Concrete Reflections...

i-Pad study

I found myself down underneath Spaghetti Junction again today. I was on a field trip with the students to gather research material for an urban landscape project. I made this interesting I-Pad painting, fascinated by the reflections under the really wide bridge that passes over the canal underneath. It was a cold but sunny day, and I really like the upside-down trees and the dark concrete column reflected in the water. 

I also like the reflection made by the underneath of the bridge in the water too, as seen in this photograph in the middle. It looks eerily like a ship is sunken and lurking deep beneath the depths. It is  very disorientating when viewed from the canalside. After a while you get lost and unsure what you are looking at; what is near and what is far; what is real and what is reflected. It really draws you in. This other image with the ‘window’ reflected from above has a similar strange and unsettling depth to it. I’d like to explore these reflections further. There is a similar spot near Smethwick I frequently pass in the car, craning my neck for a better view and nearly bouncing off the kerbside as I do. I need to park up and have a closer look. 

\

I also enjoyed looking at the graffiti that is in abundance under the bridge too. There are layers and layers of it in places. These would really appeal to artist Hugh Marwood, who I exhibited with at The Works Gallery (It's nice to think that when I see things like this I'm now thinking of Hugh's paintings). 

Many people I spoke to at the exhibition seemed to be presume that my recent motorway paintings were based here, but they weren’t. They were developed from a location just outside West Bromwich under the M5. I am thinking that it would be great to explore the more complex dynamic structures of Spaghetti Junction though, but returning at night and seeing what it is like with the sodium light from the motorway against the concrete and the night sky. English teacher's I've spoken to recently, tell me I need to read Ballard's 'Concrete Island' too....

Even better....

I’ve been working out on location today. It’s the first real time I’ve been out making new studies other than my tree at Padstone since my grant award which has made me a little anxious despite being busy on paintings back in the studio. Anyway, after a couple of hours in the city this morning (I was trying to choose some small gifts for my AS Art students. I had set them some pretty challenging Easter break homework and promised prizes for the best three. The talented little buggers only went and produced some amazing work, which made me very proud of them and think that this idea may have been a good one, but I do feel slightly less well off today, which didn’t feel so good..), I stuffed a pasty in my pocket and drove down to Spaghetti Junction in the lashing rain.

(I had decided in my mind to avoid Spaghetti Junction after having seen the recent paintings of Birmingham based artist Rueben Colley of the place in his gallery in Moseley. I was slightly aghast when I saw them, as I had just embarked on my own nocturnal motorway drawings and felt slightly beaten to it again. And indeed, when I showed the gallery my pieces they felt it was too close to Colley’s own work to consider showing, which wasn’t a surprise. But I have to say they aren’t anything like mine. But I have to say this…and in a perverse frame of mind I headed there today as if I was going to prove this and also because I like the place too and felt why shouldn’t I go there as well).

I worked for a few hours in all weathers: from one minute spring sunshine then spring showers, to brief, but heavy, downpours to finally a hail storm whilst I was finishing a small oil painting. I headed for shelter under the motorway, but the painting only just survived the hail (see picture). I also made a study on my new I-Pad. Yes, my new I-Pad! In a recent moment of madness I decided to invest in one as a tool to work outdoors and also develop quicker ideas in electronic ‘paint’ using the ‘Brushes’ app as used by Hockney. I’m really enjoying it, and finding it very flexible. My own efforts are a far cry from Hockney as yet, looking more like bad felt tip drawings, but I’m slowly discovering how to get more subtle effects. I’m achieving these by exploring many of the strange mark-making tools available which I wouldn’t thought I would be attracted too, me being a purist and all that, but actually these are great and have helped me get to grips more easily with the idea that this isn’t painting, but a different media with its own qualities to explore. Here I am bravely sharing a few examples…

It’s a good tool, but I have to say it was great to get my paints out later…