Whats up?

It's been very busy here for the last few weeks. I'm writing this post to take time out of the things that need doing. I've also noticed that gardening recharges the creative batteries very well, to my surprise and delight.

So, why have I been so busy and what is busy.

I think that things have kicked in because the other big project has been properly completed and is now no longer at the front / back of my brain. We spent the summer enjoying where we are and also doing what had to be done before the new Montessori school year restarted but that wasn't a huge deal. Two weeks of repairs, carpentry and bits and bobs. It doesn't seem like the big stress thing that it used to be and it isn't. The parents and the children are happy and so is Amelie. She's even finally earning a salary. People never believe that you may not take a salary in your first year of starting a new business just to make sure the ship stays afloat but it's quiet common. So that's effectively done! The school is autonomous and a new generation of better educated children sallies forth.

Which leaves me mentally and emotionally free to create my own world and that's what's happening.
In the last few weeks lots of new opportunites have presented themselves and I've grasped the thistle, as they say.

During the summer I painted a lot. Experimenting in new methods, doing a lot of work out of doors from life, doing a lot of drawing in my atelier, with my wife as the model. Then the phone started ringing.

Can I represent you at the London Affordable Art fair this October?

Would you consider taking part in the Art Ireland Exhibition in November?

Would you like to be represented in a new gallery opening this December, in Williamsburg, New York?

Yes!

In short:

Thursday 18 - Sunday 21 October
My work on sale at the London Affordable Art Fair.
Arlev Art Gallery, Stand D4, Battersea Park, London. http://www.affordableartfair.co.uk/visitor.html

From the 16th - 18th November 07, My work will be at stand Q3 of the
Art Ireland Exhibition in the RDS, Dublin, Ireland.

In December my paintings will go on show in an, as yet, unnamed gallery in Williamshire, Brooklyn, NY, USA.

More coming soon.

Busy, means painting a lot and other creative endevours. I still have a lot of work to do before the exhibitions this year but the work is developing well and I'm happy with it. I'll post some of the recent paintings and perhaps a film of the painting process later.

The weather has improved here too, thank goodness.

The Cry of the Earth

Surrealism?

This image came to my mind several years ago and I made a drawing. It has continued to come to my mind as the terrible effects of man made climate change wreck havok on the world. The planet will survive ultimately but as it attempts to cleanse itself of the cause of the damage a lot of ecosystems and species will be destroyed.

Something to ponder.

Tempera and oils on board.

The end of the holidays

In Paris, each year during August everyone just disappears to the beaches and the countriside. At around the 20th of August the first wave return. It's an amazing thing to see. One day there is no one in the streets and the parks are empty and the next, the taxis are stretched to their limit and there are people appearing like magic.

This week was spent in a friends atelier in Place des Vosges. We worked together on our seperate projects and painted all day, every day. It was great and some good work came out of it for us both.

Here is a small one that I'm quiet pleased with. It's of a woman waiting on Pont des Arts. Her appointment hasn't arrived and she is the only one there. Done in Tempera and oils on wood.


Here's a link to photos of Pont Des Arts throught the years.

http://lefildutemps.free.fr/paris/pont_arts.htm

Portrait

It's been a while since I posted anything. There were a few distractions that, thankfully are now out of the way. I've been painting in my media of choice for the last few months and am pleased with the results. The more I get to know it the happier I am to have discovered it.

These are a couple of recent portraits. I'm not attempting to capture the reality of the person just the impression and according to the people I've painted so far, that's succeeded. In each case I've painted the person in one session using oils and tempra. The amount of tempra is very little. Most is in oils. It's very instinctive for me to work like this. A lot of good energy is created though it seems to be freaking out some of the other artists that I'm sharing the model with.

Got to be a good sign.

Narcissus Pickers

This painting is done in Oils and tempera on canvas.
It's for an exhibition in June.
Inspired by events in the south of france this spring.
It measures 150cm x 85cm

New Portrait

A portrait on canvas and painted in oils and tempera.

In the collection of Anne Frain.

More environment information

Here is a controvertial point of view on the current levels of Environmental Change.

http://www.aconvenientfiction.com

It's a reply to Al Gores film, An Inconvenient Truth.

I don't agree with a lot of what the A.C.F movie says but Al Gores film is really a political leverage campaign and as such is highly suspect.

The film linked above has a lot of very interesting information and counter balances a lot of the media promoted panic. Good to see the media reporting the issues of climate change but not good that everyone is getting so scared. I guess some people like to be scared though .^. ?

Personally I think it's time to panic and get off our asses but at the same time, if you are serious about making a change you should do it with a level head full of solid information rather than a one sided and fear based view.

Fresco

This is the current state of the Fresco. There is one more panel to complete.

Today I move it to the right and insert the other panel on the left. When that last panel is complete everything will be transfered to the apartment wall. It should look great when it's installed. Looks pretty goood here anyway and I'll miss it when it goes but I can always visit :)

March 31st, 2007

Hello
I get emails from people about this blog but no one posts comments. I don't mind but feel free to comment.

I've been busy in a good way. It's still pretty cold for Spring but there are good days too when the sun is glorious. The birds have the right idea though. They set up a right corus in the mornings and it's good to walk through the forest when they are singing and collecting for their nests. They seem to be having a great time while doing it.

I've been working on a fresco. It's very large and is being done on sheets of canvas which will be transfered to the clients wall when complete. It will consist of marble Portor pillars with Greek caps and gold edging. The landscape is fronted by a ballustrade and a path leading into a park. The person and her dog are the client and the photo here is the underpainting in preparation for the final colours. I'm doing it in oils on canvas in my studio.













Below:
The portrait below is done in tempera on board and is in the underpainting stage here. Initially working over green grey with white tempera for the tonal values in the painting. Once dry this will receive a series of transparent oil glazes to add colour & bring life. The light passes through the glazes and reflects off the underpainting. It's a beautiful and mysterious way of working and you can concentrate on the values seperate to the colour. So you have the chance to create a much richer and harmonious painting. It takes longer of course :) C'est la vie.




















I've also been doing a lot of drawings lately but don't have them scanned in. Happy with them though. Especially the very fast ones. You can create dozens or even hundreds of drawings over a period of months but it's rare to find one that will stand on it's own as a proper piece of work. This doesn't have to be particularly finished or shaded or 'worked up' in any sense. It has to have a sense of harmony and sometimes you will get a series of these all at the same time. It's rare though. I got a series of these last week which I'm pleased with.

So if you see a drawing with no real detail but which just sings to you. Don't dismiss it as not being a 'finished' or as an 'uncoloured' piece of work. It's the result of a lot of work which led up to that moment. Sometimes the result of years and years of work. All of it coming out in a moment and appearing on the paper like a piece of magic. Preserved like a butterfly pinned to a board. Don't pin butterflys to boards. Drawings are much more earth friendly.

Pride and Driving

I'm a grown adult. 40 years of age and I can proudly state that I have done my best to not damage the environment through use of a car in my life. Till yesterday. I took my first driving lesson with my wife beside me giving me directions on how the car works. It was remarkably easy and we didn't almost kill anything.

So why now? I live in the countryside outside of Paris and often have to nip into the city with work or to colect materials. Large paintings or even a series of large paintings under the arm are not a great idea on the train especially during rush hour.

So what now? Am I going to pollute, pollute, pollute in the name of art? I don't think so!

Trips in the car will be rare. I still don't like cars much, or at all really. As well as that, in April we are visiting a company in Lyon who manufacture a car that runs on air. Yes! Air!

It's been in production for a while and was first shown at the Paris car show in 2002. It was a bit of a put...put...put machine back then but aparently, has improved a lot. If it hasn't we won't go near it.

It goes 200K on compressed air and after that the fuel kicks in, which is vegatable oil, diesel or petrol. Someones got to try them out!

You can be sure that if it's good I'll post more info here about it. I reckon the hydro car is going to cost a fortune initially so while that's getting over itself we'll drive this and keep things clean.

That or stick to the diesl that we have at the moment.

March-portrait and landscape.

There's a lot happening at the moment. I'm working on a large painting for a client in Paris. It's very large so I have to do it on several sheets of canvas and then join them together. More on that later, when it's finished perhaps.

In the meantime I've done a nice portrait and a desert landscape.

The landscape is a wedding gift, from the bride to the groom. A nice idea. He spent some time in the desert and loved it so much that he speaks about it quiet often. This took over a week to complete. It's a large canvas. Not done from life unfortunately.



















The other is a portrait of a young girl. She has a rich dark brown skin, like a chestnut just out of it's shell. It shines in the softest of sunshine. She has modeled for six hours for this portrait. It requires a little more work and I'm looking forward to finishing it.

The landscape is done in traditional oils and the portrait is done in tempera.

Saraha 2

I painted this desert scene in June of last year. It happened quiet quickly and I was pleased with it. In October I looked at it again and realised that it was a little flat looking. This is often the case after some time has passed.

So I did a little more work on it.
Because I found a buyer and wanted a record of it I made a scan. Only yesterday I had the chance to see the two side by side.
It's amazing to see the two together and how much more dimension the new version has. It's good to leave a painting to sit for a while and let the painter mature a little.

Climate Change

PARIS, Feb. 2 — In a grim and powerful assessment of the future of the planet, the leading international network of climate scientists has concluded for the first time that global warming is “unequivocal” and that human activity is the main driver, “very likely” causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.

Please read here.

Life drawing

It's taken a while to find a location for life drawing. There are some famous drawing groups in Paris but they tend to be very full of people so it's not so interesting. Recently I was invited to join a small group of artists at an atelier. There are four of us once a week and the space is good and big. Nice energy there and big windows with good light. The model is excellent.
Here are some drawings from the last session. Each took about 20 minutes.




This is the atelier. Nice big windows. Nice light.

Environmental concerns? Find out more.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

This video is vital information on the future of the planet.

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2006 was a very good Christmas.
We spent it with Amelies parents in the south of France. It was good for many reasons but mostly because nither of us worked during the time and I could communicate well in French with family and friends who didn't speak English. On previous visits I needed to have an interpretator or to stumble through conversation. Finally I feel like I am in France.

The weather was uncommonly mild. The mistral didn't blow in from the Mediterranean and there was no snow. I could walk in teeshirt and jeans without worrying about the cold. I'm very warm blooded most of the time so that's not so unusual. However I saw some flys and
other surprising out of season elements.

It was very beautiful. We went hill walking and visited some of the mountain fortresses from Pre Roman times.

There was the usual amazing feasts which only the french can do. Eating for six hours straight and looking like you've just finished a salad is no longer a surprise to me. I can't do it though.

They tell me that they only eat soup for weeks after these events to get back into shape. Wine and dark chocolate are part of this diet. It's remarkable to me. Irish people don't think about food the way the french do at all.

There was lots of inspiration there. Beautiful light and amazing architecture. The landscape is wonderful. Many paintings and drawings will come from this.

The Norman Rockwell Museum

While I was in the states I met up with a lot of friends. Among them are the Tolkes. Some of the nicest people I know. Cathleen and Barbara are in this photo with me outside of the Norman rockwell Museum. It was an amazing experience. I never thought I would get a chance to visit here. Thanks to them I did. He was a fantastic artist. Really, really fantastic.

Apres Expo

Oh my head. I hope everyone else woke up feeling the way I do. That is, I hope they had a good time :)
There was a great turn out last night. About least sixty people came from those we invited and a couple of people wandered in from Bastile because they had just come from another vernissage. Thursday is a very popular evening for exhibition openings. Thanks to everyone who came. It was a great evening. Not easy being the host and answering questions and pouring wine all evening, all at the same time. Perhaps next time I'll get someone else to take care of the wine and food side of things.

Paris Exhibition