Too Many Pubs for a Town That Size

Apologies for the lack of updates again, I promise to work on this.
I have done a new painting entitled "Too Many Pubs for a Town That Size". It is 200cm x 77cm, it is on an old solid wood door. I had the idea of painting on domestic surfaces and I thought I could incorporate this into my idea of creating a history painting.
The painting is an original composition of a British street party scene. The characters in the composition are from various photos taken by myself and others that I have drawn from.
It was a difficult piece to create and I'm still unsure as to its success. I like some parts of it while I dislike others.

I have tried to keep a rough and fluid approach to it, sanding over my loose marks whenever possible. I have also tried to incorporate more symbology in this piece though I fear I may have concentrated too much on the meaning of the painting. I'm on my Christmas break now so will continue to think about new compositions to move this work forward.

Feedback would be greatly appreciated. (Please click on images to enlarge.)

not disastrous, but extremely unproductive.

I've realised I need to pay more attention to my blog and with mounting pressure to produce a reflective journal on my course I am going to try and write here everyday, or maybe every couple of days. So if I seem to have disappeared, please send me angry messages!

Okay, my reading week was disastrous. Well, not disastrous, but extremely unproductive. I took two empty sketchbooks to fill and managed a whole three drawings! I just became so lazy and unmotivated!


I've got back into my work now though and created 37 drawings in one day, drawing on pages of The Times and The Financial Times. It was a fun experiment. I may include them in the painting I'm planning.


I've had a tutorial recently and the idea of creating a history painting has come up. I'm looking at Jorg Immendorfff, specifically his Cafe Deutschland series and In Meinen Salon Ist Osterreich.
I'm also looking at some older history paintings such as Washington Crossing the Delaware.
I've started trying to create my own composition using some of the photographs I've taken as well as text and some other images. I've decided to set it out around a table as in Immendorff's work but with a more British street party theme. I'm setting it against a night time city scape under light of fireworks.

I'm planning on painting it landscape on a door. I had the idea of painting on domestic surfaces but so far it hasn't really happened but this is a challenge I'm really looking forward to getting into.



Here are some of my first drawings for the composition. Any suggestions or critique is welcomed.

I really want tips on composition/symbology. So please speak up if you know something interesting. I will be back soon with more news/work.

28/10/09 Tutorial

So, yesterday was crap but today has been really good.
I had a tutorial today and to avoid a incomprehensable stream of consciousness and to organise my thoughts I will create a list of some of the points that were brought up.

• My work definitely works better on wood than canvas.
• I need to bring the subject matter up to date with my own photographs.
• My paintings are working differently to the photographs so far because I am putting more energy into them and restoring some of the energy that would have been there when the moment of the photograph was captured.
• The subject matter works for me as it is something I feel strongly about and can relate to.
• The energy in my paintings and some of the frustration and anger that comes across in the work is from an inherent frustration at the treatment of the northern working class society but also from my own anger and frustration at the feeling of losing those connections and roots. Moving down south and to university has made me feel I have no ownership or right to my northern, working class roots and background and that I can no longer claim that as my own. It is a fear of a loss of identity which is providing the emotional charge behind my work.
• The work incorporates social, political and economical themes as well as themes of human experience, whether it be my own, or the characters in the image or me sharing my experience through the characters in the image.
• I have to be careful not to become nostalgic or sentimental.
• I have to look carefully at the use of text in my work and the context from which it's been taking and is being used - a quote from a miner in the 80s doesn't have the same resonance if it's me repeating it. I need to avoid it appearing as a sort of teenage angst. I also need to look at dialogue vs. written text and the use of expletives and whether it gives a piece a different meaning.
• I need to continue to improve my photographic composition.

There are all the points I can think of now, it was a really helpful tutorial and I thank Mia Taylor for it. It's allowed me to see my work in a new dimension and really given me some focus to move forward. It also seems to have gotten to the root of what's fueling my work. 


Hopefully I'll be able to post some images of new work soon.

1,2,3.

I have produced three quick paintings today, yet I still feel like my workflow is slowing. I've ordered an old 35mm Cosmic 35 rangefinder, so hopefully I'll be able to get out and about and start a bit of street photography which should give me some new material to work from. I've decided that canvas doesn't suit the subject matter I'm working on and that found and damaged materials, specifically wooden board are more suitable.

Here are the paintings from today. (Again excuse the poor quality photographs.)

I've just finished the presentation on Roland Barthes' Rhetoric of the Image for tomorrow. It's interesting at first, but after a few hours of staring at it, becomes extremely frustrating and tedious! Wish my luck for the presentation tomorrow. 

"My line of enquiry is fueled by my growing cynicism"

Ok, from now on I'm going to try and regularly update this blog. Frequent writing and reflection is one aspect that is majorly lacking from my practise and I feel I need to address this.

I can feel the academic aspects of my course stepping up and I'm trying to stay on top of different avenues of research and enquiry. I feel busier than ever and I'm straining to keep on top of essay and background reading, artist research and contextual research. 

Despite this I am enjoying my work at the moment, being busy seems to drive me forward and keep me producing work. I've had some fantastic feedback on my work recently and have even managed to sell a drawing. I'm not totally happy with my painting but I think I need to find a style and medium that suits the subject matter. (Take a look at James Holliday's blog for an insight into the anxieties facing a painter in his practise!)


I am exploring British society. (Though strangely the drawing I sold was from a Cartier-Bresson photograph in Paris). My line of enquiry is fueled by my growing cynicism. As much as I try to have a positive outlook at all times, it's hard to ignore the media coverage of the problems in today's society. (Though admittedly, whether they are really problems or just scare mongering is up for debate!)

I have been looking into British social realism (I recommend the book "No Such Thing as Society" by David Alan Mellor). Films such as Kes and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning have been great examinations of British working society, though I feel I need to focus my work on my current affairs. The British working class (and even the "comfortable classes", a term coined by photographer Martin Parr) are something that are close to my heart and of great interest to me. Along side a possible enquiry into the North-South divide in England (something which I have become increasingly aware of since moving to the South of England), I believe I have a veritable cornucopia of possibilities layed out in front of me.

I have rambled for long enough now and I can't remember if I had anything else to say, so here are a few (poor quality - excuse the camera phone) photos of some of my work and studio space.

 

 

Hopefully I'll be able to get organised and keep on top of this and other writing as well as my practise and reasearch. I shall endeavour to keep you updated.

Is it really that time of year already?

So, I'm back to uni on Monday 5th October for my second year. I can't wait to get back, mainly because of the fact it's been a relatively unproductive summer. I have a few ideas now for drawings, paintings, animations, videos, some posters and some photography work. I just want to get my teeth back into being creative!

As for this Summer it's been dull. I enjoyed being home and I'm enjoying living in my new house in Winchester but it feels like an age since I was last at Uni. I think boredom and tedious routine killed my inspiration.

I can't believe it's my second year. I've been out and about and seen so many freshers! (They're the ones that push in at the bar and don't have the decency to point the bar man toward you when you've been waiting half an hour to order one single pint as opposed to fifteen weird and exotic cocktails!)

I definitely feel like I'm a grumpy old man, I think my cynicism is something I need to show in my art.

Anyway, I'm starting to whinge so I'm off. I'm having a break from crap DJs playing crap songs today and seeing some live music instead. Should be good.

I'll keep you updated. Peace.

Mummy, why is Richard not on Blue Peter anymore?

I've been doing some text based sketchbook work recently based around current affairs and topical stories.
I've then progressed from this with the idea of using the theme of children's TV from the 90s, when I grew up. I think the subject matter marries the themes of childhood, humour, fun and the forgotten, obscure celebrity, all of which I have been playing around with all ready, perfectly.

I've done a few quick doodles and written a few one-liners in a similar style to my previous work.

Here are a few, but you can see the rest on my flickr.


I'll update more when I creat some larger scale painted/printed pieces.
Don't forget you can follow me on twitter.