Thursday 30 October 2014

One Last Look

I've been working on my current painting 'The Rashomon Effect' quite a bit recently. I have been concentrating on the two right hand side images more, particularly the magnifying glasses.
You can see my efforts on my Ted Coney's Family Portraits website on the NEWS AND REVIEWS page, where Daniel has posted the latest pictures of my progress.
Is it finished? Probably not, so I shall continue to fiddle around with it until Christmas.
I know I want to redo the background, so it is perfectly flat and I still want to try and get more 'tremor ' into the upside down bed - the old man's view.
As I'll be closing the gallery for the winter in early December I'll hopefully entice one of the local newspapers to run a story on it, to bring in a few more visitors before the end of the season.

Thursday 23 October 2014

Thats It Folks!

The other week we visited the galleries at Compton Verney to see the British Folk Art  exhibition and very interesting it was too.
I particularly liked the Bellamy Quilt of 1890, which was made by a newly engaged couple  to portray their shared interests and images of the period. These included Queen Victoria and Aly Sloper, a popular strip cartoon character of the time.
I like the idea of using cartoon characters in my paintings also, but perhaps in a more subtle way. I am using the cinema  (though they also appeared in comics) characters, Laurel and Hardy in my next painting 'Against The Light '. They will represent two cousins of my mother's, who were young men in about the same period.
As Laurel and Hardy are going to appear as shadows in my work, I have been busy cutting into black card and  making them as   articulated puppets, so I can change their positions. I am also making a translucent set and will decide which to use, once I have produced some preliminary studies. Watch this space.
 

Friday 17 October 2014

Dr Who?

Last Sunday I had a party of eight foreign students visit
 Ted Coney's Family Portraits. They were very attentive and seemed interested in everything I said about the paintings.
They were delighted to see my 1931 Morris Minor, so I showed them my latest painting which involves the car - 'Dear Reginald Owen'.
However, I think I may have lost them a bit, when I tried to explain how I had used the car as a time machine, going back to the 1930s.
'rather like Dr Who's Tardis'  I said enthusiastically. Obviously Dr Who hadn't travelled as far as China and Russia, which is were the visitors came from.

Wednesday 8 October 2014

No Jam And Jerusalem

I realised to late that I had made a bad mistake, when I saw sixteen expressionless female faces staring back at me.
I had just done a fifteen minute X factor style audition, trying to impress the ladies of the Women's Institute and convince them that they ought to employ me. This was to  give my  lecture, 
  'On The Edge', which is about my paintings, (you can see details about it on my website) to their members.
As I only had a short time, I decided not to give them any hint of the lecture at all (well, no one had paid me to come) but to show them the  introductory film I use when visitors come to my pop-up gallery. Ofcourse then I go onto explain what the paintings are about but on it's own it just left the poor women puzzled and confused.
What had Muffin the Mule got to do with family life? Well now they will never know.
The guy after me was showing wildlife in Botswana and I am sure he got a more enthusiastic response.
Anyway, what do I want with the W.I.? I am giving my talk to the U3A in November.

Sunday 5 October 2014

Drove On

A few weeks ago I did a charity ride on my old 1940 bicycle raising money for MAGPAS. I cycled 40 miles in a day, along the Ouse Washes and across the Fens.
This is a very flat, exposed part of the country and I did have a head wind for most of the way. However, I am very fond of this part of the world and I got to thinking, while battling against the elements what a great area it would be to do more research on.
In the past, I have used journeys on my bike as metaphors for ideas about family life. For instance:
'Diamond Sutra', 'The Enigma of the Chinese Mask' and ' Snow Angels and No Angels'  (the latter two can be seen on my PRINTS FOR SALE page) all had their starting points in real journeys.
I am quite interested in the 'Droves' and what all their  different names mean, but this is something to be investigated at a much later date.
 I still have 'The Rathomon Effect 'to finish and then two more paintings to work on, after that. Thinking about it, did keep me going though, when my legs where beginning to fail.