London: paintings from the south London suburbs

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The view south from Crystal Palace, London, oil on card, about 12 x 10 cm  NOT FOR SALE

I mentioned how I had felt that painting the "official" more obvious tourist London might feel like a restriction, that as I painter it might feel as if I were working within a world of entirely pre-determined, setpiece views.

In fact, I found this less tedious and limiting thing I had imagined. There is a reason for the set piece views, and it is because they really are often truly spectacular, despite the fact that they have been turned into cliches.

So the there was no need to adopt a superior "ironical" attitude in depicting the sights, and I shall set about doing more.

The view from Brixton Hill, London, oil on card, about 12 x 10 cm  AVAILABLE

Nunhead Cemetery, London,oil on card, about 12 x 10 cm  SOLD

Clapham South, London, oil on card, about 12 x 10 cm  - available

But I also did some bus journeys into the suburbs, in south London around Brixton and Crystal Palace, and to Nunhead, hoping to capture their very particular spirit, to create more intimate localised views of residential areas, perhaps places which had some memories for me.

I wish I had had more time to get into this: I hadn´t the chance to visit old haunts in Finsbury Park (specifically the lovely Parkland walk, along the old railway line) and those areas behind Holloway Road and Hornsey which always seem forgotten to me (an instinct which was awakened in me by John Foxx who, indeed, used sections of the old railway to make a film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzXTu6tiXmE)

I am very much hoping to return to London before the bad weather and darkness set in this year.

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Sapling on a riverbank; David Sylvian; tourist pictures; getting into my stride

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Sapling on a riverbank, oil on card, 7 x 9.4 cm  - available

 

 

 

The creek cuts through from bridge to bridge at the back of Itacorubi, and I've found a little path, much overgrown. I went along it, passing a couple of fishermen. 

It`s a great place to work- tranquil. I might think of myself there working as John Crome, great Norfolk painter of discreet places. A thread connects all the artwork I've done, regardless of style or medium: the revealing of secrets. Finding and depicting obscure or hidden parts of Florianopolis is a way of revealing secrets, showing an intimate and private relationship with a hidden or un-noticed place. 

This is a theme that connects many artists I love- photographers such as Atget and painters such as Utrillo or Morandi. I first became aware of my attraction to this theme through music, specifically songs by John Foxx, or David Sylvian: 

  Once again I'm hiding in backwaters Running this way and that Trying so very hard to please (beware of hidden snares) Rushing to bite the hand that feeds me Running this way and that (there are always other possibilities) This way and that 

Backwaters, David Sylvian, 1984 

 Given the themes of secretness, hidden-ness and exploration so animate my work, I wonder if the idea of making the London Tourist paintings, and, in November, the Italian and Maltese ones is such a good idea? 

Such pictures of monuments and given views are surely against my every instinct. But perhaps it is good to oppose ones known instincts from time to time. 

 

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Above are some pieces of card being prepared for paintings. I'm very happy with this small format, which suits my working speed and also keys nicely into the idea of "revealing secrets", as outlined above. It took me a couple of years, however, of fairly steady work to get into my stride- to locate myself in the aesthetic- the first little pictures were generally underworked and to my eyes now, sloppily crafted, sometimes painted on badly primed supports. 

As I have worked steadily, I've managed to develop critical axioms, and raise the general level of my work. I'd say of every five pictures (a usual week), one is an outright failure, two are mediocre, and two good. Usually in twenty there is one which I love.

 But I have good patches and bad: now is a good one, though I scarely dare admit that for fear of jinxing it. 

 

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Servidao Rodolfo Rodrigues Feijo, Itacorubi, Florianopolis

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Servidao Rodolfo Rodrigues Feijo, Itacorubi, oil on card, 12.1 x 8.8 cm

Another of the lanes near here:  in the distance blocks are constructed, relentlessly.

I find these places mysterious, and think of Ultravox's Quiet Men:

Waiting, we were waiting
As the traffic moved through all our hearts and our heads
But things were different then
For the quiet men

Shifting, things were shifting
Through the walls and hall, there were no walls at all
For the quiet friends
Of the quiet men

Oh, the quiet men
Oh, the quiet men

Springtime, there was sunshine
Through the window panes, down all the English lanes
Where they walked again
The quiet men

Talking, they were talking
Of the times to come, and all the time that's gone
And they smiled again
The quiet men

Oh, the quiet men
Oh, the quiet men

Listening, they were listening
As the season changed and all the reasons changed
And people came and went
By the quiet men

Walking, they were walking
Through the rainy days, looking at all the faces
But no-one ever noticed them
The quiet men

Oh
Oh, the quiet men
Oh, the quiet men
Oh, the quiet men
Oh, the quiet men

(Ultravox, Island Records, 1978)

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I thought today about how I should plan a journey through Santa Catarina, driving west and painting along the way: a test run for the USA road trip, which I intend to do in the years to come.

It would be nice to meet other artists on these trips: please contact me if you want to meet for a drink somewhere and are not a psychopath.

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