Coronavirus changed the way we live during the last month in the UK and as vulnerable pensioners we have been virtually confined to our home, save for the occasional once a day walk for exercise on the beautiful East Wickham Open space which is only a few metres from us, and a rare excursion for vital shopping. I’ve not been idle, having caught up with much paperwork, thrown out unwanted junk, pruned some old poor artwork, listened to long forgotten music, stumbled upon some old paintings and started to create some new ones. Here’s a watercolour of our open space during pond maintenance, a photo of a general view a few years ago and another more recent one of the ponds.
I’ve had the time now to look back over my work over many years and found a portrait I completed probably about 35 years ago of a composer, Edward Gregson, whose music I have played, listened to and even conducted during my active years in practising and studying music. He composed the original theme music for the BBC Young Musician of the Year and has written many pieces for brass bands, concertos, ensembles and competition music. I noticed that my natural self- taught technique has changed considerably over the years, as this picture was painted using traditional oil paint, linseed oil and non low odour thinner instead of the bewildering array of fast drying oils and additives available in 2020. The colour palette is limited to mars black, titanium white, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, cadmium orange, purple and a red which I can’t identify!
In contrast to this I’ve just finished a small portrait 30 x 24cms of Yola a singer I mentioned in earlier posts whose songwriting talent and voice have entranced me since I discovered her. This was done in a much bolder style using a wide range of fast drying alkyd oil colour and an additional drying agent “liquitin” instead of the softer, more delicate strokes used in the Eddie Gregson portrait and on a rougher board. I know too that as I age I have to concentrate and think more as I work instead of taking risks and painting much faster with the confidence I had in those days!
Finally, congratulations to Christabel Blackburn, a young artist who won the ‘Portrait Artist of the Year’ competition and was then commissioned to paint the multi- talented musician Nile Rodgers which will hang at the Royal Albert Hall in London, shown here.
