Saturday, 13 June 2026

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 30 : Shoot

 John's Cafe..


our hero is on a break..

he's sitting in john's cafe..

in dunkirk..

he has his 35mm SLR with him..

he always has it..

just in case..

today it's lunchtime  in 1976..

he is working in the medical art department at nearby QMC..

John does a good bacon sammo..

you can see in the photo..

the plate is empty along with his mug of tea..

he gets out his camera..

a Zenit 'B' f3.5..

he points, he shoots..


THE MONEY SHOT


bots will be thinking..

wtf..

they ain't no celebrity in the frame..

it's a poxy greasy spoon..

who will want these pictures..?

BUT

our boy don't blink..

he is working for..

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

his ever present creative force..

his ideas man..

the artist knows what is truth..

when he sees it..

and this scene has truth and beauty in spades..

he don't care for human faces..

glittering images..

grinning yo face..

here what he sees..

 is a moment in time..

a story for the future..

a world disappearing by the second..


COST OF DOING BUSINESS


he has to pay for each negative he exposes..

no endless digital files here..

he has to buy the negative film..

bugger about in a dark room..

make a contact print..

and pay someone better at photography than himself..

to make the enlargements..

every print costs him money..

only 36 shots on a roll of film..


FREEDOM OF CHOICE

he begrudges the cost..

but must pay it..

if he wants to capture what he sees..

and if you look close enough..

what he feels..



these moments are on..

THE ARIST IN RESIDENCE

it's his shout..

it was his world..




Sunday, 7 June 2026

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 29 : Venice

 

first posted in 2020..

----------

this is a 'figures in a souk' painting.. 
 
but it relates to venice italy..
 
there is a movie also
  don't expect a plot..it's more a painting than a regular movie..


nobody expects..

 
click pic to enlarge..
 

Thursday, 4 June 2026

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 28 : Harlequin


the student artist in 1972..

lots of Bauhaus influence from the Art history dept..

our boy has come up with a new idea..

a harlequin dice..

shake but don't stir..

it's a lotta work..

painting 12 of these dudes in gouache..

cutting out the plan of the cube..

ANOTHER UNFINISHED SYMPHONY

he will soon tire of the drudgery..

but not before hitting pay dirt..


Long fascinated by Harlequin, Pablo Picasso returned to the character with renewed intensity in late 1915. 
A chameleon-like trickster.. 
Harlequin must have seemed a fitting subject as the artist began to explore more realistic modes of representation alongside his Cubist experiments..
 
The present work combines the geometric abstraction of Cubism with a classical linearity..



he has made enough dice for a photo shoot..

he is using black and white Ilford 35 mm stock..

he realises too late that colour would have been much better..

but then much more expensive..

monochrome is the student way to go..

Symbolism: 
The Harlequin represented a mix of trickster.. 

and tragic clown.. 

reflecting Picasso's own personal struggles and complex emotions..



it's 1975 and our boy genius..

is about to graduate..

in graphic design..

you may well ask..


anyway.. 

he has distinguished himself..

he paints in oil on canvas in the graphics studio..

he does enjoy working with type though..

he's a typo ace..

but no-one would hire the Artist as a typographer..

he's too much of a seat of the pants creator..

a jester not a swot..

a prince at the dance..

and a dancing fool..


Harlequin.. 

one of the principal stock characters of the Italian commedia dell’arte; often a facile and witty gentleman’s valet and a capricious swain of the serving maid.


In the early years of the commedia (mid-16th century), the Harlequin was a zanni (a wily and covetous comic servant), and he was cowardly, superstitious, and plagued by a continual lack of money and food.. 


By the early 17th century..

 Harlequin had become a faithful valet.. 

patient, credulous, and amorous. 


This last quality often led him into difficulties from which he managed to extricate himself by cleverness and irrepressible high spirits.. 


He was amoral without being vicious.. 


and, unlike his fellow commedia servants..


he did not hold a grudge..


or seek revenge against those..


 who tricked or cheated him.



OUR BOY BEST OF ALL


our boy has created a rolling dice..


a chance of something..


will he make it in the real world..


will they pay the money?


shoot craps..


or throw a seven?


find out more about..



THE HARLEQUIN IN RESIDENCE


Pete the Charlie..


the boy with many names..


the boy friend..



he's a Dice Man..


an artist with too many styles..


there's more sides to this dude..


than you can.. 


shake a stick at..


but is he feeling lucky??








 

Tuesday, 2 June 2026

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 27 : The Opposite of Hammershoi

 Vermeer, Hammershoi, Morandi


they are popular with all ages..

the artist likes their stuff..

cool and minimal..

but the..

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

he has run away with the circus..

and the fun fair..

flashy American automobiles..

and brightly coloured boats..

oh yeah..  

and Cap..

it's all theatre really..

make up. make believe..,

out of the ordinary everyday life..

these are surreal things..

images from dreams..


fantasy and desire..

it's a holiday world..


a colour feast world..


still..

he's young yet..

who knows?














Monday, 1 June 2026

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 26 : Fun

 all the fun of the fair

the artist is having fun..

he is painting them nine at once..

it's all speed. gesture. movement..

and colour of course..

lots of it,,

he's throwing it everywhere..


RIDERS ON A STORM


it's a storm alright..

impressionism meets futurism..

at the speed of light..

Terry Frost had said to Alan..

'paint whilst not looking'..

in other words..

don't think about it..


just do it..

and do it fast..


it's all too easy for him..

he fails to realise..

this is him..

this is who he is..

unplanned, thoughtless, hasty..

wild, abandoned, happy..


because the night..


once you edit out the noise..

it's a dance..

a ballet..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCiB9Huk3xg






Saturday, 30 May 2026

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 25 : Happy Days

 These days are our..


just married artists..

visit big al on Jersey..

it's 1976 and the..

long hot summer weather has broken..

our boy has just got his first proper job since graduating..

working at the University Hospital Medical school..

the post is funded as a 'Chartist' post..

he must type charts of stats..

for the Doc's to show in their lectures..

the head of his department..

'Medical Art'

is a good man and wants to teach our boy how to be a medical artist..

he has an official trainee already..

but he hopes to expand his domain..

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

has other plans though..

he finds the compressed air generator..

and the air brush..

and it's a whole washday..

shot to hell..








yes..

that great day has come..

he has taught himself how to use the air brush..

he is lost in mid century America..

which is all he really wanted to be..


skate boarding on Jersey 1976












Wednesday, 27 May 2026

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 24 : Dream Marine


 THE FIGHTING TEMERAIRE



he has crazes..

one of them was boats..

he had toy boats in the bath..

plastic ones with rusted up engines..

in 1995 he goes on holiday to Portugal..

they have lots of brightly coloured..

wooden boats..

everyone knows that..




he goes mad..

charging around the Algarve..

looking for more..

too many are in the water..

or he has to photograph them from the bows..

what he needs is the stern..

the power's in the ass end Mick..

always was..




the best ones are beached..

and bleaching out..

high and dry..

left to rot..




on a trip to Tavira, a sleepy, salty,  town..

on a very hot afternoon..

whist on a river cruise he spies..

a pair of old wooden fishing boats..

sunk into the mud..

in the river estuary..

these two above..

 are a small oil on canvas..

he usually paints the boats in gouache..


TURNER

 painted many boats and marine images..

but no-one calls Turner..

a marine artist..

the artist in residence is just having fun.with one of his many Muses..

he does not see the sadness..

of the passing on of the beautiful wooden boats..

he only loves them..