On the EchoBoxMan - Part I

EchoBoxMan - Oil on Canvas, 28" x 18"

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Following on from my New Year ‘s resolution of trying to get a portrait hung in one of the few large and prestigious competitions this year, I arranged a sitting with a local chap that I had known only as EchoBoxMan until I finally got my act together and approached him with my plea to paint his likeness.

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On Autumn...

Autumn - Charcoal on Newsprint

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Let me start by telling you that her name is Autumn and then continue by telling you that of course this was not done from life. Then – I feel this is important – let me go one further

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On Me and Mr Nicholson...

Self Portrait - Oil on Canvas, 20" x 16"

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Back in school I always managed to do well in class, despite not really exerting myself too strenuously or giving too much of a damn...

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On resolutions...

Nude - Charcoal on Newsprint, 18" x 14"

Gil Elvgrens scantily clad dames in domestic dilemmas and underwear exposing perils (see previous post) are not the only things occupying me so far this month...

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On Gil...

Study after Gil Elvgren - Oil on canvas, 250mm x 300mm

This picture, I know, is somewhat of a departure from my usual oeuvre. The reasons behind its creation are two-fold:

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On London...

Fraser - Oil on canvas, 20" x 16"

I had reason again to visit London this weekend, and in a day full of furious walking I managed to see plenty, do plenty, and get plenty of inspiration. As always happens after a trip to the capital, I was left thinking if I would/should/could move there. After all, it is the hub of just about everything and the arts especially. Penury makes it all but impossible, but a trip never fails to make me wonder...

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On being rubbish...

Amnesia Roses - Oil on canvas, 15" x 8"

Currently I am doing something I have almost never done, as well as something I almost always do...

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On rain...

Sam with Violin - Sanguine chalk on newsprint, 28" x 16"

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Today was a terrible day. It was the sort of grey, drizzling Lincoln day that renders the top of the Cathedral invisible. It started with an early morning argument with my girlfriend, before she left for work at just past seven, and just never got better than that.

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On siblings...

I thought I would entertain myself somewhat by putting the three portraits of me and my siblings in their own post, which – whilst a marvellous exercise – is only serving to remind me of the fact that I still prefer the picture of Leanne the best.

Such overt favouritism isn’t the problem though, as it extends only so far as the pictures and not the subjects themselves. What is the problem however, is that whilst Alex sat for me not long ago and my mirror and I gazed at one another only a week or so before that, Leanne was painted in 2007.

Alex - Oil on canvas, 20" x 16"

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Me - Oil on canvas, 14" x 18"

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Leanne - Oil on canvas, 20" x 14"

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One day though, I'll manage the impossible and get the three of us in the same geographic location at the same time in order to do something really special. One day...

On flowers...

Here are three floral paintings, commissioned by what must have been my first bona fide collector. All of the flowers were variously appropriated in and around Lincoln, but look much better than something I could have picked up from a typical high street florist. Framed up, and arranged in a triptych, they look stunning:

Rock Roses plus Photinia Branch - Oil on canvas, 15" x 8"

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Garden Roses - Oil on canvas, 15" x 8"

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Orange Blossom - Oil on canvas, 15" x 8"

On the studio...

In the spirit of not leaving too many plot holes, an update regarding the studio is probably in order.

Much exhausting work has gone in to it, some of it obvious and much of it less so, but the results is that it is alive, and very much kicking. If I were to say that getting it to this point has been hard though, it would be an understatement of such colossal proportions that it would almost rival the debt the same process has mired me in – but up and running it is.

The ever present silent partner has turned his skills to the project also, furnishing it with its own website, and I am doing my damn best to cover as much of the wall space with pictures as possible. This, of course, is all fit around finding time to breathe. So here, in all of its glory, is the studio:

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And for more viewing pleasure, some of the life drawings that now furnish the flyers and studio literature:

(Charcoal on Newsprint)

(Charcoal on Newsprint)

(Charcoal on Newsprint)

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And the flyers themselves:

On inspiration...

(Charcoal on Murano)




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Inspiration, for me, waxes and wanes constantly. I am no freer of its whims than the tide is from the moon's. It never quite manages, but always threatens to leave me completely. Often I feel it has, only to be surprised at the next turn by the capricious little minstrel.

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On letters...

Variegated Roses - Oil on board, 15" x 10")

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Since discovering the collected letters of Vincent van Gogh to his brother in a dusty old book sat on the bookshelf of Mark Beaven some three years ago, I've been obsessed with finding similar tomes filled with excerpts of a great person’s correspondence.

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On Staithes...

(Oil, 16" x 20". Click to enlarge)

This is one of two sketches done of a fellow artist from my Nottingham days, in the sadly now defunct studio Mark Beaven used to hold. The circumstances of the portrait are vague, but I remember that this chap, an architect and friend, sat to Mark and I twice. The original aim was to work up a good portrait, but my first effort was disappointing enough to scrap and start over for the second sitting. This is the result, and as such, is just a cursory sketch. But I like it.

I have rather unfortunately given him a slightly dour countenance, which I can assure you does not exist in real life, but that notwithstanding, I like how lively this is. It wasn't a long sitting, meaning I couldn't fuss over any particular part, so there are plenty of strong, initial brush strokes laid in and left. As a sketch, I would have liked to have hit a highlight in an eye, to really open them up, but must have run out of time.

The reason I post this now is that he is the architect responsible for the bank holiday weekend in the stunningly beautiful seaside town of Staithes. What's more, a return trip is now on the cards. As both a weekend and reunion, it would be brilliant!

On irons in fires...

(Oil, 15" x 10", somewhere near Lincoln catheral. Click to enlarge.)

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This little unfinished sketch was stumbled across whilst searching amongst myriad un-posted paintings on my hard drive. I remember executing it early last year, on a very cold and grey day during a break between my regrettable sojourn at Lincoln University. It was only during such breaks I actually remember learning anything...

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On progress...

(Oil on canvas, 16" x 17". Click to enlarge.)

Looking back, it is about time I put up another painting on here, what with the title of the blog and all. As such, I found this photograph of a portrait executed around a year ago, that has ended up in Australia. Its owner, whose likeness it captures, I met in Lincoln. Alas, her visa expired forcing her return down under, with this in tow.

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(More progress at the studio, after sanding half of the floor.)

(Me, ear-muffed and masked whilst sanding the other half.)

Here also, are more shots of the studio. I would go to prolix lengths at my excitement at the studio, and how near to completion it is, but that would be a tacit admission that these photographs are a little behind real time. Still, all will be revealed here in due course.

Suffice to say I am looking eagerly toward the future. I daren’t reflect on my own current state, as my pecuniary affairs teeter as close to the brink as an ageing despot’s leadership. This results in quite a heady juxtaposition, as my mind vacillates between a quivering elation and a quaking despair. All I can do is plough onwards...

On a December eve...

(An update photo of progress made at the studio.)

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After walking along the beach today, with intent to introspect and accompanied only by snow whipping around my head as fast as my thoughts, I decided to share an experience:

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On fear...

(A pencil study of a statue. Graphite, A4. Click to enlarge)

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In this Western society we don't have to fight many battles if we don't want to. The great majority of us are born into situations where comfort is not only possible, but usually expected. We are reared in bubble wrap, educated just enough to make us comply, and taught to learn by rote. Questioning is out of the question. By then, we are perfect for the rat race. Fast forward to our retirement, and we are left with nothing but a pension at the mercy of the Bank of England and a growing sense of regret to have waited this long to do the things we had wanted to do all along.

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On vexation...

(Statue Head Study, Graphite - A4. Click to enlarge.)

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Who would have thought starting a business would be so hard?

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On 2009...

I remember that as I shook his hand, pleased with the outcome, I hoped he wouldn't notice the sweat betraying my confidence. Still, now the deal was done, even that wouldn't matter.

It's not as though it took much negociating, it was already at an unbelievable price. Some minor points were haggled, though even those mostly in my favour. The result? I am waiting to sign a three year lease on a studio in Lincoln. At last, a place for my painting to call home!

(The building itself. The upper right three windows are those of the studio.Click to enlarge.)

(The main room, comprised of ~800 square feet. Click to enlarge.)

The front of the space is to be used as the studio, where I plan to take a leaf out of my mentor's book, and start a program of life drawing sessions and workshops. I intend to offer the Lincoln area a taste of the more traditional art skills the university courses now criminally under-represent. Other plans will slowly occupy the rest, but for now remain tumbling around my mind, being scrutinised, modified, and hopefully formed into other viable businesses.

Meanwhile, I am kept busy with easing myself back into painting full time, along with making the furniture I need. The latter is admittedly a little Heath Robinson in fashion, constructed mainly of blood, sweat, brazilian plywood and tears. Still, the attractive costing of this route makes it all worthwhile. Or so I tell myself with every slip of the tenon saw.

Naturally, this adventure and its vicissitudes will be chronicled here. Though to be honest, I still sweat just thinking about what is to come...

On excitement...

(Quick Sargent study, oil on canvas, 18" x 12")

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It seems apropos now to elaborate on exactly what pies I have and in which skies. Ideas that I was (and of course still am) working on hinged simply on decisions made by a bank and an estate agent respectively. Decisions which I now have.

The current economic climate precluded the first, whilst the second relied heavily on a business model. Thus, I recieved a no, followed by a yes. My quiescence it seems, has (half) come to an end...photo's to come!

On university...

Ryan - 2b pencil on copy paper.
(Click here to read about sketching.)

During this last year, immortalised here with an eerie silence, I decided it was in my best interests to enrol in a Fine Arts degree. I was sick of having to justify my painting to prospective galleries when asked where I’d been taught. The word "self" is apparently not taken too seriously.

So off I went to one of England's fine learning establishments, to polish my skill set, and finally get that credential and all its benefits. To my everlasting dismay, that worthless piece of paper is much lauded.

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On the future...

(Oil on canvas, 16" x 20")

For the astute amongst you, correlating the months between posts and the apparent lack of improvement in my painting, you can rest assured this portrait is almost a year old. This though, is somewhat of a pyrrhic victory, because it is sadly true that between this and my last post, my brushes have remained un-used. Sketching has been my only solace, and even then infrequently.

As life does its best to get in the way, namely the need to work to live, feed and clothe myself (whilst often only managing two at any given time), I have lost both freedom and inspiration. The slim silver lining to this would be the fierce determination to get back on track it instills. I have ideas and projects literally brimming from my mind, including two very large ones in advanced stages and one very real prayer that this is all going to work out.

Resisting the urge to limn my ideas out here in detail is difficult, such is my excitement, but resist I shall. I prefer to show by doing, rather than telling, and secrecy is a cunning way of generating curiosity. That or this is all just pie in the sky . . . ?

On catharsis...

(Oil on canvas, 12" x 16". Click to enlarge.)

Here's a quick study from the great J.S.S.

This was done purely to force me to touch brush to canvas again, after too long away, due to reasons I have yet to fathom.

It was rapid, just two hours; but how I needed them! The catharsis alone left me wondering why I hadn't painted in so long. It's not a lack of inspiration, I surround myself with that daily. Its more the motivation. Teach me how to crack that little nut and I'm yours forever.

On sketching...

Study of a Statue - 2b pencil on a4 copy paper

My sketches are not art, nor are they great. What they are, however, is full of useful information. It is largely encoded, given that only I know what I meant by that line, or that edge, or that fuzzy scribble there. But chock full none the less.

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A quick sketch...

(Oil on panel, 14" x 10". Click to enlarge.)

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Here is a sketch from a few months ago, when I was still living in Nottingham. Whilst traipsing around Wollaton Hall, I found this charming little brick hut that served as a bridge and entrance way into the private gardens to the rear of the hall. I vaguely remember it being very secluded, and me setting up under an enourmous tree in order to escape from the drizzle.

Strangely enough, I find myself missing Nottingham, and the various places I had found there to paint. Having moved only some four months ago, I find it strange my urge to return to paint at some of my old haunts. There is an element of it being where I cut my teeth where outdoor painting is concerned.

To that end, here is a daft picture of my painting by Trent Bridge. Please excuse my look of angst, I'm sure it was just concentration...

Portrait of a friend...

(Oil on canvas, 16" x 20". Click to enlarge)

A three hour study from life of a good friend. It was done last year when I first moved to Lincoln. She is fantastic to paint, and for this sitting, wore some vivid blue contact lenses.