Full days in the studio – it's very physical working at this scale. The paintings are only 5ft x 5ft (they look so small on the blog photos) but that means that with my arms outstretched I can only just reach the edges with my fingertips. Working up close my whole field of vision is filled by with the surface. I'm climbing up on steps and stools to reach top edges, crouching to reach lower areas, moving in close, stepping back, shifting from one piece to another. Swift broad brush strokes, detailed slow movements. Updating the surface; fragmenting, unifying.
Three main things in mind as I paint, the order changing as I work:
Distilling elements from the visual residue of things seen on research visit.
The changing qualities of light in the gallery space, how light this affects the space, will affect the appearance of the paintings and therefore the experience of visitors.
The correlation I see between the physical processes of painting and how a place develops and how we build our internal pictures of places.
As I cycled to the studio this morning I wondered why I haven't updated this blog as often as I'd hoped to and how I could change that. As I paint, different streams of thought flow from conscious to subconscious. Sometimes as thoughts surface I think I'll record them later, then just carry on painting. At the end of the day, if I get around to writing, the thought processes are different; I struggle to recall the essence of those thoughts. I think the answer is to get into the practice of jotting things down as they occur so I can type them up later. Hopefully these ‘blog-it notes' will help transfer thoughts from my creative process more directly into the blog.
5 beautiful blank canvases were delivered yesterday. This courier was really helpful – backing the van up to the studio doors to unload the cartons.
I unpacked them and installed 2 in the painting spaces I'd prepared last week, then prepared to make the first brush strokes…
The research visit to Milton Keynes last weekend provided me with plenty of material. There are lots of practicalities to deal with before beginning the process of painting.
Last week I ordered paints, mediums and five 5ft x 5ft canvases. I also rearranged the studio ready to accommodate the canvases. I tend to work on more than one piece at a time often moving the paintings around to develop relationships between the pieces. I’ve now got two working spaces and a place to stack the other three canvases vertically; this will allow me to look at 3 pieces at a time.
On Friday I started some large preparatory drawings (about 2 thirds scale) – it was good to make a physical start on the creative process of filtering the stimulus I’d gathered.
The paint order was due to arrive but by 5 o’clock there was no sign of a delivery. On calling the supplier I was told that the parcel had been delivered and signed for at 9.30am! Hopefully I’ll find out where the paints have actually been delivered – and get them back to the studio on Monday.
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On Saturday I cycled clockwise around Milton Keynes on the Redways (a network of tracks for walkers and cyclists). The fold out Official City map gave a good idea of the green spaces surrounding the city and made me eager to explore. It was a little unwieldy but this was compensated by the scale and sense of location it offered me.
It was a bright, clear day and I continued to collect 'photosketches' as the redways weaved through miles of housing, dipping safely under the busy roads.
I visited the Secklow Mound, an ancient meeting place where the elders of the local 'Hundred' would have gathered (it's behind the present day equivalent – the council offices).
Heading North East out of the city centre I cycled through Campbell Park, to Willen lakes (stopping to visit the Buddhist temple) on to Milton Keynes village and finally making my way back to Bletchley.
As the train approached MK Central at 11.25 this morning I prepared to lift my bike onto the platform. But no-one came to unlock the door and so I was trapped and had to continue to London Euston! Almost 2 hours later I arrived back at MK and I was very relieved when the Train Manager remembered to let me off.
Cycling seems an appropriate way to get around Milton Keynes. There were hundreds of bikes parked at the racks outside the station and it was easy to find a cycle path towards the city centre.
I visited the WHITEWALL to see the current exhibition by Maslen and Mehra and to get a better sense of the physicality and atmosphere of the space. I then spent some time doing a bit of 'visual grazing', my digital camera proving to be a very useful tool for taking notes.
I walked back through the WHITEWALL space at dusk and was interested to see how the light changed.
I ended the day with a bit of research in the local studies section of the library and felt it had been a really productive afternoon in spite of the detour.
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