Day 14

Study: Tangerine III | 76 x 46 cm | Oil on Linen | Sold

An apparition whispered in my ear last night as I slumbered "if you work larger you might find it more difficult to ignore those patches of colour that don't work, re-whip the paint, lay it back down and resist the urge to claw and scratch at them in order to activate and integrate them into the study." What he might also have mentioned was that today I'd be granted just enough sunshine to grapple successfully with a brand new tangerine bearing a dandy feather in its cap. The sun did shine. Success? Success is in having the bad sense to want to put myself through it all over again tomorrow. And optimism tells me that in a hundred days I might well have gotten a decent start on a study or two.

Day 13

Study (stage 1): Tangerine II
35 x 35 cm | Oil on board

There are going to be days like these. Entries that I'll read back on later, when no matter what was written - it's plain to see (for any of us) that I haven't the foggiest idea what in the hell I'm doing. Yes, this is another Tangerine. And yes, I'm completely off-base with the colour and yes, I did it. I thought about acrylics today and particularly my massive 1 litre container of high-voltage cadmium orange. But not to mix up and spread around a panel to better capture this foresaken fruit's hue - but rather to down about a tablespoon and a half of it in order to bring this whole charade to a swift and merciful end. But that would have been a smidgen on the dramatic side not to mention pretty damned unoriginal.

Day 12

Study: Tangerine | 35 x 35 cm
Oil on board

This has been completely scraped back and re-started today - unfortunately before I had a chance to grab another photo of it its inital state as promised. I'm hoping not to feel the urge to do the same thing in the morning following today's efforts. As much as the obsessive purist in me would love to just observe and record under glorious daylight - and only in such light - I find the climatic conditions are pressing my nose to the pigment and tempting me intermittently into the realm of invention. Struggling with what the grey afternoon reveals of the subject I press on, often at the risk of delving into the folly of pattern making and painterly quilting. In addition to a little working enertia, this also gives me the very faintest semblance of influence over the vibrant chromatic phenomenon that is this nectar-filled little gem. There is something about the steep challenge of this that makes me think that this is only the first of a string of tangos that this subject and I shall dance. Now I know how Master Oleski got onto his apples and tulips.

Day 10

Study: Tangerine | 35 x 35 cm
Oil on board
(In progress)

Going to be brief because we have people coming for dinner in an hour and the floor needs mopping. This photo needs to be re-taken to represent the colours of this world a bit more faithfully - or rather the way my interpretation of this world has been tending reluctantly to slide from my knife. The reason I started a completely different study is because the 'produce' looked to be approaching its sell-by and more so because I took such a wha-hoopin during last evening's session that I needed to get back to what at least felt was whooping me less. I still got whooped though. I'm still building up my stamina.

Day 9 (2 of 2)

Study (stage 2): Persimmon | 46 x 46 cm | Oil on linen

Well - didn't have great light today and because it's been sitting a while, the challenge today was getting the stuff that was there to embrace the new stuff and trying to keep it creamy enough. Instead of being a delightful cruise through a process of of refining and enriching saturation, it seems what I gained in the way of form - colourwise I lost in the doo doo. If there is any good news it's that entire format has been worked-over so much it will be much more accommodating on the morrow - where I will get the colour back. The bad news is that this might very well feel a bit more like spreading icing on last year's birthday cake than a fresh alla prima oil study. What I've learned already is one, next week the medium will need to be a good dash fatter. And two, that the leftover Italian Titanium white from Ferrario - that dries too fast and irritates my peepers and sinuses - needs to be thrown out or reserved for my next graffiti outing. I think thrown out. My Ol Hol cremnitz is sweet as can be.

Day 9 (1 of 2)

Study (stage 1): Head | 55 x 77 cm | Mixed media on linen

Because I didn't get enough time in the light today with the Persimmon - I need to work by overhead studio light some this evening. Breaking from the fruit and veg thing, I'm going to dig the right t-shirt out and proceed with this head study. I've got a muddy palette, and a new glazing medium I'm just dying to try. And this monkey who's not quite speaking too much evil - or hearing too much of it either, despite the size of that ear - is painfully looking over my shoulder all the time reminding me of a time when I would have considered a lemon or mango study child's play. I was clearly mistaken about that, but it's still time to get on with the exercise.

Week 2 - Day 8

Study (stage 2): Mango | 76 x 46 cm | Oil on Linen

Today I resumed work on this fascinating Latin romance. Using much of the heavy pigment that was tilled into the field yesterday, the order for the day was to remember that this is work and to ignore the fact that the mango is not so amygdaloidal in shape is careless. It's actually a much more serious shape (like the head of that really slow tortoise that used to kick Bugs Bunny's butt in the footrace - only upside down, if you will). Further observation in the cold light of day revealed some severe issues in the shadow being cast. This brings me to a new phrase I learned today from the erudite David Oleski - which is "hogging out." Also associated with carving and casting, it refers to removing vast quantities of paint that then can be remixed, livened up, and injected with the good sense to at least try and sit up and do something. Gradually coming to terms with the notion that I might be expecting just a little too much from my trusty palette knife. Irresistable as the impasto is, tomorrow is likely to see the reappearance of that obscurest of painter tools - the brush. Or maybe the next day. The Sharon fruit study can't stand unattended to for much longer.

Day 7

Study: Mango | 76 x 46 cm | Oil on Linen

London was lightly blanketed with snow overnight. Since this could only equate to my working from the most neutral of neutral lights - I thought today - "I choose mango." No, to be honest I thought of a mango yesterday but I'm still new to this blogging caper and it doesn't half-tempt you to elaborate. Fortunately, my favourite Middle Eastern grocers, Al Abbas, had a scrumptious selection of mangos on offer including this proud little Brazilian. Dealing with the slow motion flicker of a rolling cloud cover and the above-mentioned north-like neutral light, I attempted to warm things up with a rich tawny backdrop in hopes that this triad might give it a sort of energized harmony. While this firms up a little over tomorrow, I'm going to finish up the Sharon fruit from yesterday. It's all one day at a time - like taking up alcohol abuse - but this is the most fun I've had all week and I'm not even concerned about what it will look like in tomorrow's light. On that note, I dare say the only nuts painting in near-darkness as much as myself these days ... are graffiti artists.

Day 6

Study: Persimmon | 46 x 46 cm | Oil on Linen

Leaving the previous pumpkin study and moving on - we were finally truly blessed with a high-chroma, clear but blustery winter's day. So I decided to take advantage of the culturally diverse fruit and veg stands of the Uxbridge Road at my doorstep and tracked down some new subjects in the form of two delightful Persimmons (or Sharon fruit - when chemically ripened.) Since I have a sister called Sharon - and she has two delightful daughters - today's effort is dedicated to them. If I'd started another pumpkin, this would have been a 3rd-time-lucky type result. It's still just a roughly and robustly blocked in race against galactic constraints so far - but - the previous 2 studies coupled with a switch to a slightly roomier and bouncier bit of stretched linen meant today's beginning goes down as one of the good ones - as beginnings go. Sculpting in relief, and aspiring to linger within the 'envelope' of the cobalts and oranges, I had a fleeting glimpse into a world where rendering is taboo and the sultry richness of surface is tantamount.

Day 5

4th Stage Study: Small Pumpkin Squash | 35 x 35 cm | Oil on Board

That sunlight I was looking forward to (and was promised by the BBC yet again) never came today. I had to make do with the usual fare available to us here in our quaint corner of the universe at this time of year. Just short of breaking out the lamp-mounted mining helmets, I took to wrapping up the questioning on this very uncooperative little subject. I am very close to looking forward to pumpkin study #3 - where, from the outset, I'll be much more decisive in general - and much less specific in particular. Whether or not I impose this policy change in this - #2 - will be a daybreak decision.

Day 4

The sunlight was too fleeting today. I moved the stuff around it a bit but it was largely an inactive Sunday in the studio. Should twist this complex orb of concentrated carotene into shape by this time tomorrow...sun willing.

Day 3

2nd Stage Study: Small Pumpkin Squash | 35 x 35 cm | Oil on Board

Had to call it a session for today on this study. The London weather caught me by surprise with some actual sunshine. So instead of the usual working under artificial light I was running around like a blue-arsed fly moving still-life apparatus into the sun and trying to capture a drawing of this thing before it all came to a screeching halt. For about the last hour and a half I was trying to remember the light that was - and in the final half hour I was effectively (in-effectively) painting in the dark. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny again. As for what's been achieved so far - it reminds me of what my Dad says on a slow day fishing - "here's why they don't call it catchin."

Day 2

Nocturnal Study: Pumpkin | 56 x 35 cm | Oil on Board | Sold

Well here's the 'finished' article. In these things, one tries not to over-parent. That is, you take these young things as far as you naturally can, brush their hair and send them out into the world to fend for themselves. Otherwise you try to do too much, nearly kill them, and then have to breathe a kiss of life into them. Which really is going too far.

Day 1

Nocturnal Study: Pumpkin | 56 x 35 cm | Oil on Board

This is the first posting on this site. Today's image represents my first session working in dripping fat oil since around 1997 - and even back then it wasn't anywhere near this bad for the arteries. Once it sets up a bit I shall impose my will upon the summit of its peaks just a little bit. Why? One, because they're there. And two, because 24 hours ago they would have been done in acrylic and hence solid, plastic and immovable today. I should also like to dedicate this first posting to one David Oleski who had no small part in my conversion to the fat side - and more specifically in a ratio of 2:1 turps to stand oil (leaving out the dammar for today).