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

THE LOST SUPPER

 yo!.. just sayin.. innit!

I was going to paint over this..

I thought..

what a f*ckin miserable image..

who wants ta create misery..

well..

sometimes misery just appears..

you don't set out to paint miserable paintings..

who would want them..

who would want to sit in a gallery and look upon them..

and it started me thinking..

a rare event in itself..

WHAT IF THAT CHAPEL IS NOT A CHAPEL BUT A TOMB

my pal mark..

is one of my greatest influences..

I listen to what he has said..

and I believe and respect him..

but anyway..

just sayin..

those seagram murals..

great art..

really great art..

but did he really think that people could..

dine in peace..

celebrate their good lives..

raise a glass and say cheers..

while looking at those paintings..

IT'S A GREAT STORY

how the great artist..

could not stomach..

having the rich and powerful and famous..

look upon his work whilst spending more than five dollars..

on lunch..

BUT WHAT IF 

and we need a little imagination here..

his guy paying the bill..

says to mark..

on the qt of course..

mark my old meat an tatey..

love the stuff man..

love it..

but it's going to give the diners indigestion..

so no..

do us all a favour..

and let us out of this deal..

just give back the dosh..

and we'll pretend that you thought they were too good for us..

and mark god bless him..

is cool with that..

because he has become attached to these profound works of art..

they are his best stuff..

his most potent images..

heavy innit..

f*ck em..

he may have thought..

I will give em away to..

the great museums..

so alla plebs can see em..

whilst sittin in the those rothko rooms..

eating they sammos fo lunch..

AN IMAGINARY SCENARIO

obviously..

but think on and look again at those paintings..

and ask yourself..

do they celebrate life..

are they life affirming..

 am I sitting in a chapel..

or am I sitting.. 

in a tomb..

figuresinasouk.com

HANCOCK'S HALF HOUR

THE CELEBRITY PARTY

yo!.. get them outta there.. innit!

here in palookaville..

the famous boring party..

has at last found a way..

to be relevant..

AND POPULAR

the hero of the plague..

has found a job..

as as a tv celeb..

at first..

 the sad people..

took agin him..

and sent him packing..

U TURN IF YOU WANT TO

but now as we all knew would happen..

he is become interesting..

as in interesting times..

through him the party has discovered..

the way ahead..

THE DAVY CROCKET HAT

or ..

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A QUIFF GET A HAT

learning from boris trump..

and davy crocket of course..

the party has decided that celebrity..

is the only way to win..

and that..

by looking daft and playing the fool..

popularity..

and therefore success..

will be assured..

WHO HAS THE BLONDEST QUIFF ?

that is the question..

because..

the bigger, the blonder..

the louder and dafter..

gets you the votes..

as well as the laughter..

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

LIGHT FANTASTIC

yo!.. my trip.. innit!

 middle class people an toffs..

tend not to like the funfair..

the noisy, smelly fairground..

with all it's teeth rotting treats..

and expensive rides..

BUT

I have lived with the annual track down to the forest..

to trip the light fantastic..

with my fellow plebs..

because if you tune out..

the crap and concentrate on the..

spectacle..

you will see a nocturn..

PAINTED WITH LIGHT

the painter likes to blur..

softer edges and glow..

you can't video it in focus..

it just looks ordinary..

but out of focus..

that's a whole new thing..

You can see here that ..

I have tried to share..

my vision of this spectacle..

with oil paint..

speed blur and gesture..

vivid colour and selected details..

or rather..

no details..

DISCO : DANCE

this is where the disco..

comes from..

the night clubbing experience..

it started with dances like..

the waltz..

so we have waltzers..

and waltzers require loud music..

rock and roll..

the twist..

and we must dress up..

or down..

piano by prank parlic

https://www.saatchiart.com/peterthepainter

STUDIO VIEW OF THE FED

yo!.. bollox.. innit!

here in palookaville..

we await the news from the fed..

where the wizards of oz..

gaze into their navels..

WAITING FOR GODOT

all the palookas..

are running around..

expecting a slowdown in the rate of rates..

and are prepared to bet paper money..

on the wimp out agenda..

WTF

this whole raising of interest rates lark has only just started..

after years and years of zirp..

inflation has yet to even droop..

and yet they cry uncle..

AND YET

we are all so bamboozled..

by this bunch..

that we don't know what to do..

what you think should happen..

and what will happen..

have fallen out..

probably..

independant central banks arn't..

and probably..

they will be called to heal..

but surely not just yet..

and yet..

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..

OVER FED

 yo!.. crazy like a wolf.. innit!

love this..

trouble is..

will the fed deliver..

or will normal service be resumed..

THE ARTIST IN HIS GARDEN

yo! .. how do yo gardin grow..innit! 

 

 

IN THE GARDEN WITH MONET

 

 here I am..

 

sitting in the garden

 

just like monet..

 

no lily pond though..

 

but then no sound of rolling artillery fire..

 

only 20 miles away..

 

 

us artists..

 

we like our gardens..

 

we don't have to paint them..

 

we can just sit in the shade..

 

cut the grass..

 

admire the planting..

 

 

 

 

IN THE GARDEN WITH MARK 

If you paint a rectangle..

with a feathered edge..

 

and especially if you paint two..

 

one above the other..

 

within a portrait aspect canvas..

 

pretty soon you will be talking with mark..

 

so mark is here with me in my garden..

 

and it is all the better for that.. 

 

 

 

 IN THE GARDEN WITH JACKSON

 

yeah..

 

I know what you're thinking..

 

but I like pollock..

 

and I like poppies..

 

and yellow..

 

and it's my garden..

so..

monet, france, poppies..

pretty soon we'll be back at the front..

 

LETS NOT GO THERE

 

let there be light..

and life and flowers..

this is springtime..

after all..

CATHEDRAL CITY

yo! .. enigma.. innit! 

this is a change from my usual..

 

figures in a souk paintings..

 

there is no square of colour..

 

you might think that..

 

I would have painted over it..

 

and I might have..

 

but for the enigmatic figure..

 

in carmine..

 

If you look at the bigger picture you may see..

 

as I do..

 

a sort of gothic windowy effect..

 

going on in the background..

 

so having lived with it for a while now..

 

I see coventry cathedral..

 

and graham sutherland..

 

and basil spence..

 

and I am reminded..

 

that rumour has it..

 

that churchill allowed..

 

the nazis to bomb coventry..

 

rather than warn the city..

 

in order to protect the secret..

 

that the allies had broken..

 

the enigma code..

 

so I appear to have created this image..

 

which appears to be..

 

figures in an apocalypse..

 

in a style that harks back to the 1950's..

 

and a city where I went to art school..

 

I have always painted figures..

 

I used to get them from comic books..

 

children's books..

 

and from drawing from life..

 

now they just appear..

 

I only set out to paint..

 

there is no plan..

 

but the figures always appear..

 

it's an enigma jim.. 

 

 

 

this one was painted at the same time..

 

I like to work on several canvases at once..

 

as you can see..

 

we are back in the souk..

 

no square of colour though..

 

but this is definitely..

 

shoppers..

 

or at least the woman is..

 

she looks rich to me..

 

maybe a princess..

 

or leader of some sort..

 

the guy is maybe security..

 

who knows..

 

anyway not so enigmatic..

 

maybe pragmatic..

 

or maybe just..

 

automatic..

 

for the people..

 

 

BECOME YOURSELF

 

 

this is a quote from graham sutherland..

 

about how to become a painter..

 

I can tell..

 

It can take a lifetime to do this..

 

and it probably will..

 

 

figuresinasouk.com 

 

 

OH YEAH..

 

and when you look at francis bacon..

 

three figures at the base of a crucifixion 

 

spare a thought for graham..