This month has brought back many happy memories, a few moments of sadness and a special day for my wife, Christine, whose birthday we have celebrated. Last Thursday, 10th October was World Mental Health Day and, as some of our close family and friends have suffered from depression and illness associated with mental health issues, I have always taken an interest in this problem. I’m a great believer in supporting those with mental health difficulties and know that art, music, meditation and exercise all play their part as therapies to some of these conditions. As a result I’ve just renewed my membership of Centrepieces ( http://www.centrepieces.org ) a local art charity which works successfully with many who have suffered from various forms of mental illness.
This organisation has a number of very talented artists in its membership and I’ve seen some wonderful examples of their work and own a painting produced by an exceptionally gifted self-taught artist who has suffered with schizophrenia for much of her adult life which is shown below.
I’ve not credited the artist for the moment as I want to see her again to find out how she is in person. I haven’t met her since I purchased the painting, although I understand from Centrepieces that she is reasonably well and thriving at the moment. I think it’s an extraordinary picture by an untrained self-taught artist and I’ve learnt much from studying this work. I have no idea what the source material was but the pose and expressions on the girls’ faces has been brilliantly captured and they look so lifelike and natural. It’s probably one of the finest paintings by an amateur that I have ever encountered certainly in the area where I live.
A short update on my most recent effort seems appropriate now, but I’m a bit reluctant to show stage two of this work (see my last post) having studied the above so closely in recent weeks. Anyway this is where I’ve got to but there’s still a long way to go:-
Many of my recent paintings have had themes taking inspiration from the landscape, cities and people of Italy. This one is no exception and includes an Italian model against a Sicilian background. Venice and Tuscany are featured in several of my other works in the Art2Arts gallery and I was fortunate enough to have a family portrait commissioned a few years ago which hangs in a home in the beautiful Tuscan countryside. Italy is an important source of art history and many artists from all over the world, and England in particular, have derived great inspiration from visits to the country. The title is based on the song “Without You” by Harry Nilsson. The model is an Italian beauty queen, model and actor who starred in an RAI TV drama “Non Uccidere” and is one of many Italian film stars who have featured in my attempts at portraiture which include Sophia Loren who is in the people gallery. Others I remember vividly from my teenage years are Gina Lollobrigida and Claudia Cardinale. I may have had them in mind when I painted Miriam Leone! The completed painting is now shown.
I’ve just had some news as I finish this blog that a large version of an existing work with an Australian flavour is wanted so, after shopping around for the correct canvas size, I’ll have to start work this as soon as possible.