A shadow on a table

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A shadow on a table, oil on card, 13.5 x 16.2 cm - unavailable

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One of the rooms in which I live

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A view into a bedroom showing a table and shelving,

oil on card, 13 x 17 cm -  -unavailable

I think an important aspect of Boice's approach is that one does not immediately act upon disappointment, which is so often -perhaps usually?- a corollary  to ones own creative efforts. One lets that disappointment sit and coagulate in the mind into a sort of resolution overnight.

An aspect of my approach is that it includes repetition. The idea is that one confronts monotony. The risk is that one creates it.

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Plants, a chair, a keyboard, wires, bowls and pots; Robert Boice and working processes

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Plants, a chair, a keyboard, wires, bowls and pots

 oil on card, 18.5 x 15.5 cm - unavailable

I am experimenting with very contained periods of work- exactla an hour. The idea here is that one will not tire for the next day, and that one will learn to work more efficiently, swiftly.

Boice and A Working Method

I am an efficient worker. I`ve almost never had creative block. But I was reading a review of Robert Boice`s Professors as Writers: A self-help Guide to Productive Writing, and thought it might be fun to experiment with some of his principles.

To summarise, he is rather sceptical of "inspiration" and believes that writing should be the product of daily sessions, which should neither overrun nor fall short of, their alloted time. 

 My time is exactly an hour and my process is as follows: I work on ten pictures,  one after the other in a rolling sequence. Thus, I work on the first for approximately two minutes before moving onto the second, and then the third and so on, until I reach number ten and then I return to number one.

This allows me time to view each picture afresh, and allows the paint time to settle. Also, it forces me to suspend judgement over pictures, so that I don't immediately jettison or revise works that might at first appear unsatisfactory.  This way my critical instincts are held in check for at least 18 minutes. 

At the end of the session I look over the pictures, and usually discard the one or two obvious failures. Then, over the next days, I look over them again, getting rid of more: usually I keep one,  sometimes I keep few. 

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Two cacti and a succulent with shadows on a table

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Two cacti and a succulent with shadows on a table

 oil on card, 14 x 16 cm unavailable

 I return to black and white work. I like the lack of showiness in monochrome, the austerity, and potential for subtlety.

 I am wonder how I might do black and white work when travelling. Maybe it would be difficult to translate into a street or landscape situation? It is rather contemplative. The wider world might be too disruptive. I will investigate...

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Praia Mocambique, pines, February 2020

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Praia Mocambique, pines, February 2020

 oil on card, 23.5 x 29.5 cm

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Another trip to Chile?: Patagonia

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From the Stamford Library Series Map, 1912

Patagonia, and deciding where to go

The area is so vast, it seems almost an arrogance to attempt to visit and claim to be painting it.

 I`ve enjoyed the containment of my picture series: attempting in various series to explore places, often with re-visits. Ergo, I`ve been attempting to revisit places to augment existing sets (especially New York, Peru, and Scotland) and hesitant about beginning new sets.  

Revisiting a place is fascinating, making one extremely conscious of the extent to which ones subjective attitudes affected previous visits- what seems strange no longer is, what was grand now bores, and what strikes one as banal on first sight becomes fascinating with later visits. And there are seasonal changes too. Also, initial visits disproportionately involve a tick-boxing of tourist sights, which is time consuming, and just making sense of its layout, figuring out how to get from the hotel to the central square, and so forth. 

But it is nice to feel that I am extending myself at least a little, so when I went to Chile I decided to visit the area around Araucania and a little south, believing that this (admittedly timid) exploration would provide sufficient new inspiration. Indeed this was the case.

So perhaps the thing is to get to Puerto Montt then continue down the Carretera Austral (Southern Highway) stopping here and here on the way, and ending in O`Higgins. That`s 1200 km. It still seems overambitious, but provides at least some of the notion of a containment that I find so necessary, and avoids too much travel by boat, which I detest.

This site below seems to contain all the information one might need to plan a trip: 

https://www.worldlyadventurer.com/planning-a-trip-to-patagonia/

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A trip to Chile: Santiago

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Marin, Bario Italia, oil on card, 21.5 x 25 cm - available

Santiago

I stayed in Barrio Italia, a neighborhood of turn of the century villas and more recent, terribly over-sized blocks, which have an "anyplace" quality. However, the neighborhood is quite attractive in a self effacing way, with tree lined avenues and some small cafes. My picture is from one such street. 

However, there is a problem in Santiago, notably air pollution. Pollution is so bad that after a few hours wandering around I started to develop cold symptoms- a runny nose, a headache and watering eyes. The city could be quite a good cycling city as it is fairly flat but only if they find a way of dramatically improving air quality.

The centre of the city has rather been taken over by protest. There are anarchist posters, some rather striking, around the university but the monuments around the art museum are also heavily defaced and the effect is not attractive. 

Talking generally, almost all graffiti is profoundly depressing: the blunt egoism of the maker, the imposition on public space, the destruction of architecture, the sense of lawlessness that it creates and, usually, its usual utter mediocrity.

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