Cakes at the Club

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.