London Large

For a large part of last year I have been working on one big painting. It was finished just before the New Year but I haven't had the chance to post anything or take any photos . The Elephant (mainly the excitement about the elephant) and having to mostly evacuate my studio for Christmas/New Year has delayed me. However while I knew I had taken the original photographs that became this work a while ago I was horrified to find out (after sorting out a few files on my computer and taking a quick look at the folder containing the preliminary photographs and photoshops) that it was possible I'd started the actual painting in May of last year, let alone that the photos had been taken 9 months ago.

Now, I have in that time produced a few other works. You can lose a month and a half to the Bracknell piece and at least up to June/July time I was working on the Windsor paintings and digital works. Plus a week here and there on other unrelated projects, trips and dull, ordinary, day to day stuff. Still 4-6 months on one painting feels like a lot.

It shouldn't really, granted I probably could have worked more, those long summer days etc. But I have to remind myself that this 'single' work is in fact 4 paintings. The fact they come together to form one large canvas, the like not being seen since 2006 and those halcyon University days, is unimportant. They are not the large canvas of those days. Those works were a single image scaled up and frequently I have proven to myself that the complex and intricate image I'd have done at University on a 120 x 180 cm canvas takes almost the same amount of time as the same image done on a quarter of that size.

As you can see some of these paintings are quite complex (Houses of Parliament!!!!) so it's no wonder they took a while. It's just a shame that to the uneducated eye it might look like I've done very little this year compared to previous years. But hey, It was an experiment to see if I could continue to push my work and make large scale paintings again, especially ones that remain user friendly to my current situation. I also wanted to see If I could make a multiview image that I was truly proud of, and while there are elements of the finished work I am not quite happy with, I believe I have managed to do this. In fact I believe that I have managed to do it twice in 2009 with 'Welcome to Bracknell' as well. Not too bad then really.

Oh and if the final image below looks a bit funky its only because I had to put the 4 paintings together in Photoshop rather than take a photo of them assembled.

Elephantine Update

AHHH! I wrote a blog entry and then conveniently forgot to post it. Oops. Well here it is, revised and updated a little unfortunately you will have to cope with older pictures of what's been going on.

4 days after receiving my elephant I was still drawing in my design! Usually a painting of a similar size to it would take an hour or so to do this so I really wasn't expecting it to take so long. I will admit that without the use of an OHP and having to do it entirely freehand must have put a crimp in my style. The fact is that there is no original photograph, only a roughly sketched design and what's in my head. The design while it took influence from many sources could not be projected well, even if there was room to do so.

Additionally the design requires that each side of the elephant be the same image with a few alterations so I have found myself spending more time walking around the 'phant than drawing on it. Happily I finished the drawing just a few days later and started painting him on day 5 of receipt.


It has been quite a challenge so far, I had not anticipated a few things and they came as a little bit of a shock. For one the drying time of acrylics is very different to oils, far faster and while I had used acrylics before and realised this would be the case I had forgotten quite how fast they can dry. This has taken some getting used to and has forced me to rethink a few minor details. But it has also come as a godsend for (and I know no idea why I didn't think of this) in many areas the paint has required a second or even a third coat to produce a properly opaque and even covering which has slowed me down a tad. But the days get longer and the work is now progressing at a good pace. I actually think I am still on target.


I hope to write another entry sometime next week or early the week after with a photo of an almost (or even finished) trunk, bearing in mind that the entire upper section of the 'phant will have to be done before I even get that far. But for now you will have to cope with the drawn version.

A parade under my hat

OK so the big reveal.. Well if you've scrolled ahead to look at the pictures you may already have a good idea what is going on.

As I have mentioned to many of you insisting on finding out what I have been so secretive about, I did tell many of you about this when I was applying in September time. I know it was a useless hint but I was so excited about it I was half convinced I'd jinx myself.

Well today I had a fibreglass elephant delivered.

As some of you might remember I was rambling at one time about applying to paint an elephant and as some you may have guessed by now I have indeed been chosen to do just that.
I found out in November time that my design had been approved and all that was needed to be done was sort out a few logistics. I also decided then to not say anything until I actually had the elephant under my roof.

Now I have to say although the delivery date had been fixed for about a week, after all this snowfall we'd had I imagined that it wouldn't make it. While I'm very glad it did, the delivery men had a whale of a time getting it through my back garden into the conservatory and even more fun trying to get their van full of elephants back out of my road. Apparently Wimbledon just isn't all that bad snow wise, after this weekend they might change their minds. Unfortunately their early and slightly unexpected arrival caught me alone in the house (unusual with this weather) and sitting on my own foot (literally! Stairs at speed with a dead foot... dangerous) as a result my plan to document the hauling of the beast through the snow was left upstairs with my camera.

So for those of you who still have no idea what I'm talking about.
In the summer of 2010 there will be a parade of elephants throughout London. Approximately 200 fibreglass elephants painted by artists and celebrities will be scattered around the city. Not only creating a talking point and a colourful fun scene but also highlighting the plight of the Asian elephant.

I was privileged in 2007 to see something similar happen in Bath with pigs.

More information can be found here: http://www.elephantparade.com/london/ and indeed here http://www.elephantfamily.org/

And that is all I had under my hat.
Expect occasional photos on twitter and maybe even the occasional blog entry chronicling it's journey from white to glorious technicolour.

Boating 12th - 19th December 2009

Oxford and Grand Union Canals between Brinklow and Stoke Bruene (there and back again)

So it's taken me a while to write anything about this trip. I know, I know, I am not exactly quick with my blog entries but although I don't complete and upload them right away ,I usually write at least a few notes or a draft within a day of (or even on) the trip. That is mainly because I have thoughts at the moment that I know I will forget if I take too long in committing them to 'paper'.

So why not this time, well I'm not exactly sure, one part of me was somewhat scared at the prospect of trying to document each day. Eight individual entries seemed like a really huge task and I didn't feel like I had much to say for each day. In fact I don't remember thinking anything about events of any day that made me think 'I must write that/expand on that in my blog'. Also the nature of the trip went against many of my usual habits on a day out, there was no non stop walking around, no particular places to document and a fixed route to deal with. It was frankly a lot more relaxed and I quickly fell into that pace so I guess my thinking relaxed. Alternatively I just forgot any thoughts I had by the time I got back. By no means did my artistic eye slacken nor my thinking stop, I just wasn't in a rush and it was for all intents and purposes a holiday not a task. But I think that that was what was important to realise, it didn't need 8 entries it just needed one.
Well the relaxed nature of the trip had me thinking less about photographs to become paintings but more about what I was seeing around me. I guess it has more in common with my previous post than any other. So what to say about it? Well I'm not sure. With the other posts I have been slow to start but once I get going I find I already have a point to talk about and ramble on and on no problem. This time I'm not at all sure what I want to say about it.

It certainly was relaxing, 2- 4mph speed limit is a perfectly wonderful speed to be going at when you are sitting in the bow watching the world go by. It was really cold and we had plenty of weather conditions to photograph in; sunshine, rain, snow. We even had a rainbow on the second day, gorgeous sunsets and sunrises and a frozen canal on the last morning. It was also a great change of scenery from the woodlands and heaths of my home, big flat plains, green pastures and hills. I saw a kingfisher which was a real high point, I even managed to get it on camera, of course it is only a vague turquoise and orange blur among a greater green blur of foliage. But you know what that's ok. So maybe I don't have much to say because for once my mind stopped trying to see these places as an artist all the time, dealing with all the people and trying to photograph a perfect moment for a potential artwork. I was forced to slowly go past the world, at a speed where I could happily indulge my shutterbug tendencies while still being able to sit back and use my eyes rather than only my camera to frame the beautiful images I see and enjoy what I was seeing. No deadline no train to catch just fresh air and a little exercise mooring and operating locks.

Maybe that's why I don't feel like I have much to say, because what I noticed above all else was the profound peace and calm of the waterways and rural landscapes and that is really plenty.

Oh and I probably drove my boat mates a little batty stopping to take photographs of frozen leaves and sheep and fields while we were trying to get through sets of locks. I'm sorry but it was a compulsion impossible to ignore. :P

Incidently if you want to see my photos from the week you can see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/noblueskies/sets/72157623087122470/