Friday, August 20, 2010

Life through the bottle



No I haven't turned to drink just yet. But I was fascinated when I picked up a washing liquid bottle and realised that it might have some strange effects. I'd like to point out that I didn't try and drink it :-) I used the washing liquid in motion as a camera filter, holding my camera up against the body of the bottle. Focussing was thrown out for most of the image but I really enjoyed the effects that it produced. Maybe if you drink enough Absinthe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe) this is what you see?

Derwent Gallery Exhibition - Starts 4th September 2010

I'm really pleased to announce that my next (solo) exhibition starts at Derwent Gallery in Grindleford on Saturday 4th September for 4 weeks. The landscape exhibition will feature all new work produced this year including some very recent paintings - painted in the last week or two!

Derwent Gallery is a great gallery in the Peak District situated near Cubar and Stanages "edges". Full details of the gallery and details on location and opening hours at http://www.derwentgallery.com/

Below is a preview of some of the paintings that are likely to make it to the final exhibition.

Lost on the Moor (20x20cm)

Mid Storm (60x60cm)

Moorland Mist (60x60cm)


Approaching Storm (60x60cm)



Alone on a Hill (60x60cm)






Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Henry Miller on Artists

I found this wonderful Henry Miller quote on the TV series "Century of the Self" by Adam Curtis. I think its particularly relevant to artists;

"My argument with so much as psychoanalysis is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness, when in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know have come out of people’s suffering; that the problem is not to undo suffering or to wipe it off the face of the earth but to make it inform our lives, instead of trying to cure ourselves of it constantly and avoid it, and avoid anything but that lobotomized sense of what they call “happiness.” There’s too much of an attempt, it seems to me, to think in terms of controlling man, rather than freeing him. Of defining him rather than letting him go. It’s part of the whole ideology of this age, which is power-mad."
Henry Miller 1960s

Most of the Adam Curtis documentaries are on youtube and are well worth a look.