Houses and yards seen through a gap between blocks

Houses and yards seen through a gap between blocks, oil on card, 11.5 x 8.7 cm

One of the views from my bedroom window.

Wall enclosing a school; Sisley

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Wall enclosing a school, oil on card, 11 x 10.5 cm  - available

Painted on a brown base: I am experimenting more with the colour of the priming.

I feel this picture to be in my more Sisley-an mode: this is partly because of the texture, and partly because of the scale of the motive: Sisley often stood a certain distance from his motives when painting. This lends a sence of emotional reserve to his paintings, a quality I find most sympathetic.

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It is so hot that it is quite oppressive and I hope it rains. I miss the absence of seasonal variety here: I remember autumn in Italy last year with great fondness, especially the smell of damp leaves.

I hope I can save money to go to Europe in September or October. I wish to revisit Naples.

The great grey-green sea

The great grey-green sea, oil on card, 9 x 12.7 cm

I steal the title in part from Kipling's wonderful "The Elephant's Child": "Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry, 'Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out."

The King's Speech (2010): review: 7/10

The Duke of York, brother to the heir to the British throne, has a debilitating stammer: his wife, Elizabeth, finds an speech therapist, a lively and perceptive Australian, to help.

The film charts their friendship through the challenges faced by the Duke most notably when, due to the abdication crisis, he unexpectedly becomes King, and when addressing the nation at the onset of the Second World War.

The film has been extravagantly praised. But, as with The Queen (2006), a large part of my time watching this film was passed in embarassment.

In part whis is a specifically British embarassment of seeing a royal figure depicted intimately.

Before, I had seen George VI to be a dignified figure, assured and calm, having seen him elegantly and formally depicted on coins (British coinage is notable for it's excellent portraiture) and oil paintings. Now, I see human failure, an unhappy, sometimes mean-spirited figure, with limited depth or charm, capable of duty, not much more; bossed about by his shrill wife (played almost satirically by Bonham-Carter). His elder brother is worse, of course-  cruel, selfish and silly.

If we are stripped of our illusions are we reft from our ideals, or do we learn compassion? Do you want to feel compassion for kings?

The film is episodical shot, lacking a certain fluency. The scenes of London are interesting, with nicely decorated art deco sets, and there are enjoyable contrasts between the family life of the Australian therapist and that of the Royals.

But the film is less interesting than it might be. It begins to ask questions about the value of duty, of respect for convention and tradition, and how an indvidual should relate to these, but fails to explore them with thoroughness. This is mainly because the hero is lacking in the depth and intelligence required to be a vehicle for such explorations (as the summary description of the British royal family would imply: "German and not too bright").

Happy Tears (2009): review: 8/10

A woman returns from San Francisco to Philadelphia, to her father's house. There she helps her sister take care of their aging, occasionally bilious father.

This is a melancholy film depicting, in an episodic and occasionally surreal style, the world from a female perspective. It deals specifically with the heroine's desire for a commited relationship, her relationship with her sister and absentee lover, and her father and his chequered past.

Both filming and acting are elegant...perhaps even too elegant?

You Might as Well Live (2009): review: 3/10

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Dissuaded from suicide, Robert R. Mutt is encouraged by his baseball hero to get money, a special ring, and a girl.

The film fails to create a sympathetic hero, Mutt having really no redeeming qualities other than a desperate persistence. Black comedy as relentless as this becomes is two dimensional, and seems to be driven by a desire to mock unfortunate people.

 However, the film works reasonably as a critique of provincial society (specifically Hamilton, Ontario) with it's low level drug dealers, low culture, lack of ambition, anti-paedophile protests and atmosphere of weariness.

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Strictly Sexual (2008): review: 7.5/10

In L.A., a wealthy aspiring screenwriter and her fashion designer friend meet two unemployed builders, whom they install in the pool house for the express purposes of conducting a purely sexual relationship.

Smoothly made, with good acting and often very funny, the film gleefully describes friendship and gender stereotypes.