“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.

"Forest Sunset"

"Forest Sunset", March 2012.

Oils on canvas, 60.5 cm x 45.5 cm.

Just finished this painting last week. Most of it is quite dark, giving it a feeling of strangeness and mystery.

"Les Baigneuses"

My woodcarving is progressing well, the group of three figures to the right are now finished (apart from the final smoothing and polishing). The next stage is to finish the two figures to the left. I will then have to complete the background. Because I decided to isolate the figures first, there will be no features overlapping them.

I decided to go with the title in french, because that makes a stronger connection with the European tradition of "bathers" pictures. It is particularly the painting by Cézanne, « Les Grandes Baigneuses », that comes to my mind.

Progress report on my "Bathers" woodcarving

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!

"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

After I left my studio at Studio 23 in Dunmurry, I created a new studio space in a shed in Ballynahinch (where I stay during the week). I hoped to carry on painting there, but I found it unsatisfactory. For some reason, possibly the lack of company from other artists close by, I found it very difficult to settle down to paint there. So when an opportunity came to move 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 as much as I would like. By way of compromise, I have revamped the studio in Ballynahinch for use as a sculpture studio. Perhaps because sculpture is a much more physical activity than painting, I find that I can work well on this. It helps that my time for working on art can be split evenly between the two studios! In fact, my sculptural work has been neglected in recent years, so this represents an important opportunity for me to develop this aspect of my art.

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!

"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

“Slieve Croob Skyscape”, October 2011.

Oils on canvas, 101.5 cm x 81 cm.

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

Two new paintings!

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

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

"Mountain Landscape", September 2011.

Oils on canvas, 61 cm x 46 cm.

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

Market Square, Lisburn

"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!

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

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!

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

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!

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

Oils on canvas, 101.5 cm x 75.5 cm.

My New Studio in Lisburn

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

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/