A PAINTER’S PROGRESS
By unfair I mean too few. You would think that after many years of doing something you would have accumulated a vast library of skills and knowledge that could be quickly applied to any problem. This doesn’t seemed to have happened with my painting. Had I given the same amount of time to playing the piano I would now be giving classical recitals to an adoring public.
Anyway, too late to change course, this painting has improved and for that I am grateful.
Corner of the field, Day 5
The cotton wool landscape is gradually giving way to some more defined forms. Its a painting that is not giving itself up easily and that is partly due to the fact that my photographs are too far removed from the paintings I want to make. This is all good, its part of the learning curve. The light has taken on a greater subtlety and even though the pace is snail like I am pleased with stage 4 of this painting.
Corner of the field, Day 4
I was going to use ‘vision’ instead of ‘style’ but this would be far too pretentious even for me. The problem of a personal style is that your image of the world doesn’t exist. You have to wrestle it into existence. This requires an almost mindless persistence that is at times painful. Frank Auerbach spends most of his time scraping paint off rather than putting it on. Luckily I don’t suffer from this affliction.
Your only guide is a vague notion that something is either right or not quite right. It’s your ability to suffer through every correction that will determine whether you have a painting that will eventually satisfy you.
I am at the mid-point of this suffering. And the balance is beginning to tip in favour of satisfaction.
I will need a period of contemplation and a stiff drink to see if I can progress further.
Corner of the field, Day 3
I am not sure I am going to make sense of this title but it seems to sum up my current pursuit of trying to capture the fleeting magic of landscape using coloured mud. It seems such an impossible task, and it often proves to be so. I am quite encouraged by my inept daubs this afternoon. If I can plot a way forward with some degree of understanding and subtlety then this promises to be a worthwhile painting.
As I paint more landscapes I can see the influence of Soutine emerging. This is no surprise, he has haunted my work for decades. If I end up a competent pasticher of his style I will settle for that.
Corner of the field, Day 2
The manicured landscape of my local golf course was always going to have a limited appeal. I knew that I wanted to venture into the wild and blasted Northumberland landscape. A place where Turner would have strapped himself to a tree and painted through a snowstorm. I much prefer the centrally heated comfort of my home studio. Still, I want to paint the landscape that Turner would have sought out.
This brings me to this current new painting. It has been bashed about in a good way and has lost some of that manicured elegance that I don’t like so much. It is slowly emerging and I like the promise that it shows. Apologies for the unimaginative title, this may get changed.
Corner of the field, Day 1.
It took a rainy day for me to return to painting. Bad weather for me is the opportunity to finish a painting, there are far fewer excuses to be found.
As is often the case when nearing the end of a painting, the final solutions are not obvious. You are often lead by the painting rather than the source material. In this case it was the right side of the painting that was letting things down. I think it has improved and the painting is now finished.
An Autumn Day, finished.
Ok, its just half a day at best, but the motivation is growing. Some more work to make the painting feel cohesive. Really an attempt to balance the light across the painting to give it a mood that is ‘naturalistic’ and ‘credible’. There has been a subtle shift in the right direction and its not far from finished.
These paintings have the proper feel of ‘English landscape’, warm browns and greens, no sign of the Impressionists or Fauvists here. I like the tone of these recent paintings, they have a softness, both in colour and light, which essentially are the same thing.
An Autumn Day, day 6
Its good to be back. Even though it was a self imposed exile, it was unnecessarily prolonged and tortured. That seems to be my style. For a deeper psychological analysis of the situation please see my BLOG. Now resurrected, it comes with a guarantee of optimism and hope.
Anyway, back to the painting. I am liking the way it is starting to look. I had been concerned that my interest in landscape may start to ebb. This is because I have never liked to stick too close to the subject matter in terms of appearance. The idea that you could imagine the finished state of a painting before you actually begin has never had any appeal to me.
However, I am slowly beginning to understand that there is a subtle translation from photograph to painting that is unique to every artist. In my case I would term this ‘poetic transformation’. This doesn’t apply to every painting I make, unfortunately.
An Autumn Day, day 5
This is the last state of the painting before the ‘hard drive problem’. I must get back to this soon before an ‘An autumn day’ rolls into Spring. I must confess, into the New Year I had contemplated quitting painting altogether as even though these landscapes are modest and conventional in their ambition I do like them and who knows what they may look like a year from now. Painting still offers that sense of mystery and potential even though I have been plodding away for decades!.
An Autumn Day, day 4.
Not much progress on ‘The Painters Progress’ this year. Computer hard drive needed replacing and I used this as an excuse to take a break. Painting will resume again soon.
It seems to me that there is more meaning in trying to capture a sense of grandeur in the ordinary things. That is to say that I will not be seeking out mountain scenes or dramatic seascapes. To me these are less impressive, less intimate, if you like. It is trying to get to the essence of an ordinary setting that is more interesting. And these are the subtle elements, light across the landscape, the way you compose and edit a scene.
This painting seems to be edging too far towards the melodramatic! There seems to be a storm brewing! Anyway, I am liking the progress of this painting.
An autumn day. Day 3.
With most of Xmas day cancelled there was not much else to do but some more painting. I feel a little out of sync with nature, painting autumn landscapes at the end of December? However, I like the way it is looking, there is a sense of a windy autumnal day.
An autumn day. Day 2.
I thought this title was slightly better than ‘Country Park 2’ though I will have to improve on this limited repertoire. I am quickly running out of original titles that don’t contain the word ‘tree’.
I was going to make painting take a back seat for a while as I have thrown myself into learning Spanish (again). However, spending 5-6 hours a day duelling on Duolingo and battling for supremacy of the leader boards is beginning to lose its appeal. I will find a better balance going forward.
I like the vibrancy of the yellow underpainting and will try and retain this contrast. There is often a cold sharpness to the light in autumn and winter that you do not get in summer. Its almost as if the air was thinner.
An autumn day. Day 1.
Just an hour of unnecessary fiddling and the painting is now finished.
Country Park
My enthusiasm for this painting has wavered but it has turned out better than expected. I don’t think it is quite finished yet, but it will change very little. My lack of enthusiasm is due to the fact that I don’t have a vast collection of successful finished landscapes to refer to. This is number 2 in that respect.
Anyway, things will improve over time.
Country park. Day 5.
The first half of the morning was a struggle, every brushstroke seemed to be the wrong decision. I have been here many times before and know that its a case of plodding through until things start to turn around. Often its just a tiny fragment of improvement and your decisions take a miraculous turn for the better. My efforts were rewarded, now I have something to build on and the painting is getting closer to being finished.
Country park. Day 4.
Dark skies and continuous rain outside, I wasn’t tempted to go chasing wallabies today. It must be getting hungry by now.
This painting is progressing nicely. If I continue painting these balmy autumn scenes the winter may be more bearable.
Country park. Day 3.
Its not every day that someone asks me if I have seen a wallaby. I was on the golf course today and apparently one has escaped from a garden. The owner was looking for it. I imagine it will only get caught if it wants to, it has the whole golf course to run around on.
Anyway, happy with the progress today.
Country park. Day 2
Titling this painting ‘Country Park’ is a bit disingenuous, it’s the local golf course. ‘Golf course’ however is not a suitable title for a landscape painting, it lacks a sense of grandeur and ambition. It has none of the romantic and epic connections to the landscape tradition. Now that I have recognised this, I will be looking further afield to a more traditional setting for landscape painting. For now, this will suffice, but you will see no red flags sticking up from the ground.
I am happy with this start, what I am searching for in these paintings is becoming more clear. These qualities are the traditional ones, a sense of light, space and atmosphere with a feeling for the drama of nature. Lets see if I am up to these grand ambitions.
Country park, day 1.
I didn’t need to drag myself into the studio, I entered with enthusiasm. Just a morning needed to finish the painting. I am still pondering my stylistic direction. I think this painting is close to the direction it will be. It has a touch of John Nash about it, simplified, illustrative and poetic.
Anyway, this is my first successful landscape and as its only the third in many years, it is encouraging.
Line of trees. Finished.