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..

https://charles-stuart.pixels.com/collections/boats+and+beach

NOBODY EXPECTS TO PAINT VENICE

 yo!.. reflection.. innit!

You never set out to paint venice..

I did set out though..

a long time ago..

GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY

you start out standing..

proud to steel her anything she sees..

bright colours..

loosely applied..

in harmony..

and fresh..

and then a day comes..

when you feel..

that that work..

is unfinished..

lacking in some way..

so you give it a make over..

maybe some of it survives..

maybe not..

usually though..

you can see some of what was there before..

and it may be that..

the new version is better..

maybe not..

but anyway..

time moves along..

and the painting is still there..

and you feel like..

it still needs more..

so you give some more..

sometimes the mood..

lightens..

sometimes not..

you find yourself..

a longways from where you set out..

and it's getting dark..

KNOWING WHEN TO STOP

is part of becoming a painter..

and that point changes as you live longer..

and work..

sometimes looking at a painting..

is like an..

archaeological dig..

you have to dig deep..

and brush away the..

dust..

sometimes..

sitting in the studio..

you just want to talk..

and share..

some of the thoughts..

and ideas..

that linger..

in this lagoon..

figuresinasouk.com

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

TRAVEL IN HOPE

 yo!.. raining in ma heart... innit!

HOPE 

here in palookaville..

we are sitting in out of the rain..

and it feels good to me..

we had a lot of sunny days..

but now the rain feels fresh..

and a change is..

as good as a rest..

innit..?

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE SOUK

three canvases from 2014..

and the new style is developing..

with the square..

and then the figures..

 

 

 

everything is still fluid..

 

 

things were just coming together..

 

 

soft focus and gestural..

 

figures in a souk..

 

oil on canvas 30x20 inches..

 

figuresinasouk.com

AND THEN THE SETTING SUN

yo!.. surf's up...innit!

 

 

so carrying on from yesterday..

I was swimmin inna sea of oil paint..

big brush in hand..

an what did I sea..

a sundown moment in the history of art..

thought I would share this with you..

 

OIL AND WATER

yo!.. ocean view ...innit! 

 

 

sometimes when you are painting..

there has to be a change of plan..

and what you thought you were painting..

is not going to happen any more..

because something else has occurred to you..

 

 

A LITTLE MORE PACIFIC IF YOU PLEASE 

the ocean has made it's appearance..

complete with swimmer and sail boat/windsurfer..

the carpet from the souk..

has become the sun..

you have to pause..

and look carefully..

and before you know it..

you are unemployed..

there is nothing more you can do..

the ocean has trumped the souk..

all you can do is look and learn..

 

 

ON THE BEACH WITH EUGENE BOUDIN

 

mr turner and mister rothko..

are on the beach..

abstract impressionists..

take a bow..

FIGURES IN A SOUK

 

'figures in a souk' 

is an ongoing project..

 

it's a developing style..

a mature style.. the genesis is 68 years and counting..

rembrandt, rothko and turner..

 

others too..

but these three specifically.

I have learned also from cole porter..

 

 

 

www.figuresinasouk.com

 

SIX OF THE BEST

this maybe your only chance to see these..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 '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 existing textures and gestures. The Souk is an imagined interior with filtered light. You bring your own imagination to the work. What you see is determined by what you know, how you feel, what you believe.

figuresinasouk.com

THE LAST FIVE

 

JUST THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE A LOOK AT THESE

 

  '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 existing textures and gestures. 

The Souk is an imagined interior with filtered light. 

You bring your own imagination to the work. 

What you see is determined by what you know, 

how you feel, what you believe.

 

 www.figuresinasouk.com

FIGURES IN A SOUK

yo!.. mature style... innit!


how long did it take you to paint this picture?


A LIFETIME OF LEARNING


the first 'figures in a souk' was painted in 2014..





they just evolved out of a session of starts..

you know nine blank canvases..

splash on the colours..

sit back and see what you have..

at first you think they are great..

so you leave them alone..

then later you get tired of most..

if not all of them..

so you go at them again..




I used to paint large canvases..

60 inches high x 96 inches wide..

now I prefer to paint small..

whereas before it was all about images..

now it's all about painting..

the big brush is bigger..

the smaller the canvas..

it's about marks..

and..

gesture..

and..

surface..

and..

colour..

so nine red ones..

six yellow ones..

later colour greys..

so six years of 'figures in a souk'..

sixty six years to paint this painting..

figuresinasouk.com