Tree in a grove, near Santo Antonio, 2019

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Trees in a grove, near Santo Antonio, 2019, oil on card, 21.5 x 24 cm - available

A trip to Chile: Villarrica, part 3

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This pair from Villarrica was painted in the woods by the river-one of the few places, in the unusual heatwave, to offer shade.

The two paintings represent two stylistic approaches that I have been playing with over the last years, the former more detailed and constructed of smaller strokes, the second made from fewer, larger areas, and with much thicker strokes.

One reason for the second style is that it is a reaction to the former, which can degenerate into fussiness. The fussiness happens when the light shifts on the motif- and as a result I unconsciously start repainting various areas, and therefore the painting loses the compositional objectives it had the start. To resolve the resulting  confusions I  simplify the composition using larger brushes. 

Another reason for this style is that I am conscious that pastoral painting can easily become twee. This awareness makes me want to use a more forceful style  to prevent this from happening, and which I call the blocky style and which produces pictures that are a bit more like posters.

In contemporary art twee, or any sweetness is an anathema. This is connected to the idea that artists should participate in (and ideally lead) revolutionary movements and these have to be utterly poker-faced and cold and aggressive to achieve their objectives. There are one or two exceptions, such as Klee.

Villarrica, forest path, oil on card, 24 x 28.2 cm

Villarrica, oil on card, 28.7 x 23.7 cm  unavailable

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A Trip to Chile: part 1; Temuco and Villarrica

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Chile

My trip was shaped like this:

Florianopolis- Santiago- Temuco - Villarrica - Pucon - Melipeuco - Valdivia - Puerto Montt - Santiago - Florianopolis

Temuco

I flew into Temuco, a somewhat nondescript town, albeit one full of curious characters, most of them seedy. The area around the bus station is especially full of such people and they sell vegetables, bric a brac and probably themselves along its urine stenching streets. I strongly recommend a visit. 

Seedy places in Chile are the only places that I've come across in Latin America where chips are sold as a snack fo you to walk away with. They are sold in a choice of minuscule bags at 700, 800, or 900 Chilean Pesos (900 fits about 15 chips, so for 700 I suppose you receive about five). The chips are oily and flaccid like mysterious body parts. You might not like them. They also sell them in Puerto Montt, which is very seedy too.

There is a very good art shop in Temuco.  

Villarrica

But the first place I did any work in was Villarrica, which isn't seedy at all. There was a heat wave so it was pleasant to work in the woods by the river. This first painting is very good. 

Villarrica, gardens viewed from the river, oil on card, 21.7 x 24.5 cm  - available

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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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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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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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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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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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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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British trip - London, Green Park

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

There is only one picture from London.

 But it is a good one- of Green Park- the simplest and most graceful park of central London`s parks.

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