tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47368939843591704312024-03-13T12:15:39.832+00:00Shaun Morrisshaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.comBlogger443125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-64252063310460179582024-02-06T15:49:00.006+00:002024-02-06T15:51:29.312+00:00Painting is Hard....<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPTdwQYq6_Sw9rfQoZI1Scz70BswsOsBKsCy77r1s8jTKwVrR39AyDtcAOta9a6TGkA_q7Ny0H003WmuhSFbQrRxucRz1Th7HidUToRJQNSRjPkn5sDLLNbCtUGkgVjYL5fq7OJ_jDiRrawla80B9gMM-bR91U66ifHWiQemXiBwQywyM0IgAae4q1cgs/s2405/Community%20Engagement%20Officer%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2405" data-original-width="1785" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPTdwQYq6_Sw9rfQoZI1Scz70BswsOsBKsCy77r1s8jTKwVrR39AyDtcAOta9a6TGkA_q7Ny0H003WmuhSFbQrRxucRz1Th7HidUToRJQNSRjPkn5sDLLNbCtUGkgVjYL5fq7OJ_jDiRrawla80B9gMM-bR91U66ifHWiQemXiBwQywyM0IgAae4q1cgs/w298-h400/Community%20Engagement%20Officer%202.jpg" width="298" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Community Engagement Officer', oil on canvas, 120 x 90cms, 2023-24</div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Occasionally I will stop and think how much painting is extremely difficult to do well. It requires an extraordinary amount of mental stamina and focus, skill and experience which can only be developed with many years of practice in the studio (I’ve now been painting seriously for nearly 35 years), many hours looking at other paintings, and an incredible will and determination. And still it frequently ends up being a complete mess or falling desperately short of what you hoped. So, you carry on…that’s the reason you carry on. It’s either that or give up. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I haven’t given up, and in the last couple of months I’ve made some new paintings I’m pleased with that I would like to share….</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I’m continuing to develop a renewed interest in painting the figure in the landscape, but I’m also interested in developing some more specific portraits of individuals, such as this one of Nick (at top of post), Community Engagement Officer for the Birmingham Canal and River Trust, who has been working with my students. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I worked on it in the last week before Christmas, before then deciding to repaint the whole thing in about 3 hours in January. It was part of a process of experimenting and trying to decide what I don’t like as much as what I do. This is to develop a language for the portraits that’s a break from the ones I’ve done in the past and thinking about and applying some of the lessons I’ve learned from 12 years of landscape painting since. Consequently, I’m not sure what I think of this painting just yet, but I know from experience the answer as to how to develop things further is not by doing any more work on this one, but keep doing others and keep exploring…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGx0xSfk1t70fsP6Dh3E66s3062R_CAWAYxSRrU039rW6HVCaSpo02HbWDANfRnrxOo9JL3zfUS6BKStGEeFSLiVceuCMThXT3aFyyLQ7eXvsoUne4YkhHACTQ17wA3Ry8-X1aK3zDkTzL7dtFGIbkSk1b29wOO6avhrfU2_JLBoKBr3-vHp4GzqDAdo/s2741/You%20Are%20Lost.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2181" data-original-width="2741" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGx0xSfk1t70fsP6Dh3E66s3062R_CAWAYxSRrU039rW6HVCaSpo02HbWDANfRnrxOo9JL3zfUS6BKStGEeFSLiVceuCMThXT3aFyyLQ7eXvsoUne4YkhHACTQ17wA3Ry8-X1aK3zDkTzL7dtFGIbkSk1b29wOO6avhrfU2_JLBoKBr3-vHp4GzqDAdo/w400-h319/You%20Are%20Lost.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">as yet untitled, oil on canvas, 120 x 150cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I’m much happier with this large painting of a canal scene set at a spot I frequently pass on my dog walks and have made two other largeish paintings from, one set in the winter (one of my favourite paintings) and one in the summer. I wanted to do something more autumnal at the same scene and kept returning through late October with my camera, and the dog, to capture the changing autumn colours. I was inspired by the glorious autumnal fiery colour of the autumn I had witnessed on a recent trip to Scotland, but the colour in the Midlands was rather different… Still, the dun greens, ochres and darker colours were still autumnal. I could have made things fierier with vivid oranges and yellows, but there is something about an authenticity that always nags and sits whispering on my shoulder…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">One morning as I took some photos this barge came into view from beneath the bridge and slowly glided past me, it’s owner eyeing me somewhat suspiciously as he passed whilst I took some photos. I was excited and slightly unsettled by the experience, but I’m not sure why. When it came to creating the painting, I decided to include the barge, with the fear that it may look a little twee, but by keeping it quite small enveloped by the surrounding landscape I think I managed to avoid any tweeness. Instead, I think it has captured that unsettling, almost funeral, feeling I felt on the towpath that morning. I think it’s one of the strongest paintings I've made in a long time….</div><div><br /></div></div></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-46772986742056228652023-12-05T15:17:00.001+00:002023-12-05T15:17:41.540+00:00Same book, different page....<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhm4EMoCilmPztV-Ea4CeqcjMXobd7I14JVrngiNdbskefQAx-m7H7vOGjpg7IYvrzydnPg5IHZqxoVw1vUpY-7jD7POq6x0dAIpG_i74CXc93GhYOkruTN47u3Hwr7M3OrVDbE4lvTddU1VJfEbV5rh_OfmlcDhiET-jOC-V1IXaiqBJouxohIL_4OU/s800/2688a71da9ddb23a60-800x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="587" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhm4EMoCilmPztV-Ea4CeqcjMXobd7I14JVrngiNdbskefQAx-m7H7vOGjpg7IYvrzydnPg5IHZqxoVw1vUpY-7jD7POq6x0dAIpG_i74CXc93GhYOkruTN47u3Hwr7M3OrVDbE4lvTddU1VJfEbV5rh_OfmlcDhiET-jOC-V1IXaiqBJouxohIL_4OU/w294-h400/2688a71da9ddb23a60-800x800.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Join Hands', oil on canvas, 120 x 100cms, 2023</div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I’ve completed two large paintings based on similar, but not the same, observations of people, largely retired, coming together at local parks and playing fields to exercise, but, more importantly, to be with other people. They are an attempt to look at some of the ongoing interests I have in the social and political that underpin many of my paintings through a different, more positive lens.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The unpeopled landscape paintings tend towards the weary and melancholy in feel, sighing under the weight of it all. They depict post-industrial ruins, overlooked spaces on the edges and quiet suburban streets explored on night walks by the stressed insomniac. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I sometimes think that it can be easier to make a more overt social or political statement in art that can, on the surface, appear more serious, and I think some of my landscape paintings can possess this quality. But I believe these new paintings are just as serious a message about the strength in community, grass roots activism and socialism, and above all the love and understanding we seek and need in life found in friends and the companionship of others. There were lots of groups like this set up by ordinary people post-Covid that I find inspiring. They are also signs of what we are all in our own way looking for-the opportunity to connect with others…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3D7FA_l1lKFjN26PFsWw_lqCu8fsgMIK6QuDezFieqhEVv_ZAxwW5Hnu_0ItJiI3FKCN_OmMhrbl-r9eVevB_vpSv9UlYrEW3q2Rtib8Ln5tx6N3u_OyB67PXqS8d0K8e7rqQWRTH5Ti_fqv-GsSYHJNEY8wlvXVw3OUGft0xK_1IXAsVmwcotDlIS-8/s3363/The%20Last%20Days%20of%20Disco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2568" data-original-width="3363" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3D7FA_l1lKFjN26PFsWw_lqCu8fsgMIK6QuDezFieqhEVv_ZAxwW5Hnu_0ItJiI3FKCN_OmMhrbl-r9eVevB_vpSv9UlYrEW3q2Rtib8Ln5tx6N3u_OyB67PXqS8d0K8e7rqQWRTH5Ti_fqv-GsSYHJNEY8wlvXVw3OUGft0xK_1IXAsVmwcotDlIS-8/w400-h305/The%20Last%20Days%20of%20Disco.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Last Days of Disco', oil on canvas, 150 x 200cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I called the largest painting ‘The Last Days of Disco’ after a Yo La Tengo song from the album ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Out’ which, with the aged figures appearing in some sort of dance, seemed to fit as a title, but I’m wary of it seeming like a mickey-take, which it certainly isn’t. I hoped it appears a more gentle and affectionate title. Interestingly it seems to hark back to my old paintings set in nightclubs made 25 years ago. Still in the same book but on a different page, or even just a bit further down the same one. The other painting, ‘Join Hands’, with the sunlight dappled grass in the large foreground, also seemed to echo the revolving light from the mirrored disco ball. </div></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-54245154636580096952023-12-04T20:49:00.008+00:002023-12-05T09:48:31.103+00:00'The Polish Rider'...<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QKyHcWT3ehdZwOgmJBjB1lrBHcnW8gOTPmJ5-x81Yd1djlbPxUhAeyGeDOhhZUuqv5vvRoz4EHaKEWzAbLS2tMFWVURqUvmU72bP_h2qi8p1xLLoOaD_NSZNbv9lFw27AImQnwC28k8trvIpHhGqbECrqNBeMdIKX64POgw-zbL2hWVzEBzLYOyw4Tc/s1350/The%20Polish%20Rider.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QKyHcWT3ehdZwOgmJBjB1lrBHcnW8gOTPmJ5-x81Yd1djlbPxUhAeyGeDOhhZUuqv5vvRoz4EHaKEWzAbLS2tMFWVURqUvmU72bP_h2qi8p1xLLoOaD_NSZNbv9lFw27AImQnwC28k8trvIpHhGqbECrqNBeMdIKX64POgw-zbL2hWVzEBzLYOyw4Tc/w320-h400/The%20Polish%20Rider.jpg" width="320" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Polish Rider', oil on canvas, 90 x 80cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">As I come to the end of an interesting and experimental (but when is my painting not experimental?) year for my work, I’m pleased to announce that a recent portrait painting, ‘The Polish Rider’, has been selected for an exhibition on the theme of ‘People’ at The Open Gallery in Halifax, West Yorkshire in January 2024. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The painting depicts a ‘rider’ for one of the many fast-food delivery companies- Deliveroo, Uber, Just-Eat, you name’em- on the pavement on his electric motorbike as he prepares to head towards his next job. The title references Rembrandt’s famous ‘Polish Rider’ painting, painted in the 1650s, of an unknown horse rider battling the harsh elements and terrain of a somewhat murky landscape. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2HbPKNLO0-TJksuLAFDk8Vxt9CGC7jwopcInyweirPY5hhvdv1ntGR9gWbuoArV2CHjKy8ilItJsgEzxTNNymBF-EePxkGo_rbytwNFoGLRXBbtgLfr4-EmzuCR0CuB7DmIrIrPvBPyHRBK_0AEnuEe7PpDX-toAT2BnMwi0z8fgNzApJsTqaKL6lxMM/s1004/Rembrandt_-_The_Polish_Rider_-_WGA19251.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1004" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2HbPKNLO0-TJksuLAFDk8Vxt9CGC7jwopcInyweirPY5hhvdv1ntGR9gWbuoArV2CHjKy8ilItJsgEzxTNNymBF-EePxkGo_rbytwNFoGLRXBbtgLfr4-EmzuCR0CuB7DmIrIrPvBPyHRBK_0AEnuEe7PpDX-toAT2BnMwi0z8fgNzApJsTqaKL6lxMM/w400-h335/Rembrandt_-_The_Polish_Rider_-_WGA19251.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Polish Rider', Rembrandt, c1650s (a bit better than my painting...)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It’s an idealised, ambiguous figure painted in a much sketchier manner than Rembrandt is known for, but my own painting is an attempt to ironically counterpoint the older painting’s romantic idealism, with my rider painted without any ambiguity about the subject. The subject being in this case a low-paid worker from an ethnic minority background in insecure work and a perilous capital realist social situation. The manner in which it is painted, which is somewhat flat-footed and lacking the bravura brushwork of the Dutch Master, is also important. The only shared ambiguity is in the background, but instead of the mountains and romantic terrain of the original, my painting suggests a backdrop of banal shop-fronts and architecture and industrial sized bins in the inner city. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My favourite part of my painting is that small area of green bin between and beneath the purply lilac sleeve on the left. That’s an exciting area right there!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It’s nice to get this figurative painting selected as I’ve been trying to reintroduce the figure in various ways back into my work this year and extend out from my landscape work. I’ve been exploring various ways to do this in terms of the painterly language, and how to paint the figure again, with some paintings being more successful than others. I’m not sure if ‘The Polish Rider’ is entirely successful (so it’s nice that someone else i.e the Open Gallery, thinks it is), but I think the idea behind the portrait is interesting, although perhaps a little cliched, but I’m beginning to firm up some ideas of ways of making things work better. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBp_21ElUZDfnx8bXSHLE6eu0G6m8fhN4qpgBF_oQd3OXxVeHPkrK8jsu4O5IbSWuPyxQBa3ITjjeATJrsYUhHpaq-YmWp6DlFhFdPz55IsdPLo1FORfXixZqOE4F8jnz5sSZNQr789Y0ZbJ1w69sWoEOz4ID-S2VJhE1nwF6zPFfRKbAt4IY_6dVRPys/s799/d7hftxdivxxvm.cloudfront.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="799" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBp_21ElUZDfnx8bXSHLE6eu0G6m8fhN4qpgBF_oQd3OXxVeHPkrK8jsu4O5IbSWuPyxQBa3ITjjeATJrsYUhHpaq-YmWp6DlFhFdPz55IsdPLo1FORfXixZqOE4F8jnz5sSZNQr789Y0ZbJ1w69sWoEOz4ID-S2VJhE1nwF6zPFfRKbAt4IY_6dVRPys/w400-h310/d7hftxdivxxvm.cloudfront.webp" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Nicole Eisenman, 'The Triumph of Poverty', 2009</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">It seems necessary to shed some ways of working I’ve held onto for a long time, particularly the idea that my work must always come from direct observation. Although I still want to root the work in observations of the world around me I need to be more flexible about how I construct the paintings. This was confirmed by a visit to the Nicole Eisenman exhibition at The Whitechapel Gallery I visited last week, which blew my mind. It was the best exhibition I had seen in a very long time; full of original ideas about representing the figure and taking more playful risks with narrative and the language of painting, all pooled from a vast well of different primary and secondary source material, culture, and art history. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I returned from London wanting to get on with a new portrait I’ve been developing for some time now, and hopefully loosen things up a bit. </div></div></div></div><p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-23267160901056906682023-11-10T20:01:00.000+00:002023-11-10T20:01:21.597+00:00'The Door In The Wall'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJWzR6ya5qYzjd2zlEO32VXlRavZhai_VjEr8PwsLU-5QnL72jdZ1-0Re3C467fv_W-K7OBwcBLUNWfPRZkORqm2jptCln0ZawSjUYb8eER0t5ck4rU5zQkezPg3qlH8HVFucm4FiBORCzrJflm_-ljfpIkf1ZfJxeCI29MSLsFiOraYL_S5cSI6xYddE/s1350/344542105_194310610095003_7558855804920695218_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJWzR6ya5qYzjd2zlEO32VXlRavZhai_VjEr8PwsLU-5QnL72jdZ1-0Re3C467fv_W-K7OBwcBLUNWfPRZkORqm2jptCln0ZawSjUYb8eER0t5ck4rU5zQkezPg3qlH8HVFucm4FiBORCzrJflm_-ljfpIkf1ZfJxeCI29MSLsFiOraYL_S5cSI6xYddE/s320/344542105_194310610095003_7558855804920695218_n.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The artist with artist friend, Andrew Smith installing 'The Door In The Wall' exhibition</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My solo exhibition, ‘Night Walks’ overlapped in May with another exhibition in Worcester, ‘The Door In The Wall’, a two-person exhibition that I worked in collaboration on with my artist friend, Andrew Smith at The Hive, the University of Worcester Library which has a large exhibition space. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJJfCDXsdppF7xb2dUbrwI0a7WCEtv9fGtefbX12z8X4ADsM_xXlOCMtQIq1nakZRRZ2Pukjhrwcaqbc0hS0hsA4us7ObRgFExBIdAdi-AZJgR0772AWJHUKiTGph8AgfFCl0cgfvyqPHDaUxTgnraGNyX93q_T0ieGU6bcIxpOUpv-b2nXc-EP92kU4/s1123/345641603_237035855586473_8851786366042945928_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="898" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJJfCDXsdppF7xb2dUbrwI0a7WCEtv9fGtefbX12z8X4ADsM_xXlOCMtQIq1nakZRRZ2Pukjhrwcaqbc0hS0hsA4us7ObRgFExBIdAdi-AZJgR0772AWJHUKiTGph8AgfFCl0cgfvyqPHDaUxTgnraGNyX93q_T0ieGU6bcIxpOUpv-b2nXc-EP92kU4/s320/345641603_237035855586473_8851786366042945928_n.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This was our second joint exhibition together, the last being ‘Displaced’, in 2021 at Birmingham’s T Street Gallery, We have also collaborated on other exhibitions together with artist, Hugh Marwood over what is now a 13-year period, and as ever, Chris Cowdrill, an illustrator friend who always produces the great publicity material for our different exhibitions, as well as occasionally exhibiting too. There is a sort of shared tone across our respective works that has worked together in the past, and there are lots of benefits to working with other artists like this. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBjryaRtfn91s_1cbA-J_mrMyuv1pC5L1eFaS3jzeBVM18aa2Vf7gm5Otj3ueomKyTFrz83R4kz__J8lvLhiKXOsnLYjJFxx-MD7PSwKnyrUM5pTQSSPpp5VkIc8hmL2q_kxbrPduPgVbbzfd7paHr3EWj6byZmyd_cl-yjTiZcnoWYX029pLtSeyPx0/s3425/homes-painting-feb-24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2546" data-original-width="3425" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBjryaRtfn91s_1cbA-J_mrMyuv1pC5L1eFaS3jzeBVM18aa2Vf7gm5Otj3ueomKyTFrz83R4kz__J8lvLhiKXOsnLYjJFxx-MD7PSwKnyrUM5pTQSSPpp5VkIc8hmL2q_kxbrPduPgVbbzfd7paHr3EWj6byZmyd_cl-yjTiZcnoWYX029pLtSeyPx0/s320/homes-painting-feb-24.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Painting by Andrew Smith</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Andrew has, since lockdown, produced an incredible range of work across different media, including painting, painted photographs, and artist’s books, video and poetry that has stemmed from processes engaged around the TV programme, ‘Homes Under the Hammer’. Taking photographs from the TV show, these are then manipulated in various creative ways, usually with paint, to suggest different, more imaginary, rooms and spaces to the rather dilapidated and careworn rooms of the houses that are sold at auction for renovation by prospective property developers. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtzpmRS2Nvt1frUdavnh3BSryDNAo_ViVy1UQH54UjhZLoPyF54aCAaT3PrjWoP8XFZZnONCr8QaNotKqJWYsg-RRMcIAiGxT6p-HSL5kMT1Qgf_8jeKNbdRlrLkrsJyDHMiPTzYPU24VQrdr1yP_GRAlGzhs21ddATgY255ryp2VZ97cuYge13LFFKw/s3307/homes-painting-1-october-2022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3084" data-original-width="3307" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtzpmRS2Nvt1frUdavnh3BSryDNAo_ViVy1UQH54UjhZLoPyF54aCAaT3PrjWoP8XFZZnONCr8QaNotKqJWYsg-RRMcIAiGxT6p-HSL5kMT1Qgf_8jeKNbdRlrLkrsJyDHMiPTzYPU24VQrdr1yP_GRAlGzhs21ddATgY255ryp2VZ97cuYge13LFFKw/s320/homes-painting-1-october-2022.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Painting by Andrew Smith</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The finished artworks have a very uneasy, haunted quality and are informed by an underlying critique of late capitalism and the property market. For ‘The Door In The Wall’ he decided to exhibit some of the painted photographs and also a selection of some terrific new paintings based on corners of rooms and empty walls, in part in response to the photographs of Uta Barth and ‘Ideal Home’ magazine. Andy wrote a great statement about this which I’ve included at the end of this post. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbgH7VMEWcouIOtO0aSULIsSuh4-pxCfatx0zX__tr-9kOKCyo6MBd6PobciLHVLlvNPwvPs8SKzrl942taEEYH27DeDAstZOevs8tmWYPfhBn2MXC2dR5pb9Po__w_bJ3lUw0smpJL14WyVpAgPsRHPHUOGuyNGKMR7reamzxrYA3CzefqLhkOcDQFc/s1080/344743495_1288974201750302_8213696729468757494_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1080" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbgH7VMEWcouIOtO0aSULIsSuh4-pxCfatx0zX__tr-9kOKCyo6MBd6PobciLHVLlvNPwvPs8SKzrl942taEEYH27DeDAstZOevs8tmWYPfhBn2MXC2dR5pb9Po__w_bJ3lUw0smpJL14WyVpAgPsRHPHUOGuyNGKMR7reamzxrYA3CzefqLhkOcDQFc/s320/344743495_1288974201750302_8213696729468757494_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Paintings by Shaun Morris</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Whilst Andy focussed on the interior world of his painted rooms, my own contribution was presented, intended as a contrast, a selection of my landscape paintings, but with all the work across the exhibition sharing a common interest in the eerie and the uncanny and psychological states related to this. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vrlP_dPanPq6XdW8CD-o03gtOMgY6gnlMMPwt8FJfI1LjD-Qz7QtSrlLx1EYLASkKnPQ6hkbVQWi6KDLVQuLx6s6F380aE-Yxm-E79QjVaDtZdjIOsNBdLn4ijcgHs3wuYf8eN0PKizrq6ySQ3k8oWLV6xIlS15G-1DZpwgnlolL8GYtDlRMdL5YB3w/s1080/344835228_194448060099424_1543349770188840600_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1080" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vrlP_dPanPq6XdW8CD-o03gtOMgY6gnlMMPwt8FJfI1LjD-Qz7QtSrlLx1EYLASkKnPQ6hkbVQWi6KDLVQuLx6s6F380aE-Yxm-E79QjVaDtZdjIOsNBdLn4ijcgHs3wuYf8eN0PKizrq6ySQ3k8oWLV6xIlS15G-1DZpwgnlolL8GYtDlRMdL5YB3w/s320/344835228_194448060099424_1543349770188840600_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Green Door' by Shaun Morris</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The title for the exhibition came from a short story by H G Wells that details the traversing of its main character from one seemingly real world to another parallel world through the ‘door in the wall’, that was referenced in Mark Fisher’s excellent book ‘The Weird and the Eerie’, which inspired many of the paintings I have made in recent years. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJox5UoWx2f6zEl2oJ4UwOvjAmAW55SVYUSmYgl7VHxadk-YiOJYyI6Q8FDBPAf8HcMF7MyfLv63cgoI3MfmbjgIuh36ogL6KjIhZxeC7RYi-H1X30y-0lI7CaXq0pWB-t-pCPprxjNGTrHFsOezI_85lJWrXYh_iMj_01tDiQ3nmt7KFbFi-cjmazb5U/s683/347131921_6252147944855019_6014261478352282857_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="683" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJox5UoWx2f6zEl2oJ4UwOvjAmAW55SVYUSmYgl7VHxadk-YiOJYyI6Q8FDBPAf8HcMF7MyfLv63cgoI3MfmbjgIuh36ogL6KjIhZxeC7RYi-H1X30y-0lI7CaXq0pWB-t-pCPprxjNGTrHFsOezI_85lJWrXYh_iMj_01tDiQ3nmt7KFbFi-cjmazb5U/s320/347131921_6252147944855019_6014261478352282857_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Night Watch', oil on canvas, 100 x 120cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I also exhibited some new paintings including a large new portrait, ‘The Night Watch’, of a security guard isolated and entrapped in his ‘sentry’ box, trapped in his circumstances of low paid work borne out of his social background, which represents a nudge in the direction of some of my new work and a renewed interest in the figure. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBirMHsv7C8rNUGxXYlaABDWf9jLeYvGCKq9cZM4Ouyf0TeqDJ31PoDv5t0KW9wXv-ybBx-1Dxx6xtt3oPSfJkh2ZblWUN_ECWeiSNs_qPatx0_vmlGpB-V4eweqz25NBO6P1guwBFzSxD7upA-IQOs8ln-P5-TJIroAKcdEGHWZe9hlb3EXsmyQzM1Oc/s1080/345052510_777042437104810_4288711097986809258_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="1080" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBirMHsv7C8rNUGxXYlaABDWf9jLeYvGCKq9cZM4Ouyf0TeqDJ31PoDv5t0KW9wXv-ybBx-1Dxx6xtt3oPSfJkh2ZblWUN_ECWeiSNs_qPatx0_vmlGpB-V4eweqz25NBO6P1guwBFzSxD7upA-IQOs8ln-P5-TJIroAKcdEGHWZe9hlb3EXsmyQzM1Oc/s320/345052510_777042437104810_4288711097986809258_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The. Aquarium', oil on canvas, 60 x 90cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojFHxEJKmiLCEhfspYnDOKLtlL-EzmOk3FL-I3COmVAUtJ03LFFhRVymNqm06Nf3f4DeNxHNw2bJutLFXsUZX7Iqma8B4wzH8J_pX27nDiWE9O76yOB53FRUNvPJYlpkb1xXpMfM79HoizKTXxoFnacTzSTOgFg_rlhGCXj7LqL95k4JmGnWPQBdIX_Q/s815/343005565_6221901981203225_3679483511297140886_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="815" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojFHxEJKmiLCEhfspYnDOKLtlL-EzmOk3FL-I3COmVAUtJ03LFFhRVymNqm06Nf3f4DeNxHNw2bJutLFXsUZX7Iqma8B4wzH8J_pX27nDiWE9O76yOB53FRUNvPJYlpkb1xXpMfM79HoizKTXxoFnacTzSTOgFg_rlhGCXj7LqL95k4JmGnWPQBdIX_Q/s320/343005565_6221901981203225_3679483511297140886_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'TV Dinner', oil on canvas, 45 x 60cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> I also exhibited a couple of interior paintings myself, two new still life paintings based on ‘found’ still life subjects in my home. These were of the open, illuminated microwave just off my kitchen and the illuminated fish tank (with poor fish now sadly deceased…) in my darkened living room, the last light I turn off on the way to bed. There was something in the compositions and atmospheric lighting of these scenes that seemed to possess a quiet psychological charge and tension that spoke to me about my relationship with my domestic life I wanted to explore (and want to explore further).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLrofa_ndi_NPChS2DmZ0tWohk0PCKqdoYNB2bOXMNbvwvP854HZiKhBRBik9RaXUWHNNgI1dIEF4JuS0GKdmvgOocDA1rcoqfLcHEOuUCQGTBPsGwNq68SzQvZlKKaI16MoWHSSWlDTUVqB-VUCR6XBDps_uQQdFYcTfMfqvYverT_NkOjLdcPIPmPuU/s1080/344746279_588475883358771_7940782625101740443_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1080" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLrofa_ndi_NPChS2DmZ0tWohk0PCKqdoYNB2bOXMNbvwvP854HZiKhBRBik9RaXUWHNNgI1dIEF4JuS0GKdmvgOocDA1rcoqfLcHEOuUCQGTBPsGwNq68SzQvZlKKaI16MoWHSSWlDTUVqB-VUCR6XBDps_uQQdFYcTfMfqvYverT_NkOjLdcPIPmPuU/s320/344746279_588475883358771_7940782625101740443_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Figures' oil on canvas, 100 x. 120cms, 2018</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The landscapes I presented were paintings from different periods of work from the last few years, with many of them from a rather sombre series I called ‘The Street’ from 2017-2018 which were developed from the unease and stress I felt hung in the air in a post-Brexit, austerity ridden Britain…I think some of them are very good, and they fitted well in the exhibition, especially one called ‘Figures’, but I had to get out of that place for my painting for my own mental well-being, although things are even worse in the country now. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUf2VAhsthF7d7_e9L1ouzmuoe3jGMWnAPJfR0oeuPMzdmmHzFcPh1OaZI-LV67PjFiX4o-jGZzlwktFflfhvDBblNpGNZ_DP4uSycrQfLd5AK_Zw5M36O8p9n-k9TVbfLwEi2Lh7nRpD390t5j6RczNmkTvvNG-AhN7i7Xyqt90kHj-j7f9wAdZMk-3k/s1080/344742653_976346900194453_7586192397889954752_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1080" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUf2VAhsthF7d7_e9L1ouzmuoe3jGMWnAPJfR0oeuPMzdmmHzFcPh1OaZI-LV67PjFiX4o-jGZzlwktFflfhvDBblNpGNZ_DP4uSycrQfLd5AK_Zw5M36O8p9n-k9TVbfLwEi2Lh7nRpD390t5j6RczNmkTvvNG-AhN7i7Xyqt90kHj-j7f9wAdZMk-3k/s320/344742653_976346900194453_7586192397889954752_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Paintings by Andrew Smith</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqbUFl18XJtmx2FF-83CRV1Df1B5pau-x5phztki7p4MVw5RYyrmsS3c2rcPgTzGt0Ri2CR8Q4ziQzNvjzJidvZRCa_VGbEsbvEEQ0pfUhUHkXwRtl17sc7sMsgTVl_K9i2ju9JYNmi7LeLKAtm5CXaZ9nnBvP0qiEtmsVVVsDhiQWx9eMyEr5W5Iygw/s1080/344740933_1005428193776946_3493326106160784803_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1080" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqbUFl18XJtmx2FF-83CRV1Df1B5pau-x5phztki7p4MVw5RYyrmsS3c2rcPgTzGt0Ri2CR8Q4ziQzNvjzJidvZRCa_VGbEsbvEEQ0pfUhUHkXwRtl17sc7sMsgTVl_K9i2ju9JYNmi7LeLKAtm5CXaZ9nnBvP0qiEtmsVVVsDhiQWx9eMyEr5W5Iygw/s320/344740933_1005428193776946_3493326106160784803_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Paintings by both of us</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Andy felt the exhibition was the best one we had put together so far, but I’m not so sure. I certainly felt Andy’s work was very strong and deserved an exhibition of its own. ‘The Door In The Wall’ did look good but I don’t think the venue served it that well, and we didn’t get many visitors or were supported in getting more of an audience along by The Hive’s marketing, which was disappointed. I personally felt more inclined to try and find another venue at some point, but it’s very unlikely to happen. We carry on…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>Artist’s statement – Andrew Smith/HR Smoke (website: andrew-smith-h-r-smoke.com)</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>Over the past few years I’ve been interested in the TV programme Homes Under the Hammer, partly as a consequence of the period of lockdown and the domestic containment, or confinement, involved with that. In the private space of my living room I would be able to look into these televised private-become-public-spaces, these other, though basically similar, boxes. I began to do some work in parallel with the TV programme’s formula/narrative of improvement/development. The TV rooms before development appealed to me, or touched me perhaps, because of their usually abject state; it felt like you were – the programme’s presenters were – intruding on the traces of some private grief: a death (likely – so a house as memento mori), or the private traces of retreating economic tides (obviously, though this being an opportunity for developers to exploit – and fair play to them, say the presenters of the show: the twin abstractions of money and development mean we need not concern ourselves too much with the historical circumstances by which this house came to the market). </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>So I took photos of the TV screen and painted on prints of these – developing the TV rooms by painting out walls or introducing quasi-abstract Paul Klee-like tunnels or corridors, creating more space – as is frequently the case with the developers in the programme (the creating the space, not the Klee reference). I suppose the structure of the space, in the photo, functioned as something like a constraint into which one could introduce a degree of variation or interruption, and thus experience a kind of freedom. And I thought about the developers in the programme – their own constraints, financial or whatever (aesthetic?), and the hard work they put in to make the house they’d acquired at auction something that was saleable for profit – that being, so it seemed, the usual reason for developing these places; and I thought about how that related to what I was doing – that is, how peeling these images of rooms off the screen and then elaborating on them and presenting them as art, how that compared to the development work done on TV: something like, an investment/calculation within the field of property, and the various socio-economic forces that structure that, to produce a more or less calculable pay-off, versus an investment in the field of Art, hierarchically structured by various cultural and socio-economic forces, to produce … what … a feeling of imaginative freedom?</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>The more recent paintings on canvas follow on from an artists’ book – Downstairs Upstairs – in which the photos from the TV (again) are cropped such that they resemble minimalist abstract paintings. I was thinking of Dan Graham’s Homes for America, in which he points to the similarities between mass housing and Minimalist art, and the photos in Uta Barth’s Ground series. If situated in relation to Barth’s work, my paintings exemplify a form of non-transcendental abstraction: that is, they do not abstract to produce a rarefied conflation of domestic and gallery space – they are not ideal universalized , corners, walls, doors, as Barth says about her Ground series – rather they gesture towards forms of abstraction whilst remaining, evidently, images of rooms from the bottom end of the housing market: this isn’t LA, it’s Stoke. Or, to put it another way, the paintings as makeover – a la Homes Under the Hammer – retain a reference to socio-economic origins, or class difference. The short film Homes Movie (available via QR code in this exhibition) begins with a mock (up) version of Ideal Home magazine, with stills from later in the film juxtaposed with some of Barth’s photos, which don’t look entirely out of place in the magazine context, which I suppose in a sense supports her point that “most empty corners and doorways do look alike, so when a picture of a corner is moved to a new space it still tends to read as relating to that particular location.” The rest of the film applies some of Barth’s formal tropes – the staring at walls, the edges of things - to footage from Homes Under the Hammer: I don’t think the effect is parodic of either Barth or Homes, but it is something like an exercise in creating a disjunction between form and content.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>You can paint yourself into a corner. You can turn a corner. In The Poetics of Space, his study of the house, the significances of its interior spaces, Gaston Bachelard describes the corner as “the most sordid of all havens.” It is, he says, a place for welcome withdrawal, desired immobility: one can retreat into the corner, into oneself – or emerge from the corner, into the world, to find oneself. The corner is like a “sullen uncommunicative person”, and, also, the place for memories, dreams, reflections, for the imagination – for readings in a universe of dust. To sit and read a few lines on the ceiling – or to apply a new coat of paint?</i></div><div><br /></div></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-83121034473646438992023-08-29T21:26:00.005+01:002023-09-01T17:57:55.734+01:00Layers....<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBgeZlVT0kjpNo1GoFUdhH34Hs0HUKFHTi-LzIlylBSdKU5qZ8-80YQ0S4ba3afuayLrNbpcDgAG8bD-R4XXsNvppk6yfVssVqrahL3ZEIDyPW31vklHECZe0sPm3WzO0aMeiWud0AYLS3hcin9omPp7nOwaUp7EALKEhmfQDUwFMvp37bEastiXKd4Os/s1351/336910831_759988352206526_8267743016119491570_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1351" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBgeZlVT0kjpNo1GoFUdhH34Hs0HUKFHTi-LzIlylBSdKU5qZ8-80YQ0S4ba3afuayLrNbpcDgAG8bD-R4XXsNvppk6yfVssVqrahL3ZEIDyPW31vklHECZe0sPm3WzO0aMeiWud0AYLS3hcin9omPp7nOwaUp7EALKEhmfQDUwFMvp37bEastiXKd4Os/w320-h400/336910831_759988352206526_8267743016119491570_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Another Clockwork Day', oil on canvas, 150 x 120cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As we enter September, and are nearly two thirds into 2023, I’ve been reflecting recently on the paintings I’ve made this year. I’m always experimenting in my work, even if it is sometimes just in small incremental ways, but this year I think in my attempt to shift things on and branch out, I am finding I’m making a much more diverse and interesting range of work than I have in some time. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEger76416CrmGjEdLBuTinb_QdefBqzoJIn6wAsphZ3id2tU0huvdyGSD78RYuFCFRHKyq1VIwi36nq_2pEo1zck21_ifmNnoulQ3I9lYUEzH75ohkmKbsm5UqU-Ks2Bejfq9WSnJvveh_-BAoXgJ54hrRvhtmRK08rc8fjdM19cPhuDKG4D4rXjpI5gY4/s3363/The%20Last%20Days%20of%20Disco.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2568" data-original-width="3363" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEger76416CrmGjEdLBuTinb_QdefBqzoJIn6wAsphZ3id2tU0huvdyGSD78RYuFCFRHKyq1VIwi36nq_2pEo1zck21_ifmNnoulQ3I9lYUEzH75ohkmKbsm5UqU-Ks2Bejfq9WSnJvveh_-BAoXgJ54hrRvhtmRK08rc8fjdM19cPhuDKG4D4rXjpI5gY4/w400-h305/The%20Last%20Days%20of%20Disco.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Last Days of Disco', oil on canvas, 150 x 200cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AZtw5DsWFK5b_XoFRJIciJT65jMt4u-5kmwP8vxC8yY47_DIuSJze1I5P0KgVGdiH3DMU44diJDaCbrYEZD83hbspU0l8pSerMELvTP4sJ-ibt5eudUoLAjTL65waMM74w7NUEAa-pIy3IOaDkbeiouZ8ZR2bQNjmvUDolxWyPGGGcE59675o5Tn4ng/s683/347131921_6252147944855019_6014261478352282857_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="683" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AZtw5DsWFK5b_XoFRJIciJT65jMt4u-5kmwP8vxC8yY47_DIuSJze1I5P0KgVGdiH3DMU44diJDaCbrYEZD83hbspU0l8pSerMELvTP4sJ-ibt5eudUoLAjTL65waMM74w7NUEAa-pIy3IOaDkbeiouZ8ZR2bQNjmvUDolxWyPGGGcE59675o5Tn4ng/w400-h315/347131921_6252147944855019_6014261478352282857_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">''The Night Watch', oil on canvas, 100 x 120cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmtqJU8D0AanIu1LoqyFfT-qVR0fHlXkAM40oyB_mecOJM0EJTOjBVJOHnm-ZZIRTR-MApfNkvCRjJmAzYwqOQCvur2ALebRqF0BtrfVxCziUAwyFVDo2JI8CPQuKcWfPWwZ4zf2IbcWrb8BT_SpBN4fZ_Evik1s9U9gngpBtWO_1oM9vtSRwn8xnsnM/s1350/361994776_10231406508372716_8514102978122246592_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmtqJU8D0AanIu1LoqyFfT-qVR0fHlXkAM40oyB_mecOJM0EJTOjBVJOHnm-ZZIRTR-MApfNkvCRjJmAzYwqOQCvur2ALebRqF0BtrfVxCziUAwyFVDo2JI8CPQuKcWfPWwZ4zf2IbcWrb8BT_SpBN4fZ_Evik1s9U9gngpBtWO_1oM9vtSRwn8xnsnM/w320-h400/361994776_10231406508372716_8514102978122246592_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>'The Polish Rider', oil on canvas, 90 x 75cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Many of these paintings have started to include the figure and include more narrative elements. Many of the paintings also explore the relationship between the figure and different spaces and how to represent this. There are also some ideas developing around my occasional interest in still life painting, this time with studies of ‘found’ still lives around my home. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw_0SgDBkQ_QkTHb3_WU4dLv4yQzRzQV33575VLKuNcMqwUvab6TDY_Q9etzP6YtvcJ55d6x86DDG4rWmi6LTWwzyROQRD4HeNJoaQ40SjCES2k5_XNUPstXkTFnIYDPfz2TQpRnvbWEr2W5notq0kHfdiNlNDjKEv3g4U4KRcY-jhdmbZNxqvbadxGs/s815/343005565_6221901981203225_3679483511297140886_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="815" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw_0SgDBkQ_QkTHb3_WU4dLv4yQzRzQV33575VLKuNcMqwUvab6TDY_Q9etzP6YtvcJ55d6x86DDG4rWmi6LTWwzyROQRD4HeNJoaQ40SjCES2k5_XNUPstXkTFnIYDPfz2TQpRnvbWEr2W5notq0kHfdiNlNDjKEv3g4U4KRcY-jhdmbZNxqvbadxGs/w400-h280/343005565_6221901981203225_3679483511297140886_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'TV Dinner', oil on canvas, 50 x 75cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-2pKLvMtlkOFhNp_VgghzJlqrO2_5wztIIe37T2MEYNFSZZSh2uJPD3QszEY31imzdNoGjI9VBTMAl68LhE5KQK6rJkDIyvA-sTXhhTvWkE6ZpfxkabBbiXduzlYehDk_obWyCPMgyHvy8qa5M36QgD9ROnF8044FVa5MuK0GTVbIZ6IL8udm85komsM/s1080/345052510_777042437104810_4288711097986809258_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-2pKLvMtlkOFhNp_VgghzJlqrO2_5wztIIe37T2MEYNFSZZSh2uJPD3QszEY31imzdNoGjI9VBTMAl68LhE5KQK6rJkDIyvA-sTXhhTvWkE6ZpfxkabBbiXduzlYehDk_obWyCPMgyHvy8qa5M36QgD9ROnF8044FVa5MuK0GTVbIZ6IL8udm85komsM/w400-h266/345052510_777042437104810_4288711097986809258_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Aquariam', oil on canvas, 60 x 90cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4NeRcJjOAhxl4KKmYRhvLiaXb3eQe4QQv4bFeQ4O7SkKAevgq3ZdlYIQa4AOoz5M_cQh4h1zFH-A1M3aLcHL0uumzB81ceZGmzDrJVjMl5kDiENxTr9Pfrw9NFtS5012mtTOD8YRqtxh4pZP3fSriEG-AzWDiwYEIo0LdNDmMJ0JA9pmLACnN7o7PV7E/s1350/361833199_10231391481917064_4578313874521309939_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4NeRcJjOAhxl4KKmYRhvLiaXb3eQe4QQv4bFeQ4O7SkKAevgq3ZdlYIQa4AOoz5M_cQh4h1zFH-A1M3aLcHL0uumzB81ceZGmzDrJVjMl5kDiENxTr9Pfrw9NFtS5012mtTOD8YRqtxh4pZP3fSriEG-AzWDiwYEIo0LdNDmMJ0JA9pmLACnN7o7PV7E/w320-h400/361833199_10231391481917064_4578313874521309939_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>'Pickle Jar', oil on canvas, 35 x 25cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">New things are happening that are also in dialogue with older ideas I was interested in many years ago and my landscape work. I see lots of connections, but also as if I am peeling back another layer of the same onion to reveal a bit more of the ongoing different interests I have. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP0hNbfz6P-XfJAqCftACJAJ0s7plhrdzwlu7SSy0Cd8H5S5vSQ9DedK2VLcdr7BL3zugpR6Ao2PkmkTUmfO2oydQXVqcQ_lpnla9PvleWpSvH4NL0tp48lxn-CT9t3pHq9DhqeII7-qnbY8zZX49VpRCIr1waLl2vWlE_MbVAZu6SlBDal1Gnsfdpt2E/s2740/The%20Days%20Get%20Darker.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2290" data-original-width="2740" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP0hNbfz6P-XfJAqCftACJAJ0s7plhrdzwlu7SSy0Cd8H5S5vSQ9DedK2VLcdr7BL3zugpR6Ao2PkmkTUmfO2oydQXVqcQ_lpnla9PvleWpSvH4NL0tp48lxn-CT9t3pHq9DhqeII7-qnbY8zZX49VpRCIr1waLl2vWlE_MbVAZu6SlBDal1Gnsfdpt2E/w400-h334/The%20Days%20Get%20Darker.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Days Get Dark', oil on canvas, 100 x 120cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I’ve no idea what the next painting will be right now and that’s exciting. </div><p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-33709282858902460812023-05-26T10:50:00.008+01:002023-05-26T10:56:49.009+01:00'Night Walks'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3TMDUmeXbQ3GfYqWvo6rX0POey62N1RoFuaPcnAX0c-1RrWWXhRnt9dkVmfsWiNh-qBHV7yOTcjqzWLh-96_FhELqz9LNCSI3SSPgClhpxFhafhatKhTo7VgBBF2wxm03CKZCokqo-VCH-86fde8goRAU_DztICSzdF3kVctgdJS0pcdrRoHLnHE9/s1920/Morris%20Shaun%20On%20The%20Corner%20Oil%20On%20Canvas.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1892" data-original-width="1920" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3TMDUmeXbQ3GfYqWvo6rX0POey62N1RoFuaPcnAX0c-1RrWWXhRnt9dkVmfsWiNh-qBHV7yOTcjqzWLh-96_FhELqz9LNCSI3SSPgClhpxFhafhatKhTo7VgBBF2wxm03CKZCokqo-VCH-86fde8goRAU_DztICSzdF3kVctgdJS0pcdrRoHLnHE9/s320/Morris%20Shaun%20On%20The%20Corner%20Oil%20On%20Canvas.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'On The Corner', oil on canvas, 60 x 60cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have just taken down another exhibition at Malvern Library, ‘Night Walks’, which opened at the beginning of April and ran until the end of May. I really enjoyed exhibiting there this time last year, so I asked if I could show again with a more specifically themed exhibition based on a selection of the paintings I have made of the nocturnal landscape over the last 10 years. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM7Gxb27mqyiCbyXwYJNhvOTm83Fn0nHL4Y3bqz_6h4jUvVTjpz8_16GCQgUO1B32ijl8yf7M5Y6N1Ye0SnRMSu-KKRI4O8wAQ17aK8cyI47VRrq-ycaMI0KrZ_ah-TX5hgY3t5_HNdOw_EBuOD8UBs93j7N4O8MKGf8IhtD98rWIRiA9laiGjcE-L/s1080/339407278_6475882512456590_8874267021888325320_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="1080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM7Gxb27mqyiCbyXwYJNhvOTm83Fn0nHL4Y3bqz_6h4jUvVTjpz8_16GCQgUO1B32ijl8yf7M5Y6N1Ye0SnRMSu-KKRI4O8wAQ17aK8cyI47VRrq-ycaMI0KrZ_ah-TX5hgY3t5_HNdOw_EBuOD8UBs93j7N4O8MKGf8IhtD98rWIRiA9laiGjcE-L/w400-h301/339407278_6475882512456590_8874267021888325320_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Typically, most of the paintings I exhibited were pretty recent, as I’m always more interested in showing the new stuff, but there were some older ones I had made that I have not had the opportunity to exhibit previously. It looked pretty good, and I had some very positive feedback from friends and visitors, and I had a very nice and well-attended Private View on a Saturday afternoon. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFz33y2oRUefxZqShxVZZ4o1TttjyoF01i8BljCAAEpDif1HHdkoaopFjPZ_Sbagi3YGgxTfSzS9wwdXMzTLYQEV-X16Tdl_xSDdfia_YlQiq-zycwY-DmtzUZHVA6SG1O8f0PgorGJP1E52C9O1ux8uckNrnnQ9Bqo4-mzjXzIB9neDgkveCbH81a/s1080/342178144_827353495705735_1196153348557941381_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFz33y2oRUefxZqShxVZZ4o1TttjyoF01i8BljCAAEpDif1HHdkoaopFjPZ_Sbagi3YGgxTfSzS9wwdXMzTLYQEV-X16Tdl_xSDdfia_YlQiq-zycwY-DmtzUZHVA6SG1O8f0PgorGJP1E52C9O1ux8uckNrnnQ9Bqo4-mzjXzIB9neDgkveCbH81a/w400-h301/342178144_827353495705735_1196153348557941381_n.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small studies and sketchbooks<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>In April I gave a talk to a small group of visitors in the early evening at the library about the exhibition. I had prepared some notes, as when I try and do these things off the cuff, it usually ends in disaster. I thought it might be nice to share what I had written, although the conversation did happily go off in different directions, aided by the many books on artists and ideas, and my sketchbooks and small oil studies which I took along too. So, here goes…<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAMCueurPCzV4tvYZsTm_NHvALZWQbUuBkB3jsL1ja0dfH-WMCDZ5NNETPoZuU3LtOo0waeFtMvItGqUrDQbLwXK8zrQxDcm6yU8SzG7kzxRyGYGXZBv-8TK2daTvXyn4ikcy4BzKE6zu_qpw7zlbt9FeegGe4gZo63IP05_hD1iPS3qw4MCHi3n0Y/s1080/342180805_892182122079669_5875347943524269432_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="1080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAMCueurPCzV4tvYZsTm_NHvALZWQbUuBkB3jsL1ja0dfH-WMCDZ5NNETPoZuU3LtOo0waeFtMvItGqUrDQbLwXK8zrQxDcm6yU8SzG7kzxRyGYGXZBv-8TK2daTvXyn4ikcy4BzKE6zu_qpw7zlbt9FeegGe4gZo63IP05_hD1iPS3qw4MCHi3n0Y/w400-h301/342180805_892182122079669_5875347943524269432_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Recommended Reading</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">‘Night Walks’ notes</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I was privileged to have a review written of this exhibition by artist/writer Juliet Mootz where my paintings were compared to those by Edward Hopper. This is not for the first time. And yet, although like many of us, I am familiar with Hopper’s work, he has never really been an artist whose work I have paid much attention to compared to others on my long, personal artistic journey. I can appreciate his work, but that is different. However, I had seen a retrospective of his work at Tate Modern in 2004 and seeing all the work brought together like this had really left me cold. It was only when I read the words of Luc Tuymans, the contemporary Belgian Painter, who was also enjoying his own retrospective in the adjacent gallery at Tate, describing his own enjoyment of Hopper’s paintings because, he says, ‘his figures look more like puppets than real people’, that I saw them differently and looked at them in a fresh way It had been Hopper’s figures that had troubled me most but seeing them described like this made me consider Hopper’s world differently. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0jsyCH9hCNQZSkbv5SCMA5j7ysbVSxMNa1lswLfWg3QK2iLoL28pk2d56C6QxMc1u3MZf87SKg09j6wazp14glWDdURT1FeLaGEFDl3VvhCNRcu-bJ4IK8-bkNoxj1G5Tb9dv1ucpv5u-WP_cerzgp0PfWKxSFeJYLCFECr-ryR9eML0L5yIl5vF/s1080/345256561_239353685447725_3316688643200402144_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1080" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0jsyCH9hCNQZSkbv5SCMA5j7ysbVSxMNa1lswLfWg3QK2iLoL28pk2d56C6QxMc1u3MZf87SKg09j6wazp14glWDdURT1FeLaGEFDl3VvhCNRcu-bJ4IK8-bkNoxj1G5Tb9dv1ucpv5u-WP_cerzgp0PfWKxSFeJYLCFECr-ryR9eML0L5yIl5vF/w400-h333/345256561_239353685447725_3316688643200402144_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Lighted Window', oil on canvas, 70 x 80cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">By chance, a few days after the opening of ‘Night Walks’ exhibition I purchased a slim catalogue for £1 on Hopper’s work in a second-hand bookshop. I liked the look of the book, but the essays inside revealed that unexpectedly there are many qualities and interests that I do share with Hopper, both with the artist and in the art. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Much has been read into his works, especially concerning American loneliness and alienation in urban settings, yet he presented himself as an artificer, interested in technical problems; how to reconcile three sources of light in a picture; how to find forms for such uncentred subjects as highways and railroads. He was, and is, generally classified as a realist of sorts, yet he himself thought that ‘the realism thing’ had been overdone. He wrote, in the 30’s, of major painting as a record of the artist’s emotions, yet he is often judged to be a completely impersonal painter- a camera-eye, quite uninvolved with his subjects. I recognise how many of these often-contradictory characteristics exist in many of my own paintings, particularly the ‘Night Walks’, but also less visibly, in the ideas behind them, so these seemed a good point of entry to this talk tonight about the work on display. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUItIpZgn1nOpcTWpMcyNt87ukvjN_K0Na2oB4MBonhlHFla0X66W523eZJ0Mww0agrVN1GWMbwvbMU--fhAf8jfP7NKnamWSC6myqTktXY0uSqaRrRCC54Qaz4emxoFT09by4oybkf9ph8Se8zN_BoBEba74PCAZ-S5xpv2ofFfE2SJwfdNHjhsEN/s1080/338845916_1049131329379772_7374221938254417122_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="1080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUItIpZgn1nOpcTWpMcyNt87ukvjN_K0Na2oB4MBonhlHFla0X66W523eZJ0Mww0agrVN1GWMbwvbMU--fhAf8jfP7NKnamWSC6myqTktXY0uSqaRrRCC54Qaz4emxoFT09by4oybkf9ph8Se8zN_BoBEba74PCAZ-S5xpv2ofFfE2SJwfdNHjhsEN/w400-h301/338845916_1049131329379772_7374221938254417122_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9MX8FAzWDsJCSJP58iJcJN0_CdDP_wouV2tDldfhGLRTb20k_3KaULNKQy-s7Wyp1F4eSbcVs6lwBIq1PtUuXlJauFhyXoBFaXnbqWiXsee4VNIscO42-g0v238gmhTnzXJFp-44QIRFj23zy9KRv8O7yUoJu7TIdhGr0l80UNPRwoGimgSLZPA96/s2358/Bus%20Stop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1960" data-original-width="2358" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9MX8FAzWDsJCSJP58iJcJN0_CdDP_wouV2tDldfhGLRTb20k_3KaULNKQy-s7Wyp1F4eSbcVs6lwBIq1PtUuXlJauFhyXoBFaXnbqWiXsee4VNIscO42-g0v238gmhTnzXJFp-44QIRFj23zy9KRv8O7yUoJu7TIdhGr0l80UNPRwoGimgSLZPA96/w400-h333/Bus%20Stop.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Bus Stop', oil on canvas, 100 x 120cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Realism and the Problems of Depiction: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The paintings throughout the exhibition are all based on first-hand observations of my local landscape in the first instance, often based on photographs taken on my smartphone, not arbitrarily, I’m always looking and trying to remain open to seeing something that visually excites me, but not necessarily with any pre-mediated idea behind them. Sometimes however, I do go to more unusual, off the beaten track locations that interest me- beneath motorways, post-industrial sites, canals, and fields- to explore them and see what I may find that I could use. Often, these are places I knew well growing up in the Black Country that have changed a great deal due to post-industrialisation. Again, I just try to remain open to finding something, rather than having anything more specific in mind. I think these stages of gathering and seeking material rooted in the real world to work with are the aspects of realism that belong to my work, after that those things are left behind and the problems of painting begin. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6GQbNeOaN1ZPHXldt6DNRrUyU9pa149rW0vi01VeRUmQthuLo8HXjL7Zj6pd3IELGTgVwuA91oKvBlIA9pz6S_e4NHRpFix2p8fmOeqT2h_HrBMiRsITVsrxVO50i3u3VBjlJDiFmJsg4_WoIIM-AEGKpou72PMwiYULQDpKsdAjezvFMJ8_uWTR/s480/2898871740wpKFpb4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="315" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6GQbNeOaN1ZPHXldt6DNRrUyU9pa149rW0vi01VeRUmQthuLo8HXjL7Zj6pd3IELGTgVwuA91oKvBlIA9pz6S_e4NHRpFix2p8fmOeqT2h_HrBMiRsITVsrxVO50i3u3VBjlJDiFmJsg4_WoIIM-AEGKpou72PMwiYULQDpKsdAjezvFMJ8_uWTR/w263-h400/2898871740wpKFpb4.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Arctic Landscape II', oil on canvas, 120 x 90cms, 2018</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The problems are rooted in the fact that as a painter, I don’t really want to create paintings that merely exist as painted illusions of the subject matter, I want the subject matter to be the raw ingredients in my attempts to create interesting paintings that exist as objects with their own reality and existence, and dealing with the inherent problems in that area between describing a subject with some level of emotion and meaning and also the act, and language, of painting itself, how to fill a space in an interesting way, issues that have preoccupied painters stretching right back to Giotto and Duccio. For me, these include the physical act itself of painting- a primary concern- to exploring the rich and varied language of painting- mark-making, how paint is applied, colour, form, shape, edge, space etc, scale and composition. Much of my own route into this has been by following the path cut through the weeds and nettles by certain representational painters from the latter half of the twentieth century, particularly American artists such as Alex Katz, Fairfield Porter, Lois Dodd, Jane Frielicher, Wayne Thiebaud, Alice Neal alongside other contemporary examples others who inspire me such as Peter Doig, Hurvin Anderson, Mathew Khrishnu and Matt Bollinger, Wilhelm Sasnal. From these examples I have strived to develop a personal painterly language that leans heavily on the lessons of abstract painting than traditional representational painting, but also draws on older art historical examples too. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCaj5XuQky2ntA9iAvpbhUqsFyp59xFulLPK5Up0ukPZefL5Hra1LXQYqBz1BJe9o0FEpfrZvrjjutlMCGj1L2GEsgvM5aFWzf9u2qSJMtqKcu55QhzlfX0DMiK1MpMi1fA3NrLNUH3-mwo2Z8usgZNjlk-TipuT_ERkGEXj-47oeuRY2XdqmOB4io/s1080/348425988_639012824908910_1655178429715242501_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1080" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCaj5XuQky2ntA9iAvpbhUqsFyp59xFulLPK5Up0ukPZefL5Hra1LXQYqBz1BJe9o0FEpfrZvrjjutlMCGj1L2GEsgvM5aFWzf9u2qSJMtqKcu55QhzlfX0DMiK1MpMi1fA3NrLNUH3-mwo2Z8usgZNjlk-TipuT_ERkGEXj-47oeuRY2XdqmOB4io/w400-h333/348425988_639012824908910_1655178429715242501_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My painting’s compositions are very carefully thought out beforehand. I like the idea of executing the paintings in a very direct way, so that they take on the appearance of having arrived fully formed, without great struggle or being over-wrought, with everything in its right place, concise and tense. A bit like a Raymond Carver short story. The struggle goes on beforehand. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Most of the paintings are completed in one session, almost like a performance that lasts for a few hours, and is a record of that, but this is not attempted without the necessary rehearsals that go with it- drawings, smaller oil studies, sketchbook work- to make that possible. This performative aspect is inspired in part by Chinese brush painting. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Of course, this can have its drawbacks- if under-rehearsed, or I choose to make something more spontaneous, which the smaller paintings often are, the paintings can fail in that first instance, and are either scrapped, or if the will is there, further, much slower, work carries on, with different approaches explored to make the painting work. This can be seen in the paintings ‘Lost In The Supermarket’, and ‘Late Night Shift’ in this exhibition in particular. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbYMo0gcmiQuMyxw6MHmRU1Wi6aMTCbXv0YCsAjqZXaQM2RuNnTbykLlyDvS53VOTPIV8Uzh9vspFvOupD8l_9QmGRg4gqvhzgbJ0q92s0b9_n7Ot_2SXo3RYGolI0QJid0FzVw2VPpIExEqbCn2t4aXn8pRKGk8a_tFfD5Kg1LcZ2wpTb23er8-J/s1335/326227942_1590266801395522_2014351350907303120_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1335" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbYMo0gcmiQuMyxw6MHmRU1Wi6aMTCbXv0YCsAjqZXaQM2RuNnTbykLlyDvS53VOTPIV8Uzh9vspFvOupD8l_9QmGRg4gqvhzgbJ0q92s0b9_n7Ot_2SXo3RYGolI0QJid0FzVw2VPpIExEqbCn2t4aXn8pRKGk8a_tFfD5Kg1LcZ2wpTb23er8-J/w324-h400/326227942_1590266801395522_2014351350907303120_n.jpeg" width="324" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Lost In The Supermarket', oil on canvas, 60 x 50cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Many of the paintings are also painted over older, failed paintings, which can bring different and unexpected surface qualities into play, and fragments of the older painting can sometimes remain and be incorporated into the new painting. There is a loss that takes place, as the paintings that are painted over have often had the same amount of time and effort spent on them, but they just haven’t worked, so you must make the always difficult decision to let them go, destroy them, paint over, redact, fail over. It’s a sense of loss that painters must deal with. Which brings me to the next section….</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcKZ8NZD3UEXjO_Oj8dzUqY8mtEV8vH5EjKqDul3K_Kwc1m2ihZp-GmZeqSQkt-4MEXTrKA7x_z8Lsyfc-oFAw1O6eZhRgRSj9hmYJDaF_JYMjZGk58NuFcDOoOcO6PXbayYFCqPYBWl3eVn-wdlAgWNXj-hTbNy9D8GoqBKXoTDOKmmb9vURSrabk/s2443/Ice%20Cream%20Wars.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2018" data-original-width="2443" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcKZ8NZD3UEXjO_Oj8dzUqY8mtEV8vH5EjKqDul3K_Kwc1m2ihZp-GmZeqSQkt-4MEXTrKA7x_z8Lsyfc-oFAw1O6eZhRgRSj9hmYJDaF_JYMjZGk58NuFcDOoOcO6PXbayYFCqPYBWl3eVn-wdlAgWNXj-hTbNy9D8GoqBKXoTDOKmmb9vURSrabk/w400-h330/Ice%20Cream%20Wars.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Ice Cream Wars', oil on canvas, 120 x 150cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Bridging the 3 Point Question: The Personal, Political and the Art Historical</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How can you get emotion into a painting? What a strange question, perhaps- there are many technical and formal ways to convey an emotional feeling in the work after all- colour, subject, composition, but that something else that is hard to pin down is more elusive. This question is one that arises for me out of three separate conversations rooted in observations made by 2 different visitors to the private view of ‘Night Walks’, who in relation to the painting ‘Silence’, which depicts a somewhat ominous view beneath a motorway, they felt in conversation that it was a painting that held a lot of emotion.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK0VM3Uf3Tn67mD0XzuvLjSWfrB4Ak_LI6DU-VAv16NmdQJ5thA7tCPQdC9ppAo26g3cY2mEV6fA4KHHvm6MYOv-Wgrl05PA93UDKhjFsEx3pJXtFZFtydAjWK21M-Qvv2ES9bxmkW2s1NbP-qmVf7boCmY2yJkICThr6AtPSROtCYCmp_Rf9m8UDB/s617/348220182_919493595997607_4659770780882080947_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="617" data-original-width="617" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK0VM3Uf3Tn67mD0XzuvLjSWfrB4Ak_LI6DU-VAv16NmdQJ5thA7tCPQdC9ppAo26g3cY2mEV6fA4KHHvm6MYOv-Wgrl05PA93UDKhjFsEx3pJXtFZFtydAjWK21M-Qvv2ES9bxmkW2s1NbP-qmVf7boCmY2yJkICThr6AtPSROtCYCmp_Rf9m8UDB/w400-h400/348220182_919493595997607_4659770780882080947_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Silence', oil on canvas, 100 x 120cms, 2010</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The other conversation was with my artist friend, Andrew, on his first visit to my studio at the beginning of our friendship, over 10 years ago when he saw this painting, not long after I had just made it. Andrew immediately probed at the ‘psychology’ behind the painting, which I tried to brush away, stating that I was motivated only in the formal decisions behind the image, and not interested in any psychological readings. This is true, I had been trying to keep these things at bay for years for various reasons and self-imposed rules I had been using in my work, one of them being ‘no narrative’. Andy persisted with the argument that yes, that might indeed be true, but just because the painting was not created in those terms, it doesn’t mean that the painting does not possess a psychology behind it that you may or may not be aware of. I was very confused and excited by Andy’s observations that night, and it had a significant impact on the course of my painting and how I thought about it going forward and how I began to develop my work in landscape painting. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>Unknown to Andy, the painting was created not long after I had lost my younger brother, Stuart to cancer. He was 36 and it had been a traumatic time before and after his death. During the period of his illness, I would visit him and witness his rapidly deteriorating health- one felt helpless, and it was like trying to chase a snowball down a hill that just gets bigger and bigger, but you are unable to reach it and stop it. I would come home from visiting him, and unable and unwilling to talk about how he was to my wife I would just go to my studio and paint, often large canvasses, as a means of trying to process my thoughts and feelings. No great paintings came out of this, but the process was helpful, despite often have mixed feelings about the idea art of ‘art as therapy’ (it’s just too hard to be therapeutic!), but I know really that art does have great therapeutic powers. </div><div><br /></div><div>The night I got the call that had he died from his wife, I visited him one last time to say goodbye. He had died peacefully at home, and he lived on the estate not very far away from where this motorway was located, an estate also near to our childhood home, and this area of landscape beneath the motorway, ‘The Lanes’, was a place I had walked beneath many times growing up. On this final visit to him, I remember vividly the drive to his house that took me beneath this motorway again, and the deafening silence in my head and the numbness I felt trying to take it all in. The silence is where the title of the painting comes from. </div><div><br /></div><div>It was only a few months later, when I was working on this painting and 5 others that accompanied it as a series- my first ‘serious’ landscape paintings, that I realized that I was perhaps making some sort of record of that experience of that final visit to my brother and processing my grief and loss in a more tangible way than the paintings I had made during his illness. I feel some of this is held in this painting, and was maybe seen by Andy, and the recent visitors to this exhibition, but it is hard for me to see how it is visible too- it is not an expressive painting, I painted it in a very planned and impersonal way, and it is an attempt to be in dialogue with certain aspects of American abstract painting such as those by Franz Kline and Ad Reinhart, and these memories that now appear infused within the work are personal only to me- but it seems to be and that is a mysterious thing. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlBfi2-oQo5y18AZg4N7Y3IrFrrIESWJJu3Os6nSe5jvgptABTrPKPpFclNj4bPdame6I8opiSI4NLRUT2pdn-0MZ68udvfAinvMh1Pgluc8nS-OT8dJxxSAGWrdD_1OkRB02_piYNO953byW21-xUCFZ5KBZZQEQuGgELwcCAIryymJZd4Zywhkk/s1080/338575811_1197804161097122_814821075240987046_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlBfi2-oQo5y18AZg4N7Y3IrFrrIESWJJu3Os6nSe5jvgptABTrPKPpFclNj4bPdame6I8opiSI4NLRUT2pdn-0MZ68udvfAinvMh1Pgluc8nS-OT8dJxxSAGWrdD_1OkRB02_piYNO953byW21-xUCFZ5KBZZQEQuGgELwcCAIryymJZd4Zywhkk/w400-h301/338575811_1197804161097122_814821075240987046_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It takes me back to Hopper and the idea in his work that is pinned on it about American loneliness and alienation in urban settings, where he stated that he was more interested in the problems of depicting subjects from three different light sources etc, technical problems. Sometimes our real intentions are hidden from us, but perhaps more visible to others. These experiences have informed my thinking a great deal about the importance of painting what you know and looking to ‘your own backyard’. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There is a powerful, personal story behind that painting, and I have over the years, from this experience, begun to develop more of an interest in returning to some narrative aspects, without hopefully sacrificing my interest in the formal concerns and ideas when starting a painting that still preoccupy me and interest me most. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggX0jN94ccpzh582eNB9CtxlcgnUXm-A72oerjhK0xp1H3LWvrf5omBE9EUJp-dy-4-EOrpYHGOoyKK0GfpBM60Zr9CgBEqPTeenY87RSK1fKpM1KU-aCDYqlbaEBQE9k366b9nT_EjujJ-MkQn8nDmbkz2hhUkQhzmQdkh8Ot5rQHasfAc6F7zbaL/s1920/img-20221206-092226340-mp-2-f5b42b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1895" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggX0jN94ccpzh582eNB9CtxlcgnUXm-A72oerjhK0xp1H3LWvrf5omBE9EUJp-dy-4-EOrpYHGOoyKK0GfpBM60Zr9CgBEqPTeenY87RSK1fKpM1KU-aCDYqlbaEBQE9k366b9nT_EjujJ-MkQn8nDmbkz2hhUkQhzmQdkh8Ot5rQHasfAc6F7zbaL/w395-h400/img-20221206-092226340-mp-2-f5b42b.jpg" width="395" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'4am', oil on canvas, 60 x 60cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The political </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The political dimensions that occupy much of my work, and that I think have a central place in it, are my interest in these edges of towns and cities, the so-called edgelands, that form the subject matter for many of my landscapes, in particular the post-industrial Black Country, but also certain quiet signs and signifiers found in our suburban streets- the abandoned furniture on the kerb; the skip signs of the fragility and impermanence of much existence for so many people; the ever present transit van delivering our latest Amazon parcel driven by the worker on zero-hour contracts; the queues of parked postal vans of workers on strike declaring ‘enough is enough’ after years of degradation in pay and their working conditions, the burnt out ice cream van a symbol of community strife and fear. There is a palpable tension and unease on the streets in this post-Brexit, austerity driven society of the UK that is ever harder to escape from if you live in the city, or its edges. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFx23SAbI8eYclM5Tg0Vc7DTO4Nb7hALTzbVj7oZFoMCmfQHneA5ACHrZ332fQpcTLbmQLt9ehgkpUBRd6dSgsKR60zkiGrCxWjrhKmZqNe6kkju0gS4w86KJWNEbXg2Hm0ODl0mnsURPUn1XaBbv1pxZCVC1P2t8XzwefTDC27SYcJdXGp-WiiA6/s1080/326515470_3462384973990686_1011257974128485855_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="1080" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFx23SAbI8eYclM5Tg0Vc7DTO4Nb7hALTzbVj7oZFoMCmfQHneA5ACHrZ332fQpcTLbmQLt9ehgkpUBRd6dSgsKR60zkiGrCxWjrhKmZqNe6kkju0gS4w86KJWNEbXg2Hm0ODl0mnsURPUn1XaBbv1pxZCVC1P2t8XzwefTDC27SYcJdXGp-WiiA6/w400-h271/326515470_3462384973990686_1011257974128485855_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Permanent Red', oil on canvas, 45 x 60cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Black Country, and the Midlands, is also an area that, despite its rich history and influence, is a place that exists neither between city or countryside, is often overlooked or hidden or skirted around by motorways and trains that cut through to culturally cooler places such as London or the North West cities of Manchester or Liverpool etc. Much of it’s history now buried beneath the post-industrial landscape of the ‘Geography of Nowhere’ of the out of town retail parks, the giant transit hubs of lorries transporting goods in and out of the region. I’m interested in these ideas and pay attention to them everyday, but I do not wish to be stridently political in any way, just quietly so. I hope that the paintings are much more ambiguous and subtle in their meanings, with the space between the viewer and the artwork being open for the audience to bring their own reading and experiences to them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0mP76HRXsfHhKaNvt972PdFO4iBwKkyL3qDTwvbEcP3V4WmXr6s-QTReftr7vpVF8kNo_mZjIUdG7QIR1HXIF0cQ6XVAjbDD9Gu4YqQQyKJSj5UnbQUkQbaAqbhq29Ha1K5qiDPdZnP4LAoi2IkyJQYPdYTCo34IfRlmc6cwrp5sklZoU20xLeRO/s1299/28988717308rvHipb4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1020" data-original-width="1299" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0mP76HRXsfHhKaNvt972PdFO4iBwKkyL3qDTwvbEcP3V4WmXr6s-QTReftr7vpVF8kNo_mZjIUdG7QIR1HXIF0cQ6XVAjbDD9Gu4YqQQyKJSj5UnbQUkQbaAqbhq29Ha1K5qiDPdZnP4LAoi2IkyJQYPdYTCo34IfRlmc6cwrp5sklZoU20xLeRO/w400-h314/28988717308rvHipb4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Skip', oil on canvas, 40 x 45cms, 2018</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I would like to bring this stage of the talk to reflect how important the idea of the 3 point question: the personal, political and the art historical has been in the development of my painting, and the paintings I think work best are where I think this balance is held more equally. If I was to give any painter interested in observational work any advice, and I frequently do as a teacher, it is to encourage them to use their own story to develop their work. It will give it a more authentic, and original, footing, which is very important, but often can transcend this to say something of our shared experiences and relationship with the world around us. Thank you.</div></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-14272852516550010242023-02-06T21:06:00.001+00:002023-02-06T21:06:36.449+00:00Permanent Red....<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_oUy4cR0Ir2BwuHYrvRH1ifqwAVR0ms7zJOFVB1xpHoo6LUjnA9H6k4OZFmmSW3B6zUjEI5HYPXSv_Gj0KU-ilNKz0blgJ__dQ0COWnpFRSKn0BD5AsNuFQkQ9WoxupHU_Q2-8Sftsu_ZzqmLXAeLKkzQGg8Et4sU5qkgWz9PCeQrSlCVF0KFhmQ/s1080/326515470_3462384973990686_1011257974128485855_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="1080" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_oUy4cR0Ir2BwuHYrvRH1ifqwAVR0ms7zJOFVB1xpHoo6LUjnA9H6k4OZFmmSW3B6zUjEI5HYPXSv_Gj0KU-ilNKz0blgJ__dQ0COWnpFRSKn0BD5AsNuFQkQ9WoxupHU_Q2-8Sftsu_ZzqmLXAeLKkzQGg8Et4sU5qkgWz9PCeQrSlCVF0KFhmQ/w400-h271/326515470_3462384973990686_1011257974128485855_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Permanent Red', oil on canvas, 45 x 60cms, 2023</div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">In the last few weeks, I’ve been on and off busy in the studio working on some new paintings. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Set at night, they all depict parked up Postal Vans parked at the kerbside outside the postal depot near to where I live. Their compositions are identical, with them all presenting a single darkened van, lit from above, placed in the centre, a verge in front, the orange road behind, and the indistinct shapes of the suburban houses and trees opposite acting as a backdrop against the sky. I am really attracted to the power in this repetition to serve the idea.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrdsdf4ZFx84E6of9-Gwxh_NGbN2sfr9clKwX2ztNZSaAg7Qg1Xte-O6YOwzwN8LzUiPkMg3c_aNPSqhn99vSEiRFDizOCwyeaEatL6cNPoOi_qP0YhHGE3B7fTR72uDpF2AeRhPQqAvVQ_rIxC2hkXuh-XMFdJ5_oKrSGxP_tuu-oe5NdSAVz4eD/s1080/327730063_875563967046787_6612146462940370021_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="1080" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrdsdf4ZFx84E6of9-Gwxh_NGbN2sfr9clKwX2ztNZSaAg7Qg1Xte-O6YOwzwN8LzUiPkMg3c_aNPSqhn99vSEiRFDizOCwyeaEatL6cNPoOi_qP0YhHGE3B7fTR72uDpF2AeRhPQqAvVQ_rIxC2hkXuh-XMFdJ5_oKrSGxP_tuu-oe5NdSAVz4eD/w400-h281/327730063_875563967046787_6612146462940370021_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Permanent Red II', oil on canvas, 45 x 60cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As I describe them, they sound like they could be stage sets, but I think a great many of my paintings are like that, particularly the nocturnes. At 45 x 60cms they are all the same size, and although they are of single, individual vans, I saw them as part of a larger ‘collective’ group of vans and paintings. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9f507Pu4XiqAMDN3fRLUAirNvdEdESCWVtTf-UQgoT9uQ77TJ9knJr4IS9TFKmC_Tza225DAL_IFc7LpctHGTzbzljfGqMExUxfFCXEafDg23o1zNkiKRicPp9y6ssDd1cmfuI6JS2VpKslnZrrJNOEzXoQ3swtQYR-DwfKmMnsCxZDysBX7LhEK/s1080/329471927_1242975176649553_7629220781754884921_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="1080" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9f507Pu4XiqAMDN3fRLUAirNvdEdESCWVtTf-UQgoT9uQ77TJ9knJr4IS9TFKmC_Tza225DAL_IFc7LpctHGTzbzljfGqMExUxfFCXEafDg23o1zNkiKRicPp9y6ssDd1cmfuI6JS2VpKslnZrrJNOEzXoQ3swtQYR-DwfKmMnsCxZDysBX7LhEK/w400-h290/329471927_1242975176649553_7629220781754884921_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Permanent Red III', oil on canvas, 45 x 60cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I was motivated to start painting them as I passed them all lined up one evening outside the depot as I walked to town to meet my friend for a pint. They are always lined up like this, but this had been another day of postal strikes, so the view seemed to resonate more acutely as I walked by. I took some photographs on my phone and as I did, I reflected on the incredibly difficult struggle the postal workers are involved in for their jobs and conditions. And as we find ourselves into 2023, I’m thinking so much about the struggle all public sector and key workers are involved in, including myself as a teacher, against this dangerous, far-right, anti-democratic government for not only fair pay, but for the very services that underpin a fair society for all and our very democratic rights. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9bIz4F435QMvAi94X3PRiMxuCRlAlGBtY12emQ3oXqbRcOtCFlDovKU4HOYEOBXxjqSdB-OlsaldEs4y-V3teT1CO3E-6jzT4zmi8QjsDAKJ3B8_0-xx8wfo67k4TkUH-EBA9O-ubEs7lUkz3FezMaPdmBC1GraHIX5kCPBHx3IRicMD6fdaXoTJ/s1080/329466916_739058307931923_2345061061379286522_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1080" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9bIz4F435QMvAi94X3PRiMxuCRlAlGBtY12emQ3oXqbRcOtCFlDovKU4HOYEOBXxjqSdB-OlsaldEs4y-V3teT1CO3E-6jzT4zmi8QjsDAKJ3B8_0-xx8wfo67k4TkUH-EBA9O-ubEs7lUkz3FezMaPdmBC1GraHIX5kCPBHx3IRicMD6fdaXoTJ/w400-h284/329466916_739058307931923_2345061061379286522_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Permanent Red IV', oil on canvas, 45 x 60cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Last week, like these Postal Workers, I withdrew my own labour from work and went on Strike. I stood on a cold Picket Line early in the morning with my other Union colleagues and then, as an NEU Rep, was a steward at a huge rally and march through the city, united and proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with other union members and make our voices heard. I see the postal vans, sitting with quiet dignity by the kerbside, as ciphers for the individual workers all over the country, standing collectively, laying down their tools, withdrawing their labour and finally saying ‘enough is enough’. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKJ5omfVR_Ika3zNJRVBv0SvyZQC9Cy_qPpeZDYgdGwKivGhgiYWUF0Zid6xxkrVBVVPhDxES-rM6j6RlZxmipVPA0CZFhDcuJoOUb30mRdEOWv1EDz4Fvts-xF19ark3mTYSIDzl-q92CRFKWozl_qQzAcXIkagX0KgQKK1kxqBMhYIWs1GAXm1z/s2414/IMG_20230206_075229066_2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1677" data-original-width="2414" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKJ5omfVR_Ika3zNJRVBv0SvyZQC9Cy_qPpeZDYgdGwKivGhgiYWUF0Zid6xxkrVBVVPhDxES-rM6j6RlZxmipVPA0CZFhDcuJoOUb30mRdEOWv1EDz4Fvts-xF19ark3mTYSIDzl-q92CRFKWozl_qQzAcXIkagX0KgQKK1kxqBMhYIWs1GAXm1z/w400-h278/IMG_20230206_075229066_2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Permanent Red V', oil on canvas, 45 x 60cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The title of this post and these paintings, ‘Permanent Red’, is lifted from the title of the book of the same name by art critic, John Berger, which in these ‘Essays in Seeing’ he explores ideas about art and society, democracy, mass demonstrations, cubism, Walt Disney vs Francis Bacon and more. I read it as an postgraduate student, and I still draw inspiration from it nearly 30 years later.</div></div><p> </p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-92022678363204757602023-02-05T16:38:00.004+00:002023-02-05T19:25:36.361+00:00The Cut<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz11qFHPGv3diPYIARb6Yn5o8P54LN4tLQHEusHytR38are3JEpska0s9bLykDiDbnbX3ebJCfhgGx8-XbkB8rb4BCtg87LT8JRdiEC6bGrJ5a-P8RO8zSxjWTEUvI66n-ETtKkQ025V5u8GN2RMf_fFT22rwa6aPKvnrE-B9nHDLJGKsXURCCsiPg/s1080/314324362_10229532719129156_1429980714261750400_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1080" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz11qFHPGv3diPYIARb6Yn5o8P54LN4tLQHEusHytR38are3JEpska0s9bLykDiDbnbX3ebJCfhgGx8-XbkB8rb4BCtg87LT8JRdiEC6bGrJ5a-P8RO8zSxjWTEUvI66n-ETtKkQ025V5u8GN2RMf_fFT22rwa6aPKvnrE-B9nHDLJGKsXURCCsiPg/w400-h321/314324362_10229532719129156_1429980714261750400_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Oil Study, oil on panel 8" x 10", 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Last year, following my ‘Home Ground’ exhibition, I decided to take my camera to the canal over near West Bromwich, where I grew up, on a sunny Spring Saturday morning to see what I could find. I was hoping I may take some good photos that may serve to generate a few new compositional ideas. I was seeking to develop the formal ideas of 2 large paintings I had exhibited in ‘Home Ground’ which were based on the dynamic landscape beneath Spaghetti Junction. The intersecting lines and planes of the motorway, the canal and the bright winter light in this landscape had been a good vehicle to push some of my interest in creating landscape paintings that incorporated the language of abstract painting more aggressively. Think Richard Diebenkorn meets Ivon Hitchens meets Thomas Shiebitz. That’s what was in my mind at least! In visiting the canals in West Bromwich, I was hoping to find some more of those strong diagonal lines and geometric shapes that had excited me in the first 2 paintings.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKaHGgZjW2flkdfEI1gZw9uTk6UCevNzCTaBxlLzBMlVFMTntdw2K7bl35SfIly-a2O_EDWAOrM2kBAIN05ZieeJlIb3bWDvTitVq7421L7fIQtQlqwiZZafEGhTcNMxpVRaBGAv5R6SfBo5bNYb3AJlwYFDxMGmwCaxyz1ZdWTd0AETSHdUYmGm1/s860/321452579_734287937680670_7179108412694388158_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="860" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKaHGgZjW2flkdfEI1gZw9uTk6UCevNzCTaBxlLzBMlVFMTntdw2K7bl35SfIly-a2O_EDWAOrM2kBAIN05ZieeJlIb3bWDvTitVq7421L7fIQtQlqwiZZafEGhTcNMxpVRaBGAv5R6SfBo5bNYb3AJlwYFDxMGmwCaxyz1ZdWTd0AETSHdUYmGm1/w400-h321/321452579_734287937680670_7179108412694388158_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Winter Walk', oil on canvas, 120 x 150cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">However, the location proved much tamer and more rural this time around (how could I think it would not be compared to the crazy extremities of the landscape beneath Spaghetti Junction?), with the steep, grassy banks, towpaths and old arched bridges, and the fishermen along the bank waiting for the Saturday catch. And with the strong shadows and trees covered in bubbling hawthorn blossom it was all much more picturesque. Still, I enjoyed taking some photographs as I walked along the cut with my son and our dog, Buddy, and left with an open mind as to whether anything I had recorded might make its way into some new paintings.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXT04frBbJRF7OQedIUWrB9jMuixc_aIRhcJnK70swH8GG2-c6LyAmdgFHxpTOT1UNMKajovi8C4b63c0ER37F_XwwPmpZ5CIvPBpX90EnPXO438AKAVs3P_yql3VNKKiA5BrbbwWk2WBNtiusF7aHHkTc73nY93_zw6TRw2W6wUAFUa3thjaEQbE4/s1920/k22245TchIQeTOd7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1593" data-original-width="1920" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXT04frBbJRF7OQedIUWrB9jMuixc_aIRhcJnK70swH8GG2-c6LyAmdgFHxpTOT1UNMKajovi8C4b63c0ER37F_XwwPmpZ5CIvPBpX90EnPXO438AKAVs3P_yql3VNKKiA5BrbbwWk2WBNtiusF7aHHkTc73nY93_zw6TRw2W6wUAFUa3thjaEQbE4/w400-h333/k22245TchIQeTOd7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Cut', oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuYEZvaGLe3GzYKJxlE641JVgod-pdSg69uRRdfKbHn1-empWflp__zLTUKl34GYW-JNetdVrKHsx0dp0Tf4MvBVOTbAp_3_WKNH2nQVLSDYIpOga0oxe2e-RTBvqDTW5hsJ21AcjPaZfKUyoExfKR_eHAit4lyT4hmc1JTNdVab227GO9qw7pRiGf/s1080/284191121_10228386038102847_4054296918819233186_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="1080" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuYEZvaGLe3GzYKJxlE641JVgod-pdSg69uRRdfKbHn1-empWflp__zLTUKl34GYW-JNetdVrKHsx0dp0Tf4MvBVOTbAp_3_WKNH2nQVLSDYIpOga0oxe2e-RTBvqDTW5hsJ21AcjPaZfKUyoExfKR_eHAit4lyT4hmc1JTNdVab227GO9qw7pRiGf/w400-h323/284191121_10228386038102847_4054296918819233186_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Cut II', oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wUJM3RH7bzcmWA94SeVSZsV-cOe6GKMjyfERWZp_GQc_NR88P-9rshFTu1_wIdqXA7KZNpXz7fmTX2xjwsgqqDEDqnAHTD1qXo_YiqaAIlDSk3szoWUD56J_4ttlun0vNr6JpCn6PTdMZT7ef1ZHE3-LDOyN_NbgX0ic3RBRcyGuU_MzhFSw65GI/s1659/IMG-20220608-WA0000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1338" data-original-width="1659" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wUJM3RH7bzcmWA94SeVSZsV-cOe6GKMjyfERWZp_GQc_NR88P-9rshFTu1_wIdqXA7KZNpXz7fmTX2xjwsgqqDEDqnAHTD1qXo_YiqaAIlDSk3szoWUD56J_4ttlun0vNr6JpCn6PTdMZT7ef1ZHE3-LDOyN_NbgX0ic3RBRcyGuU_MzhFSw65GI/w400-h323/IMG-20220608-WA0000.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Cut III', oil on canvas, 60 x 80cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I originally made 3 paintings quite quickly after my trip, not too large, of The Cut. I liked them, particularly the first one I made, where I felt I had captured an essence of the landscape in my paring down of any extraneous details. I was reminded a bit of Morandi’s Italian landscapes which I admire (and wish I could even come close to!), but at the same time I was a bit troubled about how traditional the other paintings looked compared to my original intentions, so I left things for a bit at that. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">During my recent time off work, I returned to the photos and made a small oil study (top of post) based on one of a young guy zipping along the canal towpath on his electric scooter against a glorious background of lush, hawthorn blossomed trees against the blue sky. I was excited by this lovely small study- it had a joy to it I seldom arrive at and there was something defiant and fun about the guy on his scooter that I really liked, so I decided to make a much larger painting based on it. It incorporated more detail, and I tried to capture the spirit of the small study, but I don’t think I did, but I do like it still. It had to become its own thing and ended up with quite a different character, one with a slightly melancholic undertow which is more familiar. But I still prefer the small one. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYg484HN3FO3sxxUyiqqfdZGulSXUZFjWse7ag50nhfpvc_tUDTMORx5qfuKK8mELLp_zFscvipgoZVkhegjETYypVaZeETzbUnx4qfWLb1xkn-x6O1kI3BGHZr-vhYw10okqeTDosTUBc0JwWn3kFhkb3krmaBhQOaVOGJcIjudObRujM8WwtTGGx/s1080/315626894_10229601167920333_859999910492335639_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1080" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYg484HN3FO3sxxUyiqqfdZGulSXUZFjWse7ag50nhfpvc_tUDTMORx5qfuKK8mELLp_zFscvipgoZVkhegjETYypVaZeETzbUnx4qfWLb1xkn-x6O1kI3BGHZr-vhYw10okqeTDosTUBc0JwWn3kFhkb3krmaBhQOaVOGJcIjudObRujM8WwtTGGx/w400-h278/315626894_10229601167920333_859999910492335639_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Cut IV', oil on canvas, 110 x 150cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">With both these paintings, however, I am excited to see in a less self-conscious way than other recent attempts, the re-introduction of the figure into some of my work. The figure just appeared without me even thinking about it during the period I spent making lots of small, experimental studies (30 in all). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQr_mrNZlMDYgW_0t2y_PT2FAiZ4qbC_bskuY0K9uBoZXSXPsUFTzQ9LiSBAEjKLjtNDVZyFGaIdWi5-__YORfUFzYgEWGyTmVvMB8L2WnhM064077OpMkozZsxYAqFRFKTpyHFaNpWrPPIVDweI2ubpCeIVMERXdhFXgd0yKF-wh3YvxD-mZ9eEa/s2858/IMG_20230204_151510657_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2363" data-original-width="2858" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQr_mrNZlMDYgW_0t2y_PT2FAiZ4qbC_bskuY0K9uBoZXSXPsUFTzQ9LiSBAEjKLjtNDVZyFGaIdWi5-__YORfUFzYgEWGyTmVvMB8L2WnhM064077OpMkozZsxYAqFRFKTpyHFaNpWrPPIVDweI2ubpCeIVMERXdhFXgd0yKF-wh3YvxD-mZ9eEa/w400-h331/IMG_20230204_151510657_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Cut V', oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2023</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As it did in this other new painting (above) of this man fishing on the canal bank with the factories behind him as a backdrop. The juxtaposition of this, the man against the factories, perhaps they are where he once worked but is now replaced by one of the huge transit depots that populate the former industrial sites of Black Country creates a tension and a quiet political dimension I like. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipYPBZCHBPPatRuyl5gF1BefadXj3JWSM8vIKV-2owv78lVhIH2hNWxDdCVvg5mxhjJ5U3kLYxGwa2oo8gt1RYSU_Vjy59LH5Wu_Mk0ZFtyviYXEZkFdwzMa0WwKRHUApel5iihvRamJswOECy-I6yOMKvBG1Fnukl-tMkQV_8ZUIuIveXDP3S02tL/s500/1800750692.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipYPBZCHBPPatRuyl5gF1BefadXj3JWSM8vIKV-2owv78lVhIH2hNWxDdCVvg5mxhjJ5U3kLYxGwa2oo8gt1RYSU_Vjy59LH5Wu_Mk0ZFtyviYXEZkFdwzMa0WwKRHUApel5iihvRamJswOECy-I6yOMKvBG1Fnukl-tMkQV_8ZUIuIveXDP3S02tL/w259-h400/1800750692.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bubbling away in the background of my thoughts as I have made these paintings are two books set in the Black Country and written by Black Country authors that I have enjoyed. One, ‘Mercia’s Take’, the debut novel by Daniel Wiles, which I read last summer. It is set in 1879 in a mining town near Walsall, and despite its historical setting it has a very contemporary feel. A key part of the book is a long journey the main character makes on ‘The Cut’ by barge into Dudley. It is so vividly described in an almost, dreamlike, and hallucinatory way that it stayed with me long after I had finished the book. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKMnutt1EiRL4e6ep_o5LquGErjIW2pUUd257hFN9r1HEHTs4aF1bFhYH5EXkTMdPEdJEYe-gjp4Jk69gjqOhElvqI7ZUZZ0TMsieMQLfaQgc13cyr7vkWstPARdAvvh3fyXh9mIMzErnANa_oXY3EbfoXHiTe2AubEFXLqGFmo4cKid9r9658Fxi/s750/AZO-220104-0047.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKMnutt1EiRL4e6ep_o5LquGErjIW2pUUd257hFN9r1HEHTs4aF1bFhYH5EXkTMdPEdJEYe-gjp4Jk69gjqOhElvqI7ZUZZ0TMsieMQLfaQgc13cyr7vkWstPARdAvvh3fyXh9mIMzErnANa_oXY3EbfoXHiTe2AubEFXLqGFmo4cKid9r9658Fxi/w266-h400/AZO-220104-0047.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Author Daniel Wiles, from Walsall in the Black Country</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The other book is ‘The Cut’ by Anthony Cartwright, whose series of novels set in the post-industrial Black Country I have enjoyed. This one is set in the post-Brexit, overwhelmingly leave voting Black Country and is a bleak look at the divisions between communities, towns, and communities that Brexit exacerbated. I don’t think we will ever recover from it as a nation. I would highly recommend both books.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKihC9MGERDyVprKgOJ3IueJ3GcWly_9Gcp7c71m8J1zZtjl-TaWoZpbfSPR9u9GluTGhfxP4jiVJOxP3wZLdWGgRxYHKaLMw9fEpgaWCK7-iPOtDUfdwGY8-x0wsbFjTzlYux02a6WpfJ8XcKiApcCHfXZGjNPrnjylDQrdIJEtyQlMLbMimDomZ0/s2795/Winter%20Morning.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2096" data-original-width="2795" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKihC9MGERDyVprKgOJ3IueJ3GcWly_9Gcp7c71m8J1zZtjl-TaWoZpbfSPR9u9GluTGhfxP4jiVJOxP3wZLdWGgRxYHKaLMw9fEpgaWCK7-iPOtDUfdwGY8-x0wsbFjTzlYux02a6WpfJ8XcKiApcCHfXZGjNPrnjylDQrdIJEtyQlMLbMimDomZ0/w400-h300/Winter%20Morning.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Winter Morning', oil on canvas, 90 x 120cms, 2022 (a personal fave)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are a few other canal-based landscapes I’ve made, a large nocturne I’m not entirely sure about, and a winter landscape that I made last year that I love (but no one else comments on!). Slowly, I’m getting a sense of a more serious body of work that could be developing around the theme of, what we call it in the Black Country, the Cut….</div><p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-21171546389217184442023-01-31T13:07:00.002+00:002023-01-31T13:07:34.035+00:00Stumbling into 2023<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR4BdF8mPoM4xhKHh7cO-EbXW-cUMelRFzJczh10vD9nJUcjGSAw0C3yKxz3yDQEjCPu0FoloOtCC-yI_VVFC09Ev7deChi12xkfKKXUJVTVxKdhG0wyI9Nhodn2XtEmbngVP1ouwD-tLrn9NKF794rXSB-4yaRlH7D3JuY4dIStM8Lh5Iufn1IIXG/s1335/326227942_1590266801395522_2014351350907303120_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1335" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR4BdF8mPoM4xhKHh7cO-EbXW-cUMelRFzJczh10vD9nJUcjGSAw0C3yKxz3yDQEjCPu0FoloOtCC-yI_VVFC09Ev7deChi12xkfKKXUJVTVxKdhG0wyI9Nhodn2XtEmbngVP1ouwD-tLrn9NKF794rXSB-4yaRlH7D3JuY4dIStM8Lh5Iufn1IIXG/w324-h400/326227942_1590266801395522_2014351350907303120_n.jpeg" width="324" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">As yet untitled, oil on canvas, 60 x 50cms, 2023</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I move into 2023 with some difficulty with my painting. I spent the Christmas break in and out the studio working on a painting that I eventually took a big turpsy brush to and wiped off (well, my daughter did this much to her delight as she was there in the studio when I made the decision to do this. Whenever she comes in now, she tells me what I am doing is not very good and can she wipe it off…?). I had also wiped 2 more paintings off prior to this, just not thinking they were good enough, or necessary either. It’s a bit frustrating but not that big a deal either. After all, I have just had a good run during the time off from work I’ve had and made what I think are 10 strong paintings, so it feels healthy to stumble and drop the ball. I get more suspicious when it’s going so well. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizAmlVSs35lq0FW716iKeItdPOv2QQ0NpRvXcx9f1zP9B0SZrNNv8f-lTx95cMAnG9y02XOHPnGCJIBaoGcoxDs6hJjrOi1zL0X9pcW43sKgXPhbEX0x19SO_WvBoZhhh18Z9UKCrhDnmK9AJOv2IqbSI6YEtmBj6XgmQIByTxtXXP6_oE6GDub1sK/s4080/IMG_20221221_105633404_MP.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizAmlVSs35lq0FW716iKeItdPOv2QQ0NpRvXcx9f1zP9B0SZrNNv8f-lTx95cMAnG9y02XOHPnGCJIBaoGcoxDs6hJjrOi1zL0X9pcW43sKgXPhbEX0x19SO_WvBoZhhh18Z9UKCrhDnmK9AJOv2IqbSI6YEtmBj6XgmQIByTxtXXP6_oE6GDub1sK/w400-h301/IMG_20221221_105633404_MP.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">a painting now wiped off by my lovely daughter, studio shot </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> I have also worked on the painting at the top of this post over several difficult sessions, based on a photograph taken in my local Lidl car park on a foggy night. I nearly abandoned this too but ended up wrestling it to the ground by forgetting the references to Lidl etc and exploring the painting through a more formal lens involving colour and the abstract shapes in the composition. This was enjoyable and was partially informed by looking at the collages of artist, Ken Kewley and reading his ‘Notes on Colour’. This freed up my thinking a bit and took things off in a different direction. It’s sits now as a slightly awkward, clumsy painting but also one that makes some sort of formal sense I’m pleased with. It possesses that feeling I think most painters are striving for when it stands on its own apart from you with its own strong presence and energy. With that in mind, I’m happy to leave it at that. </div><p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-24102992112184082402023-01-09T17:30:00.001+00:002023-01-09T17:30:09.140+00:00A new year...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaKbCkPStCJsiA1jnnNzyKsJWedHWy0awi9M57p1FyMyywJkSVqnAFu2MMc59ND3TB9goiyPrwkmobMvxK_TNh2nlX2WVZgsjyJ0hEX71jXVXl_RBCgVwb-q08hl3dM053GihzlUdRZH4qCR_tyCMyUaCXyv9Y50O2wERSwn62w-cjl5vkfb1WyecN/s2745/IMG_20221111_140254156_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2283" data-original-width="2745" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaKbCkPStCJsiA1jnnNzyKsJWedHWy0awi9M57p1FyMyywJkSVqnAFu2MMc59ND3TB9goiyPrwkmobMvxK_TNh2nlX2WVZgsjyJ0hEX71jXVXl_RBCgVwb-q08hl3dM053GihzlUdRZH4qCR_tyCMyUaCXyv9Y50O2wERSwn62w-cjl5vkfb1WyecN/w400-h333/IMG_20221111_140254156_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Lighted Window', oil on canvas, 80 x 100cms, 2022</div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Happy New Year. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Well, I haven’t done any portraits or still lives since the last post, but I have been busy making some new larger paintings, either based directly on some of the small studies I spent a few weeks working on in the six weeks following my operation or inspired by some of the ideas that came out of the process of making them. This has particularly been the case when it came to developing a braver and more creative use of colour. It’s been great to be independent again as my foot has healed, and I’ve now returned to work.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_oiy20Drbh2OoGYoR7bg_lVWQwR4Tghd4MPiI6yR_fwsC0fUxNhXT5ZekJjEKyTHHw4Ahc8Bz6ohGpTwHevfJJsITegNd5qHYEMPTjLGepYjJkDLSiuGI2fY3Jw8YuimjQmULr26wsAh2p8WLpLimkkRASJY6SSNCsEHJNaIICL7Rwj7_0C6kYd-/s2850/IMG_20221125_121019107_MP_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1977" data-original-width="2850" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_oiy20Drbh2OoGYoR7bg_lVWQwR4Tghd4MPiI6yR_fwsC0fUxNhXT5ZekJjEKyTHHw4Ahc8Bz6ohGpTwHevfJJsITegNd5qHYEMPTjLGepYjJkDLSiuGI2fY3Jw8YuimjQmULr26wsAh2p8WLpLimkkRASJY6SSNCsEHJNaIICL7Rwj7_0C6kYd-/w400-h278/IMG_20221125_121019107_MP_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Cut IV', oil on canvas, 120 x 180cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The paintings, 10 so far, are quite varied, and I think making the smaller works has really helped me have a clearer idea on what I want to do and work with renewed focus. It has also helped massively to be able to just have the time to paint, without trying to fit it all in around work. I’ve felt much more relaxed than I have in years, and I think the paintings reflect this and look much more confident. I became conscious as we headed into December that this period was nearing an end as I would be returning to work in January, and I felt sad about this. I’m never going to be able to make a living from my painting practice, but I do wish I could free up more time for it, but also for myself and teach less. This time off has been good for my mental well-being as much as it has allowed the time needed to recover my physical health. But still, this time off has made me reflect on these issues and I’m thinking more seriously how I can make this happen, or at least hold on to some of the things I’ve enjoyed over the last 3 months and how I prioritise and spend my time. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNyQeL1t-CjPXGXiSnm0ojgdkV4_9awAfjnENGCyRL0n6m3vA1DlQ3Q1RrrsGpjacZ8nPqqvwOyJQRJ9RqT4EE2bUFxjUC1MJSfF7CtN2GKnSAGkDRZI0TmzGYoQmeYP17skSp5F4uHGsd4lFNO98t7BukqRO2Oa9RAHYrDRRZ7uvaUoxjQZVH0uCC/s2732/IMG_20221203_141917445_MP_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2692" data-original-width="2732" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNyQeL1t-CjPXGXiSnm0ojgdkV4_9awAfjnENGCyRL0n6m3vA1DlQ3Q1RrrsGpjacZ8nPqqvwOyJQRJ9RqT4EE2bUFxjUC1MJSfF7CtN2GKnSAGkDRZI0TmzGYoQmeYP17skSp5F4uHGsd4lFNO98t7BukqRO2Oa9RAHYrDRRZ7uvaUoxjQZVH0uCC/w400-h394/IMG_20221203_141917445_MP_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'On The Corner', oil on canvas, 60 x 60cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As I head into 2023, I’m pleased to say I’ve got another couple of large exhibitions coming up next year as well as a piece, ‘The Turn Of The Tide’, in the Worcester Open 23 (Climate Change Edition) at The Art House, Worcester. I also have another one at the exhibition space at Malvern Library café, which I really enjoyed showing last year, and another with my artist friend, Andrew Smith at The Hive, the large exhibition space at the University of Worcester library. Both of these exhibitions will focus on my ongoing series of ‘Night Walk’ paintings. </div></div></div></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-76981466058719069312022-12-09T20:29:00.002+00:002022-12-09T20:29:54.044+00:00'Home Ground'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiufVaUi2bb-p4NH_6vQ3zUucZLvNum_vrM_O9vMMM_4uXd3chUi5O3MRZg7Ox-qT9-YTjdaVeT5Nc7wBEzna_a-ar534pby5mrvrEDFbv7HE3qvuiaURLodgp_GB2f2Mwp0lvFAUycnnxeWWyGHxuNb97vVexjDJWZE6m9aDeusqa_HAr10ez2EOT2/s1080/278572425_10228208221857552_5162299402853038236_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1080" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiufVaUi2bb-p4NH_6vQ3zUucZLvNum_vrM_O9vMMM_4uXd3chUi5O3MRZg7Ox-qT9-YTjdaVeT5Nc7wBEzna_a-ar534pby5mrvrEDFbv7HE3qvuiaURLodgp_GB2f2Mwp0lvFAUycnnxeWWyGHxuNb97vVexjDJWZE6m9aDeusqa_HAr10ez2EOT2/w400-h254/278572425_10228208221857552_5162299402853038236_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Installation shots of 'Home Ground', Malvern Library Cafe Gallery, May 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In May earlier this year I had a solo exhibition, ‘Home Ground’, at Malvern Library where they have a generous exhibition space in the café downstairs. With it just being a space in the café, rather than a traditional gallery, I thought it might be wiser to use the opportunity to hang a lot of my smaller paintings that I don’t have the opportunity to exhibit very often and show a wider range of work, but also with the hope that I may sell a few as these smaller pieces as they are obviously cheaper and therefore might appeal to the casual viewer using the café. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNGY-oWRVNsmDPRoj7xH3AztG1tuDtBQA7__XJ7BPzDhudgJYBioqRXe5LWfm6FAPZ2KdMwFdvj1OpkT8XlfgIayZaPKowrHE1KHrEiPfUmi9DqZb0QdiDrw8-kiZXXK_nWmgXTkWZAmAUJQ2O89OWS-5eJnME9Hn6krsnT_lTPFioCj4e_7dHaFv/s1080/278576441_10228208221977555_5453847905206941388_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="809" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNGY-oWRVNsmDPRoj7xH3AztG1tuDtBQA7__XJ7BPzDhudgJYBioqRXe5LWfm6FAPZ2KdMwFdvj1OpkT8XlfgIayZaPKowrHE1KHrEiPfUmi9DqZb0QdiDrw8-kiZXXK_nWmgXTkWZAmAUJQ2O89OWS-5eJnME9Hn6krsnT_lTPFioCj4e_7dHaFv/w400-h300/278576441_10228208221977555_5453847905206941388_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the advice of an artist friend, however, who lives in Malvern and had exhibited there herself some years before (which is how I knew of the venue), she thought that with the walls being big and the light good from the skylights above I should exhibit some of my larger paintings instead. I eventually decided to go for broke and hang a range of big and small pieces in a ‘salon’ type hang and ended up showing a lot of work. I was also able to present a wider range of my work and interests in different types of landscape, which was very rewarding. I thought it was the best exhibition of my work I had done to date, despite it not being in a proper gallery setting as such, not that I thank that is all that important these days. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKhtlZ-HZQZyLmSZqkbCxczGkxIsGbp2ZGk4qKX7I6yDI2hS4ApEO0vw-aSAQS_G1yLo7fAbJkFE6s0hUzufnNY7aO8oPnBfLyeOC7eI4x-Cp6r6fhe7fXfLXcEm2fPJlN-9NggacCBK5nKahf6LP0oyEtz1qIUx6yeEDr1pqjcgQIuT-1HDPyz-U/s1080/279154598_10228208221817551_5147310515103622549_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="1080" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKhtlZ-HZQZyLmSZqkbCxczGkxIsGbp2ZGk4qKX7I6yDI2hS4ApEO0vw-aSAQS_G1yLo7fAbJkFE6s0hUzufnNY7aO8oPnBfLyeOC7eI4x-Cp6r6fhe7fXfLXcEm2fPJlN-9NggacCBK5nKahf6LP0oyEtz1qIUx6yeEDr1pqjcgQIuT-1HDPyz-U/w400-h264/279154598_10228208221817551_5147310515103622549_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDhQZub58SDgSWFKiWkU3iRP-HBsQAWZt_V6zoDNpKzFCcZPZPT1PO3O2HjWMEX7AIe2c4crkoGGx5jPegiY_sh-yCQ3qnPQ6KGhKkTbtb46lvIWm6ravS1owdGiMibeyzRMWGEg4u7_ktZ8whZyIhl_6GaehjAId9YB218HU2EigKlXeCnsmBdc5/s1080/278571920_10228208222057557_4364881515234115822_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1080" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDhQZub58SDgSWFKiWkU3iRP-HBsQAWZt_V6zoDNpKzFCcZPZPT1PO3O2HjWMEX7AIe2c4crkoGGx5jPegiY_sh-yCQ3qnPQ6KGhKkTbtb46lvIWm6ravS1owdGiMibeyzRMWGEg4u7_ktZ8whZyIhl_6GaehjAId9YB218HU2EigKlXeCnsmBdc5/w400-h253/278571920_10228208222057557_4364881515234115822_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I’m always on the lookout for different venues that I think might suit my work and exhibitions in galleries can be very hard to come by, unless they are artist-run ones. Commercial galleries can also be very limited in what they show too. The space at Malvern seemed a good opportunity for a few reasons: my friend’s exhibition had looked good there and she had sold lots of work; the space offered me a rare chance to show a large collection of work, and as I make so much which never has the opportunity to be shown, this appealed, and finally, being based in Malvern, a beautiful town with a lot of culture, history and people interested in the arts, I thought the exhibition might attract more of an audience than other exhibitions. It was also up for 6 weeks, which was great too. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZdVmVjxRkl1gPrUv_-GGBPCTE02NuZDYrz-TL9An7YuUzHnDro_bmVWlouCn6BTGmugBgPadGcfo4le8T-5mt1140kJ0nsMIoyjQLQYfAtSv1j-0AObUSnWi08iW66yngQyaeGmNPf2iex5dfoPlSEfFvBmBaxs4ZMdy8lGnI_nlMIj9qnQZYQnY/s1080/278571892_10228208221897553_352555736827296272_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1080" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZdVmVjxRkl1gPrUv_-GGBPCTE02NuZDYrz-TL9An7YuUzHnDro_bmVWlouCn6BTGmugBgPadGcfo4le8T-5mt1140kJ0nsMIoyjQLQYfAtSv1j-0AObUSnWi08iW66yngQyaeGmNPf2iex5dfoPlSEfFvBmBaxs4ZMdy8lGnI_nlMIj9qnQZYQnY/w400-h254/278571892_10228208221897553_352555736827296272_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpk_b09VSA1PoOz3uAAszVlybBiC6viN2oAC5z1yfvsEOW04nhcIslFmhMl8vLlvjtNNlhEex86JckPNecQ7xibZ_6RCVmFkwNCkaow4w0g5rkpzFa425I3-QSzoJnEo1YVfis1K4OU2Fd1vQI6yY-zPa_8zy7TCd67pYQRtsUNUUeTZhuiwKvMhW/s1080/278571281_10228208222097558_645303180187995535_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1080" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpk_b09VSA1PoOz3uAAszVlybBiC6viN2oAC5z1yfvsEOW04nhcIslFmhMl8vLlvjtNNlhEex86JckPNecQ7xibZ_6RCVmFkwNCkaow4w0g5rkpzFa425I3-QSzoJnEo1YVfis1K4OU2Fd1vQI6yY-zPa_8zy7TCd67pYQRtsUNUUeTZhuiwKvMhW/w400-h254/278571281_10228208222097558_645303180187995535_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And all these feelings played out and I ended up selling quite a few paintings, particularly some of the large ones which was a nice surprise. But Malvern has some big houses with big walls where some of these ones would have looked great. And I discovered they did when I delivered them to the house of one of the buyers, who bought two, including my favourite painting in the exhibition, ‘The Scent Of Rain’, a landscape beneath Spaghetti Junction, and she kindly sent me some photographs of them hanging in her home later. Another large one. ‘The Island’, was also sold when I wasn’t there, but I never met this buyer. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8F6YM_eUp3Uc03y0qxeH8cvnG2Yw-fUTxZaBIvIh-IVOR8U4hGT-yvsDO-4MwnnmMxAKMyfsbAxHv63zQapE3yt8sn-5N6hnZhNxw1nDCHm3yn8Nh4QfVgh634a-LV11Qwko3TiYe3izChch6G2xSzWfk5uOvUpom3CZu-r_io0pa3Ut76IuMcOd/s1080/278501071_10228140710089800_3469550097518051415_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1080" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8F6YM_eUp3Uc03y0qxeH8cvnG2Yw-fUTxZaBIvIh-IVOR8U4hGT-yvsDO-4MwnnmMxAKMyfsbAxHv63zQapE3yt8sn-5N6hnZhNxw1nDCHm3yn8Nh4QfVgh634a-LV11Qwko3TiYe3izChch6G2xSzWfk5uOvUpom3CZu-r_io0pa3Ut76IuMcOd/w400-h340/278501071_10228140710089800_3469550097518051415_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Island', oil on canvas, 70 x 90cms, 2022</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JNE3W4KCnBqdF6S1jOgDEweWPX20kPVfEhwTgg0a5EZ-bfHRTd09cZ_idmjZQhPJXc4jS-NknjKAaMi5AIHlPvObjabjUyhAe6c4fuo6I5Cw0zqgukNf-8J-HwU6cN9_qNhC8H7ivRWAgcUEp4KT1iWiiSE7brYVedfREXTDKUKGRPcZQ9kvs1pD/s2463/The%20Scent%20Of%20Rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2029" data-original-width="2463" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JNE3W4KCnBqdF6S1jOgDEweWPX20kPVfEhwTgg0a5EZ-bfHRTd09cZ_idmjZQhPJXc4jS-NknjKAaMi5AIHlPvObjabjUyhAe6c4fuo6I5Cw0zqgukNf-8J-HwU6cN9_qNhC8H7ivRWAgcUEp4KT1iWiiSE7brYVedfREXTDKUKGRPcZQ9kvs1pD/w400-h330/The%20Scent%20Of%20Rain.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Scent Of Rain', oil on canvas, 120 x 150cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At the end of the exhibition when I went to take it down, I spent an hour or so looking at the work. I felt a bit unsettled by the paintings, especially as there were so many. As I looked over them, with their painterly gestures and mark-making which are directly applied and all on the surface I became so overwhelmingly aware of my own physical presence, my body, my hands and arms and movement, across all the work. They all seemed as much a portrait of me as of anything else. I guess it may seem an obvious point to some, but nonetheless I found the experience somewhat painful and upsetting, as if the paintings were a mask for my internal self. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghUXNPCYC4VXDAurWCvy3qfTxPh6lvO5TDpnzSvyjGPYK1yi-VivBmM4htzti57qfYSp7FHXAfPku6Cyp46_fqxhTpzafUei4Kkcy_iYq9LHWn2GX75jAOI7yv9k8NyIG4gFOSVqbMGjOCp00sbIh5PYvuQ-uVzgsOUgmgZ3pgzB6YcXS_U09aiv_c/s1080/279631669_10228227071768788_6759860273142453039_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghUXNPCYC4VXDAurWCvy3qfTxPh6lvO5TDpnzSvyjGPYK1yi-VivBmM4htzti57qfYSp7FHXAfPku6Cyp46_fqxhTpzafUei4Kkcy_iYq9LHWn2GX75jAOI7yv9k8NyIG4gFOSVqbMGjOCp00sbIh5PYvuQ-uVzgsOUgmgZ3pgzB6YcXS_U09aiv_c/w400-h400/279631669_10228227071768788_6759860273142453039_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQcqY9MvAUnlege0j4StpIe36FcqiQS84NoANnWxXUPkuYn-G614r1-yMiTHpHiDefciqevuuLItbXPqMMv5GLRQ-a0gIZf_pM4XPgRcR8O4Qoj1CnaVrAybqEhkT3pMwmhijN_W0oC1H3uW6hdPv7fQ5ZYjHdJfx631iwahTXdl0bEV-DNSjALRqe/s1080/279642567_10228227071688786_3789797448171577026_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQcqY9MvAUnlege0j4StpIe36FcqiQS84NoANnWxXUPkuYn-G614r1-yMiTHpHiDefciqevuuLItbXPqMMv5GLRQ-a0gIZf_pM4XPgRcR8O4Qoj1CnaVrAybqEhkT3pMwmhijN_W0oC1H3uW6hdPv7fQ5ZYjHdJfx631iwahTXdl0bEV-DNSjALRqe/w400-h400/279642567_10228227071688786_3789797448171577026_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I'll finish this post with these nice photographs from the private view of my wonderful friends and artists, who I've collaborated with a great deal over the years, and have always offered me a great deal of support (top), Hugh, Andy (bottom), Philip and Chris...<br /><br /><p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-20089344623775911772022-10-28T22:07:00.001+01:002022-10-28T22:08:25.892+01:00The Hours....<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Hg6SMO8uTYG0rmWaSkB85dVqhwSzMyAqjIVqb-ZVkDOxAxhnHxtnNTTkuuATp6htuAum38auQAxjlbLMjIzQmBC4DjFBhjbogNjH8GhQmphMW1Ky6x7cHR7Up5zd3dLPVJA6SAQF_LMI-KK59HjZvlyWihfju-Cmh1wdWYDDklpxiftkKraGAGmk/s2232/IMG_20221025_113312199_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1692" data-original-width="2232" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Hg6SMO8uTYG0rmWaSkB85dVqhwSzMyAqjIVqb-ZVkDOxAxhnHxtnNTTkuuATp6htuAum38auQAxjlbLMjIzQmBC4DjFBhjbogNjH8GhQmphMW1Ky6x7cHR7Up5zd3dLPVJA6SAQF_LMI-KK59HjZvlyWihfju-Cmh1wdWYDDklpxiftkKraGAGmk/w400-h304/IMG_20221025_113312199_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on panel study, 8 " x 10", current work</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I hobble down the long garden to the studio on my crutches each morning, the dog faithfully following me, hoping I will throw the ball, jump precariously up the step into the space, set up my speaker and Bluetooth to either some music (this week: ‘Here It Is- A Tribute to Leonard Cohen (I can’t recommend this enough), and ‘Communication’ by Karl Bartos, former Kraftwerk member, whose 600 page autobiography I’ve just completed (brilliant read) or a Podcast ( lately lots of ‘The Rest Is Politics’ with Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart, and my favourite a new run of The Adam Buxton Podcast), and climb up on my high stool to the desk easel, palette and paints set up on the high table, take another reference photo as a starting point, and a fresh, primed small painting panel, and then set to work for a few hours. Once I’m actually safely in the studio it feels like the only thing I can do that easily at the moment, but as it’s painting, that’s not so bad is it? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifcF1cn62K1hPgkt3rn84W2H7ylPOhoXK0TkLRtFLeH7d9WHDDQEb8aRIuaP7TpKUqJ6CvvmyE5p8o6QhoQp5JELBZGH9lssl00mMjR8JMExa-H3y_8s109WEheJy9eERLX5JXZAgZ9yx5uCwfnenTOBTyGMrMgd1Kry6mJH1A0Wk0pMlyFqjlFc04/s3501/IMG_20221020_111105292_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2584" data-original-width="3501" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifcF1cn62K1hPgkt3rn84W2H7ylPOhoXK0TkLRtFLeH7d9WHDDQEb8aRIuaP7TpKUqJ6CvvmyE5p8o6QhoQp5JELBZGH9lssl00mMjR8JMExa-H3y_8s109WEheJy9eERLX5JXZAgZ9yx5uCwfnenTOBTyGMrMgd1Kry6mJH1A0Wk0pMlyFqjlFc04/w400-h295/IMG_20221020_111105292_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on panel study, 10" x 12", current </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5fpdpKO-9WHltpY0-zsUGO6kERn79ATN3Y1o47QNeQG1ccssXm6v86s0Fj6Jxg9mfw5N2ePtF-MVpRbv8GuoW9Q5AVbTXje_7SbF-CUqYoz0CzEVsvsnb_ZDVGiuZcm7DaLHBxz4Ls0eDB-7AddAhnC6frc10v4jrZ3nMPA-VDZFpwoVMOuNOHrI/s2703/IMG_20221025_113203492_4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2176" data-original-width="2703" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5fpdpKO-9WHltpY0-zsUGO6kERn79ATN3Y1o47QNeQG1ccssXm6v86s0Fj6Jxg9mfw5N2ePtF-MVpRbv8GuoW9Q5AVbTXje_7SbF-CUqYoz0CzEVsvsnb_ZDVGiuZcm7DaLHBxz4Ls0eDB-7AddAhnC6frc10v4jrZ3nMPA-VDZFpwoVMOuNOHrI/w400-h323/IMG_20221025_113203492_4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on panel study, 10" x 12", current </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In fact, I’ve been painting 2-3 paintings a day these last two weeks and I’m really enjoying it. As I can only work sitting down, I’m forced to work small, but these limits are liberating. As most my paintings start from primary reference photographs but against the limits of time, I’m enjoying the opportunity to dig a lot deeper into these photographs and try and unearth some new ideas, particularly in the ongoing development of my painting language, experimenting, always experimenting. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipEyc80G2jGRxGLIHY72B1JyugJJaHBWu1y4UxF0RGpZ3AT0G03RkuC-VB-c2FWmu5eqaKOC9rIHO3ZTYdkWefJ3Q9QIajhVuUhDK64tYEPdsFYjkpn0iGZ0q-4TAWQ_2DWzkQp1Wb_KcwM7FFPxeVJdgLdw0i5knDJXeLux4EviBlyVeuye3RMuw0/s1080/312025427_10229386994846140_4776633433044897092_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="1080" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipEyc80G2jGRxGLIHY72B1JyugJJaHBWu1y4UxF0RGpZ3AT0G03RkuC-VB-c2FWmu5eqaKOC9rIHO3ZTYdkWefJ3Q9QIajhVuUhDK64tYEPdsFYjkpn0iGZ0q-4TAWQ_2DWzkQp1Wb_KcwM7FFPxeVJdgLdw0i5knDJXeLux4EviBlyVeuye3RMuw0/w400-h316/312025427_10229386994846140_4776633433044897092_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on panel study, 8" x 10", current</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSXWVhtNE463ekpI4650LosVMy5IrBYuc543A3_1Vfyf9swlQbc0FC01hqBeJIpA3dNUrvvgKbvBS3gkDkFdw6VOmdHsYo4uD0aDYMGJD2R2sMOMa9a0cLsBSEC-YPOG2TisUYYiLhHgPgH1z7UYcRN6FkKZHVE7YeDJ54aQaPfRHveHxBZpCtkDEu/s1080/311772208_10229386994806139_2632557135848284837_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1080" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSXWVhtNE463ekpI4650LosVMy5IrBYuc543A3_1Vfyf9swlQbc0FC01hqBeJIpA3dNUrvvgKbvBS3gkDkFdw6VOmdHsYo4uD0aDYMGJD2R2sMOMa9a0cLsBSEC-YPOG2TisUYYiLhHgPgH1z7UYcRN6FkKZHVE7YeDJ54aQaPfRHveHxBZpCtkDEu/w400-h316/311772208_10229386994806139_2632557135848284837_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on panel study, 8"x10", current</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5lM-Eed2nnUTeLmh2hCqSF6JONgpJBosNbvJcaJX0OSeX9d1p9BU1CjbEKI0-cRLl83vhZvy5uj10qA-Gts87g8WQeZUdAxBJObFbU8bPKqyiJTewU8fCwupxKOrBL1wMRs8lXh4zKkgF94Q31cHqWH59rc2KQyIpDrIjE3C2LeB7kNATxPqoBzt/s1080/312508440_10229386994766138_5142595420377765127_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="1080" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5lM-Eed2nnUTeLmh2hCqSF6JONgpJBosNbvJcaJX0OSeX9d1p9BU1CjbEKI0-cRLl83vhZvy5uj10qA-Gts87g8WQeZUdAxBJObFbU8bPKqyiJTewU8fCwupxKOrBL1wMRs8lXh4zKkgF94Q31cHqWH59rc2KQyIpDrIjE3C2LeB7kNATxPqoBzt/w400-h316/312508440_10229386994766138_5142595420377765127_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on panel study, 10" x 12", current</div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At the moment, I’m hooking into something much </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">looser, more abstract, but not abstract, and continually thinking about my use of colour and the light in the paintings. These elements have become much more central in the last 2 years to how I concieve the paintings. I’ve made some new motorway studies, which are dynamic and offer some nice ideas for compositions, but also some new studies of the local woodlands and the common which have a very different feel, and present more difficulties in a way, in trying to do something more original with scenes like these, but I remain committed to both subjects. I’m just playing around, making stuff and trying not to over think it at the moment. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LXZ4daM1n1GKjOf-y5WQD22-0gAwx3V6QE9R78e3qzlfLH_Ld4xYZ6dI-pF0Jjz40uLL9AXWF2nSoaTNUVBThVxSIPLof8EjYgqEDwEcwwx8S_SnW65WSNu_xINKUrHoq-v1T2vOlKbJmfyuo4WQb9fOh3ntCjIi9yAQ30YQjJkmzge_XrhsSEQq/s1080/311985881_10229416409461487_7834929886554687764_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="1080" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LXZ4daM1n1GKjOf-y5WQD22-0gAwx3V6QE9R78e3qzlfLH_Ld4xYZ6dI-pF0Jjz40uLL9AXWF2nSoaTNUVBThVxSIPLof8EjYgqEDwEcwwx8S_SnW65WSNu_xINKUrHoq-v1T2vOlKbJmfyuo4WQb9fOh3ntCjIi9yAQ30YQjJkmzge_XrhsSEQq/w400-h299/311985881_10229416409461487_7834929886554687764_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on panel study, 10" x 12", current</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I’m thinking about doing some portraits and still lives next week….</div></div><p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-61364080392557650282022-10-06T18:10:00.021+01:002022-10-07T09:02:33.632+01:00Audience Feedback....Birmingham Open Studios 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JL0B-WBREhu1qPu15vHBZ5V-t0aZA8c8ByPDlSz79kN4fBeLb5UUHCl9E7p2VDsAxAKIwBJUhodnnU-Cvqm2E3xBH_vLuwdA9pwZjXj-lbjZ2jjlpIjxPTZLrTp9bbIdzhxIbpv7LP83bGGatdWn5s6XQbEiWf3VgFmYLbRGSELluJzoTQU9_x3Z/s1080/308190366_10229047656402891_5641937610028149471_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JL0B-WBREhu1qPu15vHBZ5V-t0aZA8c8ByPDlSz79kN4fBeLb5UUHCl9E7p2VDsAxAKIwBJUhodnnU-Cvqm2E3xBH_vLuwdA9pwZjXj-lbjZ2jjlpIjxPTZLrTp9bbIdzhxIbpv7LP83bGGatdWn5s6XQbEiWf3VgFmYLbRGSELluJzoTQU9_x3Z/w400-h300/308190366_10229047656402891_5641937610028149471_n.jpg" width="400" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Studio view</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I welcomed visitors to my studio last weekend as a participating artist in the Birmingham Open Studios event across the city (although most of the artists participating seem to be based in South Birmingham, my neck of the woods). I enjoyed it. Friends and strangers came, and I enjoyed discussing my work and sharing my studio space. It had been a bit difficult to tidy too much with me being on crutches, but at the same time I didn’t really want to: if I was a visitor I would have enjoyed looking ‘behind the scenes’ of the artist and the work. So comments were made about my large, unruly palette, what paints I used, the canvasses in preparation and the many, many brushes. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhItTCQnMgTy9Y-NJOIA0p9qEyGR5UPbKSbAeXOwOdLeq8CL7uXvrZFsJZcEKcwSD1bmSQT53k-QFVDAVSXo8IrFXySkr0HFoirpQ45drGxhwYkiYZpcdHV0g0gitK4bhRnHfzM0KF0jotGeCd9v58sYQiWKtEBEyVDPzqXL4Iqqx7z5HoOiBRPtwVx/s1080/307997328_10229047656442892_3019174023804515258_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhItTCQnMgTy9Y-NJOIA0p9qEyGR5UPbKSbAeXOwOdLeq8CL7uXvrZFsJZcEKcwSD1bmSQT53k-QFVDAVSXo8IrFXySkr0HFoirpQ45drGxhwYkiYZpcdHV0g0gitK4bhRnHfzM0KF0jotGeCd9v58sYQiWKtEBEyVDPzqXL4Iqqx7z5HoOiBRPtwVx/w400-h300/307997328_10229047656442892_3019174023804515258_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQuqg-JBN6s4-euKmyd6wkuZXhd25jMM8PJcmKgzbOofjDwGKiJCAZjtZKse7kKU_i6pPquYQAUC1JHp7bEaTdxIzPTvHRpR8Jn98LOxWuoBVMc00IcCmXn-Ju8NAGM1ucdx8zJCV6KqVLw9yG3VVxcc0Wl217Yjr0z869cEUE6vtS3jtUYqLB4o5t/s1080/309704433_10229113019956939_764566938927061059_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQuqg-JBN6s4-euKmyd6wkuZXhd25jMM8PJcmKgzbOofjDwGKiJCAZjtZKse7kKU_i6pPquYQAUC1JHp7bEaTdxIzPTvHRpR8Jn98LOxWuoBVMc00IcCmXn-Ju8NAGM1ucdx8zJCV6KqVLw9yG3VVxcc0Wl217Yjr0z869cEUE6vtS3jtUYqLB4o5t/w400-h400/309704433_10229113019956939_764566938927061059_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I also talked a lot about the subject matter too: my conviction in looking in ‘your own backyard’ for inspiration. I had chosen to display paintings based in Kings Heath where I live to emphasise this and thinking they may have local interest-and also about the importance of just trying to make the work you felt you needed to make without thinking too much about an audience, as this is where problems can often lie. These are conversations I started at art school, and never really go away. Of course, you are just making the art you need to make. And yet…it would be a bit disingenuous to say mental notes are not taken of comments that are made, observing what paintings seem to ‘land’, which postcards sold, and which do not. But at the end of the day, from my experience, these things are entirely unpredictable. Every viewer brings something of themselves as to why they may be attracted to a certain piece. These things are certainly not universal, so it's best to carry on regardless.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGyPmBD31JsueGmvTuNIGRz3Gu5leJHUIO9K2_fIV59dZ4F6VWO3hsa-iHi07Ij-clc8GRHYGFqR3QDsK7-4pSRZOw7t5TZyZ6_1noc_S8ssnOERLi6xCoQec3UlU--9xhTdb0YqSe02MgtHQMnt_IxYrJGSiDwmYWTes6PCvj7dEKFVQaGJHgFT4/s1920/q2135hldEMR5tDt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1437" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGyPmBD31JsueGmvTuNIGRz3Gu5leJHUIO9K2_fIV59dZ4F6VWO3hsa-iHi07Ij-clc8GRHYGFqR3QDsK7-4pSRZOw7t5TZyZ6_1noc_S8ssnOERLi6xCoQec3UlU--9xhTdb0YqSe02MgtHQMnt_IxYrJGSiDwmYWTes6PCvj7dEKFVQaGJHgFT4/w300-h400/q2135hldEMR5tDt.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Grounded II', oil on canvas, 40 x 30cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Many of the visitors to the studio had found their way there attracted by my painting of the car in snow that had been in the brochure (above) That was a surprise to me, although I have always been pleased with this piece and another that accompanied it (below). I sold both and could have sold that first one three times over. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim83QsZ-Ota-3mmTJ9zZ-MAlbKeXX2lQ65ziwhJ7qVs4i1-bn_2wpC--hyoPlZXaGDUpdmxgmdUM8tqqFNTKzTvrbVV4tR-t3Rv6UbkWdbAg5NBbvJXUYji0klmm7-3ZzdtCszNETQiCNrWNmn30W2bYe5nkV9fZ2PVTq6fJBXTORjwUXlS99zYvKw/s1320/148564181_10225358893346120_909229492345146147_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1320" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim83QsZ-Ota-3mmTJ9zZ-MAlbKeXX2lQ65ziwhJ7qVs4i1-bn_2wpC--hyoPlZXaGDUpdmxgmdUM8tqqFNTKzTvrbVV4tR-t3Rv6UbkWdbAg5NBbvJXUYji0klmm7-3ZzdtCszNETQiCNrWNmn30W2bYe5nkV9fZ2PVTq6fJBXTORjwUXlS99zYvKw/w328-h400/148564181_10225358893346120_909229492345146147_n.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Grounded III', oil on canvas, 60 x 50cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7DtWVMcxiznmtxR8vUVp8a5C_y7hbD7kHwr2mYGEaB_lnL6EWVd-MUqLuwii593MzshspBDSX-5bKdOA5dvXqLb1XwiZbLohDXMRpqTREOa9oE1FpbV61DLLZywzHMkFgwcjbMkw65gR7tA9Mf7d1C1fSSdvmiAUi8ARWTktZvoo87vE0YVoAYXoO/s1080/309064666_10229079390116214_5805184893794645197_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7DtWVMcxiznmtxR8vUVp8a5C_y7hbD7kHwr2mYGEaB_lnL6EWVd-MUqLuwii593MzshspBDSX-5bKdOA5dvXqLb1XwiZbLohDXMRpqTREOa9oE1FpbV61DLLZywzHMkFgwcjbMkw65gR7tA9Mf7d1C1fSSdvmiAUi8ARWTktZvoo87vE0YVoAYXoO/w400-h400/309064666_10229079390116214_5805184893794645197_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Postcards for sale ( a new thing...)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I also sold a small studio still life and a small ‘lorry park’ landscape. I also sold an etching (these are now becoming consistently popular at exhibitions), and nearly all of the postcards I had made, What a good idea these were…</div><p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-22929624091590676552022-09-24T10:50:00.003+01:002022-09-24T10:50:44.540+01:00Boiled Eggs and Nuts....<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlxOANkIjChZR9VKHMiZDO0V11--PEmmazWe8l8fPASQpdeOKUk5_s-p6oHbJXwpLZxGozyqIRUDH2-I1OYE2UOVWMBKK_timctNy2aATwHWPqILDdvSA5QOCUCcwe46QHzZdzyr6qK5NTnhkyw1Nx54fRWHdVYQPt4mRElpXHudLO7pKVsXJaYqS/s1082/Boston_Cremes_1962_14x18-1200x_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1082" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlxOANkIjChZR9VKHMiZDO0V11--PEmmazWe8l8fPASQpdeOKUk5_s-p6oHbJXwpLZxGozyqIRUDH2-I1OYE2UOVWMBKK_timctNy2aATwHWPqILDdvSA5QOCUCcwe46QHzZdzyr6qK5NTnhkyw1Nx54fRWHdVYQPt4mRElpXHudLO7pKVsXJaYqS/w400-h311/Boston_Cremes_1962_14x18-1200x_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Wayne Thiebaud, 'Boston Cremes', oil on canvas, 38 x 38inches , 1961</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I’m at home recovering from an operation on my ankle. I have a huge, supportive boot on my right foot, and I can only walk with the aid of crutches which are used to help me to ‘hop’ around. I feel pretty helpless. This is harder than I thought it would be. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I will be off work for a staggering 3 months, which is appealing- lots of books to read, films and TV to watch, bass guitar to learn and practice, and of course hopefully some art, but I have yet to figure out quite how yet, but it has only been 2 days since the op….but as usual this is the first thing on my mind…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6QU01SgS9VICaqwIw_xgQBmNW8e5x_3MurWIRiJndW8b0UOMXAF4QG_LAFE1BXpDgJ7v0W6rSLD6YT_xeuyom3ZctLq0nOzhALj7PDnwgQFw9q-bg7Ea6-XbILPM0c1hGJK9-Wz6Ue4japlzEMLmA3Q6SaahqK90ZNAp-Ase6ZSjly_yK0rrCdnrz/s800/4041202108990069.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6QU01SgS9VICaqwIw_xgQBmNW8e5x_3MurWIRiJndW8b0UOMXAF4QG_LAFE1BXpDgJ7v0W6rSLD6YT_xeuyom3ZctLq0nOzhALj7PDnwgQFw9q-bg7Ea6-XbILPM0c1hGJK9-Wz6Ue4japlzEMLmA3Q6SaahqK90ZNAp-Ase6ZSjly_yK0rrCdnrz/w400-h320/4041202108990069.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Wayne Thiebaud, 'Luncheon', oil on canvas, 2010, 38 x 38inches</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A big monograph on artist Wayne Thiebaud, a favourite painter, arrived today. As I look through the beautiful reproductions I’m struck by the many formal similarities and interests we share across our respective work: the carefully considered compositions where everything is in the right place with a lot of repetitive shapes and forms; an unfussy, almost flat-footed, but always closely observed, treatment of form; a sense of the whole without skimping on the details; the physical handling of the paint itself, the drag, the pull and the push in the brushwork. And finally, the colour and the light which holds all these elements together. These are qualities I really enjoy in the paintings and painters I return to, and continually try to explore in my own work. I’ve learned a lot about harnessing and appreciating these things from artists such as Thiebaud. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhluxN-ejcgmAlVJwDrx_KKFr0iVo6h7yt8exORqGbyKavqR94Q3q3FLL-aicgtu_bpaQqLghazwNmvWJuosHLhJoggct2RSRwsYMdpKMx0VqKMMFjKpId6EwDP53WShU_DpjNYRHEURmdWdZZFdJLwHnTtQStUTiYXHb8Gpt8CdHRAZBAw67tPzOkQ/s1600/wayne-thiebaud-book-001.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1278" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhluxN-ejcgmAlVJwDrx_KKFr0iVo6h7yt8exORqGbyKavqR94Q3q3FLL-aicgtu_bpaQqLghazwNmvWJuosHLhJoggct2RSRwsYMdpKMx0VqKMMFjKpId6EwDP53WShU_DpjNYRHEURmdWdZZFdJLwHnTtQStUTiYXHb8Gpt8CdHRAZBAw67tPzOkQ/w400-h320/wayne-thiebaud-book-001.webp" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Wayne Thiebaud, 'Cold Case', oil on canvas, 48 x 60inches, 2010-13</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I’m also struck today when looking at the work afresh by Thiebaud’s continued interest in depicting the same small range of subject matter over a 70 year or more career: the cakes and pastries; the gumball machines; shoes, jackets and deadpan portraits that best represent the tense, spare yet stagey compositions he is most associated with. The colour is all in the objects themselves and their shadows, with very little colour in the background and the surfaces the objects sit in. These are mostly white. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdyKU6IR6bL2M3Diu_TGlH0Wuai9m6cCBAa15yA3x3OfM-SbQzB-tUvedpXH01pHfXepzCennzVEzLAsVzP3tsrC1LOGv-aLK3cmAOAZd5HE3SVHCah4v3p0_8PRg78rv33yHn4BGl4YDaXveil97Z0B2kuL9_zlsZcqE0NW77SOiDJwQnjLtobVU/s246/download.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="246" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdyKU6IR6bL2M3Diu_TGlH0Wuai9m6cCBAa15yA3x3OfM-SbQzB-tUvedpXH01pHfXepzCennzVEzLAsVzP3tsrC1LOGv-aLK3cmAOAZd5HE3SVHCah4v3p0_8PRg78rv33yHn4BGl4YDaXveil97Z0B2kuL9_zlsZcqE0NW77SOiDJwQnjLtobVU/w400-h333/download.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Wayne Thiebaud, 'Towards 280,' oil on canvas, 54 x 60in, 1999-2000</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLQtpGlsJc3q2dB0Z8cE7L1oAp7vIus9VQvdpPD00N36UyJDiQTYsm9UXXv_jPMRc8MzToPhpJ7FM9U3kvgtUdnfuys3wmdlBkWoKLBw_9-ZMrshpppdAmGLg4cGcvHU8osLFIhyVkq54upCUg1RgOj8gBuoVHFJVUylYkTSakQ26wu8Vy5_c716zg/s550/21_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="460" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLQtpGlsJc3q2dB0Z8cE7L1oAp7vIus9VQvdpPD00N36UyJDiQTYsm9UXXv_jPMRc8MzToPhpJ7FM9U3kvgtUdnfuys3wmdlBkWoKLBw_9-ZMrshpppdAmGLg4cGcvHU8osLFIhyVkq54upCUg1RgOj8gBuoVHFJVUylYkTSakQ26wu8Vy5_c716zg/w335-h400/21_001.jpg" width="335" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Wayne Thiebaud, 'Winding River', acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60inches, 2002</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> And then there are the expansive, freer paintings of landscapes which seem a counter to the still lives and portraits. These depict cityscapes of San Francisco and the landscape of Sacramento, California where he lived and worked. They are complex spatial arrangements with their snaking and looping freeways, glistening lakes and valleys; patterned fields and gridded streets. There exist distorted games with perspective in the skyscrapers, architecture and trees, often intermingling in unexpected ways. And then huge slabs of Californian mountainside look just like extreme close-ups of the heavily iced cakes in the other works. I like this bounce between. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjuij54SjyplG39w3kE1AYrg_CRd1wshuRZ6PYj9J5mdi3M7bl9UHP5X76A_RBUEog610S7m6U0pzvEg6vRd7mRFvwOiF6M4RlQVLI8rVrxGk_XapNbVlZ-8-jolgsEIxAGtDCjLKgy4Bog90_o-gxSdim6Jt9lYxAnTiHpx3LcpAuAWt6cC9i0ZP6/s248/images.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="203" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjuij54SjyplG39w3kE1AYrg_CRd1wshuRZ6PYj9J5mdi3M7bl9UHP5X76A_RBUEog610S7m6U0pzvEg6vRd7mRFvwOiF6M4RlQVLI8rVrxGk_XapNbVlZ-8-jolgsEIxAGtDCjLKgy4Bog90_o-gxSdim6Jt9lYxAnTiHpx3LcpAuAWt6cC9i0ZP6/w327-h400/images.jpg" width="327" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Wayne Thiebaud, 'Canyon Mountains', oil on canvas, 66 x 54 inches, 2011-12</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The same subjects are explored endlessly, Thiebaud never getting bored with finding multiple ways to skin the same cat, yet also, despite such a long career (he died aged 101), they are painted very consistently. It’s hard to tell a cake painted in 1963 apart from one painted in 2013. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I find this reassuring today as I think about my own painting, particularly my landscapes. Although in my own painting there is a large range of landscapes that have now accrued over time there is a consistent tone and approach to the work, and despite different excursions into other areas I keep returning to these few core ideas that repeat across the work: the street scenes at night; the motorways and bridges; canals and local woods; the fields of pylons and the many depictions of different cars and vans. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42GEEPd0h4Yrrvm9ySPpV-oZqBTjGdJDwE_QQfvJX9aQylTejKT_GdFP0UYc1O7QxKoD7eYYC24rcSKeaEW2mj7qvKekae5cG3id21HyhKZHGvER-oKjD_8uPGBns-2n4dr7oMOyDBfWKGJHAp7NrYBwFgPQBB8ntKqsVIlWZrBf7RU7YGr3PzvcH/s2727/Late%20Night%20Delivery.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2036" data-original-width="2727" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42GEEPd0h4Yrrvm9ySPpV-oZqBTjGdJDwE_QQfvJX9aQylTejKT_GdFP0UYc1O7QxKoD7eYYC24rcSKeaEW2mj7qvKekae5cG3id21HyhKZHGvER-oKjD_8uPGBns-2n4dr7oMOyDBfWKGJHAp7NrYBwFgPQBB8ntKqsVIlWZrBf7RU7YGr3PzvcH/w400-h299/Late%20Night%20Delivery.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Shaun Morris, 'Late Night Delivery', oil on canvas, 90 x 120cms, 2022</div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Like Thiebaud and so many painters, this seems to be the tradition I find myself in when I occasionally take the time to step back a bit to reflect. In small, incremental ways it seems over the last 20 years I've busy creating a painted world that seems to be becoming more distinctly mine but based on a world observed and very much outside of me. Although this recognition feels fairly positive, maybe this forced time off will help me think about these issues a bit more carefully, as one always hopes to also keep moving forward too... </div></div></div> <p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-18996317142141947962022-09-03T16:14:00.000+01:002022-09-03T16:14:55.827+01:00Summer's Almost Gone....<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1QeswpjYE6A572h9a_UPyVSh0nev6NIYlMb-SM5PTfcOBeFkoS1PYuKNGuv16TfOSwO2NYGfdrUM-Nt17Nj4QIqfeUOBHE2kXjrbhDn0-DX7Phv0VOvrEF67BKv0bcNaCHFGKDjNymGq1yCN7QE7_HkjBnLr0ogrFdh4QvwU1aG92rEZUBZqbEUBh/s2443/Ice%20Cream%20Wars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2018" data-original-width="2443" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1QeswpjYE6A572h9a_UPyVSh0nev6NIYlMb-SM5PTfcOBeFkoS1PYuKNGuv16TfOSwO2NYGfdrUM-Nt17Nj4QIqfeUOBHE2kXjrbhDn0-DX7Phv0VOvrEF67BKv0bcNaCHFGKDjNymGq1yCN7QE7_HkjBnLr0ogrFdh4QvwU1aG92rEZUBZqbEUBh/w400-h330/Ice%20Cream%20Wars.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Ice Cream Wars', oil on canvas, 120 x 150cms, 2022</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;">It’s the end of the summer holidays…I’m back at work, my children return to school next week. I always feel slightly wistful as we all go our separate ways again as another summer break draws to a close, which for most parents I think, but definitely for this one, can be pretty exhausting. Yet each summer seems a keen marker of time as the kids grow up so quickly. <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;">This new painting that I’ve been working on this week is based on observations I’ve made of a burnt-out ice cream van on the Moseley Road, just 200 yards from the college I work at. It seemed like a real gift of a subject and an image to work with as I drove down late at night to photograph it, having spied it on my journey to and from work. It also seems to perfectly capture something of those end of summer blues, but also seems pretty loaded in other multiple ways, particularly in the current political and social climate of the UK. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEHDqTcDJ_UGpiDoLv8f3RPovf2EvLnI3mOZIFM_mDK9aY1nzHpw8eZTGrmGKCpKiSNWulAjoBRYoXJ6pjoXMvYuD7ZJkBPjnfC6fmrnmPmJCQWcTr87qtNT76I_m7N6Djw3YCWFasn2BteyofWMQBERa_fxgMmQGwHhzTyBaQUnj0kpWSNxej8CjH/s3264/IMG_20220902_073839266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEHDqTcDJ_UGpiDoLv8f3RPovf2EvLnI3mOZIFM_mDK9aY1nzHpw8eZTGrmGKCpKiSNWulAjoBRYoXJ6pjoXMvYuD7ZJkBPjnfC6fmrnmPmJCQWcTr87qtNT76I_m7N6Djw3YCWFasn2BteyofWMQBERa_fxgMmQGwHhzTyBaQUnj0kpWSNxej8CjH/w400-h300/IMG_20220902_073839266.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><o:p>In the studio this week</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><o:p><br /></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;">Anyway, I LOVED painting it over a few late nights this week with some current listening in the studio of Yo La Tengo’s ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out’ and Miles Davis’ ‘In A Silent Way’. All new, but very exciting, listening to me. Through this large 4 x 5ft piece I feel a bit more energised about my painting again too. Although I have worked, as ever I guess, steadily and consistently in the studio this year, I have also struggled to feel that excited about what I’ve been doing and also feel it has been a bit all over the place. I’ve painted over as many paintings as I’ve made, feeling very unsatisfied. I’d like to write about some of this in a few more posts, but for now I thought I would say hello again from the present as I’ve not written in ages. ...</p></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-24958638688617783522021-07-08T14:16:00.005+01:002021-07-08T14:16:47.732+01:00Bigger portions....<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NceCYVFha8E/YOb5OYZGWWI/AAAAAAAAJ-Y/dQiAUp6wVfM9h3eFM_HkS91xSpPCXFUWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/202818832_10226371948591868_7668401352991411838_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="1080" height="308" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NceCYVFha8E/YOb5OYZGWWI/AAAAAAAAJ-Y/dQiAUp6wVfM9h3eFM_HkS91xSpPCXFUWgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h308/202818832_10226371948591868_7668401352991411838_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 120 x 150cms, 2021</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Since completing the paintings on black grounds I wrote
about in the last post, which were rather modest in scale, I thought it might
be nice to try and make some nice, large paintings again. This arose out of
having one of my small Spaghetti Junction paintings that I made some months ago
on my living room wall. Contemplating it over several days I realised it looked
more like a study for a bigger painting and that it’s more abstract quality of
bold, painterly shapes, geometric forms and colour combinations could look
really exciting on a much bigger scale. So in the last three weeks that’s just
what I’ve done: I enlarged 2 of the smaller paintings, or ‘studies’, and made 2
4ft x 5ft paintings that I’m really excited about.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YQCzkTv5bhQ/YOb5ig9WsgI/AAAAAAAAJ-g/1W8S7oC3-msLTOzJoaObe90qzjqj8OsdACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/202094575_10226411430258885_6240466997965686361_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1080" height="330" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YQCzkTv5bhQ/YOb5ig9WsgI/AAAAAAAAJ-g/1W8S7oC3-msLTOzJoaObe90qzjqj8OsdACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h330/202094575_10226411430258885_6240466997965686361_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 120 x 150cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I
had great fun painting both of them, particularly the first one (above) which
was a simpler composition and was almost a direct translation of the smaller
painting it is based on. The second one was much more exhausting to do, and had
a lot more to consider in terms of colour relationships, the mark-making on
this scale and trying to depict the complicated spatial areas that exist across
it. Basically, all of it really!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kedZCBjAma8/YOb52egsJDI/AAAAAAAAJ-o/rhMnZKeV9aUS7IJmIsKvgkfe1Jm0gY3rgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/203425306_10226371948631869_6572913497652060731_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="829" data-original-width="1080" height="308" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kedZCBjAma8/YOb52egsJDI/AAAAAAAAJ-o/rhMnZKeV9aUS7IJmIsKvgkfe1Jm0gY3rgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h308/203425306_10226371948631869_6572913497652060731_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">But I think it was worth it, as I’m really
pleased with them, and it’s great to bring some bolder colour into the studio
and create some paintings that are more abstract and dynamic. It's also exciting to see some of the work I've been experimenting with since the start of the year start to develop into some more coherent paintings. </span></div><p></p><p><br /></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-16002907736152083382021-07-08T10:42:00.000+01:002021-07-08T10:42:01.642+01:00Tomorrow Ends Today...<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zyBWWd3rgwM/YObEoGHaGBI/AAAAAAAAJ88/0qac5GXnuscPZdU9XD_0thBd3b86EmuUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/168832364_10225793584533128_5289393478710594085_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1080" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zyBWWd3rgwM/YObEoGHaGBI/AAAAAAAAJ88/0qac5GXnuscPZdU9XD_0thBd3b86EmuUgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h326/168832364_10225793584533128_5289393478710594085_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">My
experience on Sky Arts Landscape Artist Of The Year and the practice work I
made before competing has lead me to experiment quite extensively with painting
on different toned grounds, including yellows, pinks, violets, blues and also
black for several months now. For years I have always painted directly onto a
white, primed surface liking the luminous quality this brings to the colour.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nb81Nk9aVCk/YObE8EH__dI/AAAAAAAAJ9E/W3tqb7UbGNEhQ_kSyjJG-Qh2JgqTu2hggCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/170072842_10225800419984010_4217779916250973476_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1080" height="334" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nb81Nk9aVCk/YObE8EH__dI/AAAAAAAAJ9E/W3tqb7UbGNEhQ_kSyjJG-Qh2JgqTu2hggCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h334/170072842_10225800419984010_4217779916250973476_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">Painting
on these toned grounds, however has been really interesting, particularly the
black grounds which seemed to create an unsettling atmospheric quality I
recently explored in greater depth over a series of more than 10 paintings. I used
a more reduced colour palette with these paintings too as a reaction to the
Spaghetti Junction paintings I’d been making where I thought I was getting a
bit silly with the colour.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtui3HAZT6s/YObFJFe7uFI/AAAAAAAAJ9I/a6xofMgVmo8Ee1BsJbA8ilWpw5YKNRyGwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/170175771_10225815323476588_182116928976639009_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="640" height="323" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtui3HAZT6s/YObFJFe7uFI/AAAAAAAAJ9I/a6xofMgVmo8Ee1BsJbA8ilWpw5YKNRyGwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h323/170175771_10225815323476588_182116928976639009_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">The
paintings in this series started out being based on some of the reference
photographs I made many years ago with my photographer friend Laura’s help of
the landscape beneath a small stretch of the M5 just outside West Bromwich.
These photographs were then used to inform my first motorway paintings and a
more serious foray into landscape painting.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-494RED9r2Xo/YObFZNDOE9I/AAAAAAAAJ9Q/fbuuioQgsIwrqPH9qw_zVzaXOy217jDJACLcBGAsYHQ/s600/173119668_10225839195793381_9069219348785679060_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="600" height="344" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-494RED9r2Xo/YObFZNDOE9I/AAAAAAAAJ9Q/fbuuioQgsIwrqPH9qw_zVzaXOy217jDJACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h344/173119668_10225839195793381_9069219348785679060_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">When
I made those original paintings I realised on completion that they were in some
way an expression of my grief at the death of my younger brother, Stu who lived
near to this place, a place where I was also born and knew very well growing
up. It was also the place I travelled through on my last visit to see him on
the night that he finally died of cancer aged just 36. Unsurprisingly, it’s a
night that is forever deeply etched in my memory. So I felt some trepidation in revisiting these
photographs, but there still seemed rich material in them that might lend
themselves to working on these black grounds….</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vdDMiU6xM04/YObFmXoLoAI/AAAAAAAAJ9U/d-Qj8ea8YWsgO9hp33VOqt2sUN5GMHEUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/174248373_10225862148447183_5575557651068315656_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="640" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vdDMiU6xM04/YObFmXoLoAI/AAAAAAAAJ9U/d-Qj8ea8YWsgO9hp33VOqt2sUN5GMHEUgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h328/174248373_10225862148447183_5575557651068315656_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">I
made 5 paintings before I felt I had used all I could from these old
photographs and it would also be better to go back now, 11 years later, and see
the landscape with fresh eyes and take some new photographs to work from. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZiYWmAaqk4c/YObGCmu9-eI/AAAAAAAAJ9g/ituHhp4wIuEuuHe99UYG8hFTk4mm6J3rgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/186528776_10226109166622483_2764565677246472325_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="1080" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZiYWmAaqk4c/YObGCmu9-eI/AAAAAAAAJ9g/ituHhp4wIuEuuHe99UYG8hFTk4mm6J3rgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h326/186528776_10226109166622483_2764565677246472325_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">So,
again with Laura, who also taught me how to use my new digital camera to take my
own night time photographs, we went back and got some great new material,
including some images of the flats just beyond the motorway which seemed very
evocative. </span></div><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rwK8aQ3yiH0/YObGUSwwJuI/AAAAAAAAJ9o/URTiYk01CwwVAMXRBNq2G0kh3u0IH-yGwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/192785632_10226198449854508_7903370982728889939_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1080" height="345" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rwK8aQ3yiH0/YObGUSwwJuI/AAAAAAAAJ9o/URTiYk01CwwVAMXRBNq2G0kh3u0IH-yGwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h345/192785632_10226198449854508_7903370982728889939_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">I
then completed with renewed energy another five paintings before deciding that
was enough for now.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7YzgtySuYE0/YObGo2xG0jI/AAAAAAAAJ9w/NVFeQBCkHDw1ZJAEb9tiih6-lsmfKz68gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/191676613_10226227898150697_3279890871018656463_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="933" data-original-width="1080" height="345" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7YzgtySuYE0/YObGo2xG0jI/AAAAAAAAJ9w/NVFeQBCkHDw1ZJAEb9tiih6-lsmfKz68gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h345/191676613_10226227898150697_3279890871018656463_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4S4-U0sUt5c/YObHEpb6u_I/AAAAAAAAJ98/u7eRoD5IBe0XWEJjqjDl8q2O3DX00AnHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1906/IMG_20210605_083529_369.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1532" data-original-width="1906" height="321" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4S4-U0sUt5c/YObHEpb6u_I/AAAAAAAAJ98/u7eRoD5IBe0XWEJjqjDl8q2O3DX00AnHQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h321/IMG_20210605_083529_369.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">I
did find myself transported back to that evening and completing the work felt
intense and urgent, so I wanted to stop. I see the paintings not as individual
pieces but as one, detailing a final journey for both of us that night…. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bRlGV5tn8lY/YObHeIU5ytI/AAAAAAAAJ-M/ZUVF9Z-EFowu64aF0GcPzrgQQ79df_ykQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/IMG_20210607_184132_604%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1598" data-original-width="1920" height="333" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bRlGV5tn8lY/YObHeIU5ytI/AAAAAAAAJ-M/ZUVF9Z-EFowu64aF0GcPzrgQQ79df_ykQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h333/IMG_20210607_184132_604%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div></div></span></div></div></div></span></div></span></div><p></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-11194238321376369902021-06-25T14:59:00.001+01:002021-06-25T14:59:49.755+01:00'Displaced' at T Street Gallery, Birmingham<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HhHRl6Lx3CQ/YNXf6s8RdvI/AAAAAAAAJ68/RPgGhj9uYfggAsKaNJmJnLLuXZWJaxgWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1840" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HhHRl6Lx3CQ/YNXf6s8RdvI/AAAAAAAAJ68/RPgGhj9uYfggAsKaNJmJnLLuXZWJaxgWgCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h400/1.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I'm pleased
to announce details of a forthcoming exhibition I am taking part in with my artist
friend Andrew Smith. ‘Displaced’ opens next week at Birmingham’s T Street
Gallery, an alternative art gallery just on the edge of the city centre. The
exhibition has been curated by the gallery director, Sev, who has selected
works from both of us. Interestingly, I approached the gallery with my work
last year after visiting the excellent Carolyn Blake exhibition of paintings, ‘Space
and Place’, there and meeting Sev. I then told Andrew about it and he visited
himself, met Sev, and also sent in his work. Several months later Sev got in
touch and asked if I would be interested in a two-person exhibition with
another artist? I said ‘the other artist isn’t Andrew Smith is it?’ to which
the answer was yes! I’m telling the story because Andrew and I have
collaborated in a few exhibitions now that we have organised ourselves with
other artists in the last ten years, so it was a nice thing that someone else
chose to put us together this time with no idea of our shared history. It’s
also a nice change that Sev has entirely selected the work to exhibit from both
us and I will be showing a mixture of new paintings and some older ones too,
including some of my trucks. It will be interesting to see different works from
different periods or series of work rubbing shoulders with each other. I’m
really excited. We will be installing on Wednesday and opening on Thursday.
Here’s the press statement below from the gallery and a link to the website….</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">T Street is re-opening its doors with new exhibition 'Displaced'-</span></span></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: content-box; color: #222222; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="box-sizing: content-box; line-height: normal;">Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year (2021) </span>participant Shaun Morris and fellow Birmingham based artist Andrew Smith come together in this joint exhibition to explore works that question our concepts of space and emotion.</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: content-box; color: #222222; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">Over the past year, the notion of space/non-space, our surroundings and our interactions have become displaced from normality. We've been forced to reflect upon our relationships with areas and places we've been isolated to and enclosed in and how our methods of communications connect or disconnect.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: content-box; color: #222222; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">Displaced is an exhibition of works by Andrew and Shaun that invites the audience to perceive and reflect upon these concepts.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: content-box; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">https://www.sevvenkucuk.com/tstreetgallery</span></p></i></span></div><p><br /></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-66179078553288381472021-05-13T13:30:00.000+01:002021-05-13T13:30:00.724+01:00Travelling through...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aJxHFsigN_U/YJ0Zsk-wkRI/AAAAAAAAJ3c/TXGjcVB083cSGTkfbhvMCGYSEBOIZhd6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s450/HRO6WSKTURCWFM6HC7RYAR4NCY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="450" height="246" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aJxHFsigN_U/YJ0Zsk-wkRI/AAAAAAAAJ3c/TXGjcVB083cSGTkfbhvMCGYSEBOIZhd6ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h246/HRO6WSKTURCWFM6HC7RYAR4NCY.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">still from 'Nomadland' directed by Chloe Zhao</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I watched ‘Nomadland’ the other night. It
was a very moving film. It depicts those in America living out of the back of
their RV’s (vans to you and me), not homeless but ‘houseless’, travelling
across the country, stopping at places such as a giant Amazon warehouse for
seasonal work to earn some money before heading out on the road again. The
‘nomads’ would often meet other nomads in the middle of the desert forming a large
community for a while to share their experiences and not be so alone, to belong
somewhere, if only for a while. Many, many people live like this in modern
America and elsewhere, particularly since the financial crash of 2008, eking
out a precarious existence. It’s a film that really reflects the times we live
in where none of the old certainties exist anymore: no secure work, no
affordable place to live, no welfare safety net. The film was also accompanied
by a beautiful soundtrack by Ludovico Einaudi.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GccKQd1iQic/YJ0aEBQfo6I/AAAAAAAAJ3k/C_gJVzds_zo1qJpjAhK_xX-0fvP-US3_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/2020_CKS_18873_0194_000%2528jock_mcfadyen_ra_canary_wharf_dark_blue070114%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1552" data-original-width="2048" height="303" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GccKQd1iQic/YJ0aEBQfo6I/AAAAAAAAJ3k/C_gJVzds_zo1qJpjAhK_xX-0fvP-US3_ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h303/2020_CKS_18873_0194_000%2528jock_mcfadyen_ra_canary_wharf_dark_blue070114%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Canary Wharf, Dark Blue' painting by Jock MacFadyen</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I’m very interested in these themes about
the precariousness of modern life that exists for huge swathes of society, be
it here in the UK or other parts of the world as we struggle to survive in the very
tight grip of neoliberal, authoritarian forces.
I go seeking out how it is reflected and explored in the culture I
absorb too, from watching films like ‘Nomadland’ and Ken Loach’s recent ‘Sorry
I Missed You’, to reading the novels of Willy Vlautin or James Kelman, and more
recently the excellent ‘Shuggie Bain’ by Douglas Stuart. Ever since my early
days as an art student I found myself attracted to the idea of trying to do
something about the culture, a working class, often denigrated culture, that I
grew up in and surrounded me in West Bromwich that still remains. I remember my
first encounters with the paintings of Jock MacFadyen having a profound impact
on me as a student because they seemed so close to not only the geographical
landscape of my hometown but the psychological, inner landscape too. They were affirming in that maybe my culture
had some value, did actually exist, and made a deep connection with me that I
struggled to find in the paintings we studied at college and with the lives of
my fellow, more middle class and confident students who were so much more art
aware. They still do. I often reflect that I was lucky to find a tutor on my
Art Foundation Course from a similar background to mine, only from Birkenhead
near Liverpool. He encouraged my early paintings of the Black Country and
supported me to follow this route. I’m really not sure what would have happened
to me otherwise. I felt like a fish out of water for a long time. All any of us
need is a bit of encouragement but it can often be hard to find at art college.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AURbkCbT9Nc/YJ0ab0xf4JI/AAAAAAAAJ3w/BDZwO0-xmmMXSxyfNrP6X2dGWZWzSi_7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210502_154659078_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1329" data-original-width="2048" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AURbkCbT9Nc/YJ0ab0xf4JI/AAAAAAAAJ3w/BDZwO0-xmmMXSxyfNrP6X2dGWZWzSi_7ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h260/IMG_20210502_154659078_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'A New England', oil canvas, 100 x 168cms, 2021 ( a new painting by me)</div></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Watching ‘Nomadland’ was a reminder and
affirmation of how much I still want my own work in painting to reflect the
world around me and have its own place within this culture of films, books,
television, painting and sculpture that deals with the realities of everyday
life in the mundane and the ordinary, the overlooked and neglected, often set
against a landscape haunted by post-industrial ruins and history. I need
reminding sometimes, because through the continual drip, drip, drip of social
media, particularly my Instagram feed, I’m reminded by the painters of the
English countryside and more palatable scenes of everyday life that I follow,
and like and admire I must say, I could be doing things very differently and
reaching a much wider audience. But that’s not what I’m doing. I don’t live in
the Cotswolds, or in the hills and valleys, or by the coast. I live near the Sainsbury’s
where the factory used to be and that feels more authentic to me….</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Here are a few of those cultural touchstones,
with some links if you want to delve deeper, that have influenced my work over
the years:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’, album by Bruce
Springsteen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/29779-bruce-springsteen-shut-the-fuck-up-brixton">https://thequietus.com/articles/29779-bruce-springsteen-shut-the-fuck-up-brixton</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Fast Food Nation’ book by Eric Schlosser<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/apr/07/features.weekend">https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/apr/07/features.weekend</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">‘The Afterglow’ book by Anthony Cartwright<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/05/anthony-cartwright-interview-killed-thatcher">https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/05/anthony-cartwright-interview-killed-thatcher</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">The paintings of Jock McFadyen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Not Not While The Giro’ book of short
stories by James Kelman<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igD60IYADsY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igD60IYADsY</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">‘The Jungle’ book by Upton Sinclair<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-jungle">https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-jungle</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">‘You Can’t Go Back If There’s Nothing To Go
Back To’ album by Richmond Fontaine<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/richmond-fontaine-willy-vlautin-post-to-wire-you-can-t-go-back-if-there-s-nothing-to-go-back-to-a7369296.html">https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/richmond-fontaine-willy-vlautin-post-to-wire-you-can-t-go-back-if-there-s-nothing-to-go-back-to-a7369296.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">‘The Motel Life’ book by Willy Vlautin<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://medium.com/@brianrowe_70270/falling-for-willy-vlautin-and-the-motel-life-77b9f9aeefe">https://medium.com/@brianrowe_70270/falling-for-willy-vlautin-and-the-motel-life-77b9f9aeefe</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-16268338359195054442021-04-30T11:54:00.001+01:002021-04-30T11:54:03.382+01:00A Marvelous Activity<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2cDNzOgZB8M/YIve6i2oHXI/AAAAAAAAJ2U/Ic2n89VPrDQGkJvUBg3Gm8e9fTXMZQJkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/k21118m2Tlw44QdK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1920" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2cDNzOgZB8M/YIve6i2oHXI/AAAAAAAAJ2U/Ic2n89VPrDQGkJvUBg3Gm8e9fTXMZQJkgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h320/k21118m2Tlw44QdK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Livin' On The Edge Of The World', oil on canvas, 80 x 100cms, 2021</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #121212; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I sometimes
think of doing other things, but actually it’s much more interesting to paint.
It is just a marvellous activity that humans have invented…’<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Frank Auerbach, 2015, who celebrated his 90<sup>th</sup>
birthday yesterday on the 29<sup>th</sup> April. He probably celebrated by painting…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tC8O7iIfR80/YIvfU8HwQYI/AAAAAAAAJ2c/YZ4wteCXWvoap5EUzNf2roAGJx4Zjua0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1059/IMG_20210303_155954847_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="1059" height="329" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tC8O7iIfR80/YIvfU8HwQYI/AAAAAAAAJ2c/YZ4wteCXWvoap5EUzNf2roAGJx4Zjua0ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h329/IMG_20210303_155954847_2.jpg" width="400" /></a> </i></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p style="text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 40 x 50cms, 2021</p><p style="text-align: left;"> <span style="text-align: left;">I’ve made an awful lot of paintings since
the beginning of the year. I’m normally fairly productive given the limits on
my time I have in my role as a parent and lecturer, but these last few months
have seen me continually painting, almost as if time is running out. Maybe it’s
an age thing, maybe it’s the pandemic forcing me to be at home, where my studio
is, more, maybe it’s both of these things. Sometimes it seems increasingly all
I ever want to do and all I am capable of doing.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E0byzfIf6_o/YIvf4PiIVcI/AAAAAAAAJ2k/Fook-4S-0o8tNy_CFQb6-IJ75YdyhS77QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1063/IMG_20210304_085038951_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="1063" height="329" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E0byzfIf6_o/YIvf4PiIVcI/AAAAAAAAJ2k/Fook-4S-0o8tNy_CFQb6-IJ75YdyhS77QCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h329/IMG_20210304_085038951_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 40 x 50cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In
the last two months I’ve made a return to looking at motorways and their
surrounding landscape, making some paintings based on photographs I took at
Spaghetti Junction, a place I’ve avoided in my paintings of motorways, largely
because of the extremeness of the scale of its architecture and its notoriety.
It seemed almost a cliché of a motorway, a futuristic highway from a J G
Ballard novel, whose writing I have never actually read but have been
encouraged to by others over the years. I found it all a bit off-putting as
this is not where my interests were at the time. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sHWR2O0FqsU/YIvgWdDcoWI/AAAAAAAAJ2s/Q1kYb2IC_espoEGmdO-mn7ovfDwl2HZfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210311_080209796_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1679" data-original-width="2048" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sHWR2O0FqsU/YIvgWdDcoWI/AAAAAAAAJ2s/Q1kYb2IC_espoEGmdO-mn7ovfDwl2HZfgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h328/IMG_20210311_080209796_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 40 x 50cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ynBp-i4chJM/YIvgkdaelkI/AAAAAAAAJ2w/wURMH7dProw3wbUm6XdSF5OPeiBVkQzyACLcBGAsYHQ/s1038/IMG_20210310_092607418_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1038" height="358" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ynBp-i4chJM/YIvgkdaelkI/AAAAAAAAJ2w/wURMH7dProw3wbUm6XdSF5OPeiBVkQzyACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h358/IMG_20210310_092607418_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Yet
despite the vast scale of the architecture of Spaghetti Junction the paintings
I have made so far have surprisingly ended up being on a small scale. I have
made two larger paintings, but at 80 x 100cms, they are relatively modest. They
have taken much longer to make, whereas working on the smaller paintings have
enabled me to keep moving rather than working on one painting for longer. It
has helped me to keep trying out more images and get more momentum going which
is one of the reasons I’ve been able to do so much lately. There is also
something about the size of the mark in relation to the image on the smaller
scale that excites me as well as the paintings appearing more intimate in
relation to their subject matter. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oKaP1ltoaAI/YIvg52SNWnI/AAAAAAAAJ28/fVhfQlK_edk9IUzanZQqpQLQyMq9UGGsgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210402_172716823%257E2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1634" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oKaP1ltoaAI/YIvg52SNWnI/AAAAAAAAJ28/fVhfQlK_edk9IUzanZQqpQLQyMq9UGGsgCLcBGAsYHQ/w319-h400/IMG_20210402_172716823%257E2.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Zona', oil on canvas, 100 x 80cms, 2021</div></div></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">However, after making the 3 small ones
shared here I made two more, slightly bigger ones, where I felt I was becoming
a bit unstuck with my use of colour. They were just too, well, <i>colourful </i>and a bit sweet, as well as
spatially very complex,<i> </i>so I have
turned my attention to some different work for now which I’ll share in my next
post. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Here’s a link to a nice interview with
Frank Auerbach in the link below (he makes better colour choices than me): <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/may/16/frank-auerbach-when-paint-fantastic-time-lots-girls</span></p></div></div></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i> </i></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p><br /></p>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-31078570503413631602021-04-20T13:49:00.000+01:002021-04-20T13:49:02.957+01:00Coming Up....<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YqnlglLWD5U/YH7MpW_G6vI/AAAAAAAAJ18/MPriL2P6WRs4c_AjOSKVP1Lk7l7N69cRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/c20335xIQ6OOZQcW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1532" data-original-width="1920" height="319" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YqnlglLWD5U/YH7MpW_G6vI/AAAAAAAAJ18/MPriL2P6WRs4c_AjOSKVP1Lk7l7N69cRQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h319/c20335xIQ6OOZQcW.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Winter Field', oil on canvas, 70 x 80cms, 2020-Prizewinner!</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I’m a prizewinner! A few weeks ago I was
informed that I, alongside two others, including my close artist friend Andrew
Smith, had had our respected artwork selected as prizewinners in Stourbridge’s
General Office Gallery’s Winter Open exhibition. I haven’t won a prize since I
won the History Prize in my first year at Secondary School 40 years ago (I’m
afraid it was a slow descent for my school career after that...) so I’m really
pleased, not least because the exhibition was judged ‘blind’ by three notable
judges, artist Jo Naden, Glenn Howells architect, and the photographer/artist
John Myers, who is an artist I really admire and whose ideas of the ‘banal and
boring’ have influenced some of my own work. And the prize? To take part in a group
exhibition at General Office with the other two prizewinners later in the year,
which is exciting. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In May I’m also exhibiting at the esteemed
Ikon Gallery in Birmingham for the first (and probably last!) time in an
exhibition, ‘Ikon For Artists’ aimed at celebrating and supporting artists during
the continuing Covid pandemic who are based in Birmingham. All artworks are for
sale, and I’ve seen on social media that many of the local artists I know and
whose work I like will also be exhibiting, so that’s great to be showing
alongside some of these for the first time. I hope I get to meet some of them
too but I’m not sure about the Covid restrictions and whether the exhibition
will have a private view or not (I suspect not). I’ll be exhibiting a painting I
made last year at the start of lockdown, ‘The Green Door’.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4RqjuudTJf8/YH7NDXnfy5I/AAAAAAAAJ2E/NAXywGwLrTs-TQBXy6ya7aTg6MVg9TeAACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/28988720239bRsjpb4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1273" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4RqjuudTJf8/YH7NDXnfy5I/AAAAAAAAJ2E/NAXywGwLrTs-TQBXy6ya7aTg6MVg9TeAACLcBGAsYHQ/w265-h400/28988720239bRsjpb4.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Green Door', oil on canvas, 120 x 90cms, 2020</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I’m also trying to plan a possible two
exhibitions with several of the artists that participated in this year’s Sky
Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2021 competition in the heats at West Wycombe
Park. It has been agreed that we can exhibit in the National Trust House
located in the grounds of the estate, but we are just looking more closely at
the logistics of it all, and we are also looking at other venues in the
Buckinghamshire area that may be interested in holding an exhibition of our
work on the back of the our connection with the TV competition (not show). If
this comes off we hope to present the exhibitions in late June/early July. It
will be so great to meet the artists I worked alongside in my own heat, but
also the other artists from episode 4, without the stress of the competition
hanging over us and hopefully get to know them all a bit better. I’m really
looking forward to it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I feel really upbeat about all of these
upcoming events. After a terrible year of cancelled exhibitions, isolation,
lockdowns etc it’s great to be part of some exciting exhibitions that sees me,
and all the other artists, back out in the world again and showing work to
expectant audiences (including myself). </span></p></div></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-1113245334043806502021-03-26T14:55:00.085+00:002021-07-05T09:19:47.547+01:00Sky Arts Landscape Artist Of The Year 2021 Part 2- The Day Of The Competition<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mO-mnMzYVtA/YOK72h3k19I/AAAAAAAAJ7I/JyOwso5ealEpN8E7aOOutUDrwgrBcAodACLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_500175734396598.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mO-mnMzYVtA/YOK72h3k19I/AAAAAAAAJ7I/JyOwso5ealEpN8E7aOOutUDrwgrBcAodACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_500175734396598.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Me with my submission artwork, 'Empty Streets' (now sold!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">‘So what are you
listening to?’ a voice from behind me asks. I disentangle myself from the
headphones on my Walkman and wipe my paint covered hands with a rag. I turn to
shyly greet Dame Joan Bakewell, the person asking the question, who is standing
there with members of the TV crew who are all masked up. I explain that I have
the shuffle setting on, but I had just been listening to Bob Dylan. ‘Have you
listened to the new album?’ I have. ‘It’s really good isn’t it? I just love his
words. I’ve just had Jonathan Miller’s son print me off all the lyrics so I can
read them’, she says disarmingly, as if I of course know Jonathan Miller’s son,
as we make our way to the front of my ‘pod’ for an interview. It’s about 11
o’clock in the morning and I’ve been painting for an hour. My interview with
Joan, which lasts about half an hour will turn out to be one of my personal
highlights from this rather heady and at times gruelling day, painting in the
sunshine in my green bucket hat with large TV cameras just inches away. She’s
really warm and engaged on and off camera (she’s been doing this for a long
time after all…), and we chat quite a bit about painting of course, but also teaching
and Birmingham and what my largely Muslim students would make of this place,
with its enormous grounds, grand follies and houses. I don’t really know what I
make of it other than it makes me very uneasy that it even exists and, with the
college I work at located in one of the most deprived parts of England, I think
they would feel the same.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tWq9Ar49c9o/YOK8bYSaDDI/AAAAAAAAJ7Q/C_KGSLXObmMwl4-T0C3jpiMEkVoxFf4OQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_562860354876000.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tWq9Ar49c9o/YOK8bYSaDDI/AAAAAAAAJ7Q/C_KGSLXObmMwl4-T0C3jpiMEkVoxFf4OQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_562860354876000.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It’s an issue that is
picked up later in the afternoon by Stephen Mangan, the other presenter. We chat
on camera and again I am asked, what with my submission of a landscape set in
the urban streets of Birmingham, what I make of a place like this. This time I explain how I see so much of the
world through the lens of my working class upbringing and I’m very aware of the
history of country estates and houses like this and how my Dad won’t visit them
because ‘they are all built on the backs and blood and sweat of the working
class’, he interrupts. ‘Well….yes,’ I say, not sure if he’s taking the piss.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VjUC0UNzEFU/YOK8u7PRGjI/AAAAAAAAJ7Y/ZPLprOTyH1o86WAG3_b51wlF1LOs1tlpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_550244836385529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VjUC0UNzEFU/YOK8u7PRGjI/AAAAAAAAJ7Y/ZPLprOTyH1o86WAG3_b51wlF1LOs1tlpwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_550244836385529.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'....one family?'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">He
asks me if I’m going to try and bring this into my piece, but in these
circumstances I’m not sure how. Off camera, he tells me he is from a big
working class Irish family and he totally gets what how I am feeling. He tells
me that when he drove onto the estate in the morning his thoughts were ‘One
family…?!’ </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uk480fEIlWQ/YF3niwdzZLI/AAAAAAAAJzk/IpvtkdydfsEH9t5pykEnr8ny5j3eEJhlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s361/download.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="140" data-original-width="361" height="155" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uk480fEIlWQ/YF3niwdzZLI/AAAAAAAAJzk/IpvtkdydfsEH9t5pykEnr8ny5j3eEJhlwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h155/download.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">I had risen early from
my bed at around 5.30am. The Travelodge I’m staying in is on the High Wycombe
ring road and the noise from the traffic, combined with my nerves had ensured I
didn’t get much sleep. I have to be at West Wycombe Park for 7am, but it’s only
2 miles up the road so I’m really early. I have a cup of tea, shower, get
dressed, and in the cool early morning air head over the ring road to where my
car has been parked in the NCP car park all night. I’m a bit anxious that all
my painting gear is still safe in the car (I am from Birmingham after all) but
thankfully it is. I slowly drive the car down the winding ramps and head off.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p>The Park is surrounded
by a high wall with a huge gate that opens just as I arrive. Immediately inside
there is a car park which a few other cars nervously follow me towards. These
are some of the 50 ‘wild card’ artists who will also be taking part today.
There is someone from the TV crew waiting for us and, and after I identify myself
as a contestant, a medic takes my temperature and I’m invited to load all my
gear onto a golf buggy and trundle off, masked up and holding on tightly to all
my stuff. We cross the enormous estate to where I eventually find myself at the
site of the six ‘pods’ where the 6 competing artists will work from today. We
are situated by a large lake opposite which, on an island in the middle, is a
large temple like building, The Music Room. The estate once belonged to the
Dashford family, who still live here, but it is now owned by the National Trust
after debts were accumulated. I’ve done my google research. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sh78MqiMvnA/YF3pCVFX4PI/AAAAAAAAJzs/U2hzAnPfMPUfZ0Wz0RmNDOnl4cXooIc-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/wildcards%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sh78MqiMvnA/YF3pCVFX4PI/AAAAAAAAJzs/U2hzAnPfMPUfZ0Wz0RmNDOnl4cXooIc-QCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/wildcards%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The 'Wild Card' artists </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I say hello to the other
artists, who all seem as nervous as me, and we exchange a bit of banter. I
immediately get on with one painter, Dougie Adams, but also enjoy talking to
Kirandeep, who is also from Birmingham who is here with her sister, and Sophia
and Rosemary who are both here with their spouses, and we chat away about
painting and the show. I never get chance to speak to Renata until the end of
the day as she arrives later with the air of an artist on a mission so I’m a
bit afraid to approach her if truth be told. I’ve watched 2 series of this programme during
lockdown so it all seems very familiar on one hand, but of course very strange
to now find myself here being escorted to pod number 3 while the camera crews
set up. I jump up on the stage, which is smaller than I thought it would be,
excited, inside feeling a bit like a little kid trying to take it all in. I’m
feeling ok after all my preparation, but it’s hard to think straight with all
the activity around. I have thought all along that it would be unlikely that I
would win today given the nature of the task, but I do think I’m a pretty good
painter and so my own slightly more modest ambition is to at least be
recognised in the top three artworks of the day. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6EomAdxSgg/YF3p9Pyt4HI/AAAAAAAAJz0/1LJOB5y3-Gw849wbhJDxG6Z6nmY_VqutwCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/pods%2Band%2Btemple%2Bof%2Bmusic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6EomAdxSgg/YF3p9Pyt4HI/AAAAAAAAJz0/1LJOB5y3-Gw849wbhJDxG6Z6nmY_VqutwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/pods%2Band%2Btemple%2Bof%2Bmusic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Pods</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">I’m coming out of the
portable loos at 9.30 when I hear a voice say to me, ‘So you must be the guy
from West Bromwich who doesn’t like football!’. It’s the judge Tai
Schierenberg, a very fine award winning painter, who had been an artist in residence
at West Bromwich Albion a couple of years ago. I had watched a fascinating
programme about it, as Tai, now a devoted Baggies fan, had never even been to a
football match before his time at the club, but now he regularly travels up to
The Hawthorns. We have a nice chat about it all, including my personal misgivings
about football, as we walk in the sunshine towards my pod where I am now being
invited to at last to set up and get ready to start at 10am. He wishes me good
luck. The camera crew wants to film us getting our art equipment out, squeezing
tubes of oily paint etc. before Stephen Mangan and Joan Bakewell announce (twice)
the start of the programme and our four hours of work. The silence as we all
set to work by the lakeside as the cameras finally roll feels deafening. It all
feels very surreal. I was waiting for the incidental music to crank up…</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PEXWy5jkado/YF3qYpmNNzI/AAAAAAAAJz8/seTC2I4Z8oYccr-1SNwhiOgQKDi5HloAwCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/the%2Bstart.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PEXWy5jkado/YF3qYpmNNzI/AAAAAAAAJz8/seTC2I4Z8oYccr-1SNwhiOgQKDi5HloAwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/the%2Bstart.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The start...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YzKmFzOCmpE/YOK9WL9U3DI/AAAAAAAAJ7g/U-ETS-ccapg_0X1P3HZ4NVOOz2eiYnmdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_243287710602418%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YzKmFzOCmpE/YOK9WL9U3DI/AAAAAAAAJ7g/U-ETS-ccapg_0X1P3HZ4NVOOz2eiYnmdQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_243287710602418%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">...starting my painting</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m_7LOOTjDEE/YOK_EXemoHI/AAAAAAAAJ8M/SAqhdg7DieErZntNYwPmzIeotCfTPqqYACLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_236501928053239.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m_7LOOTjDEE/YOK_EXemoHI/AAAAAAAAJ8M/SAqhdg7DieErZntNYwPmzIeotCfTPqqYACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_236501928053239.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">And on the whole I
thought my day’s painting went well. I took my time getting the composition and
drawing right on the canvas in the first hour. I thought my composition,
although simple, was strong and well-balanced. I would occasionally leap off my
pod’s stage to look at my painting from a distance and would steal a glance at
the other 2 easel painters work, Dougie and Sophia, but not for long, there
seemed no point really. It was important to just stay totally focussed on my
own work and think about what I wanted to do with this rather sentimental,
picturesque scene in front of me. But
there were many interruptions as you were invited to speak to one of the
judges- I spoke with Tai and Kate Bryan- and the presenters, but also to speak
‘to the camera’ where one of the crew would ask you lots of questions about how
you were feeling about taking part, how your painting was going etc. In these
‘to camera’ sections I kept having to repeat my spiel as I constantly referred
to being in ‘the show’ and not ‘the competition’, which was how they preferred
it to be referenced. ‘Can you not say ‘The Show?’ Can you say ‘The
Competition?’ And again…’ the woman in charge of these segments kept patiently
telling me. That was a bit more difficult but all good fun too, but admittedly it
did get in the way of thinking about what I was doing. At the end of the day I
don’t work like that. I work for long periods uninterrupted trying to reach a
place with a painting where it takes on an integrity of its own that you then
have to respond to. Finding this was difficult.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AI_81wt0d0w/YOK97n9T6jI/AAAAAAAAJ7w/SAy9H3HqmhQSdKGrNLv51D3vMuBQMhcSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_3984727008247699.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AI_81wt0d0w/YOK97n9T6jI/AAAAAAAAJ7w/SAy9H3HqmhQSdKGrNLv51D3vMuBQMhcSwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_3984727008247699.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">After two hours work a
packed lunch was bought over and I ate mine under a shady tree chatting with
Dougie. When I returned to my pod I felt the pressure mount in the afternoon as
I tried to push on and try and shape my painting into something more exciting
and original, which I found hard given the scene. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X_iMEveid88/YOK-mZk2gmI/AAAAAAAAJ78/9uwOxsLshewok4LhcdCHHc5mt5SzgsdewCLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_424525505196549.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X_iMEveid88/YOK-mZk2gmI/AAAAAAAAJ78/9uwOxsLshewok4LhcdCHHc5mt5SzgsdewCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_424525505196549.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">We had started back at 1, and
with the competition being to create the painting in 4 hours, I had my mind set
on 3pm or thereabouts as when we would finish as no one had said otherwise. I
put down my brushes at five to three, feeling a bit wiped out at this point.
and looked around only to see everyone else still working away as if they had
bags of time. I asked one of the TV crew what time we finished and she said,
‘Oh, we have another hour and a half yet!’. As a teacher by day, with my exam
invigilator’s head on, I thought, ‘well we could have had more warning about
that!’ They were of course, including all the stops taken by us all to do
interviews etc into consideration but no conversation had actually occurred
about how this would affect the time which would have been helpful. We probably
all did about 6 hours painting in the end. Anyway, feeling rather foolish, I sat
for a while looking at my work with fresh eyes before picking up my brushes
again and before long found myself working with a deeper concentration than I
had managed all day back into the painting for another hour. I tried to
maintain a more holistic approach to the painting than fuss with details,
although the Music Temple, which was central to the view, made this near
impossible, until time was finally called.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U-4jEIYNeLs/YOK-4A8AB0I/AAAAAAAAJ8I/OuTpEScjoU4cFvqwsny2sBdDfcy5cAkSACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/received_496607528283252%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="946" data-original-width="2048" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U-4jEIYNeLs/YOK-4A8AB0I/AAAAAAAAJ8I/OuTpEScjoU4cFvqwsny2sBdDfcy5cAkSACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_496607528283252%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kyDQ_xTLPuM/YF3rjNbvWRI/AAAAAAAAJ0E/Joi4cuuWGIoGn_EOTTEifb3KrQGwhf1jACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/w2121joUcDuLDDP.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1430" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kyDQ_xTLPuM/YF3rjNbvWRI/AAAAAAAAJ0E/Joi4cuuWGIoGn_EOTTEifb3KrQGwhf1jACLcBGAsYHQ/w298-h400/w2121joUcDuLDDP.jpg" width="298" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My finished painting, oil on canvas, 100 x 78cms</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">We were all really
exhausted as we stepped off the stage and walked towards the cameras for a shot
of us ending the session. It turned out to be four more shots as we all did
this really badly, much to the director’s dismay but my amusement (we are all
artists not actors after all…) ‘Just look at my red T shirt as you come towards
us!’ he barked before ‘no, back again….jeezuz’ he muttered under his breath.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NYpUpmPbz1M/YOK_VVCRWAI/AAAAAAAAJ8Y/czT9xbq_Bt0lDxTQtN4OnOGQvZrbYFt2ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_542399390124059.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NYpUpmPbz1M/YOK_VVCRWAI/AAAAAAAAJ8Y/czT9xbq_Bt0lDxTQtN4OnOGQvZrbYFt2ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_542399390124059.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lbx2sl8saKo/YF3r85TNeMI/AAAAAAAAJ0M/FN8iH7F_EasmwyUL-L_DLumSr2wBfw4_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Heat%2BPaintings.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lbx2sl8saKo/YF3r85TNeMI/AAAAAAAAJ0M/FN8iH7F_EasmwyUL-L_DLumSr2wBfw4_ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Heat%2BPaintings.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The finished artworks by the 6 Pod artists</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cQ4cQeL68cc/YF3sjo4IdLI/AAAAAAAAJ0Y/7ltUkW9Grfolo_reKp19oc0UoyAj8c9WACLcBGAsYHQ/s600/the%2Bartists%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cQ4cQeL68cc/YF3sjo4IdLI/AAAAAAAAJ0Y/7ltUkW9Grfolo_reKp19oc0UoyAj8c9WACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/the%2Bartists%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The six Pod artists </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">The artists were
escorted to another, cool in the shade, part of the park for a sandwich and a
welcome drink but with little opportunity to look at each other’s work which I
thought was a shame, while the judges assessed our efforts back near the pods. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QqvFXP2h4Ys/YOK_nIb9syI/AAAAAAAAJ8g/pbO2VCu2v88ry9mZTWf8xB5oX17Nceb3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_244696530440632.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QqvFXP2h4Ys/YOK_nIb9syI/AAAAAAAAJ8g/pbO2VCu2v88ry9mZTWf8xB5oX17Nceb3wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_244696530440632.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Judges, curator Kate Bryan, artist Tai Shan Schierenberg, curator Kathreen Soriano</div><span style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>Of the easel painters I could see that Sophia
had struggled to finish, but Dougie had completed a nice, subtle painting and I
felt sure he would get in the top 3. I felt very nervous but also very unsure
of where I would end up in the selection. I thought I had done a good painting
that had a great deal of vitality and life to it despite being created in these
difficult circumstances (although I can see now that I didn’t do very well with
capturing the integrity of the Music Room/Temple). Would I make the top 3? I
really hoped so as we were eventually called back to stand in line next to our work
in front of an audience of many of the ‘Wild Card’ artists who had now made
their way down. I felt like Maximillian in front of the firing squad in Manet’s
painting ‘The Execution of Emperor Maximillian’(I’m actually not kidding about
this).</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iWlKM10X0T8/YF3sXp6psOI/AAAAAAAAJ0U/80xyvWuQ-M8ZaMq6fPsdrJ2JmAmM39CLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/waiting%2Bto%2Bhear%2Bthe%2Bshortlist.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iWlKM10X0T8/YF3sXp6psOI/AAAAAAAAJ0U/80xyvWuQ-M8ZaMq6fPsdrJ2JmAmM39CLgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/waiting%2Bto%2Bhear%2Bthe%2Bshortlist.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Waiting to hear the shortlist (this was horrible...)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">And then the names
were called out by Stephen Mangan as the Judges stood behind him- I’ve noticed
they never make eye contact with the artists at this point- ‘Rosemary Firth,
Renata Fernandez…’ and at this point after the calling out of the names of the first
two artists I had a terrible, sinking realization that I had not gotten into
the top 3 as I knew Dougie would certainly be in it. ‘and Dougie Adams…’. I
felt absolutely gutted, really surprised at how competitive I had felt in the
end. The judges applauded and walked past us with their commiserations but I
felt a bit numb. Kathleen Soriano said to me as she passed ‘Oh, I loved yours!’
and I thought to myself, ‘Yeah? Well why didn’t you bloody pick it then! (My
apologies for my lack of magnanimity at this point. I’m just trying to write
honestly about the experience). The three artists who hadn’t made it through
were told to wait in the field adjacent to the easels until the winner was
called. I felt really fed up, and to make it worse I was then asked to do one
more interview to camera to tell the viewers how I felt about losing….great. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Dougie won the heat, a
worthy winner I thought. We then had to tidy up our pods and pack up our
equipment as our paintings were taken away to be wrapped up somewhere else on
site. There had been some art materials available- some nice oils, acrylics and
charcoal which I was told I could have which was very generous. Looking around
all the activity as the crew started to pack up to my surprise I noticed the
judges walking away. After spending six exhausting hours painting, weeks
preparing, and then not getting through to the top three, I was hoping they
would come over and offer us bit of feedback or at least some advice for the
future- I think we all deserved that, but no, they were off. That was it. I was
left with my disappointment, and a sense of ‘well, what happened there then?’.
I suddenly felt like a small cog in the big machine of the TV production. They
had got what they needed. I’d made a painting for the TV show. I could go now.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>When I made it back to
my car and headed back up the motorway I felt exhausted, but also surprisingly upset
about it all. To not get any feedback at all had really knocked my confidence,
as if I wasn’t really worthy after all. I put Courtney Marie Andrew’s ‘On My
Page’ album on the stereo, which seemed to fit my mood perfectly, and went
home. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>After...</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SEcqJZT1mIQ/YF3uOiaptpI/AAAAAAAAJ0k/dwU7AxiWYBkuYpLnD6YscO9r01DdfhmlACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/FF4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2021" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SEcqJZT1mIQ/YF3uOiaptpI/AAAAAAAAJ0k/dwU7AxiWYBkuYpLnD6YscO9r01DdfhmlACLcBGAsYHQ/w395-h400/FF4.jpg" width="395" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Far Field IV', oil on canvas, 30 x 30cms</div>Five months later I
finally hear some feedback on my painting, which I have not looked at since I
came home from West Wycombe Park, when I sit down to watch episode 2 of series
6 of Sky Arts Landscape Artist Of The Year in January. In the five months since the filming I have
made 20 new paintings- my recent pylon works- trying several new approaches in
my painting through the autumn to winter with a quiet determination to prove
something to myself and try and put some creative distance between myself and
the TV experience<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I’ve been absolutely
dreading watching the programme and have even had sleepless nights about it
wondering what the judges actually thought and said, but also how I will come
across. Yes, it would be fair to say I had lost a bit of perspective.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>It turns out that the
judges, particularly Kate and Katherine, did like it after all, even referring
to it as the ‘Disco Temple’ because of my use of colour, which I liked. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GGyjY0FcWCU/YOLAZnPIqOI/AAAAAAAAJ8o/_1TCBpnp-WwxwQWPraGvnpqdDkvKLTcJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1240/received_330859215364135.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1240" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GGyjY0FcWCU/YOLAZnPIqOI/AAAAAAAAJ8o/_1TCBpnp-WwxwQWPraGvnpqdDkvKLTcJwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/received_330859215364135.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Independent curator Kate Bryan</div><p class="MsoNormal">At the halfway point, when the Judges have a
bit of a conflab Joan Bakewell had said ‘well Shaun seems to know what he’s
doing’, a phrase I thought I might get printed on a T-Shirt with Joan
Bakewell’s name under it. The episode
itself was not the best. I thought all the interesting bits of watching the
artists at work which I have liked about the show when I have watched it did
not feature, and neither did I in the end despite all the interviews and
filming. I thought that might be the case though as I hadn’t made the top 3. I
thought the ‘narrative’ of the episode would be cut around the 3 top artists of
the day. Within an hour of the show being on however, I had sold a painting
from my website store and by the weekend had sold two more, including my
submission piece. For the next few days and more I received loads of positive
feedback through my social media accounts about my appearance and more
importantly my painting from friends but also fellow artists from all over the
country, many of them past contestants on the show, praising my work and
wanting to know more about my painting practice. Although I’m aware that it can be creatively
fatal to take much notice of criticism both good and bad and that it’s best to
just get on with ‘the work’, all this positive feedback does really give my
confidence a much needed boost. Other artist friends offered a more critical
perspective ranging from wondering what I was doing on the programme anyway as
It seemed nothing to do with what I do, that the judges were ‘so empty’ and
‘where do they get these people from?!’. One friend the way the ‘wild cards’
are treated is ‘demeaning’, and many thought my painting was the best by far, which
was nice (let me put that that one in). One
friend said the difference with my work and the others was that it was actually
ALIVE! Another artist friend who I met in Cornwall a week after taking part
gently reminded me, ‘It’s just a TV show…’</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IQ5OOd71Pl8/YF3ukVn0BZI/AAAAAAAAJ0s/S9pjxsZ6zjE7KeCLEXHjkKAE3YAtSOdyACLcBGAsYHQ/s1927/Empty%2BStreets.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1927" data-original-width="1561" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IQ5OOd71Pl8/YF3ukVn0BZI/AAAAAAAAJ0s/S9pjxsZ6zjE7KeCLEXHjkKAE3YAtSOdyACLcBGAsYHQ/w324-h400/Empty%2BStreets.jpg" width="324" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Empty Streets', oil on canvas, 50 x 40cms (the painting that got me </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">in the competition. Now sold)</div><p class="MsoNormal">A TV show or not (I
hear those words again…’can you say ‘competition, not show?’) the programme has
seemingly created a ripple effect in the weeks that have followed with more and
more people taking an interest in my work. The best and most tangible thing to
come out of it however, is the contact I have made and the relationships I am
beginning to form with other professional artists. In fact, later in the summer
I’m returning to West Wycombe park with the artists I met at my episode and the
others who featured there in episode 4 to stage a live (not online!) exhibition
of our work from the competition and some of our other work at the National
Trust house at the Park (I’m not sure what my Dad will say!). That’s a lovely
and unexpected outcome. In the meantime,
I’m learning a great deal, not least that I’m not as good as so many of the
artists I’m in touch with, and it is pushing me on to try and make my own work
much stronger, be more critical and ask myself more questions about the work I
do make and put out there. I’m making a lot of work at the moment, but a great
deal of it I’m rejecting, painting over things to and try again and be more
willing to try something different. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Beckett’s famous quote:
<em><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again.
Fail again. Fail better’’ </span></em>seems
to sum my experience up, as it does so much of anyone’s attempts to be creative
and to try and do something worthwhile and fulfilling, which in the end my
participation in the competition has proved to be. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">******</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Can I move on now…? I’m
sorry this has ended up reading more like a short story. It’s been difficult to
write as I’ve been very conscious whenever
people have asked me since what it was like my thoughts always come back to the
difficult end to the experience. Yes, maybe I did lose perspective, but
painting is so important to me, and I still think the judges should have taken the time to speak us with us all after how much work we had done. As an artist we are always made to feel
grateful for any opportunity, and I felt that this was no exception and have
had this said to me about this opportunity too, but as artists our passion for what we do is also continually
exploited. We have to exhibit for free, give up our time for
free, often we have to pay to exhibit (!), appear in front of millions watching on Sky Arts for
free and yet still be grateful. It will do our careers good etc. And we are, and
sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t and on it goes…I’ve had so many
experiences as an artist very similar to this over the years. I wanted this one
to be a little different. I just wish that our skills, experience and passion
for what we do was respected and treated a bit better sometimes. </p></div></div></div></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-15037770469411035582021-02-19T12:20:00.003+00:002021-02-19T12:20:34.193+00:00Groundhog Day<p> (I’m having really
difficulty completing a second part blog post to my experience of Landscape
Artist Of the Year so I thought, in the preferred spirit of looking forward not
back, I would prefer to write briefly about some of the work I have made since
the start of the New Year….)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R9IYIXaIhGk/YC-otU4pt_I/AAAAAAAAJww/ol1hpUNXdJMvTgQNfoLmmFaw5XtSGtxigCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210122_134736712%257E2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1673" data-original-width="2048" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R9IYIXaIhGk/YC-otU4pt_I/AAAAAAAAJww/ol1hpUNXdJMvTgQNfoLmmFaw5XtSGtxigCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h326/IMG_20210122_134736712%257E2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Winter Walk', oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Having completed a
large painting at the end of the 2020 in the series of pylons in fields I
wanted to draw a line under this work at this point. I was feeling a bit
exhausted with the theme for now, but had no particular plans for anything new.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">When the New Year started and we soon sadly
entered Lockdown 3 and I found myself working from home again, remote teaching,
I ordered 10 small canvasses (50 x 60cms) with plans to experiment with trying to create some new paintings based on some photographs I had been taking
with a new DSLR camera I had for Christmas (a fab present!) on my familiar
lockdown walks. I was interested in trying to capture something of the feel of
the winter from photographs in which I have been trying to teach myself how to use
the camera and try to understand how to manipulate exposure using only
the manual setting to explore mood and atmosphere through light and colour.</p></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MGc7wjQJ-8Q/YC-qUaQDUlI/AAAAAAAAJxA/qsxZ8LG2_5AeF7jjjST8lISXeC_UCr4CgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210122_134811017%257E2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1669" data-original-width="2048" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MGc7wjQJ-8Q/YC-qUaQDUlI/AAAAAAAAJxA/qsxZ8LG2_5AeF7jjjST8lISXeC_UCr4CgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h326/IMG_20210122_134811017%257E2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Winter Walk', oil on canvas, 60 x 50cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nq8HcL8-seE/YC-qklPBypI/AAAAAAAAJxI/y4hYRevYRQIkI3PxQVyU55LTW1ZwPErrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210122_134859524%257E2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1675" data-original-width="2048" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nq8HcL8-seE/YC-qklPBypI/AAAAAAAAJxI/y4hYRevYRQIkI3PxQVyU55LTW1ZwPErrgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h328/IMG_20210122_134859524%257E2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Winter Walk', oil on canvas, 50 x60cms, 2021</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">I am really enjoying using the camera, but the paintings I created through January where I used some of these photographs as a starting point, particularly with the colour and light, were less successful and I found myself constantly re-<br />painting most of them to seek something that spoke more to me about these walks. The most pared down ones are the ones I’m eventually happiest with and will keep, but I’ve been struggling with painting the woods and fields, although I find them very beautiful to look at. I’ve found it hard to ‘key’ in to ways of painting the scenes that I’m happy with. As I worked on them I thought the motif of the path, which I continually find myself on day after day, was a good metaphor for the lockdown situation and it’s groundhog day feeling.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qIgiCpSFiQw/YC-q5luiOOI/AAAAAAAAJxQ/3kLDHCy5L5MdoCvDMADLOTABvepjb95XgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210122_135027894%257E2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1602" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qIgiCpSFiQw/YC-q5luiOOI/AAAAAAAAJxQ/3kLDHCy5L5MdoCvDMADLOTABvepjb95XgCLcBGAsYHQ/w313-h400/IMG_20210122_135027894%257E2.jpg" width="313" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Winter Walk', oil on canvas, 60 x 50cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">One afternoon, after some of the heavy snow we
had fall in the area, I went out with the camera to try and take some
photographs as the light faded from day to evening. I took some good
photographs in the local edgeland woods, but as I came back onto my estate some
of the parked up cars, covered in snow, and the snowy paths and roads caught my
interest and I took a few photographs of these and printed some of these photos
off. On a bit of a whim last week I created a small painting from one of them,
rich in violets and blues from the snow in the twilight and ‘Bingo!’ I felt
very excited and something creatively seem to open up, much more interesting
than the landscapes I had been slogging over, and with much more potential. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kz6a9seBBIc/YC-rYEgqwBI/AAAAAAAAJxY/BbDsBFTAxxc1VYjtl5NOlPvLedktXFynwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210203_123233590%257E3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1510" data-original-width="2048" height="295" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kz6a9seBBIc/YC-rYEgqwBI/AAAAAAAAJxY/BbDsBFTAxxc1VYjtl5NOlPvLedktXFynwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h295/IMG_20210203_123233590%257E3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 30 x 45cms, 2021<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3alRq_RDi8g/YC-rmoEb59I/AAAAAAAAJxc/tOMc1ypOc0cv_fx61SVNvIPdwATxOETYACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210205_115702747%257E2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1533" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3alRq_RDi8g/YC-rmoEb59I/AAAAAAAAJxc/tOMc1ypOc0cv_fx61SVNvIPdwATxOETYACLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/IMG_20210205_115702747%257E2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>oil on canvas, 45 x 30cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HjJ2II1YfaE/YC-r8NmQyAI/AAAAAAAAJxo/ZuL9zIoHbxQB9r4vf1LTNUgJumK9LRMqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210206_103406789%257E2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1621" data-original-width="2048" height="316" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HjJ2II1YfaE/YC-r8NmQyAI/AAAAAAAAJxo/ZuL9zIoHbxQB9r4vf1LTNUgJumK9LRMqwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h316/IMG_20210206_103406789%257E2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 60cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MV0Se88uH0k/YC-sJweM6VI/AAAAAAAAJxs/0ikKEqh2B-o0a3hTyRP1dRV5nZ9YJoJ_gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210210_141350504%257E2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1675" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MV0Se88uH0k/YC-sJweM6VI/AAAAAAAAJxs/0ikKEqh2B-o0a3hTyRP1dRV5nZ9YJoJ_gCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h400/IMG_20210210_141350504%257E2.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 60 x 50cms, 2021</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Over the next few days I created five more
paintings of these scenes. They seem very evocative and moody, and also capture
something of the lockdown with their sense of expectancy. Most importantly they
feel much more me and more distinctive. I feel back on the road once more…</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PuNAJgH9WdY/YC-seSXTRbI/AAAAAAAAJx0/BWNdPiRPBzES5Cd_omqjHDaNyPnIrWAgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210210_141400494%257E2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1348" data-original-width="2048" height="264" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PuNAJgH9WdY/YC-seSXTRbI/AAAAAAAAJx0/BWNdPiRPBzES5Cd_omqjHDaNyPnIrWAgwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h264/IMG_20210210_141400494%257E2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">oil on canvas, 50 x 75cms, 2021</div></div></div></div></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-81648651235303366552021-01-14T11:32:00.003+00:002021-01-19T09:28:20.404+00:00Sky Arts Landscape Artist Of The Year 2021- Part 1 (Before...)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_nZDVGIkalM/YAAn_h7HdMI/AAAAAAAAJu4/Reenl9MTiAA62sV4L11p4QLrg1zll4ZfACLcBGAsYHQ/s1927/Empty%2BStreets.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1927" data-original-width="1561" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_nZDVGIkalM/YAAn_h7HdMI/AAAAAAAAJu4/Reenl9MTiAA62sV4L11p4QLrg1zll4ZfACLcBGAsYHQ/w324-h400/Empty%2BStreets.jpg" width="324" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Empty Streets', oil on canvas, 50 x 40cms, 2020</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My selected entry to Landscape Artist Of The Year 2021</div><br /> Happy New Year. I can finally tell you about my participation last August as a contestant in
Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2021, which started a new series this week on
Wednesday the 13th January at 8pm. Up until now, as a condition of taking part, you are
understandably not allowed to share anything about the programme on any social media
platforms in case you spoil the result. I’ve been given the nod to share stuff about it now, but
still can’t obviously share the result or my artwork from the day, but I thought it might be
interesting to write about my ‘before and after’ experience. With this in mind this is the first of
two posts- the ‘before’. A few friends know about my participation, but only a small handful
know how I actually got on. <p></p><p>For those that don’t know about the competition and have not seen it, it follows a similar
format to it’s sister programme ‘Portrait Artist of the Year’ which has just finished it’s current
run. Both series are presented by Dame Joan Bakewell and actor Stephen Mangan. Each
weekly heat features six professional or amateur artists selected to compete from the
thousands that apply by sending in a landscape painting (or drawing or print) and a short
statement about their piece, the most interesting of which are then selected by the show’s
judges and you are invited to take part. The show’s judges are highly respected and
experienced curator’s Kathleen Soriano and Kate Bryan (look them up- what amazing CV’s!)
and the rather brilliant painter Tai Shan Schierenberg. The artists then have to turn up at a
given location (the specifics of which I was only told a few days before to avoid any cheating
or practising beforehand) to set up in a ‘pod’- a small stage with easel, table, even materials
if you need them, and a much needed roof-for each artist and in just four hours complete a
‘plein air’ artwork from a 180 degree view of the landscape in front of them. Working nearby
are also 50 ‘Wild Card’ artists also invited along from the entrants but who didn’t quite make
the competing six, one of whom from the six heats is invited to compete in the semi-final. At
the end of the four hours the finished artworks are judged, a top three selected, and then
from this an overall winner who progresses to the semi-final. <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">So it was strange having spent much of the first few months of lockdown really enjoying watching both recent series away from the horrors outside in the Covid world, to be contacted by the show to be told the judges loved my own entry for this year’s competition and can I take part?! Strange, but also incredibly exciting and gratifying. It felt like a real achievement to just get selected. For once, I felt quite proud, a feeling I never carry very easily. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_w9znFkBkGI/YAAop8Xv65I/AAAAAAAAJvA/ZODVNNsVHC0EqeUOrPHDakAvdyYPKCX1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200730_085545513_HDR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_w9znFkBkGI/YAAop8Xv65I/AAAAAAAAJvA/ZODVNNsVHC0EqeUOrPHDakAvdyYPKCX1wCLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/IMG_20200730_085545513_HDR.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'En Plein Air'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The painting that had been selected was, I think, a very unusual one, ‘Empty Streets’, and
features at the top of this post. It is a painting of a bus stop near my Birmingham home
based on a photograph taken on my phone on the way home the day I was sent home from
work, as a college lecturer, last March and all schools and colleges were ordered to close as
the pandemic took hold. It was an anxious and worrying moment in time, and the empty
illuminated digital hoarding screen on the bus stop attracted me as it appeared like some
sort of portal, gateway or door to a parallel reality to the familiar world I knew. If only I knew
now ten months later. I painted the painting that night and always felt there was something
about it that was hard to pin down but I thought was good. I eventually sent it to the
competition thinking this a couple of months later, but also wrote about its relation to the
pandemic in my statement. I wonder if this also caught the judges eye, because after all I
think a landscape painting should have the power to conjure up or reflect the circumstances
in which it was made. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-reKzDQz3x_k/YAApKEkAxrI/AAAAAAAAJvM/-WCcKsp7omsTDKPdA6Ix81WgsdJZPAGiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200714_121019827_HDR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-reKzDQz3x_k/YAApKEkAxrI/AAAAAAAAJvM/-WCcKsp7omsTDKPdA6Ix81WgsdJZPAGiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/IMG_20200714_121019827_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Working on location....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>After the initial excitement I thought I’d better do some serious training for the competition,
because as much as see myself as a landscape painter I don’t create my paintings ‘plein
air’- although I do occasionally make such studies, but that’s all they are- my paintings are
very much studio creations developed from many different approaches and, from my
experience of watching the show I would be competing against some serious professional
and experienced ‘plein air’ painters. And to make a painting in four hours? Well, many of my
paintings are actually created in less time than that as they are very pared down and I often
find myself overdoing it when I work too long on a painting. How to retain the qualities that
mark my own work out and not make a poor attempt at trying to compete with the plein air
artists and do something that retains some vitality in four hours, these were the questions
that, with the Rocky soundtrack in my ears, I considered as I set to work. I had six weeks
before I went in mid-August. I must say it was an exciting distraction from the pandemic and
the months I had spent in lockdown. <div><br /></div><div>Many of the locations, though not all, are often on country estates in parts of rural England
and when I was told I would be painting at an as yet unspecified location in High Wycombe I
of course googled the area. I thought the most likely place would be a large National Trust
estate called West Wycombe Park or possibly an airfield nearby. I was hoping for the airfield!
But either way I knew that, unlike my paintings set in the urban West Midland edgelands at
night, I would be painting scenery that would be very unlike anything I was used to painting
and in the daytime too. With this in mind I spent time in the studio making small studies
based on photographs I had been taking on my lockdown walks in local green spaces such
as woods and fields trying to build up a painting vocabulary for painting such things that felt
my own. The studies were also influenced initially by favourite artists I often lean on such as
Lois Dodd, Alex Katz, Fairfield Porter, Diebenkorn and De Kooning, as well as Daubigny and
Morandi. I also watched lots of youtube videos by ‘landscape’ artists to gain some useful
technical tips, especially about mixing suitable colours for painting terrain, but soon got
bored of this. Much of it seemed as far away from my idea of painting as it could possibly be
and quite depressing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tbJT06bKSKM/YAApjf5nexI/AAAAAAAAJvU/UT3pm3yy8CcRX4LM-XrvvhzH_e2laAJMQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200716_131810468_HDR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tbJT06bKSKM/YAApjf5nexI/AAAAAAAAJvU/UT3pm3yy8CcRX4LM-XrvvhzH_e2laAJMQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/IMG_20200716_131810468_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">...at RAF Cosford Museum, Telford</div><br /><div>The most useful work I did was actually going out and working on location but this also took
some refining as it was quite hard to find suitable locations that ticked the boxes of where I
may find myself painting in the competition. Plus the practical considerations of working
more seriously ‘en plein air’, such as organising and carrying your equipment, setting up,
what size to work on and discovering how long I needed to work. Could I do it in four hours?
I had a few false starts working on small panels at Edgbaston Reservoir, which I didn’t like,
before taking a bigger canvas and working in a small cemetery overlooking a very old church
on top of a hill with tremendous views over the Worcestershire countryside. I would have
been happy to just paint the view but I felt tackling the church would be important. This went
ok, but after 2 hours tops I was done. </div><div><br /></div><div>Next I went to RAF Cosford of all places, the
magnificent airforce museum near Telford, and set up in the grounds there to paint a large
plane and hangar. Rather typically it turns out a society of artists that specialised in painting
aeroplanes was having a conference there that day! In my experience these sorts of artists
are not only technically proficient in a way that I could not hope to be, but also incredibly
particular about detail, but when one of them eventually wandered over to me, which I was
dreading, he was very complimentary about my rough looking painting. Another passer-by
started talking about that ‘artist on the telly, very good he is, can’t remember his name…’
‘Bob Ross’ I said tersely as I knew it would be Bob Ross. ‘That’s him. Does great clouds…’
My clouds weren’t looking very good. I went home- this time after 2 ½ hours-having a crisis
about clouds realising that I hadn’t actually in 30 years of painting really painting them. I
looked at the work of some of my favourite contemporary landscape paintings and oddly
realised that they never did too. You’ll never see a cloud in a George Shaw landscape. I
spent the next few days practising nothing but clouds very badly. I eventually ended up with
‘Skatepark’. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4QnhSe9CWN4/YAAp87MWpeI/AAAAAAAAJvc/_2wBtHC-HwIV2Ujig6Uw2R3nrR5DdZoFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200723_181249761.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1354" data-original-width="2048" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4QnhSe9CWN4/YAAp87MWpeI/AAAAAAAAJvc/_2wBtHC-HwIV2Ujig6Uw2R3nrR5DdZoFwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/IMG_20200723_181249761.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Skatepark', oil on canvas, 50 x 75cms, 2020</div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In between all this there were lots of contracts and disclaimers to sign, a telephone interview
‘all about me’ with the show’s producer- which was very enjoyable, and a timetable for the
day sent through (though still no confirmation of the venue), as well as someone arriving
from the ‘art team’ picking my submission painting up to take to the production. The show’s
production team were incredibly helpful and friendly, and in all my experiences of working in
the artist-run and publicly funded realm of exhibitions, which has been such a slog over the
years having to chase after everything, it was great to be treated so nicely but also so
professionally as an artist, as if you really mattered and were actually the artist by the way. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally, a few days before I went to the competition I went up to my friend Liz’s farm and
worked in a field there next to a lake by a house with a great reflection in the water. This
painting was by far the best and biggest one- 75 x 50cms- I had made so far under these
conditions and it took me just over 3 hours. I was beginning to feel more prepared, and after
much consideration I decided to take a bit of a gamble and take the biggest canvas I was
allowed at 120 x 100cms, knowing that I am more comfortable working big, and also this
would suit the timescale. I did buy two of them though. By this point I had also invested in
quite a large toolbox on wheels to carry my large tubes of paint, the countless brushes I use,
and my bottles of medium, palette, easel etc. ‘Plein Air’ painting is meant to be more
portable with the artist travelling light with his pachode box, but not me. I prefer to follow
David Hockney’s example, but without all the personal assistants! </div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wGTNcxWVZvY/YAAqjr6qR9I/AAAAAAAAJvo/fn--s5sF1RE9yjGeUYKdONW3hQbm8PJSACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200730_113956385_HDR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wGTNcxWVZvY/YAAqjr6qR9I/AAAAAAAAJvo/fn--s5sF1RE9yjGeUYKdONW3hQbm8PJSACLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/IMG_20200730_113956385_HDR.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">...working at Liz's Farm (thanks Liz!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I felt that all this preparation had been important, but I did feel, and you might share this view
too on reading this, that I had got to a point where I was overthinking it all. It was a big deal for me though. Painting is the only thing I feel I'm pretty good at in my life. It’s a chance to get some important exposure as an artist and take part in a big
competition where the winner is awarded a prestigious £10,000 commission. It also seemed
conversely a risky thing to be doing in case you made the worst painting you have ever
made in front of an enormous TV audience. A couple of days before I was due to take part it
was confirmed that we would indeed be working at West Wycombe Park and would be
required on set at 7am until 7pm. The afternoon before I headed off with all my gear in the
car to a travelodge in High Wycombe where I would be spending the night with just me and
my nervous thoughts. It felt like I was heading off to battle...</div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4736893984359170431.post-25441618991808435212020-12-29T21:02:00.018+00:002020-12-30T11:24:35.701+00:00End of Days <p> <span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E49" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E49" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s been such an intense, </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E50" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E50" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">surreal and difficult year. Even so</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E51" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E51" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I think I’m in a better situation than many with regards to the pand</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E52" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E52" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">emic and its effects on my life. I have</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E53" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E53" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a good, steady job as a </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E54" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E54" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fine Art </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E55" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E55" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">lecturer which has continued since March, a roof over my head, food on the table, space for my kids to play outside. At one point in time these were seen as almost the given basics if you could hold down a job, but since the Eighties and Thatcherism, accelerated at unbelievable speed since 2010, so many have seen </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E56" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E56" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">a complete degradation in their </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E57" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E57" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">job</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E58" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E58" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> conditions</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E59" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E59" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E60" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E60" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">can barely </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E61" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E61" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">manage to find and keep a</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E62" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E62" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">n affordable</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E63" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E63" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> home, and even put food on the table. These things have preyed a lot on my mind lately and </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E64" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E64" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">especially </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E65" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E65" style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">over the Christmas period. </span></p><p id="E66" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E66" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p id="E67" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E67" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span id="E68" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E68" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s the incredible work of scientists, hopefully with the vaccine, that will help the world return to some sort of, albeit deeply scarred, normality in 2021, but I think it’s important to acknowledge how o</span><span id="E69" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E69" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ur cultural lives can offer so much </span><span id="E70" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E70" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">support </span><span id="E71" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E71" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as a way of </span><span id="E72" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E72" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">naviga</span><span id="E73" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E73" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ting ourselves through difficult</span><span id="E74" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E74" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> periods in our lives. Art, music, books, film</span><span id="E75" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E75" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, theatre</span><span id="E76" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E76" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and TV can be incredibly inspi</span><span id="E77" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E77" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ring, affirming and consoling as we</span><span id="E78" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E78" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> see aspects of our lives reflected back at us- it’s what I seek in much of the culture I seek out- but also can be a great escape from it all. I’ve been thinking about what I have discovered this year</span><span id="E79" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E79" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that has helped me through these times</span><span id="E80" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E80" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">….</span></p><p id="E67" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E67" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cIpBgbtaoCc/X-uVytw95NI/AAAAAAAAJtI/v4VJK_Up_GsW37zoxcARihm2qkTHZvwZACLcBGAsYHQ/s900/dfmain2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="900" height="290" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cIpBgbtaoCc/X-uVytw95NI/AAAAAAAAJtI/v4VJK_Up_GsW37zoxcARihm2qkTHZvwZACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h290/dfmain2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Death of Winston Rose', Denzil Forrester, oil on canvas, 1981</div><p></p><p id="E82" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E82" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span id="E83" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E83" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With galleries closed for so much of this year I’ve not been to see much art, but before lockdown in March I loved visiting the exhibition of paintings by Denzil Forrestor</span><span id="E84" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E84" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. ‘Itchin’ and Scratchin’,</span><span id="E85" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E85" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at Nottingham Contemporary. Tha</span><span id="E86" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E86" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">t was a definite highlight of the </span><span id="E87" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E87" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">year- the paintings were so full of life, be it in the character’s lived depicted in the scenes of the Afro-Caribbean community of dub clubs and tough streets, or in the artist’s </span><span id="E88" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E88" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">very sophisticated </span><span id="E89" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E89" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">use of colour and form</span><span id="E90" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E90" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and his use of drawing in his vast, complex</span><span id="E91" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E91" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> compositions. </span><span id="E92" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E92" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They had something to say that felt borne ou</span><span id="E93" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E93" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">t of a lived experience and possessed a sincerity</span><span id="E94" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E94" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, direct</span><span id="E95" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E95" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ness</span><span id="E96" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E96" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and honest</span><span id="E97" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E97" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">y that</span><span id="E98" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E98" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> reached out to a wider audience. </span><span id="E99" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E99" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They were a refreshing change to so much art on display and spoke deeply to me, taking me back to some of my own formative roots in painting. </span><span id="E100" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E100" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I looked closely at Denzil’s paintings as a student in the early 1990’s</span><span id="E101" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E101" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span><span id="E102" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E102" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span id="E103" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E103" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and even had tutorials with him, and learned a lot of lessons from his work which I still apply. </span><span id="E104" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E104" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a great lively interview with Denzil on the ‘TalkArt’ podcast that you can find on many podcast apps. I use Castbox to download or stream the regular ones I listen to. </span> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a_t-EH98rac/X-uWkIt-i6I/AAAAAAAAJtY/aRlLa644m8AmXf1C0HzkKM6YnDexMDG3QCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/6660.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="700" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a_t-EH98rac/X-uWkIt-i6I/AAAAAAAAJtY/aRlLa644m8AmXf1C0HzkKM6YnDexMDG3QCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h240/6660.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Poet Roger Robinson (photo courtesy of The Guardian)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E107" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E107" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sort of related</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E108" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E108" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E109" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E109" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the sense that his work </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E110" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E110" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">is rooted in his experience of being a member of the black community in Britain and also in the Caribbean, Roger Robinson’s award winning book of poetry, ‘A Portable Paradise’, is the book that had the biggest emotional impact on me th</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E111" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E111" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">is year. Many of the poems deal</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E112" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E112" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with the </span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E113" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E113" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grenfell fire tragedy and are incredibly moving, and unsurprisingly upsetting, causing a tightening across the chest in this reader. Others deal with the experience of being an immigrant, a refugee, or a black artist in words that have a calm anger</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E114" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E114" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">, wisdom</span><span face="Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif" id="E115" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E115" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and clarity of vision. In the year of Black Lives Matter and where we are all hopefully (I know this is probably naïve but I certainly am) thinking with a greater awareness of the experience of black people in this country and the US in particular the book is very prescient. I can’t recommend it highly enough. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-38uyS1yENjM/X-uXAHXHihI/AAAAAAAAJtk/2itzC5e9cyg8S8x54fXma6mhGugTIAyDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s700/912.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="700" height="275" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-38uyS1yENjM/X-uXAHXHihI/AAAAAAAAJtk/2itzC5e9cyg8S8x54fXma6mhGugTIAyDgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h275/912.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Comus as featured on compilation by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs 'Gather In The Mushrooms'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p id="E117" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E117" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span id="E118" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E118" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I were to choose any music that has been a good companion this year it will be the discovery of some of the thematic compilation albums of music created by Bob Stanley and </span><span id="E119" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E119" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pete Wiggs. This began with ‘Gather In The Mushrooms’, an album recommended in the ‘A Year In The Country’ book I have discussed in previous recent posts (this, alongside Mark Fisher’s ‘The Weird and the Eerie’, would be my other book of the year for how many cultural doors it has opened to me), a collection of Psych and Acid Folk Music from the late sixties and early seventies, whose songs from a wide variety of artists </span><span id="E121" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E121" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is rooted in a slightly otherworldly English folk tradition. I love it and found myself really immersed in its musical landscape during the long summer evenings in the studio. A particular standout track is ‘The Herald’ by Comus, which is such a stunningly atmospheric song. I have a vivid memory of painting late one evening in July a scene of local woods and sitting exhausted at about midnight having finished the painting as </span><span id="E122" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E122" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this </span><span id="E123" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E123" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">haunting </span><span id="E124" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E124" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">track pla</span><span id="E125" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E125" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">yed on my Walkman and filled the room. </span><span id="E126" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E126" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was pleased with the painting but the whole experience felt quite emotional: the effort of painting, my tiredness, the somewhat heady transportation of the album’s music to this amazing end track and coping with the whole pandemic and the effect it has had on my family in various ways. </span></p><p id="E127" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E127" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p id="E128" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E128" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span id="E129" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E129" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This album remains my favourite of the compilations but I have also loved ‘English Weather’, a collection of early </span><span id="E130" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E130" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seventies rock, in its broadest sense, by long forgotten and overlooked bands, ‘The Tears Of Technology’, also dubbed ‘the sadness of synthesizers’, a superb collection of late seventies and early Eighties English synth and electronic bands and solo artists including the brilliant lost classic ‘Private Plane’ by Thomas Lear (And if the opening short melancholy instrumental opening track by China Crisis doesn’t floor you well I just can’t help you, I really can’t). The most recent one I bought was the brilliant ‘Tim Peaks’, a collection of lost indie Eighties classics interweaved with more recent music by various artists with a binding link to the aesthetic of early Factory records (well apparently according to Bob Stanley and Tim Burgess who put this one together</span><span id="E131" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E131" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span><span id="E132" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E132" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span id="E133" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E133" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Conceptually it is also a reimagining of Twin Peaks and it’s diner being relocated to a café in North West England and is thus an imaginary soundtrack to a late wintry afternoon near the Pennines with a mug of tea and a great jukebox in the corner looking through rain lashed windows. I like afternoons like these and have had my fair share of them when I lived up north in the West Riding.</span></p><p id="E128" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E128" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E133" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p id="E128" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E128" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span id="E137" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E137" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In all of these records t</span><span id="E138" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E138" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he sleeve notes are lovingly </span><span id="E139" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E139" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and enthusiastically </span><span id="E140" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E140" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">presented</span><span id="E141" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E141" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Stanley and Wiggs</span><span id="E142" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E142" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It’s like listening to a great compilation tape put together with the joy and </span><span id="E143" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E143" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">care</span><span id="E144" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E144" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of </span><span id="E145" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E145" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">an older brother or good friend. It </span><span id="E146" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E146" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">brings back fond memories for me of t</span><span id="E147" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E147" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hese experiences in my twenties when a new compilation tape would land on the doorstep from one of brothers at Uni, or the hours I spent putting one together for them or my wife. It seems from a time </span><span id="E148" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E148" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">when these things </span><span id="E149" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E149" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">seem to matter more</span><span id="E150" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E150" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></p><p id="E128" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E128" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nxLx84p1qyM/X-uXuQZe8RI/AAAAAAAAJtw/h3WTyxd0zH8ii_GqCI5h8eObAJt2JjA9ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1536/PRI_164262023-e1600163681643-1455x1536.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1455" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nxLx84p1qyM/X-uXuQZe8RI/AAAAAAAAJtw/h3WTyxd0zH8ii_GqCI5h8eObAJt2JjA9ACLcBGAsYHQ/w379-h400/PRI_164262023-e1600163681643-1455x1536.jpg" width="379" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Adam Buxton Podcast (with dog Rosie)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span id="E153" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E153" style="display: inline; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other listening pleasures include the Adam Buxton podcast</span><span id="E154" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E154" style="display: inline; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of which I have listened to all 147 episodes now. It’s a great companion on the bus journey to and from work. Adam Buxton is a brilliant interviewer and in his ‘Ramble Chats’ manages to pull off the trick of seeming like he isn’t really trying in fascinating, funny, sometimes irreverent, in-depth talks with comedians, poets, writers, political and social thinkers, legends where Buxton is always warm and engaged. Two recent ones with the poet/activist Benjamin Zephaniah and Paul McCartney were compelling and brilliant. I could highlight so many more, but you should check it out yourself. I don’t know anything about so many of the people interviewed beforehand but always get something out of each podcast. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IIf4d8Z24Bk/X-uYTRhTytI/AAAAAAAAJuA/QL5jW5Xymsg4mI5NJtHbvDmw8ZrIsHlAACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/960x0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IIf4d8Z24Bk/X-uYTRhTytI/AAAAAAAAJuA/QL5jW5Xymsg4mI5NJtHbvDmw8ZrIsHlAACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/960x0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'The Mandolorian' on Disney+</div></div></div><p></p><p id="E155" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E155" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span id="E156" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E156" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And my escapism? That would have to be ‘The Mandolorian’, the Star Wars spin off series on Disney+. How cool is that show?</span><span id="E157" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E157" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I love it and is everything the Star Wars prequels and recent sequels have promised but never really delivered on</span><span id="E158" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E158" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span><span id="E159" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E159" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from the great storylines but also the design of it all, which is always the part of Star Wars that has made the deepest impression on my imagination from when I saw it as a kid. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p id="E160" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E160" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p id="E161" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E161" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span id="E162" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E162" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It looks like 2021 is going to continue to be a rough ride for several mo</span><span id="E163" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E163" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nths still, so hang on in there. Thanks to all those who continue to support me and show an interest in my work. Wishing you all well into 2021...</span></p><p id="E161" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E161" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p id="E154" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E154" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p id="E155" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E155" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><a contenteditable="false" href="https://www.frieze.com/article/denzil-forrester-i-had-find-something-shook-me" id="E156" is="qowt-hyperlink" qowt-eid="E156" target="_blank"><span class="qowt-stl-Hyperlink" id="E157" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E157" style="color: #0563c1; display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.frieze.com/article/denzil-forrester-i-had-find-something-shook-me</span></a></p><p id="E158" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E158" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p id="E159" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E159" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><a contenteditable="false" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/13/roger-robinson-poets-can-translate-trauma" id="E160" is="qowt-hyperlink" qowt-eid="E160" target="_blank"><span class="qowt-stl-Hyperlink" id="E161" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E161" style="color: #0563c1; display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/13/roger-robinson-poets-can-translate-trauma</span></a></p><p id="E162" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E162" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p id="E163" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E163" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><a contenteditable="false" href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/26/bob-stanley-and-pete-wiggs-present-english-weather-review-ace" id="E164" is="qowt-hyperlink" qowt-eid="E164" target="_blank"><span class="qowt-stl-Hyperlink" id="E165" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E165" style="color: #0563c1; display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/26/bob-stanley-and-pete-wiggs-present-english-weather-review-ace</span></a></p><p id="E166" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E166" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p id="E169" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E169" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><a contenteditable="false" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/aug/29/adam-buxton-dad-more-proud-of-me-but-he-was" id="E170" is="qowt-hyperlink" qowt-eid="E170" target="_blank"><span class="qowt-stl-Hyperlink" id="E171" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E171" style="color: #0563c1; display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/aug/29/adam-buxton-dad-more-proud-of-me-but-he-was</span></a></p><p id="E169" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E169" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p id="E172" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E172" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif;">https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/mar/24/the-mandalorian-review-baby-yoda-has-finally-come-to-the-uk-was-it-worth-the-wait-disney</span></p><p id="E172" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E172" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p id="E172" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E172" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p id="E177" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E177" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p id="E177" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E177" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p id="E172" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E172" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"></p><p id="E179" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E179" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></p><p></p><p id="E178" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E178" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: block; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p id="E161" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E161" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E163" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p id="E173" is="qowt-word-para" named-flow="FLOW-3" qowt-eid="E173" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span class="qowt-stl-Hyperlink" id="E175" is="qowt-word-run" named-flow="FLOW-5" qowt-eid="E175" style="color: #0563c1; display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a contenteditable="false" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/mar/24/the-mandalorian-review-baby-yoda-has-finally-come-to-the-uk-was-it-worth-the-wait-disney" id="E174" is="qowt-hyperlink" named-flow="FLOW-4" qowt-eid="E174" target="_blank"></a></span></p></div></div></div></div></div>shaun morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04824642350040448892noreply@blogger.com0