Above: The Harley Gallery accepted BOTH of my submissions for their 2022 Open Exhibition. Well pleased.
UPDATE: Received notification, 21st September, that Plastic Pollution 2 (above top right) has sold. This means that both times I have applied to exhibit in this gallery I have been accepted and sold. And, both times the work had been praised on social media then rejected by the Patchings Art Centre.
Paint September was a Twitter art challenge.
All artwork copyright Ian Gordon Craig.
I find it hard to make something creative out of formal gardens. Hence converting my Newstead Abbey observations to moonlight.
All artwork copyright Ian Gordon Craig.
When Magritte said on one of his paintings "This is not a pipe". (Rough translation). He was right. It wasn't a pipe. It was a painting of a pipe.
All text, pros, poetry & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.
The idea for the nine squares format came from a piece I made a long time ago.
All text and artwork copyright Ian G Craig.
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.
I usually plan on a painting taking two or three weeks to complete; a time scale born of necessity during the years I was a full-time teacher relying on the school holidays in which to concentrate on my own art. Started in the late 90s, Thoresby Hall was probably one canvas too many of my Thoresby Estate themed paintings, obviously inspired by my childhood there. As the painting progressed my enthusiasm diminished and, never sure of what to do with the bottom right-hand corner, it was soon abandoned.
The rectangles in the composition were a probable result of my video making with a group of students in the 90's. It was all about what was in the viewfinder. Those rectangles also provided a way of putting a sense of time-lapse into the picture, something I’d been doing years previous when depicting the Primary School on Thoresby Estate.
During these recent weeks of January 2018, strolling around Thoresby Park, I noticed for the very first time how profuse the growth of mistletoe is on the uppermost branches of those trees nearest the Hall and the River Meden. There was my solution as to how to fill that right-hand corner! After c.18 years I finished the painting.
All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.
There was a real sense of exhilaration upon leaving full-time employment. Partly in the realization that freedom extends beyond the weekend; partly in the challenge of what to do next; partly in thoughts about those times and places I once knew before adulthood took me away, wondering what they must be like today.
As a child I never went to Skegness, but I think it might now become a place for annual day trips. I am lured by the sense of nostalgia which permeates all British seaside resorts. These sketches are just the preparation for a painting I am considering.
All text, pros, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.