Tree climbers and bricks

A sketch book isnt about things being in neat order but tends to be an organic process adding things that may not relate to each other more of where you open a page or fill a corner of. The sketches doesn't always fill the page it just develops. The door leads to the flower garden and wall is part of the walled garden also. Woodpeckers and Nuthatches are a particular favourite of mine and the feeders give you a great opportunity for close observation.

A new sketch book

I have just taken delivery of a moleskin A3 watercolour sketch book which I am keeping just for Heligan. Its always a compromise on paper weight, texture etc but Im sure that it will do the job. I don't have any set way of laying out the pages to do so limits your flow and puts restrictions on you. I don't put a date on the sketches unless its for a reason. Green finches at the feeders, the Owl tower and large plant pots.

The potting shed

The potting shed

Potting sheds are great places especially like the one at Heligan full to the ceiling with terracotta pots and dried flowers and all the paraphernalia you would expect to find. The smell is of the earth. I have seen artists paint plant pots many times but they often fail to add the different layers of soil, salt and stains that accumulate of the years they are only one uniform colour when they come out of the kiln. I love the design quality of the different sizes of pots. I originally had the floor extending twice as much again towards the viewer but after discussing it with a fellow artist we both agreed that it did not quite work. I will be back in the potting shed many times in the future.


I'm taking my son to the children's hospice this weekend which is only a couple of miles away from Heligan so a couple of sketching visits will be in order

A Silent Tear

I first came up with several ideas from tiles to sculptures hoping that it would lead to a series of art for the gardens, a project. These ideas may develop over time and I think a couple of them would be very interesting and challenging.

After many hours thinking and sketching my start was from a painting by Rene Magritte called ‘the son of man’. I wanted to make the character more relevant by using the hoodie instead of the smart suited bowler hatted ‘uniform’ of the past, but instead I wanted the figure to be non-gender or age specific. The painting grew as I worked, nothing was planned beyond the figure and everything was developed directly on the board. The board I used is the dimensions of a standard external door using specialised plywood, I had in mind to let all my art be used outside eventually rotting back into the earth.

The painting as I have said developed as I painted it and the symbolism and meaning developed with the work. In very general terms the painting is about our interaction and knowledge, or not, with the natural world. We are fascinated and fearful of what is hidden or we are ignorant of and until we can understand the world around us then there is little hope for our future. I will let the viewer interpret the painting and ‘interpret’ the silent tear for themselves. But for example the large blue butterfly became extinct in the uk because we did not understand the symbiotic relationship with the red ant but once we saw this we were able to bring it back and now it is established once again in the country. But what about the fish or the granite steps – you can decide.



Acrylic 82 x 40 inches

The first contact

Heligan
I have been to the lost gardens of Heligan a couple of times but not really appreciated the extent of the more wildlife areas of the gardens. I had spoken to them many years previously about painting a mural but nothing came of this and I hadn't been in touch since. But out of the blue I had a phone call from the Managing director Peter Stafford enquiring if I was the artist who appeared in the BBC Wildlife magazine having won the category Animals in the environment. He had found my name in the phone book and liked my work and would I be interested in coming to Heligan for a chat.We had a meeting just to start the conversation rolling and met for a second time to discuss the possibility of completing a project at the gardens.
The Project
The brief came from the conversation and how I interpreted that conversation. I was commissioned for one piece and see how we got on from there. I got the impression that because they had invested heavily in photographic equipment that just producing a photo-realistic painting wasn't preferred and it should be something the viewer would stop and look at, maybe have an opinion but couldn't ignore. So there really wasn't a brief just an interpretation.
I spent the next 10 weeks thinking about the project. My initial thoughts were to produce several pieces of art that would be show outside and allowed to gradually rot or disappear back into the soil, a continuing theme at the gardens. The first would be a painting in oils or acrylic, I settled on acrylics painted on a special exterior ply.
But the subject now that's another thing !

A silent tear

I first came up with several ideas from tiles to sculptures hoping that it would lead to a series of art for the gardens, a project. These ideas may develop over time and I think a couple of them would be very interesting and challenging.

After many hours thinking and sketching my start was from a painting by Rene Magritte called ‘the son of man’. I wanted to make the character more relevant by using the hoodie instead of the smart suited bowler hatted ‘uniform’ of the past, but instead I wanted the figure to be non-gender or age specific. The painting grew as I worked, nothing was planned beyond the figure and everything was developed directly on the board. The board I used is the dimensions of a standard external door using specialised plywood, I had in mind to let all my art be used outside eventually rotting back into the earth.

Now on to the painting