Summertime Muse
Sometimes, I wonder what I'm a-gonna do, but there ain't no cure for the summertime muse…
With apologies to Eddy Cochran, welcome to my newsletter.
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And, that’s a wrap…
2023 represented a bit of a change in direction for me artistically. I took the opportunity to allow ideas that had been simmering just below the surface to come to the boil and I found myself reenergised creatively which was wonderfully exciting and reassuring.
While, I had hoped to complete more works than I did, I’m proud of those that I did bring to a point where I could put them down and move on from — or in other words, call them, ‘finished’.
While it may not look like much, these paintings represent twenty-odd years of creative wrestling — a roller coaster ride. Successes aside, there’s always room to experiment, more to learn and improve.
Rumour and innuendo
As mentioned, I’ve changed the focus of my art practice over the last 12 months or so and I’ve thought a lot about why it’s changed and what it means for me and my art. I’ve always had an interest in realism, figurativism and narrative in art as well as classical techniques of painting. I suppose, I held those interests at bay for a long time because I felt that they were ‘out of fashion’. Certainly, there was a lot of discourse discouraging classical painting techniques at Art School and perhaps they have some validity in terms of democratising artistic expression but I’d also argue that there’s a danger of having to ‘reinvent the wheel’ and a lack sophistication in the control of the medium and a devaluing of what it means to be an ‘Artist’. I sometimes think of it as trying to write literature without an understanding of grammar. It took me a little while to resolve this creative conflict and so I explored other mediums where I felt it was acceptable to indulge my interests — namely, photography and comics — which served for a time, but there was always the pull of painting. I always wanted and expected to return to it in time.
On the easel…
My list of works in progress currently stands at around seven(-ish) paintings. With a little luck, I’ll ‘finish’ a couple before starting more — a harder feat than sounds. Sometimes it’s nice to set a work aside and think about it while working on another painting, and to have that time to resolve some of the hurdles that a work will throw at you. Oil painting, by its nature of being slow drying, almost seems to encourage this working methodology. I’ve learned the trick is making yourself come back to a work even when it might feel a bit stale.
Last newsletter I shared this sneak peek at what was at the time, my latest work in progress. It is no longer my latest work for aforementioned reasons.
I took this photo as something to post on social media when I wasn’t quite ready to share the full image. (I’m continuing to work on reducing my participation in social media and am only just keeping Instagram ticking over.) The teaser image is the under painting for one work in a triptych. One of the number of projects I’m chipping away at — sort of a proof of technique as I figure out and get comfortable with the painting process.
It might look finished but there’s a bit more work to do on the figures and a final glaze of Lamp Black to go over the background to create the optical black that has a wonderful shadowy depth to it. It’s one of the few pieces of technical knowledge gleaned from my time at Art School, thanks to the inspiring landscape painter, Philip Hunter, who was a tutor in my first year of study.
These paintings are based on a photo series I was working on before falling down the rabbit hole of making comics. I think the image works better as a series of paintings. I find I’m thinking a lot about comics as much as classical portraiture while I work on these particular pieces. I like that I feel my work is coming full circle.
Afterthoughts
What I’m reading — Oil Painting Techniques and Materials, Harold Speed — A great little book, first published about 100 years ago with a ton of technical knowledge and interesting insights into what was happening to painting at the time and have continued to influence painting.
What I’m listening to — The Undraped Artist Podcast where Jeff Hein interviews various figurative painters about their processes and inspiration. I particularly enjoyed this one with Carl Dobski.
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The title of this newsletter was inspired by listening to Andrew Hickey’s A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, which is an excellent podcast for anyone interested in the history of popular music and has certainly reignited my love of old Rock n’Roll.
Hi Cristian. How are you.
Thanks for the newsletter. It's good to catch up with what you're working on.
I like the triptych with the screaming men. The dark background really makes a difference.
Also, the one with multiple figures. Do you plan to give this the same background treatment?