It's A Puzzle

 You can see a photo of my recent experiments on preliminary canvases in my latest Instagram and Facebook posts.

I'm preparing for my latest painting - 'The Counsellor' by trying out different ways of painting jigsaw pieces. Using both a brush and bits of sponge, I'm trying out various colour schemes and ways of putting down marks.

Frogtape (more reliable than masking tape) is also proving useful to help maintain the strait lines of the boat hoist.

In the final painting, the jigsaw pieces will represent the clients while the boat hoist will symbolise The Counsellor.

Voices In The Air

 The radio section of my website has finally been brought up-to-date. 

My latest interview was with Sue Marchant in June 2021 when I was about to embark on Cambridge Open Studios again after a break of 27 years. She was particularly intrigued by a letter I had received during my first Open Studio in 1984.  

I had asked visitors for donations to Save the Children fund, a charity I was supporting at the time. As the Society's patron was Princess Margaret,( who often seemed to be visiting Cambridge), I  hopefully invited her to visit my exhibition. Sue enjoyed reading the reply on air, where H.R.H. regretfully declined.

You can also hear the first interview I made, in 1989, also promoting Open Studios on  Radio Cambridge.

Objects As People

 I've recently been to a wonderful one man play entitled 'Numinous' about the educator, Henry Morris.

It's author and actor, Andy O'Hanlon used objects to represent the different characters in the story.

This reminded me of a painting I made in 1988 called 'Pharaohs and Mortals', where I used objects to represent  each member of the family who had attended our wedding fifteen years before. I invited each guest to send their own object and I arranged the objects as if in a museum cabinet.

You can see my painting and the objects on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts.

In Proportion

 This week I've been working on the size and scale of the jigsaw pieces I'm going to include in my current painting 'The Councillor'. (you can see the first sketches on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts) . 

The jigsaw pieces represent all the members of the family who have benefitted from counselling over the last eighty years. Either in pairs or on their own.

The boat hoist which will be at the centre of the painting, is a symbol for the councillor - gathering them in and trying to repair.

Dress Appropriately

 I taught art in schools and colleges for fifty two years and its nearly sixty years since I was a student at Bath Academy of Art. In those days art schools were very independent and often awarded their own certificates and diplomas.

So it was with great surprise that I found myself being awarded an honorary degree (BA) this summer for services to art education by Bath Spa University.

We were told the ceremony would be very informal and as it was very hot, I took them at their word and turned up in shorts and sandals.

It  was lovely to see everyone (most looking as young as ever) and great fun to dress up in robes and

mortarboards - if only for a few moments.

You can see a picture of me on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts.

Seal of Approval

 Seeing all the pageantry surrounding the Queen's funeral, reminded me of our visit to the Palace in 2006 when the Art department had been awarded a prize for our community projects.

We were presented with a certificate with a large wax seal at the bottom (think Magna Carta).

As I was the only  one returning  to Cambridge after the event, I was entrusted to take it back and hand it over to senior staff.

Unfortunately the seal got too near the radiator on the train and the wax started to melt. Hazel managed to help me botch it up and we hope nobody noticed.

Review The Reviews

 The paper reviews (newspapers, magazines, books etc.) have finally been brought up-to-date on the NEWS AND REVIEWS page on my website. 

The stories go back to 1973, when a picture of my 1931 Morris Minor was on the front of a college magazine for a piece about buying a new  minibus.

On my Instagram and Facebook posts you can see the same blog but I've used a picture of an article from the Agenda magazine showing readers around my pop-up gallery in 2009 after I'd recently opened.