Face to Face.

The moment when a man comes to paint himself - he may do it only two or three times in a life-time, perhaps never - has in the nature of things a special significance. Lawrence Gowing. 1918 - 1991.

There is an excellent book on British self-portraits in the twentieth century, by Philip Vann, published by Sansom and Company. Sometimes hard to find but well worth persevering.

Thomas Hardy - Journal entry. January 1887.

Untitled. oil on wood. 120x120cms

After looking at the landscape ascribed to Bonnington in our drawing room I feel that Nature is played out as a beauty, but not as a Mystery....I want to see the deeper reality underlying the scenic, the expression of what are sometimes called abstract imaginings.

The exact truth as to material fact....is a student's style - the style of a period when the mind is serene and unawakened to the tragical mysteries of life; when it does not bring anything to the object that coalesces with and translates the qualities that are already there - half hidden, it may be-and the two united are depicted as the All.