Me, Aberdeen Coin Club

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Aberdeen coin club , 1982

Here I am at Aberdeen Coin Club. 

The journalist wanted us to pose and asked me to lean in for the photo, a process I found silly and embarrassing.

As I remember myself, I was reserved, serious, very polite , with a strong moral sense and rather judgemental. I had, also, an almost contradictory side, which was adventurous and romantic, easily inspired by Biggles and the thought of foreign places, and I was desperate to see the world. Oddly, this curiosity was not shared by my peers who were, with the exceptions, a little dull. But this perhaps because they had television sets, which our family did not.

I had a instinct for the mystery of things and loved to visit the antique fair in the Amatola Hotel near our house and speculate on the history of the objects I found there. Collecting coins and joining the coin club followed from this instinct, and I joined with Scott Anderson.

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Victoria Bridge I, Aberdeen

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Victoria Bridge I, Aberdeen, oil on card, 17.6 x 15.5 cm - available

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Black and white painting: some thoughts

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Thoughts on black and white painting

I`ve put a showcase of black and white works here:

https://tadeuszderegowskiblackandwhite.blogspot.com/

I have been working on and off in this mode since 2012.

 What are some thoughts? 

In no order of importance:

1. The technique is very simple compared to colour work. I need only use one brush, and I can correct things far more easily than when working in colour. The decisions to make are considerably fewer. and I can respond much more rapidly to scenes and to changes in scenes. 

2. The technique emphasizes texture. I can create texture with cloths, brushwork and the underlying texture of the support.

3. The technique invites introversion. I believe that colour is essentially more decorative than black and white,  and that black and white has an essential seriousness.

4. The technique tends to create  melodrama. This is most obvious in the depiction of skies, where clouds become very dramatic if described starkly in black and white. Similarly, shadows have far more drama than they would in colour.

5. As it requires less equipment, it is much easier to carry materials around. This is very liberating.

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Mannofied, Aberdeen, view from a first floor window

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Mannofield, Aberdeen, view from a first floor window

oil on card, 19.5 x 20.3 cm -  available

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Victoria Bridge, Aberdeen; black and white painting and early photography

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Victoria Bridge, Aberdeen, oil on card, 16.6 x 15.2 cm -  available

This dates back to September, and is one of my black and whites which is most influenced by early photography. 

Ergo, there is an emphasis on a soft atmosphere. The influence can also be seen  in the presentation of motif. That is, a well known city sight is depicted, very recognisably, from a distance in which most of it can be seen, often with few figures and little  sense of movement (this last point is somewhat reduced here, given the sky).

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Telegraph post, Mannofield, Aberdeen

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Telegraph post, Mannofield, Aberdeen

 oil on card 14.8 x 12.9 cm - available

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Winter in Spain and Morocco- more details

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Winter in Spain and Morocco- more details

We leave in about six weeks, to visit. in sequence:

Marrakesh,

Sidi Ifni

Essaouira (probably)

El Jadida (probably)

Meknes

Tangier

Seville

Valencia

The weather here in Aberdeen has turned sharply colder, and it isn`t easy to go out comfortably.  Scotland in Winter is quite inhospitable. Moreover, the fact that I hate Christmas makes spending December in an Islamic country extremely appealing.

Northern Morocco tends to be rainy in the Winter, so we will spend most of our days in the Atlantic coast.

While in Morocco we stay in hotels, in Spain we have rented apartments. 

I`m getting boards ready: I`m thinking about continuing in black and white, at least for part of the trip.

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