Western Mail Arts and Culture Article

 ‘I don’t feel 80, I must say’  I HADN’T expected Harry Holland to be so frank and funny. There’s a polished refinement to his work that…

Artificiality and Myths

All art is artificial. Whatever the subject, or object, art is a way in which we see the world.…

A Casting from Life

This is one of those images I never tire of looking at. For observation, skill, pathos and 19th century sensibility it is a paradigm object. painted…

Making an Underpainting

This original drawing, made some time ago, I projected onto a Belle Arte extra primed panel which I use lot for sketching and made a base drawing layer using burnt…

Humour

Serious paintings aren’t supposed to be funny. Sounds pretty obvious but the implication is that funny paintings aren’t supposed to be serious and that paintings involving…

Sketch

  I like sketching. When I use the word I usually mean “oil sketching”, done in oil paint and not intended as a finished painting. Some…

Drawing

  Tracy Emin was on BBC national news recently talking about her new show at White Cube. (whatever happened to the BBC’s ban on advertising?). She…

Alla Prima

  I often sketch in oils, (as above) and always alla prima, since I regard it as a form of drawing. As friends often point out,…

Refurbish

I paint a lot of paintings. Some get sold. some come back and go on to another exhibition, some come back again and hang about sulking.…

Change

  I try not to make major changes during the course of a painting. The reason is so as to not compromise the integrity of the paint film and…