Midlake at Birmingham Town Hall

Wow! I just thought I’d blog briefly about how great Midlake were last night at Birmingham Town Hall. Despite their beardy Americana amiability with their seven man line-up they were a really powerful presence across the stage. The band included five guitarists who between them explored a real diverse range of guitar playing; it was really exciting, as different members took their turn to play solos that were at times like Jimi Hendrix, the next Richard Thompson. But somehow it was never showy, it just seemed to serve the music brilliantly. The rich, textural sound of their folk-rock, for want of a less naff term, seemed to reveal great depths live-I loved it. It was also great to see the flute in rock reclaimed from Jethro Tull! I also found myself reflecting how contemporary the lyrics were. Some may find their pastoral 'getting back to nature' essence a bit sixties or hippy-like, but for me the ideas expressed about seeking different ways of living seemed really relevant in these climate changing times.

The atmosphere was great too. I’ve been to the Town Hall a few times now, and the artists always seem to get a great reception, but Brummies do love their music. If you have chance to see them on the rest of the tour, you must go. And if you haven’t got ‘The Courage of Others’, their new album, or ‘The Trial Of Van Occupanther’, the previous one, well shame on you…

'Branches and Leaves',

oil on canvas, 60 x 120cms, 2010

This new painting above, ‘Branches and Leaves’, was inspired a bit by ‘The Courage of Others’, as I listened to the records themes of the struggles with nature as I worked on it. I wanted to capture a similar air of melancholy and disconnectedness that seems to pervade the music. I'm not sure what I've made with this one, but that feels like a good thing right now...

The Midlands Fights Back...

Zhang Peng, 'Gold Fish'

C-Type Print at 'Party', New Art Gallery Walsall

Having enjoyed yet another good exhibition at the great New Art Gallery Walsall yesterday, I came home to find this interesting link I’ve added below which was sent to me by Created In Birmingham about a recent article in The Independent. It’s good to see the Midlands fight back to what was obviously some lazy London-centric journalism. Lovely stuff.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/why-have-costly-arts-projects-that-were-supposed-to-transform-the-countrys-cultural-landscape-flopped-1895567.html

Just imagine the Goldfish as Rosie Millard and the little girl as the people of Walsall!

'Endings'

'Endings',

oil on canvas, 60 x 150cms, 2009

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve sold my first painting solely from the buyer first seeing it on my website this weekend. ‘Endings’, above, has been a painting that many people have positively commented on since I posted it on the site last year and was recently exhibited at Tregoning Fine Art in Derby. But it has only been now that someone has gone that stage further and bought it.

Buying a painting for the home can be a big commitment, so they ‘trialled’ it in their house for a week to see whether they could live with it. I’m glad to say they could, and I’m going to help install it tomorrow. If anyone else wants to ‘trial’ a painting they’ve seen on the website, I think it’s a sensible idea that I’m happy to negotiate. Just let me know…

Magic Moments...

…you turn to load the brush once more with pigment, turning slightly away from the painting momentarily, turn back to it once more to make one more mark and then you suddenly realise…oh… it’s done. Completed. In that moment you turned away it seems to have completed itself without your knowing. You can’t see what needs doing anymore. And it’s not because you don’t know what to do, it’s because it just doesn’t need anything more.

I’ve been painting all afternoon and had one of those rare moments today. I’d been really struggling with it, but then it sort of revealed itself. It all sounds a bit mystic doesn’t it, and it sort of is, but I just hope it doesn’t sound pretentious. Those who paint, or those who create anything, will know what I mean…Whether it’s actually any good or not, well, that’s a different question…

I had a good day yesterday too. I was in London with the students at JCC visiting the National Portrait Gallery and the V & A Museum. I particularly enjoyed the Tudor portraits at the NPG. I really like the awkward, stiff poses, and a flatter, more graphic look to many of the sitters. Many of the artists are anonymous, which adds to the almost naïve, folk art quality of many of the portraits (I’m not sure why the artists are anonymous, as they are paintings of such famous historical figures, but have a suspicion that I should do)

Catherine of Aragon,

Unknown Artist

Anita,

oil on canvas, 90 x 60cms, 2005

These paintings, and other early Medieval portraits, have always been a big influence on my own portraits, over more modern inspirations.

'...lost and moody...'

Winter Painting, oil on canvas, 90 x 110cms, 2010

Here’s one of the new paintings that I’ve completed this month. It’s based on a view of a tower block in the fog in Highgate, Birmingham from different studies. I feel it represents a small pictorial breakthrough in my approach to landscape and the themes I’m hoping to develop further. An artist friend said it had a ‘lost and moody’ quality to it, which is weird, as it sums up pretty much how I’ve felt all month regarding my work…

American Servicemen and Women Who Have Died in Iraq and Afghanistan (But Not Including the Wounded, Nor the Iraqis Nor the Afghans),

I love these portrait drawings, and the sentiment behind them, by American artist Emily Prince currently on show at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

In an article in The Guardian it describes how ‘at the last count, the artist Emily Prince had drawn 5,218 small pencil portraits of soldiers: all of them very different individuals, and all of them dead.

Today her project, American Servicemen and Women Who Have Died in Iraq and Afghanistan (But Not Including the Wounded, Nor the Iraqis Nor the Afghans), went on display for the first time in the UK at the Saatchi gallery in London. For two days Prince and some 10 helpers methodically pinned up the simple but powerful drawings, some with additional personal facts and tributes, and all of them on cards that correspond to their skin colour.

Prince said the idea came in November 2004 shortly after George Bush's re-election. "I felt really frustrated by the direction America was heading ... I needed to channel that energy into something."

She said it was all too easy not to think about the conflicts and the resultant deaths on both sides if there was no personal involvement. "That gap disturbed me. I wanted to engage more deeply with the information," she said.

"I'm not always emotional when I'm drawing the portraits but the most moving part is reading the articles. Before I began I had a stereotype of who a soldier would be and that's been taken apart."

The work has a resonance with British artist Steve McQueen's Queen and Country project, in which he created postage stamp sheets of 155 British soldiers killed in Iraq. He continues to campaign for the stamps to be issued.

Prince's work will be shown until 7 May, and the project continues until the conflicts stop. "I can't see any sign of it," she said. "It seems perpetual."

What a powerful statement. I’ve got to go and see these. Here’s also a link to Steve McQueen’s brilliant ‘Queen and Country’ project’s website

www.artfund.org/queenandcountry

Rituals...

I’ve been painting most of the day. I don’t really regard myself as superstitious (I’ll happily walk under ladders and open umbrellas indoors), yet I do find myself following the same sort of rituals each time I attempt a painting. I place my tubes of oil paint out in a certain order; clean my brushes carefully and lay them on the bench in order of size; cut up five pieces (always five) of material to use as rags; squeeze out my oils onto the palette in a particular way from warm to cool colours. I then carefully fill up my jars of oil and turps, after usually an hour mixing all the colours I’m going to use before I start. I then line up the music which I like to work to (this has also in the last few months become ritualistically Bon Iver’s ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ as the first album I’ll play. I just love it. It seems to fit the mood perfectly). It does indeed all feel like some sort of ritual or small ceremony.

It all seems a bit sad seeing it written down, but I think it’s a lot to do with the way I paint. I don’t work on paintings generally for more than a day. I like to try to nail it in one sitting. I therefore like to keep a whole day clear to attempt a piece. It often feels like I’m about to step into the ring for nine rounds with Mike Tyson as I walk to the studio on a painting day. I feel these rituals are just a way to help me ‘psych up’, clear my head, stick to tried and tested routines of preparation so when I am ready to start putting those first strokes of paint on the canvas, which is so thrilling and nerve-wracking, nothing gets in the way.

Thinking about it, when it comes to painting, maybe I am a bit superstitious…