Melancholy- Guarrulhos airport

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Melancholy- Guarrulhos airport, oil on card, 12.5 x 10.5 cm - available

All journeys from Brasil begin and end at Guarrulhos airport, a miserable place.

I am thinking that perhaps flying out of Brasil via Buenos Aires in future might be better.

A view from above Praia Mole

A view from above Praia Mole, oil on card, 10.9 x 9.6 cm

A fantastic day of sunshine and not too hot: there is an area above the dunes which offers wonderful views. No-one much seems to go there, so I can work peacefully. There is inspiration for easily a dozen more paintings.

A game of football

A game of football, oil on card, 11.7 x 9.5 cm - discarded

A beautiful wonter's day in Florianopolis. Apart from Deleunay, I can't think of anyone else who has painted a football game.

Birches, Aviemore

Birches, Aviemore, oil on card, 8 x 10 cm SOLD

The final picture of the Spey Way walk. By this point the weather had closed in, very cold and dark. I'd forgotten quite how inhospitable the Scottish climate can be

London: Chelsea and Kensington: five paintings

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Distant view of Kensington Palace, oil on card, about 10 x 11 cm  NOT FOR SALE

I love this side of London, it's spacious, clean and elegant. I love the way it slopes down to the river. It feels calm and orderly. I stayed with my beautiful friends Lise and Felix in Notting Hill Gate: the weather was perfect.

If these pictures are popular and there is clearly a market, then I should like to return to London to do a larger run.

I always think that I am in "Whsitler territory" when I wander down to Chelsea.

 Kensington Palace from near the Pond, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  SOLD

 Battersea Bridge, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm   AVAILABLE

St Columba's Church, Chelsea, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  AVAILABLE

Campden Hill Gardens, Notting Hill, oil on Card, 10 x 12 cm - discarded

Four of these pochades in their little carriers




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Paintings from the Spey Way

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 View from The Croft, Elgin, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  SOLD

 Elgin Cathedral, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  - available

 The Spey Bay, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  SOLD

Fochabars, oil on card, 10 x 8 cm   AVAILABLE

 

Gatehouse to Craigellachie Castle, oil on card, 10 x 12cm   AVAILABLE

Ballindalloch Castle, oil on card, 13.5 x 10 cm - available

Houses, Moray, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  SOLD

Arndilly, oil on card, 10.3 x 13.2 cm     available

The Spey near Ballindalloch, oil on card, 10, x 11 cm  SOLD

I spent a week walking the Spey way. I walked up to the Spey Bay from Elgin, the followed the river down to Aviemore, getting lost a few times and spending the night in various Bed and Breakfasts and hostels.

Painting-wise the trip was good, but the romantic idea of walking and painting as I went, was less happy in reality.

This is because:
1. carrying a rucksack- which happened to break on day two is very tedious
2. my shoes started to cut very badly into my heels
3. Scotland in the rain is not a good place to be when you are walking on a hillside
4. packing and unpacking  every night and morning gets annoying.

Better conceived was the Christmas trip to the mountains earlier this year, when I stayed in the same place and made daily excursions with just a little bag.

 I shall adapt trips in future to this model. It means one has the chance to do a reconaissance of a place, then return to where is good. If one is following a linear track that doesn`t happen, unless one walks back- something which i find psychologically well nigh impossible. It also is better socially because you can get to know people sometimes at your lodgings, and it is nice to chat to someone after a solitary day painting.

Anyway, as regards painting, I am happy: here is a little selection- more can be found on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tadeuszderegowski/sets/72157627338763566/with/5989683743/

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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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