Power of Attorney.

 

Suffice to say, it took a toll...

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

Christmas is coming!

 

See the video made on this night of carol singing on THIS LINK.

Alternative Nottingham 2.

 

Above: Both Nottingham Arboretum and the pubs along Mansfield Road seem far less inviting to me than they did a few years ago.

Above: On the day I collected resources for these works the Market Square was filled with people staring fixedly at their smart phones, as profuse in number as the pigeons.

Above: The coal mines, Robin Hoods Tree, Nottingham Forest, Crusaders, Raleigh bicycles, the factories. All make reference to Nottingham's past history.

All artworks copyright Ian G Craig.

 

Alternative Nottingham. Left Lion, Right Lion.

 

For people who actually live in Nottingham the two lions situated either side of the Council House steps are perhaps the most well know landmarks in the city. “Meet me by the left lion” was a popular phrase when arranging dates. Maybe it still is.

The old market square is now a barren, ugly site most days. Depending on your point of view.

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

 

Outdoor sketching.

All artwork copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Clumber Park experimental.

 

 

Top: I started by cutting up a road map showing the directions to Clumber Park from my house. Nine sections. Then painted over it quite freely.

Below: Following the same nine sections rule, then placing objects we' taken there.

Video can be seen on THIS LINK.

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

Random photography.

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

Drawing & Deer, Victoria Embankment, Nottingham.

 

Warm enough today to go sit beside the River Trent for some sketching. It proved eventful. I had no idea there are actual deer living in the City of Nottingham. Couldn’t believe my eyes until I got home and checked with the internet. Got in touch with Nottingham Wildlife, via Twitter. Then at their request filled out the following report:

Species:
Small deer. Looked like a Muntjac.

Date:
19th April, 2018. c.11.30a.m.

OS grid reference:

SK570381
Latitude: 52.937889 / Longitude: -1.1529979

Location name:
Victoria Embankment, NG2 2JS

How identified:
I was sat sketching on Victoria Embankment, about 80m east of Wilford Toll Bridge. The animal suddenly sprang from (or dashed through) a cluster of Daffodils behind me and ran at great speed, heading west, down to the riverside steps, dashing under the bridge and, keeping to the steps parallel to Riverside Way, didn't drop the pace until it was soon out of sight beyond the bend. I identified it as a small deer from the way it ran. (I grew up in Thoresby Park). The short legs looked very much like the pictures of a Muntjac. It was certainly not a dog or a cat.

How many did you see?
One.

All text & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

#thedailysketch on Twitter.

 

Sketchbook pieces for the Twitter hashtags have been my only art activity of late. The mixed media / collage approach to these sees them also function as a pictorial journal.

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

 

Something for nothing.

 

I got a request today which had a familiar tone. They are not uncommon:

“I found a picture of your painting on the internet and wondered how much you charge for one of your paintings? I think it would look nice framed on one of the walls in the pub”. (The Bell Inn Nottingham).

I know the establishment well, it being a one time favoured haunt of mine. I asked which painting it was they were enquiring about, there being several studies of that building in my portfolio. The one they wanted (above) is a sketchbook piece, probably destined to obscurity in my studio drawer. So, I tell them they can have the painting itself for free, but I will get it framed (not wanting it just pinned on the wall). To this end I got a reasonable quote from a framer of just £28, and inform the Inn that if they are willing to pay that, I will personally deliver the finished item it to them.

That is, of course, the point where silence always descends.


 All text & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

 

All in good time. Thoresby Hall.

 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.

Clockwork Mary & the Stone Circle 5.

 In December 2017 I had thought this painting finished, but I returned to it this month, repainted much of the lower section, and now consider it a 2018 piece. My original intention (as seen in the drawing) was to have much more white space, and so this amended version is much more successful.

It may seem like a big departure from the forest paintings of recent years, but several features can be found throughout my portfolio: The collage approach of assembling images with no regard for perspectives; the origami objects; the Nine Ladies Stone Circle, Matlock, which I painted in 2006; not to mention a girl in a polka dot mini-dress...

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

 

Sketchbook.

 A few sketch book pieces as we reach the end of another year.

 

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

Put it on a Postcard 2

 

 

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

Summer Solstice

 There is something both sad and slightly disturbing about the Summer Solstice: Just as you thought the warm summer season had arrived at last, the longest day is nevertheless now over. Imperceptible at first, the sun has started taking its tiny backwards steps towards the far fence in my garden from whence it came last December.

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

February, not enough days in the month.

It's been a busy month. Or is it that I kept myself busy? There is a subtle difference. Whichever, there's been more than enough work to keep me happy.

My main art activity has been the making of an animated music promo for a musician friend of mine who I’ve worked with in the past. Watch the finished video on THIS LINK.

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

Back to Life.

 

My first life drawing class since c.1973. I’ve drawn friends and girlfriends in the years since, but never taken part in a formal group session. So, I approached this “return to class” with some trepidation. For two reasons: Firstly, I’m not enthusiastic about making art in the company of others unless it is as part of a collaboration. Secondly, would I be any good? Would I measure up to the “competition”? In the event I am well please with the outcome, and thoroughly enjoyed the intense three-hour experience, and the challenge it presented.

 

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

The Duke’s Graves.

The Pierrepont and Manvers graves, Perlethorpe Church, Thoresby Estate.

As a 1950’s child I was christened and Confirmed at the appropriate ages. Hence my links with the above location. An integral part of a Church of England village education was the Sunday school classes. To be honest, the only attraction of Sunday school for me was simply collecting the exquisitely illustrated attendance stamps, no doubt an early pictorial influence.

My intention above was to avoid all sense of Gothic gloom or melodrama. This is a very peaceful, quiet place. The sunlight really does stream across from the South like that. The ducal gravestones adhere to a well-planned formation which must have been conceived centuries ago. A real sense of pride in their accomplishments lingers here, even though the subjects are long since gone. The most recent stone is that of Lady Manvers (third from right), her husband having been buried on that spot in 1955, she in 1984.

More information about Thoresby Park and Perlethorpe Village can be found on THIS LINK.
More information about Lady Manvers on THIS LINK and THIS LINK.

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