Posts filed under 'New Work'
Here is a recent drawing that I completed just before Christmas. It was commissioned by their father David and these are his two sons and the drawing in the background to the right was a self portrait of their grandfather and the painting to the left was a painting of the interior of the family business. It’s a very large drawing , bigger than A0 and I think is the largest I’ve done to date. I was with the atmosphere of the drawing and the boy’s depiction, Anthony being very relaxed and Nicholas more rigid which created a nice tension in the piece I think. I particularly enjoyed the shape rhythms in the shadows on Nicholas’s hands, they seem to flow very nicely. Most importantly perhaps they both had interesting faces reflecting their Jewish herritage.
February 13th, 2012
Here’s a portrait of Anne’s excellent niece, Kate. She came around to my studio one Sunday morning and put on a selection of hats, the one on the right I have used in quite a few portraits and I always think a beret looks incredibly cool and I liked this image ( on the left) because it felt quite timeless, almost asif it could have come from the 1940′s.
She’s not quit as solemn as she is in these drawings, I asked her to look serious.
It’s a drawing on A2 size paper so the overall mounted size is just bigget than A1
May 9th, 2011
click to enlarge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWQwFSpsXWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY36gf62nzU
Here is a recently finished drawing of the Birmingham based Jazz musician Andy Hamilton CBE. I think Andy is now around 92 years old. He’s been playing in and around Birmingham for years as well as internationally. I saw him years ago at The Bear jazz club in Birmingham where he played weekly for years. I’ve been meaning to catch up with him for a long time, a little like Kitty, and back in the summer I arranged to go around to his house for a sitting which went wonderfully. When I arrived he came gliging down the staircase on his stair lift dressed in his perfectly appropriate pin striped suit and trilby clutching his saxophone. Andy is exactly the kind of sitter I love to paint or draw because he looks so fantastic and authentic and also because of my interest in music.
This one will be in the show at Plus One.
February 27th, 2011
invitation-black-and-white-1.pdf – (click on link)
The Frissiras Museum , Athens. 2/3/11 – 31/7/11
The Frissaris Museum is about to stage an exhibition called “Black and White”. It features work from their collection of drawings, etchings paintings and lithographs. They sent me a catalogue yesterday because they are showing one of my paintings and it looks like a great show. I like the poster with the fantastic Greek typography. Quite a lot of the artists are Greek and I’m not familiar with most so it’s lovely to see what they are up to. There are a few names I recognise, Aurback, Hockney and Rego so we’re all certainly in good company. It’s nice to see galleries doing shows in monochrome, it’s a wonderful area to explore.
Americans Now, The Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. Continues until 10th July.
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/americansnow/index.html
This exhibition features to of my portraits, Cormac McCarthy and Prof. Murray Gell-Mann.
In Focus, Plus One Gallery, London. 16/3/11 – 9/4/11
http://www.plusonegallery.com/Shows-Detail.cfm?ShowsID=215
This show opens in a few weeks and features the figurative work of 3 artists, Philip Harris, Simon Hennessey and myself.
February 27th, 2011
I met Ray a few years ago and admired his full body tattoo from neck to ankle in a japanes style. I invited him over to my studio for the day and took a series of shots. We decided to do the whole shoot with Ray naked , which kind of made sense. Anne had been out for the morning and forgot Ray was coming over and barged into the studio with Max, our dog. Ray was in a curled up foetus position and Max went straight over to inspect Ray’s bum. Quite an entrance. It was a great shoot though, we must have done about 18 different compositions and this is the first painting that I have done from the sitting. I liked the idea that he was levitating because it was such a calm, contemplative pose and I just imagined Ray in a Zen like trance, gently rising up just a few inches off the ground.
This will be in the exhibition in London during March ( together with other new pieces and some previous work) with the excellent artists Philip Harris and Simon Hennessey.
I’ll be completing my portrait drawing of Andy Hamilton CBE very soon so I’ll post that next week.
(click on the image to enlarge)
February 19th, 2011
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, busy Autumn. Here’s my latest commissioned portrait. It is of a local Reverand, Father Michael. I don’t do that many local portraits but it’s so handy to have sitters just around the corner. It is set in a church called The Mount which is in Caldmore in Walsall. Over the years it had been , I guess neglected and beautiful ornate sections of he church were boarded over. In the 1980′s it underwent a full restoration, getting it back to how it would have looked when it was built and it is a beautiful building inside. I must confes I’ve passed it many times and only went in when the commission came to light and I couldn’t quite believe that it was so opulent inside.
The size of the portrait is approx 48″ x 38″ framed and it is acrylic on canvas
December 22nd, 2010
This is a painting for the group portrait show in London in March. It’s a self portrait of me and Max my dog. I did a soimilar drawing some time ago. It’s reasonably large scale for me, around 38″ if I remember correctly. I found the scale rather overwhelming becaue I usually work slightly smaller than real life. I’ve begun to really love doing self portraits, I guess in the tradition of Rembrandt , but not in a concious way, it’s just interesting to see how your face changes over time and the older it gets th more interesting. It’s certainly something I think I’ll continue with throughout my life whether paintings or drawings , certainly not for any interest in self vanity, just an interest in the ageing process.
Acrylic on canvas
December 22nd, 2010
My portrait of Alan Garner which I actually finished back in March gets its first outing today at the Grosvenor museum ( 27 Grosvenor Street 01244 402455 )in Chester. It’s part of the 50 th year celebrations since Alan’s book The Weirdstone of Brisingamen was published. There are a number of events from 18th September to 28th November 2010
I also made a one hour film to accompany the painting which is a kind of video diary documenting the process of making the painting. It’s the first film I’ve made and as an keen documentor an enjoyable process and hopefully record.
September 17th, 2010
I think I mentioned that we are having a 4 person group show based on Portraiture which is scheduled for next March at Plus One Gallery. Phil Harris, Simon Hennessey and Craig Wylie are the other 3 artists. Just as a taster here are two of my sitters who I intend working with who I’ll just call Ray and Andy for the moment.
September 17th, 2010
Here’s a drawing that I did recently of our friend Sam looking quite the Vamp.
size : A3 charcoal, carbon and graphite
September 17th, 2010
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