Snow's Not White

Snow I - 10"x14" - Watercolour

The first and last painting of this set. My favourite because it's the most minimal and has the least white in it. I entered it in the local art show and it was rejected - another reason for it to be my favourite.

Snow II

Snow II - 10"x14" - Watercolour

This is the third of my snow scenes. In all of these paintings I have added snow. The part of town where I live is at sea level and only a couple of miles from the sea and it it rare for us to have more than one light snowfall per year. On average the covering is about half an inch. Even so when it happens the local schools all close and the buses and trains stop running. Heavy snowfalls of a foot or more come once every 40 years and get headlines in the local paper.

Royal Canal

Military Canal, Winter - 10"x14" - Watercolour

This was another contender for the charity Christmas card. The canal's full name is the Royal Military Canal and it runs across Romney Marsh. It was built as a defence against the threatened invasion of Britain by Napoleon at the beginning of the 19th Century. I like man-made waterways and used to have a share in a canal boat. I now have an inflatable dinghy with an electric outboard ideal for exploring these out of the way places.

Snow on the Tracks

Snow III - 14"x10" - Watercolour

This was one of several paintings of snow, done when I was asked to make a Christmas card for a local charity. On seeing this a friend remarked, "I don't think you've quite managed that Christmassy feel." Another friend said, "I don't know, at least the rails make the shape of a Christmas tree."

Canada and Me . . . (part 2)

White Onion - 14"x10" - Watercolour

 . . . Working in public for the first time was challenging but rewarding. I enjoyed myself and the onion paintings developed well. My display of landscapes and seascapes attracted much interest and I even made some sales.

I expected to be invited back for the next symposium two years later. It was taken for granted that invited artists would attend two events running so I was surprised when this didn't happen but accepted it as 'just one of those things'.

Recently, in conversation with one of the other artists who was there, I discovered a possible reason why I wasn't invited back. A member of the symposium committee had summed it up in these words: “We invited him here for his landscapes and he gave us onions!”

Next time I'll know better.

If you would like to see them, my two Canadian onion paintings are included in the combined royal watercolour societies' exhibition (Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and Royal Watercolour Society) - 'High Watermark', Mall Galleries, London SW1 from 16 to 20 August 2011.

Canada and Me . . . (part 1)

Red Onion - 14" x 10" - Watercolour

A few years ago I was invited to take part in an international symposium of artists in Quebec, Canada. At the time I had no idea why I was chosen but have since discovered that it was as a result of some paintings (mostly landscapes) that I had posted on my website. All expenses including travel, hotels and food were paid for by the symposium committee. In return the artists attending were expected to present a display of their paintings and to work on a current painting so that visitors might observe methods and techniques. At the time I was working on a series of still-life studies of fruit and vegetables and I thought that a continuation of this would be ideal for the situation. Normally I work very slowly and watching me in the studio is about as interesting as watching paint dry which is, when you think about it, precisely what the observer is watching. However when I work on a still-life (or any 'live' subject) I work fairly fast. Hence my belief that watching a series of still-lifes being made would be more entertaining than witnessing the slow, drawn out process of painting a landscape from photos and drawings.

Wandering through a market across the road from the symposium in Canada I found two prize winning onions: one red and one white, coincidentally the colours of the Canadian flag - perfect, or so I thought . . .

Mathematics and Me

Watching - 29cmx25cm - Acrylic on Canvas

At school given the choice between studying maths and daydreaming I always chose the latter not that I was ever given the choice. Even so I always found geometry interesting. Most of my paintings are carefully designed using, in part, mathematical principles. These principles are only half remembered (I was daydreaming) and somewhat embellished by the flights of my daydreams.

When a painting is going well the painting seems to paint itself with the artist acting almost as an intermediary – some people say this is the unconscious mind taking control, others say it is God and some say it's the left side of the brain. Whatever the reason may be, I think of it as a version of daydreaming. Using maths (however imprecise) in the planning stage of a painting makes me feel that at least part of the process comes from me.

Journalist: “Would you describe yourself as a protest singer?”
Bob Dylan: “No, I’m not a protest singer. In the USA I haven’t been called a protest singer since I was a little boy. I sing ordinary mathematical songs.”

(Stockholm, Sweden, 28th April 1966)