles to each other) are a human invention for thinking about space.

Note: The defining characteristic of a dimension is that change in one dimension can take place without affecting measurements along any other dimension.

• Time also exists. By considering that time forms a fourth dimension, acting isometrically (as if at right-angles) to space, a useful tool has been gained for thinking about time and relating it to space.

Based on this, I came up with an hypothesis:

• Since thought also exists, considering that thought takes place within a further three dimensions, existing isometrically to time and physical space, would be a useful way of thinking about thought itself and relating it to time and space.

Testing the hypothesis:

For the proposed divisions of thought to be considered as representing  dimensions it has to be shown that movement or change within the proposed dimensions takes place in an equivalent manner to that in which movement and change takes place within time and space, i.e.:

1. It has be shown that movement or change can take place within each of the proposed dimensions independently of change or movement within any other dimension.
2. It has be be shown that movement or change in each of the proposed dimensions is quantifiable in some way, equivalent to the way that measurements of time and space can be made.

I believe that I have already shown, by the detailed reasoning given on my website, that these two tests are satisfied. However, I also suggested a third probability (which is more to do with the usefulness of dividing thought literally into dimensions), that if this thinking is valid then terms referring to them would already be in common use (in the same way that the terms height, width and depth are used by everyone, not just scientists and engineers, when talking about measurements in space). I believe that I have also done this, by linking the axes I termed Active to Receptive, Mental to Physical and Dominance (Potential to Realisation) to the ancient system of the Elements Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Spirit, which has similar attributes.

I produced two posters to summarise and illustrate my ideas. The versions on this blog are reduced in file size - full size versions are available on my website, copyright free for personal use.

New painting!

"The Ruin on the Hill", June 2012.

Oils on canvas, 25cm x 31.5cm.

Just finished this a few days ago!

"Waterfall"

"Waterfall”, June 2012.

Oils on canvas, 50 cm x 70 cm.

Just finished this last week. I used the Surrealist method of searching for a meaningful image within random paint marks on the canvas. For me, the painting represents my experiences of waterfalls seen and imagined over the years.

“La grande patience II: celui qui voulait voir la mer” by Bernard Clavel

I have just finished reading “La grande patience II: celui qui voulait voir la mer” by Bernard Clavel. It is the first book in French which has kept me completely absorbed from beginning to end. It is set in the early days of World War 2 and it is written from the point of view of “la mère Dubois”. Her husband is a retired baker, both are getting old and neither has very good health. They are waiting for the return of their son Julien, who has just finished his baker’s apprenticeship. The war is very distant and the story concerns itself a great deal with the simple details of the parent’s lives. However, with the arrival of May 1940, the news becomes more frightening and the roads become crowded with refugees fleeing the advance of the German army. Finally, they persuade their son to join the exodus as he is nearing the age for military service and they fear what the Germans might do to young men. The rest of the story is then concerned with events whilst they await his return.

There is very little actual contact between the parents and the Germans who temporarily hold the town, prior to their withdrawal as the town is to be in the “free” zone of France. No fighting takes place in the town, merely some preparations in case of air raids. From an initial picture of the minutiae of life of a retired couple in a quiet town, the tension in the story builds from the news of the war, fears of air raids, contact with refugees passing through the town and doubts as to whether or not the son should join the evacuation. After Julien leaves, the story is concerned with the immediate struggle for survival during a brief period of occupation by the German army and then their fears for the safety of Julien until he finally returns – four days later than necessary because Julien decided to visit the nearby coast as he has never seen the sea!

For me, the fascination of the book lies in the detailed picture that it draws of civilian life during this period, the fears and hopes of ordinary people, caught up in events beyond their control. It has whetted my appetite for reading more by this author!

"Les Baigneuses" polished and finished!

I exposed the oak panel to ammonia fumes for over a week to darken the wood, then soaked it in linseed oil. Since the panel had been made from several pieces of wood clamped and glued together, there is some variation in tone. However, after a final treatment with a beeswax polish, I was pleased with the result.

New website in English, mirroring my French website, L'Art et La Magie

In order to practise my use of French, I created a website, "L'Art et La Magie", using and revising material from my old site, "Tom Spencer's ArtMagic Website". However, I decided that I liked the layout of the new site, so I have now created a sister site for "L'Art and La Magie" in English, called (imaginatively), "Tom Spencer's ArtMagic"!

I will still be keeping my old site going, but the new site gives a clearer showcase for my artwork and also a better platform for exploring my ideas about the dimensions of the mind and the links to the old idea of the Elements, Air, Earth, Fire, Water and Spirit.

"Les Baigneuses", carving and smoothing completed!

I am happy with the way that this carving has developed so far. I intend to fume the oak, i.e., darken it by exposing it to ammonia (in the old days, woodcarvings would be hung in horse stables to produce this effect). I will then soak it in linseed oil and polish it when it ceases to absorb oil.