I was asleep but uncomfortable. It felt like there was a hot water bottle against my back. Yes of course it was the cat – progressed from walking along my spine to just waiting and heating. Blearily I looked at my watch. Just after six. Sun is rising. Yeah OK Sid, I am a little late, I’ll get up. So I do,
The daily weather photo for BBC Weather Watchers. This the 29 July 2025,, number 3,620 in the daily image
A bit later, cat fed twice, morning collage/weather photo put up on BBC Weather Watchers, Facebook and twitter, OH taken her breakfast in bed, my porridge and fruit enjoyed, I take my coffee outside to bask in the early morning sunlight. I take one of my small cameras with me, just in case.
Just a glance over my shoulder as I lift the mug reveals this beautiful contrast
I look around the garden to see what has changed, because there is always change, some seasonal, some, like my plum crop, due to predation by pesky snail/pigeons/ foxes – take your pick…they do. There is enough normally to be only mildly irritated but when only four plums grow to lovely size and colour and then two are eaten before you can pick’em, it does annoy somewhat.
An impulse buy by the missus at a local art show -a fantastic creature by a local anonymous maker we christened the ‘Planksy’
Minor annoyances though, the sun is warm and there is plenty of life and colour to enjoy. I sip my coffee and smile as I see the ‘Planksy’ has been fixed so the wind doesn’t spin it. I also start to take photos of bits of colour that I may exploit in the future – this is a little bit how both the sea defence rust series started and how the poppy set I am currently working on also began. Fascinated by the colour and texture then watching it change as the process of growth and decay sets in. All allied to experiments in mark making, the autographic gestural nature of the hand applying paint.
Small common blue
This morning I note the greying of the lavender, still assailed by numerous butterflies and bees. Large and small whites, the occasional green veined white, gatekeepers and this morning a beautiful poseur of a red admiral and a couple of tiny common blues added to the normal crowd I push through going to work. The bees swirl around me as I brush through the lavender on the way to the studio but are not bothered quickly settling back harvesting.
It has been a productive month. Maybe the sunshine mutes my arthritis pain enough to allow for straightforward working, but I think it is just the pause I took after the step series that allowed me to return to the obsessions first expressed in the poppy/square series of a few years ago, which in turn hark back to obsessions with the square that first drew me in in the late 1970’s ‘. It is all the same creative ‘line’ interrupted by employment and life sending me scurrying down other rabbit holes.
The last five years or so have been fruitful, , carried by the decay I see around me. Expressed through first of all the BRotS series, then the Steps and now returning to the colour games that had a gallery director saying the work ‘made my heart sing’ at a private view of one of my shows.
The Ponderwall
Strange how the subconscious comes through in the work, the poppy reflecting more than just the plants decay, but also something of the violent undercurrents swirling around the world a background noise to disturb the contemplation of the natural beauty I find in the seclusion of my garden. Then all influencing what is expressed through the mark of the hand.
The studio wall changes, my ‘ponderwall’ where works go for me to ponder and contemplate before moving on to larger canvases. This I must now move forward and the board sits partially painted on the easel, waiting for me to wind up my courage to embark on something a little definitive, maybe the first of some larger pieces, maybe not – only the old man of the mountains knows. I go where my heart and mind take me.
I hope you enjoy and follow. Work goes on sale in the gallery so I can buy more paint…
Recent Comments