The next part of my series Dwelling Fusion features the household article at the centre of every kitchen – the kettle, As with the first subject in the series I have taken my two kettles and fused half their individual images together to create a hybrid kettle fused centrally. This represents a continuation of the experimental technique I am employing to depict scenes from home.
I have tried using a cut-out technique for this image using a plug template, an idea I may use further in the future using various styles.
I chose the kettle on this occasion as it conjures comforting scenes of hot drinks breaks with family and friends – bringing to mind the familiar cliché tea and sympathy.
Walking in my local park during a recent rain storm I photographed some interesting images. I was rather drawn to some old iron work embedded in the ground that formed lovely Klimtesque swirls in the earth with some lush vegetation growing alongside adorning the scene. The way in which the iron work is gradually being reabsorbed into the earth echoes the spiralling circular pattern of the process through which most of life travels. The rain water and nearby Ouseburn aiding the journey, moving life along, flowing down into the Tyne and out into the North Sea.
On the way back I was reminded of the recent spring when I had admired a host of crocuses in full bloom in Cambridge. The sight of these neighbouring front doors so perfectly echoing that memory. Co-incidence or the result of a collaboration between the decorators? I found the idea very appealing. Showing such a daring colour combination that only nature could pull off so successfully, paired in suburbia to such striking effect.
My latest painting is also included in this post. Shown during and after completion. It is largely experimental, an excercise in colour and basic symbols to convey the horror of war. I recently visited the Tate Modern to see Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs where this theme some say is covered in a less obvious way. For example were there stars in the sky or bombs exploding? All the more relevant at a time when we remember the seventieth anniversary of D-Day.
Making this blog is almost like the theoretical equivalent of laying out work for a catalogue or exhibition. In terms of allowing me to gather, assess and take stock of where my work is. Stepping back helps me to see the overall direction my work is taking, much like in the process of painting or any other artform.
Being middle aged does not allow me the clarity of thought I enjoyed in my youth, so methodically recoring ideas is a useful way of regaining a level of order to my thought processes.
I have so much to think about lately. Living in a new part of the country is proving such a lot to come to terms with. There is such a lot to take in, it’s a whole new culture, almost like living in a new country. So much new history, local knowledge and traditions to be learned.
Today I have been looking at my Recycling video with a view to painting a recreation of the scene.
The footage was shot through the car windscreen during an extremely heavy downpour. Consequently the images are very distorted. The accompanying sound of the splashing raindrops served to give me a ready made rhythm with which to engage as I applied the paint.
I worked outside from memory and quickly became absorbed by the way the objects almost apeared to melt into one another. I found it quite challenging and may look at the video again with a view to refining the painting with a few areas of greater detail. I feel the real test, as many artists find, will be in knowing when to finish the painting.
