8 by 8

I am a big fan of the Courtauld Gallery. It has a wonderful collection of Impressionist and Post Impression painting but on a recent visit I was particularly taken by the Seurat Sketches in Gallery 11b. There are half a dozen oil sketches all about 8 x 6 inches, mostly done as studies for bigger work. I found myself drawn to them, going back again and again, to study them. In these sketches Seurat is experimenting with techniques and working with a limited palette. I found them very fresh and exciting as works in their own right.

And it got me to thinking about setting myself a project; to create my own series of small oil paintings with a restricted palette using no brushes, just a palette knife.Using a palette knife stops me fiddling and allows me to work the paint impasto in an almost sculptural manner. I also opted for a square format, measuring 8 x 8 inches (20 x 20 cm.). The square format presents its own compositional challenges but opportunities too. So far I have got two paintings which cut the mustard, at least in my own terms, "Le Jazz" and "The Show Must Go On!". With Le Jazz there is a lot of scumbled and glazed colour. The physicality of the paint is more apparent with heavier impasto in The Show Must Go On! There are others, works-in-progress, and I am enjoying experimenting, very invigorating. Another six to go for my little "8 x 8" series. Watch this space!

"Bronze" at the Royal Academy

As a sculptor who works in bronze I must start by complimenting the Royal Academy.  The audio visual displays in Gallery 2 helpfully and successfully explains what is the complex process of bronze casting, using models of each stage and short but informative videos. However I have to say I found that the video of the Indian foundry where they were pouring molten bronze in bare feet, made me wince!

The exhibition includes some of the finest examples of bronze sculpture from the past 3,500 years and is organised thematically rather chronologically with separate galleries for Figures, Animals, Objects, Gods, Heads and Reliefs. In scale they range from tiny objects of adornment to over-life size figures some 2.5m tall. Both aesthetically and technically there are some major tour de force works on display but the highlights for me were the pieces which spoke to me, some of the oldest and arguably simplest.

First of all there was the elongated Etruscan Votive Figure, Evening Shadow (Cat 32) which apparently was a work which influenced Giacometti. You can see how and why straight away. The notion of the cast shadow has intrigued human beings from time immemorial and in this case from the second century BC. Then there were two wheeled pieces, the 7th century BC Cult Chariot of Strettweg (Cat 22) and the Chariot of the Sun (Cat 7) from the 14th century BC, which combine amazing craftsmanship with powerful symbolism. Another Etruscan piece caught my eye, the Christophe Cista from 350BC (Cat 27) with impressive engraving and a charming grouping of two figures carrying a female figure on top.

In the Reliefs Gallery the inlaid bronze of the first century BC, Mensa Isiaca altar table top (Cat 39), stood out. And the almost primitive series of four 6' tall bronze panels, an exercise in progressive reduction over 20 years, by Matisse in Backs I-IV (Cat 142) were fascinating. There is also an interesting comparison in approach to Portraits between the simplicity of Medardo Rosso's Ecce Puer and the ornate extravagances of materials in Charles Henri-Joseph-Cordier's Jewess from Algeria (Cat 133).

The "Bronze" exhibition is testament to Man's skill, imagination and ambition in creating lasting objects of wonder for thousands of years in this material which still has the power to enchant us today. The exhibition runs until 9th December 2012.


And if, having seen the exhibition, it gives you the taste for owning some bronze sculpture you can always visit my web-site to see the pieces I currently have for sale by clicking here. As well as being, I hope, visually attractive most of my work is also highly tactile, the sensation of touch being an important aspect of my sculptures in bronze, and in stone for that matter.

Down came the rain

"The Show Must Go On!"

oil on canvas

8 x 8 in. / 20 x 20 cm.

Open air jazz festivals are always going to be somewhat problematic in this country given our wayward weather. I remember trying to sketch a group of jazz aficionados huddling under umbrellas during a July thunderstorm, while I was holding an umbrella and my sketch book in one hand and drawing with the other. Not ideal! That moment is commemorated in this painting with the audience watching on under their umbrellas while the girl in the yellow dress tries to shelter the trumpeter and sax player under her umbrella.

A couple of the original moleskine sketches

Le Jazz

oil on canvas

8 x 8 in./ 20 x 20 cm.

Based on a series of sketches of the Dutch Swing College Band which I did a couple of years ago at a jazz festival. Using sketches of Marcel Hendriks on piano and Adrie Braat on double bass, to which I have added the singer in the red dress to suit my composition. I often work listening to Jazz, particularly a French internet radio station called Jazz Radio , "La Radio de tous les Jazz". Hence the title of the work, "Le Jazz"! Done just using a palette knife to stop me from fiddling with the detail.

Two of the original moleskine sketches

Note : the painting is not up on my web-site yet..

Mantegna to Matisse

Five hundred years of drawing are represented by 60 works in Mantegna to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery on exhibition in London from 14 June until 9 September 2012. From quick, observed sketches, through studies to fully resolved drawings intended as works in their own right, here is a wonderful opportunity to see how Artists of the western tradition have used drawing over the centuries to explore their subjects. There is always something intimate about the medium, whereby I look at a drawing from the same kind of distance as the Artist did, and feel that I am almost standing in his shoes. The raw, unfinished state of sketches allows you some insight into the Artist's focus at a  moment in time. So each drawing is always exciting in what it reveals about their process. And this exhibition of Artists from Leonardi Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Durer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Ingres, Canaletto, Turner, Cezanne, Degas, Picasso and many others, did not disappoint. Truly an embarrassment of riches!

Here are a few of my personal favourites:-

Seurat - Female Nude

"Very sculptural and just so sensual"

Pontormo - Seated Youth

"Fresh and contemporary - lovely quality of line"

Rembrandt - Saskia sitting up in bed, holding a child

"A moment captured"

Leonardo da Vinci - Study for Saint Mary Magdalene

"The great man thinking, through his drawing"

Van Gogh - A Tile Factory

"Very singular mark making"

Toulouse Lautrec - Au Lit

"Love the focus on the face. Most touching."

I could go on but I might spoil the many surprises to be found when you visit. The exhibition is beautifully hung, as you would expect at the Courtauld, one I can heartily recommend. A very nice tea-room too!

The Drawings of Guercino

Currently on exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford are drawings from the superb Mahon collection of drawings by the Baroque artist, Guercino (1591 - 1666). A prolific painter, he was also from the outset an outstanding draughtsman and we are very lucky that so many of his drawings have survived and are in British Collections.

I first saw his drawings in 1991 in an exhibition of Guercino's Drawings at the British Museum and was immediately captivated, not just by their superb quality, but by the insight they offered into his working process which, as a practising artist, I can certainly relate to. His method and materials were varied but seemed to reflect the stage of development a work was at. I have chosen some drawings from the Ashmolean's excellent exhibition to illustrate this.

When trying out the options for a compositions he would essay variations in pen and ink, quickly sketching in the less important details but focusing on the attitudes of the heads, and sometimes the limbs. His confidence in simple line is apparent. I particularly enjoyed coming across the second drawing below including a rectangle of paper at the top to reveal another compositional option underneath. The next stage of his process appears to be the addition of a wash to suggest volume and how the subject would be lit, a particular strength of Guercino in his paintings.

His drawings in red chalk seem to reflect another stage in the evolution of a work. Much more resolved and drawn from life I suspect, they have a real vitality which I can only envy. The detail of "Two Women Conversing" below is a beautfiul rendering of light on the the forms. Sometimes he mixes materials and methods as with the "Woman painting a Coat of Arms on a canvas" which has pen, wash, chalk and even some oiled charcoal. Charcoal was a material he used less frequently but he was equally a master of, as is obvious below. The forms in the male figure are so well observed and beautifully captured, providing sufficent detail for me to even begin to sculpt!

I offer below some of my own personal highlights from the Ashmolean collection which I hope illustrate Guercino's use and mastery which, us lesser mortals can but aspire to.

Degas and the Ballet

Now in its final week at The Royal Academy in London, Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement, exceeded my expectations this week, handsomely. It is a comprehensive exploration of Degas's interest in capturing and depicting movement through dance. The curators, Ann Dumas, Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall, have done a superb job in putting together a well structured and beautifully hung exhibition.

The visitor can follow Degas's process of investigation from his quick charcoal sketches through to fully resolved paintings. But he also adopted the techniques of sculpture, and the latest photographic innovations to help him capture and depict the ballet dancers' poses and movement in the practice studio and on stage. As a sculptor myself I could well appreciate the series of preparatory sketches from life he did for his famous metre tall bronze sculpture, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. The displays helpfully displayed how each drawing fitted into his scheme in addressing the figure from 360 degrees, with the bronze itself as centre-piece.

The exhibition has so many points of interest but I would also highlight; the panoramic format paintings of the dancers in their Green Room preparing for performance, and the later bolder and larger charcoal drawings matched with the paintings such as the Blue Dancers which embody the poses from the charcoal drawing. The smaller 1/3rd life size sketches, originally done in wax but cast after his death in bronze, of ballet dancers in specific poses have a real charm. But the curators have kept the best almost to last; the wonderful vibrant pastel paintings of his late years such as the Russian Dancers and Dancers in Blue are visually stunning. The irridescent colours and imaginative compositions almost worth going to see for this room alone.

I spent a good four hours at this exhibition resting periodically to absorb the richness of material on offer. From my vantage point on the banquette in the first room opposite Degas's painting, Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera 'Robert le Diable' I sat sketching the steady stream of visitors as they filed past. There was I, trying to capture movement, I in my little Moleskine sketchbook, much as Degas had been doing over 100 years ago. The artistic challenge in "picturing movement" is still the same.