9 May 2012

Flowering of the Unbounded 52



Preliminary ink drawing for woodcut. Apple tree.

3 Jan 2012

Flowering of the Unbounded 49


Only three paintings have survived over-painting in 2011. This one - 10" x 10"- takes its place in the series 'Flowering of the Unbounded'.
The phrase comes from 12C Zen Thinker Dogen whose writings have been inspiring me through the last year. Yayoi Kusama - soon to have a major retrospective at Tate Modern - writes: "The machinery of the sky that confounds us on earth with endless transformations of clouds... does not compare to the extraordinary tenacity of human beings, the way of human life, the presentiment of approaching death, the existence of love, the brilliant corruscations of light and the dark scars of our lives, to say nothing of... the overwhelming mysteries of space, time, distance. What is it that towers in the background, looming over all this? I wanted to express my yearning for that unknown something..."

2 Jan 2012

Fen Winter


Our corner of the Fens on a late winter's afternoon. Light fading over the swans still calling on the fields.
Using a dry brush and relief printing ink.

22 Oct 2011

Scribbly


Our week 2 holiday house, Le Bourg, St Projet. Drawn with a superb scribbly ballpoint, whose kind donor was subsequently - accidentally - locked in the cellar, mid foreground. Apologies again.

6 Oct 2011

Another Point of View


A quiet, hot morning in the Tarn Gorges last week. Vultures sliding past on the thermals. Drawn between coffee and lunch in Japanese album Moleskine.

9 Sept 2011

A Point of View


From the Saut de la Mounine viewpoint over the Lot. Favourite cycle routes and La Paregude visible. Beneath our feet clear air and sand martins.

7 Sept 2011

Najac


Najac Castle. Rain and sun alternating. Drawn from restaurant terrace towards the end of two weeks on the Lot and Aveyron. A theatre troupe were dining next to us, preparing to wrap themselves in clingfilm and comedically demonstrate the liberation of a generation of French women. Nearby a parent admonished his child that clingfilm should never be wrapped around the head. 'Jamais, jamais, jamais.'