Keeping a blog up to date is hard.
I'm beginning to think I might switch to blogging on Facebook where there is a bit more interaction and therefore more incentive to keep posting.
So much is going on at the moment that I don't really know where to begin as each previous post seems like a distant memory.
I think I'll just do bullet points for now:

My work at the moment seems to be based on recurring patterns.  This is not intentional.  Looking at paintings from the last few months I realise that regardless of subject matter, repeating patterns seem to be the trigger that inspires me to paint.  I have been writing down thoughts like this, as and when they occur.  I'm hoping that soon I will be able to lay them all out, then cut and paste them into an organic mission statement to clear things up in my head and show me which way to go.
That was rather a long bullet point.

I have moved to a new flat and studio in West Kensington.

I have a solo exhibition planned.

I am concerned about the art economy, I recently joined a gallery that had been operating for 19 years.  They just closed down.

I am rediscovering old mediums.

I'm looking forward to Summer.

This seems an appropriate painting to post:

Ketia Palm Fronds. Oil on Canvas. 32x22" Available

The Green & Stone charity auction has just got underway where I have a painting amongst the lofty presence of John Monks, Ken Howard, Quentin Blake to name a few.  The auction celebrates the 85th anniversary of one of Europe's finest art shops and aims to raise £200,000 to be donated to five charities: Save the Children, the Meningitis Research Foundation, Help a Capital Child, the Artists General Benevolent Institution, and the Chelsea Arts Club Trust. Due to the generosity of Deutsche Bank all monies raised from this auction will go entirely to the Charities.

My lot is classic example of the London city scenes that have dominated my work over the last few years.  The view shows Parliament Square from the point where Birdcage Walk joins Great George St,  The low winter sun warms the surrounding buildings as the puddles from a brief shower light up the pavement.  The piece is eighteen inches square with a starting bid of only £250,  this is great opportunity to acquire a classic Morant while supporting five very worthwhile charities.  There will also be an event at the Chelsea Arts Club for successful bidders, artists and organisers.

My painting can be viewed at http://www.greenandstonecharityauction.com/auction/lot.php?ID=41

All the pictures can either be viewed on line at www.greenandstonecharityauction.com

Or by appointment at

Green and Stone,
259 Kings Road,
London SW3 5EL

Please Tel: 020 7352 0837 or
Email: baldwin@greenandstone.com

There will be an exhibition of all the pictures at:
The Study
10a Blandford Street
London W1U 4AZ

From the 10th – 19th of October 2012.             10.30am – 6.00pm Monday to Saturday             11.00am – 5.00pm Sunday

Tryon Gallery Summer Show

I would like to extend a warm invitation to The Tryon Gallery's Summer Show.
Over the next couple of weeks weeks I will be exhibiting four works alongside a selection of the gallery's contemporary painters.
The show includes some of my favourite artists including Keith Joubert and Ken Knight and is definitely worth a look in.
Here are the details:

The Tryon Gallery

Summer Show

12th June to 29th June 2012

7 Bury St, St James's, London SW1Y 6AL

info@tryon.co.uk                      020 7839 8083

Still Life 32"x24" £2500

Long Shadows, Savoie France 31"x24" £2500

Low Light,Piccadilly 24"x24" £Sold

Villa Igea, Sicily 14"x12" £975

Ipad art

It turns out the Ipad makes a pretty good sketchbook.  It's easily portable, has infinite colours and makes no mess.  I've decided to stick with just one sketching app to keep things from getting confusing -Sketchbook Pro, a bargain at under £2 but packs the punch of full price software.  I can see this being really useful for preparatory sketches for commissions as well as the usual doodles.  Here are a couple of my first works:

Iphone drawing

I've spent some time getting to grips with the Brushes App on my Iphone.  I've had it for a while but it wasn't until  I made a stylus out of a pen and some conductive foam that I realised how versatile this little program is.  Hockney used the Brushes app for some of the work in his current show and as I look around the internet, there are some artists getting impressive results.  Here are some of my first attempts.  I think this might be an excuse to get an Ipad..

And a couple of images in case the videos are not viewable on your device:

Sketches

I'm working on lots of paintings at the moment -small studio still lifes, larger paintings of London and also reworking an older picture.  Lots of images very soon but for now just a quick little sketch that is making it's way to a larger canvas as you read this. 

Sketches

A couple of small sketches overlooking Battersea Power Station, 12x12" & 10x12"

WIP

A new work in progress 10 x 24 inches:

Venice in Peril

I dropped in to the Albermarle Gallery yesterday to see the annual Venice in Peril exhibition.  The exhibition raises funds for such a crucial cause but I just can't help feeling that painting Venice is somehow clichéd.  Don't get me wrong, all the ingredients are there; water, bridges, and great architecture all bathed in rich light and the work on display is of very high quality.

So whats my point? I'm not sure.  Maybe I'm just jealous that I have never been to venice to experience what the buzz is all about.  Secretly I think I'm scared to because then I'll start painting it too!  However one thing that struck me hard, was spotting my favourite David Sawyer painting hanging on the wall.  I first saw this painting at least three years ago and  I was so inspired by it I had a little cut out that I carried in my pochade box.  To see this painting still unsold after all this time was a harsh reminder of what a tricky career I have thrown myself into.  Painting well is not enough, being in the right gallery is not enough, you have to be truly in demand.

Adebanji's Blog

While browsing Adebanji's blog, which I often do, I noticed a very kind mention of one of my paintings from the ROI show.  I was admiring the work from the selected artists and was quite surprised to see one of my own painting pops up.  Along with his comments, it's things like this that give your confidence a nice little lift.  I was really sad not to make the final day when everyone gets their hands dirty.  Have a look here.

Still life

Sometimes I like to take a break and paint what's right in front of me.  This is a found composition (6x18) of a cluttered shelf at eye level in my studio. Tins of Farrow & Ball, a stack of camera batteries next to a charger, shoe polish brushes, various painting mediums and a packet of sweets etc..

A quick 12x12 sketch looking over the Heath towards the Shard.

Just a start

The very early stages of a new painting.  Here I am trying to  focus on the grid formed by the tall buildings.  Using the patterns to make the eye assume detail in familiar shapes.  I am experimenting with warm tones to enhance the depth of field.  This is crucial as the source I am working from is a small crop from a wider view, thus negating the perspective of a closer view.  If the painting is successful then next time I might try sending up the camera rig with the zoom set to something like 50x and see hope the image stabilisation copes.

Further progress on one of the Hampstead paintings...
I find it hard to know when  a painting is really finished.  Sometimes I finish too early and have an unsettling feeling when I look at the work because I subconsciously know there are still areas to develop.  The flip side to this is that often I work too far into a painting and subsequently ruin it.  It is never simple but I believe it is better to ruin and then repair than to simply finish with hollow feeling of accomplishment.  I will know which way this one's going in the next few hours...

Another issue I battle with on a day to  day basis is the light, by which I mean the light I work in.  In winter this is a constant pain as it starts to fade by 3pm.  I have a tendency to light my canvas well as I work in my north facing studio however this results in paintings looking dark once viewed in other light.  I try to combat this with blinds to restrict the day light, altering the amount of light let in throughout the day.  Then in the evening I have a large daylight lamp which I try to  balance out with a fluorescent tube and filament bulb.  The only way I can be sure my white balance is correctly zeroed is buy checking my painting in the light of different rooms whenever I have a break.  It is a bit of a nightmare but I am so thankful to be aware of the issue rather have a shock once my work is on a gallery wall.

On another note I am hoping to have a couple of articles published in a magazine over the next month, one focusing on Vermeer, the other on a more contemporary issue.  More on these later.   J

Word of warning

Just a quick word of warning to other painters out there. 

Over the weekend I received an email from  the Agora gallery in New York offering representation for a fee.  The email went along the lines of "I came across your website ...... been in business since 1984 ... located in the heart of New York’s famous art district, Chelsea ........we provide promotional services to talented artists such as yourself"
 
At first I thought this sounded promising but after two seconds on Google I realised this may not be all it's cracked up to be.  I found numerous comments and posts along the lines of "this gallery is highly unfavorable. art critics do not review these shows, collectors and museums do not visit or buy. some even advise keeping Agoras name off your resume. its the worst possible type of trap for artists. avoid it."

"Agora is a vanity gallery.. meaning you pay them, they show your work.. basically renting wall space. unjuried (the worst!).  Most of the work they show are from european artists who cannot fly to ny to see for themselves.  Agora has no respect in the ny art market. no reviews.. artists there get no reviews."

Keep your eyes peeled, don't let anyone take advantage of you. J

Recent works

Meandering River

24x24 inches

Meandering Road

24x24 inches

Heath St

Heath Street, Hampstead.  24 x 24 inches.

Up on the Heath

I visited Hampstead Heath the other day in time to catch the sunrise.  I planned on getting the camera up in time to catch the light burning through the mist.  But as is usual in the early hours, there was no wind.  I was aware that I appeared quite insane to all the dog walkers - standing there with a kite, crack of dawn on a windless morning.

 

 Waiting for the wind.

 

Finally some lift.

 

Getting some good height as I start to loose the sun behind the clouds.

In the end I had the camera up for a couple of hours and managed to cover a large part of Parliament Hill.  The winter light is great for what I'm after as the sun stays low and the shadows are long.  Some of the best results came from lower altitudes near the water -leading to this painting which is nearing completion.

 

Hampstead Ponds 24x24 Inches

I have made a few modifications to my camera rig by mounting a 52mm adapter tube via a stainless steel plate.  This protects the lens as it rests or drags on the ground while also allowing me to to use a polarising filter and hood.  I have also replaced the single piece kite spars with carbon fiber tube that beaks down in four or five pieces.  This lets me carry the kite in a small backpack.

 

Aerial Photography

Sunday saw the perfect conditions get my camera high above London.  A long standing interest in aerial perspectives and a bit of research lead me to put together a rig able to loft a camera high into the sky.  With a kite specially designed for lifting loads along with electronics to rotate my camera rig 30 degrees every ten seconds & trigger the shutter I was able to look down on Primrose Hill from a height of 60 metres.  This gives me access to unique perspectives, pushing the possibilities for my landscape and cityscape paintings.

Winter Shows

As usual, this time of year is the busiest for exhibitions.  I will be showing work with six galleries over the coming weeks.

I have just dropped of two paintings for the Russell Gallery Winter Show which opens on the 24th Nov.  Both paintings are worked up from material gathered during my rather too short (explained in previous post) trip to Madrid.  The gallery is in Putney and is definitely worth a visit, right now you can catch the Jason Bowyer show (President NEAC).

 

Evening Light, Madrid 18x18 inches

 

Low Sun, Madrid 32x32 inches

This year I have been selected again to show with the New English Art Club at the Mall Galleries.  This is one of the most crucial exhibitions to be included in as I will hang amongst the likes of Ken Howard and Jason Bowyer to name a couple.  This show also opens on the 24th Nov and will run until the 4th Dec.  The painting I will be showing is one of the pair painted in the last few weeks at my old flat when I was forced to work in the living room due to lack of studio.

 

Exterior Light 24x30 inches

I am also happy to report that I have had three paintings selected for the Royal Institute Of Oil Painters.  This too is at the Mall Galleries and runs from the 7th-18th of December.  Two of the paintings are in an earlier post, they show two artists sketching on the beach.  The third painting is an aerial view of an alpine town worked up with a photograph taken from a cable car in Les Arcs.  Stupidly I forgot to photograph this one before it went to the gallery so you can have a work in progress:

 

Alpine Village 30x24 inches

This painting has lead me down a rather unexpected route involving kites, helium balloons and fairly complicated electronics -more on this when I figure out if it works.

From the 12th Nov I will be showing five painting at the Nick Holly Studio Gallery in Wales.  This is a great new gallery space in the Exchange Building of the Maritime Quarter of Swansea.

I will once again be showing in the Guggleton Gallery Winter Show in Stalbridge, Dorset 26 Nov - 3rd Dec.

To finish up, just a reminder that I have work hanging at 1 Alfred Place, a private members club so let me know if you would like to visit.

pen & ink

A quick sketch from the roof of my ill fated studio is doing quite well in the Saatchi Showdown this month.

Sketching on the beach 1 & 2.  10x10" oil on Board

Long overdue update

So much has happened over the last few weeks resulting in a very neglected blog.  Time to get it back on track!

So Madrid never happened.
Well it did for a few days as we had flights booked but the plan to relocate completely fell through.  The decision was made by Julia's company only a couple of weeks before we were due to leave.  Long story short -are now living in Maida Vale and managed to find a fantastic flat with a studio.  My fears of working from hope were totally misplaced... I love it.  I can wake up and be in my studio before breakfast, no need to commute in the rain and work until late at night.  I have stable north facing light and a civilised kitchen to make snacks with a little terrace to eat them on.  Bliss.

I've been busy getting work ready for the many group shows that happen at this time of the year.  In a few weeks time I will be exhibiting in five galleries at the same time; The New English at the Mall Galleries, Art for Youth at the RCA, The Russell Gallery, The Nick Holly Gallery, and also a mixed show at 1 Alfred Place.  While all this is going on I have been working on a few commissions as well.

Enough typing, here are some photos of recent work:

I spent the last couple of weeks of August painting in the living room of my old flat.  This was less than ideal as I had to pack everything up each day so as to not be in the way of my flatmates.  The benefit was that I was able to observe the warm light and long shadows pouring in through the south facing double doors.  These two paintings are roughly 24x30".  The lower one has been selected to hang with the NEAC at the Mall Galleries 25nov - 5dec.

Sepia ink & wash sketch of Fonthill Abbey.  8x5"

Ukulele player, Retiro Park Madrid.

I'm working on a couple of larger pictures from my short trip to Madrid back here in the studio.  

A couple more small ones from Retiro Park:

Along with these I did a couple of smaller works on paper which I have donated to the Art for Youth Charity event at the Royal College of Art on the 19th & 20th of October.  Sadly I forgot to photograph them before they went.

A couple of small paintings from a series commissioned of the river Itchen.

Dropped into the Royal Academy this morning to have breakfast and see the Degas exhibition.  Even with a slight hangover the works are spellbinding and show such fluid draftsmanship.  Theres also a fascinating aspect to the exhibition documenting the competition between photographer and artist to capture movement and form.

Lots more to come as I try and get this blog up to date..

Off to Madrid!

The good thing about having an exhibition on, is having more time to sketch.  As you can see I'm never very far from the gallery..

Peter at Art in London has kindly placed a link to my show at the top of his list:

In other news, my studio is being demolished so I have given notice on my flat and decided to move to Spain!  Well not quite like that -Julia's work is posting her to Madrid (she works in solar power so the UK isn't much use) seeing as I have been painting London for a few years now and although I could go on forever I think a change of scenery can only be a good thing.  So as of September this blog will become the account of a Britsh artist discovering Spain.  Perhaps things will turn blue?

Picasso's Blue Period (1901–1904),which consisted of somber, blue-tinted paintings was influenced by a trip through Spain

I dropped by the Royal Academy to see the Summer Exhibition.  I can't say I spent a long time there.  I know what I like and there was not much of it -too many huge canvases screaming for attention with very little sign of workmanship or even consideration.  As Brian Sewel reminds us 'the Summer Exhibition exists as much to make money for the Academy as for Academicians and has no credibility as a showcase of the best in British art'.  And I'm not just bitter because my painting was not accepted -well maybe a bit!  On a happier note my friend Zanny Mellor did have her work accepted and not only was it hung very well but it sold on the opening night!  Going back to Sewel for a second I was pleased to read in his ES article that the only work he really appreciated were the real painters, Dunstan, Cuming, Howard etc.  Did I mention Ken Howard was at my private view? Yes, that was an obvious name drop but I still can't quite believe it!