Tewkesbury Barons, Oil on Panel, 8 x 10 inches
Currently up for auction – click here to see detail pics and bid.
Not often, but occasionaly, I find it hard to let go of a painting for a while.
It may be an emotional attachment of some kind, or sometimes just because I want to keep looking at it for a while.
I read recently (I can’t rememeber where) a quote that went something like “your last painting will tell you what your next painting needs to be”.
That’s why I’ve kept this one in the studio for a while. It was telling me something about where I was heading, and how I might get there.
Texture
It had to do with the texture, partly. I spent a long time with this painting carefully building up the texture in the background, trying to get it to the right point so that it added life but didn’t detract from the subject.
You can let me know in the comments if you think I got the balance right 🙂
I scraped it with a palette knife, went over it with a scrunched up cloth to wipe parts away, went over it again with a paper towel with carefully mixed colours of paint after it was dry, mottling it, I sanded it – anything I could think of that would add texture.
On the shelf too, I tried to create a texture that brushes can’t make, that would somehow help the shelf to live in the painting more, to feel and not just look like old wood.
It was exhilerating, and somewhere along the way I found something that fell in love with and wanted to be reminded of for a while.
Layers
I mentioned emotional attachment. That comes from the flower. Recently, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was caught early, she’s doing well and it’s likely that she’ll make a full recovery. I know many of you out there will know how that moment feels, when you’re told the news.
A few days later, a friend came over and brought with her a bouquet of white chrysanthemums, this is one of them.
I’d had a set up of the apples for a little while, moving it around and changing it without really finding anything that said “paint me”.
Although I added the carnation to the set up to add some variation of value (I could see that the subject would need it) it also brought with it multiple layers of meaning.
That may be the real reason I found this one hard to release, at first.
But now I have, and I’m looking forward to it going out into the world and finding a new owner, someone who will perhaps find something in it that moves them, another layer of meaning of their own to add.
I hope so.
The apples themselves, after which the painting is named (perhaps as a diversion from the emotional meaning) are a wonderful variety, large and deep red, almost black sometimes. Like all my apples now, they came from my friends’ traditional orchard farm, and are an endangered variety.
Dave was so excited to show them to me! He loves to bring me varieties I haven’t seen that have something remarkable about them. I think he might be secretly hoping I’ll make paintings of them.
This time, I did. But it was really the crysanthemum that made the painting.
Best wishes and thanks for reading,
Paul
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Ahh, but it’s the apples that make the composition! What a beautiful, evocative work.
I’m wondering if you might try to photograph the painting from the side, with the light catching the textural high-points contrasting with the darker low-points, so we can see the texture you’ve worked so on so long? I’ve seen another UK artist do this (Will Kemp’s website, maybe?)
The effect is like a detail of the painting–strictly catching the texture. Laying the painting flat and resting the camera on the tabletop, close-up and pointing across the painting surface with a small table-lamp facing the same direct behind the camera should give you some fun shots. Hopefully we could see what textural elements you’re describing too.
Either way, I love this painting of yours! Cheers
Oh that’s a good idea Jack, thanks! I’ll try it in future.
And thanks for the kind words.
What a lovely post. Thank you for your commitment to your craft and for imbuing it with your love for both IT and your family. All of that comes through so clearly in your writing. It is a pleasure having you teach me a new approach to color and watching you grow from afar.
I’m gearing up to begin one of your online courses. I’ve been collecting materials and I confess….reading ahead. I am excited to actually begin the work!
So glad your wife is getting better! Godspeed!
Thank you, Mauri, what a lovely comment.
Reading ahead is always good 😀
Beautiful painting. Particularly like the play of light through the water.
I’ve just been watching Paul Ingbretson on his YouTube channel talking about the Boston School approach to painting, and this painting seems to fit right in to that way of thinking: you’re not filling in the lines of individual objects but instead are painting the visual impressions of light effects. The results are beautiful.
Oh that’s interesting, thank you Jim! I really like the Boston school artists and also am subscribed to Paul’s channel, I enjoy his videos very much. It’s a shame they aren’t more widely known. Maybe I should help out a bit with that 🙂
And also I have spent quite a bit of time looking at Vermeer paintings, I believe he was an inspiration for the Boston school. I think he works in a similar way. Definitely I’ve been heading more in that direction lately.
I enjoy your posts, thank you!
Lovely Painting Congratulations
Thanks Lorelle
Thank you for posting your thoughts and process of the subject choice.
Your painting reminds me of Thayer still lives that transcended time where the
texture did not detract from the subject it embellished it ,is that the
art in the painting process .Glad family things are better.
Thayer! That’s praise indeed, Jenny, thank you!
Paul, I didn’t know your wife had breast cancer. Tell her to NOT let fear come into her Spirit! My daughter is 12 years cured and I’m almost 10years! The worst is the sick stomach but tell her to take the meds for that! If she ever has questions about anything, I would be honored to talk to her about anything! I send Prayers for healing for you both! Just Believe!
Grata,Paul Foxton! I love it!