Checking In

Just a brief note to explain the absence of any recent post. I'm in Wokingham for the week, staying with friends and enjoying our English mixed weather.

Not a lot of art-related activity, although a trip to Brighton has suggested some new imagery, and I did enjoy our visit to the Bohun Gallery in Henley.

I'll be travelling back on Wednesday, with the possibility of a detour to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, after which Normal Service will Resumed as Soon as Possible.

Home from the Island

Lindisfarne Castle from the Harbour

I was wrong about the weather. Although there was a strong wind blowing a lot of the time, we also got a fair bit of sunshine and by the end of the two days I'd adopted my "caught by the sun" beetroot look.

As is often the case with short holidays where others make the agenda, it proved difficult to do any sketching , so I opted for taking as many photographs as possible. There are certainly potential paintings in some of those, and the walking we did round the island made up for the lack of any sketching.

On the way back from one of our walks , I noticed a thrush behaving oddly on a window sill. He was jumping around, looking in through the window and tapping on it. Moments later, an old lady came to the door with a bowl in her hand and her dog scurrying round her ankles. The thrush, rather than flying away, jumped down and ran to the door where the lady threw food to it from the bowl. The dog and the bird ignored one another. Apparently this is the fourth year the thrush has come to her house for feeding. The natural world continually surprises me.

Lindisfarne

Holy Island (Rotring ArtPen, sketchbook)

I was last on Holy Island (Lindisfarne) in November 1996. It was a cold wet and windy day and the visit was only fleeting, but I managed to get this sketch done,despite the ArtPen beginning it's journey into clogging scratchiness, a journey from which it never recovered. Frustrating, disappointing and so far, despite advice from all quarters of the Interweb, non-reversible.

I'm off to Holy Island again tomorrow, this time stopping overnight and I had hoped that the weather - such a delight over the last week - would serve me better and perhaps let me get some more sketching done. Of course, as luck would have it, the weather has changed again for the worse, so I may find myself desperately searching for shelter on what is, as I recall, a rather barren island.

Old Drawings #38

Hanover Street (Charcoal on cartridge paper)

I did this sometime in 1997, I reckon. It's a drawing of an old Newcastle street near the Quayside, with some fascinating old warehouses at the left.

Someone bought the warehouses years ago, probably with the intention of converting them into fashionable apartments, but then discovered that they were subject to a Grade II listing. Even worse, from their point of view, the listing applied to the inside of the buildings.

As a consequence they stood empty for a long.

Then there was a fire. Curious that, but luckily the fire didn't do too much damage.

Then a couple of years later, there was another fire. Strangely the security seems not to have been tightened sufficiently after the first fire and the second fire more or less destroyed the better half of the warehouses. Now they've been converted into fashionable apartments. So that's alright then.

Cars and a G&T

Cars and Central Hotel (work in progress)

One of the good things about a studio in the basement of the house is that, on a hot day like today, it's really cool. So rather than mow the lawn or trim the hedge, I retreated to the welcoming atmosphere of the studio to paint. That's my excuse anyway.

Two or three hours and here we are, much of the car taking better shape and some detail on the buildings done. Obviously the Central Hotel needs more work - I do so hate buildings with lots of windows, but round here that's all you get. I suppose I could leave some or all of them out, but my vision of the building is clouded by the fact that I know it so well that any modification of it just looks wrong.

I was saved from further cursing the wobbly windows by the arrival of Pat and a couple of gin & tonics, so I called it a day and sat in the garden for a while, at least until the next rain shower arrived from across the Valley.

Molys Keep on Rolling

Michael's Moly

Jenn's Moly

Caught up at last! These two being completed means I can post all three to Pepparmynta in Stockholm. It's been fun making things up and finding colours amongst my collection of pencils and markers.

Moly Time Again

In March I announced my involvement with the Moly Totem Pole project. For various reasons, I haven't been able to carry on with it. Until now. Here's my addition to Lauren's Moly, done in a combination of coloured pencils and markers:

No Thread in my Needle

Well, it was worth a punt, but I didn't make it into the Threadneedle Prize. It'll be interesting to see what eventually appears in the show and what, above all, is included in the short list.

I suppose I should be feeling downhearted, but I'm not. In fact, rather the reverse. My mood was helped by receiving an email from a quite famous and nationally recognised painter telling me - inter alia - that "I have followed your work via the internet for a few years and really like the design and originality of your paintings especially your 'tram' series. One of those would have really stood out at the RA!"

I think my response to him had something of the fanboy about it, but I'd been taken by surprise and I know my sense of self-esteem has been on the wane for a time. Anyway, the effect on me has been electrifying and I'm reasserting my efforts to Move Things Along. Certainly, I haven't been put off submitting to open exhibitions. I'm looking now at the art societies associated with the Mall Galleries and expect in the future to be making increased use of the services of Mike Challoner's Picture Post, who will, incidentally, be bringing my Threadneedle pictures back to Newcastle.

New Painting

Cars and the Central Hotel (work in progress)

Yesterday was a miserable day for weather - rain and fog for most of the day, so I was glad to have another new painting to start.

Don't judge this too soon. It's the work of only about an hour and a half, the colours are only approximated in most cases and the red underpainting is showing through in a lot of places.

Nevertheless, I think this could prove to be a successful addition to my transport works.

Now where was I?

Oak Citadel (work in progress)

It seems such a long while since I spent any time at the Club and today proved to be not the best day to pick up where I'd left off, at least in terms of finding out what everyone had been up to.

Maybe they're all on holiday, or perhaps it was just too hot in the studio. I learned last time that although the skylight windows open, they can't be closed again. So, of course, they never get opened and we have to rely on keeping the fire exit door open and switching on the fans. Boy, does it get hot in there!

After a while the heat evidently got too much for those who were there and I was left on my own. Enforced solitude is good for getting things done, however, so I made good progress with this new painting, based on a drawing I made in Sawrey two years ago. It'll make a companion for the other painting of the same stand of oaks I was working on in April. They should both come to completion together now.

Back from London

Intercity 4 (Fine tip marker, A6 sketchbook)

I'd worried all week about how I was going to find space on the train for my paintings, especially the 3ft by 3ft, but Pat did a great job of finding out about a space in Standard Coach B (the quiet coach) behind one of the seats just big enough for a 3ft square painting. And coincidentally, we ended up in the seats behind which the space exists.

Handing-in wasn't until Saturday, so we had Friday to go into town and see what the RA Summer Exhibition amounted to this year. I have to say that I didn't find it terribly inspiring. Even the Small Weston Room, usually full of delightful little treasures, disappointed because the hanger, Mick Rooney, had filled one wall with small prints. Which may explain why I'd found the Large Weston Room, which shows prints, also disappointing.

Had I money to spare, however, I'd willingly have parted with some of it for one of Hilary Paynter's wood engraving of The Ouseburn. Unlike a host of others, I certainly wouldn't have fallen victim to the foolish desire to buy a print of Tracey Emin's crap little Space Monkey.

There were a few others I liked - Barbara Rae as always, William Bowyer, Ken Howard (great on light as ever), and Ben Levene (save for one dreadful green thing which I chose to regard as an aberration). Adrian Berg, whom I've always liked, has moved into an area of rather naive paintings based on ethnic fabrics which aren't entirely to my taste either. Overall, I came away somewhat deflated instead of buzzing with new ideas.

Handing in my Threadneedle works on Saturday took very little time but as my three pieces were given numbers in the upper 190s, and there were two more handing-in days, it began to feel increasingly unlikely that I might get accepted (they intend to select only about 60 works for the show). Still, nothing ventured ....

Before catching the train back to Newcastle, we had time to check out King's Place near King's Cross Station. What a fantastic space. They were showing Frans Widerberg's big paintings, some of which I've seen before, but all of which I'd missed when they were shown at Northumbria Gallery earlier this year. They really do benefit from being seen in this huge space.

To London

Intercity Traveller (fine-tip marker, A6 sketchbook)

The paintings are wrapped and I'm off to London with them. Handing-in for the Threadneedle Prize is on Saturday, so at least I'll have Friday to get round a gallery or two.

I'm filled with trepidation. I don't enjoy carrying paintings on public transport, so I expect to spend half my time on the train worrying who's going to put their foot through my masterpiece. Still .... soon be over.

Tree Sketches

Vivien Blackburn has come up with another challenge and as I'm unlikely to be able to post anything new in the coming week, I thought this was a suitable way of keeping at least some of you amused.

Vivien has asked for "sketches of trees done from life". Luckily trees (and rocks) tend to be the only thing I ever find to draw when I'm in the country, unless it's a bit of broken-down agricultural machinery. So here's a slideshow of various trees, stumps and branches, done over a period of some years, all from life

Wooden Train at Soller

Wooden Train at Soller (oil on canvas, 24 x 24 ins) Private Collection

Time to stop fiddling and put this one to rest. I'm happy enough with it and I think it fits nicely in what's become a loose collection of series: The Vaporetto Series, The Prague Tram Series and now the Wooden Train (series of one).

I'm quite anxious to start a new painting which will also follow the general trend of these paintings, but it's going to have to wait until at least next week, I think. First of all I have to get the paintings down to London and submitted to the Threadneedle Prize - travelling down on Thursday, back on Saturday - then there's my good friend Christine's Hen Party (+Stags) at Hexham Races Ladies Day on Sunday.

Sometimes it just seems all go.

Union Quay Artists Collective

On Wednesday night, I went down to Tynemouth Metro Station to visit the Union Quay Artists. The Metro Station there is a lovely old Grade II listed Victorian station with a curious covered bridge over the line. There are two pedestrian walkways, between which is a long gallery space, the original purpose of which I can't imagine. For some time now, however, it's been used as a temporary exhibition space with rail passengers being able to view the work through the little windows running the length of the walkways.

In March, the Union Quays Artists began to set up some temporary studios in the Bridge and since then have been drawing, painting and holding workshops (see their blog). While I've been less than enthusiastic about some of the temporary shows in the Bridge, I thought this was a really good one and I confess to a frisson of envy. In the light of my recent work, I could envisage some interesting subjects coming through the station on the Metro trains.

My friend Barbara Maskrey, one of the artists there, invited me to their Artists Evening on Wednesday night and my only regret is that I couldn't get there earlier. Still, I had an hour and a half to meet and talk to the other artists there, and I hope to be able to meet them again soon. Making contacts with other artists is a Good Thing, I think.

Longbenton Skies

Although, when Vivien Blackburn issued her sky-sketching challenge in May, I didn't have time to take her up on it, I was determined to find an old sketchbook that had some skies in it.

In March of 1990 I found myself in an office with views of the sky and while I don't remember what prompted it, I bought a ring-bound A5 pad of Ingres pastel paper and some oil pastels which I put in a little box marked "SKIES". Whenever the opportunity arose - in other words, when the office was otherwise empty - I quickly sketched the sky, noting the date and time.

In April 1990, I moved into another office with views of ... another office.

As luck would have it, I couldn't find the sketchbook in good time to link with Vivien's listing of sky-bloggers but I came across it today, along with various sentimental items I thought were long ago destroyed, so here are the five sketches of the skies over Newcastle Central Office in March 1990.


1 March 1990, 4.25pm


15 March 1990, 3.45pm


19 March 1990, 11.15am


20 March 1990, 12.00pm


March 1990 (no specific date or time)

Print Group

Flyover (etching)

My second discipline of choice at Uni, after painting, was printmaking. I loved etching and relief printing and always vowed I'd take them up again one day. That came a step nearer today when the inaugural meeting of the Print Group was held at the Art Club.

Some time ago the Club bought - at a very reasonable price - a rather good press suitable for intaglio and relief printmaking and after some setting up and buying of materials, we had an introductory meeting today. About half a dozen people turned up and the methods of making plates were discussed, the operation of the press demonstrated and safety measures emphasised.

To be honest, I didn't really go to do any printmaking today; I simply wanted to reacquaint myself with the processes. However, I did take along the plate from the print above (made at Uni) and ran off one or two just to get my hand in. Apart from using water-based inks this time, it was all as I remembered.

We've decided to make the first Wednesday of the month a regular meeting day for the Group, to avoid painters on other days of the week, but with the option of going in to print on other Wednesdays.

I came home with one or two pieces of lino. Now all I need is to make some studio time at home to work up something printable.

And again, Wayne Thiebaud

I make no apologies for posting another video about Wayne Thiebaud. The man's work fascinates me and in this video there's a chance to see him applying paint.

Wayne Thiebaud again

Almost There

Train at Soller (work in progress)

Finding some time available before going off to the Art Club to catch up on events there, I've put in some of the defining lines in the structure of the town. I've also darkened the sky which I think makes it sit better in the whole composition.

Very little more to be done; more definition to the carriage, one of the passengers to be completed and possibly a change to the colour of the man's shirt, second from the left.

Satisfactory Day

Train at Soller (work in progress)

Things went really well today. The photograph above makes the colours of the town much too bright (too near the strip light), but in reality they're just about right for me and the town has taken it's proper place within the composition.

There are the little details to attend to now, like roof lines, straightening up windows, some glazing here and there, but it shouldn't be long before I can call it finished.

The Train Starts

Train at Soller (work in progress)

I was conscious of the fact that in submitting a painting that hadn't even been started, I was taking a risk, so I figured the sooner I start on it the better. Yesterday I drew it out on the canvas, after toning it with burnt sienna acrylic. Today I began the actual painting. Although there are things wrong with it - the buildings at the back aren't yet in their proper spatial relationship to the train - I think I was right to be optimistic about it.

You should ignore the cast shadow at the bottom right, by the way. That's actually the shadow of the pyracantha in the garden rather than part of the painting. Although ..... having said that, I'm tempted to include it now.

Entering Threadneedle

Both Vivien and April, in their comments on the previous post, suggested that I deliver my submissions to the Threadneedle Prize in person, making a day of it in London. Having checked the prices of the courier, I've come to the same conclusion: it would be almost as cheap and more fun to do it myself.

The return ticket from London to Newcastle is booked. Now all I need is to find out when I can get the Tram pictures back from Preston Hall and I'll be able to book the ticket to London, making at least a couple of days there.

Threadneedle

I'm not so convinced of my own importance that I think the organisers of the Threadneedle Prize would single me out from all the artists listed in Axis to invite me to submit to the competition. But I was rather surprised that the message forwarded from Axis inviting me to do so, showed that it was sent to one artist only - me.

Anyway, I've thought about it - as I did last year - and have decided I've nothing to lose other than the £15 per picture and the cost of having them delivered to the Mall Galleries.

Unfortunately, I find that some of the pictures I might have wanted to include - the Prague Trams - won't be taken down from Preston Hall until 14th June. While handing in at London is 22nd June, the regional pick-up from Newcastle is 13th June. Bugger.

So what to do? I think I'll send them a couple of the Vaporetto Series, but have also decided to do a new one specially for the show. It's based on some photographs I took of the little wooden train at Soller, Mallorca last year and will form a sort of coda to the whole transport thing that's been preoccupying me for the last year.

I started it today. Everything else will have to take a back seat until it's done.

Fi-Fie-Fo-Fum

Ivy sections (A4 sketchbook)

I had a really enjoyable afternoon out yesterday. Mo and I went up to the Fi-Fie-Fo-Fum gallery at Newton; the weather was glorious and the views round the gallery are spectacular. The views inside the gallery are pretty good too.

Tom Moore had invited us to see the big new paintings he's working on for his upcoming show at the Northumbria Gallery, partly for reassurance that they were on the right track (they definitely were!) and partly just for a chat, I think. I know only too well how isolated life can become working in the studio day after day.

During a very wide-ranging conversation, we touched on the way the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle had taken down the lovely paintings on the staircase when they repainted the walls and disappointingly never put them back.

Tom has discovered the reason. It's that old demon, Health & Safety!

Apparently, should there be a fire, the public would be in severe danger of being caught by burning shreds of masterpieces raining down from the walls of the staircase. In an art gallery! Who'd have thought such dangers existed? I've been risking my life all these years and never knew.

I wonder if the owners of stately homes know what perils they live with as long as they have their ancestral portraits lining those grand - but potentially lethal - stairs.

Barbara Rae Slideshow

My thanks to Chris Bellinger for his link to a wonderful slideshow of Barbara Rae's paintings:

http://www.therichmondhillgallery.com/gallery/slideshow/slideshow.htm

But I wonder: are those at the end in the coloured frames really hers? If so, they're something of a departure.

Northumberland Art Fair

My part of the Figure8 pitch

Although the first day of the Art Fair started out bright and sunny, it soon clouded over and the hordes of punters simply didn't turn up. After a while, just sitting around becomes very tiresome, and there's only so many times you can get up and walk around the table.

We'd been told that the Museum at Woodhorn received about 1000 visitors a day, but this certainly wasn't demonstrated at the weekend. Considering this was a Bank Holiday weekend - and a sunny one at that - we were lucky if maybe two hundred people came through the Art Fair building in the three days it was open.

Things started to look bad when we arrived for the first day of the Fair to find that the spotlights were all directed onto the floor rather than the walls where the pictures were hung. Requests for someone to come and alter them were met with the advice that "only the Caretaker is allowed to do that and he isn't here today. He was here yesterday when you were setting up, however". So that's alright then.

It became very clear that there'd been next to no advertising. The organisers claimed that, by keeping the cost of display panels as low as possible, they'd been restricted in their advertising revenue. But some advertising costs nothing. For instance, searching for "Northumberland Art Fair" on Google produces as the second hit, a link to my own ArtSlant entry for Figure8's stand at the Art Fair!

There were no signs or banners in the area round about the Woodhorn site or, indeed on the Woodhorn site. On the door of the building where the Art Fair took place, instead of a big sign announcing our presence, there were a couple of notices directing people to another building where a Recipe Book Project was taking place. A little research showed that there were no similar notices on that building informing people of what was going on in our building.

I spotted about half a dozen sales during the event, most of them in the £35 - £65 range. From talking to visitors, it was quite evident that those who wandered through the hall had no idea that the Art Fair was being held - they'd just come to the Museum for a day out.

There was a questionnaire to fill in at the end to assess pitch-holders' views. I'd like to have been a fly on the wall when they were read.

The most difficult question to answer was "What did you like most about taking part in the Art Fair?" After some thought I put, "Apart from comparing complaints with the other pitch-holders, I can think of nothing."

Window of Opportunity

Night Cafe (work in progress)

I'm still lost in a turmoil of preparation for various events, not least the Northumberland Art Fair this weekend. However, I was determined to get something done today, so, finding a couple of hours to spare, I determined to see what I might get done in that time.

This is the result. It's based on an old photograph I took through the window of a Costa Coffee outlet in Newcastle one night. It shares the rectilinear compositional device in the lower half that the Prague Tram series employed and that seems to be developing as an ongoing interest.

There's a little more to be done, but not a lot. One more session should see it done.

Parcelforce lets me down

I used Parcelforce to deliver my paintings to the Lloyd Gill Gallery. This is the third time I've used them and the previous two times I found the service relatively satisfactory. I did have to call them on the first occasion when they failed to turn up to collect the parcel within the "window" I'd given them, and sure enough the same thing happened again this time. The advice I was given when I phoned up was that the "window" is only a guideline.

Leaving aside the relatively pointless idea of offering a window which can be ignored, what has annoyed me this time is that although I paid for next day delivery, the parcel, which was collected on Friday, was not delivered until today. This, despite my having paid an additional £12 premium for a Saturday delivery.

I've asked for a refund. We'll see what happens.

Curator's Choice

Blimey, I've been quiet, haven't I? It seems that a great deal has been going on, but none of it found it's way into Boogie Street. A lot of it was just stuff, not lending itself to writing about, but one or two things should have been mentioned.

Most importantly, especially as I sit here waiting for the Parcelforce man to turn up, is the invitation to show some work at the Lloyd Gill Gallery in Weston-Super-Mare. I know, Weston-Super-Mare! You can't get much further from Gateshead, really, but one of the wonders of the Interweb is that people who might otherwise not see your work get to do so. This invitation is down to my exposure on Flickr.

Lloyd Gill, the Director of the gallery, selected the following paintings for showing in the upcoming show, Earth-Water-Concrete-Steel-Brick:



Building by a Motorway
(Oil on canvas, 91 x 91 cms)


Newgate Street
(Oil on canvas, 66 x 90 cms)


Millennium Bridge, London
(Oil on canvas, 50.8 cm x 50.8 cms)


Aegean Hideaway
(Oil on canvas, 50.8 x 50.8 cms )

The exhibition starts on 26th May and runs until 19th June. If you live in the area, why not drop for what looks an enjoyable show? Sorry I can't be there to talk to you.