Boogie Street

Private View

2012-01-26T14:17:00.003Z

Here's the invitation to Figure 8's new show at the Biscuit Factory. I'll be showing eight of the Rock & Tree series paintings, including the two new Auchterarder Hedgerow pictures.

If you can make it to the opening, I'd be delighted to see you there. Come and say hello! If you can't get there, maybe you can get to the Biscuit Factory before it ends on 4 March.

Failing that, you'll find all of the paintings on my website.

Auchterarder Hedgerow No.1

2012-01-20T16:51:00.002Z

Auchterarder Hedgerow No.1 (Oil on canvas, 61 x 61 cms)

Auchterarder Hedgerow No.2

2012-01-20T16:44:00.004Z

Auchterarder Hedgerow No.2 (Oil on canvas, 61 x 61 cms)

I'd rather have taken my time finishing this off, but the images were needed by the gallery today, so ....

Still, I think I'm satisfied with this and the companion piece. If not, I can tinker next week before I hand them in.

Hedgerows again

2012-01-17T22:35:00.000Z

Hedgerow No.1 ((work in progress)

Hedgerow No 2 (work in progress)

I'm still feeling my way with these, but I'm happy with the progress so far. Not a lot more to do, actually, unless I make some major mistakes.

Sutherland Through the Hedge

2012-01-14T16:18:00.005Z

Hedgerow No.1 (Work in progress)

Last night I set about quickly adding an horizon and a blue sky to the first of the Hedgerow paintings. Reviewing the result this morning, I realised how much my love of Graham Sutherland was becoming evident in this painting. There was no conscious decision to make that happen, but I can see it's there, I have no problem with it and in fact I was quite pleased when the influence was immediately commented upon at today's meeting of the Painters' Group.

The meeting was interesting in that I felt my work wasn't universally liked but that reinforced a renewed determination to plough my own furrow. I generally do that anyway, but in the last few years I think I may have drifted into market-driven thought patterns for understandable but unhelpful reasons.

Through the Hedge

2012-01-12T13:22:00.007Z

Hedgerow No.1 (work in progress)

Hedgerow No.2 (work in progress)

I'm working under pressure again. I have about ten days to provide the images of all the paintings I intend to hang in the Figure8 show at the Biscuit Factory in February (details for you nearer the time) and so far I have only four completed. I probably need two or three more and recently have found ideas in short supply.

To clarify: I have lots of ideas for paintings, but having chosen a particular theme (Rock & Tree) for this show, I need to make some new paintings that fit that theme and ideas for such have not been readily forthcoming.

What I thought I would try, therefore, is see what I might be able to do with some hedgerows I found by the side of the road at Auchterarder when I was there in 2009 on one of my annual painting trips. I'm in two minds about how these are going; certainly I'm happier with the first than the second, but as I've put in more time on the first, that's to be expected. I'm very much feeling my way with these and intend to keep looking for more ideas in case they don't work out.

Meanwhile, if you have any thoughts on these paintings, I'd be interested to hear them, but do bear in mind they're very far from completion.

Edward Burra

2012-01-09T12:23:00.009Z

Every morning as true as the clock
Somebody hears the postman's knock.

To be accurate, he didn't knock this morning. He rang the doorbell.

As I struggled into my dressing gown and rushed downstairs, I ignored the cries from Pat of "There is no bug! The doorbell didn't ring! Don't go outside with no clothes on!" I leave you to decide which of us was the more awake.

I admit I 'm prone to hearing phantom doorbells which have more or less replaced the catalogue of nightmares I've listed before, but this time I knew there was a book on it's way from Amazon and I was anxious to avoid having to go to the depot to collect it tomorrow.

The book in question was the volume published by Palant House in connection with their exhibition of Edward Burra's work. Although my interests in painting extend well beyond these shores, I have an abiding fascination for the work of British painters of the 20th century, and there was a distinct gap in my knowledge of Burra.

Never in good health, he chose to work mainly in watercolour on a large scale and the book captures the remarkably vivid colours he was able to achieve with his chosen medium by constantly overlaying with thicker and thicker paint. I was familiar with the paintings of bars and Harlem low-life (see the cover above) and the Surrealist tendencies (he was a friend of Paul Nash and showed with the Englsih Surrealists in the 1930s) but the landscapes were a real revelation in their pared down simplicity.

Valley and River, Northumberland, 1972
(Pencil and watercolour on paper, 40 x 27 ins)

A lovely book. I'd love to have seen the exhibition.

Refreshments Van, Cambridge

2011-12-26T10:44:00.005Z

Refreshments Van, Cambridge (Oil on board, 5 x 7 ins)

This year, as we did two years ago, Pat and I are spending Xmas with Pat's son Andy and his partner Helen in Cambridge. Last time I made a small Holy Island painting as a thank you Xmas present and I thought (without wishing to set a precedent!) that I might do the same this year. Looking through some photographs I'd taken in the Xmas market in Cambridge, I picked out this refreshments van as something I thought would make a nice little painting.

I've had to keep it quiet, of course, but it's Boxing Day now and Andy and Helen should have seen it, so I can safely post it here.

River Factory

2011-12-19T16:10:00.003Z

River Factory (Oil on board, 12 x 12 ins)

The show at Whitley Bay ended on Sunday and I went to collect my pictures today. And there were only three to bring away! This one, River Factory, was sold on Saturday, possibly to an old friend of mine whom I haven't seen for twenty years or more. It shows a factory on one of the bends in the River Tyne, now quite possibly demolished.

Although the show seemed to be doing less well than the similarly situated show in July, by the end it had done about the same level of business. People may have been hesitant about spending in the current climate, but it's clear they recognised a good buy when it came down to it. I think we might try the same format next year if the shop space is still available (and who would expect a sudden demand for large shop spaces in the next 12 months?)

Xavier Pick: Commission

2011-12-17T17:27:00.003Z

Xavier Pick is an artist whose work I really like. Here's a video of his preparatory work for a commissioned painting of London which I hope you find as interesting as I did.

Pick is a particularly good draughtsman who trained at the Royal College. Imagine how much better he'd have been, however, had the timelines shifted and he'd gone to the RA Schools where he could now benefit from instruction from the Grande Dame of English Art, Tracey Emin, who has now been appointed Professor of Drawing there.

Ahahahahahahaha. Sorry.

Fallen Log

2011-12-04T13:55:00.001Z

Fallen Log (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms)

Have I mentioned the Painters' Group before? No, perhaps not. I began my painting studies in 1989 with the OCA and continued with them for quite a few years before taking a leap of faith and going to Newcastle University to study for a BA in Fine Art. In the last few years of being with the OCA, the tutor was William Varley. At the time Bill was also in charge of First Year Studies at the University and wrote exhibition reviews for national newspapers such as The Guardian and The New Statesman. He still writes some critical pieces, I see.

Anyway, Bill proved very influential in my development and, indeed, was instrumental in encouraging me to think it might actually be possible for me to undertake the degree course. Unfortunately, he retired from the University in 1998, a year after I started there, and frankly the quality and direction of the teaching moved away from what I had gone there to find.

Bill also gave up his role with the OCA but continued an informal critique session every month with former students. For some time it didn't seem to be something that would meet my needs, but recently one or two friends of mine, including Maureen Stephenson and Elizabeth Talbot, joined what had come to be called The Painters' Group. That made the difference for me and I joined Bill's group again in October (in time to be included in the XIV Show, in fact).

The most recent meeting was on Saturday and I made a special effort to get this Fallen Log painting completed on Friday night. Inevitably this posed problems in carrying the wet painting on the bus to the session, but it was worth it. It's always good to get other people's input and on this occasion not only Bill but some of the other painters had interesting comments and questions. The questions, I find, are particularly helpful because they make me think about the painting and articulate my thoughts more clearly than might otherwise be the case.

The painting was well received and as has been my experience of the group in the past, I came home wanting to get straight back in the studio.

"Art in the Park"

2011-12-02T23:24:00.001Z

Traders' Rooftop (Oil on board, 12 x 12 ins)

Earlier in the year - June, I think it was - the Art Club held a selling exhibition in an empty shop in the Park View Shopping Centre in Whitley Bay. For whatever reason, I took no part in it, but I understand it was popular with the public and sales were good.

Which is why I have four small paintings in the new show in the same premises, which opens tomorrow. I think the standard is pretty high, given that it's a club show and no judging was done on the entries. If you're in the area, why not drop in and take a look?

If you can't get there, or if you'd like a flavour of the show, try the slideshow on the Club's website. The pictures will be changed next week, I think, but for now it shows the painting above.

Cakes at the Club

2011-11-25T03:20:00.003Z

Glasgow Cakes (work in progress)

I went back to the Club yesterday and made a start on this one. Like the fallen tree painting, it's (perhaps obviously) a combination of two images: cakes I saw in a shop window in Glasgow and a view of the city itself from the top of the Lighthouse. Increasingly, I'm looking for ways of bringing elements together like this.

Getting Back to It

2011-11-24T13:18:00.001Z

Fallen Tree (work in progress)

Actual work has suffered recently as repairs are being done to the house and I've continued to mull over ideas for painting. A few attempts at different ways of working, mainly on paper, have been inconclusive but some of what I achieved has, I think filtered through to my current oil paintings.

This one is an combination of a landscape and a fallen tree seen in Bishopdale last year, which I started late last night, working through until the small hours.. I'm pleased with how it's progressing, although I think I'll have to address the fact that right in the centre of the composition are two trees. Not a good idea to put things there.

Piazza after Rain

2011-11-12T10:46:00.002Z

Piazza after Rain (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

Trying to get into the routine of going to the Club again, I went along on Thursday and finished this small painting of a piazza in Venice. I wish I could remember the name of the piazza - if you know it, please let me know.

It was relatively quiet but evidence of work was everywhere, especially in the drying racks, which were full. I had to find a space in the print-making room to put my painting out of harm's way. Apparently there's talk of changing the arrangements for storage of paintings, perhaps eliminating the wooden drying racks which, though elegantly made by a time-served joiner, don't really meet the needs of the Club. Putting a shelf round the room, rather like a plate shelf, would probably suit us better.

Self-Portrait 1993

2011-11-09T23:00:00.002Z

Self-Portrait 1993 (Oil on board, 12.5 x 9 ins)

I found this hidden away in the studio a few days ago. If my intention was to produce some kind of Dorian Gray hold on time, it's not been significantly effective, I'm afraid. When I made this painting I had plans to do a series of self-portraits, but apart from a drawing (which I've published here previously), nothing came of it. I think perhaps everyone, including myself, found the apparently angry stare so frightening that it was put in a dark corner and forgotten about.

My good friend Maureen Stephenson, who is one quarter of our painting group Figure8, recently entered the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Competition and her painting, Wysiwyg, was selected for the exhibition. Congratulations are definitely due. She suggested some time ago that I should also enter, but I couldn't fit a self-portrait into my schedule. Had I remembered this self-portrait existed I might well have entered it. Oh well, these things are sent to try us.

Boat at Trogir

2011-11-04T12:42:00.004Z

Boat at Trogir (Oil on board, 6 x 16 ins.)

Calling in at the Club yesterday, I barely had time for a quick chat and to pick up this small painting I completed some time ago.

I really must address the problem of spending time at the Club. Since we moved into the new premises I've hardly been there and I think in part this is due to my not having adapted to the admittedly smaller space and the sense that there is no natural light (in fact the light is all natural but comes through diffusion panels).

XIV Opening Reception

2011-11-03T12:33:00.006Z

The Opening Reception for the XIV show went off really well yesterday. I was particularly pleased with the way the hang had been arranged, even if it meant that only half of my submitted paintings made it to the wall.

My paintings

Parcel

2011-11-01T12:28:00.000Z

I spent much of the day parcelling up a painting to send off to a client in the USA. Making sure a parcel is secure and likely to arrive intact is one of those tasks fraught with worry, but I think the box I constructed from Foamcore should hold up OK.

With luck, the couriers may realise this parcel is fragile.

Small Piazza Painting

2011-10-28T13:35:00.003+01:00

Piazza (work in progress)

I never tire of painting bits of Venice and my impression is that people never tire of seeing paintings of Venice. This first stage went quite quickly but proved difficult to photograph. In part, this is because, on a whim, I decided to use gold oil paint in the mix for the main building. It reflects very well, of course, but rather too well for the camera. Once it's covered (no Gustav Klimt here!), it should be easier to photograph.

Driftwood

2011-10-28T10:30:00.000+01:00

Driftwood (Charcoal and pastel on cartridge paper)

In an idle moment in the studio yesterday I came across a bit of scrap paper and decided to see what I might make of this image of driftwood I'd seen on Holy Island. The paper was a bit lacking in tooth, so the pastel didn't take well, but I think I see something here that may work its way into a painting.

Sad News

2011-10-26T23:22:00.000+01:00

I learned recently form Jamie Sutherland, the owner of the Di Rollo Gallery in Edinburgh, that his father died suddenly in September. It was his dad whom Pat and I first talked to when we were checking out galleries last March and he was such a friendly man that we instantly felt comfortable being there, not always the case in galleries.

On the few occasions when we met him subsequently, he confirmed our first impressions. Our condolences are offered to Jamie and his mother.

Tram with Prickly Pear (Soller)

2011-10-19T19:17:00.004+01:00

Tram with Prickly Pear (Soller) (Oil on canvas, 24 x 24 ins.)

And there it is. When I stopped working last night I thought I would have to do just a little more today, but I find I'm satisfied with it the way it is.

Prickly Too

2011-10-18T13:35:00.002+01:00

Tram and Cactus (work in progress)

More work done on the cactus, a really enjoyable task. There's such a great opportunity to find colour within the overall greenness of the plant.

Next: development of the tram passengers and adjustment of the windows which seem to have become differently sized.

Prickly

2011-10-16T18:19:00.003+01:00

Tram and Cactus (work in progress)

Although I'm making some tentative, slow progress towards a new, or at least different direction, nothing seems good enough to post right now.

What is occupying me at the moment is this new painting. Although I intend to show older work - the Vaporetto and Tram series - in the upcoming XIV show, I thought I should make the effort to submit at least one new painting. This is an image I made from a photograph of one of the trams of Soller together with one of the local prickly pear cactus.

I started it on Friday night and painted more on Saturday afternoon. Too wet to work on it today, but I think it's going to be finished in time for handing in next Friday. And I think it has the potential to be a good one, but then I'm biased.

XIV

2011-10-06T16:42:00.004+01:00

Lest you you should think I've fallen into the Slough of Despond or simply fled the field, I'm taking advantage of a day when my computer is working, to post some details of this upcoming show I'm taking part in. With luck, the computer problems I'm having will be resolved today, or at least by next week.

Meanwhile, here's Bill Varley on the exhibition:

'The fourteen artists featured in this exhibition were mostly participants in a university sponsored course I ran and when its four years were over, they chose to continue - for twenty years or so. Over time, some have left the group whilst others have joined: the injection of new blood has invariably been rejuvenating. They are diverse in their backgrounds: some are fine art graduates, others are post graduates; some are teachers, and there is even a sprinkling of civil servants. What unites them is the belief that art is indivisible: there is not one kind of art practised by the masters and a lesser art practised by everyone else. As a result they work with the utmost seriousness, informing themselves by visiting exhibitions, acquiring a knowledge of relevant examples and patiently and undogmatically developing their own form and content.

As a result the work that they have produced is also diverse. There is everything from precise evocations of Tyneside landscape to clotted painterly hints of domestic interiors, studies of swirling dynamics of water to post modern abstractions which are hybrids of wallpaper patterns and sprayed and splashed paint. (Their great grandfather was surely Kandinsky.) Add to this biblical narratives and painting which share the metaphysical speculations of Caspar David Friedrich and you have a very rich mix.

The painters are not, you will have guessed, novices. Indeed they share with the former distinguished Director of BBC's Radio 3, John Drummond, something invaluable. When a young suit at the Corporation explained to him that his services were no longer required, Drummond asked to know why. "Because you are tainted with experience." replied his assassin. Drummond was so tickled by this that he made it the title of his autobiography. I am pleased to report that the fourteen are similarly tainted.'

--William Varley

The show runs from 1st to 30th of November (open Tuesday to Thursday, 12 -5pm). Opening Reception is on Wednesday 2 November 12 - 2pm.

Editor's Choice

2011-09-26T13:42:00.002+01:00

I mentioned recently that my painting, Wee Scotland Shop, had been chosen as Editor's Choice for the October issue of Leisure Painter. Here's a scan of the magazine entry.

Empty Headed

2011-09-23T17:12:00.003+01:00

Sitting on the little balcony above our apartment in Soller, I looked out over the sun-splashed Mallorcan landscape and sipped a small glass of local brandy.

"Pat," I said, "my head is completely empty."

Far from being a worrisome condition, I realised that this was a very desirable state. In the weeks before flying out to Mallorca, my head was full of stuff: worries about money, things that needed doing in the house, the way my work was heading, ... just stuff. And now here I was recognising the absence of all that stuff. Where it all went, who can say, but it had gone and for the two weeks we spent ambling around in fantastic sunshine, my head remained happily empty.

What this inevitably meant was that I did no work in my sketchbooks, so for now I have nothing to show you; but I've mentioned recently that I felt my ways of working were becoming stale and now I can sense the seeds of new ideas settling into the welcoming emptiness of my brain.

In a little while I suspect my long-awaited shake-up may make itself felt. Could be fun.

Siesta

2011-09-06T16:37:00.003+01:00

The Baker's Wife (work in progress)

I've been working on this, off and on, for quite some time now. It was once a good bit larger and then was cut down, and colours have changed here and there. The final major alteration was in flattening the foreground with the diamond pattern. And still it isn't finished, although it's almost there.

I had hoped to be able to post the finished painting today because I'm leaving you to your own devices for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow Pat and I are off to Mallorca to recharge our batteries and possibly indulge in a bit of a siesta. Be good.

Clive Hicks-Jenkins

2011-08-30T12:05:00.006+01:00

Saint Kevin and the Blackbird - Clive Hicks-Jenkins

Nothing has to be a particular colour any more than it has to observe external laws of perspective. Rather, a painting is a world apart with an internal logic created by the painter. It is one thing to know this, and to accept it in the work of earlier artists, but quite another to do it yourself. Such is the nature of education now that children routinely copy pictures by Van Gogh or Picasso, often painting a bit each then putting the pieces together in a wall-sized collage. The belief seems to be that they will thus acquire a shortcut to the methods and insights of those ground-breaking artists. On the contrary it's like putting down the answer to a mathematical problem with no idea why, except that someone more mathematical than you has told you the answer. Until you understand through repeated practice and experimentation how and why to break rules, even the unwritten ones, all you will be as an artist is a facile imitator.

Rex Hartley (from What is a Still Life in Clive Hicks-Jenkins)

Clive Hicks-Jenkins is one of my recent discoveries. I first came across his very interesting blog, then followed on to his website and finally bought the book about his life and work. The book contains 11 essays about various aspects of his work, including paintings, drawings, and book illustrations and is well worth reading.

I was particularly taken with what Rex Hartley had to say about the use of colour, which I've quoted above. As he says, "It is one thing to know [that colour in painting can have it's own internal logic] but quite another to do it yourself." I have to constantly remind myself of this.

Shop News

2011-08-26T16:02:00.003+01:00

Wee Scotland Shop (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

Things are very quiet here, as you must have noticed. I'm doing a lot of reading and thinking as what passes for the summer goes by, but not much in the way of painting. I suppose a rest is a good thing and will no doubt prepare me for some kind of Great Leap Forward.

Meanwhile, I've learned that this painting has been chosen as the "Editor's Choice" in a national magazine (more on that in due course). As I thought this might be of interest to the Di Rollo Gallery where the painting is on display, I sent them an email. By return I learned that, coincidentally, the painting has sold.

Suddenly, the rain outside seemed to take on a rosy glow.

New Citibase Show

2011-08-15T12:38:00.004+01:00

This new show at Citibase by the Newcastle Artists Society opened on Friday. I have four works on display and it was quite rewarding to watch people at the private view spend some time looking closely at them:

Rooms & Mannequins (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 4 cm)

Paintings & Prints (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 4 cm)

Breakfast & T-Shirts (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 4 cm)

Rugs & Icons (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 4 cm)

Look for me on the fourth floor staircase.

Starting up again

2011-08-10T12:41:00.004+01:00

Edinburgh Churchyard (work in progress)

After a week of sitting on my laurels, last Friday I began another Edinburgh painting, only to have to leave it to go to a private view at the wonderful Art Noveau offices of Opus Art in Newcastle. And what an interesting evening that turned out to be! I'd been invited to the opening because April Jarocka had some of her lovely paintings of chocolate bars included in the show, but she hadn't told me she'd be there herself. What a delight, and a somewhat surreal one at that, to finally meet someone I've only known through emails and websites.

On Saturday, Pat and I went to Edinburgh again, this time for the private view of the Festival Exhibition at the Di Rollo Gallery. It was a good opening, with a decent flow of people in and out (including a science fiction fan I've somehow never managed meet in my 45 years of involvement in the field), but the weather turned inclement and I think that made the supply of people eventually dry up.

No sales on the day.

Pat and I decided to go for lunch in Stockbridge and then wander along Princes Street, but as the rain became heavier we were starting to feel not a little damp and uncomfortable. Back on the late afternoon train, we found the rain had been even heavier in Newcastle. I do so love a British summer.

Lights! Camera! Action!!

2011-08-02T14:31:00.005+01:00

Today marks my first entry into the world of movie-making.

My partner Pat has been involved in the filming of a new movie, Song for Marion. Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Terence Stamp and Christopher Eccleston, the plot revolves around a community choir. As she's in a community choir herself, Pat was auditioned for a part in the film's choir and was accepted.

Since then it's been work, work, work and I've hardly seen her, but when you're a movie star, that's just the way it is.

And today I get to play the part of a member of the audience at the choir's performance. I'm getting into my character now .... but I won't let it change my life.

Saturday in Edinburgh

2011-07-31T01:48:00.000+01:00

For various reasons I ended up going to Edinburgh on Saturday, despite the Private View being next Saturday. It gave me the opportunity to see my work framed and on the wall, without the crowds I'm hoping for next week getting in the way.

I think they make a good display and should attract buyers, but what do I know?

The best part of the trip, however, was catching up with my old mate Jim Barker, whom I haven't seen for 30 years. We had a great day out in an unusually hot and sunny Edinburgh and it seemed like not a day had gone by since we saw each other last, although the amount of catching up proved how wrong that was.

2011-07-27T18:33:00.001+01:00

Private View

2011-07-25T17:39:00.001+01:00

Silver Hills

2011-07-21T13:37:00.005+01:00

Silver Hills (Fountain pen, coloured pencils, A5 sketchbook)

At a bit of a loose end following the intense period of making the Edinburgh paintings, I found myself looking out of the study window today. For the first time in the twenty years I've lived in this house, I decided to draw the view across the Team Valley to the Silver Hills.

Chambers Street, Edinburgh

2011-07-14T17:11:00.000+01:00

Chambers Street, Edinburgh (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

I am not interested in 'copying' what is in front of me. I find copying pictures very useful and enjoyable up to a point, but copying nature is a different affair. It is, at best, a dull occupation, though I much enjoy using a camera, and find photographs of people and places a good jog to the memory and they can see and record things in a fresh light, or an aspect that had not struck you before.

John Piper (The Artist and the Public, published in Current Affairs No. 96, 2 June 1945)

I quote this for a number of reasons, the first being simply that I admire John Piper's work a great deal and am always interested to read something he said. I suppose another reason is that - justified or not - this painting reminds me a little of Piper. More than anything else, however, is that although I use photographs as source material, this is not what Chambers Street looked like on the day I took this photograph. The details of the structure are more or less accurate, but the whole thing has been filtered through my imagination (and the filters of Photoshop) to bring me closer to what I felt said something to me about the place (and in passing, about colour).

The same process was applied to all of the Edinburgh paintings.

Deacon Brodies Tavern

2011-07-14T16:21:00.003+01:00

Deacon Brodies Tavern (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

Deacon Brodies Tavern is also on the Royal Mile and it's another I haven't been in. I must make more of an effort in future.

Wee Scotland Shop

2011-07-14T16:12:00.003+01:00

Wee Scotland Shop (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

This fine emporium of .... Scottish memorabilia and ... um..... tartan stuff is on the Royal Mile leading up to the Castle. I think peculiar little shops like this help to make a city human.

Jekyll & Hyde

2011-07-14T14:37:00.005+01:00

Jekyll & Hyde (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

This pub is on Hanover Street, not too far from the Di Rollo Gallery. Amazingly, I've never been inside.

Evening, Hanover Street

2011-07-13T22:49:00.001+01:00

Evening, Hanover Street (Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cm)

Paint what you see, not what you know, is a useful maxim and one I usually subscribe to. So why did I question the way this painting was going? Because I didn't believe the evidence of my eyes, or at least what I could see in my own photograph. I knew the spire in this view was a long way behind everything else, so I wanted aerial perspective to make it fall back.

When I went to Edinburgh again recently, I made a point of looking at this view again and again and sure enough the visual weight of the spire (which appears to belong to The Hub) is such that it really does force itself forward. So finishing the painting turned out to be far easier than I'd persuaded myself it would be.

In my report of the research trip to Edinburgh I neglected to mention the very warm welcome Pat and I received when we called in at the Di Rollo Gallery. A special expedition was launched to bring in a supply of very good biscuits and wine and coffee flowed. We really enjoyed what was intended to be simply a brief "hello".

Pub No.2

2011-07-12T10:33:00.003+01:00

Second Pub (work in progress)

Late last night I decided I needed another Edinburgh pub painting. This is the result. It's moved along quite nicely, so I'm confident it can be finished in time to take them all to the gallery on Saturday where they'll be framed.

Shop Work

2011-07-11T18:40:00.002+01:00

Shop (work in progress)

Some corrections and redefining on this painting today. One of the dangers of buying relatively cheap Chinese canvases is that they're not always perfectly made. In this case, I realised yesterday that the canvas is not a true square. It's slightly off-square, enough to throw some of my earlier work out of square too.. I reckon I've put that right today and when the canvas is framed, there won't be anything amiss.

More Pub Work

2011-07-09T18:59:00.003+01:00

Pub (work in progress)

An hour or two today moving this pub painting along. Forget what I said about one painting being more difficult than the other. In fact, this is likely to prove the more difficult, whereas I thought the shop painting would pose problems.

It was unfair of me to ask you to say which would be the difficult one and even more unfair to ask you to say why. The actual reason is because the photograph I have of the shop is full of people milling about in front of the door and downstairs window. Luckily, the Interweb managed to fill in the missing information for me.But you weren't to know that. I think I was just talking to myself out loud.

The Race is On Again

2011-07-08T22:19:00.000+01:00

Pub (work in progress)

Shop (work in progress)

The race in the title is a race against time, of course. I have just over a week to complete my pictures for inclusion in the Di Rollo exhibition, if I want them to be framed by the gallery.

Pat and I spent a day in Edinburgh last week collecting material for paintings but I've had trouble with my printer which insists on printing everything far too dark. Eventually I had to resort to having my photographs printed professionally but this meant some delay in getting started on the new work.

Nevertheless, here I am now with two new small paintings begun of a pub and a shop in Edinburgh. One of them may prove more difficult to complete than the other. Can you guess which, and for what reason?

In the South Tyne Valley

2011-06-28T11:34:00.001+01:00

In the South Tyne Valley (Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cm)

The second of this pair of paintings from the South Tyne Valley.

South Tyne Valley Landscape

2011-06-28T11:16:00.002+01:00

South Tyne Valley Landscape (Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cm)

Looking round the studio yesterday, I noticed how much the study of landscape has occupied my time recently. I never thought I'd say that, but I suppose it's due to a shift in perspective and a realisation that over time I've amassed quite a store of reference material not related to towns.

Boating Again

2011-06-16T21:08:00.000+01:00

Boat with Pines (work in progress)

This is a painting of a little boat moored near the marina at Trogir in Croatia. My plan today was to finish off the small painting I began last week, but before I did so, to start another so I'd have something to keep me going when the small one was done.

As sometimes happens, however, I got so absorbed in this new boat painting that I just keep going until it was time to go home. So now I'll have two to finish off next week

89 Cornwall Street

2011-06-13T12:56:00.005+01:00

89 Cornwall Street (Oil on canvas, 145 x 180 mm approx)

My recent excursion into working to commission worked really well, I thought, so I was interested to read John Salmon's blog post, Commissions? No thanks, in which he recounts the awkward progress of a commission he undertook and the increasingly bizarre items he was asked to include.

John's article reminded me that the Holy Island commission isn't my first commission. The painting shown here was done as the result of a commission I was offered in October 2006. The proposal looked promising. As one of a group of artists, I was to paint a "portrait" of the headquarters of a financial services company. The resulting work would be hung there, a brochure would be printed to include all the works and prints would be shown in their offices round the country. No extra payment for the prints, but I was content that my work would be seen widely.

I accepted and completed the painting using photographs provided by the commissioning agent (who was not the client), shipping it off in November 2006.

By December I learned that the client had decided to postpone printing the brochure until the following March, but I would be contacted in the near future for a written perspective on my work to be included in the brochure.

By July 2007 nothing further had been heard and I had yet to issue an Invoice (foolish me). The commissioners told me the project was still on hold but that I should issue my invoice direct to the client. I did so on 10 July.

I issued a Statement in August and followed that with a letter later that month.

On 4 January 2008 I sent a new Invoice and Statement to the commissioning agents, arguing that my contract was with them rather than the client and asking for payment within seven days.

That did at least shake things up, finally. By return of post my Invoice and Statement came back with an apologetic letter, suggesting that "the confusion may stem from a changeover in staff" at the client's offices.

Payment arrived from the client on 9 January 2008.

It might be argued that I should have been more proactive in chasing up the payment, but this was my first experience of a formal commission and was unsure of how things worked. I also had other problems in my life. The most annoying aspect of it is that I rather enjoyed carrying out the work and had hopes that it might lead to similar commissions. The whole episode depressed me and I put it out of my mind. Even the original photographs I took of the painting have disappeared - the one shown here is taken from the inkjet print I attached to the Invoices.

[Later: A trawl of the Internet shows that the client company went into administration in May 2008, after allegations of "financial irregularities." and was sold shortly afterwards. A history of the business, following the arrival of the man whom I was told in January 2008 had all of the pictures, makes fascinating reading. I don't know where he is now, or where my painting might be.]

Four Balconies, Crete

2011-06-11T18:05:00.005+01:00

Four Balconies, Crete (Oil on board, 12 x 12 ins)

Saturday's not usually a painting day for me, but while Pat's away having fun in London, I thought I'd press on with Finishing Off. Here's one I don't seem to have touched for just over three years. Maybe it's because I've strengthened my colour sense in the intervening years, but today it moved along very well. Well enough to reach completion, in fact.

Oh, I do like it when things go well, don't you?

Clubbing

2011-06-09T22:47:00.000+01:00

Riverboat (work in progress)

Today was my first real afternoon of painting in the new Club premises, and it worked pretty well. I thought it might be too crowded and maybe a little stuffy, but there was only a handful of people there and the extractor fan was working efficiently.

I settled in quite quickly and the very small new painting I'd sketched out on an old piece of board cut from another painting went remarkably smoothly. In fact, had I not needed to go shopping, I could easily have finished the picture in one go. As it is, there's really only the river left to work on.

Transformer

2011-06-08T17:31:00.003+01:00

Transformer (Oil on board, 21 x 30 cm)

It's that period after an intensely creative spell, when I tend to roam the studio looking for something to do that won't involve too much time. On such occasions, my eye usually turns to unfinished pieces, of which there are many (too many, some may say).

Today it lit upon this remnant of a past obsession with bits of strange and possibly unsafe electrical wiring which Greece has aplenty.

So here it is finished. File it under "Oddities".

A Good Day Out

2011-06-06T12:38:00.005+01:00

Saturday was a very satisfactory day. The Holy Island pictures were lined up for the client to choose one and - gratifyingly - the choice proved difficult. She liked all of them for different reasons and waited until it was time to go before making her choice: Evening, Holy Island.

At which point I got a pleasant surprise. Her father decided to buy Orange Sunset, Holy Island.

If you're reading this, Cat and Laurie, I hope you get many years of pleasure from your paintings. Many thanks for commissioning this project and ultimately for choosing the works you did.

Four Skies - Holy Island

2011-06-03T20:13:00.005+01:00

Orange Sunset, Holy Island (Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 ins)

Evening, Holy Island (Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 ins)

Sunset, Holy Island (Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 ins)

Clouds over Holy Island (Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 ins)

The plan was to finish these yesterday, but like many of my good plans, things got in the way, so I was forced to work on them today with the likelihood of their not being dry by Saturday. And Saturday is when they're to be shown to the client.

The bad news is that it was a gloriously hot sunny day today and I had to work in the studio. The good news is that I was able to stand them outside in the garden where the sun made short work of drying them perfectly.

These photographs are not colour perfect, I think, but they're close enough. I wonder which one she'll choose tomorrow. Which would you?

Apocalyptic

2011-06-01T17:44:00.003+01:00

Holy Island 4 (Work in progress)

Today's work on this painting puts me within one day's extra work to finish all four Holy Island Skies, which is very satisfactory. I have to admit that this painting isn't easy, but I think my recent visit to the excellent exhibition of John Martin's apocalyptic visions helped me along.

I thought the Martin exhibition was wonderful. I was familiar with the few paintings in the Laing's permanent collection, but wasn't prepared for the huge later works and the terrific use of colour. I'm convinced now that his daring use of colour was the equal of his contemporary, Turner. If you missed the show at the Laing, try to catch it at Tate Britain.

North East Art Collective

2011-06-01T12:58:00.003+01:00

Did I mention I'd been investigating a new (to me ) gallery in Newcastle? No, I guess not. Last week, in an idle moment, I wandered into the North East Art Collective's gallery in Eldon Garden Shopping Centre where I had a good conversation with John Thompson, the owner.

Long story short, yesterday I took in six paintings to be hung in the gallery. John's background is in business rather than art, but he's determined to promote the artists of the north east and I have hopes that he'll do well in that respect. He's an outgoing talkative man who I think customers will take to easily.

And One Makes Four

2011-05-29T12:09:00.002+01:00

Holy Island 4 (Work in progress)

It's time to return to the Holy Island sky pictures and move them along, but I always feel three in a series is never enough, so yesterday I began a fourth.

The plan is to complete all four by the end of the week, so over the next few days they should all be appearing here. Watch this space.

Greek Wiring

2011-05-24T10:41:00.004+01:00

Greek Wiring (Linocut, 26 x 22 cm)

At a dinner party on Saturday night, the conversation turned to a linocut hanging on the dining room wall. It was one of mine given to the hostess some years ago. My attempts at printmaking and linocuts in particular are very rare and this one was completed while I was in my second year at University (1998). It was never properly editioned, so only a very few artist's proofs exist.

Which poses something of a problem: one of the other guests said she'd like to buy a print. I've never sold a print before. How do I arrive at a fair price? Should it be based on a drawing of that size (which I have sold), or should the rarity value influence the price?

The New Art Club

2011-05-18T12:30:00.004+01:00

A Yellow Wall (Oil on canvas, 16 x 16 ins)

The Orange House (Oil on canvas, 16 x 16 ins)

I got my first look at the Art Club's new premises yesterday. Last Friday, I submitted these two paintings to an inaugural show at the new place, so I went along to see how they looked.

The exhibition is in a room next to the new studios. Not a very big room, so there had to be some selection of paintings., and my two were hung one above the other (as they are shown here). Not an arrangement I particularly like, but I suppose it's better than not being selected at all.

The new studio is going to pose some problems when it's up and running properly, because it's around half the size of the old studio in Bolbec Hall. It really is a shame we had to move, but our situation there had become absolutely untenable in that we could have been evicted at any time with only a month's notice.

There is no natural light in the new room and it seemed a bit stuffy, although there is an air extractor (not switched on yesterday). The other room has been set aside as a community room with the fridge, library and large table. It can be used as a room for drawing, but not drawing with friable materials like charcoal or pastel as it's carpeted and the owners don't want the carpet ruined. So only of limited use in that respect. There are large windows in the community room and I made sure they could be opened to let in some much-needed air.

There's no doubt the change will take some getting used to, but I dare say we'll rise to the challenge. As the only art club in the area which has always allowed members access to their studio five days a week, it has a lot to live up to.

Rookery Time - Wednesday 11th May

2011-05-14T12:41:00.003+01:00

Embrace (Brushpen, sketchbook)

By Wednesday I'd come to the conclusion the weather wasn't stable enough to warrant lugging out a lot of the equipment I'd taken with me. In fact, I'd settled into a realisation that I might as well make the most of being away from home, living in a comfortable country house with no pressing commitments. In other words, I was on holiday.

I spent Tuesday getting to the end of The Blackpool Flyer by Andrew Martin, the second of his Jim Stringer, Railway Detective, mysteries. I'd enjoyed the first of this series, The Necropolis Railway, but the second seemed to me to be terribly padded out. Clearly Martin has done a huge amount of research and felt that he might obscure the identity of the culprit by filling the narrative with details of Victorian life. Undeniably fascinating details, no doubt, but narrative cloggers nonetheless. As a result it's taken me months to get to the end.

Wednesday afternoon promised a spell of fine weather, but no sooner had I finished this two page drawing (and in the process become a real fan of the flexibility of the brush-pen) than the rain came back.

Thursday: rain all day.

Rookery Time - Monday 9th May

2011-05-14T12:01:00.004+01:00

Jervaulx Pillar (2B mechanical pencil, A4 sketchbook)

The weather forecast looked promising, so rather than work close to the house, we decided a trip to Jervaulx Abbey might prove productive. We collected essential supplies from Dales Meat & Pie in Leyburn (Scotch pie disappointing, tartelette chocolat fantastic) with the intention of getting tea from the teashop at the Abbey. Teashop closed "due to unforeseen circumstances". Tsk.

I was sure the Abbey would be an exciting site, but it turned out otherwise. It's difficult to say why. I've always loved ruins, but perhaps these were too manicured or perhaps my inclination really is towards industrial ruination. Whatever the reason, I found I couldn't make sufficient sense of what I saw there to do a substantial drawing. I took quite a few photographs and as I did so I could see that I might be able to eventually put together a composite view which, while not being accurate in its depiction of the Abbey, would be a decent painting composition.

The rain kept coming and I had to eat my lunch in the shelter of an archway, so eventually I simply sat down on a broken step and drew one of the pillars. It seemed to be sufficient.

Or almost sufficient. I made this little sketch and then the rainclouds became very black again. We ended up running for the cars.

Fragment (2B mechanical pencil, A5 sketchbook)

Rookery Time - Sunday 8th May (pm)

2011-05-14T11:36:00.003+01:00

Tree Round Rock (Brushpen, coloured Conte, sketchbook)

Rain had sent me back to the house after drawing the Tree with Green Head and it seemed set for the rest of the day, but when a break appeared that promised a reasonable time of clear sky, I set off for my newly discovered Rock & Tree.

I began with a futile attempt to work with my favourite Rotring Art Pen. The nib has dried up again. [Note to self: check your materials before going away again!] Back to the Brushpen again then and this time I began to find a new pleasure in its use. There's a nice fluidity about the way it handles and quite subtle changes in the line quality can be achieved.

I think I intended to give this drawing more colour, but the black clouds were moving my way so after quickly laying in two colours of Conte to push the subject forward, I ran for the house in the beginnings of a downpour.

Rookery Time - Sunday 8th May (am)

2011-05-14T11:20:00.004+01:00

Tree with Green Head (Brushpen, watercolour, A4 sketchbook)

It was becoming clear that the weather was going to be unstable, with sun and showers appearing from down the valley in unpredictable waves. I walked back up the hill towards the waterfalls but stopped part way there to draw this tree. It's another I'd become interested in last year but as we were here a couple of weeks later than last time, a crown of new leaves had shrouded the head of the shattered trunk.

Drawing this was particularly difficult. Sometimes you should make the decision to try something else and come back when the conditions are more favourable. Instead I pressed on, staring into the subject with the sun behind it and in my eyes, the watercolour drying as soon as I put it on the paper. My intention had been to lay down the watercolour and then draw into it with a disposable fountain pen, allowing the water soluble ink to spread into the colour. As it turned out, the ink had congealed and become a kind of black stringy glop, so I had to dispose of the disposable pen, and turn to the brush-pen.

Rookery Time - Saturday 7th May (pm)

2011-05-14T10:51:00.004+01:00

Tree Circles Rock (4B pencil, A4 sketchbook)

Walking up to the waterfalls involved a lot of very boggy ground and several rotting gates held together by pieces of string, twisted wire and rusted metal. I think it must be a Yorkshire thing. I decided to forgo the pleasures of opening the gates and decided to take a walk in the afternoon along the lane that runs down the side of the valley through flocks of sheep.

I'd never been that way before and it came as a shock to see, on the top of the first rise, a fascinating example of my favourite country subject - Rock & Tree. Coming closer to it, I was amazed by it's structure. It's a huge boulder out of which an ash tree has sprouted, pushing roots deep into a crack on one side. But then, the tree had produced a root-cum-trunk which had wound it's way round the rock and along the other side, grasping the rock in its embrace.

Rookery Time - Saturday 7th May (am)

2011-05-14T10:15:00.009+01:00

Dead Tree (Pentel Brushpen, watercolour, sketchbook)

Although of course I've known for a long time that I was going on my annual painting week, the opportunity to say so seemed to evaporate all of a sudden, so I went without letting you know.

So now I'm back and ready to post the fruits of my labour. Like last year we stayed at The Rookery in Bishopdale, so I had a fair idea of what I might find to interest me round about. Climbing up the steep hill that rises at the back of the house, I made my way slowly (the hill seems to have become steeper in the last year) to the series of waterfalls running down from the scar.

Sure enough, the dead tree I'd seen last year was still there, though in a more advanced state of decay, the insects and fungus continuing their long project of destruction. I love the way the tree resembles a dead creature lying on it's back, it's maw wide open. An echo of Paul Nash.

We were lucky with the weather that day but the cold wind blowing up the valley meant that the sun was less effective in keeping me warm, so by the time I'd put on the watercolour washes I was ready to go back down for a cup of tea.

Old Drawings #64

2011-05-02T11:03:00.004+01:00

Tree and Rocks, Blawearie
(Charcoal on cartridge paper, 20 x 33 ins)

As those of you in the UK will be only too well aware, we're going through the Bank Holiday season, a time when nothing gets done because we're all too busy Having Fun.

In the absence of anything new to post, therefore, I'm posting what may prove to be the last of the Old Drawings series (I need to check - there may be one or two more). I need to think about how to replace this occasional series. Something called New Drawings would, in an ideal world, be a suitable replacement, but that's a series very long in the gestation it seems. I could start to post from my sporadic sketchbook drawings. What do you think? What would you like to see?

This drawing, by the way, is one of the first in what would come to be the Rock and Tree series, an ongoing project. I did it at University in 2001, I reckon, and it's taken from something seen at Blawearie. I'm rather fond of the way I simplified the forms.

Alcudia Rooftops

2011-04-21T12:52:00.003+01:00

Alcudia Rooftops (Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 ins)

A painting from Mallorca, finished almost in passing between working on the Holy Island paintings.

Clouds over Holy Island

2011-04-20T11:08:00.003+01:00

Clouds over Holy Island (Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 ins)

It's tempting to go on fiddling, but I think in this case it's time to stop. The clouds were complicated and it wasn't always easy to keep the colours from becoming an overall grey, but now I believe I'm happy with this one.

SEVEN

2011-04-15T09:50:00.004+01:00

Seven years before the mast. Against all expectations, the good ship Boogie Street sails majestically onwards, its brave captain wondering what on earth was in his mind when he posted that first post seven whole years ago.

Grog all round!

Venetian Balcony

2011-04-13T22:27:00.000+01:00

Venetian Balcony (Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cms)

Giving time for the Holy Island skyscapes to dry, I turned back to this balcony piece and finished it. On a day when the sun had mostly deserted us, it was lovely to revel in the colours.

Holy Island Progress

2011-04-11T19:39:00.003+01:00

Holy Island I (work in progress)

I suppose it must be much great to be a fast and furious painter of skies like John Houston, but I'm not. I take my time, building up the subtleties and nuances of colour. Which is not to say that one way is better than another, or to denigrate John Houston's work which I really really like; it's just different.

Anyway, this is where I left this today.

Third Holy Island Picture

2011-04-11T19:30:00.001+01:00

Holy Island III (work in progress)

A bit more cloud structure in the sky in this one. It'll give me the opportunity to play with quite a varied palette of pastel colours.

Opening Tomorrow

2011-04-07T17:29:00.006+01:00

I left five paintings today to be included in this show opening tomorrow. It's organised by the Newcastle Artists Society and is at Citibase in Churchill House, Newcastle.. You may remember I went to their first show a while ago. Well this is a bigger show, taking in all five floors of the building and looking round at what's already on the walls, it promises to be a good show.

The preview is tomorrow night from 6pm to 9pm. I hope if you're in the area, you might call in and look around, say "hello" even. But if you can't make it tomorrow night, the show is running for the next three months.

If you really can't get to see it all, then these are the paintings of mine you'll be missing:

Wooden Sunset (Oil on canvas, 60 x 60 x 4 cm) £700

Close to Islam (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 4 cm) £300

Venetian Wall (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 4 cm) £300

Engine Summer (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 4 cm) £300

Oil Drums (Oil on canvas, 40 x 60 x 4 cm) £350

Onto the Island

2011-04-06T19:31:00.004+01:00

Holy Island I (work in progress)

Holy Island II (work in progress)

I know what you're thinking: Not more new ones! When will he ever finish something? Well, this is how I prefer to work. I have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks and I find that getting the paintings actually begun is the best way of moving forward. From the initial blocking in, I move on to getting done most of the work, then bring the paintings to their final state by putting in small delineations, points of light, etc.

Whether or not I should be showing these two at this stage, however, is a moot point. A comment on the previous post suggests that I'm very brave to do so. There is a danger that you can't see what I can see in them and you may wonder how they''re going to turn out. In this case, I'm erring on the side of giving information about their construction. The paintings are the result of a commission to provide a painting of Holy Island and what I've decided to do is make several at one time. Expect more of these in the coming weeks.

Late Night on Dundas Street

2011-03-30T01:49:00.003+01:00

Dundas Street (work in progress)

Late night sessions are nothing new with me, but it's some time since I really got into one. When I worked full time in an office, the only way I could get anything done, apart from at weekends, was to work at night. Now that I have the luxury of all my time to myself, I ought to be able to get things done during the day. However, sometimes days get broken up by shopping for food essentials and the like and the urge to work cannot be denied, whatever time it is.

I made good progress with this painting tonight, but I should perhaps have remembered that the studio clock hadn't been changed at the weekend for British Summer Time. So when I knocked off it turned out to be 12.45 am instead of 11.45 pm.

I'm nearly finished with this painting, but there are a couple of problems, most especially the tall spire at the right. It's a very dominant element in both the painting and the city, but memory tells me that it's much further away than it appears, so some real consideration needs to be given to it to make it sit right.

West End Fish

2011-03-25T18:49:00.004Z

West End Fish (Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cms)

One of the things I like about painting buildings in towns and cities is the opportunity it provides to celebrate the ordinary, the overlooked. I like to think that, without my painting, this building in Edinburgh on the corner of Queensferry Street and Charlotte Lane, would go largely unnoticed and uncelebrated.

Despite the busy traffic and pedestrians hurrying everywhere, the building's curves and cupola caught my eye and I knew I could do something with it. And I have.

I'm very pleased to report that after my tour of the galleries in and around Dundas Street, I was contacted by the Di Rollo Gallery and asked if I'd be interested in showing work with them during this year's Festival. You can probably guess what my answer was, especially in view of today's painting.

Purple and Green

2011-03-24T23:18:00.004Z

Purple and Green (Oil on canvas, 8 x 8 ins.)

It's becoming eerie at the Club. People are taking their equipment home and the place is being stripped of much of its clutter. All in preparation for our move, of course.

On Monday we had our Annual Dinner and it was rather sobering to reflect on the fact that this would be the last we'd hold while in the Bolbec Hall premises. We ate in the Library of Neville Hall, home of the The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. The building is a grand Neo-Gothic affair next door to the Neo-Classical Lit & Phil, which in turn is next door to Bolbec Hall.

The Library in Neville Hall, with its galleries, photographs and memorabilia is a moving reminder of the days before we started to turn this country into a retail park selling stuff made abroad. In a socialist country, the Library would be a notable monument to the working man but now it's struggling to make itself known and to find funding. I can't imagine there ever being a Library devoted to workers in the call centres of the UK.

Today I finished this little picture of some chocolates. They used to be made by a British owned company, but now they belong to Nestlé (*spit*). Next week I'll go back to the Club and take away my paints. And then, I guess, look forward to life in the Club's new home; but it won't be the same.

Working on Dundas Street

2011-03-19T12:19:00.002Z

Dundas Street (work in progress)

True to my determination to make a mark in Edinburgh, here's the beginning of a painting looking up Dundas Street. There's no doubt that Edinburgh is a difficult city to paint and its buildings are far from being colourful, so I'm having to think my way back into a rather subdued palette, but this seems promising to me.

Official: Edinburgh Coldest Place on Earth

2011-03-15T18:03:00.006Z

I've always had a great affection for Edinburgh. My Grandmother was born in Crammond, a little seaside village then just outside Edinburgh but now part of the city, and as a boy I spent many happy days staying with my "Auntie" Jessie (actually my Dad's aunt) in her flat overlooking Arthur's Seat.

This photograph from the family album shows me in August 1952, standing eating an ice cream cornet next to a sign saying PLEASE KEEP OFF THE GRASS - I guess I was always slightly rebellious.

Because of this love of Edinburgh, I'm always up for a stay there, so when a good offer of three nights became available, Pat and I decided we'd go. We travelled up on Tuesday last and came back on Friday. And all the time we were there I was freezing cold!

I expect it to be noticeably colder that little bit further north, and Edinburgh is certainly prone to strong winds blowing in off the Firth, but I wasn't prepared for the icy blasts blowing in from the west. None of my clothes proved adequate and I even had to pick up an extra M&S jumper from Princes Street (Thank you, Pat!). On Wednesday morning we had snow and on Thursday we got caught in a hailstorm.

But there are ways of staying warm, of course, not least the galleries, pubs and even the glasshouses of the Royal Botanic Garden. As well as the good selection of galleries down Dundas Street, we explored the area of Stockbridge for the first time, after walking down part of the Water of Leith Walkway.

At the The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art & Dean Gallery we had lunch (the Dean Gallery is the better of the two, I think, in terms of food - and there's table service) and then looked at the wonderful early 20th century photographs of August Sander and the Paolozzi Studio.

The National Gallery of Scotland were showing three rarely seen early Vermeers and a fascinating collection of French drawings.

The Open Eye, on the corner of Abercromby Place and Dundas Street, had a show of watercolours by the late Jack Firth RSW. Great fresh work. And I was able to pick up a facsimile of one of Leon Morrocco's sketchbooks - a real delight that made me want, yet again, to get back to that sketching habit.

The DiRollo Gallery. As its website says, it's friendly and sociable and when we visited they were showing some good new work by John V Gardner. I hope I may have made a friend there.

The Dundas Street Gallery is a hire gallery which I've never been in before, but I liked the look of the india ink drawings of Edinburgh by Jamie Primrose. We had a chat with him and I was delighted to find that he'd actually done his BA in Fine Art at Newcastle University at the same time as Andrew Gifford. Not so delighted to find that he shares my view of the standard of teaching there, even several years before I experienced it. By the time we left, it looked like his show had got off to a good start with quite a few sales.

In Stockbridge, we looked for and found the Laurel Gallery, a curious little one room gallery with a welcoming atmosphere. I'd wanted to find it because they were showing some work by David Body whose work I'd last seen on a day trip to Kirkcudbright, and I think it repaid the revisit.

Another tiny one room gallery we came across while looking for shelter from a freezing downpour, was the Sarah Dallas Gallery. Just as welcoming as the others and with some really excellent work by Sandra Moffat & Emerson Mayes.

Finally, there was Scotlandart.com, a good well-laid out gallery with stripped wood floors, very comfortable seating and showing a lot of very professional work. They have another gallery in Glasgow.

I came back with a renewed determination to get some work shown in Edinburgh and with a new knowledge of the dearth of paintings of Edinburgh in galleries there. Thoughts to dwell on. And act on.

Sweet Things

2011-03-03T21:58:00.000Z

Purple and Green (work in progress)

Over a year ago, I planned a small painting of two Quality Street chocolates to go on the lid of a Xmas present. For one reason or another, the painting never got started, but because I knew finishing Shark Rock wouldn't take too long, I was looking for something new to start and came across the source material yesterday.

In the studio is a carton of 8 x 8 inch canvases I bought last year with a view to making some small paintings of food inspired by Wayne Thiebaud's wonderful cakes, so pulled one of them out and took it to the Club.

I rather like the arrangement of the chocolates and had the paint not become overworked in places, I'd have happily pushed on and finished this one today.

The chocolates? They were eaten a long time ago.

Shark Rock

2011-03-03T21:48:00.001Z

Shark Rock (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins.)

So here we are, back at the Club and Shark Rock is finished. [Note to self: get a better photograph]

The rock itself is at Blawearie, a place I've talked about painted before, but the name is for it is my own. Sometimes, I get a name in my head which makes sense to me and after a while it sticks, so I append it to the painting.

In a Venice Frame of Mind

2011-03-02T16:50:00.004Z

Venetian Balcony (work in progress)

I should perhaps be pursuing those outstanding Tyne Valley landscapes, but I firmly believe that, unless you have an overriding reason (like a gallery deadline) for pushing on with work when you don't feel the desire to do so, it's generally counter-productive.

I was watching a TV programme set in Venice last week and the city has been on my mind. Despite the crowds (and the mosquitoes!) Pat and I loved our time there and will surely go again one day. It's a place unlike any other I've visited and at times it fills my head with images, so when I had the idea for this painting I decided to get on with it straight away.

I'm glad I did. The painting went well, the paint flying onto the canvas and the colours setting themselves up for later adjustments perfectly.

Trouble at Shark Rock

2011-02-25T17:34:00.000Z

Shark Rock (work in progress)

OK, OK, the post title doesn't indicate more brooding gloominess. It's just a wry nod to old movie titles, but also indicates something that went wrong with the painting today.

I was back at the Club for a Friday change of faces, not really expecting to finish this painting. Progress was good, however, and I like the way it's going. But I made the mistake of trying to change the colour of the sky from blue (too much with the rock also being blue) to a kind of yellow which would echo the orange in the foreground. Too late, I realised the yellow was picking up the greens in the trees and before long there was no yellow, just a yellow-green.

Not to worry. The new colour will make a useful base for more work next week, when I expect to easily finish the piece.

Landscape Nr Sawrey

2011-02-24T19:24:00.001Z

Landscape Nr Sawrey (Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cms)

Friends tell me my posts have been sounding very gloomy and in retrospect, I guess they're right. I apologise, even though there are really quite good reasons for their being so. What will make them change without an effort of will on my part, will be an increase in sunshine and an acceleration in the rate of completed work.

Sunshine is outwith my control, of course, but the last couple of days have been quite mild and sunny, so there's hope there. But what I really can have some effect on is the work. Back at the Club, I pressed on with this landscape and finished it. I had some trouble with the forest in the background and opted for a slightly stylised approach which interests me as a possible future avenue of enquiry.

Creeping to a Conclusion

2011-02-17T21:37:00.000Z

Sawrey Landscape (work in progress)

I made some progress today at the Club, but I'm undecided about it. Some of this I like, some I'm not sure about, but I think I can finish it next week, given that I'll have a week to mull it over.

The Gloom Lifts a Little

2011-02-15T12:35:00.006Z

Breakfast & T-Shirts (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms)

Paintings & Prints (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms)

Helping to lift the gloom that settled following the evident loss of our show in June, came the news that these two pictures of shops in Crete have been accepted for showing in the County Durham Spring Open Art Exhibition. The show runs from 7th to 26th March in the Hutchinson Gallery, Bishop Auckland Town Hall.

Another Disappointment

2011-02-11T11:09:00.007Z

Figure8, the group I've shown with since 2004, has been finding it more and more difficult to source suitable exhibition opportunities. Many of the galleries we've shown with have said they're happy to exhibit our work again, but not until at least 2012. Their policy of booking shows has moved inexorably forward so that they're now writing up their diaries three to four years ahead.

Which meant that we had nothing in our diary for 2011, except for one show provisionally arranged for June.

As seems quite common with galleries we heard nothing about the exact date, despite several emails and attempted phone calls. Until now. We were aware that the woman who agreed the exhibition for June, had left the gallery and passed on details to her replacement. We now find that he left shortly after joining and failed to pass on details of our show to his replacement. The new incumbent then gave our place in the diary to someone else, leaving us without a show. She then, in turn, left her employment.

The even newer holder of this obviously rewarding post is to discuss the problem with the management and invite us in for a meeting, so something may be salvaged from this mess, but I do begin to wonder how businesses survive in this way.

Two More Landscapes

2011-02-10T19:43:00.004Z

Shark Rock (work in progress)

I realised I had no confidence in the painting I'd begun at the Club a while ago, so when I got back there today, I began to paint another new one over it. I think I'm going to be a lot happier with this and can make use of some of the orange of the previous painting.

Sawrey Landscape (work in progress)

I also made a start on this new one. It's a continuation of the new series of landscape as strata that's begun to interest me. I'm not sure where I'm going with it and am tempted to describe it as an experiment. However, my old tutor, Bill V, used to say that a true experiment would require a control subject to be really valid, so instead, I'll call it what he thought such adventures should be called - flying by the seat of my pants.

A Yellow Wall

2011-02-03T21:42:00.002Z

A Yellow Wall (oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms)

Back to the Club again, after a couple of weeks away and despite a bad weather forecast. Determined to finish this painting which has been hanging around for quite some time, I settled on a figure in a window as the focal point through the arch. It makes this something of a companion piece to The Orange House.

When I came out of the Club, the wind was rising to a gale and by the time I got home my trouser legs were soaked through. I don't like winter.

Painting of the Month

2011-02-01T18:24:00.004Z

Vindolanda (Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cms)

This painting has been chosen as a Painting of the Month on Painters-Online. There's no money involved and nothing to keep after February, but it's nice to get some kind of recognition now and again, isn't it? Makes me feel like I must actually be doing something right.

When I'm Sixty Four.

2011-01-29T01:03:00.002Z

If it weren't for The Beatles no one would have found it appropriate to celebrate this birthday, but as Macca made the effort to write this, why not? Happy Birthday to me.

Two Tyne Valleys

2011-01-22T13:42:00.003Z

Tyne Valley (work in progress)

Tyne Valley 2 (work in progress)

This is always a difficult time of year, I find, when work is slow and much thought is expended on what direction it should take. So if it seems to you that not much is happening here on Boogie Street, you may in a sense be right. But high in my tower I'm thinking, thinking , thinking. And every now and then, I begin a new painting in what, for me has been largely an unexplored area - landscape.

These two are the latest and show a part of the South Tyne Valley near to Bardon Mill. They've been cursorily blocked in and will need a good deal more work to bring them to completion. But I'm relatively pleased with them and I can see how they could lead to ..... something new.

But I'll have to give that some more thought.

Kastela Restaurant

2011-01-19T13:50:00.001Z

Kastela Restaurant (Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 x 4 cms)

I made some finishing touches to this yesterday. Another small painting done.

Swings and Roundabouts

2011-01-13T21:30:00.000Z

In the Arsenale (work in progress)

Not an especially good day. I went to the Club, where trouble is brewing. I'll say no more other than there are problems surrounding the change of name and that I am not responsible for others' failure to be aware of developments in the world outside.

So, tired and troubled, I made a poor fist of starting this painting. The colours are dull (duller than the photo would have you believe), the drawing is off and the proportions are worrying. I may be able to pull it round next time, but it may also be one of those that gets scraped down and overpainted.

And so to bed.

Northumberland Fells

2011-01-12T19:11:00.004Z

Northumberland Fells (oil with collage on canvas, 30 x 30 cms)

Another useful day, adding one more small landscape to my store. I just need to "do ten more" and find somewhere to show them.

Boquer Valley Vision

2011-01-11T18:31:00.007Z

Boquer Valley Vision (Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cms)

Despite being a January baby, I have never responded well to this month. I hate the cold, the miserable grey light, the short days, and my wheels grind exceedingly slowly throughout the month and for some time afterwards.

As a consequence, it takes me a while to crank up the painting engine and other things steal my attention. In this case, it's been activity on the cartooning front and some consideration of where that might lead. My earnest wish has always been to use my creativity in all its forms, so my resolution for the year (and I have to admit that, actually, I don't believe in making resolutions, so this is purely for the purposes of illustration) is that I will continue with my love of painting while trying to make something of my cartooning and illustrative techniques.

So this is the first painting of the New Year. It's based on a photograph I took in Mallorca in 2008 on a walk from Porto Pollensa to Cala Boquer. Although the general topography remains fairly accurate, the colours are not and I felt as I was painting that something of a visionary nature was coming into the work. I rather hope that might happen again in the future.

Old Drawings #63

2011-01-05T13:37:00.002Z

Car Park (Charcoal, pastel on cartridge paper, 60 x 60 cms)

I don't think I've posted this before and it does more or less fit chronologically into the series of Old Drawings, having been drawn in 2000/2001.

The underground car park shown is still there in Newcastle, but much of the superstructure was demolished or remodelled when the new City Library was built last year.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T15:17:00.000Z

Let's hope it's a good one. No. let's make it a good one!

Boogie Street

Private View

Auchterarder Hedgerow No.1

Auchterarder Hedgerow No.2

Hedgerows again

Sutherland Through the Hedge

Through the Hedge

Edward Burra

Refreshments Van, Cambridge

River Factory

Xavier Pick: Commission

Fallen Log

"Art in the Park"

Cakes at the Club

Getting Back to It

Piazza after Rain

Self-Portrait 1993

Boat at Trogir

XIV Opening Reception

Parcel

Small Piazza Painting

Driftwood

Sad News

Tram with Prickly Pear (Soller)

Prickly Too

Prickly

XIV

Editor's Choice

Empty Headed

Siesta

Clive Hicks-Jenkins

Shop News

New Citibase Show

Starting up again

Lights! Camera! Action!!

Saturday in Edinburgh

Private View

Silver Hills

Chambers Street, Edinburgh

Deacon Brodies Tavern

Wee Scotland Shop

Jekyll & Hyde

Evening, Hanover Street

Pub No.2

Shop Work

More Pub Work

The Race is On Again

In the South Tyne Valley

South Tyne Valley Landscape

Boating Again

89 Cornwall Street

Four Balconies, Crete

Clubbing

Transformer

A Good Day Out

Four Skies - Holy Island

Apocalyptic

North East Art Collective

And One Makes Four

Greek Wiring

The New Art Club

Rookery Time - Wednesday 11th May

Rookery Time - Monday 9th May

Rookery Time - Sunday 8th May (pm)

Rookery Time - Sunday 8th May (am)

Rookery Time - Saturday 7th May (pm)

Rookery Time - Saturday 7th May (am)

Old Drawings #64

Alcudia Rooftops

Clouds over Holy Island

*SEVEN*

Venetian Balcony

Holy Island Progress

Third Holy Island Picture

Opening Tomorrow

Onto the Island

Late Night on Dundas Street

West End Fish

Purple and Green

Working on Dundas Street

SEVEN