Sussex weekend

Spent the weekend in Sussex to visit Farley Farm House, the former home of the Surrealist painter Roland Penrose and his American wife, the photographer, Lee Miller. I met their son Anthony, himself a sculptor/writer who maintains the house and Miller's archived work.
He told me about their life and their friendships with  artists such as Miro,Ernst and especially Picasso.
The house contains numerous works of art, but in true Surrealist style they're mixed with everyday found objects.


Farley Farm House









 The gardens contain sculptures by various artists who regularly visited.

Sculpture by Anthony Penrose from a design by Roland.

The following day we visited Charlestone near Lewes. This was the home of the Bloomsbury group,Duncan Grant ,Vanessa Bell etc.The gardens and interiors (no photography allowed here), were kept in their original state as members of the group lived here from 1916 until Grant's death in 1978.


  

Mexico Towans

These are the first two in a series of paintings resulting from the trip to Cornwall earlier this year.
Mexico Towans is the area of St. Ives bay............great name!


Mexico Towans 1



Mexico Towans 2



Abstract images

Whilst travelling I've come across lots of abstract images - examples of "found art".


"Distressed" door - Corfu Old Town



Peeling poster - Corfu Old Town



Herringbone wall - North Cornwall



Shop window - Cape Cod



Crabs - Cape Cod



Harbour ropes - Portugal



Shop window - Ystad Sweden



Greek island



Beach at Roda

 Recently got back from a trip to the Greek island of Corfu (Krkyra). Staying in the village of Acharavi in the North of the island. The hot sun and azure seas were an inspiration, as was the faded grandeur and peeling paint on some of the old buildings in Corfu Town.


The beach at Acharavi



Some buildings in the old part of Corfu Town.

I made notes and did some watercolours sketches in a tiny book

and will use them for reference to produce some paintings



The coast of Albania is only three kilometres away                       



Secret of the black canvas

I was in Prague a couple of years ago and came upon the Galerie Jakubska that showed the work of the Ukranian artist Alexndr Onishenko who has now settled in the Czech Republic.
Onishenko's style is palette knife work applied to a black canvas and the "Secret of the Black Canvas" is the title of the book about his life and work.
My recent night paintings of coastal scenes have all been produced on a black canvas, here are a couple of samples.

    

Small paintings

In a number of recent exhibitions I've noticed how there seems to be an increase in small paintings. This was especially true of the International Art Fair held at the Royal College of Art in London a couple of months back and it was interesting to see just how much a small painting ,7"x 5"or so,captured the imagination as much as a large 3 or 4 foot canvas. Maybe it's the restricted size that focuses the artist to "tell everything" on a smaller scale, I've just started a series of small acrylics and found this to be the case. Let me know what you think.


Lavender fields - Acrylic on canvas 7"x 5"



New York

Our apartment in Midtown Manhattan

I'm just back from a few days in New York. We stayed in a "brownstone" apartment on West 47th Street. The city is just as manic as ever and with 35degrees heat, air -conditioning is essential.
Sampling the delights of Central Park, the Staten Island ferry and Washington Square, I made notes and sketches along with photographs to produce some "Manhattan" images.


Cruising in the yellow cab.......



Skyscraper reflections



Leaving Manhattan for Staten Island





Sketches and notes

 I made a visit to the Guggenheim. When I was in New York previously it was closed for renovation, so only having seen the Peggy Guggenheim collection in Venice I was keen to see the iconic building.
The current exhibition is "Art of Another Kind"abstract art from 1949- 1960 featuring all the big names in both American and European art - highly recommended!