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A long overdue update!

Posted by admin on July 29th, 2016

It’s almost 3 weeks since my last blog so I thought I’d better get down to it and write some kind of piece updating everyone with what I’ve been doing during this time.  Unfortunately there aren’t vast amounts to write about as in short, all I’ve been doing is working!  In all honesty though, I did have one day off a little over a week ago and spent it pottering around the garden at home.

We’ve done no walking of any note sadly and I just know that when we do eventually get time to head out into the hills again, my legs will be COMPLAINING!

climbing a mountain

Mountain Climbing

The reason for this lull in blogs and walking is simply because I am completely tied up with working on this big drawing / audio project.  There is so much to do in what is a relatively short space of time.  I have to complete the three big Oregon drawings, (each almost 8’ x 4’) and we have to sort out all the recordings we made, make new recordings and then mix 54 individual one minute long sound tracks, (18 for each drawing)……. all by the end of September so that we have time to ship everything over to Seattle ready for the team over there to install it in the exhibition space.

Now that the 3 drawings are well underway, sound engineer Graham Byron, has been working alongside me to help create and mix the kind of audio tracks I want.  I have to say that this side of things has been a bit of a worry for me as I couldn’t really see how we could manipulate and use the recordings we’d made.  When we finally came to starting to mix the sounds however, suddenly I started to see the light!  It was amazing; it was like drawing with sound….. really exciting.  I’m suddenly now a lot more confident about the outcome of this project and what is even more important; I am a lot more confident about my future as a professional artist.  The whole reason for my starting to explore the use of sound with my work, is that I am concerned about the gradual deterioration of the little bit of sight I have.

Abstract Landscape Art

Abstract Landscape

On top of all this work I have also been preparing for my talk, ‘Recording the landscape’, at the Harbour Arts Centre theatre.  This took place yesterday evening and was a 2 hour event.  I’m glad to say that it went off really well and that we had a good turn out.  It took a lot of work preparing for it as I have to get everything I’m going to say, into my head…. I can’t see a script or anything written. ….. I just have to talk.  I divided the evening into two halves, the first being mainly about my early career and how I came to join my art with the hill walking I do.  I used photographs to illustrate this.  After the break however, I just had a selection of paintings and drawings on stage and spent the second half of the evening talking about and explaining how the work is created.  I finished off by speaking briefly about this new use of sound and where I hoped this project would lead in the future.

I’m glad to say it seemed to go down extremely well and it was certainly very enjoyable.  Another important reason however for organizing this event was so that I could record the talk in order to promote myself as a guest speaker.  I see this as a very good way to promote my work as an artist and after doing a number of talks for various organisations over the past few years, it seems like this could be a good addition to my art practice.  As such, the whole talk was filmed last night and once we get it edited, we’ll have something to show folk what they will get if they book me as guest speaker

Right then, there are no obvious photos to include with this blog so I think I’ll just pluck a couple of nice hill snaps from the album and put them up so there is something interesting to look at!

Learning to climb

Learning to climb in snow

-o-o-o-o-

Impression of Irvine Church

Irvine Church

-o-o-o-o-

Posted in Buildings, Harbour Arts Centre, Microsoft Project 2016, Personal, Sound Recording, Visual Disability No Comments »

Back in Scotland…..and painting again…..take 2!

Posted by admin on October 23rd, 2014

I actually wrote this blog yesterday evening but after 3 hours my computer crashed and I somehow lost the whole document! So here we go again.

Well then, that’s us back in sunny Scotland and back to business as usual at the studio. We arrived back from Brazil after a very long journey, at about 01.00 last Thursday morning. Wow, quite a trip, especially as only about two weeks before I been bumbling along getting work ready for the Harbour Arts Centre show in November and planning the big studio tidy-up before the Courtyard Studios Open Weekend on 4th / 5th October.

On the initial tour of the Matarazzo Hospital exhibition

On the initial tour of the Matarazzo Hospital exhibition

Then, right out of the blue I get an email from a company in Brazil asking if I can get down to Sao Paulo for a few days before October 12th. To be honest, I didn’t really know quite what to make of it as sadly there are a lot of internet scams aimed at artists these days. I decided to send it to John who not only does all the admin for this website but also acts as my agent and advisor. He very kindly checked it out and got back to me the next day saying that all was OK and that if I was prepared to rush down to Sao Paulo at short notice, he’d try and fix everything with the people in Brazil.

Sketching the old buildings

Sketching the old buildings

Well, it was a hectic few days with emails winging there way back and forth between John, (who is based in Bogota), Lucila (the lady organising the trip in Sao Paulo) and I. Finally on Tuesday 7th we got the email from Brazil saying all was “go” and that they’d be booking the flights and hotel and getting back to us. Things in the Salmon / Groves house were somewhat crazy at this stage as we suddenly had to get everything arranged to go away the following evening ….Nita had to arrange time off from work, we had to get the cat to the cattery, (he wasn’t amused) and we also had to get everything packed. In the end the flight left Edinburgh at 06.00 Thursday morning and so it wasn’t quite as mad a rush as we’d thought ….but pretty mad all the same!

In the Matarazzo Hospital

In the Matarazzo Hospital

I had been invited to travel to Sao Paulo to take part in a large arts project in the city. The project involves creating a new art, culture and tourism centre on the site of the old un-used Matarazzo hospital. Before the work starts though it had been decided that they would hold a large contemporary art exhibition in the grounds and buildings of this fine old hospital. The exhibition ended on Sunday 12th October and one of the sponsors thought it would be a great idea to invite a professional artist who was visually impaired to visit the exhibition and to then create a small series of paintings capturing the spirit of the place and work. I was the lucky person to be invited.

A quick hop took us to Amsterdam and then we had the eleven and a half hour haul down to Sao Paulo. Phew, was I glad to get off that plane or what?! Thankfully we were met by a very nice chap called Gilsom who drove us the 45 minutes into the city and our hotel.

Friday proved a very busy one as we met up with a representative of the company sponsoring my trip (Absolut Elyx) and were then given a guided tour around the exhibition…..being followed the whole way by a small film crew who were there to record the meeting for the company. The afternoon found me being interviewed for one of the Sao Paulo daily newspapers. After that I was able to get down to some work and expertly guided as usual by Nita, I spent the rest of Friday and a good chunk of Saturday and Monday wandering around the exhibition, just looking, photographing, sketching and just taking everything in ….in short, doing exactly what I do when we’re in the hills. After 4 hours in very hot conditions on Monday (it was 38° C) I decided that I’d probably got enough to work with and we retreated to the cool of our very posh air conditioned hotel ….and finished with a cold beer!

One of the many exhibits

One of the many exhibits

We flew back the following day, but with a nine hour wait in Paris for the connecting flight to Edinburgh ….hence the 01.00 arrival home in Irvine on Thursday morning. Suffice to say that we were a little whacked by the time we finally put our heads down and only surfaced mid morning for an hour or so in order to go claim our cat back from the cattery…….he wasn’t amused!

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been all the way to Brazil and back ….perhaps it was just a dream? But no! We have the packet of Brazil nuts from the hotel mini-bar to prove it! Now the interesting bit begins…..I have five paintings to complete by late February.

I have my attention back on the Harbour Arts Centre exhibition and the big drawing project there in November / December, but reckon I’ll probably do the smaller Brazil paintings in the evenings after I’ve finished the days work on the big graphite drawing. I’ll then be able to do the final larger painting once the HAC show is over at the end of the first week in January. The finished Brazil paintings are to be shipped back to Sao Paulo and then put in a gallery and auctioned to raise funds for the on-going project. I’ll keep you updated on all this work … doubt that I’ll be spending much time at home over the next few months. Watch this space.

Posted in Brazil, Buildings, city landscapes, Commissioned Artwork, Commissions, Courtyard Studios Open Weekend, Exhibitions, Harbour Arts Centre, Information Updates Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments »

Seeing the best of Ben Nevis

Posted by admin on June 22nd, 2012
Ben Nevis CIC Hut

Ben Nevis CIC Hut

One of the most difficult things about painting the landscape is I think, working out how to convey how big everything is. Without a point of reference ….something man made, capturing the vastness of a moor or mountain can be very challenging. With my fuzzy sight, I have just as much a problem when I’m actually out walking in these wild places ….judging whether I have an hour to walk to reach the top of a crag, or five minutes, without the aid of a map, is tricky. Occasionally though, you go somewhere that just reeks its huge scale.

On Monday we went to just such a place ….the base of the North Face of Ben Nevis.

We walked this, Scotland’s and the UK’s highest mountain several years ago by the standard ‘tourist’ path and although I stood at the top, I never really felt quite how big this mountain was. On Monday though, I got the idea.

Ben Nevis North Face

Ben Nevis North Face

A very good path leads up through the forest before following the stream that flows out from beneath the great cliffs of the north face. Your first view is from a small view point created in the forest but at this stage it just looked to me like another mountain. Once above the forest line though I started to realise just how big a lump of a hill Ben Nevis is. I thought the first cliffs were quite near but as we continued to walk towards them I realised we still had a good distance to walk. As we got closer the dark crags grew bigger and bigger and what I had thought was a single line of cliffs, became a series of great buttresses and a deep corrie – Coire na Ciste. Tucked up at the head of the glen beneath this and complex face, is the CIC Hut. It has been very well built so that it blends in with its dramatic surroundings and it was to this that we were heading.

Our friend and walking companion Guy had in the past climbed a couple of the routes on the North Face and it was his idea that we walk up to the CIC Hut. He assured me that it would not be time wasted and that I just had to see and experience this magnificent setting …he also suggested that it would be an excellent place to do some drawing and painting. Well, I can’t argue, he got it right on all accounts! We sat gawping at the face, so big, so complex and so beautiful. On this occasion I just brought my camera but this is definitely a place to return on another fine day to sit and draw.

I’m not quite sure why, but walking up this magnificent glen underneath the North Face of Ben Nevis, reminded me so much of the time I spent in Speyer the other summer …walking around the massive cathedral there. Just like on Monday beneath Ben Nevis, I used to end up with a crick in my neck from staring up at its highest towers and buttresses trying to work out how it all fitted together and how I might do a drawing or painting of it. In the end, I solved the problem in Speyer by matching scale with scale …in other words doing a very large drawing …4.2 m long by 1.5 m high. As we stood, tiny against this great natural structure …the highest in Scotland, I remembered the Speyer drawing and started to ponder on whether I ought to attempt another …this time based on the North Face of Ben Nevis.

Dom drawing, Speyer

Dom drawing, Speyer

  ‘Photographs by Gjuy Hansford and Mike Lauter’

Posted in Buildings, Inspiring Mountain Walks, Mountain Photos, Personal, Photography, Speyer, Visual Disability Tags: , , , , , , , , No Comments »

Gripe of the week…..!

Posted by admin on August 26th, 2011
Work in progress, 'Towards Beinn Toaig ..winter'

Work in progress - 'Towards Beinn Toaig ..winter'

No nice walks or interesting trips to report this week I’m afraid …it’s just been a week working away down at the studio. So I guess this is going to be a rather short blog.

Normally at this time of year there are quite a few visitors on the harbour side in Irvine and we normally expect a few of them to call into the Courtyard to have a look at what some of the artists are doing. This year though, it does seem to be quite quiet …partly due I’m sure to the rather damp summer we’ve been having. But along with this, few of them seem to be calling into the studios. Until last summer we used to have good signage on the studio building ….not just saying Courtyard Artists Studios …but also saying ‘visitors welcome’. Then, last summer we had the long waited ‘make-over’. The builders moved in (while I was away in Germany), and completely transformed much of the studio building … creating new studio space in the roof, adding much needed windows and therefore light and heating and water to all the spaces. On top of this new doors were fixed, the wee kitchen space and toilets re built and the structural problems fixed. Finally the building was completely painted to make it look so much better from the outside. When I returned from Speyer I was really impressed by what they’d done My studio space which had had a big problem with damp and rotting floor boards was now dry and with a new floor ….it was looking good for 2011.

With the addition of the new studio spaces we’d also had several new artists and craftspeople move in and this was very good. The one thing though that they’ve not bothered to do after all this good work ….is to replace the signage. Now then, this may seem a minor thing after spending £150,000 on building work …and perhaps a bit of a gripe on my part …but it’s been a year now and we still haven’t got any signs saying what we are …and, as importantly …that people are welcome to come in….and purchase work if they wish. Hence, this summer we’ve seen a drastic reduction in visitor numbers and with it …sales. Of course this could be put down to the general state of the economy …but even so, if folk passing don’t know what we are …they’re hardly likely to come in and buy a painting. It seems sad but interesting to note that one year on, four of the six new artists have already left ….finding it difficult to pay the rents …which are still very good value but are still difficult for young artists just starting out, to meet. During my time at the Courtyard I’ve always made sure that I invite people in and made them welcome. Through this I’ve always managed to sell a good number of works directly from the studio …at the same price as they are up in galleries. By doing this and giving a little of my time each week to show people what I’m doing, I have always managed to cover my studio rent each year. Of course I realise that to say there is a direct correlation between these artists leaving and the fact that we have no signage and visitors, is perhaps stretching it a bit …but I do think that after doing so much good work on the building, this final lapse has done much to undermine some of the very artists the building is supposed to help. I do realise there are planning regulations etc, but surely all we need is a new version of the old signs, no new snazzy designs …it surely can’t be that difficult. The summer of course is now nearly over …visitors will have gone by the end of October and so a whole season has been lost. We have our Studio Open Weekend coming up on 1st / 2nd October ….so any guesses as to whether we’ll have our signs up for then?!!

Right, that’s my gripe of the week over and done. As I said, I’ve been painting all this week. The first four of the thirteen new 80 x 80 cm paintings have just come back from the Waverley Gallery in Prestwick where they’ve been framed. Five more are currently being framed and I’m working on the last four right now. One of these, based on a smaller piece I did three or four years ago, is coming on quite well. I bought a special ‘thickener’ for acrylic paint the other week and have been using this recently. It gives the paint a nice sticky and slightly granular texture and when dragged down using a big brush, gives just the kind of marks I like. The painting still has some way to go …but I took this photo of it just before leaving the studio last evening.

Finally ….good news. My five paintings have arrived safely at the Green Drake Gallery and Arts Centre in Pennsylvania. I don’t know why I worry so much …but I always find it a little stressful when shipping work. Anyway, that’s that, …..just wait now until the exhibition opens in a few weeks. More details to come nearer the time.

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Dismantled crane ….a taste of things to come?

Posted by admin on April 10th, 2011
Irvine harbour side

Irvine harbour side

As anyone who reads this blog regularly will know, I work at the Courtyard Studios on the harbour side at Irvine. My space is in the old part of the building that faces the road, and across that, the river and saltings. Until three days ago, just 200 m up the road was an old crane, one of several that used to be used to load and unload vessels visiting Irvine. Even to an outsider like me, it seemed to be an important part of the harbour side, indeed of Irvine’s history …..It was definitely a local landmark and one that gave interest to this wonderful harbour side.

That was of course until three days ago….when it was dismantled and carted half a mile away to be placed in the yard of the Maritime Museum. For the last five or so years I guess, the old crane had not been maintained and the buffeting winter gales had taken their toll. Bits had blown off, the paintwork peeled and the jib was a mass of rust. It seems a shame that such an important part of the towns history and identity as a once important port, should be allowed to fall into disrepair. On hearing of the cranes demise, one of my colleagues visited the towns planning department and apparently the crane has been taken to the Maritime Museum and if funds become available it’ll be restored and a place found for it once again…..lets hope so. Of course, its removal has nothing to do with the planned redevelopment of the Harbour side area ……hmmmmm!

The crane, Irvine harbour side

The crane, Irvine harbour side

Today has been a beautiful day, bright sun and the first real heat of the year. We had thought about heading for a hill today but as we both have a lot of work on we decided to have a less tiring day. Instead, we walked from my studio, out to the sea and then along the beach all the way to Troon, several miles down the Ayrshire coast.

We started, of course, by looking at the space where the crane used to be ..nothing now but the old wooden jetty that similarly, seems to be falling into disrepair and has been fenced off for a good number of years. Will this too be removed at some stage? Just beyond this point the River Irvine meets the River Garnock and together they flow the last few hundred metres before entering the Firth of Clyde. They flow under the footbridge that was built at huge expense to get visitors over to the Big Idea …a science centre that was built to mark the millennium. Sadly, although it was apparently very good, it only lasted for a few years before closing and sitting empty ever since. The wonderful bridge (built to open and close to allow boats access to the harbour) was opened after the final visitor left and has remained so ever since. Let’s hope the new planned developments for the harbour side are going to be better thought out than this our local millennium white elephant.

Close up of the crane, Irvine harbour side

Close up of the crane, Irvine harbour side

Most of the area between the Courtyard studios and the sea is grass. It’s a large area containing a large pond, good quality footpaths and is a fine safe area for folk to come for a stroll, joggers to jog and kids to play …it’s an important recreational area for the town. Today with this warm weather, a lot of people had made their way to the harbour side, all enjoying the grassed areas, the fine views and the beach. The wild life too was out in force this morning with the Skylarks singing above the dunes and the saltings, Eider ducks floating just off of the beach, Oyster catchers and Curlews calling from the mud on the far side of the river.

Much of this area is due for development …housing, retail and commercial units apparently. And there was a big sign on the bridge that suggested development on the far side of the river too. If this takes place I wonder what will happen to the wildlife and whether this now quite peaceful area that pulls in visitors both local and from far afield, will lose the very thing that people come for.

 

The crane close up

The crane close up

People say that with the studios being right in the middle of the new development, that it’ll be good for business. Maybe, but as an artist I worry about what the developers have in mind. I very much doubt that it is going to be as peaceful, as beautiful or indeed as interesting as it is now. Is the missing crane just a taste of things to come? We’ll wait and see I guess. I hope in a few years I can write and say I was wrong.

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Back on the Harbourside

Posted by admin on September 16th, 2010
On Irvine Harbourside

"On Irvine Harbourside"

You know, it really is good to be back on the Harbourside. Over the last week I have seen it under a great variety of conditions. Summer is definitely on the way out here and we have had the first of the autumn gales. What makes it extra special at this time of year are the big tides.

With my studio set just the width of the road and the old wooden quay away from the river, I am in a prime location to watch the changing seasons and conditions. On Friday it was a beautiful day here – bright skies, white clouds and the afternoon sun bringing out all the late summer colours of the saltings that lie between the River Irvine and the River Garnock. It was so good that I had to down brushes for a bit and just stand in my studio doorway, taking it all in. There were the ever present calls of curlews, oyster catchers and gulls…it was just great.

By Monday though, it was all change. I walked up the Harbourside to my studio, head down against the wind and rain and with all the usual views across the saltings completely gone – shrouded in a thick murk that was blowing in from the sea. It was great! – well, it was once I’d reached my studio and could watch it from my doorway. We have these old fashioned little street lights along the front of the harbour and for some reason, when there is a gale blowing, many of them create an eerie, but very atmospheric, whistling sound. Even in these conditions though, the light is still very special. Added to this, was a very high tide and as the day went by, the water rose, covering nearly all of the saltings and leaving just a narrow spit of mud and grass between the two rivers. I didn’t have my monocular this day, but normally, in these conditions, the birds congregate in an ever tighter group as the water rises. On this occasion, it didn’t completely cover the narrow strip of land, so I guess their feet stayed dry!

Harbourside, Irvine

"Harbourside, Irvine"

"Harbourside"

Anyway, after spending the summer painting the buildings in Speyer, it has got me thinking that it might be quite nice to do some work once again, based on the harbourside. When I first moved to the studios back in 2003, I did a number of paintings and drawings based on the buildings and river here. I am not quite sure how I would tackle it now, but here are a few of those earlier attempts.

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Painting from experience

Posted by admin on August 6th, 2010
'Between Creise and the Buachaille, winter'

'Between Creise and the Buachaille, winter'

It’s amazing to think that this time in four weeks I’ll be back in my studio in Irvine. My time here has gone by very quickly and I’m now getting in ‘panic mode’ as my final exhibition looms and I’ve still much work to do!

I’ve now completed eight paintings and have another four still on the go. I’ve also been working on a couple of small ‘Scottish’ pieces for forth coming exhibitions and have a couple more of these on the go too.

It’s been interesting working on the two different types of subject matter…..the bigger paintings based on the cathedral in Speyer and the Pfalz landscape and the smaller Scottish landscapes. It’s made me realize just how important it is to really get to know your subject when it comes to doing a painting. My Scottish paintings are all based on the places I walked (sometimes many times and in all conditions) and so when I get back to the studio I not only have numerous photos and some sketches, but I have many many hours of actually being out observing and experiencing the landscape I’m painting. These experiences are in a way stored in my memory and are used in all my Scottish paintings. As such it has meant that despite my being in Germany for the last three months, I’ve been able to work on these small Scottish scenes with the use of just a couple of photos as memory joggers.

'Beinn Dorain from Beinn Odhar, April'

'Beinn Dorain from Beinn Odhar, April'

‘Beinn Dorain from Beinn Odhar, April’, is based on one of the views from the summit of this fine steep grassy 900 m hill and I’ve stood here on a good number of occasions. It makes a good short walk but it is very steep so it gives your legs a good work out – we normally head here in April to tone up the muscles before our two weeks walking holidays in early May each year. The point is that although I haven’t been there this year, I’ve all the memories of the previous times I’ve climbed the hill and all the different conditions I’ve seen it in, the different light and in rain and cloud and sun. If I’d only been out occasionally over the last eight years rather than every few weeks, I’d not have been able to do this painting ….working from a photo on its own is very difficult …even if you have got good eyes to see it.

This is why for the most part I’ve put all my attention on painting the Speyer Cathedral while I’ve been living here. It is the most obvious thing to paint in this city, but as I can’t easily get out into the countryside, it has offered me something which I can visit regularly and get to know. Over the time I’ve been here I’ve built up a mental impression of it …so that I have much more to work on than just a few photos. This is where I’ve had problems trying to produce a couple of paintings of the typical Pfalz landscape. I’ve only been out into the wine growing region a few times and have only experienced it very briefly. I took a few photos and as I’m a landscape painter I wanted to do something before leaving that was of the local landscape …rather than just the man made landscape of the city……and I’ve been struggling! It’s just that I really don’t know the subject I’m trying to paint. The colours and light are very different here and I haven’t got a head full of ‘information’ to fall back on.

I’m not sure whether I’ll complete these two paintings …we’ll see I guess. It’s certainly made me realize how important it is to get out and as I’ve done very little hill walking this year it’s made me determined to find the time as soon as I’m back in Scotland. Fingers crossed for some good September weather in the west of Scotland.

Posted in Buildings, Exhibitions, Information Updates, Inspiring Mountain Walks, Speyer Tags: , , , , , , , , , No Comments »

Almost finished

Posted by admin on July 30th, 2010

wall-painting-the-cathedral-speyer-acrylic-pastel-2010-100-x-140-cm-2

'Wall painting, the cathedral, Speyer'

It’s been a week of painting and rain. The days of painting outside in the shade of the courtyard have passed it seems and instead it’s been a case of working in the studios and trying to get as much artificial light as possible. It’s been very dark much of the time with big heavy showers that beat down on the leaves of the vine and make a real din. The vine apart, it feels a little more like home and certainly the temperature has been more Irvine like. Now of course, having typed this, the sun is coming out …..so perhaps this will be the start of another warm spell.

Anyway, enough of the weather and on to the painting I think. I’ve been working on several pieces this week and have had a mixture of success and failure …so about par for the course I guess. Last week, I received an email from Scotlandart.com inviting me to take part in their ‘New Gallery Artists’ exhibition to be held in late September. They’ve asked for six pieces which with the other commitments I have this autumn isn’t going to be easy. But, of course this is an excellent opportunity and it’s a great set up they have at Scotlandart.com. So then, after thinking about this for two days I decided I really couldn’t miss this chance and therefore have agreed to take part. It’ll mean a few extra shifts and I’m going to start a few Scotland based paintings in the next few weeks so that I don’t have a mad rush on my return to Irvine at the start of September.

The main achievement this week though has been getting my big ‘wall’ based painting near completion. There’s still a little bit of work to be done I think but in general it’s about there. As I said in the blog a couple of weeks ago, the painting is a view of a section of the cathedral wall here in Speyer. But I’ve over-laid the view with a more close up view of the stones. It’s quite a vague image of subtle lines and colours put down in layers of paint and pastel. I’m finding it quite difficult to assess as most of the painting is made of these very fine scribbled marks …and so when I stand back I lose all this and am left with a very vague structure. This though is rather what I wanted to create –somewhat of a ghostly image of this ancient building with all its layers of structure and history.

As anyone who paints will know, it sometimes takes a good while to decide about a piece of work once it reaches this stage. I think this painting is just going to have to sit and stew for a while as I get on with other work. I moved my bed into the studio a few weeks ago at the height of the hot weather (it’s much cooler than my room upstairs) so I’m kind of living with the work! Anyway, I’m putting a photo of this piece up on this blog but even though it’s signed ….it may still change.

Posted in Buildings, Exhibitions, Information Updates, New Artworks, Speyer Tags: , , , , , No Comments »

Speyer Cathedral Wall

Posted by admin on July 16th, 2010

Speyer Cathedral wall

Speyer Cathedral wall

It’s been a great few days recently. I’ve managed to get a reasonable amount of work done and there’s been much happening here in Speyer.

I’ve been working on one of the larger boards for the last few days and am starting to put the piece together. Once again, it’s based on a section of the cathedral wall…..quite a large section perhaps twenty metres high, but it does show some scale as it contains several windows. This particular wall caught my attention as lower down it also has two semi circular recesses that make it look a little like a face ….well, it makes me smile whenever I walk by it!

Anyway, the original plan was simply to use this as the basis for the painting but then while I was looking at some photographs I’d taken of very small sections of the wall (just a few large stones) I noticed that one of these had a very similar structure to the larger section. I’ve decided therefore to try and superimpose the close up over the larger section ….once again messing around with ones perception of scale, creating a more abstract picture of the wall. The stones contain a whole range of subtle colours; pale yellows, ochre, terracotta, pale greys and umber. The painting is built up using the paint in flat brush strokes to mimic the stone work from a distance, and the pastel scribbled down to try and capture the structure of each of the stones close up……each layer of paint showing a little of the previous one beneath. It’s quite a slow process but one that I can enjoy while working outside in the courtyard here. It’s been very hot this last week again and the studios are really too hot to work in during the day. Outside, the far end of the courtyard has a large canopy that allows light through but creates a shaded area through out the day. It’s the perfect spot to put my easel as the light on the painting is bright but constant.

cathedral-wall-close-up

Cathedral wall close-up

I really seem to have got into these fantastic walls here in Speyer …and not just the cathedral and the old baths. The other week a friend took me to see one of the other beautiful churches here in Speyer …this was the Trinity Church I think …close to the cathedral but built out of wood. It’s a magnificent building, and with clear glass in its windows there was enough light for me to see much of the interior. On leaving we were able to get a look into the ruins of another building at the side of the church. It was great, especially in the bright early afternoon light and with the intensely blue sky…..another painting? Probably.

another-wall-speyer

Another wall, Speyer

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    E-mail: keith@keithsalmon.org