Let’s catch up…in the next days and weeks I will be posting on some of what I have been doing in the last few months of my blogsite inactivity…
The following painting, now sold, was painted for Noah’s yard solo exhibition in December 2015. Back Stage  At Noah’s Yard.
“This expressionist oil painting has taken some inspiration from Degas and his paintings from the perspective of being back stage, waiting in the wings and observing the performers, usually dancers in his case, onstage.
The question here is who is onstage? The musicians in the far distance? The people being served drinks who out to play for the evening or the lovely barmaid serving the drinks? And who is backstage for that matter? The barmaid again or the creator of this image or you, looking at this created image?Perhaps we are all backstage and onstage as someone was no doubt “backstage” watching me catch all this too?
“A Bar at Noah’s Yard” – a centre piece painting, painted especially for my art exhibition in Noah’s yard in two weeks time!
This painting of a well known bar in Uplands Swansea called Noah’s Yard, is modeled on the famous Manet painting “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère” but with two differences. The scene is now down town Swansea and the work is expressionist not impressionist. I love the use of expressionism in urban scenes as it can seem more vivid and dynamic, muscular and rhythmic, more funky even.
Delighted to say I have just SOLD “That Moment of Indecision” via Artfinder – now off to Australia which has become a popular destination for many of my paintings!
This is an oil painting capturing that should I/shouldn’t I? moment of indecision.
The decision here is whether to have a delicious pie from this excellent PIES shop or to walk on virtuously having not added any more to one’s waistline!
A decision made all the more difficult by the fact it was a chilly crisp winter’s day and the PIES sign was so warm and alluring, almost visually replicating the heat of the freshly warmed pies inside.
The painting’s setting is the exterior of the same PIES shop on St Mary Street in Cardiff which had it’s interior painted in the painting “Before the Rush” which sold a few months back –https://www.artfinder.com/product/before-the-rush-b42b/
A new oil painting “The Shadows We Cast” this oil painting is inspired by watching three people waiting, on a brilliant sunny day, on the High Street for their loved ones inside the shop.
“Although the old man who was waiting for his wife and daughter, he is not with the man who is protectively looking on as his son plays with the shadow cast on the pavement. They both wait for their wife and mum.
However, they all seemed connected, and this is heightened by them by being male and in the act of waiting.
I was going to call the painting “The Three Ages…” (of man) as we can see Bampi (grandfather), father and son but then thought the “Shadows We Cast” more lyrical as it not only describes literally the shadows cast, by the sun on the hard street and equally by the old man and boy, both “playing” in the contrasting darkness as they wait, which is in contrast to Dad’s watchful eye but also lyrically the protective loving effect others have on other lives and they have on other’s lives.
The casting shadows are their consideration of others and their consideration of them.
The old man is connected to the the two others in that he is waiting for the legacy he has in this wife and daughter and the man look on at his legacy in his son, a sense of now and the future in his facial expression, a wondering of the shadow he is casting in his son.
The father is a great juxtaposition here as he is seriously intent and firmly in the present reality of the moment whereas the son is in a fantastical revere of play and the oldman deep in the imaginary of a fondly remembered past.
The past can also cast a shadow on this sunny moment just as the child’s playful musing?
Only the father is resolutely here in the sunny present, perhaps allowing the other two their play?
Perhaps that is the shadow we cast, the protection that allows others to be happy and secure in their play, in themselves?”
A new oil painting – “Weighing it Up” – down Cardiff market. This Hopperesque painting is of the fish market at the Hayes entrance to Cardiff Market. I have always loved the glaring artificial light above this fish stall. It creates some lovely colours and a pleasing depth of field. The fishmonger weighs his goods while the customer deliberates on what to have next, hence the tile “Weighing it Up”
Delighted to say I have just SOLD this oil painting “Before the Rush” via Artfinder
“This is an oil painting of the interior of the eatery “PIES” on St Mary Street Cardiff, in a lull period before the anticipated rush of customers to come. I was drawn into this eatery by the scores of light bulbs hanging from the ceiling which made it very light and attractive and luring from outside the shop. Hence I ventured in…”
An oil painting/people portrait of a man finishing off his pasty while having a hard earned rest from scouring the stalls and bargain buying down Singleton Market, Swansea. “Pasty Alfresco” 24 x 30 cm.
A new oil painting – 40 x 50cm – “Ice cream with Nan and Bampi” – this people portrait is a snapshot of life in Brynmill, Swansea where I live. This is a refreshments kiosk in the picturesque Brynmill Park where we can see two grandparents, after the school run, treating their grand child to an afternoon ice cream.
I love the colours in the painting, they remind me of the bright bold colours of Ladybird books from my childhood. I am especially proud of the movement in the figures I think I managed to achieve; the caring consideration towards the grandchild illustrated in the movement of the grand parents. Bampi is a slang name in South Wales for Grandad.
