Tram Beginnings

Prague Tram (work in progress - 1st day)

I know, I know, I've started another one, but I couldn't resist it. I needed to paint and couldn't get into one of the existing pictures. I wanted to make further progress on the Night Station picture, but the inertia was too great.

As is usually the case, I enjoyed working on the early stages of this painting. One of the things I'm trying to do as part of my vague plan for the year, is to shake up my working practices a bit, so most of this was painted with a painting knife and quite a bit of gloopy Spectragel [Note to self: buy new tin of Spectragel]. When I used a brush, it was a round, rather than the flats and filberts I normally employ. I like the freshness this approach has brought to the work and I'll have to see how I can retain some of it as the painting progresses.

Old Drawings #29

View of the Tyne with Baltic Flour Mill (charcoal on cartridge paper)

I don't have the dimensions of this drawing, because it belongs to friends of mine. I did it in 1995 (I think) as a preparatory drawing for the painting they'd commissioned:

View of the Tyne - Baltic (Oil on board) (Private Collection)

The colours in this photograph may not be overly accurate - I think it was taken with a camera phone - but it gives a reasonable idea of it. The view is notable for the absence of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge which wasn't installed until 2000 (of course!)

Working on Free Trade (Post 500)

Free Trade Inn (work in progress - 2nd day)

As promised, here's how the Free Trade Inn picture looked when I left it on Thursday. In modifying the sky colour, I've lost the edge of the roof, which I'll have to re-establish next time. The bushes and foreground need a little extra attention, without getting them too defined, and the boats will need a bit more work. Finally, the stonework on the wall behind the boats should have a little light colour dragged over it, the way I've done with the darker streaks, followed by scraping out of the mortar lines. I think it's coming along well, though, the way it is.

[I just realised that this is my 500th post. Who'd a thunk it.]

Useful Day

Yesterday I went with Mo and Frank the Dripper to inspect the exhibition space at Preston Hall and meet its Curator. She couldn't have been more helpful and now we know what kind of space Figure 8 will have to fill when we put on our newly-arranged show there in May.

Preston Hall is a fascinating place, full of collections of all sorts of stuff, but notable for it's painting, The Dice Players by Georges de La Tour, the last he completed. The grounds are considerable and there's a curiously large aviary, some forty feet tall, containing rabbits! Boy, but those rabbits must fly higher than any I've encountered previously. I guess the snow kept them grounded.

The exhibition space is not enormous, but will give us an opportunity to show work to another part of the region. And the restrictions made by the addition of a picture rail part of the way up the wall makes it necessary, I think, for us to paint new work no larger than about two feet.

At last -- another target to work towards. Now maybe I can get focused.

After our trip to Preston Hall, I went on to the Art Club and made more progress on the Free Trade Inn picture. I didn't have my camera, unfortunately, so no work in progress photograph, but I'll try to remedy that today or tomorrow.

Flawed

(Ink, digital colour)

This poor chap is for this week's Illustration Friday brief: Flawed.

A Taste of Real Winter

View from my rear window, looking north to Newcastle.

It seems almost incredible that in the last couple of days there were children in this country finding out what fun you can have with snow for the first time in their lives. But of course, winters have not been what they were for a very long time.

I used to moan about the blending of seasons one into another, so I suppose I should welcome this proper seasonal weather, but it is cold, isn't it? Still, if it means we might get a proper summer, I'm prepared to put up with it, and this being England, it does give us something to talk about, doesn't it? :0)

Luckily, it didn't snow while we were in Edinburgh. It didn't even rain, though the wind was pretty icy at times. Knowing Edinburgh of old, I'd dressed accordingly and didn't mind the wind on my face.

I'd gone with no great expectation of any interesting shows in the galleries there, because the end of January often signifies the changeover of exhibitions and the galleries can be closed for re-hanging, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Best of all was the annual showing of the Vaughan Bequest of Turner Watercolours at the National Gallery Complex. Under the terms of the Bequest, the pictures can only be shown in January every year, which reduces their exposure to light and consequent fading. As a policy, it's a resounding success, because the colours in the paintings are still so vivid. If you ever get the chance to go to Edinburgh in January, make sure you don't miss them!

Next stop: Dundas Street, where most of the commercial galleries cluster. It's rare that I don't enjoy an exhibition at the Scottish Gallery and I was lucky to find the current show of work by Gordon Bryce still on (it finished the day after we were there). Lovely, fresh paintings, mostly about 2 feet square or smaller, showing a lightness of touch and complexity of colour produced by layering and scraping back.

Over the road at the Open Eye, we found another great show, this one by Colin Black. Working mainly on a small scale (most were about 6 or 7 inches), he makes landscapes with collage and paint on board. They're quite exquisite jewel-like constructs with a fascinating choice of collage elements. He makes particularly good use of pieces of map, which have the effect, not only of providing useful colour and lines, but at an almost subliminal level register as "landscape."

We ate well in the Mussel Inn on Rose Street - I had a kilo pot of mussels with chillies, garlic, ginger, coriander and cumin, and Pat opted for a kilo with leek, Dijon mustard and cream. Fantastic.

Pat's son, Andy had sent up some money for my birthday to be spent on some of the Bow Bar's extensive range of single malt whiskies, so that's what we did. What was left over, I spent in the Whisky Shop in Princes Mall on a bottle of Ben Riach 12 year old single malt whisky, unusual for a Speyside malt because of its added peat. And who could resist the added interest of a dark rum finish? Not me. It certainly gets my vote.

Distractions

Our trip to York last weekend to see our friend Pam finally Doctored was a lot of fun, involving rambling round the Shambles, drinking in the Minster and eating too much. We did find the time, however, to visit the York Art Gallery where the Stanley Spencer Exhibition had just opened. I'd seen the show before, but Pat hadn't, and I enjoyed going round it again as much as the first time.

I had a vague memory of the Gallery being full of rather dull brown paintings of the Georgian/Victorian eras, but to my delight I discovered on the top floor a nice permanent collection of modern works by the likes of David Bomberg (a lovely charcoal drawing) John Monks (one of his paintings of a mirror with a battered cardboard box in the foreground), and John Piper (a mixed media landscape).

I'm resigned to January being written off as a month of little work. Too many distractions. Even as this is posted, I'm on my way to Edinburgh to celebrate my birthday with mussels and malt whisky. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Old Drawings #28

Water Meter (Charcoal, compressed charcoal, A1 cartridge paper)

I've been to Greece so many times, that I'm not entirely sure when this drawing might date from. However, I'm opting for 1994/95, following my second stay in Nafplio in September 1994. At the time I was fascinated by walls, things embedded in walls and water meters. I still harbour an interest in things like that, and occasionally a painting or drawing comes out of it.

The thing about water meters, I think, is that they reminded me of the roadside shrines to be seen everywhere in Greece. I did make a start on a painting from this drawing, but even after chopping off part of it, it remains unresolved. I've been thinking about it again recently, though ....

Meter - work in progress (Oil and collage on board)

Club Stockpile

Free Trade (work in progress - 1st day)

I find that having several paintings on the go is the best policy for me: I can switch from one to another as I choose and gradually move each one to a conclusion. It's a system that does have its drawbacks, in that sometimes I feel none of them will ever be complete and there's no denying that some pictures go off into a kind of limbo, waiting for me to revive interest in them.

However, that is the way I prefer to work, and I haven't felt that there were enough paintings awaiting attention at the Art Club of late. So I started another one today. This is a painting of the Free Trade Inn at the mouth of the Ouseburn in Byker. I started with an orange PVA ground again and fairly quickly established the general colours I wanted.

Getting back to regular work is proving very difficult this month. I probably won't be able to work on this or any of the others at the Club for the best part of a month because of various commitments on Thursdays.

Tomorrow I'm off to York for a few days, so no posts from me until I get back. Stay tuned.

Cup in a Modernist Stylee

Cup with African Dish (2B mechanical pencil, A5 sketchbook)

Why stop at one cup when you've got a whole cupboard full? I suppose I approached this in a rather playful fashion and the end result certainly shows something of the fact that I spent the morning leafing through the lovely illustrations in Mary Fedden: Enigmas and Variations.

I'm still in love with 20th Century Modernism, even though it seems to have been consigned to the dustbin of Art History. There seems to be so much more yet to be explored. What do you think? Is it time to move on and leave Cubism and its children to gather dust?

Shoe on a Rug

(2B mechanical pencil, pastel, A5 sketchbook)

Too many things to catch up on at home today, so I decided to forgo my second visit of the week to the Art Club. However, just to keep things rolling, I did this drawing of my old trainer on a striped rug. "Draw a shoe" is Challenge No.1 on the Everyday Matters list.

It occurs to me that I must have been wearing these trainers for close to 30 years and they're still the most comfortable shoes I possess.

Cambridge Painting

King's College (work in progress - 1st day)

It was good to get back to the Club today and catch up on the gossip, but even better to start a new small painting there. I still have the St James's painting to finish, but I wanted to get something else going before I make a move on that.

I thought this subject had a nice simple quality to it, far less busy than most of what I've been working on over the last few months. It's a view of King's College, Cambridge, from the Backs.

The sky is currently a little too purple, but that was intentional - I want to work over it while leaving a hint showing through.

Cup with Barbara Rae

(2B mechanical pencil, wax crayons, A5 sketchbook)

Still waiting for the Night Station to dry, so today I thought I might have look at the list of old Everyday Matters Challenges. I picked out No.4 - Draw your mug or cup. The cup I chose is an old kitchen cup, badly made, with no decoration, but I've always liked it for it's fragile irregularities. It's good for mixing up curry spices or preparing a marinade.

While looking for something to lay it on, I absentmindedly set it down on the excellent Barbara Rae monograph - and found my subject. I rather like the effect of pencil set against wax crayon and might use it again.

Back on Track

Night Station (work in progress - 1st day)

Finally, I shook off the Xmas lethargy and began work on a new painting today. It's a similar view to one I did two years ago, but this time at night.

From the offices at the back of the building which houses the Art Club, I can see the rear of Newcastle's Central Station and over the last few months I've taken a series of photographs late in the day. It's going to be interesting to see how the reduced lighting affects the colour, but today's effort left me quite satisfied.

Crushed Can

(2B mechanical pencil, A5 sketchbook)

In another attempt to return to the practice of drawing and sketching, I've recently joined the Everyday Matters group. My hope is that, by at least attempting the weekly challenge set there, I might re-establish the sketching habit.

The latest Challenge is "No. 205 - Draw a soda can." I don't drink anything as awful as soda, but this is an American Ginger Ale can, crushed after doing service with a measure of golden rum. I intended to put on some of the printing, but decided in the end that I liked it without.

Old Drawings #27

In the Hatton (Charcoal, compressed charcoal, A2 cartridge paper)

I'm still in that inevitable post-Xmas slump, but hope to get a new painting going tomorrow. Meanwhile, here's another in what must seem like an inexhaustible supply of Old Drawings. This was done at another drawing workshop, this one run by Tracey Tofield at the Hatton Gallery, again probably in 1995.

I quite liked it at the time, but now recognise that it only really works because of the dynamic "railway viaduct" sculpture in the gallery at the time. The lighting in the gallery is rotten, which may account for the interesting patterns on the ceiling.

Contained

Tree in rock, Blawearie (Charcoal and pastel, cartridge paper)

This tree had struggled up through a crack in the rock in the garden at Blawearie, a place I've written about before. It seems to exemplify the qualities of the new Illustration Friday subject, Contained, while suggesting there is always a way out.

Old Drawings #26

Black Still Life (Charcoal, compressed charcoal, A2 cartridge paper)

Another from 1995. This was done at a drawing workshop held in one of the studios at Newcastle University. Everything laid out was black - black brushes, plates, cups, jars and lumps of what I think may have been tar. I also remembered that I thoroughly enjoyed drawing it.

Something for the CV

Old Town Hall, Gateshead (oil on canvas, 12 x 14 ins.)

I was contacted recently by the Public Catalogue Foundation. Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust commissioned two of my paintings: Newcastle Quayside I and Newcastle Quayside 2 (sorry, no photos available at present). and the PCF wanted to know if I'd give them copyright permission to reproduce these two paintings in the Northumberland and Tees Valley volume of the Catalogue.

Naturally, I agreed. The PCF is a very worthwhile charitable organisation, cataloguing works held by public bodies so that the general public - you and I - can know where they are and perhaps gain access to them (which we have a right to do).

In the course of the correspondence, however, I pointed out that early in 2008 I'd also sold a painting (Old Town Hall) to Gateshead MBC and assumed it was now hanging somewhere in the Council Offices. Perhaps they'd like to catalogue that one too?

To my surprise, I found out from the PCF today that the painting is now owned by the city of Komatsu, Japan, having been formally presented to the Mayor of Komatsu by the Borough! I'm really quite gobsmacked.

Resolve

Kevin and Harry resolved never to drink there again.

(Fibretip, digital colour)

Another fanzine cover, this time entirely my own, from a fanzine produced in 1982. Now with added digital colour for Illustration Friday 's brief, Resolve.

You put your left leg in ...

Moa Legbone, Hancock Museum (charcoal, coloured Conte, A4 sketchbook)

At about this time every year, I begin to look forward to the end of festivities. After almost two weeks of rich food and drink, constant partying alternated with couch potatoing in front of the telly, I feel the need to get back to the routine of work in the studio and the occasional meal of beans on toast.

I miss making art. It starts to burn me up inside, but I did at least find the time over the holidays to scan in all my sketchbooks. I was pleasantly surprised to find that - scattered as they are throughout umpteen half-empty books - the images amount to much more than I'd thought. Don't worry, I'm not about to launch a new series of Old Sketches - the continuing Old Drawings series has a while to run yet. But my continuing interest in reviving the sketchbook habit has had something of a boost from this exercise.

Just after Xmas Day, Pat and I went on a fascinating walk through an old part of Newcastle which got me wishing I'd taken a sketchbook along, and I'm still thinking about the place over a week later. Maybe when the weather gets a bit more inspiring ...

Happy New Year!

Etching: Still Life (Etching and aquatint)

It's been a fascinating 12 months on Boogie Street, and I'd like to thank all of you who've followed me through this blog. Your comments have been a real and very welcome encouragement. I hope you'll stay with me in the coming year.

The choice of image may seem a strange one, but I see it as one of hope. The making of the etching itself, in 1998, wasn't really successful: the plate was left in the acid too long and the aquatint started to come loose. However, the end result, with platelets of aquatint shifting about probably makes the print more interesting than it might have been had it worked the way it was meant to. It's been a year of promise and achievement, but some things didn't work out. Despite that, shining through the shifting platelets of 2008, there's still the bright white light of 2009. Better stop there before I get too purple.

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2009. Happy New Year!

Travelling Sketchbook

Elaborate Hair-Do (pencil, A5 sketchbook)

Cold Calling (pencil, A5 sketchbook)

Two people drawn on the Metro, on the same page of my A5 sketchbook.

Clandestine

Clandestine (Epsilon 11)

Pencils: Rob Hansen; Inks and digital colour: Harry Bell

[Used with Rob's permission]

Back in the 1980s, my old friend Rob Hansen and I collaborated on some fanzine covers. This one, dated 1982, was for Rob's own fanzine, Epsilon, and I did the inking over his pencils. The subject seemed to suit this week's Illustration Friday subject, Clandestine, so this time round I added some digital colour.

Xmas Unwrapped

Pension Kasteli (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins.) (Private Collection)

It may have appeared that I'd stopped painting in the last week or so, but I've actually been working on this painting as a Xmas present for my partner, Pat. It was a secret, of course, so I couldn't post anything about it here as she'd be bound to see it.

At first, I thought I wouldn't be able to paint the hotel because the photograph I had was taken at such an acute angle. However, Photoshop proved itself more than up to the task. Using a Perspective Edit, I was able to stretch the building back into a face-on viewpoint. Photoshop never ceases to amaze me.

The painting is of the lovely little place we stayed in on Crete in September last year. Our room was at the back and I did this drawing from the balcony.

Merry Xmas!

Oh yes, nearly forgot

Have a happy one!

Apparently, I'm THE STAR

There was a time when I was really into the occult, the metaphysical, and took something of an interest in the Tarot. But I've moved on since then, becoming much more pragmatic in my approach to life. Nevertheless, Tarot readings can be fun,and when I came across a reference to an online reading service on Paula Pertile's blog, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm not in the least surprised by the reading, because the questions in this sort of exercise are always cleverly designed to produce a recognisable result. But you know, who wouldn't be just a little pleased to be THE STAR?

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Things I've Done

This seems to be everywhere, but I first found it on The Cycling Artist.

It's a somewhat peculiar list of things to do, with an obvious American bias, but hey! it's fun and it's Xmas! I've shown those I've done in bold.

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4.Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain (Helvellyn. But that's only 3,117 ft)
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (On a rustbucket going to Santorini)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train (London to Rome).
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a Marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run (only at rounders, but that's the same, isn't it?)
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (I live there!)
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (but I didn't know it).
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa (North Africa)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance (crashed my scooter and ended my Mod career).
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies (no, but did Bob-A-Job Week)
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy (many)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House (Stood outside on Lexington Ave. Does that count?)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.(but define famous)
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee (only wasps)
100. Read an entire book in one day.

Old Drawings #25

High Level Bridge (Charcoal, pastel on cartridge paper)

I'm guessing 1995 again. I remember exaggerating the height of the bridge a little to make it fit the square - I'd just discovered the square format and was determined to make everything square.

The High Level was designed by Robert Stephenson and is the first major example of a wrought iron bow-string girder bridge in the world. It's probably my favourite of all the bridges over the Tyne (there are 12 in all) and is certainly the one I've painted most - I love the way its rectilinear profile fits the picture plane.

It's been closed to traffic since 2005 because, of course, in addition to the rail traffic on the upper deck, it was built to accommodate Victorian horse-drawn transport and years of heavy motorised transport had taken their toll. As a Grade I listed structure, there were strictures on how it might be repaired. The road bed, for instance, had to be completely replaced, along with a number of the girders which had corroded, and this had to be done with sympathetic materials. After a £42m refit it opened again this year, with traffic restricted to buses and taxis, going one way only (Newcastle to Gateshead).

Voices

(Fibretip, Photoshop, digital colour)

I know it's an easy solution doing that copy and paste thing in Photoshop, but I do get a kick out of seeing a line of the same image. This is for Illustration Friday: Voices, and is dedicated to H.P.Lovecraft fans everywhere.