Wednesday 18 February 2009

Snow!

During early winter, I longed for snow, and the way it transposes the landscape. So much snow fell early this month that remnants still underline the walls. In paintings that come together quickly, I often leave negative white spaces of primed canvas, letting the composition breathe. Snow is a positive white, and quite different to paint. Ascending from the shadowed Lathkill at Alport, Dark Lane is a fragment of walled trackway. The stalks of last summer's maize, Naple's Yellow amongst the snow created an unexpected composition:



A 1960s booklet 'The Law of Footpaths' provided very apt collage:

Thursday 12 February 2009

All Saints Church, Dale

Thank you to Cannon Ian Gooding for allowing me to spend an afternoon in the fascinating church at Dale. I have always been intrigued by church interiors, not crowded with worshippers, but empty spaces of contemplation, angled with daylight and thronged with definitive objects. Unlocking the door of All Saints with the weighty key revealed a cramped interior, oak enclosed, awkward box pews, pulpit wood twisting. I made several sketches: timber framed compositions, focussing on the simple windows. Below is the resulting studio painting, which utilises an old street map of Derby in the window:

Sunday 1 February 2009

Art of England

I'm very excited to be featured in Art of England this month. It's a great article about the project, with plenty of images:



The magazine is available from WH Smith, Borders, art shops and galleries.....