Sunday 26th June 2011

I have just been updating my link buttons to include a very dear friend Janet Parker-Laird's blog. Janet is one of those ladies that you meet and take an instant shine too. She is one of Poole Pottery's major designers from the 70's and still highly collected. I was thinking that not only is her craft/art steeped in tradition and lore it is also one that Janet is constantly exploring in ways of creating new ranges. This made me think about something I once read in one of my very much treasured, Royal Watercolour Society books. Infact, I once copied the text and gave it to my students as inspiration.

On a visit to The Royal Watercolour Society, Bankside Gallery (just next to the Tate Modern and very much forgotten - but too small!!) I came across a large Watercolour painting, about 4 x 4ft, it was by David Firmstone. I had never heard of him before, but it made me look and explore every detail of how he had produced such a magnificent painting.
Many of my students will berate my belief in teaching the 'Clare Shepherd way', to paint without making any pencil marks first, or - 'surely the pencil can make a mistake just as the brush can?' Here was a painter using just this process and he actually put it in words too!
I am really looking forward to a painting day on Tues, with some good friends, on the side of a hill, with a fantastic view before us! With that in mind, here are David's words for you to peruse and consider.

Happy Painting!

David Firmstone;
I want the viewer to struggle with the idea of space and to explore the qualities of paint itself, as I lead their eye down pathway, road and river. A tiny tree placed near or far breaks all the rules of the perspective system.

Technique is critical to my aesthetic. I constantly search for new technologies to make paintings: I use tempera, watercolour, oils and gesso to create wall-like textures. With a sanding machine, I scratch and gouge out the paint until the surface reflects the way the land has been layered through time, and some of the final compositions are the result of pouring paint, allowing it to run across and stain the surface. And I can never quite remember my previous approach, so each painting is an act of learning to paint again.  On reading that last bit I cannot wait to get working!

Wednesday 11th May

I recently visited the Tate Britain with a very dear friend. We had shared many months and years in the same dorm, through the ups and downs of teenagedom! Now we meet and discuss the ups and downs of our children!

We decided that we would do lunch and the Watercolour exhibition. It was great for so many reasons! I got to spend a few hours with a friend who is joyous and comfortable to be with, she in turn wanted to learn as much as possible about the works. The Friday we chose was not particularly busy - you know how these 'Super' shows can be overrun with visitors and this really impacts on your enjoyment.

The paintings were so diverse, from the detail of botanical work and maps to abstracts, from Van Dyck in the C16th to Emin and Goldsworthy in the 1990's. Exceptionally organised into groups that gave even the most unknowing of visitors a tour through the complex, experimental, challenging and sublime world of Watercolour. The Natural World, Travel and Topography, Watercolour and War, it was all there.

I have to pick a few golden treasures for you. Of course there were old trust-eds like Nash, Palmer and Turner, but oh the Arthur Melville,The Blue Night, Venice 1897. Exquisite blues and gentle blushes on the buildings. Then the Andy Goldsworthy, Source of Scaur, 1991-2. I had to work hard to convince Lou of it's merit, but Goldsworthy, not usually seen as a watercolourist, has used the fluidity and pigments of earth to show us exactly just what watercolour should do - sharp edges, contrast in tone, soft, transparent areas, it is all there.

We also enjoyed the quick and concise figures of David Austen, the dark blues of The Entomologists Dream by Edmund Dulac, the compactness and the undeniable Samuel Palmer's, A Hilly Scene. William Orpens's A Man with a Cigarette depicting a soldier in down time, obviously wounded and in a trench yet seemingly without a care as he enjoys his cigarette. We also spent quite a while enjoying the subtle layering of Turner's The Blue Rigi, Sunrise, truly the best of his work I think.

But my number one goes to John Frederick Lewis, The Bazaar of the Ghuriyah from the steps of the Mosque of El-Ghuri, Cairo, 1841-5. A pencil and Watercolour work, it is just so beautiful and engaging. The fine work allows you to look down throught the alley of the Souk, where Lewis has rendered the dark and lights to draw us the viewer into this world. The dashes of red turban and the white gouache highlights are the finishing touch. Lewis stayed in Cairo for ten years and lived an extravagant life, whilst dressing like the natives.

Luckily the Exhibition is on until August, so go, go and enjoy!