Knocking?

Knocking?

(mixed media on canvas board, 8x8 in)

I remember, back in the day, when you opened the door to the domino room in the Gateshead Arms, all you could hear was the soft susurration of doms being shuffled and the clatter of them being played.

I painted this small painting as a result of the unexpected sale of Club Man. There's a lot of interest these days in Northern Art and sometimes I like to test out my memory of those bygone days.

 

Curleys

Curleys

(Mixed media on canvas panel, 10x12 in)

SOLD

Another portrait of a building on Gateshead High Street, this one sadly scheduled for demolition I understand. The original building dates from around 1800 and the current pub frontage from about 1900. The pub was previously called the Phoenix (from at least 1873) but was commonly known as Curleys after early 20th century licensee Will Curley (who was a boxer) and later officially changed its name.

Since painting this, I've sold it to the grandson of a former landlord of the pub.

 

Dietz

Dietz

(Acrylic on canvas panel, 10 x 8 in)

This small work is what I think of as a “building portrait”. The shop stands on Gateshead High Street and even now that the pork butcher’s shop has been replaced by something less interesting, the early 19th century frontage stands out from the surrounding buildings.

I based the painting on a photograph of the building I took some time after the shop had closed. Eventually, through the magic if the Interweb, I was able to find a photograph of the window when the shop was open and include that information.

WIP - Dietz

Dietz (WIP)

(Acrylic on canvas board, 8 x 10 in)

I’m working away on two different paintings at the moment, but Friday at Gateshead Art Society tends to signal the start of something fresh. And so it was today: I’ve been meaning to make something of a photograph I took many years ago of a butcher’s shop on Gateshead High Street. It’s no longer a butcher’s but still retains the interesting Art Deco character that set it apart from the surrounding vernacular buildings. Just blocked in so far.

A Short Walk in the Ouseburn Valley

This post should have been entitled something like "Sketch Crawl: in the Ouseburn Valley" but things worked out differently. There was a time when Sketch Crawls began at a civilised time and lasted until it was time to go home for tea. Under more recent Tyne and Wear Urban Sketcher management they've become daylong events so I find that, if I don't arrive for the ten o'clock start, there's a danger that I won't link up with the other sketchers. 

And so it was on Saturday. I'm not an early riser; never have been, never will be, but the current Lockdown situation has made it more difficult than ever to get up and out early. There's also the fear induced by getting onto a bus without knowing if it'll be full of people without masks breathing the Deadly Virus over me.

As it turned out, there were only six other people on the bus, all wore masks and were sitting in appropriately distanced seats, so I felt reasonably happy when I got off at the Baltic and urged my knees, now very stiff from months of sitting in the house, to cooperate in the relatively short walk across the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and along the Newcastle Quayside to the Cycle Hub where it was all about to Kick Off. Or where it was due to Kick Off at ten o'clock, but now it was eleven o'clock.

I looked in the Hub cafe, I looked down into the marina, I looked up and down the quay, but no sketchers visible. Maybe they'd moved up the Ouseburn? There's always something to draw in the way of derelict buildings, boats and ducks, so I headed upstream.

As passed under a road bridge, I noticed what, for me, is a new addition to the local decorations.

I've seen Candyman, so there was no chance of my saying the word ESSALAMUS three times and I passed safely through and soon came to the first of the day's boats.

I liked them and there were jolly workmen doing workman-like things to them, but my knees were aching, there was nowhere to sit down, the path was narrow and people kept passing by doing their best to socially-distance but inevitably failing, so I decided not to attempt a drawing and pressed on.

By the time I'd reached the area of the Cluny and Seven Stories I was developing a fairly clear idea that sketching would not happen. I sat on a bench in the sunshine opposite the pigs in the city farm, out of the annoying wind, and watched the ducks on the river as I contemplated my place in the world. Yes, it was that kind of day.

Having reached an accommodation with the day, I thought I'd walk on a little further up the valley to see what I might see. Round the corner I discovered a curious structure that turned out to be the Culvert Bandstand. I wondered how many unforgettable performances had taken place there without my ever knowing of its existence. None in recent times by the look of it.

The Bandstand may be a bit lacklustre but its situation is striking, set as it is in the valley below the soaring arches of Byker Bridge, the Victorian Ouseburn Viaduct and the more recent Byker Viaduct. 

As I left the Bandstand I was struck by a piece of graffiti that stood out amongst the inevitable gaggle of tags and crude colourings. Short and to point, without being specific, it seems to sum up what a lot of us are probably thinking every day of this year.

I figured it was time to go back, maybe find the others at the Cycle Hub and perhaps have a coffee. But no luck. Shortly before the Hub I passed Bethan, who said "Hi, they're all Down There", nodding back at the marina. If that were the case, her Down There was not the Down There I looked about. 

Feeling tired after my unaccustomed walk, I headed back to the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, pausing only to admire, not for the first time and I'm sure, not for the last, the wonderful view up the River Tyne to Newcastle and Gateshead, nestled in the Tyne Gorge and linked by a series of splendid bridges..

Late for the Match

Late for the Match

(acrylic on board, 25x25 cm)

Another painting going down the Northern School route. Two Newcastle United fans, complete with black and white scarves and hats, hurry across the Tyne Bridge from Gateshead to Newcastle to see the Toon Army play. There are no more loyal fans than NUFC fans and the owners don't deserve them.

My Dad's Diary : Thur 11th December 1947

"Damp & cold.

Took Doris to Gateshead Odeon."

My Dad's Diary : Sat 1st November 1947

"Dull.

Went to see Gateshead play Bradford. 0-0"

My Dad's Diary : Wed 24th - Sat 27th September 1947

Wed 24th September

"Sunny day.

Started work in new garden - No. 52."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thurs 25th September

"Dull but fine."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Fri 26th September

"Took Doris to Odeon, Gateshead."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Sat 27th September

"Sunny day. Went to see Gateshead v. York -- Draw 0-0."

My Dad's Diary : Fri 11th July 1947

"Took Doris to Ritz."

Not the Ritz restaurant, of course, but the Ritz Cinema in Gateshead. The Ritz was the nicest and probably the most expensive cinema in Gateshead and going there was always a treat.

The Ritz Cinema was closed on 18th May 1968 with Dennis Waterman in “Up the Junction”. It had been purchased in a compulsory purchase order to build the A1 road viaduct, a scheme which also destroyed the nearby Essoldo Theatre. There are now plans to demolish the road viaduct, when money allows.

My Dad's Diary : Wed 25th June 1947

"Grand day for Plate.

[Bubrain?] won.

Strike continues.

Gateshead trams on strike."

The Northumberland Plate was run on a Wednesday then. I can't make out the name of the winner.

My Dad's Diary : Sat 21st June 1947

"Rained all afternoon.

Bus strike started."

From Commercial Motor Archive:

"NORTHERN COMPANY WORKERS STRIKE

UNOFFICIAL strikes broke out last Saturday among company bus operatives in 10 counties in the North and parts of the Midlands. Some men staged one-day stoppages, others withdrew labour for the week-end and some groups started indefinite strikes. In certain instances, routes were curtailed because operatives who remained at work refused to enter areas where strikes were in progress."

In addition to the municipal bus service, Gateshead was served by the Northern Bus Company, operating mainly across the Tyne and into Northumberland, and by the United Bus Company which ran into Co. Durham. For getting to Newcastle we relied mainly on Northern for bus travel.

My Dad's Diary : Wed 1st January 1947

Dad used to go to Redheugh Park to see Gateshead AFC play. They were still in the Football League then.

"Saw Gateshead v. Hull. Won 1-0.

Spent night at Mother's.

NATIONALISATION OF MINES."

Wedding Bells

Perhaps this photograph will give some idea of the reason for the lack of posts on my blog. Here, Pat and I arrive for our marriage on 17th October at Gateshead Register Office.

Here's a family group, taken by my good friend Roy, who was my best man:

After that we had a week in Lisbon. There will be photographs from that trip soon.

Mud on the Tyne

Pat and I went for a walk up the River Tyne today, on the Gateshead side. It was a lovely sunny day and the tide was just on the turn, the river flowing upstream. There were gulls pecking in the mud and one sat on a tyre and disappeared upstream until it was out of sight. 

We walked as far as Dunston Staithes where I took this picture of the mud (the Staithes are in the background). Apparently the nearness of the moon at the moment is producing very low tides and more mud than usual is being uncovered. I think it's rather beautiful. If you like mud, that is.

Happy New Year

Garden Gate (Oil on canvas, 16 x 16 in) Private Collection

2013 was not my favourite year by any stretch of the imagination. It began with a pre-existing eye condition getting out of control, went on to encompass two operations on my left eye and ended with a death in my partner's family.

So I'm not unhappy to bid farewell to the old year, even though it did have some saving graces: Pat, my partner bought a house much closer to my own and we're now able to spend more time together.

I've done no real painting since March. Partly because of the problems with my eyesight, but also due to a definite pause in the creative urge. I've written before about a feeling that I need a new direction to revitalise what I'm doing and I'm still in that uncertain state. But I always like the challenge of a New Year and intend to get some ideas sorted out this month so that I can start to move on.

Meanwhile, what can you expect from me here on Boogie Street, assuming that is that I'm still talking to at least my Regular Reader?  A while ago I promised to resume posting from my collection of unfinished sketchbooks. The Malta Sketchbook is the one I think should come next, so watch out for drawings from that island.

Finally, there are exhibitions in the offing. Two are lined up with Figure 8 this year and I'm delighted to say that I'll be putting on a solo show for the first time in my home town of Gateshead in April/May. So there should be news of those as we get nearer.

Let me end by wishing you and those you love a Very Happy New Year indeed. We all deserve it, you know; let no one tell you otherwise.

Bonfire of the Vanities

Gateshead Millennnium Bridge (work in progress)
(Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 ins)
Destroyed.

I began the difficult task of destroying canvases today. With a house move on the horizon, some downsizing is necessary and the studio contains some very big canvases which I know will never fit my new studio space.

Ripping up unfinished work that I know would never amount to anything was easy (psychologically, at least; physically it wears me out!), but when I got to one that I could see might well have been a good painting had I finished it -- that's hard.

The painting above was started in a greater mood of optimism than I currently enjoy.The canvas was one of several large ones I brought back from University and I began this painting of Gateshead's iconic bridge without any real thought of what I might do with it should it be finished. It soon became clear, however, that even were it to be finished, at four by six feet it would be much too large for me to transport to any of the exhibitions I could see in the future.

Looking at it now, I think it might be worthwhile doing a new version on a much reduced scale. File under: Future Thoughts.

Overnight Dove

It was really cold on Friday and the windy was blustery, shaking the tops of the cypress tree outside, but here in Gateshead we were lucky to escape the snow that afflicted most of the country. 

As I sat in my third floor study working on the computer, I glanced through the window and spotted this dove settling down on the windowsill. It seemed unconcerned by the light I had to put on as the day darkened and when I went closer to look it simply looked back at me. I left the blinds open so as not to chance scaring it, but it seemed unperturbed by anything I did.

It stayed there for the rest of the night (I checked on it around  1.30 am), but by the morning it had gone, leaving me a little present on the windowsill.

Sketchbook No.2 (#2)

Up Cuthbert Street, 27 October 1991
(2B pencil in A4 sketchbook)

I'd recently discovered the paintings of Wayne Thiebaud when I drew this. Trying to capture something of his vertiginous San Francisco views, I chose one of the steeper streets in Gateshead and looked up Cuthbert Street to the  houses on Bensham Road.

I don't think I really caught Thiebaud's essence, but looking at this drawing now, complete with colour notes, I think it might still make an interesting painting.

Winter Again

Turnbull Winter (work in progress)

It's been a funny old week, with some tests for an ongoing eye problem which I won't go into here. I used what was left of the week to catch up with the guys at the Club, but did no work there. However, I made a start today on another possible Winter painting.

This is a view across the Tyne from Gateshead to the Newcastle shore, with the Turnbull Building on the crest of the river bank. It's unusual for me in that it's a low viewpoint. Normally I go for something high above the subject because it enables me to flatten things out and emphasise the abstract pattern. Nevertheless, I rather like this current approach as it allows me to work with horizontal banding again.

It's a reasonably large picture (36 x 36 ins) and those big areas of flat colour take some filling. But they should prove interesting as new layers are applied and the colour becomes, I hope, more complex and subtle.