Chop Chop Lollipop!
These are the opening lines of the children's story book 'Chop, chop Lollipop!' by a wise lady called Jane. A magical journey as mum tries to get young Zak to school on time. He just wants to be a pirate. As the promotional blurb says; 'Two different worlds, one destination and all before 9 o'clock'
The book is the inspiration for this canvas of the same title. And because it's written from the child's perspective, I wanted the painting to similarly reflect that viewpoint. So I set about studying figurative work by 3 and 4 year-olds from The Montessori At Brook Green in London.
Several observed characteristics are incorporated into this work. The flat two-dimensional figures with oversized and often anatomically inaccurate features. The spiky, oversized eye lashes and obsessional over-detail of protuberant teeth, along with the almost hat-like hair seemingly attached to the side of the head. All regular features in drawings from this age group. I also spent time looking at the similarly stylised work of Lewis Rossignol and his engaging ability to see the world from a child's perspective. Both are credited on the reverse.
Summer Ait
An island called Summer. This is a large work - 120 x 120 cm - and because the photograph does not do it justice, the painting needs to be seen. It's all about painting the warmth and colour of the sun. The very essence of Summer.
Summer With Gigi
A friend described this work as the colours of Jaipur. I'm not sure about that. But we always refer to our home in Datchet as 'Summer'. And that wise lady called Jane is also known as Gigi.
Sometimes a Little Rain Must Fall
Exploring the sun. I remember thinking the multiple layers of colour and brushwork in this piece felt like someone revealing the full warmth of the mid summer sun.
The Rule of Six
It feels as if the Covid epidemic has somehow been missed by the art world, given the lack of works on a subject that both dominated and often terrified our lives in equal measure.
During the pandemic, the rule of six was devised to ensure that no more than six adults could provide childcare cover in each family. In this work, viral, raw data and exponential growth markings are explored against a background colour of calm and familiarity. Whilst the square of six which provides such a focal point to the work, has six pieces missing.
Low Tide At Datchet
The first of a series of works on my home, the village of Datchet. We probably all think of home as a calm island amongst the surrounding chaos. The village of Datchet which, like most of east Berkshire, sits in the shadow of Windsor castle, is also dominated by two stretches of water. The mighty river Thames in the south and the deep waters of the Queen Mother reservoir in the north.
The Place Where Hope Comes From
This work was part of a trilogy of paintings on faith, hope and love. I often talk about paintings being 'my children' - purely in a collective sense - but this canvas has hung at the heart of my home for the last 18 months; a daily reminder of the chalky but essential warmth that is hope. As a wise lady called Jane once commented, people can live without faith and even without love. But without hope, there is no future.
The Last Supper
The six great pillars of the christian church whose work has dominated the west for two thousand years. I'll have to leave you to decide who they are.
The Kiss
The idea began with The Kiss of Judas; a thirteenth century fresco by the early renaissance artist Giotto. It is of course the kiss that betrayed Jesus and led directly to the crucifixion. In this work two circles - made purely from texture - touch near the centre of the picture. On the reverse are some words from Dylan's 1964 work With God on our Side: 'Through many a dark hour, I been thinking about this, that Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss, but I can't think for 'ya, you'll have to decide, whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.'
Children of a Lesser God
Back in the 1970's I saw a play by this name about the interaction between the sighted and the unsighted world. The ideas explored there have never left me.
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