'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'
Many years ago, many many years ago as it now seems…when I was in my teens and still working towards my ‘O’ level art at Welshpool High School, I was told by my art teacher (a Mr Roberts) that when painting it was vitally important to consider every inch of the paper or canvas with equal importance. This bit of advice has always stuck with me and now that I’m working more regularly on larger pieces, it is something that I am constantly reminding myself of. It may seem obvious but with constraints of time and cost of materials it can be easy to forget.
The reason for thinking along these lines is that I’ve been considering my own work recently, especially the size of the work I do. Many of my paintings have been quite small and this has I have to admit, been part due to the need to sell. That’s certainly not the only reason but it is often one of the deciding factors. Quite simply, it’s easier to sell smaller works if for no other reason than that most people don’t have the room or the finances for large work.
'The saltings, Irvine harbour side'
Painting on a small scale is though I think, just as challenging for the painter as working on a large or even grand scale. It certainly concentrates the mind and focuses ones attention on the composition but I am starting to feel a little trapped when working on this scale now. I’ve always done the odd larger piece but never really spent a period of time creating larger paintings…..until last year that is. When I went to Speyer I realised that this would be a chance to do exactly this. During my stay at the Kunstlerhaus in Speyer I completed 17 pieces of work, all but 2 of them being 80 x 80 cm or larger. This was very enjoyable at the time and I really didn’t have too many thoughts about selling these larger works…..this was a scholarship and all my accommodation and living expenses were being paid. At the end of the scholarship though, much of the work sold …even the large 400 x 150 cm drawing.
'The artist with 'Late December afternoon, above Wanlockhead'
I’ve now been self employed as an artist for just on two years and over that time I’ve developed my work and my art practice quite well. I’ve increased my sales over this period but have started to come to the realisation that it may be difficult to earn a living through the smaller work. With my sight as it is, there is a limit to the number of pieces I can do in any one year …I really work quite slowly, and as such, there is a limit to the amount I can reasonably expect to earn. I have then been starting to think that it would make a lot more sense both financially as well as artistically, to concentrate on larger pieces. My main aim as an artist has always been to try to do good work …not just to sell and I certainly think that working on a larger scale is where my best work lies.
I am certainly not going to abandon the small pieces entirely …I enjoy doing them and they quite often themselves lead to larger paintings. I am though, going to put a much greater emphasis on the bigger paintings and as I have the opportunity in October of returning to the Kunstlerhaus in Speyer with an exhibition of my Scottish landscapes I’m doing large pieces for this.
So then, it’ll be interesting to see quite how this gradual change in emphasis works out. I’ll have to target slightly different outlets and probably look to generate commissions but I’m sure it’ll do me good artistically and in the longer run, financially too. Winning the Jolomo Award in 2009 will allow me to take this ‘gamble’ secure in the knowledge that I can afford to lose some sales of smaller works in order to generate better and potentially more cost effective larger paintings. I must of course remember the words of Mr Roberts and think about every square inch of the painting surface with equal consideration. So often when I look around galleries I notice that as the paintings get bigger, the paint quality diminishes and the colours become thin and flat. I must not fall into this trap.
"Work in progress"
-0-0-0-0-0-
Posted in 
Tags: 
Well, the run up to Christmas this year has been quite a good one. I’ve got a number of paintings completed this month ready for the exhibition at Strathearn Gallery in February. This is a group exhibition, containing work by the seven finalists of the Jolomo Awards 2009. They’re asking for around eight pieces so I’m hoping to include nearly all new work.
Tomorrow will be the last day for a couple. This year I’ll be spending a quiet couple of days with my partner Anita. Last year however, things were a little different. Anita, who works at the local hospital, had drawn the short straw and was working a twelve and a half hour shift on Christmas Day. I decided I might as well do the same thing …and we’d start our Christmas at 8 pm when Anita finished work. She said that she’d drive down to the studio and pick me up on the way home. Well, all was fine. I had a nice walk down to the studio in bright winter sunshine on Christmas morning and then spent an enjoyable day painting. By evening though the weather had turned bad and a fierce gale was blowing and it was raining very hard. At eight o’clock Anita rang to say she was leaving work and I closed shop and made my way from the back door of the studios to the main gate …which I had to close and lock. Not concentrating, I put my white cane under my arm and proceeded to walk across the courtyard towards the gate … trying to find the padlock key as I went. In the total darkness I hadn’t notice a large wheelie bin that had been blown across the courtyard in the gales and was lying on its side right in my path. I tripped over it’s open lid and fell face first into the empty filthy, wet bin!
As I’ve said on a few occasions, I’ve really not been getting out walking as much as I used to. The excuse is that I’ve just been too busy this year. But that’s really not good enough. I’m getting unfit and I rely on the walks for the information needed for my paintings.
We were looking down on the main road so familiar to us ….and suddenly it looked very small against the vastness of Rannoch Moor and the hills of the Black Mount. This day though, wasn’t just about walking and trying to get some fitness back into aching leg muscles, it was also about trying to get some new information for paintings.
Until around 1990 my sight was very good. Then as it deteriorated I found that I had to interpret what I saw in a completely different way. This has taken quite a lot of adjustment over many years and now after a lengthy period of fairly stable vision, I move around with surprising ease, particularly in places that are familiar to me.
It was an amazing day. The moors themselves are quite beautiful, wild and generally feature-less but in places with expansive views out towards the Glasgow conurbation. It was a stunning day weather wise too, with bright sunshine and large roving rain showers, producing amazing colours and contrasts. The most mind blowing bit though was the turbines. Man made as they were; set in this bleak landscape, I found it almost impossible to assess their size, and the distance between each of them. They were in fact, huge, each one of them around 55m high and each one with three colossal 45m blades. With my sight so limited I could only see the nearest of the turbines and so as we walked through this massive moor land site, the views were almost always the same to me. It reminded me of what they say about the universe ..it looks the same from where ever you are.
It’s been an interesting day today, partly because of the weather and partly because of the work.
Oh yer, the weather. It poured all day …and is still pouring. From my studio door I could watch the high tide racing in and completely covering the saltings opposite. It was a wonderful spectacle,. An interesting place to work …in very interesting times.