Black Hawk Down (2001): review- 8/10

Magnificently filmed piece, principally about the spirit of comradeship among US soldiers.

Design for a mural on the gable end of a house

I see the face as similar in its innocence to the childrens' faces one sees in Indian popular art.

Perhaps such a mural as a replacement for the murals which are painted on the gables of tenaments in Belfast (usually featuring martyred warriors, arms and slogans of varying degrees of bellicosity).

Lamppost

Lamppost, 13.6 x 10.6 cm, oil on card

There is a small park near here which has an amazing range of plants. It is quite quiet during the week: I think I shall try to go there later to paint some of the birch trees.

Itacorubi- midday rain, Oil on canvas, 13.5 x 14.5 cm

Today's picture is sketchy because it started to rain so heavily I had to run home. But I think the unfinishedness is fresh, unexpected.

Itacorubi Cemetery

Itacorubi Cemetery, Florianopolis, oil on card, 9.7 x 13.7 cm

An Edwardian sort of painting, with echoes of Sargent or Lavery. There's a certain slickness in that sort of painting that I've never been entirely comfortable with: salon art, bravura art, art made to impress one rather than move one. It died with the First World War.

It was very hard to get the right colour balance when photographing this: I found that photographing the picture against a dark red background helps, otherwise the camera, a Lumix (Panasonic) exaggerates the yellow and loses the blues.

Gone Baby Gone (2007): review- 5.5/10

This is a Clint Eastwood influenced picture that tries much too hard to be profound, but is instead rather ordinary.

In a working class Boston neighbourhood a child is abducted: a boyfriend / girlfriend Private Investigation team help the police locate it.

The film attempts, through a convoluted plot, some obvious dialogue and equally obvious acting, to tackle themes related to civic duty.

Ergo, the film is, ultimately, rather solemn.

The Headless Woman (2008): review- 4.5/10

Elegantly shot, claustrophobic tale of an Argentinian woman who, when driving, hits something- quite what is unclear- and bumps her head. She spends the film wandering about trying to discuss this with someone.

This is the sort of gloomy, confusing picture that critics love, but which the public merely finds perplexing.