Seville, blocks

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Seville, blocks, oil on card, 24.2 x 28.5 cm - available

An incredibly beautiful city, quite touristy but, perhaps because of the continual bad weather, not oppressively so. 

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YouTube Videos: stories and more

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YouTube Videos

I will start reading my stories on Youtube, combining them with the small hardboard pieces from the Universal Alphabet.

https://www.youtube.com/@Tadeusz598/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@Tadeusz598/shorts

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Grounding: an exhibition in Duns: more photos

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In these photos, the smaller pictures are mine; the larger are by Jane Rutherford.

I have elven paintings on display.

Four Indian pochades

Me

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Seville, Parque de Maria Luisa

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Seville, Parque de Maria Luisa

oil on card, 23.6 x 27.7 cm - available

Seville

Seville was windy, often stormy in January, so much so that parks were closed.

It`s an amazing city of endless winding lanes and elegant parks and surprises. It`s difficult to drive in, but an ideal place to  walk around in.

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Grounding: exhibition opens tomorrow

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Pochades from Pushkar (above) and Jaipur

Grounding is opening tomorrow at 3pm. It includes eleven of my paintings, mainly from India alongside pots by Jenny Ozwell and canvases by Jane Rutherford. The hanging is very nice, thanks mainly to Mark Haddon: I will post further images shortly.

The exhibition will also make John Eccleston`s short story, En Plein Air, available for the first time from Realm of Stucco press.

Do come.

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Asilah, medina

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Asilah, a block, oil on card 24.9 x 20.8 cm- available

This is the last of the pictures from Morocco 2025-6. 

With hindsight, we would have spent longer in Morocco and less time in the second leg of the winter trip, in Spain.

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Asilah, a block

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Asilah, a block, oil on card 24.9 x 20.8 cm - available

I`m certain we could have spend more time here in Asilah without becoming irritable.

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This picture is perhaps my favourite of the Asilah set: I like its simplicity.

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Asilah, a garden

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Asilah, a garden, oil on card, 26.6 x 24.6 cm - available

I love the gardens in Morocco.

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Asilah, near the sea

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Asilah, near the sea, oil on card, 20.9 x 25 cm - available

Asilah

Asilah, just 30k south of Tangier, has about 30,000 people. It has a charming, if somewhat tourist-tidied, Medina and pleasant, relaxed places to stroll around in.

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Morroco, El Jadida, lady in green

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Morocco, El Jadida, Lane, lady in green

27.1 x 23.5 cm, oil on card - available

This is my last painting here. When I finished it I thought perhaps it rather naïve, but later I ae to like it because it didn`t feel as if I was the artist, that the picture was a product of another person`s instincts.

I never fell in love with El Jadida. The weather, often damp, made it less endearing, but there`s an air of dilapidation here which makes everything seem so sad.

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Jardin Jnan Sbil, Fes, Morocco, a man reading in a park

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Jardin Jnan Sbil, Fes, Morocco, a man reading

oil on card 23.8 x 30.5 cm- available

Fes

This is a lovely place. not agitated: relaxing. We are in the Ville Nouvelle, a spaciously grid of squares and apartment blocks near the station.

Fine weather with delicate sun and a temperature of about 14 degrees. I had read so much about rain and cold in Winter that we booked to stay only 4 nights. 

It would be delightful to spend three weeks here exploring patiently. There are stunning parks, palaces, ancient walls, a castle and the medina- this last, marvellous, but I confess to finding its maze of narrow lanes confusing and claustrophobic.

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El Jadida, blocks

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El Jadida: block, oil on card 24.3 x 22.3 cm - available

I find boxy architecture very enjoyable to paint when the sun is bright.

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El Jadida: Manazgan wall

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El Jadida: Mazagan, wall, oil on card 24.9 x 20.7 cm- available

Painted just outside Manazgan. 

I think such very simple compositions might reward black and white.

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Morocco: El Jadida: two paintings

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El Jadida, Mazagan, arched doorway, oil on card 25 x 21 cm - available

El Jadida, Mazagan, from the walls, oil on card 25 x 21 cm - available

El Jadida

This town is a beach town. There isn`t much to do except stroll along the beach, visit the innumerable shops selling clothes or bric a brac or sit, with dozens of black or grey clad men in the cafes- of which there are an amazing quantity- facing the street.

 Parts of the town are well kept but large sections are damp and somehow the place makes me feel a bit depressed.

Colour and Black and White

My return to colour makes me realise how much more difficult plein air painting is colour is. The range of feeling produced when you use colour is much more varied, so the final painting speaks with less singularity.

The psychological effect of colourlessness is ore profound. But my process and technique is almost the same as when I`m working in colour.

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Changeling (2008): review: 7.5/10

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A single mother`s chid disappears. The L.A.P.D. return the wrong child, then, when the mother protests, put her in an asylum. She is helped by  an evangelical preacher, who is campaigning against political corruption in Los Angeles. Her child is discovered to have been abducted among many other boys, and subsequently murdered.

The complexities of the plot are deftly handled, and Eastwood maintains tension throughout, though the film does sustain the goodies versus baddies characterisation that invariably drives his work.

Closely Observed Trains (1966): review: 5 /10

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Staff at a small railway station are sex-obsessed. A junior staff member is encouraged to pursue sex. 

Inexperienced and impotent he takes his life in despair. This takes place against the back-drop of World War Two German occupation and a plot to blow up a munitions train.

The film is highly stylised. Well made but insensate, often boring and claustrophobic, it  leaves feeling one short changed, perhaps even somewhat morally revolted.

The Invention of Lying (2009): review: 5.5/10

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A screenwriter discovers the possibility of lying, and as a consequence gets money from a bank, seduces beautiful women, improves his career and then persuades the broader public of the existence of God, the afterlife, Heaven and Hell.

Sometimes funny, if occasionally needlessly puerile, it has too few ideas for its length.

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Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939): review: 3/10

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Mr Smith is become a senator in a rural place in the USA. Naïve, he wants to use his mandate to set up camps for boys, failing to understand the depth of corruption and cynicism in Washington.

Very long, sentimental and only occasionally amusing, the film dawdles, utterly dated. 

It is only interesting because it is used as an occasional reference to aspects of American culture and society, usually political corruption, folksiness, popular heroism and the enduring Washington / provinces standoff.

Brief Encounter (1945): review: 10/10

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An unhappily married woman meets an unhappily married man in a provincial English railway station. They fall in love. Paralleling this are scenes depicting the relationships of working class people in the station café where much of the action takes place.

The film contrasts, with considerable subtlety, the woman`s inner life and her relationships with her tiresome friends and blasé husband. It makes fine use of Rachmaninoff`s piano concerto and features superb camerawork.

Concise and beautiful, Brief Encounter is both time/place specific and universal. The acting is brilliant.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025): review: 5.5/10

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Springsteen records a miserable album, Nebraska, using simple recording equipment (it contains one good song  Atlantic City but the others are all very dreary) something his peers at the record station are sceptical about. 

The executives are wrong. Bruce is right. Of course.

There are sporadic but uninteresting asides such as a relationship with a fan. A theme of the plot is how depressed Bruce is. 

But there`s not much of a sustained central conflict to the plot and, though there`s nothing exactly wrong with this film, it does what it says on the can, it is just not very memorable.

Harvey (1950): review: 7.5/10

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A man has a invisible rabbit as a friend, perplexing and embarrassing his family. He is committed to an asylum.

The film seems to me to be mainly about finding connection, and the primacy of the imagination.

Harvey, thanks in good part to James Stewart, has considerable charm. and still perplexes, the bar scene being especially likable. 

However, it has dated considerably, so the screwball set pieces no longer really work- social conventions having undergone too many changes since the 50s. In addition, the film lacks sufficient overall plotting not to dawdle.

Nice Ladies (2024): review 1.5/10

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Documentary film tracing the experiences of elderly Ukrainian women who become cheerleaders, before their troupe finds itself dispersed following the Russian invasion.

There is not enough material here to justify a film of this length. We are presented footage of women checking their cell-phones and having banal conversations with family members along with some interviews and scenes from their performances at sports events. Who cares?

a. The basic idea: isn`t it interesting how some older Ukrainian women decide to become cheerleaders! is not in fact very interesting.

b. The people in the film have nothing interesting to say.

b. The amount of good footage here might justify a film of up to about 15 minutes in length, if that.

I`m giving the film 1.5 because I am in a good mood, and feel well-disposed to Ukrainian causes. But when I left the cinema I felt like drowning myself.

Raging Bull (1980): review: 10/10

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The story of Jake LaMotta, boxer, then nightclub owner and stand up comedian.

The film describes the Italian community in New York, its tastes and social structures. It presents the individuals and commercial systems supporting  LaMotta`s rise, as well as his jealousy, inclination to domestic violence, courage, determination and self-pity.

Startling performances wonderfully shot in black and white throughout, maintaining sympathy for the lead: somehow one cannot not dismiss LaMotta despite his huge lapses in character.

Father Mother Sister Brother (2025): review: 8/10

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Three films, inter-related, by Jim Jarmusch, set in a country town in the USA, in Dublin and Paris, and featuring Tom Waits, Adam Driver and Cate Blanchett among others. 

The film concern relationships, small deceits, hypocrisies, and dishonesty across generations. All feature cars as visual devices, homes in states of dilapidation, as upper-middle class showcases or for sale.

The least satisfactory of these is Father, featuring Tom Waits and Adam Driver: unsatisfactory because of the clumsy performances both from Waits and Driver. Waits really is a dreadful ham.

The film suggests, with the Paris section, that only with the death  of their parents, can children live freely from a parental web of half-truths.

The film is beautifully shot.

Coastal (2024): review 2/10

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Documentary following Neil Young on tour.

He sits on a bus, as do members of his crew, and some of whom give interviews which are of no interest whatsoever. 

There is some likeable concert footage. Young`s songs are very good, of course. It is in black and white (oh so arty).

Uninspired and lazy film, for fans only. I give 2/10 because I am a fan, and can`t bear to accept that anything with Neil Young  it should deserve less.

I Swear (2025): review 8/ 10

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The life and career of a Scottish man who suffers from Tourette`s Syndrome, then seeks to promote better understanding of the condition and help others.

The film describes Scottish provincial and working class life, containing scenes which are in turns, disturbing, sad, and reassuring. It is occasionally funny, unsentimental and even disturbing in places.

It`s freshness of style is, thankfully, free of amateurishness of naivety.

Winners (2022): review: 2/10

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Iranian/British (Scottish) film  about recovering a lost Oscar statue near a dump and scrap merchants.

The film meanders, losing focus: boring. The child actors, as is typical, are tiresome. The characters have no relationships. It is impossible to care abut them or their dilemmas. 

Through sentimental devices the film attempts to be a celebration of cinema, but this is merely irksome.

The landscapes, however, are enjoyable to see, and for this the film gets a 2 stars.

 Reviewers often give these flabby, overlong Iranian films a free pass, and f you look online it is very generously treated. If it were a Hollywood film it would be ripped to shreds, or not reviewed at all.

El Jadida: street

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El Jadida: street, oil on card 27.1 x 24 cm - available

This was painted on one of those streets off Rue Abdelkader Ben Driga, a curious parallel world to the apartment bocks on Avenue Mohamed VI, much more working class and much more interesting.

 

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El Jadida: sea

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El Jadida: sea, oil on card, 27.2 x 22.2 cm, available

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El Jadida: door and windows

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El Jadida

El Jadida: Mazagan, door and windows

 21.4 x 24.5 cm, oil on card, available

This was the third place on our tour. 

It has an odd feel about it: unfinished, sometimes quite slummy at other times aspiring with new, very anonymous blocks along the seafront to the east, along with fast food joints and a cinema, all oriented towards car users. The town centre is full of shops selling bric-a-brac, cheap clothing and, not to mince words, rubbish. There are innumerable cafes which seem to be occupied by men in black or brown clothes doing very little except occasionally using their cell phones.

There are restaurants serving piles of fried seafood We ate at one and I`m not sure I`d recommend the experience. The seafood is cooked in batter like British fish and chips but had an appalling greasiness about it. The service was needlessly hurried and brusque.

Mazagan 

Mazagan is a walled enclave by the sea, with a church and other Portuguese  architecture, and tourist oriented shops and cafes. I enjoyed painting here.

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En Plein Air by John Eccleston: A Realm of Stucco book

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Front cover

Last page

The book contains a short story by John Eccleston, who is best known for Garlick (Troubador, 2025).

En plein air references my Indian paintings, and contains speculations on plein air painting and the future.

This is the third book published by Realm of Stucco to accompany my exhibitions. 

Please contact me on Tadeusz598@yahoo.co.uk to purchase a copy (£5 + post and packing).

Grounding: printed invitation to a exhibition ar No31, Duns.

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Printed invitation to an exhibition at No31 in Duns, in the Scottish Borders, with Jenny Ozwell and Jane Rutherford. 

Do come!

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Morocco: Sidi Ifni: 3. three lighter paintings of architecture

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Sidi Ifni: three lighter paintings of architecture 

Sidi Ifni, Town centre, 29.2 x 30 cm, oil on card, available

Sidi Ifni, A view, oil on card 28.8 x 24.5, available

Sidi Ifni, A wall, gates, oil on card, 30.2 x 24.5 cm, available

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Morocco: Sidi Ifni: 2. three darker paintings

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 Sidi Ifni: three darker paintings

Sidi Ifni, Radio Antenna, blocks, oil on card, 27.2 x 23.2 cm, available

Sidi Ifni, seafront, oil on card, 27.2 x 23.2 cm, available

Sid Ifni, A block, oil on card, 21.1 x 24.9 cm, available

I continued to work in this smoky style, using a mixture of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber to create a sort of black.

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VACMA Award, Clashnettie Arts Centre

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I am very grateful to have been awarded a grant from VACMA (small professional advancement grants funded by Creative Scotland, part of the Scottish Government).

This will allow me to go to Clashnettie Arts Centre near Huntley, Aberdeenshire and take up a residency in July, producing a body of Scottish paintings for my portfolio.

I thank Alison for her encouraging Information Session, which persuaded me the Award was worth applying for.

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Morocco: Sidi Ifni: 1. two paintings of the hills beyond

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Sidi Ifni: two paintings of the hills beyond 

Sidi Ifni, A road, oil on card, 27 x 24.5 cm, available

Sidi Ifni, View from a rise 24.5 x 20.7 cm, available

The town is every bit as lovely as I remember it: clean, quiet and friendly. 

The sea is very alive and is popular with surfers.

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Morocco: Marrakesh: two pochades

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Marrakesh

Marrakesh, motorcyclist, residential buildings, 23.5 x 28.8 cm - available

Marrakesh, a gateway,  oil on card, 18.8 x 21 cm - available

Marrakesh seemed less seedy, more touristy, less sinister and less interesting than when I was there a decade ago.

I alternated between black and white and colour across the Winter trip.

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