Ramsey Island Pembrokeshire.

                                                                                 3D scan of Ramsey.
                                                            Spotted on the BBC Wales Home Page today. Stunning!

                                                                    On The Rocks. Oil on canvas.

Out of interest I looked back over my paintings to check on those which were inspired by a trip around Ramsey a couple of years ago. Now I'm inspired to do more.

Super Saturday

Super Saturday, Principality Stadium Cardiff in Arctic conditions we were there for the final game of the Six Nations watching Wales narrowly beat France to end up in second place in the tournament. The freezing weather didn't dim the enthusiasm and party atmosphere in the city centre as 74,000 people streamed out of the stadium to join in. A brilliant weekend!

Painting in Montcuq - the first summer.

                   
I went not knowing how long I would stay but I had a car packed with canvases and paints and enough books to fill in time when I wasn't working. Days merged into weeks and weeks into months and it was Autumn when I packed up the collection of paintings for the drive back to London. What a feeling!  My summers from then on followed the same pattern, packing up the car with fresh supplies of paints and canvases and setting out in June to drive the 840 miles to the South of France returning in October or November with a new collection of paintings.


                                               

                                               Start of summer. Oil on canvas. 2003

                                               

                                               July. Oil on canvas. 2003

                                               

                                               Boulevard de la République. Oil on canvas. 2003.

                                               

                                               Evening. Oil on canvas. 2003

                                               

                                               Rue Droite. Oil on canvas. 2003

                                               

                                               La Tour Montcuq. Oil on canvas. 2003

                                                                                           
 
                                               August. Oil on canvas. 2003.

                                               
                         
                                               Montcuq. Oil on canvas. 2003.

                                               

                                               La Canicule. Oil on canvas. 2003.

                                             

One Day in May.

Loves Story

I do not love thee
So I'll not deceive thee
I do not love thee
Yet I'm loathe to leave thee

I do not love thee
Yet joys very essence
Comes with thy footstep
Is complete in thy presence

I do not love thee
Yet when gone I sigh
And think about thee
'Till all the stars die

I do not love thee
Yet thy handsome ways
Bring me in absence 
Almost hopeless days                                                                          
                                                                         
 I cannot hate thee
Yet my love seems debtor
To love thee more
So hating, love thee better

John Clare                                                                            









                                                                                              

Finland - Suomi. 7th December 2017.

Finland is a hundred years old this week and it astonished me that I didn't know how recently it has existed as an independent country. Of course I knew some of the history but so much of what I remember now of our life there at the end of the 60's makes a lot of sense. When people expressed resentment towards Sweden and Russia I put it down to cultural differences developed over generations not realising how raw emotions were and how recent were the events that caused these emotions. The wife of one of our Finnish friends was part of the 1% Swedish/Finnish population. I found it hard to understand why other Finnish friends spoke negatively about her when to me she seemed very friendly and nice.  One friend remarked that people outside Scandinavia believed that all the beautiful designs in glassware, pottery, furniture and fabrics came from Sweden when in fact most were produced in Finland. I came to learn that for myself. Another friend told me that her grandfather had never stopped mourning the loss of Karelia to Russia.      
Now 50 years on I'm reading about people in Jyvaskyla, where we lived, celebrating the diversity of of it's population whilst in Helsinki there were multi-cultural Independence celebrations led by the President. Finland is a country to be admired, and I do.

Happy Birthday!

'Round Midnight.

This was painted in France when the sun was high in the sky, the day was hot and jazz was playing in the background as I worked. It didn't evoke thoughts of summer, blue skies and fields of sunflowers but of a small bar, good company and no-where to be but here, listening to Miles Davis and John Coltrane playing into the early hours of the morning.
Soon after bringing the painting back from France it was sold by the gallery to a buyer in North Wales. Later the image was used as the front cover of a British literary magazine, New Walk.

'Round Midnight. Oil on canvas.

Albany Gallery Summer Show

Two paintings for the exhibition next Thursday.




If I Can Dream. Oil on canvas. 76 x 51Cm.





Riding Along On The Crest Of A Wave. Oil on canvas. 30 x 36cm.