[untitled water painting, acrylic on linen, 20cm x 20cm]dear reader, would you buy this painting? it's never been in a gallery or an exhibition (it has no picture frame) and it's very unlikely to be. i seem to have a lot of paintings (or works) like this - many things started, but never really finished. if i add up the work i haven't really finished to the other work which i think is done, then the work soon mounts up...
so what is it with this imagined water surface? i always tell myself not to use philosophy to express a thought which i would never have entertained myself, so to paraphrase Nietzsche, the higher you fly the smaller you will look to those on the ground, is an idle thought which seems relevant to this feeling of uncertainty, a conflict or contradiction, between what you want and what you get by doing something...
within the perceived depths of water (rather than the sky) perhaps it is the counterpoint to thinking that, being above and yet below, in the ebb and the flow, but what do i know..?..the element of water, the high seas, the oceans, ships and shorelines, rivers and ports, a significant part of family history, and then making a small connection...it is not the river that influenced this small painting; it could be the weather, the rain, the floods, the seashore and the waves. perhaps it is an ocean (in the shade of blue), and where there is an ocean there is also the air and the big blue sky, but sometimes clouds, or storms, forming and dispersing, influencing, mirroring, moving, from one element into another...anyhow, it's just a thought......[see also: on the surface, water paintings]
on artworks and two small paintings
the artworks annual exhibition opens this weekend at blackthorpe barn in the heart of rural suffolk. i am one of thirty artists exhibiting new work in this art exhibition.[edit: i would like to mention here of my gratitude for the encouragement and support i have received this year in the continuation of my membership of the artworks group. they will know who they are, and i thank them.]each artworks artist is allocated a space in the barn and here is a small picture of my wall of (very) small paintings.these paintings are very possibly the smallest paintings in the artworks exhibition, and my intention was to produce a series of delicately textured paintings which would require close scrutiny so that the beams (in all their rustic heavyweight charm) did not entirely steal the show.these small paintings are framed in white wood frames (using natural liming wax), floated within extra-deep window mounts to give a degree of separation and independence from the exposed beams and overlapped timbers of the barn's rustic interior architecture.
plain white walls do help to concentrate the gaze when someone happens upon an artwork for the very first time, where there is no background noise to distract from the 'get to know you' conversation (or creating a dialogue as some artists will call it, but a conversation seems much more personable).this series of (very) small paintings combine my rustic style of painting with collage, constructed in many layers to create subtle accents of texture and relief within the surface, minimalist in composition offset by irregular striations and stacks of textured colour, to evoke everyday sensory elements of the rustic and the rural - walls, fences, boundaries, edges, horizon lines, buildings and structures.here is a picture of one of the (very) small paintings on show in the exhibition (minus the picture frame)...
[suffolk pinks, tarmac and straw 2012, 10cm x 10cm)this (very) small painting evokes striated, layered memories of walking, cycling or driving (or sometimes just taking the bus, which is nice) through the suffolk countryside in late summer, of straight roads and stubble fields, the harvest straw and dust as it clusters and clumps by the roadside, of sideways glimpses of traditional 'suffolk pink' farmhouses, sometimes set back from the road behind hedgerows, gates, fences and walls - and wondering (in that brief moment of passing) what it might be like to live there, with those fields as your only neighbours...here is another (very) small painting in the artworks exhibition (again, minus the picture frame)...
[purple sage, potting shed 2012, 10cm x 10cm]sometimes it's the smallest of things that momentarily hold the attention. the textures, colours and aromas in the garden on any given day, a purple-leafed sage in a terracotta pot, the dust, dirt and cobwebs in the shed as you sort through a jumble of odd-sized plant pots, the aroma and texture of compost in your hands as you sow the tiniest of seeds, or the patina of waterlines on the inside of a rain bucket or watering can.these seemingly mundane visual experiences, now insignificant memories, seem to have filtered through when making these small paintings, perhaps to acknowledge some of the humble pleasures of rural life, and to cast away the less pleasing aspects, as things are 'felt' and layered in one's memory, without recourse to a more 'literal' narrative.if there (ever) was an overarching idea, an underlying motive, a subconscious need, it was a need to evoke such sensory memories - in a way which felt authentic, honest and pure, quietly evocative, modest in every way - as a small expression of retreat or escape, back into a small world which i could claim as my own, and from there on in, came the titles.rural life has been an inevitable influence in these (too?) small paintings as i continue to be drawn to the colours and textures of time passing, a humbling antidote to the relentless pursuit of 'perfection' in contemporary life....artworks 13th annual art exhibition8th to 30th september 2012blackthorpe barn, rougham, suffolk (SatNav IP30 9HZ)the artworks exhibition is open daily, 10am to 5pm, from 8th to 30th september 2012.artworks is a professional art group of thirty east anglian artists who organise a showcase exhibition each year at blackthorpe barn. the thirty exhibiting artists in the 2012 exhibition are:Valerie Armstrong, Mike Ashley, Lyn Aylward, Penny Bhadresa, Gillian Crossley-Holland, Helen du Feu, Genista Dunham, Janet french, Chris Gamble, Roger Gamble, John Glover, Jenny Goater, Joss Goddchild, Jazz Green, Lynn Hutton, Alison Jones, Eleonora Knowland, Christine McKechnie, Katie Millard, Elaine Nason, Carol Pask, Anne Paton, Doug Patterson, Ben Platt-Mills, Ursula Kit Price Moss, Lizzie Sanders, Colin Slee, Constance Stubbs, Liz Waugh McManus, Virginia Wright....
shades of grey, in an exhibition
today, about five minutes before the deadline, i handed in two paintings for the annual Halesworth Gallery Open exhibition. below are some photographs of one of the paintings - it is #118 in the catalogue, so there are at least 118 artworks in this art exhibition...shades of grey is one of a series of small paintings on wood, (wood that I found abandoned, lying on the road), and these paintings developed as 'incidental paintings' - using left-over paint from other painting activities - incidental in the slow making of them and in the textural patina and surface qualities. the loose formation of blocks and grids echo aspects of the local farming landscape - in agriculture, machinery and architecture.
[shades of grey, detail]
[shades of grey, detail]
[shades of grey, detail]
[shades of grey in shades of grey, acrylic on reclaimed wood]for the halesworth gallery open exhibition, every artwork submitted is exhibited (amateur of professional, paintings, prints, drawings, photography and 3d work) and this established annual event raises much needed funds to support the running of the gallery. it's a very lively & eclectic art exhibition (expertly curated and hung by the gallery team) - do try to visit if you are in this rural area of suffolk. the exhibition is open daily, from 8th to 26th september 2012.the small market town of halesworth is located a few miles west of the A12 - click here to see the gallery's location on google maps. please note, there is no car parking at the gallery - park on the market place, which is only two-three minutes away, dependent on how fast you like to walk! please ring the gallery beforehand on 01986 873064 if you have mobility issues, as the gallery is situated on the first floor of a very old almshouse building and access is via a staircase.Halesworth Gallery Open exhibition8 - 26 September 2012Steeple End, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 8LLOpposite St. Mary’s ChurchOpen Weekdays and Saturdays 11am - 5pm, Sundays 2 - 5pm...