Firs, on the way to Sambaqui

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Firs, on the way to Sambaqui, oil on card, 21.5 x 24.3 cm  SOLD

I`m going to try to do something with ideas pinched from Ivon Hitchens- broad strokes describing the atmosphere of place.

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Rancho Queimado, prospect, framed,

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Rancho Queimado, prospect, oil on card, 15 x 17.5 cm,  Framed,  SOLD

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Paintings from Santo Antonio; working

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 Santo Antonio, view East, July,  oil on card, 17 x 20 cm

Santo Antonio, view North-East, oil on card, 21 x 24 cm

I tried to do some work here yesterday but it didn't work out. 

Whether a session works well or not is unpredictable and has a lot to do with my mood. It seems to be best if I'm a little tired but not very, so then I can settle into the motif. It helps to have to walk a little to the local. That gives something of the character of a pilgrimage to a session and focuses the mind.

 If I drink a lot of coffee before I'm agitated and can't settle. Having people around is always annoying, something which many seem not to understand. When people are watching it is irritating as what should be a ruminative process becomes transformed into a performance- I feel a pressure to oblige a viewer. Doubtless, stronger egos fare better.

It's good if the motif is fresh, but it is also good if the motif or location has been visited before, albeit far back enough for there to have been some changes either to the motifs, or to my stylistic approaches.

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Trees on a ranch

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 Santo Antonio, Trees on a ranch, oil on card, 17 x 24 cm - unavailable

Santo Antonio, Trees, oil on card, 17.5 x 18.5 cm   AVAILABLE

Painted from a ranch on the beautiful new road which goes around the back of Santa Antonio to Sambaqui.

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Tijucas

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 Tijucas, a late morning in July, oil on card, 21 x 24.3 cm

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Tijucas, dunes, scrub, oil on card, 20 x 24 cm - unavailable

The sky  in Tijucas has this dense thickness, even on winter days, This enforces the sense one has of the place as being utterly lost, as do the weird, seedy residents. It reminds me very much of the Isle of Sheppey, that peculiar and desolate part of Kent.

The first painting revisits a scene which I depicted a few years back. It is a great pleasure to revisit places, to see how one responds anew. Both pictures are very much under the influence of Boudin.

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BRDE Exhibition- snapshots

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I note the following:

- that it might have been interesting to show more of the working methods showing, the carriers and easel

- the pictures seem a little lost in their spaces, though the lighting will help with this

-a greater variety of sizes of paintings would have helped

- I think the previous methods of display using tables with glass over them is perhaps worth revisiting as it is more intimate

- framing. If the framing had been more homogeneous would this benefit the overall show? Or would such uniformity be boring?

-dark coloured passe-partouts are less effective than I had hoped. They seem to date the paintings 

-the paintings are very dense- they are designed for very close up.

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Preparations for an exhibition at BRDE, Florianopolis

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All the paintings are packed to be taken to BRDE tomorrow to be hung.

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