Venice - The First 2 Days

What a great time we had in the A Team: a great apartment (thanks to Haidee), plenty of variable weather for painting, lovely meals in (thanks to Valerie and David), plenty of socialising with the 9 other plein air painters spread around the city (thanks to you guys who provided us with a slap-up dinner twice), some nicely weird experiences with tourists, an aqua alta (no trip to Venice should be without one) and 75 paintings done between the four of us in 6 days, plus some dashed off sketches. Others were even more prolific (nocturnes being a favourite form of self-flagellation) so among the 13 of us the total number of once blank panels now covered in paint must be around the 300 mark.

I coughed my way around but the warmer weather helped to keep the chest infection quiet and my obviously diseased state may have saved me from some of those Chinese tourists who just love to get too close.

I did 20 panels in all so I thought I would put up the first 2 days worth on this post and follow with two more posts.  I have 'tidied' some of them but (for all you purists out there) I still regard them as 'plein air'.  If you had seen me drenched and wind-battered on the Molo on our final day, fighting one-handed to get paint mixed and applied while the other hand kept everything from being blown away, you would understand why. Anyway I am with the famous French painter ( I am still trying to remember who it was - can anyone help?) who said 'nothing counts but the painting'.

Here goes then: Day 1 - 22 November 2012.

San Giorgio from the Straw Bridge 12x8ins

San Marco Facade 12x10ins

The next day we had our only fine day:

Salute, Early Morning 10x8ins

Palazzo Contarini Fazan 10x8ins

Palazzo Barbaro from Campo San Vio 10x12ins

Now we enter the misty period folks!............

I Must Get This Off My Chest

The Infection I mean!  A cocktail of antibiotics and 9 days of almost continuous coughing has left me with half a chance to survive Venice.  I leave for the airport in half an hour.

It has not been all bad news.  I got off my sick bed to go to the Army Arts Soc private view in Salisbury and was surprised and pleased to win second prize in the Chemring Painting Competition for the little Venice picture I posted on the last blogand also sell some pieces.  A few days later I learnt that I had had two paintings accepted for this year's Royal Institute of Oil Painters show, which is a great privilege.  They are another, larger Old Harry and a painting of Irish Lady in Cornwall.

Old Harry

You can see and buy both pics on the Mall Galleries web site (under ROI)

Whilst being ill I have tried to keep going with some pastel studies based on work by Ken Howard, Tom Coates, Peter Kuhfeld, etc.  Here is one of them - I will post some more on return from Venice:

Salute, after Ken Howard RA.  Pastel

Salute, after Ken Howard RA. Pastel

San Toma, after Peter Kuhfeld NEAC.  Pastel

Sunset from the Molo, after David Sawyer. Pastel

Salute and Orange Wall, after Tom Coates PPNEAC.  Pastel

Salute, after Ken Howard RA.  Pastel

The red stripey poles are no more!  I guess they just rotted out

Studio Painting

Why is it so difficult?  You are warm and dry, the radio is playing your favourite music, the studio is just tidy enough to work in and every now and then someone opens the door and thrusts a cup of hot coffee in your hand.  The rain isn't pouring down your canvas and there is no wind.  Your fingers are not numb.  It should be easy but it isn't.  Somehow standing in front of the subject is so much more straightforward.

I have been ill and not doing a lot.  As Groucho Marx said 'the trouble with doing nothing is you never know when you are finished'.  I am still coughing and sneezing but that is no excuse for neglecting the blog for so long.  I had various sessions at Marlow in late September and I hope to post a separate blog on them.  More recently I met up with Haidee-Jo Summers in London prior to the RSMA PV and we painted together in Lower Regent Street. I had gone up to town early because that's the only way of parking near the coach stop, so did this little 8x6 of Trafalgar Square first:

Then it was time to meet Haidee and try the other view:

Hers had more feeling of light in it but I was just happy to be out painting again.  We had a great time at the RSMA show, meeting many old friends, admiring David Pilgrim's paintings and drinking more coffee before drifting away to our various homes.  I reckon the germ was on the coach home because I was down with the mother of all colds 3 days later - just as I was getting rid of the 'flu!.

Over the past 3 weeks I have struggled with studio paintings needed for two hand-ins in early November. I still don't know if I will make it but so far I have finished 'Surf School Sennen' (12x22ins):

and 'Dogana and Redentore', Venice (10x12ins):

I have also been experimenting with the format of a scaled up version of 'Against The Light Sennen';  the original 10x8 was painted on the spot in May, a little later in the day than 'Surf School'. It sold at the AFAS show.   I tried a squat pastel version and then an elongated pastel.  First the squat version:

I thought this elongated version might suit an oil better:

The great thing about pastels is that they take less than half the time of even the quickest oil painting and can be modified easily so are ideal for trials.  I then decided to go for a long version in oils:

Against The Light, Sennen 14x10

The Venice Bag

I have been down to Marlow 3 times recently and will post some pics next week I hope.  Meanwhile the 10mm thick foamboard sheets arrived and I have started making wet-panel boxes again.  I needed a 10x14 carrier for the Venice trip although I may not take boards as big as that.  Also, I noted that BA would allow me two cabin bags, one of which would be for a laptop or similar.  I duly massacred an old laptop bag, reducing its weight to 1 Kg and made a box with the new foamboard, balsa wood spacers, sewing pins, glue and gaffer tape.  With 10 boards (4 of 14x10 and 6 of 12x10) in it the whole assembly weighs 3Kg.

Here is the box inside the laptop bag:

In this one you can see the slots for 10 panels, back to back in pairs:

All I have to do now is get it past those pesky bag inspectors at the airport.

On to the next box!

They Think It's All Over (It Is Now)

Handing out day finally arrived yesterday.  I returned with the 4 unsold pictures, 1 that had sold (must find out who bought the other one), a pastel by Michael Frost that Maddy had bought, an oil landscape by Liz Graydon that Anna my Sister-In-Law bought, the whole of my 'tomb' installation and a very heavy sculpture by Jill Sim.  Thank goodness for the capacity of a Berlingo.

I also returned with a wet painting.  Up at 4am, easy drive to central London, park in a pre-booked slot at the Mall Galleries, 20 minute walk to Buck Palace and viola!  I shared the session with a succession of cyclists waiting for a rally to start.  Mostly from the East End, very black, very fit and a delight to talk to while dawbing.  They almost persuaded me to get my old road bike out and start pedalling again.  I tried a 14x10 but ran out of time after 2 hours as I had to get back to help with handing out. 

Victoria Monument, London 14x10



I am trying very hard to stick to the 4-tone scheme used by people like Ken Howard and Bob Rohm (USA) as it seems so logical and helps you keep the big shapes distinct.  You can probably see from the bits of ground showing through that I cheated and raised the tone of the sky (my light half-tone) when it would have been better to stick to the original value.  That would have helped express the lights on the gilded figures.  Ah well, there is always the next time!

The Figure 11 Concept

Since posting news of the AFAS contemporary show 'Out of Line', several friends have asked me about the conceptual basis of my piece 'Figure 11'. 

Briefly I have first tried to highlight the duality that exists in the modern use of anthropomorphic targets: they are both 'enemies' and 'friends'.  They represent real enemies but are also a means of ensuring safety through superior training.  I have also tried to underline the universality of this particular target form - used by so many forces throughout the world.  To enhance this aspect I have imagined that Figure 11 has a very ancient history (actually the image was first dsigned in about 1948).  To that end I have enjoyed making allusive references to elements of British myths and writings, particularly to Malory's Morte D'Arthur, the Gododdin, contemporary accounts of the Boudiccan (Iceni) revolt, the Mabinogion, etc.  I have also made use of various carved and written forms such as Etruscan, Early Roman Cursive and Ogham, to lend accuracy to some of the assertions. 

The term 'hostis humani generis' was originally established in the early days of the Roman empire to refer to pirates - effectively 'stateless persons' - and I believe the term is still used in legal circles today.  The other text (hic iacet instar undecim, hostis quondam hostisque futurus) is a straight lift from Malory but substituting 'hostis' for 'rex' and of course 'instar undecim' for 'Arthurus'. 

The 18 shot holes are 9mm in diameter - the calibre of a modern pistol and the thickness of a Roman auxiliary's arrow shaft.  Five of the shot holes are in the traditional position of Christ's wounds.  The Chi Rho symbol and other scratchings (eg Dux Brit) are all designed to add to the illusion.  I could not resist the quote from Aneirin (seinnyessit e gledyf vm penn mameu).  It appears on the title page of David Jones's In Parethesis, my favourite long prose poem and one of the greatest war poems ever written.  I also allude to Isaiah 53v5, not just to increase the sense of antiquity but also to heighten the importance of Figure 11's role in our lives.  'He was wounded for our transgressions' strikes a chord in the context of continuing strife around the world.  We should not need Figure 11 but we do. 

One thing I like about contemporary art is the use of words as 'signs' in many of the works.  This is discussed at length in the preface to David Jones's 'Anathemata' (1952).  Such signs are very personal but if one can find a common foreknowledge (the Germans have a special word for this but I can't remember what it is - vorausgesehen does not sound right) then there is the possibility of communicating through commonly recognised signs.  This is partly what I have tried to do but as Geoffrey Hill has pointed out in many of his poems, words are very  'slippery', whereas marks on the canvas are all too permanent.  Maybe the ambiguity inherent in language actually increases the chance of a meaningful relationship between the work of art and its public?

I hope that helps but part of the purpose of the piece was to invite thought - so I did not want anything to be too clearly said.

I have enjoyed the technical challenges immensely and was gratified at the PV night to be asked how such a large tomb brass could be cast.  I eventually admitted that these days one can do wonders with mdf, gilding wax, acrylic and marble dust!

Windrush and Westonbirt

Despite the huge burden of AFAS show preparations I have managed to get out a few times in the past month.  I went to Sandford Lock in late July and did this 8x10 with the light behind me:

Sandford Lock 8x10

Michael Worthington and I then had a day stooging around the Windrush Valley and Burford before returning via Minster Lovell.  The Windrush painting was not very happy but after a long lay-off it was nice to do something:

The River Windrush near Burford 8x10

Minster Lovell proved to have lots of potential with both the river and the ruins available but we were running out of time and light:

The Minster Ruins 10x8

Each year we take my severely disabled brother-in-law Charlie away on a house-party-type holiday to Westonbirt School, originally the seat of Robert Holford, founder of the Arboretum.  I love painting there.
This year I tried to avoid the pull of the Italian Garden and concentrate more on the house:

Late Afternoon, Westonbirt 10x8

Before Breakfast, Westonbirt 10x8

The window with the shutters closed was our bedroom.

The Orangery End, Westonbirt 10x8

 I went into Tebury once but wished I hadn't because while I was there I was the victim of a minor accident.  A very old lady wanted to park her car in front of me (I was in the gutter on some double yellow lines)  I carefully moved all my kit back 10 feet so that she could drive in easily and she promptly ran over it!  I now have a crushed digital camera covered in the contents of a large Titanium White tube! The joys of plein air painting - but I bet nobody does that to Peter Brown.

Tetbury 10x8

I finally succumbed to the Italian Garden, repeating an exercise I did last year:

Arch in the Italian Garden 10x8

On my last afternoon I just had time for a 6x8 and was half way through this when a wedding party arrived to liven things up:

Wedding Reception Westonbirt 6x8

On the trips up to London to hang the AFAS show I invariably started early so had time to do a couple of sketches.  The second one was in front of Buckingham Palace:

Victoria Monument 10x7

I hope that I shall be able to get out more in the next 2 months and then we will be running rapidly towards the Venice trip in November.  In between are the ROI submission target, the Woodstock Art Festival and the Army Arts Soc show in Salisbury.