Society of Scottish Artists / Visual Arts Scotland 2019 Exhibition

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 Rome, Ponte Marguerita, the lonely cyclist

 oil on card, 2012  18 x 16  cm SOLD

 In context

This small Roman picture has sold, happily.

Thanks to  W.J. E. for these photos.

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Annual Review 2019

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2019

Travels

There were two complete trips: to Peru and to the UK; another will begin on 26 December, to Chile.

 Arequipa, a view from Ponte Grau, oil on card, 22 x 25 cm

The Peru trip lasted six weeks and was a good, extended painting session. One can really go forward doing two solid sessions a day, 5 times a week. I returned with as many as fifteen good paintings. The pictures were of a larger size than on previous trips. 

Green Park, London, Avenue, oil on card, 24 x 30 cm   SOLD

The UK trip was not a success in terms of making paintings because of bad weather. I hade been looking forward to doing paintings in Scotland's beautiful west coast. What a fool! How it poured down, and I even got a cold- in August.

 I will not gamble my time and money in this way again and instead when I go to the UK in 2020 I will also go to a southern European place where I can work happily and cheaply: southern Spain or perhaps Portugal beckon. However, the small exhibition in Edinburgh was well received and sold well. 

The work: travel painting

There was a gradual but definite scale increase and an attempt to use bolder colours and shapes. I continued also to produce black and white still life pictures. I continue to explore expressionistic approaches to landscape. I moved apartment and studio and with this had the chance to discard weak work. Over time one becomes more clearheaded about what is good or not. 

One the whole, the reasons for a work being a success are not technical but connected to the my psychological state at the time of making. A good picture arises from a balance between knowledge about the subject and it's novelty. If it is too familiar one becomes deadened, taking its peculiarities for granted. If it's too unfamiliar, one flounders.  The lack of seasonal variation here is unfortunate: seasonal changes serve so well to renew interest in a landscape through the year.

For this reason, attempts to criticise the works lead to consideration of the mental conditions in which a picture was made. Happily, satisfactory mental conditions arise readily, predictably: when I travel to new places. And happily, the world is very big. To maintain that balance between the familiar and the unknown though I tend to return to places I have at least some previous relationship with.

When I began travel painting the idea that I was telling some autobiographical story- the painter travelling diarist aspect- enlivened me, and I thought about the story I might tell about a trip and a place, and myself, through a series of paintings. With time, however, those stories lose their consequence and one is just left with a series of paintings, good, bad or indifferent. And, of course, the novelty of the activity disappears.

 But a sense of mission is surely vital in any enterprise, however philosophical one might be about the results years later. Without enthusiasm- joy indeed- one might as well stay at home watching Netflix.

In Brazil

Forest, December 2019, oil on card, 24 x 29.5 cm

My paintings here explored woodland and forest, to the almost total exclusion of other subjects. Woodland shade is so agreeable when the sun is blazing down. I explored mainly two places, in Santa Antonio da Lisboa and Parque Florestal of Rio Vermelho. It would be good to find other places to explore as eventually these will become stale.

Still life painting

The corner of a table, a book, my diary, a spoon, my wallet and part of a chair

oil on card, 16.7 x 15.2 cm

It can be said that still life painting is simply a diminutive for of landscape, albeit one in which artists have the God-like power to arrange its motifs as they see fit. I like to work in black and white on these, to have that starkness.

Exhibitions

There were two exhibitions, one in Lagoa and one in Portobello. The former did not sell, the latter did. There appears to be no almost no market for art in southern Brazil. This is not simply a matter of the appalling economy, it is about taste and values.

Social Media

Flicker

I stopped posting here. I somewhat regret this as it did connect me to some sort of community of more serious visual artists, albeit with a focus on photography. I may return, though I would say that the role of this site has for me been largely replaced by Instagram. I have 959 followers. No change.

Blogger

The number of followers is the same. 84. But there are other people looking regularly whose monikers don't appear. I don't write things as much anymore. That's partly becuase working larger I produce less.

Instagram

The number of followers is 221, up from 136. 

Twitter 

There are 247 followers. It is a bit of a waste of time using this site, for my purposes , except maybe to announce exhibitions.

Saachi

There were a few sales through Saachi. These are always a bureaucratic challenge.

Facebook

Following advice, I created a page to represent me.

In the social media world such numbers are extremely low. I don't kid myself oh they are few but very dedicated, as their comments are not many. 


  

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Poinsettia, sellotape, matchboxes, dairy, hairbrush

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Poinsettia, sellotape, matchboxes, diary, hairbrush

 oil on card, 15.7 x 16 cm

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Forest,- young and twisted trees- December 2019

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Forest,- young and twisted trees, December 2019, oil on card, 24 x 29.5 cm 

- available through No 31 Gallery

I took a different path and found this grove. The pinks and browns of the fallen leaves are pleasing to paint.

 I`d like to come here again in a few days time- the atmosphere is very calming.

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Smaller trees, Santo Antônio de Lisboa

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Smaller trees, Santo Antonio, oil on card, 23.5 x 25.7 cm unavailable

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Undergrowth, Parque Forestal

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Undergrowth, Parque Forestal, oil on card, 21.5 x 28 cm

A rather Derain influenced piece. Derain offers, I think, a way forward into bigger, more confident forms.

After a period of re-adjustment necessitated by moving,  I am back, I think, to painting on a regular basis.  

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Packing for Araucania

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Medium sized case, carriers

Travelling to Araucania

I`m trying to keep weight and nuisance down. 

 I calculate that I can take 32 card pieces to paint on, in the very unlikely event that all the 32 painting sessions that my four weeks in Chile allows are successful.

 I carry these in 4 carriers. The problem with using oil paints is they need at least three days to dry. That's one reason for not staying anywhere for less than a week-  to allow any pictures the time they need to dry before packing between different painting spots. I have thought about using acrylics but I find them nasty in colour and finish.

As things stand, I`m painting in three places: Villaricca, Pucon and Melipueco, though I  I shall perhaps wander down to Puerto Montt for the last few days in Araucania.

The paints and so on fit into this case, along with various other bits and pieces. It`s tight but it`s just about ok. The larger case is cumbersome. 

My trip isn't until after Christmas, but I like to plan things in advance and do things in a good time, unhurriedly. The Brazilian way of doing everything last minute appalls me.

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Creek, framed

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Creek, Florianopolis, oil on card,  29.1 x 23.5 cm, framed  SOLD   

Thanks Peter for sending me the framed picture

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Two spoon, two books, an unidentified item and a wallet on a table

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Two spoons, two books, an unidentified item and a wallet on a table

oil on card, 15 x 16 cm  - available

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My Chile trip: Araucania

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Melipeuco

I have added Melipeuco to the list of places in which I will stay. It's close to a national park, called Conguillio.

I think the nature and scenery there might no be so different from here, albeit with snow covered volcanoes and more lakes.

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The corner of a table, a book, my diary, a spoon, my wallet and part of a chair

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The corner of a table, a book, my diary, a spoon, my wallet and part of a chair

oil on card, 16.7 x 15.2 cm

I painted several versions of this scene and can`t decide which is satisfactory. For the moment, I shall go along with this one, though perhaps they all have virtues. The book is This is New York, by E.B. White.

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In still life my taste in objects is limited to things which have in common simplicity of form, with clearly recognizable profiles and plain colouration. My repertoire is small- books, cultlery, bowls or plates, cutlery, and occasionally pieces of furniture. I like it if the items have som personal resonance.

I love flowers but when it comes to a subject for painitng, I find myself more and more in sympathy with Uncle Monty in Withnail and I: "I think the carrot infinitely more fascinating than the geranium. The carrot has mystery. Flowers are essentially tarts. Prostitutes for the bees";

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My summer trip: Chile

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Araucania

Chile: Araucania

There is a direct flight from Florianopolis to Santiago, and it is considerably cheaper to go there than  Quito. So I shall make my way there then hop down to Temuco and the lakes (Villarrica and Pucon).  It is a shame to, again, jilt Ecuador, but I have to be careful with my finances.

The scenery is rather find with volcanoes, forests and beautiful lakes, and I think it will have a pleasant temperature and a fine place to work.

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I reread my piece on Santiago from three years ago and it seems prescient. 

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Cherry tomatoes on a cloth

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Cherry tomatoes on a cloth, oil on card, 16 x 14.5 cm  available

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Room, Trindade, with books, sofa and bag

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Room, Trindade, with books, sofa and bag

 oil on card, 17 x 15.5 cm

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Orange

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Orange, oil on card, 12.6 x 14 cm

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Cherry tomatoes in a bowl

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Cherry tomatoes in a bowl, oil on card, 15.3 x 13.1 cm

New apartment

It is only mid-November but, thanks to the wickedness of Christmas prmotions, I already feel that the year is ending. This is the first picture from my new apartment. The new apartment is not far from the old, but has a somewhat different atmosphere- more urban, cleaner, brighter. The picture is a continuation of the simple still lives to which I return from time to time. 

This colourless style serves to cleanse my mind. I did once consider doing a trip and only using black and white, but ultimately desisted, concluding that a month of it would become quite tiresome.

The disturbance and expense caused by moving means I have yet to finalise plans and book tickets for my January trip, something I hope to put in order this week. 

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Yellow house, Santo Antônio de Lisboa

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Yellow house, Santo Antônio de Lisboa, oil on card, c. 20 x 24 cm - sold

This is a re-visitation of the scene depicted in From a Grove, painted in April this year, albeit painted from slightly closer.

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Santo Antônio de Lisboa, October 2019, tree

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Santo Antônio de Lisboa, October 2019, tree

 oil on card, 21 x 26 cm

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UDESC Exhibition

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Letter from UDESC

The letter announces that I will be exhibiting at UDESC, the state university of Santa Catarina. The university will give me 2500R$ towards the exhibition, which will run from March 3 until 4 April, 2020.

 I will show pictures from Santa Catarina. I might drive down to Imbituba to stay there one night so I can do some work there. It should be good for painting. I can exhibit about a dozen paintings if they of the larger size.

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Ecuador or Peru in January?

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Northern Peru, taken from The Rough Guide

The distance from Cajamarca to Chachapoyas is 330 km and takes just over eight hours by car and about eleven by bus. The journey ca be broken at Leymebamba where there is an ethnographic museum. 

The situation in Ecuador is quite alarming with roads blocked and unrest. There have been five deaths. It should surely return to normal by January, in which case I am ready to go for a good long trip there.

But if not, it will be back to Peru, this time to the north- a trip to include Cajamarca, Chachapoyas, Tarapoto, Chiclayo, Moyobamba and maybe Tarapoto.

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Pines, Mocambique

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Pines, Mocambique, October, 2019

 oil on card, 30 x 23.5 cm

This painting is available on Saachi Art

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A fallen tree

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A fallen tree, Praia Mocambique 

 oil on card, 28.7 x 23.5 cm- unavailable

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Spain, National parks, Constantina

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Southern Spain

The idea is to go to one of these Spanish National Parks in September (Anjudar, Hornachuelos), thus breaking up a Scottish trip with guaranteed good landscape painting.

Probably the best thing is to fly to Seville or Malaga, find a way to one of these parks and a place to stay, do some painting, then proceed to Aberdeen. Then return to Brazil via Spain. That keeps the flying time down.

Perhaps going to Seville then to Hornachuelos is the easier option.

Constantina seems promising, nestled in the mountains.

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Time Spent Among Trees, Meffan Gallery, Review in Art North

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Here a review of Time Spent Among Trees, with a brief mention of one of my pictures:


https://artnorth-magazine.com/recent-arts-news/2019/10/2/we-need-to-talk-about-trees?fbclid=IwAR3v29rzjJmlWxvo2EFSACFgAdoESNWxfVwXu_9zngZy6ytUFpFUH05Bkss

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Time Spent Among Trees Exhibition, Meffan Gallery Scotland

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Tweet announcing the exhibition

I am pleased to say that I've two pochades at the Meffan in Forfar, in ashow organised by the Society of Scottish Artists.

 The show continues until the 2nd of November.

This is a theme of considerable interest to me and I would love to do an exhibition entirely based entirely on it.

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Gallery 5595, Portobello, Edinburgh, Exhibition with Jane Rutherford

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The Forest Edge at Gallery 5595, Portobello, Edinburgh

 5595 Gallery A-board

Paintings were taken from frames and passepartouts and fixed directly onto the walls.  This was a considerable improvement on showing work framed as it allows the pictures to "breathe". Of course this is a way of showing work which is impractical in most situations as the painting isn't protected. 

Two paintings were shown in their carriers. The paintings were both sold with the carriers. The carriers arouse considerable curiosity and admiration.

 Five Latin American paintings

 Three Scottish pochades (left) with two of Jane Rutherford`s works

Trees, River Kelvin, Glasgow, in carrier SOLD

Warehouses, Glasgow, with a painting by Jane Rutherford

Paintings from Peru (left and Brazil) both SOLD

Two Peruvian pochades.

That on the right, of the gorge in Chivay is sold  SOLD

A seascape from Oban SOLD

A grove, SOLD

A small pochade from Puno, Peru (lady in a red skirt) SOLD

Write-up- this text was presented on this site in Auguse.

Sales were good and the exhibition was popular, visited by over 800 people over two weekends. 

I received considerable feedback, all positive.

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Thanks to Mark Haddon and Jane Rutherford of Gallery 5595.

 Thanks to Paul Kier for help with hanging this show.

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