THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 12 : 'BRAESIDE' 2

TALES FROM THE BENCH

Victor Horsley..

who lived here before us..

made this work bench..

dig the home made vibe..

innit!

VIRGINIA'S WORLD

this is ginny's bench now..

you can see how she rolls..

not the fish..

that's from a gallery in Aldeburgh..

cool huh..

no birds..

just her stuff..

got to be the bathroom..

and a parting shot of the bench's home..

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/virginia-stuart

charles-stuart.pixels.com

figuiresinasouk.com

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 10

 in the artist's bedroom..

on a chair in the corner..

where he throws his clothes..

a t-shirt catches the evening light..

it is the light of Steve Ditko..

an early influence..

it is the Ditko reference that has triggered the photo..

 hence this post..

this is uBABE ..

one of the artist's creations..

regular bots will know that..

the artist has never outgrown his early influences..

and so the BABE has come to be..

her super power is her femininity..

she is a woman..

and as she is a character..

in the imagination of the artist..

she may have no need of a womb..

for this episode anyway..

but later..

who knows ?

without a womb there may never be another issue..

KNOWING WHEN TO STOP

 yo!.. just when you think it's done.. innit!

so there I was..

thinking that this was a painting..

that was finished..

and ready to go out into the world..

SLEEP ON IT

then the next day..

or the one after..

I look again..

while eating my toast..

and it bugs me..

I hate the pale brown colour..

I hate the diagonal figure..

I hate the red square..

I hate the big pink figure..

but most of all..

I hate the yellow spot..

SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION

out come the paints..

and on goes a new coat..

that gets rid of the brown..

and the big pink figure..

and the ugly red..

and it's centre..

I REST MY CASE

still don't like it..

I have kept the shadow figures..

and feel the need for a big statement figure..

you know..

like a riding to the rescue thing..

but nothing happens..

I sit and think..

and look..

and think..

then..

I get up and approach the easel..

with a rag..

and I rub out the yellow head..

on the diagonal figure..

and sit back down..

now I am happy..

not at first maybe..

but after a time..

it becomes obvious..

this sucker is done..

or is it..

what have I done.?

figuresinasouk.com

FIGURES IN A TOMB

 yo!.. knowin when ta stop.. innit!

I was watching this tv documentary..

about ancient Egypt..

and the professor was inside a pyramid..

a big-un I bet..

anyway..

there she was sitting the floor..

in front of the sarcophagus..

and I was struck..

at how much this was like..

she was sitting in the Tate..

in the Rothko room..

all those Rothko chapels..

are just like the inside of the great pyramids..

SOME TIME DURING ETERNITY

some guy shows up..

and starts telling all the gang..

that he is a god..

same old story..

all love and glory..

it's a pantomime..

MEANWHILE

back in the pyramid..

demon hurst..

aka citizen Kane..

says that..

the biggest idea in art..

is death..

FIGURES IN A SOUK

is an ongoing series of paintings..

even though painting has been dead since 1968..

in which I conjure figures..

from oil paint and canvas..

and having created this stuff..

after viewing..

rothko, turner and rembrandt..

I realise that it's..

richard parkes bonnington..

and his painting..

quentin durward at liege..

that informs the work best..

but the view from the tomb..

 keeps peeping out..

SCOTT-FITZGERALD

so we beat on..

boats against the currant..

borne back ceaselessly..

in to the tomb..

figuresinasouk.com

Quentin Durward at Liège

Quentin Durward at Liège

TRIANGLES IN A SOUK

yo!.. heads up.. innit!

 latest paintings from the grand bazaar..

I have been busy this last while..

and thought these works worth sharing with you..

although the title of this project is..

figures in a souk..

other things happen when you paint..

here above we can see triangles..

several different triangles..

these are also figures no?

this time it's a square..

this one is hot..

in more ways than one..

school's out for this one..

although last completed this week..

the canvas was originally bought for me by my mother..

when I was just 18..

that would be 1970..

I painted a copy of a roland hilder village scene..

'ainsford kent'..

my mother and father were delighted with it and it hung on their wall for the rest of their lives..

it probably helped me get to art school..

since then I have painted over it..

the canvas is old but high quality..

this last version has developed into..

maybe what looks like like a school visit..

to the souk..

but really..

 they're all just figures in a souk..

The Artist In His Studio

sitting here in my studio.. 

19th may 2012.. 

you can't see me because I am.. 

taking this picture.. 

 shooting this shot..

 

LIKE MONET

 

 sitting in his garden.. 

 in giverney.. while 20 miles away.. 

 the guns are smashing the.. 

trenches to mud.. 

he can't feel a thing.. 

 here in palookaville.. 

 the war in ukrain is further away.. 

and we can still sit here in peace.. 

for now anyway.. 

 

 THE GLASS IS FALLING HOUR BY HOUR 

the glass will fall forever.. 

but if you break the bloody glass.. 

you won't hold up the weather.. 

 

 

 

so here is this blog..

 

being written..

 

the large canvas is from..

 

1994

 

you can live a long time in hollywood..

 

and never see the part they put in movies..

WE ARE ALONE ALL TOGETHER

all together..

we are alone..

DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS

 

 

there is a painting..

 

in nottingham castle..

 

by george moreland..

 

it used to have the title..

 

'the artist in his studio, his man gibbs frying up'.. 

they have shortened it now..

it was always a favourite of mine..

 

 

 

IN COMMON BUT ALONE

 

 

Chingachgook became once more the object of the common attention. 

He had not yet spoken, and something consolatory and instructive was expected from so renowned a chief on an occasion of such interest...

"Why do my brothers mourn?" he said, regarding the dark race of dejected warriors by whom he was environed; "why do my daughters weep? that a young man has gone to the happy hunting-grounds; that a chief has filled his time with honor? 

He was good; he was dutiful; he was brave. 

Who can deny it? 

The Manitou had need of such a warrior, and He has called him away. 

As for me, the son and the father of Uncas, 

I am a blazed pine, in a clearing of the pale faces. 

My race has gone from the shores of the salt lake and the hills of the Delawares. 

But who can say that the serpent of his tribe has forgotten his wisdom? I am alone--"

"No, no," cried Hawkeye, who had been gazing with a yearning look at the rigid features of his friend, with something like his own self-command, but whose philosophy could endure no longer; "no, Sagamore, not alone. 

The gifts of our colors may be different, but God has so placed us as to journey in the same path. I have no kin, and I may also say, like you, no people. He was your son, and a red-skin by nature; and it may be that your blood was nearer--but, if ever I forget the lad who has so often fou't at my side in war, and slept at my side in peace, may He who made us all, whatever may be our color or our gifts, forget me!

 The boy has left us for a time; but, Sagamore, you are not alone."

Chingachgook grasped the hand that, in the warmth of feeling, the scout had stretched across the fresh earth, and in an attitude of friendship these two sturdy and intrepid woodsmen bowed their heads together, while scalding tears fell to their feet, watering the grave of Uncas like drops of falling rain.

In the midst of the awful stillness with which such a burst of feeling, coming as it did, from the two most renowned warriors of that region, was received, Tamenund lifted his voice to disperse the multitude.

"It is enough," he said.

 "Go, children of the Lenape, 

the anger of the Manitou is not done. 

Why should Tamenund stay? 

The pale faces are masters of the earth, 

and the time of the red men has not yet come again. 

My day has been too long. 

In the morning I saw the sons of Unamis happy and strong; 

and yet, 

before the night has come, 

have I lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans."

 

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Native-american-Figure/31203/1246684/view

 

IN VINCENT'S CHAIR

so we beat on..

boats against the current..

borne back ceaselessly..

into the past.. 

figuresinasouk.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PAINTING IN THE SOUK

yo!.. knowin when ta stop... innit! 

This is the very first painting in the series.

Virgin canvas.. 

I work with oil paint directly onto the canvas and mixed there upon..

The paint is thinned and spread around without concious thought. 

There was no 'Figures In A souk' series at this point.. 

Just a very happy artist with a few blank canvases and lots of time and oil paint.

 What you see here is genesis..

of a series which is still running 8 years later. 

The work has continued to develop..

some of the orinial canvases have bee worked upon..

sometimes for the better and sometimes not..

This canvas is as it was on the first day..

It is fresh and full of innocence and hope.

 It was a sunny day in the souk.. 

I hope you will see this and feel as happy as I felt painting it.

Influenced by Rothko, Turner and Rembrandt.. 

and Richard Parkes Bonnington.

'Figures in a Souk' is a series of experimental oil paintings.

 

I start out only to paint..

 

The figures emerge from the canvas as the process develops.

 

I usually like to paint over existing works of mine..

as that provides a unique starting point and pre-existing texture..

 

The Souk is always... imagined..

always experimental..

www.figuresinasouk.com

IT'S THAT GUN MAN AGAIN

 meet mr cut-out gun..

he is not a lot of fun..

but he's only just begun..

and he ain't just out to stun..

do you wonder..

that he will..

shoot to wound..

or make the kill..

either way..

it's not your day..

because he's here to stay..

oh please mr candidate..

please make him go away..

VARIATIONS ON A SCREAM

 

 

following on from yesterday..

more variations..

 

 

 

click on any image to enlarge..

for another movie click here

OLD WOODEN FISHING BOATS IN TAVIRA

in tavira, algrave..

we found these abandoned boats..

high and dry..

in the fiece afternoon heat..

just rotting away..

here are a few of the works inspired by this find..

MORE GREAT PLANS REVEALED

one of ginny's birthday card designs..

one of my airbrush pieces from 1980's..

two from the american spiritual series..

limited edition screen print..

native americans in the bag..

student piece from 1975

this one has a fault..

one of the images is upside down..

oh dear, how sad, never mind..

THE PLAN CHEST OPENS UP

yo!.. first look... innit!

in a perfect world..

the drawers would not be crammed together..

they would slide out..

alone and with ease..

note that this is far from a perfect plan chest..


MANY THINGS IN ONE DRAWER


in this top drawer..

first up we can see..

on the left..

oil and gouache on hand made paper..

from the native american survivors idea...

while on the right are..

some of the..

uncle sam's buttons series..

oil pastel, gouache on water-colour board..

looking at these again..

with 'primitive' showing in the drawer..

more stuff appearing now..

another of the native american survivors..

in the drawer some experimental quatrefoyles..

and on the top..

native australian influenced 'primitive' images..

gouache on cardboard..

return of the primitive..

TALES FROM THE PLAN CHEST

yo!.. my back pages... innit!

I always like to see..

photos of jackson pollock..

painting in his studio..

wouldn't it be nice..

to see more candid shots of his art stuff..

not just some paintings on a wall..

in a museum..

the irish were smart enough to buy..

francis bacon's studio interior and contents..

and now they have recreated his..

painting life in dublin..


so..

anyway..

that's enough of the big nobs..

I got stuff too..


THE BEST LAID PLANS


we will be looking into the contents of these drawers..

at some point..

and you will get an eyefull..

of my plans and ideas..

the stuff of my dreams..

ships that never sailed..

and some that did..

in a fairer world..

all this would be available..

to view in a museum..

but we are where we are..

and it is what it is..

now you are here with me..

at home with the artist..

up close and personal..

what jewels may we find..

in an aladdin's plan chest?

TALES FROM THE STUDIO : 07 02 2020

yo!.. terracotta army... innit!

FIGURES IN A SOUK


I seem to be choosing a lot of terracotta..

desert heat innit..

some of these canvases..

have been worked over..

several times..

you think they are OK..

but then they aren't..

I think today..

that they get better..

but really they just..

develop with me..

this theme has been going..

since 2014 at least..

here is one I did then..

so this was 2014..

here is another recent one..

see more at..

figuresinasouk.com

A TALE OF TWO INTERIORS

INTERIOR II
richard hamilton 1964


my friend alan..

had arranged with his art teacher..

for me to go along with them..

on their outing to london in 1969

we were off to see the magritte retrospective at the tate..

whilst there we came across..

the most exiting painting I have ever seen..

I was 17 so maybe not surprising..

when you get to see them in the flesh..

so to speak..





yes it's that room again..

we are back in harlem..

or somewhere the same..

this time the girl is a film star..

patricia knight..

and the room has had a make over..

but the tv is still there..


at 17..

it's the superb technical skill of richard hamilton..

that has blown the mind..

the chair seat is actually stainless steel and plastic..

the stem is a halftone screen print stuck on..

patricia is from a still that had been..

thrown into a waste bin..


EAST 100TH STREET




bruce davidson 1966

a single figure..

a window instead of an archway..

got the tv though..

compare and contrast these two interiors..

can you see why I was entranced?

love that clock and that fan..

fans really get to me as well..


SOMETIME LATER ALAN WROTE THIS


in charles stuart's paintings..

people are always drawn in boldly..

they are central to the pictures he shows us..

but always they are caught in the mists of paint..

trapped between patterns of brushmarks and scrubbed washes..


AND THIS


we can trace the memories of comic books..

half-remembered images from magazines..

the history of the painter's gesture..

the solitary immobile figure is captured frozen in a moment..

we pick up the clues and continue the story..

alan smith june 1979