Montsales approaches. A moving target.

As this show approaches I have been trying to do something with the fact that, in the act of looking, one's head is never still and one is trying to get a sense of the object when seen in this way. Slight movements, set down result in a layering which somehow becomes more like. We will see where this leads -it might be ultimately unsatisfactory or it might move me on.

Galerie la Tour, Montsales. Autoportraits. October 4th 2014.

In October, Galerie la Tour Montsalès will show Autoportraits. Four painters have been invited to show there. Patrick Laroche, Daniel Lefranc, Charles de Rodat, and I. So I am continuing to explore this in readiness. Actually I wrote, I am continuing to expire first instead of explore and that got me thinking because one of the things that might motivate me is that very fact, that I am in the process of disappearing so the point is to pin something down while I can. That takes in to account that everything changes minute by minute. Each new attempt must acknowledge that not only is each time different i.e. what one wants to achieve but that the reference shifts too, in the act of looking. Will the real Ian Warburton please stand up? One only has to look at Rembrandts selfies to understand what is taking place. Not only is his face changing but so too is the way he sees it.
I think it was Lucien Freud who commented that painting a portrait was like trying to hit a moving target.

Last of old England.

oil on canvas. 80x80cm

oil on board. 120x120cm

oil on paper 90x90cm.

In one of the few shows I have contributed to here someone commented that a painting was not at all like the Aveyron, too green, too English. Well they may want to think about that again after all the rain we have had because from an aeroplane the landscape looks very verdant. It got me thinking though: I have an old book on John Constable, published by Phaidon years ago and I have it open on my desk to look at. I cannot find fault with the colour reproduction because it is some time since I saw one one of his paintings face to face. It is the lovely handling of paint in the large preliminary paintings that jumps out at me. There is a little anecdote about him coming downstairs to work on one by candle light that conjures up an image.

Anyway we are now into July and I have these on the go: