Two Emus

Two Emus (Oil on board, 24 x 24 ins)

Thinking about the time I spent in the Hancock Museum reminded me that I did a few paintings based on the sketches and photographs I brought back from there. This rather inadequate photograph is of a painting I did on a piece of blockboard rescued from the skip outside the School of Architecture. Framed up in a nice dark wood frame it still looks pretty good to me.

Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh

Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh (Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cm)

Unravelling a bit of string, I left the darkened corridor last night to see if I might get at least one new painting finished this year. I knew this Edinburgh churchyard painting could be brought to a conclusion very easily; all it needed was the addition of some grave markers and crosses and a bit work on the tops of walls. 

I didn't much enjoy the experience of painting while wearing my near distance specs, but later it occurred to me that, given the small size of the painting, I might have been better off using my reading glasses.

Following the string back along the dark corridor, I'm standing here, finger tips on the wall, musing on the quaint Chinese method of making the stretcher on which this picture is completed. It has three sides 30cm long and one, 12 inches long. An interesting problem for my framer.

Pub No.2

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.

Nest Forms

Nest Forms (etching, 12.5 x 21 cms)

Another week without painting. In a spirit of a glass half full, let's call it a period of retrenchment and reconsideration, rather than a block.

Some time ago I made myself a promise to have framed a small collection of prints I made at University. The actual framing has taken much longer than anticipated, but yesterday I collected them from Gallagher & Turner, the framers who've framed almost all of my work since I began to get serious about it.

This etching has always been a favourite of mine. It shows the influence of Graham Sutherland, I think, which is unsurprising given that I was about to write my dissertation on his Pembrokeshire landscapes. It was based on some drawings I did in what was then the Hancock Museum but which has now become part of the Great North Museum:.

Here's a relevant page from my sketchbook;


Bird objects (Rotring Art Pen in A4 sketchbook)

Black Ship and Mosque, Chania

Black Ship and Mosque, Chania (oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

One of the " one or two other things" I was "getting on with" got finished today. The two Black Ship paintings look good together and it's not immediately obvious that one is 30 x 30 cms and the other is 12 x 12 ins. It is immediately obvious, however, when I try to put them both into 30 x 30 cm frames. Bummer.


Black Ship at Chania (oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cms)

The Turnbull Building

The Turnbull Building 2002 (oil on board, 30 x 30 cms)

Last week, on my trip to the Valley, I picked up some small picture frames from Hobbycraft. Not overly expensive, averaging about £15, and not overly exciting either it has to be said, but presentable nonetheless.

I've has several paintings lying around in the studio, some finished, some not, but as they are on board, my interest in them had waned. If they weren't framed, they couldn't be shown anywhere, and as everything else I've shown this year has been unframed canvas, I didn't want to mix the two.

However, because I sold quite a few pictures at last year's Newcastle Gateshead Art Fair, I was beginning to think my stock of small works was looking a bit impoverished. Maybe these cheapish frames would serve to get the small pictures in showable condition, was how my thinking went.

Today I hunted out all the paintings I thought might look OK in the frames. First off, of course, I discovered that I've always been prone to painting on Imperial-sized boards and my 12 inch square paintings didn't fit the 30 cm frames. Still, a Stanley knife and a steel rule put that right. And you know what, I think they'll look OK.

The painting of the Turnbull Building (the site of Newcastle's first £1m apartment) is the only one completed, but the simple plain wood frame suits it quite well, I think. Now I just have to finish the others. More on this in due course - it's been exercising my mind lately.