My Favourite Painting

My Favourite Painting

(markers, watercolour and collage in square sketchbook)

A bit of fun, really, and late for this week's Challenge from the Mondaymonday (Isolated) Sketchers. In fact it turned out to be a Thursdaythursday sketch.

It's a painting by Michael Scott (1946-2006), whose son Jonny I went to University with. Michael put the painting in our blind postcard auction and i was wise enough to buy it. It's titled "The Fisherman in Search of his Lost Soul"(December 2000).

Grinding Gears

[Later - at Circle Partner A's request I have removed her work. I'm sorry she has asked me to do this, but am happy to oblige]

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These are A's April additions to my Sketchbook Circle sketchbook. It's clear that we're operating on different tracks. She's told me that she prefers not to work into my pages, which I'm OK with, and from that I assume she'd prefer me not to work into her pages. I'm afraid that probably means she's not too happy with my work on those pages, but it's too late to do anything about that now.

[I have, however, now removed all but one of those pages from the blog]

A is of the opinion that working into pages would be like "talking over" me, whereas I feel that it becomes more a work of collaboration, an image that couldn't exist without the input of two people.

She goes along with the currently prevailing idea that students should be allowed to develop their own ideas without interference from the tutor. I ran into this concept at university and found it terribly frustrating. There were times when I would have been thrilled to have a tutor suggest a way forward rather than being constantly asked "Well, what do you think?" I always think, but sometimes thinking needs a nudge. I never got one.

The argument behind this hands-off approach by teachers is that they don't want to produce students who are carbon copies of themselves. In the past this rejected method produced two types of student, at least amongst those with real talent: those who took the style of their teacher and went on to develop and reinvigorate it, and those who rejected it and in doing so, went on to produce something fresh and new. Both of these types benefited from being given a working language to start with.

What I find most difficult about A's additions (and here I must emphasise that I don't dislike them) is that if they are the result of a visual conversation between us, what is she saying to me? How do they relate to my pages? Maybe it's a little too cerebral for me. Still, I'll keep on keeping on.

Fallen Log

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.

Old Drawings #44

Central Motorway (Charcoal on A2 cartridge paper)

Another in the University Drawing for Sculpture series. I took my life in my hands and climbed over a railing to get right next to the motorway. If there's a more hurried look to this drawing, put it down to freezing wind, cars and lorries rushing by only feet away and really horrible fumes. I didn't stay long.

Old Drawings #42

Pilgrim Street car park (charcoal on A2 cartridge paper)

Another of the Drawing for Sculpture pieces from 1997. Brings back memories of a cold and windy October.

Old Drawings #41

Car Park Steps (Charcoal, compressed charcoal on A2 cartridge paper)

As I'm still in Sorting Out mode, I'm not getting anything done to show you, so I may have to resort to showing Old Drawings for a while. Not such a bad thing, as we've reached the point in 1997 where I went to Newcastle University to start my BA (Hons) in Fine Art. As a result, there are quite a few drawings from that period.

The course was a four year course (rather on the model of the Scottish art colleges) and the first year was designed to bring everyone up to a similar level of ability. There were periods of drawing, sculpture and printmaking and this first exercise sent us out into town to make drawings of urban architecture, with a view to making sculpture based on the drawings.

This is the first I did.