Just stop.

 

December 2019. I returned to writing / editing “my intended novel” with the best of intentions. The plan was to use the dark nights, not best suited to painting, for writing. At first all was well, but distractions soon set in. Some business, some personal. Whatever. So, I stopped. I just stopped.

Stopped thinking about writing; stopped thinking about painting and galleries; stopped thinking about social engagements that felt now more like appointments; stopped the delusion that social media was of any value in promoting my work. Stopped, and took a little time to think through what it is I want to do, and what the deadline might be. It’s difficult to explain, but considering how much time I spend in my own company, I never think I have a peaceful life. It always seems so cluttered.

So, I have begun clearing the clutter. Gradually I have started to get a clearer perspective on things. I look forward to 2020. I’m hoping there will be less cake and more sunshine.

 All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

if a picture paints a thousand words.

 

 All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Closure on those "blue remembered hills"?

 Thoresby Park dominated much of the month. Firstly, the photographs I sorted out for them at their request, for an intended exhibition / publication, were enthusiastically received. I also received a request from a “Ploughing Competition” event being held there to use some pictures from my Thoresby blog for a display. I of course agreed.

Secondly, two of my artworks were hung there in this year’s Open Exhibition, although I have to confess the gallery there is not what it once was.

Thirdly, and importantly, I attended their Heritage Day event, which proved to be quite a revelation. I had always thought the estate’s status effectively ended with the death of Lady Rozelle, the last of the Manvers family line, but not so. She had sought out a distant descendant of the Pierrepont's, and it is he who now lives in the large purpose-built mansion I used to observe from the far side of the lake, and which now harbours several artefacts from the Hall.

At the end of the tour I gained permission to walk around the outside of the Woodyard and take some photographs, Permission I was soon in need of when a security van pulled up to ask me what I was doing! It meant a lot to be able to do that one last time. Box ticked. Closure?
 

 All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Self Portraits.

 “I always take a close look at those who lose themselves in self-portraits. They are solitary souls, prone to introspection” (Young-Ha Kim).

I find myself more and more interested in bright, primary colours. “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow” (Ralph W Emerson).

“I loathe my own face, and I've done self-portraits because I've had nobody else to do”. (Francis Bacon).

“O would the gift, the gift He’d give us, to see ourselves as others see us.” (Robert Burns, translated from the Scottish).

All artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Harley Gallery, Worksop.

 

 

All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

The days go by. 2

 My sketchbook pages are actually visual diaries.

"A chair is a difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Thomas Chippendale is famous". ( Mies van der Rohe).

"Our children will think of bananas as green or something teacher used to demonstrate condoms. Fine. Their children will think tigers and gorillas were mythical creatures like dragons which never truly existed. Not fine". (Ian Gordon Craig).

 All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

"The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow,
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now."
(Byron).

When my Scottish grandmother retired, her fellow nurses bought her “The Complete Works of Byron”. I don’t know if it was Byron’s work she liked or his legend. When I got my hands on it many years later it looked like it had never been opened, and yet its spine still promptly fell apart in my hands. What really got me into Byron was a combination of Byron’s long poem “Manfred” and the Tchaikovsky symphony which it inspired.

Newstead Abbey carries a similar “deception”. Although the property was owned by the Byron family for many years, he only lived there for two, just six months of which were of a permanent nature. But because of that brief residence the place continues to be a favoured tourist attraction in the county. And, as a fellow Gordon, that’s good by me.

 The statue here is often mistaken by visitors to be a devil. No. It is of course Pan, God of the Wild, companion of the nymphs, as well as a brief co-star appearance at the Gates of Dawn, in Wind in the Willows.
 

All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

The days go by.

 

All artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Music alphabet.

 

I didn't complete the alphabet. But what on earth was I thinking? Sometimes I reckon art is just a therapy. Something to keep occupied no matter how little the worth.

All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Alternative Skegness 1. Plastic Pollution.

 

 Top: First drawing from 2018.

Below: “And Then the Jolly Fisherman Was Not So Jolly”, due to plastic pollution. Oils on canvas, 46cm x 56cm. 

In reality Skegness is a very well maintained resort and, as is apparent from my blog, a place I have much enjoyed on day-trips. No derogatory implications are intended when using the resort's famous mascot as a setting for imagined plastic pollution.

All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

House and home and a neighbour's opinion.

 

New curtains for bedroom and lounge.
Two new chairs for lounge.
New bed.
New rugs.
Re-arranged paintings through the house.
Clean and tidy.

I think I'm settling back in, reclaiming my house. Lots of things are still in boxes since my attempted house move of a couple of years ago. Lots of things I disposed of have never been replaced. (I have one office chair in the lounge to sit on). At present I paint most days. Finding it difficult, as always, but the recent sale boosted motivation. I must take care not to miss out on Summer this year, being stuck inside here. 

A few days ago, I showed my neighbour my latest painting. She’s an old woman, totally content with her life of “Corrie” (a UK TV soap), brandy, and football, none of which I could begin to hold a conversation about, but we manage. She’s always easily impressed with my paintings, pleased I show them to her, and this particular time was no exception. However, as I was walking away, she said “What are you going to do with it now?”

THAT is what I call a reality check.

All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

C is for coffee.

 

 

All artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

A day at the gallery.

Went to see my “Pub Cat” in the Harley Gallery Open Exhibition.

Then fish and chips at the Big Fish, Ollerton Roundabout.

 

 All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Sunrise, sunset.

 

As viewed from my bedroom window. Same view at sunrise and sunset.

All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Accepted & Sold.

 

I don’t think I’ve had anything accepted for exhibition since June, 2014, although there’s certainly been a year or two since then that I haven’t bothered trying. This particular one (a digital print from the original drawing) was even rejected in May 2018 by the Patchings Gallery, and was originally drawn way back in 2012. The Harley Gallery is new territory for me.

Update: Sold! I expected no prize for my little sketch but had a sneaking suspicion that if it did get accepted it stood a good chance of being sold. Which it has! Only £70, which means I get my money back on the framing and printing rather than any profit (let alone my time). But it’s good to get a public sale.

 
 All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.