Buckinghamshire New University

Underpainting is underway.

I suppose it will all be underpainting.

All under the surface.

“I get the impression your attitude to colour is much more complex than it seems!”

“People talk about colour, but what matters in a canvas is the light and space to which it gives rise and from which it it should not be separated.”

Pierre Soulages in conversation with Bernard Ceysson 1980

The larger canvases are prepped and I have started to paint, such a relief, emotionally and physically.

An interesting thing occurred this week and reminded me that this has happened before. I was looking at a sequential sketch book I made this time last year. At the time I considered it to be fairly unsuccessful. I had been producing collage books and decided to make one using paint. A couple of months ago I painted over the whole thing in translucent Naphol red. This improved it for me it and unified the images. As I was looking through the book this week I realised how relevant it seems to me now. This is what and how I want to be painting just at this moment. So often I rescue work from the bin. There are elements in the work done unconsciously that are initially impossible to read and recognise. Only now are they coming into focus.

On Wednesday artist Simon Periton gave the last in this years Thomas Lawrence lectures, organised by the Fine Art department. I appreciated hearing him talk about his influences and his repetitive use of imagery. His intuitive approach to exploring his ideas and his reflections on his outcomes was refreshing. His confidence about his subject matter and practice encouraged me to step out from under the weight of my research material and keep focussed on one small element of my current imagery, for this project.

I have made 6 stretchers 1.50cms x 57 cms, almost ready to paint on, sized and oil primed. I have been using a ‘panoramic’ format for a while, this seems to be linked to how I like to look at things; from a viewpoint, a slice, a window onto a stage.

Things to do this coming week include; preparation for mid-semester tutorial on Wednesday, a decision on a title for the show, and pre-dissertation proposal reading.

http://www.sadiecoles.com/simon_periton/index.html

I can identify with Carolyn Shepherd, I too am overloaded with reference material and in need of a personal technician.

My Professional Practice exhibition is sitting on the nearing horizon. I have been spending my time building stretchers and exploring the vagaries of rabbit skin glue and experimenting with oil paint and glazing recipes. My tutors are absolutely right, the oil moves and settles on the surface in a way that I couldn’t get the acrylic to do, and with the heavily pigmented brands of paint, the glazes glow.

Despite my longing for custom made stretchers, there is something deeply important to me about the making of support and surface. The measuring, cutting, stretching, smoothing, sizing, priming. The bringing of this particular plane into being, the setting of its dimensions in space. A kind of mapping of the uncharted territory with the priming brush. Perhaps this is part of a painting student’s development or maybe it’s just integral to my own practice? These domestic studio chores do allow for a pause in art making which gives my ideas time to work away under the surface of my conscious thinking. A recharging in readiness for the next stage, well let’s hope so.

As I plan for the exhibition the unexpected switch to oils has slowed my painting down. With acrylics I was able to put several layers on a painting in one day. With oil it is looking like one layer a week, or perhaps two if I go into the studio more often than my two days (being part time). I am experimenting with mediums and working out drying times. I am converted already to the sensuous feel of the oil and the richness of the colour. Neil Tait spoke to me about having work of different paces on the go at the same time. I have set up a small area in the studio to make charcoal drawings and this double activity keeps me working at the rhythm I find most productive.