I decided to move the street sign and make it smaller and added the narrow stripe of red along the chef’s cuff.
Category: Art
“Break-time” painting
I’m taking a break from painting the portrait to let the oil paint dry for a couple of days. Here’s what I’m painting instead, three restaurant workers taking a break before the lunchtime rush in old Havana, Cuba. I was aiming to take the photograph without them noticing me, shooting from the hip but the woman caught me, though she didn’t seem to mind too much. I have just laid in the first colours, lots more detail to fill in. Its a small painting, only 30x30cms.
BP Portrait Award 2014
Its that time of year again, I have just four weeks to paint a credible portrait, from life, that might stand out amongst the usual 2000 or so entrants’ works.
Only 55 paintings are selected in total to be exhibited, the top prize this year is £30,000. The award is made for “outstanding and innovative work ” – it is increasingly hard to produce something that is innovative without bordering on the pretentious.
I chose to paint a friend, who is a painter herself, indeed she only paints herself, often in elaborate guises, adopting personas or attitudes, situations or allegories. I know what she really looks like as a friend but does she show me the face that she paints or someone else?
Here is my beginning – the first day of oil paint after many pencil sketches. I love the background and the shapes but I’m anxious about her dress, which is made of thick wool, dark blue with a contrasting maroon panel on the front. She was also wearing a necklace made of felt but I have decided to leave that out. I might try to make to the wool look like silk instead.
Her hair – a halo of marvellous auburn curls, will be back lit by a nearby standard lamp to the right. In this image, the holo of hair is much smaller than it will be when finished. She is sporting navy blue tights with white spots, I’m looking forward to painting those.
Its all looking raw and too bright just now and with no details but hopefully things will come together soon.
Freddie Darke (illustrator) – Boz and the Boy
It is March 1837. A young, heavily mortgaged Charles Dickens has newfound fame to nurture, and a family to feed. One ill-fated day, a chance encounter and a single act of kindness together leave ‘Boz’ bereft of his precious ‘mems’ – his author’s notes for a new novel, entitled Oliver Twist.
A nano-novel written by Kevin Millicheap and illustrated by Freddie Darke, is now published and available for Kindle.
This is an interesting way to read a story, akin to wandering around Dickensian London in the bustling half-dark, taking turnings at random and coming upon unexpected scenes. The notion of reading a story from two points of view at the same time is cleverly set up, and the illustrations are a delight. Freddie’s black and white drawings are filled with detail and touches of accent colour. To quote Proving House Digital‘s press release “Freddie Darke’s perfectly judged illustrations. . . born out of shadowy caricature, yet subtly communicating the ambiguity of human emotions … transport the reader to the secret passageways, louche inns and tricksy nooks and crannies of Dickensian London
Even if you don’t own a Kindle, you can download the free software to read the book on your computer.
Go on – buy a copy – you know you want to see and read more.
Visiting South Wales
I had the pleasure of accompanying Sally Moore to the opening of her latest exhibition in the Martin Tinney Gallery in Cardiff last Thursday. An exhibition of just 16 intensely worked paintings, tremendously detailed and full of dark humour and reflections on the absurdities of life. I loved Sally’s self-portrait version of a Vermeer – already sold.
We stayed in Barry Island and enjoyed walking around the area and despite the poor weather, I was inspired to record some of the absurdities of Barry Island life.
A crop of some wild, persistent and fantastically yellow flowers made a striking foreground for the pewter coloured lowering sky and the old brick chimney stack.
The local council dilligently sweeps the beach each morning with a tractor leaving an array of textures in the damp sand, overwritten gradually through the day by the imprints of birds feet, dog paws and footsteps. The rows of sweeping are so regular, the patterns recalling those of cable knit jumpers.
This poor forgotten boat seems to have become a victim of its own name.
On Sunday in Swansea, the weather was at its Welsh best, not so “Flaming June” more of a flaming nuisance. Fine and very wet rain blew horizontally across the bay all day misting up the windows.
Sally Wakelin - Studies in Creativity 
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