Llangennith Beach

The painting above is the first stage of a painting that went this week. I don't have a photo of the final work for some reason. Anyway it was a scene of the Gower Worms Head from Llangennith Beach. Much of the underpainting is still shown here and the sky is a work in progress. I was pleased with the final result but seem to have forgotten to photograph it.

Alex and I went to Cwmderi in Pembrokeshire for a meal last night. I have to say I haven't had a better meal out for many years. We have had great meals and different meals. We have been lucky enough to dine at expensive restaurants such as the Ritz on a few occasions and at many recognised establishments. Some were good, other's occasionally disappointing, overstated (and overpriced). Going on my experience last night I can say for taste and value Cwmderi is superb if you like Italian Cuisine.
(You need to check opening hours as it is generally open in the day but only Fri and Sat in the evenings.) http://www.cwm-deri.co.uk/

Pontargothi Vintage Rally

I was in the workshop last night doing a job for our son when I came across a hot air engine I had made many years ago. They are quite a clever concept working without fuel just on the heat of a naked flame. I was looking for a piece of decent timber and was in two minds about using the Iroko plinth the engine was mounted on. In the end I decided to leave it although I hadn't used the engine in 15 years.
I have always been intrigued with how things work. I was one of those boys that would take things apart and put them back together out of curiosity. Of course sometimes they never went back together. I used to visit the Science Museum in Birmingham and was always fascinated by the large steam engines which were often shown working. I went around Guest Keen and Nettlefold's factory as a boy and was intrigued by the screwcutting machinery (invented by Whitworth). My father was  apart from a chemist, and electrical engineer a self taught engineer and made mostly anything including lathes, milling machines, metal cutting machines all out of metal from the local black smiths. His workshop was like a nineteen century mill with many pulleys going around and the clatter of the metal teeth joining the flat belts hitting the pulleys.( H&S would not have been amused) I was always happy to be in there learning something new.
Anyway Alex and I took the children to Steam Fairs when they were young and I have enjoyed painting machinery and steam engines. Its the old maxim paint what you understand. That is the problem I have with all the Chinese art factories. I cringe when I see their painted galleons and efforts at 19th century works. The artists are clearly talented but they have no idea what they are painting and to me it shows. They are just not convincing whereas if they painted village/city life or the mountains of China I am sure they would be fine.
Anyway the painting above is of two characters at Pontargothi Vintage Rally talking over a stationary engine. I believe this is event is on 29th and 30th June in 2013. I intend to get there if I can.

She closed her eyes - A day at the beach

A day at the beach shown above is one of the paintings that has sold this week. I love the simplicity of it. It reminds me of the 1950's railway posters advertising sea side holidays. They were of course flat block prints but had the same feel about them.  It could be anybodies childhood or motherhood memory. To Quote Chris Rea:

She closed her eyes
And let them fall away

And in her dreams she is standing by an ocean
She is gazing out to sea
She can remember with just a fleeting glimpse
That she was once free
So long ago now, so long it was as if it had never been
Was it a holiday
She thinks it could have been

Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl861yCyqgg

Cultural Differences in language

Children are like sponges and absorb everything. This is mainly a good quality although it can have its downsides. For instance where they are influenced by different cultures. Now two of our children have spouses from Ireland. Naturally enough the grandchildren pick up and copy what they hear. This can be disconcerting and confusing for them.

Now and again they may hear the Lords name taken in vain in this country. Not really an issue. Should anyone dare to do this in front of their Irish grandparents they are likely to get a boxed ear and be given a severe admonishment.

(Now I appreciate a boxed ear is absolutely taboo and history has shown that banning physical chastisement of children has resulted in a perfect paradise of well behaved youths and a non violent society! That is unless you happen to live in the real world not the Eutopia of Liberal life that never has to leave the comfort of their cocooned existence or get the last bus home at night). Sorry that was getting a bit controversial.

Anyway on with my cultural theme. It is not acceptable to take the Lords name in vain in one side of the family, or Irish Sea, but it is quite normal and acceptable to say "fecking hell!". Hence the issue when the little granddaughter walks into the kitchen at home and says "Mommy there's fecking water on the floor!" What can you say to a confused child?

The mother and child in my drawing are of the artist Marie Vigee Lebrun and her daughter Julie who experienced  very different cultures, The French Revolution and the comparative safety of Russia, Austria, Italy and Britain.

The Rapeseed Field

This morning Alex and I had to take a trip to Cardiff Airport. Somehow I ended up with a gentleman trying to tell me his life story in real time minute by minute. Now I know I am not very sociable but I do enjoy a conversation but not however a monologue. I had never met him before and I was probably the only person left in the world he hadn't told his life history to. In the end I found an excuse to move and left him turning to some other poor unfortunate victim.

Anyway on the way back I saw two scenes that I thought I must get down on canvas.

Artists/painters can be generally categorised as either a tonal painter or a colourist. Tonalism itself is a name given to an American art movement. Painters may be more interested in the colours or the tonal values in a painting. For my part I tend to be more interested in the tonal values.

However today I saw a rapeseed field on the way back to Carmarthen. The yellow field went to the horizon and met a blue grey sky. It was stunning. The scene is all about that meeting of yellow and grey. I got home and painted it. There it is above verging on abstraction but not quite.

Car Boot Sale

I was asked the other day about sketching. A lady wanted to know how to go about drawing or sketching. She didn't have time to go to classes and hadn't done any art since school. I suggested just buying a cheap A4 and or A5 sketch book plus a couple of pencils (2b , 4b) and getting on with it. Keeping the subject as simple as possible. Keep the picture uncluttered and perhaps use only outlines to start. Later they can be coloured in with watercolours if she wished.
Look at other people sketches everyone is different.

The little sketch above is a good example of what I was trying to say. The subject is a dealer at the Carmarthen Car Boot Sale. The outlines probably took me 3 minutes and the same to add a bit of colour. All very simple but it captures the scene.

I quite like going to car boot sales. It is a bit like a child with a treasure map. You are always on the look out for that bit of gold hidden amongst the debris of other people lives. Of course most of the time you come home with one more bit of useless junk you don't really need.

Still Life and Food as I know it

The other day we went out for an evening and had an interesting meal. Now for starter we had a salad course. I like salad. I have never had salad without at least one of the following: tomatoes, or beetroot or spring onion, or apple, or avocado, or nuts, or cucumber. This salad was a small pile of rocket leaves with a dressing and a few pumpkin seeds?  I appreciate I am not up with the latest food etiquette but for me it was a bit too strange. The meal got stranger as we went on. It was all nice but just a weird mixture of courses like a cheese board before dessert. It could well have been a theme but I am not sure for what. Anyway I won't say where it was, as we have eaten there before and the food was fine and in any case probably other people thought it was fine too. I suppose I am just a boring stick in the mud where food is concerned. It may be food but not as I know it.  Bring me prawn cocktail, soup in a basket and I am happy!
Oh and a glass of wine or two.


The still life painting is one I did a few years ago.

Link a bit (sorry a lot) annoying but ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE