Luminosity

Luminosity in a painting is a difficult phenomenon to achieve. In fact, it is quite tricky to describe. What is meant by the term ‘luminosity”? It will probably mean very different things to different types of artist - always an answer shaped by their own experiences.
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Trying to get 'studio fit"

...So I made an abrupt stop and set up an easel with some larger paper and started a copy of a Matisse drawing that I like of a nude in an armchair 1924ish. It is part of a number of similar lithographs of the same model with the same approach. Matisse had gone back to using half tones, and generally exploring atmospheric colour.
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something in the air

At first glance they all looked like crows. Yet looking again a different profile could be seen in one of them – it was a hawk; a small one, maybe a kestrel. We only saw it momentarily but this was enough time to pick it out – it had a different centre of gravity, it seemed to get more purchase out of its wing beats.
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Following a thought..

How do your day-to-day activities, interactions and routines condition your opinion making? It is easy to assume that opinions, tastes, are trenchant, deep-rooted and seldom changed. How can they be affected by the physicality of our lives though?
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New 3D "sketches"

Folding paper, forming and brushing over paint - the brush , a grubby unchoreographed dance which works off and against the form - sometimes doing it no favours. This adds a sort of counterpoint and the ones that interest me most are when there is an edgy dialogue between form and colour. Close up images can be seen in current work section.

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Buildings that aren't really there

...We marvel at computer simulations whizzing us through the virtual skies, swooping on graceful parabolas in and out of the space of the edifice in ways that we could never possibly experience for real - unless of course NASA lent us some sophisticated craft to tootle about on.
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Lines, curves and dodgy hotels

Every one of these buildings is a form of kitsch hotel and we are conned into thinking as we stroll by in ipod oblivion that these new developments are acceptable as they slip under the critical radar on the “regeneration” ticket.
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Matisse Museum visit

..I came to a conclusion that the Düsseldorf painting was a beautiful “question” whereas the Museum work was a beautiful “answer”. There is an amazing spatial coda being played out in this red interior - and one created like the vast majority of Matisse’s works through synthesised observation.
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Focal Play

When I reverted to looking at the scene with both eyes they popped back into focus and retained their original green sparkle. This subtle shift of focus, this "focal play", this flit of our eyes moving fractions of millimetres in our heads but yards or miles in our field of vision fascinated me.
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Patience

Patience is an important quality in the studio especially if the work is not going well. Often an artist gets less studio time than they would like and there is a temptation to resolve things before the next block of time as if this will somehow justify the time spent...
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When does synthesis become artifice?

One of the most satisfying features of abstract painting is its expressive plasticity – no other visual art seems to have such possibilities. Surprisingly though, there are not many great abstract works of art..
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Persistence

Painting takes persistence. the role of practice - day to day, week to week studio routines are seldom if ever considered in any assessment of an artist's work
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Importance

Just a thought...treat anything that makes you feel important with - at best - suspicion and - at worse - contempt.

Olitski versus fear

I was flicking through a magazine the other day and I became increasingly aware of the style of adverts in there. Then walking through town I saw the same thing everyhere

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