This and that.

                                            
                                                         oil on paper 80x60cm.


This is the first of the bigger paintings (not so big) that I mentioned as occupying me. If earlier posts are referred to then it will be pretty clear how this came about. The common thread is how the eye presents things seen, the sharpness of a small part, the blurred periphery. The felt linear border between spaces fore and aft. Every time one looks at something there is an amazing wealth of information which needs editing or accounting for. Normally I build up a surface from this information which is not a retailing of what the eye sees but which uses the information for the purpose of making something other. I look at this thing and consider how it might be used to make that painting. It is in the end just a painting: what is interesting is how it becomes that and what it tells us about the process .

Plus ca change.

  

There are ten years between these two selfies. The autoportrait exhibition closed this years programme at La Tour , Montsales and now I can think more about working with my surroundings although that never really goes away and no matter what, is always ticking over. There are a lots of horses parked in the fields around here (which I suspect is a tax dodge of some kind) and with them comes a lot of white tape to persuade them to stay put. This has begun to find its way into my painting so I'll see in what way it can contribute.

A moment in time.

                                              
                                                       hillside. oil on paper. 76x56cm.



I am drawn to the idea of landscape which resonates and means nothing. In front of a painting we may bring our own experience and find our own meaning. Information given, information pared down, releases us to build anew. This is not a landscape that I can see on my walks but it is often there in some form or other. Events occur, time passes, an idea is fixed. Nothing much happens and continues to happen.

Evening walks.

Light in the evening and the way space appears compressed is something that I have been thinking about. Stage sets come to mind as does the space in quatrocento painting where the observer has to negotiate his or her position in front of something that alludes to space but which is, in itself flat : the light on a sloping field that I see often makes fun of my a priori knowledge by tilting the space towards me. Anyway this will give me something to think about in the next few paintings which have begun already like this........
Anyone who has read Martin Buber's I and Thou will see the other as an opportunity for conversation no less in pictures than in spoken language -Another out there to address - and so today I am thinking about a field which I have not seen for a few days. It is there in my memory and imagination and I'm extrapolating from it as I make these paintings.

Autoportraits NOW.

Daniel Lefranc

Charles de Rodat

                                                      

                                                                    Ian Warburton

                                                          

Patrick Laroche

The exhibition opened on Saturday and will run until Thursday 30th October. Here are a few images of the work on show.

Autoportraits.October at La Tour, Montsales.

This is just a heads up now that the catalogue has been printed. Charles de Rodat, Daniel Lefranc, Patrick Laroche and myself will be exhibiting. I still don't know if this will make it in as I have already scraped it down and repainted it maybe six times. It probably shows by now. Just to remind french readers the show opens on Saturday 4th October at six pm. Samedi 4 Octobre a dix-huit heures. Venez nombreuses.

p.s. I don't think this will be there either but I keep fetching it out and looking at it.

Doggedly working through the dog days of summer.

garden towards afternoon.

oil on canvas 80x80cm.

garden, late afternoon.

oil on canvas 80x50cm.

garden.

oil on paper 80x45cm.

The approaching auto portrait exhibition at La Tour. Montsales has me wondering what it will be like. I have measured the space, and set it out on my shed floor, tried various combinations, enlisted the help of an artist I respect to make a selection but still feel the need to keep at it - less than a month to go. Meanwhile I have made these paintings to give myself a break from all that headbanging.