Annual Review 2024

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Annual Review 2024

The Don, estuary, October 2024, oil on card, 25 x 30 cm - available

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 Travels

I returned to live in the UK, specifically Scotland.

 I am overjoyed to be back in the United Kingdom, which, however demoralised it may feel, is such a culturally rich, enjoyable place, with many interesting people.

 And, critically, it is where, if anywhere, I belong. The weather is pretty awful, however. It is often cold, and the darkness of winter is unpleasant. I`m trying to think of ways to get away during the worst months. I dislike being shut indoors so much.

Therefore, I`m looking at options in Asia, and the Mediterranean.

 

Social Media

Like many, my broad feelings about social media have altered from seeing it as a space offering communicative and commercial possibilities to being a zone dominated by morons, willingly  exploited by crooks and manipulators.

 Perhaps I, too, am a moron? Having that suspicion, I restrict my usage to what I consider the minimum necessary to maintain a  presence: a new picture on Instagram every couple of weeks or so, and all new pictures on Facebook. Thus, I maintain some contact with the public without deeply entering the morass.

 

Flickr

 I have 944 followers, down 2. I stopped posting here

Blogger

 There are 85 followers, a decrease of one. There were 465 visitors, with Singapore and Hong Kong bringing the most recorded. But the stats do not seem dependable.

Crown Street, (near Portland Street), Aberdeen, oil on card, 27 x 27 cm - available

 

Instagram 

The site with landscape paintings - tadeusz_deregowski - has 404  followers, up from 392. The one with photography - modestphotographybytderegowski- has 116 followers- no increase.

These numbers, in Instagram terms, are very low and are likely to remain low as I will continue to post infrequently.

Saachi

I didn't sell anything here this year though it is now open for sales.

 

Facebook

 I continue to post here though it is an unpleasant site run by people whose ethical positions are  questionable.

 

Photography

I took few photos.

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Painting

 

Allotment, Garthdee, oil on card, 30.2 x 24.5 cm - available

I  worked steadily to explore Aberdeen, the city, parks, seafront, and some suburban areas. Aberdeen offers a great deal of variety and there are many places still to visit. The changing moods of the city, as the seasons progress is charming. 

Technique

I returned to oils and this has been very pleasurable. The depth and weight of oils, the splendid colours, so rich, and the diversity of textures making it easily the king of paint media.

I am currently experimenting with beginning paintings using first the strong colours unmixed from the tube. Then, to apply mixtures. Then, thirdly, to lighten the colours with yellows- including Naples Yellow. The final stage is  to apply colours mixed with Titanium White. 

The purpose of this is to place strong colour as the foundation of the painting. I have felt that the previous method (where I move from pale colours, mixed down with Titanium White, later going to darker or brighter ones) has led to some timid, and occasionally washed out, or chalky, pictures.

I have steadily attempted to paint to a larger scale, creating bigger carriers to allow this.

Writing

 

I  didn't write in 2024. I do not feel like it, and I don`t want to force it. I often feel I have nothing to say but I don`t think that`s a bad thing.

 

Westburn Park, Aberdeen, entrance, oil on card, 31 x 27 cm - available

Exhibitions and Sales

I exhibited work in Frauhaus in Aberdeen, at Coppa Coffee, the Heinzel Gallery and had work with the Society of Scottish Artists. I participated once with the monthly Art Bizarre  at 3 Mad Hatters, Justice Mill Lane.

I sold about twenty  paintings altogether in 2024.

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Next year: 2025

 

I begin 2025 in India, an escape from the dark and cold of Aberdeen, and the chance to go somewhere which has lurked in the back rooms of my imagination for the best part of a half-century. 

The India trip is largely Rajasthan, but will include time in Delhi and Agra, as well as an excursion to Chandigarh and then up to Shimla and further into the valleys of Himachal Pradesh. 

What follows on my return at the end of March is unclear, but I hope to be able to show some work in Duns in the Borders of Scotland. It could be that the India trip points me in a new direction. Perhaps it will incline me to go to Nepal? Or other parts of India? 

 

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Annual Review 2023

 

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Annual Review 2023

Parque Estadual do Rio Vermelho, trees, August, watercolour, A2

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 Travels

 In 2023 I travelled to Ecuador. I went to the UK and to Andalucia, Spain. I didn`t do any painting in Spain. 

 

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Social Media

 

Flickr

 I have 946 followers. 

Blogger

 There are 86 followers, no increase. There were 94,800 visitors tracked. Some of these must be bots. Singapore the USA and Germany are most visiting locations.

 

Instagram 

That with landscape paintings - tadeusz_deregowski - has 392  followers, up from 365. The one with photography - modestphotographybytderegowski- has 116 followers. 

These numbers, in Instagram terms, are very low.

Saachi

I didn't sell anything here. I suspended the account as I am re-cataloguing everything, and will relaunch when I return to the UK

 

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.

 

 Photography 

 

Three tomatoes in a bowl on a table:

 also a ketchup bottle, a paper bag,

 a patterned plate and a ring pull seal from a milk carton

 I took photos from the neighbourhood and of the things I find interesting. Sometimes I wrote texts to accompany these. I am attempting to work with an idea called modest photography. This is about taking photographs which are reserved in tone, and which depict commonplace items.

I also take photographs of things in the neighborhood. Again, my intention is to look at the ordinary in a cool-tempered way.

Painting

 

  I continued to work in watercolour, moving up to A2.

 I don`t know if I`m falling out of love with watercolour. I do miss the chunkiness and texture of oils. I also miss mixing the colours.

 

Writing

 

I  produce several short stories, and a novella. I wrote texts to accompany photos and autobiographical sketches.

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Next year: 2024

 

I really only have one plan- to return to the UK. I'm not sure where I'll live. I need to get back, then I can orientate myself.

Why return? I thought- I have done what I can here, I`ve crossed over the arc. If I stay on here it will be because of laziness or cowardice. Also, I thought, I don`t belong here. It  just  isn`t  mine. I thought about this stuff a lot over the last few years. Then something just clicked in my brain and I resolved to return.

I want to reassert my belonging to the UK. Even if there are a  lot of things I don`t like there, at least I understand it.

There are many benefits to living here in Brazil- it`s cheap and the weather is pleasant. Moving back to the UK will have challenges.

I imagine that it might be nice to paint Aberdeen in all its myriad grays. 

Exhibitions and Sales

Sales were surprisingly good, about fifteen sales in total. No exhibitions. 

Also...

  I went through the portfolio and have removed a lot of items - a sustained critical action which caused me a little pain but also definite relief. 

In removal is an  affirmation of specific critical criteria. 

 

 

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Annual Review 2022

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 Annual Review 2022

 

Bare trees,Praia Moçambique, oil on card, 27.5 x 29.5 cm

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 Travels

 

I travelled to  Scotland in May, to Rio Grande do Sul and inside Santa Catarina. I should have travelled more, I feel- I was unimaginative, or lazy or both. Since mid-December I`ve been in Colombia, however, working hard.

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Social Media

 

Flickr

 I have 667 followers, down from 945.  I no longer subscribe to this site and I guess others also stopped.

Blogger

 There are 86 followers, up by two from last year. There were 17.8000 visitors tracked - up from 40, 300. This figure seems to me to be too high to be credible.

  The most popular countries appear to be USA 46%, Germany 26%, Brazil 6%, Russia 4% and the UK at 3%.

 

Instagram 

 I started using this site again. It is a very nice site with clean graphics and is easy to use. I use two accounts: one for photos and the other for landscape paintings.

That with landscape paintings - tadeusz_deregowski - has 356 followers. The one with photography - tderegowskiphotos - has 98 followers. 

These numbers, in Instagram terms, are very low.

Saachi

I didn't sell anything here.

 

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.

 

 Photography

 

Canasvieiras, roots, wall

 

 

Modest photography

 I took photos from the neighbourhood and of the things I find interesting. Sometimes I wrote texts to accompany these. I am attempting to work with an idea called modest photography. This is about taking photographs which are reserved in tone, not showy or melodramatic and which depict commonplace items.

I also take photographs of things in the neighborhood. Again, my intention is to look at the ordinary in a cool-tempered way.

Painting

 

 

Parque Estadual do Rio Vermelho, December 6, trees

 watercolour on paper, 28 x 38.2 cm

 

I worked on a larger size in oils, moving up to a little under A3.

Then, I began to work in watercolour after a hiatus of over twenty years.

 I am not entirely happy with the progress I made with this, and feel I have a few hurdles to overcome: the weightlessness of the medium troubles me.

Writing

 

I wrote several short stories, and a novella. I wrote texts to accompany photos and autobiographical sketches.

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Next year: 2023

 

I will begin t023 in Colombia then proceed to Ecuador. Other than this 2023 has nothing planned. I  wonder if I should set something up? It seems rather bleak to have nothing for June or July? 

Exhibitions and Sales

Sales were slow partly because I did no exhibit except for at the SSA 130 years Annual, in Edinburgh. 

Parting thoughts

Surely it was not just me? 2022 was an odd year, unhappy, filled with neuroses. It felt somehow stagnant, lacking in inspiration, very much one foot in front of the other.

 

But not every day can bring grand victories and I can perhaps take some satisfaction in the steady progress I made in watercolour painting.

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Urussanga, R. Pref. Jacinto de Brida, oil on card, 29.7 x 27.5 cm 

 

 

 

 

 

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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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Annual Review 2020

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2020

Pale tree

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Travels

There was one long trip to central Chile.

The Chile trip was a bit strange. I was mostly unhappy for mysterious reasons. Perhaps, because of that I didn`t miss the travel restrictions that Corona virus brought (though as I type I feel a sudden strong melancholy urge to be in New York, where you feel quite free in a way I don't sense anywhere else).

Anyway, I did a few good paintings, including these:

Melipueco, Chile, with itinerant, oil on card 25 x 22 cm

Gardens, Villarrica, Chile, oil on card, 20 x 22 cm

I had intended to do Patagonian Chile in January coming, but that is not possible. 

I had an exhibition at UDESC, the state university, but it was closed after the first few days due to COVID. The exhibition itself was badly managed by CEART, who did everything at the last minute in a a slapdash, even contemptuous fashion. There is a lot of fuss being made about cuts to arts in Brazil, but if this agency is typical, and I fear it might be, then they do not deserve to receive public funds.  

With COVID, the automatic clamouring for public funds among artists was incredible. It seemed inconceivable to  many artists, who eagerly signed ´petitions demanding state assistance, that they might work doing whatever was required to pay rent. Many appeared to believe that society should treat them as essential labour in the same level as police or medical workers.

 I worked very steadily and efficiently in Florianopolis, on the island, increasing the size of paintings, the brightness of their colours, and, I feel, using social isolation constructively.

On the way to Cacupe, settlement

 oil on card, 24.3 x 29.7 cm

The dunes, a rise, oil on card, 20 x 25 cm

I am very happy with this one (above).

Trees by a lake, Winter, Lagoa, oil on card, 28 x 25.8 cm

Above Lagoa, early July, 2020, oil on card 26 x 28 cm

I started to visit the rocky coastline on the south of the island. It's fairly quick to get to on the new road:

Rocks, sea, sky Armacao, oil on card, 26 x 28 cm

I also occupied my time with taking photographs, and writing short essays.

 Thus, the year passed.

 I like being alone and did not suffer as much as I usually do. I found the empty streets pleasing and the silence calming. I don't like shopping or crowds so their absence made me happier. I enjoy thinking and I resolved some things about where to live and what to do with the next bit of my life.

I am 51 and it seems that I am entering some other life phase, one characterised by greater self assurance and settlement. I also realised something very obvious, which is that much of what happens to us is arbitrary, and we have only some control over how much and how we interact with this. Ergo, there is little sense in getting too worked up about anything much, though it is wise, of course,  to take precautions.

You will quite possibly think how platitudinous and I daresay you might have a point, but personally speaking, until recently such banal truths were never as obvious to me as they ought to have been and they do therefore have some consequence for me.  

And, slightly wiser, I advance into 2021.

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Social Media

Flickr

I'm not a member any more and I can't post new images as I have reached their non-member limit. 2.3 million all time views. I have 952 followers: a slight decrease from 959.

Blogger

There are 84 people listed: the same as ever. Why does this never increase? Presumably because my Blog can be tracked in other ways, and it isn't necessary for followers to declare themselves. 

Looking at the statistics page with its graphs, for the last 12 months I see: 25,700 visitors, with a peak day on 7 August with 426 views. 

Top countries in terms of percentages are Italy (32%) USA (32%); Russia (4%); UK (4%); Turkmenistan (4%). In absolute numbers: Italy (8.18K); USA (8.15K); Russia (1.16K); UK (1.07K); Turkmenistan (930);

It is surprising how low the UK is, and how high Italy.   

Instagram

There are 287 followers, up from 221. This site is very good for introducing people to your work. It is very easy to use, with excellent editing functions and keywording so you can link your work to that of others. 

I also have an Instagram Account dedicated to photography. It has 46 followers: tderegowskiphotos

Twitter

I have 238 followers. Down a little from 247. I never use this site as I find it dominated by an unpleasant style of discourse. In any case, it isn't really for showing pictures.

Saachi and other sales

There were no sales with Saachi. There was one sale this year, of a Moroccan painting.

A lane, Marrakech, oil on card, 16 x 15.5 cm   SOLD

Facebook

I continue to use this excellent site to talk about art and photography. It is a very good site for artists to use, as through it's "pages" you can create bridges between your personal and creative existences. 

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The future

I move house shortly and, that resolved, and the vaccine available, normal life can perhaps resume. For me that means going at some point to the UK, most likely in late Spring. Then, if at all possible, a visit to Andalucia. But that is in the hands of the Gods.

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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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