A dozen from 2021

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A dozen pochades from 2021

 

 

 

 

 

A selection from this year, being boxed.

 

 

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Putting paintings away

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Paintings are stored in cardboard trays to protect them from dust and other damage

 

 

Putting paintings away is a chance to get rid of weak pictures.

You can think of your art career as a journey, in which every picture represents a chapter, or at least a paragraph. It's a biographical approach. In this approach every picture is a lesson, teaching something about the artist's journey. It makes the artist into a curator of his own museum. There is something conceited in that -though that, you might quip, is being an artist all over.

Or you can treat making art as a thing you learn to do, then when qualified, is a craft that you reproduce , and you'll have good days and bad. This approach is that of the picture-maker, and is in many ways akin to making furniture or jewelry. You curse the bad days and, having learnt what you can, discard any substandard work. This approach appealed to me when I set out painting pochaades. I liked it's down to earth qualities, and the idea of developing a recognisable format and becomeing expert at it.

I can see both perspectives but find the former can lead to one becomeing somewhat precious. You can only learn so much from weak pictures. And they take up space and bring you down.

 

But I can also see that making art is not just like following a recipe. It has to have subjective, exploratory elements or it simply isn't interesting. And to explore is, occasionally, surely, to mis-step...

Ergo, I chart a course betweeen the two positions.

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Annual Review 2021

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 Annual Review 2021

 

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 Travels

 

 

Brusque, from Monthez Hotel, oil on card, 24 x 26 cm

 

There were a couple of little trips within Brazil, but rather few, and looking back I regret this as it seems lazy of me, though much of my time was taken with buying and arranging an apartment.

For a 6-month period, instead of painting, I took photos, and wrote stories and little essays. I posted a lot of monotypes from years back which had never appeared in this blog.

I did trips within Santa Catarina, to Brusque, to São Bento do Sul, to Videira. All were successful with some nice new paintings.

 

Social Media

 

Flickr

 I have 945 followers, a decrease from 952. I no longer subscribe to this site and I guess a lot of former followers likewise also stopped being members because the terms of free membership changed.

Blogger

 There are 86 followers, up by two from last year. There were 40,300 visitors up from 20,700. The most popular countries appear to be Sweden 47%, Russia 21%, US 8%, Italy 8% and Brazil 4%, but these figures seem likely to be enormously distorted by bots, given the blog is in English and of these only the USA is English speaking.

 

Instagram 

 I made no effort with this site but my followers rose from 287 to 317.

 I decided not to because I have started to develop an aversion to social media, specifically the way that it makes one want to do nothing else except click on one's phone constantly. This is one of the sites that I pulled back from.

Saachi

I didn't sell anything here. There have always been issues with Brazilian customs making it a hassle.

 

Facebook

 I continue to post here and receive good feedback. It is very good to have a page to post work and maintain a dialogue with the public.

 Stories

  I went through all my old stories and added new ones. I sent some out to magazines but only got one published- The Hairy Dog.

 

Photos

I worked on taking photos of a variety of objects and occasionally writing short texts to accompany them

 

Painting

 

Rua Rid Silva, Canasvieiras, 14.5 x 21.3 cm

 

 

I moved steadily up in scale, often tackling larger views. I like that I can add more variety of brushstrokes. I worked more with drying mediums- alkyds. The oils dry more quickly and transporting stuff is less of a headache. 

And I bought with different paints such as Lefranc and Bourgeois- it's impossible to get other imported paints here without paying the earth. I have dozens of tubes waiting for me in Aberdeen to pick up, when I am next there...one day!

 

 

Next year: 2022

 

 As you might have sensed, 2021 was a rather uneventful year for me. I made no sales, but I worked steadily.

The unpredictability of Covid is such that it makes planning difficult. I'd hoped to go to Spain in March 2022, but I think it better to sit tight than find myself facing, all of a sudden, a week-long quarantine in a costly hotel somewhere.

I shall perhaps instead go on some motor trips. Perhaps to Bento Gonçalves? Driving tires me but it would be a pity not to have some sort of break.

 

 

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Natural arch, Praia Moçambique

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Natural arch, Praia Moçambique, December, 2022, oil on card, 25 x 28 cm - unavailable

 

 

 

 

 

Naturl Arch- detail

This is a revisitation: I painted here in April in 2020.

 

The new Lefranc and Bourgeois paints are working out very nicely. I'm experimenting with an impressionist technique in which brushstrokes are layered in cross hatching over each other, so colours "vibrate".

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Tanizaki: In Praise of Shadows

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There is an essay called In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, about Japanese aesthetics. It contains this passage:

And so it has come to be that the beauty of a Japanese room depends on a variation of shadows, heavy shadows against light shadows—it has nothing else. Westerners are amazed at the simplicity of Japanese rooms, perceiving in them no more than ashen walls bereft of ornament. Their reaction is understandable, but it betrays a failure to comprehend the mystery of shadows. 

The author then proceeds to discuss this in more detail.

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Praia Moçambique, forest, December 20, 2021

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Praia Moçambique, forest, December 20, 2021

 oil on card, 28 x 26 cm

 

 

 

 

Praia Moçambique, forest, December 20, 2021- detail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It's very hot and so painting in the woods- where there's lots of shade- is the best option.

 

 The year is coming to a close and I'm quite tired, quite in need of different places, and spaces.

 

 

 

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I used the new easel. It is rather good, stable and rapid to set up. 

 

 

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My Videira trip

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View from the Verde Vale Hotel, Videira, oil on card, 24.3 x 28 cm

 

 

 

 

View from the Verde Vale Hotel, Videira- detail

 

 

 

 

 

Near Rio do Sul, oil on card. 28 x 25 cm - available

 

 

Videira

 

 Videira sits in a charming valley. They have made the area along the river where there were railway lives quite pleasant to stroll and have snacks. 

Otherwise, there is the usual Brazillian higgledy piggledy architecture, a big building next to a small and nothing hormonious in the least, all made of ticky-tacky, nothing of distinction. They have built is to that the main street closes the river below from the view of drivers and pedestrians there.

The town seems to be full of young people. It's fairly friendly, though my  hotel was one of the most anonymous I've ever stayed in.

 Everything closes on a Monday.

 I got confused and not quite lost coming back. There are few road signs.

 I returned via Blumenau: the roads are basically a hell, single lane with endless speed checks, roadworks, speed bumps, and often slow because of a single truck trundling at a snails pace, a huge line of cars weary behind. Traffic from Blumenau through to Balneario is even worse, and made more hateful stilll by rain and rotten lighting.

 The trip exhausted me. I'm now wary of doing a second, longer one, to Caixas do Sul, in mid-January. Let's see.

 

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New easel

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 New Easel

 

 

 

With pícture (front)

 

 

 

With picture (back)

 

 

 

 

Without picture (front)

 

 

 

This new easel has just arrived, ordered over a month ago from China. 

It's a little heavier than I'd imagined and had rather cheapo fittings. It didn't cost much. But it's designed with an intelligent simplicity with little that can break. And should anything break, it will be easy to fix.

 It might be better than my current setup, in which I prop my picture up against my paintbox. It might allow me to work standing up, something I miss.

Picture: Vargem Pequena, view, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm

Vargem Pequena, view; soya oil paint

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Vargem Pequena, view, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm - available

 

 

 

 

Vargem Pequena, view- detail

 

 

 

 

 The  Lefranc and Bourgeois oil paint (Titanium white) that came in the post is based on soya oil instead of linseed oil.

 

I hope that doesn't matter.

 

 I'm mixing oil with an Alkyd medium. which speeds drying time significantly; sometimes I also add linseed oil.

 

 This is a new place to work, from a hill. There is a little traffic passing but it isn't too unpleasant.

 

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Praia Moçambique, clouds, paths

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 Praia Moçambique, clouds, paths   AVAILABLE

 oil on card, 26 x 28 cm

 

Praia Moçambique, clouds, paths - detail

Rain spitting, but otherwise an enjoyable session.

That sad atmosphere is so Ardizzone.

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Bento Gonçalves, RS

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A trip to Bento Gonçalves, RS

 

 

This region should be quite lovely and seems a good possibility for mid-January week long escape- let's see.

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Videira

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 Videira

 

 

   

To Videira and back

 

 

 

 

If everything goes according to plan, this journey is fianally going to happen. Thus, I visit a remaining unexplored corner of Santa Catarina next weekend. There via Lages, back via Blumenau.

Fingers crossed that the weather is kind.

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Santinho, sea

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Santinho, sea, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm available

 

 

 

 

Santinho, sea - detail

My first time painting here- it's a little inconvenient to get to.

 

Urban planning and architecture in Santinho and Ingleses is appalling: ugly unmatched buildings cuttng off the sea, a lack of tree planting or integration with nature, and poor general maintenance.

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