NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2014 Dear Members and Friends Once again, I am delighted to be able to report on a highly positive note on the Society’s activities these last few months. The exhibition in March was a great success in every way. It got off to an excellent start with Andrew Marr’s opening speech, which was a passionate declaration on the value of drawing and the importance of good, solid tangible education in the arts in general. As most people will now know, Andrew is a very capable artist, in addition to his distinguished career as a broadcaster and as a result of the association with the Society he was delighted to accept honorary membership. Regarding sales, we managed to equal our performance last year, which was at the time a record for us in modern times. There has been much good feedback about the quality of the work in the show, not only the work of members but also the standard of work sent in from non- members. This gets better every year and as in previous years we were able to put on a considerable number of demonstrations, all of which were very well attended by the visiting public. The promotion of young artists goes from strength to strength. The quality displayed by the ‘RBA scholars’, as selected from NADFAS and Dover Federation students, becomes more profound every year. In addition, we now have a considerable number of prizes specifically for young artists in order to encourage and support more and more young people to study art and hopefully become professionals. In addition to this, the Rome Scholarship is now attracting an increasing number of gifted young artists to apply. This has resulted in several past recipients having their work hung in the show having gone through the normal selection process. Along with a growing number of other younger artists showing their work with us, we are hopefully providing the means to create new members and carry the Society into the future.
Transcript
NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2014 Dear Members and Friends Once again, I am delighted to be able to report on a highly positive note on the Society’s activities these last few months. The exhibition in March was a great success in every way. It got off to an excellent start with Andrew Marr’s opening speech, which was a passionate declaration on the value of drawing and the importance of good, solid tangible education in the arts in general. As most people will now know, Andrew is a very capable artist, in addition to his distinguished career as a broadcaster and as a result of the association with the Society he was delighted to accept honorary membership. Regarding sales, we managed to equal our performance last year, which was at the time a record for us in modern times. There has been much good feedback about the quality of the work in the show, not only the work of members but also the standard of work sent in from non- members. This gets better every year and as in previous years we were able to put on a considerable number of demonstrations, all of which were very well attended by the visiting public. The promotion of young artists goes from strength to strength. The quality displayed by the ‘RBA scholars’, as selected from NADFAS and Dover Federation students, becomes more profound every year. In addition, we now have a considerable number of prizes specifically for young artists in order to encourage and support more and more young people to study art and hopefully become professionals. In addition to this, the Rome Scholarship is now attracting an increasing number of gifted young artists to apply. This has resulted in several past recipients having their work hung in the show having gone through the normal selection process. Along with a growing number of other younger artists showing their work with us, we are hopefully providing the means to create new members and carry the Society into the future.
For a number of years the Society has had a most productive relationship with the Russell Gallery in Putney and in May and June we had a successful show of members’ work. In keeping with our active and ongoing exhibitions programme we also had a show ‘See Art’ in Tunbridge Wells and most recently with Lloyds Register in the City of London. In September Tessa Spencer Pryse entertained us at her home and studio in Wivenhoe. Events like this are a wonderful way of bringing members together and being able to see how we all carry on with our working lives. We are now in the process of starting to organise the next annual show and I can announce that the Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP has kindly agreed to open the show on 10 March. We are fully confident that we can mount an exhibition commensurate with recent achievements and are excited by the prospect of assembling the great variety of work that characterises our show. I look forward to seeing you all in March and in the meantime thank you to everyone for your continued support. With all best wishes James Horton President
MEMBERS NEWS
We congratulate Andy Woods on being elected President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Andy Wood writes:
James Horton and I are among the Presidents of the Royal Art Societies who have been invited to exhibit in this year's Royal Birmingham Society of Artists 'Birmingham and Beyond' in November, the culmination of the RBSA's year of 200th anniversary celebrations. Jacqueline Wolfers writes: The Geedon Gallery Autumn exhibition is open until 15th December by appointment Geedon Gallery, Jaggers, Fingringhoe Colchester, Essex CO5 7DN 01206 729 334 /07901 918 046/01206 728587 www.geedongallery.co.uk Members exhibiting are : David Eustace, Peter Kelly, Martin Leman, Jill Leman, Barbara Richardson, Tessa Spenser Pryse, Jacqueline Taber among many others It is a converted Essex Barn overlooking Essex Marshes Just ring and we will open up. Our next exhibition is 28th March-April 12th 2015
Peter Kelly writes: I have recently participated in the RBA exhibition at Lloyds Registry and
also in an exhibition at the Geedon Gallery at Fingringhoe. Essex, and in a NEAC exhibition at
the Red Rag Gallery at Stow-on-the-Wold.
Future exhibitions include:
NEAC Exhibition, Mall Galleries - 27 November to 8 December.
Thompson's Gallery Christmas Exhibition at Aldeburgh - 4 to 24 December. John Adams Fine Art, Ebury Street - Christmas Exhibition - 1 to 31 December. REALISME Exhibition, Amsterdam (Thompson's)- 15 to 19 January. News about Juliette Palmer:
In May Juliette showed paintings of sun-soaked places in Sicily, France, Turkey and Syria in a
farmhouse setting, the home of Dick Budden, sculptor for film and TV. This was part of the
Henley Arts Trail.
In June, she and her husband opened their house in Cookham, Berks, as part of the Bucks
Open Studios. Juliette’s paintings, covering the walls, range from oils of the 1950s painted in
situ in an overgrown orchard, to recent watercolours of special places on the coast and in the
country. Her Husband shows black and white photographs from the 1950s and ’60s and colour
prints of more recent travels.
In May, Juliette was pleased to take part in the RBA show at the Russell Gallery, Putney.
Meanwhile she monitors monthly exhibitions of well-respected art from individual artists and
local groups on the walls of the light, spacious community rooms of a lively library nearby at
Bourne End, Bucks. This is a much appreciated opportunity for the artists and the community.
Juliette herself takes part in many local exhibitions and festivals with, again, open house for an
Arts Trail in September.
This December she puts on a show of her own Small
Graphics for Gifts at a local centre. They are various vintage preparatory drawings for
illustrations. They are small images with a dash of history.
Chris Aggs writes: I spent part of the summer painting in the Catalan countryside - north of Girona. I hope to feature some pictures from that campaign in the annual show in March. I was drawn there to make studies for a commissioned landscape painting in oils (19x62inches) - I attach a photograph of the work in progress (nearing completion)
Julian Halsby has been invited by NADFAS to lecture on ‘Modigliani and Bohemian Paris 1900
– 1917’ in The Hague and Brussels in March next year. In April he is giving two lectures in the
South of France on Pierre Bonnard and in May three NADFAS lectures in Spain on ‘British and
American Artists in Venice 1815-1914’.
Julia Sorrell writes:
I enclose a press release for a forthcoming loan exhibition of my father's work at the Works on
Paper Fair at the Science Museum in February which I am co-curating and giving a gallery talk.
This is one of a series of exhibitions of my father's work, or all the Sorrell Family which my
I have just returned from running a painting holiday in an ideal setting in the Umbrian countryside, not far from the charming hill town of Todi. The place can sleep up to eight in four bedrooms, twin/double in a very comfortable villa. It is ideal for the running of painting holidays, or for artists going as a group. Excellent food included with the costings, as well as transport. The owners are excellent hosts, he Italian and she English. It is a new venture for them, and they are welcome to any ideas. If anyone is interested, please get back to me and I shall pass on all details. I enclose a photograph of the villa and surrounding countryside.
Sue Campion is holding a one-man exhibition of new work at: The Russell Gallery, 12 Lower Richmond Road, Putney, London SW15 1JP Telephone 0208 780 5228. The exhibition continues until 22nd November
Sue Campion : Through the Window, Benalgabon 42”x48”
An article about the work of Carole Griffin has appeared in ‘The Artist’ magazine.
Miranda Halsby is running two courses on etching for Sherborne Artslink. They are fully
booked and she finds teaching them very rewarding.
Barbara Richardson writes:
Here is a photograph taken when members of the RBA visited Tessa Spencer Pryse at Wivenhoe on Saturday and Sunday 13th and 14th September. Tessa was a wonderful host.
Bridget Moore, Jill Leman, Martin Leman and Jeremy Galton were selected to be shortlisted (18 artists) for the Curwen Gallery prize for figurative painting. Their work was on show at the Curwen Gallery in October. The Private View was opened by Anthony Green with a very good short speech. Peter Brown held another very successful exhibition at Messum’s in Cork Street from 22nd October to 15th November.
Peter Brown : Trafalgar Square
Mick Davies VPRBA writes: During the month of October, 23 members of the RBA had an exhibition at Lloyd's Register building, in the heart of the City. This was a new venture for us and a fairly new venture for Lloyd's. The show was well received and looked very good, partly thanks to Dr Leonard McComb, RA, who helped to hang the works. Lloyds themselves provided a team of young people who worked extremely hard to make the exhibition look good and the Private View was well attended with 80 - 100 guests. The members paid a contribution, which went towards insurance, wine & nibbles at the PV and a donation to the RBA, whilst Lloyd's Register paid for advertising and printing the catalogues. No commission was payable on sales which, though modest, gave the artists the opportunity to present their work at the core of the City's financial district - great PR for the Society! Lloyd's have offered us an exhibition next October, and the invitation to show will be extended to all interested members. As they are pretty well booked now for the whole of the next year, this gallery will become more experienced and well known, which will hopefully result in even more sales for the RBA in 2015.
Christmas Party Dear Member The President and Council invite you to a pre-Christmas buffet lunch on Friday 5th December at 1pm at the Mall Galleries in the TCPA Board Room (first floor) overlooking the Mall. It is a good opportunity for members to meet socially and we would be delighted to see you. There is a small charge of £7 per person as a contribution towards the cost of the food and wine. We do hope that you will be able to come and if you are attending could you please return the reply slip to me by 19th November
De Laszlo Medal : A letter from Judith Gardner, Hon Secretary RBA:
Dear Member,
In the past we have used the work of the de Laszlo Medal winner for the promotion of our annual exhibition. At the AGM in March we did not select a winner for the de Laszlo Medal for 2014 and so the Council thought that we should give the whole membership the opportunity to submit an image to be considered for the promotional material for our 2015 exhibition. We need images for the advertising, for the invitations and for the catalogue.
If you would like to submit for consideration an image of one of your works that you are exhibiting in the 2015 exhibition then please either send it by e-mail to ‘[email protected]’ or on a CD sent to me at the address given above.
The high resolution image needs to be in Jpg format (2Mb file size or above) and please include your name and the title of the work. If you are able then please send the image in 300dpi resolution and put your name and the title of the work in the file name e.g,
Gardner-Judith-Paddling at the waters edge.Jpg If you are not able to do this then don’t worry and simply send the image file and include your name and the title of the work as separate text.
The closing date for me to receive the images is 10th December as we will decide on the images for the promotional material at the digital selection of non-members work on 15th December
Judith Gardner
The Modern Picture Framing Workshop Alan Friday (RBA Friend) My name is Alan Friday and I run 'Wood Works Picture Framing' based in Dover, Kent. I have been framing pictures professionally for a number of years now although my original training (40 years ago) was an engineer. For the last ten years I have worked predominantly with wood, making and restoring wooden artefacts and furniture but for the last two years have concentrated solely on picture framing and the presentation of art. Running a modern picture framing workshop is one of the most satisfying jobs that I have ever done. I framed my first picture about 15 years ago – I made the moulding by gluing-up
architrave and timber from a DIY store and cut it using a tenon saw and mitre box. At the time I was quite proud of my amateurish achievement and was asked to do several more by friends and relatives. Unfortunately, when one frames commercially, things get a little more complicated and new 'toys' suddenly start to fill the workshop. At first it was just a guillotine and an under-pinner, then came the mount cutter, then the computerised mount cutter, then …....
No matter how many tools one has, good picture framing is more than just equipment. It takes skill to use the tools and the aesthetic side requires a good eye and more than a little imagination. Modern equipment can greatly improve the quality of a picture frame but this is all in vain if the frame doesn't compliment the item it encompasses.
To complicate things further, there are new breeds of artists appearing, working in many new mediums, each of which requires a new method of presentation. Perhaps the most important group to the framer is the digital photographer. Today it is possible for anyone with a digital camera to spend an afternoon at the beach or in the county side and come back with a couple of hundred photographs. Photographic exhibitions are also becoming more popular leading to the demand for cheaper ways to present images. In just the last two months I have framed photographs from proud grandparents, three professional photographers of different technical standing and a rescued photograph from the Shackleton Antarctic expedition which was valued on the Antiques Road Show at over a £1000. The frames have ranged from simple traditional to custom made, hand finished mouldings.
It has taken me a few years but I now cater for an incredible range of work and in quantities that would have scared me just a few years ago. By embracing modern glues and materials and using the most up-to-date equipment it is possible to produce exhibition quality work quickly and cost effectively. For example, for a local school exhibition earlier this year I had to cut over 50 mounts. The majority were single apertures but, as anyone that has ever cut mounts by hand will know, this would still have taken several days. Add to this a number of diptychs and triptychs plus one mount with 26 apertures and you will see that the 7 days that I was allocated to frame all 50+ items would be tight. Fortunately, I have a computerised cutter which carried out the work flawlessly and took less than four hours to do the lot – no over-cuts, no under-cuts,
no hooking and no bad language. I get a great deal of satisfaction from framing the work of young artists. Apart from the incredible talent that is evident there is a refreshing range of techniques and materials that provide new challenges for me as a framer. Many schools now encourage individual creativity rather than just teaching the same old methods and I foresee a good future in the business for some of these artists. The highlight of my year is the work that we do on the National Students Art Exhibition which is sponsored by the RBA. This year we worked on about 90 frames ranging from a small triptych about A4 size through to large canvases measuring 1.6m on their long side, not to mention a piece measuring 5m in length. Three dimensional art is growing in popularity and each piece presents its own challenges. One unusual piece that I worked on recently was €2000 worth of bank notes which had been shredded. This represented, according to the title of the piece, 'Contempt for Wealth'. The 'frame' in this instance was a clear glass box on a varnished mahogany base. Another artist that regularly comes to me creates wonderful paper sculptures and, to make life a little more interesting, exhibits all over the world so often needs packing cases to match the frames.
I like to take time to find out what the customer wants from their frame and advise on the different techniques and materials to use appropriate to the type of work that they have. In most months over 90% of my work is from repeat customers or from recommendations. It is quite humbling when customers are reduced to tears when they see their finished work – it is something which happens surprisingly regularly and I always feel satisfied that I have exceeded their hopes and expectations when it does. These tears are, of course, quite different from the ones that occur when I give them the bill. My latest 'toy' is a 24 inch Giclée printer which enables me to print photographer's work directly from computer files downloaded by email or from drop boxes. I now have three photographers that regularly send me work in this way. Two of them require their work to be printed and mounted whilst the third, who is a little more ambitious, also has some items framed and some mounted onto 12mm boards for display work. In fact he has just placed an order for 120, A1 size prints for the end of next month.
Some of my equipment is illustrated in the photographs which accompany this piece. If you would like to know more about the work I do, please visit my website at www.woodworksdover.com. I am always interested in talking to artists and art-lovers and welcome the chance to discuss with Society members any ideas that you might have regarding
We were sad to hear of the death of George Devlin RBA on 26th May. The following obituary, written by his dealer Guy Peploe, was published in ‘The Scotsman’
George Devlin : 8 September 1937 - 26 May, 2014
George Devlin should be ranked as one of the best British landscape painters of the modern era. His approach to painting landscape was established by the Impressionists in the 1880s: to sit in front of the subject, en plein aire, and work until the picture was essentially complete. In the studio a critical eye would bring him back to the canvas to make a few adjustments, the same rigorous examination he would give to a still life subject or a portrait, but the essentials of the landscape that made it belong to the day it was made were always preserved.
Devlin studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1955-60, attracting the awards that recognised a precocious talent. He finished his art education with travel, working in Greece and Italy, later crossing the Sahara and working in West Africa. He won a major Scottish Arts Council award in 1968 and then relocated to France the next year, running a painting school in Vetheuil in the Val d’Oise. Back in Glasgow in the early Seventies, he presented a series of television programmes on Scottish art for STV and became involved with Scottish Ballet, where he designed sets and costumes.
In 1969 his exhibition career was established with the first of many exhibitions with The Scottish Gallery. This was a significant occasion for the artist, who recalled how in Edinburgh Robin Philipson nominated him for membership of the RSW and Anne Redpath took him for tea.
Devlin always looked outward, not inward and this is reflected in his many painting trips and exhibitions around the world, to Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, India and South Africa. Neither was England a closed market for Devlin: he began regular shows with the Portland Gallery in London from 1991, Encouraged by painter friends like Ken Howard RA, he became a member of several prestigious exhibiting bodies in the south (including the RBA).
His most recent exhibition at the Scottish Gallery was a year ago and the introduction to the catalogue drew attention to a motion that had been lodged in the Scottish Parliament on 8 February that year by Patricia Fergusson MSP of Maryhill and been supported across the political divide to the effect that “George Devlin is marvellous”.
The motion made note of his recent retrospective at the Glasgow Art Club, his deserved reputation, the variety of his achievements and awards, his significant contribution to Scottish art celebrated at home and abroad on the 50th anniversary of his membership of the club and 75th birthday. All accolades were richly deserved and by then immortality seemed to be a further attribute for the CV because George was a cancer survivor from his first diagnosis in 2002.
His courage has been extraordinary: in April 2005, writing in the foreword to his exhibition of new work at the Scottish Gallery, I saw no dimming of the light but an urgency to extract the most from the moment and make it permanent – no more than the artist’s true vocation.
The shadow passed and last year before his latest show I made my usual studio visit. These were always a pleasure. The walls were hung three deep with unframed canvasses, still wet, with drier works stacked against the wall and a forest of easels displaying more. As George worked off a little of his boundless nervous energy with a palette knife, I went round with a sheet of stickers selecting the show, struggling to find anything to leave out. George was at once the consummate professional (this side of the business ably supported by his wife Marie) and full of boyish enthusiasm.
He will be deeply missed as a man but we have as a legacy his paintings, each imbued with a balance of intuition and consideration, each displaying the energetic mark-making, brilliant colour and assured drawing with the brush which are Devlin’s trademarks. Each is a window onto a different experience made permanent by a painter and philosopher we are privileged to have known.
He is survived by his wife Marie and daughter Nuala.
Guy Peploe
George Devlin in his Studio
Late Turner – Painting Set Free Tate Britain Exhibition 10 September 2014 – 25 January 2015
Always a progressive artist, Turner’s later years are marked by a radical change in his style
towards broad handling and minimal detail in atmospheric oils and watercolours. This change
began in the 1830’s and can be seen in his later paintings of Venice, his seascapes and his
Alpine views. While John Ruskin described Turner as ‘the greatest of the age’, the Victorian
public neither understood nor appreciated his later style, but audiences today are amazed by
Turner’s modernity and breadth of vision. This important exhibition brings together many of his
later works painted between 1835 and 1851.
Turner is a very difficult artist to analyse because of his wide range of interests and subjects, not
to mention techniques. His later work often returns to themes which he had explored as a young
man, such as the Italian classical landscape and Venice. One theme that stands out is his
interest in the contemporary world which he sets against a passing classical world. ‘Rain,
Steam and Speed’ of 1844 depicts a train of the Great Western Railway speeding across a
newly constructed viaduct, but to one side we see a group of maidens dancing by the side of the
Thames, possibly representing a long lost classical past. There is also a hare in the foreground
running away from the iron monster, nature fleeing industry. ‘The Fighting Temeraire
tugged to her last Berth to be broken up’ of 1838 is also a reflection on industrial progress
with one of the heroes of the Battle of Trafalgar, a beautiful and noble vessel, being towed to the
breakers yard by an ugly steam paddle ship.
The theme of modern technology pitted against nature is also evident in ‘Snow Storm’ of 1842
in which a modern steam ship resists the onslaught of a Channel gale. Turner recalled: ‘I did not
paint it to be understood, but I wished to show what such a scene was like. I got the sailors to
lash me to the mast to observe it; I was lashed for four hours, and I did not expect to escape,
but I felt bound to record it if I did.’ Turner used colour in a romantic way to stress the emotional
qualities of his work. In ‘Slavers throwing overboard the Dead and Dying’ of 1840 he
comments on the awful realities of the slave trade which he opposed, and the slaving ship is
seen against a blood red sky which emphasises the horror of the subject. ‘Burial at Sea’ of
1842 depicts the burial of Turner’s friend and fellow artist Sir David Wilkie who had died near
Gibraltar returning from the Middle East. Turner paints the ship a dark black, funereal and
ominous, which again reflects the subject. When a fellow Academician criticised his use of
black, Turner replied ‘I only wish I had any colour to make them blacker’.
In 1834 the old Houses of Parliament burnt down and Turner was there to record the scene in
watercolour which he later worked up in oils. He was a believer in democracy and like many
others felt that Parliament needed to be reformed to suit the modern age. The burning of the old
Houses of Parliament was symbolic of the passing of the old system and the beginning of a new
democracy. Other late paintings also explore his interest in the passing of civilisations. He had
first discovered Venice in 1819 retuning in 1833 and again in 1840. He was fascinated by the
decay of the city which was very evident in the mid -19th century and believed that it showed
how a great civilisation could decay and disappear. He expressed the same sentiments with the
fall of Carthage a subject he returned to again and again.
The classical world appealed to Turner both for subject matter and for themes for paintings and
despite his lack of formal education, Turner was well versed in classical mythology. His first visit
to Italy was delayed by the Napoleonic Wars but from 1819 onwards he often painted classical
themes set in an Italian landscape. Claude Lorraine was an important influence on his work,
especially Claude’s compositions with a tunnel of sunlight taking our eye into the distance. In his
later works Turner returns to Claudian light, a radiant yellow sunlight as can be seen in
‘Regulus’ started in 1828 but reworked in 1837. Regulus was a Roman general captured by the
Carthaginians who sent him back to Rome to negotiate peace; back in Rome he refused to
negotiate a peace and returned to Carthage knowing that he would be executed, a subject
which excited Turner’s interest in the classical past.
Turner had always enjoyed finishing his paintings at the Royal Academy Varnishing Day, often
upstaging artists hung either side of him, but in his later years he virtually painted his works at
the Academy having taken in canvases which had only the basic rudiments of the picture
worked out. A contemporary described Turner finishing a painting at the Academy in 1844 :
‘He used rather short brushes, a very messy palette, and, standing very close up
to the canvas, appeared to paint with his eyes and nose as well as his hand. Of course
he repeatedly walked back to study the effect.’
This was particularly true of his later Venetian works and on his death many canvases with
ghostly images of Venice were discovered in his studio. While these were not intended for
exhibiting in this state, they do provide some wonderfully Impressionistic images of Venice.
Turner also experimented with different shaped canvases, in particular a square format and he
also experimented with pigments and techniques not all of which were successful.
Turner : The Dark Rigi
Watercolours had always played an important part in Turner’s work, but during the late period
he produced some truly exceptional watercolours which remain modern to our eyes. Switzerland
appealed to his Romantic sense of grandeur and even the Sublime and he returned regularly in
the 1840’s until ill health forced him to stop. ‘The Blue Rigi, Sunrise’ of 1842 is a wonderful
example of his late watercolour technique with the colours floated across the paper freed from
the contemporary watercolour style of detailed observation. In effect he freed watercolour from
convention and created a style which remains modern and timeless. Victorian critics mostly
disliked Turner’s late work although there were exceptions notably John Ruskin who supported
his later style, but a more likely criticism is that which appeared in The Atheneaum discussing ‘
Storm at Sea’
This gentleman has, on former occasions, chosen to paint with cream, or chocolate, yolk
of eggs or currant jelly – here he uses his whole array of kitchen stuff. Where the steam
boat is, where the harbour begins, or where it ends, which are the signals and which is
the author in the Ariel – are matters past our finding out.
The modern public does not share this view and in many respects Turner’s later work is now
more popular than his earlier pictures.
The question of Turner’s influence is often debated with some art historians arguing that he was
the fore-runner of Impressionism. Claude Monet denied that Turner had influenced him and that
he had actually seen very few Turner paintings. Whether Turner was influential or not is
irrelevant as he remains one of the most original and striking artists of the 19th century. Light
was his passion and it remained with him until his death on December 19th 1851. His doctor
recalled: ‘On the morning of his decease it was very dull and gloomy, but just before 9 am the
sun burst forth and shone directly on him with that brilliancy which he loved to gaze on and
transfer the likeness to his paintings.’
Julian Halsby
TOM WANLESS RBA – A Recollection
Countryside in Winter Hill Farm in Winter
Now that I am in my 86th year perhaps I can be forgiven for looking back over my lifetime in art
in which I have fulfilled many roles as teacher, lecturer, illustrator, course director, examiner,
and exhibitor. Those heady student days in the fifties, when I studied in the then hotbed of
artistic endeavour in the North East with Harry Thubron and Victor Passmore, have gone along
with the many exciting ideas of so called Modern Art. However that may be, I believe that I have
retained something of the impetus of the period in always holding on to an open-minded
approach to painting despite gentle pressures from some galleries to favour a particular “style”.
The paintings “Countryside in Winter” and “Hill Farm in Winter”, for example, are both recent
paintings and will be shown soon at the ROI and Walker Gallery respectively. The subjects are
similar but, hopefully, each has its own in-built integrity to engage the response of viewers. At
the present time, I have been taking a softer-edged approach to my first underpainting trusting
that something worthwhile will result—or am I entering into a second childhood?
